I first learnt that I had a bit of an imaginative fashion streak when I got all excited at about the age of 10 by a bright blue blazer that my auntie was throwing away, and wore it to an own clothes day at school. Now, there were some definite fashion faux pas in the form of 80's hand me downs before the age of 10, but this one was clearly my doing. It was very much noticed by my classmates, not least because it had gigantic shoulder pads that swallowed me up almost whole. Continuing further down this train of thought, and whilst we're in the spirit of sharing, there was also the mild attempt at a Cyberdog phase (where I tied a load of coloured ribbons in my hair and actually left the house) and my brief flirtation with being a goth. Not a good look for a pale ginger like me.
However I can trust in my own sense of knowledge in my shape and what works and what doesn't. With this in mind, and with the intention of not getting stuck too much in old habits, I decided to put together a list of items of clothing inspired by summer 2014 trends that I'm currently considering adding to my repertoire.
1. Cigarette Trousers & Metallic Trousers
I've been seeing these around and I've decided its time to break my no patterned trousers rule (I tend to try and tone down my lower half). On that note, I'm also loving patterned, loose trousers in general. These ones are from ASOS, but I'll be searching for a bargain on Ebay with my ever thrifty head on!
2. Open toed shoes
OK, this is not a fashion revelation at all. You may be wondering why this is even on the list as it's pretty much an essential for most people EVERY summer. This might sound really sad, and I'm desperately hoping someone empathises with me here, but I hate my feet. I generally wear closed toe heels which is really quite sad as there are so many pretty peep toe shoes that I want to welcome into the fold of my shoe cabinet. (and by that I mean my bedroom floor). So this summer I'm going to get a pedicure and go for it. They're only feet, right?
I'm really liking these open toed heel sandals from Lulu, which would look great with a nice pair of jeans.
3. Crop tops
The crop top usually conjures up scary 90's images for me. But I've been seeing some great crop tops around lately and, if done correctly, I think the crop top can actually look really cool. They're back in fashion so we may as well embrace them! I'm particularly loving high waisted skirts so that you are in actual fact only showing a small section of midriff, rather than the whole thing (I have somewhat of a way to go before I'm quite toned enough to do that).
4. 60's Flower Power
I actually love a good 60's inspired outfit, and I do venture to this from time to time. But I generally avoid floral, as people already think I'm floaty enough as it is without going down the frumpy route. But this kind of floral is cool, as is the fitted floral skirt above. 5. Blazers
In a complete 180, and back where I started, I'm going to face my cringey memories and consider the blazer as a good fashion choice. I was clearly wise beyond my years back then, as there are lots of them on the high street now, reigniting the 80's vibe, like this one from Misguided. Blazers ARE great because they smarten up casual outfits and are the right kind of jacket attire for UK summer weather, too. Perfect!
So I guess my message is, BE BRAVE this season, and try something new that you wouldn't normally consider!
What are your summer must haves?
