My shop of the week.

1. Knit sleeve Khaki jacket £55 / 2. Mint green lace dress £59 / 3. Mini cross ring £4 / 4. Mini bow drop earrings £5 / 5. High waisted embroidered shorts £32 / 6.  Baby bow jumper £39 / 7. Lilac watch £16.50 / 8.  Nude bow wedge £45 / 9. Tapestry print skater skirt £35 / All Miss Selfridge. 

A Weekend of Les Mis and a few outfits ★

Hello my lovely readers ♥

I was going to start posting 'what I'm wearing today'  posts but this weekend i have been rather busy with the family to sit down at my computer. So I'm am just going to compile my pictures into one big post.

Friday 

Friday nights are spent with friends at our local family friendly pub. We like to chat about the week and let the kids run around with their friends. Everyone normally dresses very casual here but as i have spent all week in leggings, wellies and baggy tops i wanted to make some effort.

I wore a white dress with a peter pan collar from my favourite shop Primark. It has a horse and woodland print with a purple belt. For some reason i find myself buying a lot of clothing items that have collars, i just love them.  This dress was in the summer 2012 sale for £5. Bargain.

Saturday 

I have a little more to say about Saturday. Today was the day i finally got to see Les Miserables at the cinema. If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on facebook you'll know that i am a massive Les Miserables geek. I have all the cast recordings, seen every film made and been to the queens theatre twice. My review of the film? I can't say i was happy with it entirely. I'm sorry to say Russell Crowe ruined it for me. He is not a singer bless him. When he started to sing one of my fav songs 'Stars' i was so disappointed. Also as much as i was impressed with Amanda Seyfield's singing in Mamma Mia, i felt see struggled with the high notes playing Cosette. Hugh Jackman was amazing though and I admit i cried when Anne Hathaway performed 'I dreamed a dream'. So emotional and so perfect. My favourite girl was of course Samantha barks. She is the one and only Epoinine. She really should have got more credit for her role. Have you seen the film yet? Let me know your thoughts on it or if you are also a fellow Les Miserables geek. 

As the film is a massive three hours long i decided to dress comfy casual. I wore my favourite Atticus jumper from Play.com, (I'm sorry i cannot remember how much this cost), with my grey skinny jeans from Primark. 

Sunday

Today we woke up with the intention of having a very lazy Sunday. It has been a very busy week for us with work, extreme house cleaning, school and job hunting. However while making breakfast we realised we had no food in the cupboards so a quick shopping trip was needed. Yesterday before the cinema, i sneakily ran in to Topshop to see what was left on the sale rails. I found this dress which i have actually been after for a while now. It cost me £20 reduced from £38. Even though it may be a little to dressy for food shopping i still cant help showing off my new purchases. 

It is a deep red skater dress with capped sleeves. The material is textured and thick, ideal for the winter. Also the dress is stretchy which i love even though the dress is unfortunately a size to big due to being the only one left. I teamed it with my favourite Primark bow belt, black wooly tights and my Chelsea boots also Primark.

Let me know your thoughts on the Les miserables film.
Thanks for reading.
Gem x

British Fashion Awards, Why Alexa Chung is the best of british.

Last night,  The British Fashion Awards took place in at the Savoy hotel in London. The awards recognise the most influential people in fashion today and celebrate the reputation and development of British fashion. I really wanted to go to it this year but being a mum its difficult to go to such swanky events.  I did however check out the winners this morning through the Fashion awards website.

 

The winners included one of my favourite style icons Alexa Chung who won the British Style Award for the third year running. Very deserved in my opinion. The award is the only one voted by the British public and she beat off competition by Victoria Beckham, Tilda Swinton, Carey Mulligan, Kate Middleton and Kate Moss.

 

Alexa Chung first hit the fashion scene as a model while at sixth form in Wincester when she was approached in the comedy tent at the Reading Festival at age 16. Alexa worked for Storm Model management and had shoots with Teen magazines such as Elle Girl and CosmoGirl. She appeared in music videos for artists including The Streets, Westlife, Delta Goodrem, Reuben and Holly Valance and starred as Jake in a scripted reality show called Shoot me, broadcast on Fashion TV in 2005.

After becoming a TV personality, Alexa made a return to occasional modelling.  From 2008 to the present day she has been the face of campaigns such as the Australian fashion label Antipodium's SS 2008 collection, Oxfam's ethical fashion range, Revamped, Vivienne Westwood's Red label show in 2009,  New Look, and DKNY Jeans. In June 2010, she was announced as the first celebrity face of Lacoste appearing in both the TV and print advertising campaigns for their "Joy of Pink" fragrance. In February 2012, she took part in the London Fashion Week show for designer Stella McCartney, where she acted as a guest assistant to magician Hans Klok in a number of illusions including being levitated and sawed in half.

Alexa Chung has made such an impact on the fashion scene that she has her own own Mulberry bag named in her honour, the ‘Alexa’,  which is the fashion house’s bestseller. We love her style because she wears simple wearable pieces - whether she's top to toe designer in her role as British Fashion Council Young Style Ambassador, or her grungy 'model-off-duty' look - she is constantly inspiring our looks.

 

Here is my top Alexa style moments of this year.

 

Right: Looking sleek in this LBD at London's fashion night out. Left: Paris fashion week 2012 wearing a mod skirt with a cozy sweater.

 

 

Attending the Vogue Fashion Fund Awards

 

Attending the celebration of Chanel fine jewellery's 80th anniversary of the 'Bijoux De Diamants' collection.

 

February 2012 Company magazine's cover girl 

 

 

Her amazing dress from last nights awards.

 

 



Do you agree that Alexa has the best British style?

 

Thanks for reading.

Gem xx

 

 

 

 



The best and worst outfits of xfactor 2012

The X Factor is a music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a recording contract. The competition consists of auditions, in front of producers and then the judges with a live audience; boot camp; judges' houses and then the live finals. The judging panel in America consists of Simon Cowell, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato and L.A. Reid. In Britain its Nicole Scherzinger, Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Louis Walsh.


I admit I watch both shows on a regular bases. Love the pantomime and controversy of it all. Also being a fashion lover I cant help but love what the girls are wearing during the live shows, so I wanted to do a small blog post of the best and worst outfits worn by Tulisa, Nicole, Demi and Britney.


Nicole Scherzinger

Best:
 
Nicole Scherzinger dazzled in a flowing lace and chiffon dress with a thigh-high split by Kristian Aadnevik on the 14th October Sunday live shows. She teamed her dress with a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood shoes, black manicured nails and a loose hairstyle that allowed her tousled mane to blow in the wind just as her dress did. Singer Nicole knew how to draw attention to her stunning Kristian Aadnevik dress, and she held the skirt in her hand to show off the split as she arrived on stage.


Worst:

Here she is wearing a glittery gold dress also by Kristian Aadnevik. Her shoes by Nicholas Kirkwood, gold chandelier earrings by Lizzie Burns, a Herve Leger bracelet and ring by Maria Francesco Pepe.She wore a stain berry lip colour matching her nails, and showed off her straight jet black locks. This is nice dress but couldn't really find a bad dress she has worn. Ive put this one is the worst pile as i felt it looked very unflattering on her.

 

Demi Lovato

Best:


Demi Lovato looks bang on trend at the first of the American X factor auditions, in this neon and black zip dress from Topshop for £60. Loves how she teams neon's with tough leathers and a pair of studded heels.  

Worst:

Tulisa
It looks like Demi Lovato has taken a sudden liking to ombré. The X-Factor judge showed off her new dip-dyed pink hair in a tight high ponytail at the show’s San Francisco auditions and continued the ombré theme with a grey and black Topshop Premium Fringe Jacket. She wore a Mesh Bust Panel Body con Dress, Stud Back Peep toe Court Shoes by CJG  and Brushed Curve Ring, all from Topshop. Felt this outfit looked all wrong and really hated how everything was thrown together. The mesh body con dress does not suit demi at all and feel it should be in a nightclub not a TV show.












Tulisa Contostavlos

Best:
 Tulisa looks like the stunning, elegant superstar that she is in this white draped leather Alexander Wang shift, combined with simple tousled 'do and black peep-toe shoes.



Worst:

Dressed in a huge navy blue puff ball gown by Carlotta, Tulisa looked more like little miss muffit. I'm not a fan of puff balls and would like to know what she was thinking when she put this dress on.

 

 

 

 

Britney Spears

 

Best:  

 Britney Spears went with a sexy look for the first day of the X-Factor Auditions in Austin, Texas. The judge wore a coral-coloured Brian Lichtenberg Scuba Zipper Dress paired with black Yves Saint Laurent Tribtoo glitter pumps. It suited her slim figure perfectly and the neon pink is bang on trend at the moment.

 

Worst:

Britney Spears wore this red number to the X Factor Auditions in Rhode Island. The dress is a Herve Leger by Max Azria bandage mini with Yves Saint Laurent Tribtoo platforms. This would look stunning on someone else but i felt on Britney it didnt fit well around the chest and also made her thighs look bigger than they are.