Wednesday 17 September 2014

New things.

I went on a solo holiday this summer - nothing special, just a little tour around some places I'd never been to before & meeting up with some people along the way. I went to Bath with my mum (on a plane, which I hate), did some work experience at the museum she works at and wrote about it here. I went to London on my own (which, I'll level with you, as a northerner both scares and infuriates me), survived staying in a pretty gross hostel, went to lots of art galleries, met up with friends and basically burnt holes in my shoes. I also went to Peterborough and got a tattoo, but I'll show you that later.
When I was wandering around waiting to meet up with my friend Laura, I tried on a bunch of stuff at a vintage shop I found when I was trying to find a Costa. I bought some new things, and here they are.
I own lots of blue skirts already and it's becoming a bit of a perverse in joke with myself where I keep collecting them. This one made into the collection because the stripes are cute and I don't have enough things I can wear belts with. Also, I actually think it's super plain and I'm really into that at the moment. Making up for my mid-teen obsession with wearing as many patterns and bright colours as I possibly could at once, I guess.
This belt is fairly new too. It's holographic and snakeskin (fake, obviously) and therefore the perfect match for this feather necklace I wear like, all the time.
I have barely bought anything new this summer - it wasn't a conscious decision to save money or anything, but I think when I have free time I am just less inclined to spend it looking for clothes online. I think when I have stuff to do that I'm stressed about/want to avoid (hiya uni work!) I buy things to make myself feel better, for something to look forward to. I like this! but now that I think about it more I really want to concentrate on self-care that doesn't require spending money on material things. Not because I don't like the material things - I really do - but because I want to focus on taking care of myself in a way that doesn't depend on buying things and that I can actually carry on doing when I don't have any money. Also, I want to focus on having clothes that I wear all the time and that I really love.
I also bought some super ridiculous comedy shorts. Mainly because they are actually quite cute but also because they made me laugh and I still treat getting dressed as some kind of dressing up game, apparently. They feel a like clown shorts because there's just so much fabric going on, but also the pattern gives me serious kid's party vibes? They're actually a really weird piece of clothing, they fasten through a zip inside the left pocket and have unbelievably tiny pockets for how large the legs are.
I bought this crop top (and another one in cornflower blue) from Asos when I was in one of my essay avoidance fugs. I wear them both all the time, I feel like I've ascended to another level of dressing to be honest. Charlotte 5.0, the era of the crop top.
I didn't take a coat with me on my mini expedition because I was going to the south and I didn't expect it to be cold or wet. Spoiler alert, it was both. So on my way to catch one of the nine trains I caught that holiday, I bought this Emergency Coat. It's cute and will definitely be worn a lot, so I don't feel that bad about getting it.

 It looks nice in the sun too.
Top - Asos, shorts - Rokit vintage, skirt - Rokit vintage, mac - Topshop, necklace - Tatty Devine.
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I'm driving back to Sheffield this weekend, and I'm pretty excited. I like seeing my family over summer, but I do feel like I'm stagnating here and I just don't think I take care of myself as much here as I do in Sheffield. I'm also looking forward to third year, but kind of getting super scared about how much work I'm going to have.
More new things from me: I wrote something for the Style Con about breasts and clothes and body politics. I've been thinking about those ideas for ages now & I'm glad I managed to get the courage to pitch it somewhere. It also made it into the Fashion REDEF round up, which is pretty cool! Anyway, you can read it here.