Tag Archive | cinderella

The 12 outfits of Christmas

Christmas is my favourite time of the year, not least because it brings everyone together and helps you to really appreciate the wonderful people that are a part of your life. Christmas also makes it legitimate to wear as much glitter and sparkle as possible! The shops begin Christmas sometime in October but I refuse to get too into it until December.

On 1st December, out came the advent calendars, including one for Rufus of course, which by Christmas Eve he had completely annihilated!

This was also the day of the first outfit of Christmas as we enjoyed a festive curry with friends that evening. I wore a navy glitter dot dress from Oasis with navy suede heels from New Look and a matching clutch from Boohoo. I even had my nails navy with the ring finger glittery. The dress was a surprising disappointment on the quality front, particularly given my love for Oasis and the usual excellent quality. The glitter shed itself all night, adding plenty of sparkle to the curry house and the next passenger in my husband’s car!

I always like to arrange a trip somewhere to really get me in the mood for Christmas, so this year I chose one of the best and most famous Christmas markets in the UK – Bath. My second outfit of Christmas comes in here. I wore a red dress from Oasis with a mid brown funnel princess coat also Oasis and some black suede, calf high, slouch boots (yes you guessed it – Oasis) that I have been lusting after for a couple of years so finally treated myself to.

Bath is somewhere I have wanted to go for some time and it didn’t disappoint although sadly the weather did. Rather than a nice crisp winters day with a few light flurries of snow that would have made it the quintessential start to Christmas, we were treated to drizzle!

The market stretched for miles through the Georgian streets, selling everything from paintings and crafts to hot chocolate and waffles! I was drawn by the smell of citrus fruits and cinnamon to a beautiful Christmas wreath stall. We also got a couple of unusual presents for people.

While in Bath you have to visit the Roman baths it is famous for. The baths are one of the most visited historical sights in the UK. The thermal spring rises here meaning the baths flow naturally with hot water. Bathing was a major part of Roman society and culture and this sight has been remarkably well preserved.

From Roman times to the late 1700’s, we had afternoon tea at The Regency Tea Rooms above the Jane Austin centre. Jane was fascinated by bath, mentioning it in all her novels and even making it the setting for a couple of her stories. We enjoyed the ‘tea with Mr Darcy’ served by waiters and waitresses in period costume, and avoided the worst of the rain.

After more shopping we warmed ourselves with a drink at the Abbey Hotel’s Apres ski bar.

As darkness fell, the beautiful streets and chalets were lit with pretty fairy lights and we finished the day with carols at the Abbey.

The following day, inspired by our trip, we put up all the Christmas decorations at home, while enjoying a snowball of course!

Mum and I went to see the Tina Turner musical the weekend before Christmas, so this was outfit number three! I wore a navy glitter knit dress from Warehouse with a pink shearling coat from Zara. After the fantastic show, we took in the lights of Covent Garden as we headed for dinner at Browns.

Outfit four was for Christmas drinks with friends and was a black blouse with gold spots from Oasis with black leggings, also Oasis, with black stilettos with a bow detail on the back from New Look.

We had an early Christmas day, on the Sunday before, at my Mums with my gorgeous nieces and for this I wore my soft animal print dress from Oasis with purple Ugg boots.

Christmas Eve arrived and we had both sets of parents over for dinner. I wore my gingerbread men christmas jumper from Oasis with a velvet mini skirt from New Look. We had a great meal, followed by a board game and then headed to midnight mass.

Christmas day was spent as a couple this year. We had bucks fizz and scrambled eggs with smoke salmon for breakfast. We cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner in the evening and in between pigged out on nuts and sweets while finally wrapping the rest of the presents. This year I decided to get crafty with my wrapping. I wrapped the presents in brown paper and added red and white twine, stickers from a Kikki K book and fancy tags, finishing with a slice of dried orange.

Christmas day saw me wear a fun Christmas t-shirt I got from River Island some years back and a checked mini skirt from Oasis. I was spoilt rotten with beautiful gifts, as was Rufus, who had a Christmas eve box, his own Christmas dinner and a blanket with his name embroidered on it from spoilt rotten pets!

Boxing day was a total chill out day, spent in our pyjamas on the sofa watching DVD’s so outfit eight was lounge clothes and cute slippers from Oasis. I did move from the sofa briefly to make some gingerbread men!

We met Mum’s family in London on 27th for a delicious meal at The Parcel Yard in Kings Cross station. Afterwards my husband and I sipped champagne at the champagne bar at St Pancras. I wore a knitted stripped sparkle dress from Oasis with the same mid brown coat and slouch boots I wore to Bath earlier in the month.

An afternoon with Phil’s family was spent in black skinny jeans from New Look, slogan t-shirt from Boohoo and a grey cardigan from Oasis.

My Mum and I had the great treat of taking my nieces to the pantomime which was Cinderella this year. For this I wore a mustard jumper and denim pinafore – both Oasis but to complete the look wore the wonderful Cinderella shoe necklace that my parents-in-law got me for Christmas.

All too soon, it was New Years Eve and I must be getting old as I turned down various invitations, to spend the evening in pyjamas, watching DVD’s and drinking fizz with a glowing log burner and my Yankee candles to add a bit of hygge.

So I saw out 2018 in outfit twelve of my Mary Poppins pyjamas from Marks and Spencer. New Year always marks a time of reflection on things achieved and those still to achieve. Once again I made a long list of New Year’s resolutions. This year I am determined to at least achieve one and it’s a big one – to lose nearly three stone in weight. I’m the heaviest I have ever been. Weight is sneeky – it creeps up on you and enough is enough. I started well with a seven mile walk around Riverside Country Park on New Year’s Day! Let’s see if 2019 is the year I finally achieve that.

What resolutions did you make and how are you doing with them so far?

Pearls are forever

Dec3

Coco Chanel once said ‘a woman needs ropes and ropes of pearls’. Pearls have long been associated with royalty and wealth due to their rarity and difficulty to harvest. Thankfully the advent of the artificial pearl has made it possible for everyone to wear them.

Gone are the days of pearls only being used in jewellery, the Spring/Summer ’17 catwalk was filled with clothes adorned with pearls. The association with pearls and twinsets is a distant memory with pearls often being added to grungy items such as boots and leather to give a softer, feminine edge.

I couldn’t resist these pearl embellished flip flops from Zara and what better time to wear them than a trip to Buckingham Palace, followed by tea in a Cinderella carriage!

Buckingham Palace was first opened to the public in summer 1993, as a way to raise funds to repair Windsor Castle following the fire the previous year. Since then, the palace, which is one of the few remaining, working palaces in the world, has welcomed over six million visitors.

The changing of the guard was in progress when we arrived, with the Old Guard leaving Buckingham Palace for Wellington Barracks accompanied by the band. I immediately felt very proud of our country’s heritage. We had chosen the State Rooms ticket, which includes the 19 rooms used for official engagements. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Throne room and the Ballroom. We entered through the porte-cochere or covered carriage entrance and admired one of the royal carriages. The Grand Hall leads to the magnificent staircase that is a masterpiece in gold. Displayed on the staircase are various portraits of Queen Victoria’s family. Each of the State rooms has various items from the Royal Collection, given to the Queen from countries around the world. There was a special display for Princess Diana, curated by her sons, as a tribute, being that 2017 is 20 years since her death. Princess Diana was a great lover of pearls, mainly due to their versatility. She made pearls appealing to a younger generation during the eighties.

dianainelvisdressandpearls

Pleated skirt Asos, lace sleeved t-shirt New Look and sandals Zara

I was a little disappointed that the view of the gardens was literally a quick glimpse on the way out and you have to buy an additional ticket to see more.

After the palace we made our way to Hyde Park and enjoyed lunch overlooking the Serpentine followed by a walk around Diana’s memorial fountain.

The last activity of the day was by far the best and that was afternoon tea at the Tea Terrace at House of Fraser Victoria. A friend had shared with me on Facebook the fact that they had a golden Cinderella carriage there that you could book to have tea in. This was right up my street given the carriage I chose for our wedding and my love of all things princess – fairy-tales do come true after all!

There is a usage fee and you can only occupy the carriage for one and a quarter hours, or it turns into a pumpkin, but what an amazing experience for all us girly girls. The Tea Terrace is designed to give a traditional afternoon tea experience, painted in baby pink and blue with inspirational quotes on the walls. There is a self playing piano to provide atmospheric music and the crockery is all Royal Albert fine bone china. We indulged in the Celebration Afternoon tea that was served with prosecco. There was a choice on sandwich fillings, which is often not the case with afternoon tea packages and beautiful warm fruit and plain scones served with the traditional jam and clotted cream. A selection of cakes was also included although these were a little disappointing given that they were banana cake and lemon cake which are two cakes I am not keen on. It felt amazing to sit in the carriage while enjoying this lovely British classic. As Henry James said ‘there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea’.

The pearl trend is going nowhere, with autumn/winter catwalks again filled with them. These pearl embellished jeans from Zara were a fabulous purchase.

Pearl embellished jeans Zara, pink shearling coat Zara, grey frill shoulder jumper Oasis, shoes Oasis and bag Asos

Why not share with me how you are rocking the pearl trend? I’d love to hear from you!

You Shall go to the Ball

Apr19

The end of March/beginning of April saw Cinderella fever as a new Disney movie, based on the classic fairytale and starring Lily James was released. The first written version of the story was published in Naples in 1634. 1904 saw it debut in London as a pantomime and the first Disney animation was released in 1950. Over the years, Cinderella has become the most loved of the Disney princesses so it is no surprise that Disney decided to issue a remake. This version despite being Disney was filmed in the UK.

A completely free – (yes you read that correctly) exhibition of the costumes/props from the new Disney movie was held in Leicester Square for a few weeks. Tickets were hard to come by but I managed to book some for the Saturday over Easter. Unfortunately I was unable to go due to my eye problem reoccurring and was gutted. My own prince attempted to make up for it though by making me an afternoon tea at home and bringing home a Costa latte for me. It seemed like I was destined not to go to the ball but as a last ditch attempt I queued one night after work to try and see it. I queued for two hours but it was well worth it – seems I was allowed to the ball after all.

Swarovski an Austrian firm founded in 1895, collaborated with Sandy Powell – the costume designer for the film to add sparkle to the production. In all 1.7 million finely cut crystals are used in the film. The Step Mother’s dress is encrusted with black crystals and Cinderella’s ball gown looks magical with the crystal adornment. The fairy Godmothers dress and wand also feature crystals. Cinderella’s ball gown is made of 24 layers of tulle with a circumference of 11.6m.

Cinderella’s Step Mother

The prince and cinderella at the ball

The star of the exhibition and indeed the film was of course the glass slipper also made by Swarovski. The shoe has a 6 inch heel and has 221 facets in a light reflecting crystal blue Aurora Borealis coating and weighs just less than 1kg. It took 6 versions and 150 hours to create the final shoe. 4 pairs were made with each individual shoe costing £20,000. At the exhibition they took a photo and superimposed the glass slipper on your foot so that everyone could feel like a princess.

The famous slipper

A princess for the day

Mac released a special limited edition Cinderella make up range of which I adored the stroke of midnight eye shadow palette and the Royal Ball lipstick – sadly though supplies of them were limited and I was unable to purchase either. I did however get the Morgan Taylor Cinderella collection nail varnishes set which includes an iconic blue named ‘if the slipper fits’.

Being the shoe fiend that I am, I also couldn’t resist this cup from the Disney store.

I finally saw the film last weekend and I wasn’t disappointed. The remake has been very loyal to the original but with deeper characters. The butterfly is used throughout to symbolise Cinderella’s transformation as well as her freedom. In the beginning of the film her father brings her a butterfly toy and her dress for the ball is also adorned with them as is the glass slipper. I almost love butterflies as much as shoes so the glass slipper would be a dream come true. For the trip to the cinema I wore the outfit that I had planned to wear to the exhibition had I not ended up going straight from work. I thought given the saying that ‘Cinderella is proof that a shoe can change your life’ my t-shirt from New Look was very fitting. I paired this with a light pink waffle textured balloon midi skater skirt from New Look and then styled it up with these gorgeous polka dot 50’s style heels which my Mum treated me to some time back in Marks and Spencer and go so well with many different outfits.

Little girls everywhere have grown up hoping that their prince will come and they will live happily ever after as in the story; however as Carrie says in the Sex and the City film ‘in real life things don’t always work out like that.’ Happy ever after is different for every person and for some women that doesn’t include marriage. Are all women always looking for something else to complete their fairy tale ending? We are told now that women can have it all but do they always want it all? I know I am unusual nowadays but I for one will be quite satisfied becoming a stay at home Mum; surely women’s liberation is about giving us a choice of which path we want to take? Hopefully we all live happily ever after.