I’m pretty sure I made a blog post with the same objective last year and, apart from a few sneaky lol purchases, I’ve pretty much stuck to my word.
I’ve never been a subscriber to the belief that you have to dress a certain way at a certain age, but personally I’ve found that as I’ve got older and found myself in increasingly responsible roles, it’s felt better to dress a bit more sensibly. At least at work, anyway – the Rude Dog tshirt might just have to wait for the weekends. Or at least Fridays.
With that in mind, here’s a dream outfit from Avenue 32 that hopefully straddles looking like a professional that you can trust with your advertising budget and representing my inner overgrown goth.
1. APC Red Basique Sweatshirt, £81 – I’m glad that statement sweaters are a thing now. It’s like the grown-up skater teenager equivalent of a tasteful cardigan; i.e. really useful for work and easily switched up with collars or jewellery. Viva la sweater!
2. 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli Backpack, £740 - well, a girl can dream. I have a few ‘good’ bags and if and when I invest in another, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a backpack because after three weeks of physio, I’m not letting this dream new back go. Wait, does that make me sound old?
3. APC Bordeaux Ribbed Socks, £25 - until last year, I only had one pair of socks and they were for the gym and occasional hiking excursions. The downside of wearing predominantly skirts and dresses is that you don’t really need socks (unless you are 16 and can carry off socks and sandals). Then I got a pair of sturdy leather ankle boots and realised that a bunched-up sock poking out the top could be a strong look. I duly bought a pair of socks and lost one somewhere between the front door and my bedroom after one day – well, it was Christmas. And no, I’ve never found them. And yes, I live in a small flat. These would be a good replacement and I’m all for matching my outfit to my accessories.
4. APC Black Leather Boots, £248 - see above. I have worn my equivalent boots pretty much daily since I bought them last year, leading me to understand just why buying staple wardrobe pieces is such a good idea. Black leather boots = not such instant gratification but daily wear. Gold glitter boots = instant thrill, worn twice in four years. I get it!
5. Pamela Love Gold Plated Eagle Claw Necklace, £230; Estelle Dévé Gold Plated Aurora Bracelet, £105 and Tiaa Ring Set, £125 - all for expressing personality through accessory choice and I reckon gold lets you get away with a lot more.
6. Frends Gold and Black Taylor Headphones, £180 – because if you’re going to be sitting with your headphones on being antisocial, it might as well be with something stylish. Headband-style headphones have the added bonus of being completely unsubtle too, unlike my paltry, and easily-disguised by long hair, in-ear ones.
7. JW Anderson Black Leather Mini Skirt, £330 - we live in truly enlightened times that we (well, many of us) can get away with wearing leather mini skirts to the office and not have people mentally view us like this - although really, who would complain?
[Collaborated post]
What I bought up the biggest mountain in the world
You’re damn right it was a shopping opportunity.
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the biggest mountain in the world. Take that, Everest. Actually most of it is under water which is why it doesn’t usually get a look-in, but at 13,796′ above sea level (it’s 33,500′ including the underneath bit) it’s still a beast.
The combination of height, the remoteness of the Hawaiian islands and its position means that Mauna Kea is one of the best stargazing sites in the world – and the fact that you can just drive on up and take it all in makes it even better.
You can read more about our adventures up the mountain here, but here’s what I bought in between drooling over space – no, not the Vans.
I was seriously taken with the design on all the Mauna Kea merch – ‘clearly the best’ is a loltimate catchphrase but the logo is just a really nice design, isn’t it? I’ll concoct a prize of some sort for anyone who can identify the stars on the print.
The Vans do have a bit of a story behind them too. I spotted this design ages ago and figured I’d just pick them up on the cheap somewhere in the US during our travels. I think I must have gone in every Vans store and skate shop in every city we went to, but no joy.
I eventually ordered them from Office when I got back… after a week they hadn’t shown up, but the last time I ordered from Office it took ages, so I wasn’t duly worried. After a while longer I did start to get slightly concerned and when I got in touch on Twitter we discovered the order had got ~lost in the system~. What kind of mysterious excuse it that, eh?
Credit where it’s due, their customer service team were pretty exceptional and not only did the shoes show up in a day but I got money off too. Thanks, Office!
Anyway, these two things are my favourite accessories in the world at the moment and if trainers and space don’t say ‘grown-up wardrobe‘ I don’t know what does.
