LUST LIST

I couldn't do a month of fashion posts without having a list of everything I wish I had...

Leather Holdall: Topshop, £65

Bikini: Warehouse, £14 (top) & £12 (bottoms)

Bomber jacket: Warehouse, £65

Dresses: Hearts & Bows @ Ark, £26.99

Jumper: Illustrated People, £50

Jumper: WeAreHairyPeople @ ASOS Marketplace, £36

Skirt: Cameo Rose @ New Look, £14.99

Crop Top: Neon Rose @ Ark, £14.99

T-shirt: Topshop, £12

Trainers: Nike @ Office, £65

Earrings: Louche @ Joy, £6

New theme coming for August on Thursday! 

xx

FASHION IS BAD FOR US

Or more importantly, the policing of fashion is bad for us, and recently, it seems to be getting quite a lot of airtime. 

Summer is notoriously bad for body fascism. People are wearing less clothing and baring more skin and as a result, everyone more open to criticism than at any other time of year. 

The phrase 'no one wants to see that' gets thrown around so that it's a wonder we don't have an epidemic of people sticking pins in their eyes. Or vigilante groups throwing carefully positioned sarongs over anyone who has the indecency to not have the body of an Olympic athlete. 

Etiquette consultant William Hanson recently called exposed flesh 'revolting' and 'appalling'. Although it's little wonder that a man who makes his living teaching outdated modes of behaviour doesn't appreciate the trend towards wearing less, he isn't alone, and that's a bit worrying. People will always have different tastes, and it’s not unhealthy to have a personal preference towards being more covered up; but it is unhealthy to be obsessed with how other people are dressed. 

There's a big difference between having an opinion on someone's outfit, and deciding on their right to wear it. We're naturally judgemental, and you're bound to see someone and think they look bad in what they're wearing at some point. That's perfectly fine. 

What isn't perfectly fine is thinking that you are an omniscient being who knows exactly how all clothes should look and which body types should and shouldn't be allowed to wear certain types of print/cut/materials. 

We didn't get these opinions from thin air though, they're all around us. Every fashion magazine and TV programme has an opinion on what you should wear depending on your size and shape, and we're not just listening, we're taking it all in. 

I can't say my times tables off the top of my head, but I can tell you that horizontal hoops will make you look wider, and vertical ones will do the opposite. Apparently.

On the face of it, this is all useful advice, meant to help us feel better about ourselves, right?

But has it made us cruel? Why do we have so much disdain for people who dare to bare, or wear tight clothing, or potentially unflattering prints? Surely that's their decision, and surely something can't actually offend your eyes.

The worst thing is that it hasn't just made us hard on other people, it's made us hard on ourselves, and no time is worse for this self-criticism than the summer. Because apparently as soon as it's more physically comfortable for us to have more skin on show, every inch of that skin needs to be honed and toned to perfection. We each have our own little Daily Mail ‘sidebar of shame’ in our heads, and the most featured face there is usually our own; because we think we know what looks good now, and we think we know what we have to look like to be ‘allowed’ to be happy with ourselves.

A 'summer body' isn't a thing. Neither is a 'bikini body' or any other type of body that suggests it's necessary for you to be less than completely satisfied with the way you look all year round.

Likewise, anything constitutes an outfit, if you feel happy walking down the street in it, then that's enough, and everyone else should be more concerned with their own lives. The amount of skin you’re showing is not anyone else’s concern, and the only thing it says about you is what you like wearing.

Leggings and a bra? An outfit. Denim hot pants and a crop top? Also an outfit. A sheer dress? Still an outfit. 

No matter what size. No matter what shape. No matter how much skin is on show.

xx

Dressing is hard when it's hot.

Dressing in the summer is hard, I don't know what to do, and I'm so suspicious of the weather in the UK I always carry another layer in my bag just in case. 

So here's a quick list of things I'll be doing, socially acceptable or not, just because it's hot. 

• Wearing sunglasses on the bus/inside building that are made entirely of glass - because I think it's important that I don't go blind. 
• Wearing black - because most of my skirts are black, and they're cooler than jeans. 
• Sunbathing in my bra instead of a bikini top - because they're the same; exactly the same.
• Wearing tops I used to use as 'for underneath things' tops as 'wear on their own' tops - because I can't be dealing with layers in this heat. 
• Have my feet on show, even though I think they're awful - because it's hot. 
• Wearing my hair up all the time/never styling it - because there's so much of it and it makes my head so warm and I don't want to put hot things near me either.
• Having an uneven tan - because I move around a lot when I'm sat down and it just happened.
• Wearing the same outfits every week - because I was born and raised in Northern England, and as a result my summer wardrobe is not extensive.

More OOTDs: 

Top: New Look

Jeans: ASOS

Necklace: Dorothy Perkins

Watch: Casio

Shirt: A freebie from Cayla's wardrobe

Top: New Look

Shorts: Urban Outfitters

Top: New Look

Skirt: White Label at TK Maxx

Necklace: Urban Outfitters

In other news I baked some scones today, from a recipe which was apparently 'perfect for unexpected guests' as it can be ready in '20 minutes'. 

Now I've got to take issue with this, mainly because 10 minutes of those 20 are meant to be when the scones are in the oven, and it definitely takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare everything in this recipe. 

But also I don't know who these 'unexpected guests' are, or why I'm baking for them; because if people just appeared at my door I would not be running off to make them scones, and I don't think I'd need to.

Either I'd know them well enough to not want to be absent for 20 minutes to pointlessly bake scones, or I don't know them that well and why have they arrived at my house unannounced and  I'm definitely not running some sort of middle-class soup kitchen.  

And that's all for now, I'm going to see Taming of the Shrew at Kirkstall Abbey tonight, so the weather is very welcome, and I'm taking scones. 

Pre-prepared scones for an entirely pre-prepared occasion.

xx

Everything under £5

I'm going to be honest; I have bad skin. 

I always have, not just on my face, on my shoulders and back as well.

It's been like that since I was about 13; I've tried basically every skincare product ever sold. 

I'm still trying them now, but I have formed one very stringent rule about what I will and won't put on my face; it can't cost over £5. 

Not my face wash, not my make up, nothing. 

Because it's pointless, for me at least, how expensive the product is has never once made it work any better than anything else. I think I thought for a while that that was why I still had bad skin, because I couldn't afford anything more expensive than the brands they stock in supermarkets. 

Numerous birthday and Christmas presents have taught me otherwise; expensive skincare products might look better, but there's a limit to what the same ingredients in a different bottle can do.

So this is what I use:

Simple Moisturiser & Toner: 

 I couldn't recommend the Simple products enough, for starters this is probably the only moisturiser I've ever owned to not make my skin break out, and the toner also smells lovely. 

I usually make my own toner with Tea Tree oil and water but these were on a BOGOF offer at Tesco.

I also broke the bottle for my toner on the train to Edinburgh when my bag nearly fell on my head. 

Superdrug Tea Tree Facial Scrub:

 This facial scrub was a Christmas stocking filler - so yes, my skin is actually that difficult, I must have received at least 10 products aimed at my skin for Christmas last year (just from my family, no one else would ever be so rude). 

This is easily the best face scrub I've ever used and I see the difference every time. My face feels clean and washed without being dry or red from the exfoliating.  Awesome. 

Natural Collection Tinted Moisturiser:

£1.99. 

I could leave it there, but this is really good. In all honesty it doesn't cover skin anywhere near as effectively as actual foundation, but it makes enough of a difference for me to walk out of the door when I'm having a bad skin day and it doesn't make my skin any worse. 

Which is all I ask for really. 

Boots lipsalve:

Exactly the same as the Nivea equivalent. Half the price. 

And...this weeks OOTD's

T-shirt: A present from actual New York (thanks Emily)

Shorts: Urban Outfitters

Necklaces: Accessorize (another lovely present - thanks Elle)

Top: New Look
Skirt: Primark (sort of solving the printed trousers issue)

Crop Top: Hearts & Bows at Ark
Skirt: TK Maxx
Bag: Accessorize

xx

The curse of patterned trousers.

 I can't wear patterned trousers.

I can wear them in the usual sense, I can put them on, I can figure out how to wear trousers. 

But I won't wear them; because as soon as I put a pair on I'm transformed into an out of proportion, weirdly-heighted figure. I'm rendered completely unrecognisable from the waist down. 

I still keep trying though, at every opportunity I drag friends to the changing rooms and make them awkwardly sugar-coat the phrase 'that makes you look ridiculous'. Luckily for them I already know I look ridiculous. If it goes on my bottom-half and it isn't monochromatic; I always look ridiculous.

I'm convinced I just haven't found the right pair; so watch this space.

For those of you who don't have such a crisis, here are some of my favourites:

 Topshop

 Nasty Gal

 ZARA

 Ralph Lauren

Vero Moda

And here is a quick round up of this weeks OOTDs:

Shirt: Blue Rinse

Skirt: Hearts & Bows at Ark

Tights: Marks & Spencer

Lace jumper: New Look

Leggings: River Island

Necklace: Dorothy Perkins 

Dress: Glamorous at Ark

Tights: Marks & Spencer

Necklace: Ark

Bracelet: Topshop

Rings: H. Samuel (top), Vintage Market in Brussels (bottom)

All this and more to come on my Instagram: @clairegillesp

And some recommendations: 

The Dukes of Bevington - These boys are playing a gig in Harrogate on Sunday, but if (like me) you can't make it you should check out their EP Deux.

World War Z - Probably the best zombie film I've ever seen. Definitely the only zombie film I've ever seen with an actual plot. Still not sure what the point of the bikes is though.

The Botanist, Leeds - Beautifully decorated, nice staff, about as pricey as you'd expect.

xx

July's theme...and how this will work.

This month I'm going to try and do a sort of fashion/beauty/maybe talk about my hair but probably not sort of theme. I thought this would be a good transit for me using this for something other than talking about my year abroad because most of the blogs I follow are about this sort of thing, so I shouldn't be short of ideas.

I'm probably going to aim to post every 5 days and will probably do some OOTD type things over on my Instagram: clairegillesp

And on here too...

Jeans: ASOS

Shirt: MaxC (TK Maxx)

T-shirt: Topshop

Necklace: Um...we found it in our new house

Watch: Casio

 First proper post to follow soon!


BEDIJ #30
We made it to the end! Although I am sorry this is so late, I went to Nottingham on Sunday and I've just been ridiculously busy since then.
So if I'm honest I didn't really do much on Sunday apart from get a new phone and pack and then arrive in Nottingham to be greeted by takeaway pizza.
Thank you to everyone who's kept reading through all of this - hopefully better things to follow!


xx