2DyeFor: mary portas

Showing posts with label mary portas. Show all posts

Sunday

What Mary Did Next.

A few weeks ago I clicked onto one of my all time favourite blogs - The Sartorialist - and was faced with a bit of a 'mind reading' moment. "If You're Thinking About .... Metallic Shoes" was the posts title and what followed was a collage of achingly cool folk in an array of metallic kicks, all looking superb. And the best thing was that yes, I had been thinking about metallic shoes. Brogues to be precise.

The Sartorialist

Now that Spring appears to be making (dare I say it?) early noises about its impending presence, thoughts have turned to my shoe wardrobe and much excitement has been had over the soon to be shedding of autumnal shades and welcoming back of some of my favourite, brighter pairs. However, over winter I have had one pair of shoes that I have dragged out time and time again - a pair of studded, black leather brogues from Zara. And while it pains me to say it I have had to come to terms with the fact that they are very seasonal and are best put away now we are coming into the brighter months - wearing them means running the risk of people assuming my feet are in mourning while my torso is enjoying the fresher air in a light sun dress.

So to tackle this I have come up with a great plan - metallic brogues! And after not too much searching I think I have found them.

The La Promenade metallic brogues by my guru Mary Portas for Clarks. You can guarantee they're good quality and will last for a long time to come. I love the snake skin effect on the leather and the tiny studs keep them trend driven but without being so obvious that, when fashions change, they are rendered unwearable. There's nothing worse than finding a great pair of shoes, loving them so much you buy them no matter the cost and then, next season, being unable to actually pair them with anything as they're in a time warp. These don't carry that risk - good quality leather and great flat shoes never go out of style. I'm almost too excited to style them with printed trousers and silk shirts for work but alas, until my next paycheck arrives I will simply have to wait it out.

This is most likely how I'll style mine.

Available here they also come in other colours and while you're there why not look at the rest of the collection? I appear to have become quite smitten with the La Lumiere heels. And, with so many summer weddings on the horizon for me, justifiable. No?

Tuesday

An Unlikely Icon.

I don't know about you but when 9PM rolled round last night I felt a little lost. Last week, every night, I spent a very happy 60 minutes watching Channel 4's incredible show Hotel GB. For those of you who missed it (shame on you) it was a pop up hotel in London staffed by some of the best known TV personalities regularly seen on Channel 4.

Mary Portas and Gordon Ramsey were co-Managers, Gok Wan ran the bar, Kirstie Allsop was Concierge and a veritable smörgåsbord of other celebs covered everything from the spa to cleaning the rooms.

Never again will I be able to picture Gordon Ramsey without the image of him on all fours asking poor Katie Piper about a 'back, sack and crack wax' popping up in my mind. *shudder*
If I wasn't already sure she is one of the best women to grace this earth the way she brushed Gordon's madness aside in such a ladylike manner would certainly have convinced me of her brilliance.

One thing I have gladly taken from the show though is a new style icon. Mary Portas. I know, I'm as surprised as you. I'm usually quite feminine in the way I dress - I like high heels, chiffon and lashings of mascara - but I couldn't help thinking, evening after evening how great she looked. And after being caught tweeting about it I was asked to feature a post about her screen style on my blog - it took me less than 0.86 seconds to agree to it!

Happily after some research I have found a few of the things she wore that I loved so much. Here's a closer look.

Mary about to give Paddy a black eye with hers!

The Spectacle ring in action.

Alternatives

Both rings are Swarovski but unfortunately the former has sold out (looks like I'm not the only one who got a new style crush last week) but there are similar styles here, here and here that are equally divine. Luckily the second is still in stock, although I'd imagine not for long. You can buy it here.

Mary tweeting about her boots.

Other things I loved were her patterned tights and great low heeled boots - fashionable yet comfortable enough to wear every day. Surely the holy grail of shoes.

The tights she wore were Mary Portas for Charnos (shop the collection here) and the boots were Mary and Clarks and are available here and here. I love these boots - I have a lot of meetings all over for my job so a heel I can run around in is essential. These might have to be my next investment.

All in all I'm thrilled I've found a new stylish woman to keep a beady eye on. Although I'm not sure that I shouldn't have known better - her partner's Melanie Rickey (of Grazia fame) for goodness sake, it's surely in her nature to be this cool, no?

Friday

Luxurious Legs

Let's face it. This summer has been overwhelmingly underwhelming weather-wise for us all. I think it's the first summer I can ever remember where it's actually been this bad - I know we complain every year (what do we expect, sudden Mediterranean climate behaviour?) but this year has really taken the (soggy, rain drenched) biscuit.

I've mourned my inability to bring some of my favourite summer dresses out from storage and dealt with it the way any sane fashion obsessed girl would. By wrapping myself in a fur throw, stropping onto my (cold) balcony and drinking red wine with The September Issue in hand. Don't judge me - you know you've done a variation!

Now my mourning period is over I've decided to look to the future and just on the horizon I can see my shiny new Autumn/Winter wardrobe glistening; tempting me with it's chunky knits and metallic skirts (thank you for the inspiration Mulberry!)

I always feel, however, that with a good A/W outfit there's a key area of the body not being viewed in quite the same sartorially important way. The legs. Brilliantly my idol, Mary Portas, has come up with a fashion appropriate solution.

Introducing Mary and Charnos:

With a huge range to chose from available in House of Fraser and online through the Charnos site here (site links to online retailers) there's really no excuse why we can't all have perfect pins all the way through the darker months.

I'm particularly loving the indigo sheer spot pair teamed with a nice collar detail dress and heels for a trusty work- to -bar look.

Can't wait to get mine!

Tuesday

Happy Feet

Mary. My idol. My mentor. My style inspiration (have you seen her Mawi jewellery collection?!) And one day? Hopefully my boss!

Yes, Portas has done it again - gone and brought out another shoe collection that will see me hot footing it (excuse the pun) to Clarks this weekend.

Just in time for the rising temperatures these beauties have landed in store:

My personal favourite is the wedge at the top and upon further research I found this is actually available in not one but two colours. Lucky us!

The vibrant yellow is perfect to add a twist of cool to a relaxed weekend look and the lilac paired with some DVF and MJ and you're bar ready, don't you agree?

Left:

Right:

Of course it's also festival season so I thought it only fair I show some festival looks with the stunning sandals involved.

Left:

Dress | Jane Norman
Headdress |River Island
Bag | Oasis
Shoes | Mary Portas for Clarks

Right:

Top | Miss Selfridge
Shorts | jades24.com
Bag | Rafe New York
Shoes | Mary Portas for Clarks

The former is infinitely more likely for me as I have no time to attend any festivals this summer. So a Sazerac with a side of DVF it is!