MN Vogue Vol 51

[shopafrolic]

Still going strong as we head into 2015. Not a chance I can beat the vol 50 intro from the lovely Dry so I won't even try. Lots of newbies have joined the fun, why don't you? Come tell us your sales splurges. All welcome for fun fashion chat.

Ps That's great you can wear gold & silver jewellery. Are you warm or cool toned, do you think?
Sorry at my poor attempt above to disguise the word b*stards!

Yes, small earrings Cranagh, I like small drop ones. I have several sterling silver pairs from Accessorise but gold definitely seems to look better but is obviously more expensive! I tend to get reactions to metals other than sterling silver or gold. I remember you saying your Mum's jewellery had been stolen, how awful . Your cousin is so talented.

Blair I didn't buy the other stories skirt, just tried it on and decided to sleep on it. If I am near Regent st again this week I may give it another go. It sounds like your consultant really didn't get you! Is your sister happy with her style personality result? I think it's a very hard thing to do well actually. I have being thinking about my session and I felt the consultant was almost a bit petulant at times - on reflection though I think she found it stressful as I kept interrupting, often to basically say 'move on' as she was talking about things I really didn't need. For example, at one point she read out a long list of shops I should be going to and was insistent I write them down and I was thinking 'seriously love, I know EVERY shop' . Commenting on people's style / image requires really good interpersonal skills, maybe it's something she needs to work on or maybe she was just having a bad day.

What my skin tones are warm, hence the gold. I had been wearing all silver for years so I had it completely wrong. I am looking at my veins now and I can't really judge if they are blue or green - how bad is that???

Having a massive clear out and it feels really cathartic. Mainly old toys/puzzles but also have sold an old handbag and a pair of converse and a pair of heels that I never wear.

stokey I,m not sure that I have that athletism either but my CP is definitely me. I look and feel like I'm playing dress up if I wear anything too tailored/structured and I definitely like to be comfortable and "ready to run in the woods at any time" (hoc speak not me!).
blair you could try and go back to her but it sounds like you didn't have a good rapport there so msybe just chalk it up to experience.
cranagh my sympathies for you having had jewellery stolen. None of mine is inherited or hugely valuable (mainly silver Tiffanys stuff) but most of it holds sentimental value as dh has bought most of it over the years. I'd also like to pass it on.

cranagh your cousins jewelley is gorgeous.
liberty and blair I'm so glad my consultant wasn't like that. They should be there is give you guidance and support not a load of hugely rigid rules. There has to be some flexibility and I'm saying that as a huge lover of the prescriptiveness of it.

QueenC the 'run in the woods bit* has just made me laugh. When my consultant was trying to figure out if I was romantic or natural she asked me if I like being outdoors. I said 'yes, it's one of the main reasons why we want to move to Australia'. So she asked what activities I saw myself doing so I clarified that by outdoors living in Oz I mean having a home with this type of outdoor area while I spend my day wafting in and out wearing a sundress and barefoot with beautifully manicured toes, elegantly sipping a perfectly chilled viognier -sigh, dreams

At that point she said RC

Yes you had a good consultant QueenC

The information I got was really useful, doing the two sessions in one go is hard work. I think the style day might be better as a group thing as I think the opportunity to chat it all through with other people who are trying to figure it out would really help and probably makes for an easier class for the consultant. At the end of my session the poor lady looked really tired and so was I. I would be happy to recommend her though to others.

Overall I am really glad I did it, I feel I have a strategy now for buying clothes whereas before I was buying lots of random things in varying styles and all in the wrong colours. I can see much more clearly now how I can start to build a decent capsule wardrobe.

I knew I had yellowy skin because dh is very pink and when we compare skin it's very obvious. Pretty much all my jewellery is silver coloured. Day to day I wear small earrings, for eves I like big statements.
The style day will be interesting as I too wear totally different things depending on what I'm doing. Today I'm training with the dogs so I'm 'natural' jumper, jeans, long flat boots etc whereas when I'm out with the girls I'm glam. I did say to the lady yesterday I have clothes/shoes from 4 of the style personalities.

lib my sister is quite happy I think, she certainly accepts her diagnosis better than I have. Totally agree on the consultant talking about lots of irrelevant stuff - I said afterwards (not to her!) that because we were short on time, she should have asked us which bits we wanted to focus on! Instead, she made us write down "10 top tips for professional women" (like: shake hands like a man - seriously?!) and told us very solemnly that the true cost of a garment is (and she had to look this up) the price divided by the number of times you wear it. Yeah that's called cost per wear love and I've gone way past considering that when I am deciding to buy something or not.

She hasn't sent me a list of shops yet - she said she was going to email it - but I could do with a laugh! What shops did yours recommend for RC?

I didn't realise about the skirt, yeah maybe try it again with some shoes that you'd expect to wear it with.

Cranagh there is some stunning jewellery on that site! Lovely for a browse. Sorry to hear about your burglary.

Thanks, I was stupid not to have it insured, some of it was in the US but never got it valued here. I had given a couple of things to my brothers for their nieces so they'll have something. I'm a dark summer so cool toned, Whattowear, she said rose gold didn't look good on me but yellow gold and silver both fine, also pearls (but I don't love them).

QueenC at "run in the woods"!

I had given a couple of things to my brothers for their daughters - my nieces, I mean!

You may need to brace yourself Blair...

Romantic classic - Fenn Wright Mason, Armani and Kaliko.

Romantic - James Lakeland, Laura Ashley, Monsoon, Phase 8, Artigiano and Grey & Osbourn

Classic - lots more here, all the usuals really like M&S, Coast, Hobbs, Jaeger and some high end like Chanel and Chloe.

She showed me the full list for all types. Gap was for Gamine and naturals. Agnes B was the only French high street shop mentioned and that just for gamine. The list really needs an update - hardly any online retailers. No mention of the outnet etc. I am sure a lot of the consultants, people like Travellincolour and Hopefully would be a lot more up to date but it's a shame HoC don't help them - I think Hopefully has mentioned before that the website causes her despair.

Interesting Cranagh, my mum is a dark summer and the consultant told her she should try to wear antique/textured rose gold. And she talked a lot about pearls too.

Yeah I would never buy anything in all those Romantic shops. My consultant made us look at the Artigiano catalogue, I had never heard of it but she had sooo many catalogues. (Who buys from catalogues these days?!)

Classic shops, yes, though would have thought M&S would have something for everyone depending on what their crazy designers are up to that season.

I think the outnet probably caters for all types too.

I would add (just musing, no idea if it would help anyone) -
Dramatic: Cos, & Other stories, Reiss, Zara
Ingenue: Warehouse, Oasis
Romantic: Anthropologie,
Natural: Fat face, joules, white company, boden, comptoir des cotonniers
Classic: Boden, Reiss, uniqlo
Gamine: Cos

I might actually do this properly at home, as I have a list of about 80 shops that I consult when I'm on a search. (Oh dear the HoC lady never stood a chance!)

Going to look at fenn wright manson, kaliko and armani. :)

Oh that's a good idea Blair.

I am feeling bad in case anyone thinks I am slagging HoC off - I did get a lot out of the day, am delighted with my colours and the SP diagnosis has given me a lot to think about and is broadly right I think! I think any consultant seeing someone who reads / participates in S&B a lot would find that some of the class material is not so relevant.

Blair to be honest I think you were probably pretty confident in your clothing choices to start with and have found your style, even if you didn't think you had, which is maybe why you are not so keen on the choices someone else has made for you.

Interesting list of shops for cp's; love the clothes in anthropologie and always like the way white stuff style their outfits, but it just doesn't suit me. However, I can generally find clothes in Hobbs and boden (minus all the patterned stuff) as I think I am a classic dresser of some description and need fairly 'neat' clothes.

Cranagh, sorry most of your jewellery was stolen. I love the jewellery your cousin designs. Was particularly taken with the aquamarine ring but would probably need to sell a child win the lottery first!

Am liking your idea of outdoor living Lib

Shop the incident you mentioned has been on the local news today (I think it was the same one)

Oh dear blair, your consultant seriously needs to update herself to 2015. This is how having your colours done gets a bad rep. I don't think I was advised any shops to go to but there wouldn't be any point as I know them all anyway like you guys. As a 28yo I really can't see you shopping in fen Wright mason and kaliko. Was she an older consultant by any chance?
liberty I despair of the hoc website too. It's not exactly inspiring is it? im not sure whether I woukd have gone for it just looking at it. It was only meeting hopefully on here that made my mind up.

And liberty that's the difference between us as natural and romantic-if I lived in oz I'd be bumming around on the beach and hiking in the blue mountains!

Found a new top in the charity shop today. Gap navy tee with a lace front. Fits perfectly. I remembered shops link from the other day. There's no way I could dress exclusively from our local one. Theres the odd gem but it's mainly full of overpriced tat. I seriously don't think I would spend much less buying a new outfit each day than I would buying something new each month.

It was my consultant who provided the list of shops QueenC and she is older. But the list was one she printed off from the HoC site so they are not exactly helping their consultants.

I will hike a bit too QueenC but yes my first reaction was that outdoor living meant a nice deck! Have you been to the Blue Mountains? They are fantastic. I did 3 trips there when I was in Oz for a year.

Love your list Blair maybe you can become a trend consultant for HoC and update the whole thing. I love the dramatic shops on your list but as 5ft3 would never qualify as one.

I agree, I think the business needs a revamp. The sketches in the back of the style booklet are absolutely shocking and should be updated way more often to reflect actual trends. I also had to explain to my consultant the difference between flares and bootcut jeans. (Oh god, bet she loved me!)

Not wanting to slag the whole thing off either, but they don't help their image and I'm not surprised the younger consultants do get frustrated.

I looked at those 3 sites and it actually helped me to recognise "those" styles of clothes as RC. But you're right Lib I think FWM and Kaliko are probably a bit mature for me. And Armani is just expensive but at least I know to look for it on the outnet now if they ever have it, nice work stuff.

Saw this nice teal dress at Kaliko maybe for Lib?

Yes, a few of their dresses look like they might work for me. I'll have a browse through their stuff the next time I am in HoF or JL. I am trying to resist the urge to just start ordering loads on line and actually go and look at clothes IRL and try them on. For a while before Christmas I was really losing track of all the returns.

Armani is expensive and seemed to be a lot of viscose. I think Novice has bought work stuff there.

I've been to oz once lib and did a day in the blue mountains. The biggest thing I miss now I've got kids is going to be able to go on walking holidays. A proper 8 hour hike, how I miss thee.

Yes, the sketches are pretty dire aren't they blair. I don't think there were any skinny jeans/trousers at all. A bit frustrating really that you went to get style advice but seem to know far more about style and fashion than your consultant.