It's March 2020, the UK is in lockdown, everyone's dining room table has turned into a makeshift office and the supermarket shelves are bare. The world has gone mad. Still, all jokes aside, we are living in a global pandemic - something I never thought I would witness during my lifetime. The Coronavirus has spread across the world at an alarming rate taking no prisoners. As our health care professionals and scientists work tirelessly to care for the infected and try to find a cure, it is apparent our lives have been totally turned upside down  due to the outbreak of COVID-19. But, I won't go on as I'm sure you're up to your eyeballs with all news and social media channels discussing the same thing.

As most of the nation practice social distancing and have began working from home all clothing rules have gone out the window. I'm sure - if anything like me - everyone has resulted in lounging around the house (office) in their pyjamas. Because who needs to get dressed if you're not going anywhere, am I right? However, lounging around in your pyjamas all day can lessen your motivation, to actually do any work, and advice suggests that getting up and getting dressed can actually improve productivity and make you feel more motivated.

So, I thought to lighten the mood - and distract you from the bleak narrative of the media - I would style some lounge wear for all of you whom are working/self isolating at home. The oversized jogger trend has been around for a while and  wearing them outside of the house/gym is more accepted than ever. Also, I'm sure most of you have a pair of grey joggers lurking in your wardrobe somewhere. This blog post will include 4 ways to wear joggers so,  let's get you looking sofa chic while you WFH. The joggers I’m wearing in every pic are the Topshop 90’s oversized joggers in classic grey.

If you want to see more styling tips you can check out my How to Wear a Power Suit blog post - for when we are allowed to socialise again. I hope you are all staying safe and making the most of your time at home.

​Happy Sunday
(From a girl who is going stir-crazy)

- Edith Head

The art of power dressing emerged as a trend in the late 1970’s and continued to grow into the 1980’s. The power suit was originally adorned by women who were trying to gain authority within the work place - an environment which, at this time, was dominated by men. The idea was that by dressing like a man, in a suit that hid their feminine figure, women would gain respect and success in the workplace.

As more women became established in the working environment the aesthetics of the power suit began to change. Women no longer felt that they had to blend in. Female suits were created in different fabric and colours with different silhouettes - complimenting the women’s figure and helping them to stand out. Today, a power suit can be worn for any occasion - it is worn to make a statement.

To me, a power suit exudes confidence, sophistication and style. So, for my recent graduation ceremony I opted for one. I created an oversized silhouette with wide leg trousers and a men’s blazer. To dress the look up I styled the suit with a diamanté bag, some simple jewellery and a pair of heels as seen below.

The power suit never goes out of fashion, although silhouettes, prints and fabrics are continuously changing. The meaning behind power dressing has also changed. Women aren’t limited to wearing the power suit to work. The aesthetic has spilled into many different aspects of a women’s life and women can wear a suit anytime to feel confident and stylish. Below I have styled different suits which can be worn for different occasions.

So, there you have the power suit styled 4 different ways. A wardrobe staple that you can dress up or down depending on the occasion. Or, you could wear as separates - the options are endless. For more tips on styling  check out my blog 3 Ways to Wear Matalan in collaboration with Matalan.

I am back again with my yearly review of the best dressed at the Met Gala. This year's theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion and from the pink (red) carpet and the giant pink flamingo centre piece to the multitude of extra AF outfits I think it's fair to say the whole night was definitely camp. 

This years exhibition consisted of 170 fashion items from designers such as Jeremy Scott, Vivienne Westwood and Marc Jacobs - amongst others. The pink theme was carried throughout the exhibition and the words of Susan Sontag - from her essay 'Notes on Camp' from 1964 - featured throughout. Sontag can be noted as a key influence who brought camp into mainstream culture describing camp as an aesthetic. 

So now I will let you in on who I thought was the best dressed at this years event!

On the 18th of March I was kindly invited to the opening of the new Matalan store here in Aberdeen. When I arrived there was a mass of people queuing and waiting for the red ribbon to be cut. As shoppers entered the store there was a DJ and big balloons in classic Matalan red decorated the shop floor. As a guest I was given £50 worth of vouchers to spend in store on the day. I was surprised at the variety of clothes available for my age range - I used to think of Matalan as a 'mum store' but they have definitely upped their game.

Well, I'm sure you've noticed animal print is having a moment (unless you've been living under a rock). Yes, animal print has made a come back and it is bigger, bolder and brighter than ever! The catwalk was overrun by crazy animal prints at New York Fashion Week this month setting the scene for this key Autumn/Winter 2018 trend. Designers leading the way with this animal print trend included Tom Ford, Victoria Beckham, Calvin Klein and Carolina Herrera. 

Once again Ibiza did not disappoint. After taking a year off last year to go to Hideout Festival I returned this summer to the White Isle for the 4th time. I was on holiday with a group of 9 girls so you can imagine there was lots of hysterical laughing and our apartment looked like a giant explosion of clothes and makeup (packing to go home was not fun). When it comes to holiday fashion basically anything goes and I love trawling through Insta for Ibiza outfit inspo. I like to buy from platforms like depop where you find little independent brands and talented people who can make you custom pieces so a few garments in this edit will be from depop/independent UK brands. Anyway less of me rambling and more pics.

We were only on the island for 4 nights - short and sweet- but outfit planning was still super stressful. Below are details of my 4 night time outfits.

So I have been really busy since graduating from my undergrad uni course. Along with trying to accumulate as much hours as possible at my part time retail job I have been interning with a dress company called Must Have Dresses UK here in Aberdeen where I have been working on their social media and marketing.

Must Have Dresses is a dress boutique where the main concept behind the business is designer dress hire. Women can hire a designer dress for a special occasion and then return the dress after a few days. After graduating from university in Aberdeen - now business owner - Vishwavara Archer worked for corporate Aberdeen and her designer dress hire idea was just a distant dream. However, after taking some time off to have her two children she took the leap of faith to pursue her dream of a career within the fashion industry.

There was a gap in the market for designer dress hire within the UK – with only a handful of businesses throughout the UK offering this service – so the concept behind Must Have Dresses is unique within the North East area. Fast fashion is so ingrained in today’s shopping culture especially amongst women. You know how it is, no outfit repeating allowed. So, the concept behind Must Have Dresses means women can hire a designer dress for a fraction of the price it would cost them to buy it then return it after. Essentially this method of shopping saves women money and critical wardrobe space.

Below you can see me playing dress up in one of the dresses available for hire - that Vish kindly lent me for free. The dress I’m wearing is a heavenly encrusted Frock & Frill dress. This dress is called the Erin maxi dress from this year’s Spring/Summer collection. The floor length dress is a almost nude colour with gold and rose gold embellishments and sheer sleeves.I styled the dress back to front so the V shaped neckline plunges at the front (proof it could be worn either way). The dress gives an almost 1920’s/Gatsby glamour vibe and if you look at the rest of Frock & Frill’s designs I think that perception is very fitting with their brand image.

Like so many others I graduated from uni this week. My graduation ceremony took place on Wednesday afternoon. Our ceremony was held at His Majesty’s Theatre here in Aberdeen and it was a proud day for my friends and myself. Afterwards the celebrations continued with my family and my boyfriend. The traditional thing to do seems to be to go for a meal after the ceremony so we headed to All Bar One - which I highly recommend.

This one’s for all of the 'not girly' girls amongst us. So a couple of weeks ago I went to the Perth races with my friends. We had a really fun day out - I had no idea how to bet but I enjoyed watching the horses race past ​and it was a good excuse to get all dressed up. But there lied my problem. I had no idea what I was going to wear. In all of the pictures I had seen from the races, all of the girls were dressed very fancy and the boys looked super smart. I soon realised when I was looking online for inspo all of the top online retailers had edits. Sections on their websites specifically devoted to a day at the races or 'occasion wear'. JACKPOT. Sadly scrolling endlessly through the pages and pages of clothes on these edits I was disappointed. Seas of pastel colours, flowery patterns, floaty skirts - the epitome of girly and that is just not me. So! I have decided to create my own edit of things I have found online that I think would look fab at a special occasion such as the races or a wedding or even just a night out!
(Firstly you can see the blazer dress I wore from the Missguided x Madison Beer collection which I styled with red sock boots from Ego Shoes and a pink bag with a red heart on the front from Skinny Dip London).

So for those of you who don’t know I was at Riverside Festival in Glasgow this weekend and I had the best time! The festival is all house and techno music and is held beside the River Clyde in the centre of Glasgow. I loved being back in Glasgow and it was even better that i was going to Riverside Festival for the first time! I went with my boyfriend and we stayed in this amazing apartment from Air BnB which had the best view. Over the weekend we seen lots of different DJ's like Patrick Topping, Green Velvet, Skream and Jackmaster.
The festival is only 2 days hence why this is a ‘quick’ guide. As the festival is in Scotland I was a little worried about what the weather may be like when I was deciding on outfits as you know it can be so unpredictable but luckily we were blessed with scorching sun all weekend! Anyway let’s get into the interesting bit! I didn't actually get that much photos because I was too busy enjoying myself (I know and I call myself a blogger) but you can see some below.
So most of the time I always dress in black but for festivals I like to (try) add a bit of colour! I am obsessed with small sunnies (much to my boyfriends dismay). I can’t help myself but try colourful makeup (even though I am by no means good). If something comes as a co-ord I'm definitely buying it (makes life so much easier) and lastly trainers are a must (because who wants sore feet? - not me).