The Rose With No New Clothes: February 2014

Outfit: 255

Day: Only 48 days left!

Well, it's now 2014 and, although I may not have been very good at keeping up with this blogging malarky so far, one thing I HAVE been good at in 2014 is NOT shopping... The Challenge is still going strong. In fact on the first of the month I hit the 8 month mark! Get me!? Dead proud.

My time at home in Ireland over Christmas brought me lots of yummy food, drink and lovely long and lazy catch ups, but, most importantly, it widened my wardrobe horizons considerably, thanks to a raid on the attic, my family's closets and, of course, some lovely Christmas pressies…

I spent days in this gorgeous Calvin Klein jumper of my dad's (I tried to sneak it back to London but unfortunately was intercepted at Leo Diamond customs…):

Outfit No 236 - Keeping Cosy in my dad's Calvin Klein

Jazzed it up for Christmas shopping with this scarf which I recently resurrected from a bin liner of old clothes and which has become a real 'go to' in recent weeks:

Outfit No 236
Scarf - Miss Selfridge (2009)

The scarf also had a starring role in this outfit which has become a night out staple of late:

Outfit No 237
Lace Batwing - Never Fully Dressed (2012)
Scarf - Miss Selfridge (2009)
Necklace -Primark

Coat - Topshop from eBay (2013)
The mittens were a Christmas gift from my mama :)

And ANOTHER coat was dusted off… There really has been a bit of a red and black theme going on recently:

More Coat Love

Coat - Motel (2008)

Boots - Schuh (2013)

I gave this rather festive looking dress its first whirl of the year on Christmas Day. If you can't wear a Christmas jumper then why not dress as a Christmas bauble instead?

Outfit No 238 - Christmas Day
Dress - Maisy (2010)

I'm gonna level with you, the last few weeks have not been easy... I'm tired. Tired of winter and tired of my winter wardrobe. Tired of finding moth holes in my favourite batwing sweaters and tired of the rain soaking my pumps. Tired of discovering new matted clumps in my fur and scuffs on my boots… Let's call it Fashion Fasting Melancholia (FFM), or just plain old January Blues...

Because without a shadow of doubt January brought with it a definite Fashion Fasting Rut in the form of a uniform of black leggings and jumpers:

Outfit No 247
Jumper - New Look (2012)
Boots - New Look (2009)
Socks - Topshop (2009)

I've been pretty reliant on outerwear to bring a little colour into my life:

Coat - New Look (2012)
Boots - New Look (2009)
Mittens - Topshop (2010)
Scarf - Zara Men (borrowed from my flatmate…thanks, Em!)

This FFM probably has a lot to do with why I have been MIA. It's not much fun blogging about clothes that you are bored of wearing…

However, I did get a couple of nice little pieces for Christmas which have served as little rays of sunshine, brightening the dismal grey days of last few weeks. Not least this gorgeous cobalt blue cable knit jumper (Santa clearly read my last post) which has been given quite a few outings:

Christmas present joy for #therosewithnonewclothes

This beanie hat from Acessorize is also a new Christmas addition to my wardrobe and has been pretty much glued to my head as the only block between me and the curly Annie-esque hairdo that the weather INSISTS on trying to give me…

Outfit No 245
Jumper - Dunnes Stores

Beanie - Accessorize
Pumps - Office (2013)

This skirt was a reject of my flatmate's (thanks Ais!) which, of course, I snapped up immediately… Well, you know what they say, 'One woman's tat is another woman's treasure.' It is so cheery with the blue, I think. I do love a bit of trashtastic leopard print...

Outfit No 250

Tired of living in jeggings and skinny jeans, I unearthed my black harem trousers for the first time this season.

Outfit No 253
Floral Embossed Harem Pants - Zara (2013)
Silver Brogues - Steve Madden (2010)
Glasses - Gok Wan for Specsavers (2011)

I love how thrown together looking this outfit is. Such random mixture of pieces but I think they really work together. You might just think I look confused (I usually am) but I like it.

The embossed fabric of the trousers is actually pretty thick so they are really winter friendly: