We are feeling pretty festive here at She and Hem, so in the spirit of the season, we thought it was time to hold a little competition for our lovely readers. Thanks to our friends at The Gro Company, it’s time for a Rafflecopter giveaway! Ho ho ho yeah! Like the certifiable Santas that we are (a little round, full of mince pies), we are giving you the chance to win a gorgeous Zig Zag Travel Grobag, as seen above. Designed for ages 0-6 months, the versatile 2.5 tog rating makes it suitable all year round. Simply enter below for the chance to win. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for you!
Keep your eyes peeled in 2017 for our little elves in their Grobags from the Orla Kiely range, which you can find on The Gro Company website right now. They are beautifully modeled by New Mum Online’s gorgeous little Lottie. Modelling for Orla Kiely at such a young age, we are very jealous Lottie!
It’s a “wearable blanket”. Can we get two in “new mum” size please?
Hello and welcome to the 30th Accessories to Murder! Are you ready to delve into the world of amazing accessories? Excellent. Before we crack on, just a heads up, this particular Accessories to Murder contains a sponsored link but please be assured we only feature the accessories we consider tip top! Without further ado, here are the accessories that have made it onto this week’s She and Hem’s Most Wanted.
Honey, could this sun hat bee any cuter? I don’t think so! And hive fives all round for that incredible name. Modcloth are the ultimate product naming champions, which just makes me love them even more. If you love them too, you need to buy this hat, but also check out our guest blogger Holly’s awesome post about their Modcloth IRL Tour this Summer.
Oh hello there you incredibly jazzy little two-tone gem. This Topshop bag is all kinds of zig-a-zag-ah. Now I’m not quite sure what that means, but Mel B once told me it was a good thing. The contrasting colours of this boxy crossbody give it a really groovy 70s vibe, which just so happens to be one of my favourite fashion eras.
One thing I’ve discovered recently is that Aspire Style don’t just sell excellent dresses, oh no, they have so many great accessories too. In fact, I think I could fill a whole Accessories to Murder with their bits! For now, I have chosen my favourite item which are these glittery cat eye sunglasses in blue and gold. Purrfect! If you spot anything you fancy online, use the Aspire Style discount code SHEANDHEM for a tasty 10% discount. You are welcome.
I’m not sure, but this could this be the perfect demin jacket. It is on the pricey side compared to the other items in today’s round up, but I have been told by people older and wiser than myself that jackets are something you should invest in, so you can wear them year after year. Light denim is not for everyone, but I love it and find it a lot more versatile than the darker alternatives. Check out Paige Jeans to see the jacket’s cute embroidered back, and feel free to let me know if I’m not really cool enough to pull it off!
Hold up! Is it a bag? Is it a hat? Oh my goodness, it’s both! What a world we live in, first friendly robots that can perform heart surgery, and now bags in the shape of hats. Whatever next? Anyway, sandwiched between the two more expensive (but equally fabulous) items, I’ve popped in this novelty bag bargain. £14.69 for a bag that’s also a hat? You can do no wrong.
Speaking of which, Orla Kiely can do no wrong in my eyes. They are my all time favourites. Every London Fashion Week, it’s the Orla show that Jo and I go completely gaga over, and they never disappoint. Their clothing just gets better and better and their new collection is some of their best yet. My number one item from the collection is this flower pot cardigan. Quirky yet simple. Pretty yet practical. Never change Orla!
We are loving the many colourful stripes of 2016 but there’s something so classically stylish about keeping things monochrome. It’s just such a delightfully versatile print dontcha think? However, being us, we like to throw in a few bright bold colours when putting together any outfit. Let’s make those black and white stripes really pop!
We each styled the beautiful box pleated Maggie Ottoman Skirt from Boden*. The skirt is available in both mini and midi lengths and is in the most gorgeous heavy jersey material (zero ironing required – bonus!), plus it has pockets and you know how much we love a pocket!
I (Jo) plumped for the mini length which I was pleased to discover isn’t realllly so mini and hits just above the knee making it work appropriate! Hoorah. I teamed it with a yellow Visual Cashmere jumper, also from Boden*, which I thought helped make quite a nice transitional outfit thanks to the 3/4 sleeves. FYI these photos were taken on the one day of the year that the sun was out in full force so I got a bit carried away and thought Spring had arrived! The white polkadot tights are from UKTights (although they don’t seem to exist anywhere in the world – if anyone knows where I can get another pair please leave a comment!) and my black boots are an old pair from THE WHITEPEPPER. I finished off by tying a polkadot scarf round my head which was in no way whatsoever a cunning ploy just to hide my roots.
Victoria is totally rocking the midi length with gusto (we both agreed we feel much more comfortable in some sort of heel when wearing anything this length) and when teamed with Boden’s* poppy red Everyday Jumper those stripes become extra eye-catching. It’s such a good look – so much so in fact that Victoria ended up wearing a variation of this outfit to London Fashion Week….but that’s a post for another day. She kept her tights nude and finished off with those amazing Orla Kiely for Clarks shoes that make me so jealous whenever I see them. Oh Orla, please please please do more high-street collaborations!
WARNING: Monochrome stripes will attract monochrome moggies.
Last weekend we took part in our very first Instagram takeover for She and Hem favs Emily and Fin! We had a blast, quite literally, as the takeover coincided with bonfire night. BANG! If you can’t get your sparklers out for Instagram then when can you? We wore these two fabulous AW15 dresses as we went about an average She and Hem weekend, eating and drinking our way around Bristol! To celebrate the takeover, we visited one of our favourite tea rooms, Cox and Baloney, to take some outfit photos and sample some of their wonderful homemade delights. I (Victoria) can wholeheartedly recommend the salted caramel cake!
I wore Emily and Fin’s 1940’s inspired falling feather Holly Dress*. I have to admit, at first I wasn’t sure if I could pull off the longer length of the dress as, unfortunately, I am not blessed in the height department (I am definitely more of a Kylie than a Kendall). Despite my initial worries, thanks to the belted waist and flattering sleeves, I think I made it work for me! C’mon, just look at those wonderful sleeves! What’s not to love? Jo is wearing the super pretty snowy mountain Sophie Dress*. With it’s cute shape and fun print, there really is nothing frosty about it. You get my drift? Although the Sophie is shorter in length than the Holly, it’s tulip style skirt makes it versatile and work appropriate. We accessorised our dresses with books, bunting and a sewing machine. An excellent combination I’m sure you will agree. Sew far, sew good!
Thank you Emily and Fin for trusting us with your Instagram. We hope we did you proud!
V&J
You can check out our takeover over on the Emily and Fin Instagram
Shoes glorious shoes! We were super pumped when the lovely folk at Clarks got in touch to ask if we would like to style some shoes from their new collection of shoes&boots for AW15! We couldn’t resist their latest collaboration with Orla Kiely, which we first saw in all its fabulous retro glory at the gorgeous #allquietinthelibrary London Fashion Week AW15 presentation. They are fun, quirky and playful! Basically, we like to think of them as the ‘She and Hem’ of the shoe world. That works for everyone, yeah?
We love how the famous stem print design is incorporated on to the sole of all of the shoes in the collection. It’s the little touches like that, the detailing of the straps and the exciting colours which make this collection so shoe-purb! All of Orla’s collaborations with Clarks have been pretty dreamy so far, but this one is definitely our favourite. From sparkly gold flats to groovy 70’s platforms, they are all blooming perfect! And comfy too! So very comfy.
Victoria plumped for the oh-so-sparkly navy and gold Orla Abigail* which, judging by the amount of times we have spotted these beauties on Instagram, are the must have shoe of the moment! It’s not hard to see why as they really are beautiful with such a lovely shimmer and, thanks to their perfectly formed chunky heel, are going to be just the ticket for party season! Victoria let her shoes do the talking and embraced a Sixties vibe with her black and white Primark dress, which is currently available in store if you fancy finding it. She looks so chic!
I (Jo) chose the Orla Angelina* because red and pink is my absolute favourite colour combination at the moment and with those lovely pink buttoned flowers, they were just too cute not to have! I couldn’t wait to wear them with my favourite Boden* skirt (seriously, I live in this skirt now) and, once I’d added some jazzy purple spotted tights and a pink pompom, I decided to try and tone down the madness by wearing a ballet dancer print blouse from Zara. That sentence makes complete sense in my head, anyway.
These shoes really are just fabulous and look so much more expensive than they are! Please carry on these fantastic collaborations, Clarks! We don’t want this to be the last.
We’ve already blogged (and vlogged!) about our time at the beautiful Bristol Balloon Fiesta but with a back drop like that it would have been unacceptable blogger behavior not to have taken some outfit photos whilst we were there! As luck would have it, the lovely Emily and Fin kindly sent us a few pieces from their stunning new Autumn Winter collection to style and we couldn’t resist taking them for a spin.
The new collection features so many beautiful new prints and shapes but we were both equally blown away by the vibrant colours of the Painted City Circus print. It’s so much fun with skyscrapers, bridges, Big Ben and the Statue of Liberty all jostling for position! I (Jo) went for the print in the Ruby dress* which is a longer style and features a scooped neckline, fitted waist and a super flattering box pleated full skirt. I accessorised with a simple yellow belt, yellow Orla Kiely for Clarks shoes (have you seen the new collection? our bank balances are already terrified) and my go-to red heart sunglasses.
Victoria opted for the Florence skirt* which has an incredibly lovely curved waistband which really makes it sit nicely. As a couple of dress fans, it has totally converted us! She teamed it with the yellow polka-dot Edna top*, which is the perfect match for this print, nude sandals from New Look and round ASOS sunglasses. One of our favourite things about Emily and Fin is that they always do a good pocket and the new collection is no exception! We can also confirm that both styles are perfect for twirling in.
A big thank you to Emily and Fin for sending us these stunning outfits. We really can’t decide if we prefer the dress or the skirt! What do you think?
The red carpet has been rolled out in Bristol this week for the return of the South West’s largest fashion event, Bristol Fashion Week at The Mall. Thousands of stylish Bristolians will be strutting over to The Mall to catch one of the 17 catwalk shows, hosted by Lucy Watson from Made in Chelsea and Lorraine Kelly’s BFF/TV stylist Mark Heyes. This year the show has a travel theme, with the entrance of the purpose built pavilion styled as an airport departure lounge and each store has put together a cool collection of on-trend looks, based on gap years, summer holidays and safari chic.
We flew in on Wednesday night and, in true She and Hem style, were the last to board flight S/S15, with a one way ticket to the land of denim, swish 70’s and our personal favourite, brights. We saw so many outfits, the Bristol Fashion Week tailor must be swift. His career will certainly take off!
After the show, we had a stop over at M&S in The Mall to check out the new Limited Edition collection, hang out with lovely local bloggers and eat ALL of the cheese. I (Victoria) fell in love with the Paisley Print Dress that Lily is beautifully modelling below and Jo’s yellow M&S Limited Edition No Peep Dress was certainly first class! In addition to her gorgeous M&S dress, Jo wore brown beads (old) also from M&S, spotty tights from UK Tights, Urban Outfitters boots and her Kate Spade bag. I wore a vintage 1970’s dress from Portobello Road with my brown Orla Kiely for Clarks heels and black tights from UK Tights. My belt is from New Look and black floppy hat from ASOS. We both accessoried with M&S flowers!
Will we be seeing you at Bristol Fashion Week 2016?
You all know how much we love Cath Kidston (a quick glance at our Instagram should be enough to confirm that fact!) so we were on cloud nine when they invited us to style one of their gorgeous new prints! We love them all, naturally, but we’ve been truly smitten ever since we first caught a glimpse of the blue and white perfection that is the cloud print and decided the skies the limit in terms of how many clouds two girls can wear at the same time!
When we originally left the house to take our outfit photos we were slightly dismayed to see a sky full of grey cloud! How totally unfitting, boo! However, after a fortuitous stop for tea and cake (and more cake), the skies cleared to make way for the most beautiful spring day! The moral of the story? Always stop for cake! We decided to make the most of this unlikely change in the weather and headed to one of our most favourite spots in Bristol, Brandon Hill. Not only is it Bristol’s oldest (and prettiest) park but it’s also home to Cabot Tower, AKA Rapunzel’s home, which you can climb up for the most the most spectacular view over the city! We had a fabulous afternoon making friends with the local squirrels (who were totally nuts for the cloud print, obvs) and pottering around the park.
Victoria wore the Clouds Cotton Dress with Shirred Waist and teamed it with nude tights and her amazing white heels from ASOS. The shirred waist really makes this dress super flattering, especially as it’s so lovely and floaty! Hopefully this style is something we will be seeing more of from CK. I (Jo) wore the Cloud Cotton Skirt and Cloud Intarsia Jumper (which is in the sale FYI) and teamed them with white heart seam tights from UKtights and my faithful yellow shoes from Orla Kiely for Clarks. I also added an old hot air balloon necklace from New Look as I like to think it looks as though it’s flying through the clouds! Yellow is definitely a colour that makes this print pop and when it gets a bit warmer I will definitely be swapping my jumper for a yellow tee.
The cloud print proved the perfect spring attire and we received many a compliment (as well as the odd confused glance) about our matchy matchy clouds! It’s just such a cheerful print and the beautiful blue really make it stand out. Bonus points to Cath for always including pockets in dresses and skirts! Pocket power all the way!
We started off Day 2 of LFW with a trip to the Orla Kiely showcase (which we have written a post about here!). After that, we had some time to kill between shows, so we decided to go and check out the ever fabulous Somerset House. Pretty standard London Fashion Week activities I’m sure you will agree. What we are not so accustomed to is how we traveled there… in a stretch hummer! The lovely Kristabel from I Want You To Know captured this in her awesome Fashion Week Vlog. Be warned, the vlog does feature me (Victoria) getting a little over excited and doing what the kids are now calling #hummerdance.
I wore the Square Print Pleat Skirt Dress from The Whitepepper with probably the most worn item in my wardrobe ever, my yellow Ingrid Coat from Boden* (now in the sale!). I accessorised with fun spotty tights from UK Tights*, white ASOS Strike Heels and a yellow Westminster bag from Boden*. Jo wore a gorgeous Needle and Thread tulle skirt from ASOS, with a vintage blue jacket from Heartfelt Vintage and floral Emilie top from Boden*. Her Alice Heels are also from Boden and that glorious pink bag is Kate Spade.
Image taken from ASOS Fashion Finder
Our jazzy outfits proved to be quite the hit on the cobbles, and we ended up popping up all over the place. Some of our favourite features we saw over the weekend were Yahoo’s best street style, ASOS Fashion Finder, STYLELDN and Boden Diaries. We had such a blast that we often struggled to pull our best ‘we are very serious about fashion’ faces.
We had quite a busy schedule that afternoon, but our favourite show was the couture collection from Hellavagirl. The show was a kaleidoscopic dream! Vibrant, dramatic and seriously sparkly. Just look at those incredible giant sequin bow headbands!
Hellavagirl designer Helen with the models.
Having been up since 7am and in need of a pick me up, we made use of our central location and decided to head back to base for a quick G&T and get changed into our chirpy Poppy frocks before heading out to our evening shows. Lady Gaga would be proud! I wore the Iris Navy Budgie Dress and Jo wore the Mable White Budgie Dress. Keep your eyes peeled and your beaks sharpened for a new Poppy post next week.
London Fashion Week AW15: Day 3 coming next week, you lucky things!
During London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2015, we spent three incredibly fun days attending shows, randomly bumping into blogger buddies and drinking several palm trees worth of Vita Coco. With British fashion stronger than ever, we were so happy to be in the capital for one of our favourite events of the year. Second only to pancake day, obviously.
On day one, with a strong coffee in hand, we headed over to Somerset House super early ready for the first show of the season, J.JS Lee. After the show, and before bumping into the lovely Joseph and Kristabel, we took a few outfit photos in the midst of all the fashionable fun. We were very kindly loaned a few beautiful items from the glorious Heartfelt Vintage in Bristol. I (Victoria) wore an original 1970’s black velvet skirt with a colorful jacket by House of Frou Frou, both from Heartfelt Vintage. My white shirt is from Marks & Spencer, the yellow square shoulder bag is vintage and my new favourite Dilly heels are Orla Kiely for Clarks. Jo’s floral 1950’s dress and vintage cloche also came from Heartfelt vintage, which she teamed with a black leather jacket from Marks & Spencer, a yellow Westminster bag from Boden and black round heel ankle boots from The Whitepepper.
