Fashion: Dressing to the max

The maxi dress is such a staple in my wardrobe, especially come summer…. 

For me it's the "go to" when I'm unsure on what to wear. Dressed up, dressed down, anything goes. With summer BBQ's, weddings, festivals, the beach and balls all around the corner, here's a round up of our favourites. 

Add plenty of gold jewellery & a denim jacket for dressed down, or dress these beauties up with structured blazer & clutch for a more formal look: 

L-R: ASOS-£25, Tucker@The Outnet-£148, Mango-£90, Tibi@Netaporter-£525

These ones are perfect for a summer BBQ or a chic festival look:

L-R: Hilfinger@ASOS-£85, Camilla@Matches-£545, Zara-£59

Throw these over a bikini or toughen up with a leather biker jacket:

L-R: Velvet-£160, River Island-£30, ASOS-£55

Fashion: The message is in the flowers

As some of you may know, one of us at Stylekt11 is a blogger by day but an illustrator by night. Or vice versa, but you get the idea. I basically love to draw, paint, sketch and produce beautiful pieces of artwork. So imagine my delight when I discovered new Brit brand 'Language of Flowers' this week. 

They produce beautifully crafted luxe T-shirts and vests made from eucalyptus pulp with a luxuriously soft finish. In a romantic twist they will then adorn these with gorgeous  hand-drawn illustrations and stylised flower images to get their messages across: lime blossom (passion), apple thom (temptation) and forget-me-not (self explanatory!).

The concept was inspired by the Victorian era in Great Britain, when people weren’t allowed to express their feelings out loud, instead communicating with each other through the gift of flowers. Every flower you see today is symbolic and has its own meaning - red roses on Valentines day to symbolise true love for example. 

LOF want to revive the traditions and bring back romanticism. That coupled with their love of fairy-tales, books, dreams and friendship result in a beautiful collection of T-shirts and vests. Below are a few of our favourites but you can see the full collection on www.ilovelof.com

Chrysanthemum tank - £49, Apple Blossom boyfriend Tee - £55, Phlox Tee - £58

Fashion: Neoprene - not just for wetsuits

I have written recently about a wedding I went to in New Orleans and in detail about what I packed and what I bought. One thing I didn't write about though was what I wore to the wedding itself. A multicoloured neoprene dress from Zara with Louboutin heels and an oversized flower (and I mean oversized!) instead of a hat.

This dress started my love affair with all things neoprene. Until now I have always associated it with wetsuits and children's swim shorts, but a thinner, totally wearable version has been making waves of it's own of late.

Designers are channelling it in just about every way possible - skirts, tops, dresses, even jeans. I have to say I was amazed at just how comfortable and flattering it is. The nature of the fabric means if its worn tight, as in my dress for the wedding, it sucks you in. If worn looser and gathered, on say a peplum top or a knee length full skirt, it falls perfectly hiding a multitude of sins. Whichever way you wear it, it just works. 

Below are our picks of the best the high street and designers have to offer:

Clockwise from top left: River Island shoes £55, ASOS Neoprene floral jumper £21, Whistles neoprene structure sweatshirt £85, J Brand neoprene legging-style jeans £310, Zara neoprene sweatshirt £25.99 and ASOS Neoprene Bonded Bra Insert Skater Dress £33

Fashion: Blazers for you, you and you!

For some reason I never used to wear blazers with jeans. I initially thought my back was too wide and then I think I never felt that comfortable. This was until I turned a blazer corner.  Now I have been taught by a blazer wearing friend, you have to wear it in the right way and the right way comes in a few different looks!

I now love a blazer and have made a few purchases because a few high street favourites have got better at tailoring (thank goodness). This means that you do not have to spend a small fortune if your purse strings need to be pulled in.

What you do need to help you along is some good quality tee's because these are essential in capturing the perfect casual day look. Team them with jeans - boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever takes your fancy and there you have it, an instant wearable daytime outfit.

Shoes can be high for the evening, flat pumps, or loafers for the daytime.

I bought a great blazer for evening only and its perfect for making a simple black outfit look glam and with high sandals its on fire.

I have selected a few choices for you to look at and I ask you to go try them on, because a blazer can turn quite a few existing looks in your wardrobe into entirely new looks altogether.

Left to right J Crew/H&M/Topshop/Zara

   

Fashion: Bank Holiday cool

The bank holiday is here! Can you believe it is May already? Me either. 

Here at stylekt11 we have picked out a few bits for the weekend. Whether you have plans to go out for a few walks, or you are entertaining, or you might be relaxing, attending a baby shower ,  then there is something here for everyone. 

Left to right - Warehouse/Zara/Oasis/Pure Collection/M&S/Monsoon/Matches

Fashion icon: SJP shoes

This week we are reminising about Sarah Jessica Parker. We all loved SATC. Carrie and the girls were the epitome of style for over 10 years. 

We all started a love affair with shoes and most of us only heard about Manolo, Jimmy Choo and Patricia Field for the first time through our love of this program. 

If I am 100% honest, the character Carrie was not always my favourite personality on the show, but her wardrobe was out of this world and the styling well, it made us all want to dress up again. SATC gave women everywhere a new found confidence and an air of 'we can wear anything we want, and we can have a cocktail at the same time'!

Fast forward a million years later, and the actress Sarah Jessica Parker has now launched her own shoe range. Firstly, I am a huge fan because she is a bright and seemingly down to earth woman in a not so down to earth industry. Plus in her years of working on such a fashion focused set, her style is up there with the best of them.

Her shoe range actually seems to reflect her personality and so here at StyleKt11 we salute you SJP you are one of our favourite fashion heroines.

Travel: Country and western cool

Who would have thought Nashville and New Orleans could be so cool? Not me. So when I was invited to a wedding in New Orleans and we embarked on our road trip I just had to take some pictures to share with you just how cool the deep south really is (and what great shopping it has!)...

First stop was Nashville and thanks to a beautiful guidebook in our hotel we found the chicest of little towns called Franklin to kick off our trip. After breakfast at the Frothy Monkey we headed down Main Street for some retail therapy. I was delighted to find one of my favourite shops - Anthropologie - so couldn't help myself when I saw this tan leather cutout peplum top and denim shirt (seen below), both currently available in the sale section online at www.anthropologie.eu

Clockwise from top left: Espadrilles and gold leather clutch; butterflies for a window display; peplum top and denim shirt, all Anthroplogie.eu; Main Street, Franklin, Tennessee. 

After a brief stop over in Memphis, we headed to New Orleans for the French Quarter Jazz festival. Thousands of people lined Bourbon street and the all kinds of different music could be heard at the waterfront. The vibe was definitely festival chic with lots of cut-off denim shorts, peasant maxi skirts, flower braided headbands and gladiator flats. 

Clockwise from top left: Festival goer in the French Quarter, 7 ft chalk board skull drawing,  55 bar and restaurant, live jazz band at the waterfront in New Orleans.

The morning of the wedding we hopped on a tram and went for breakfast in the Garden District (think Richmond Upon Thames in New Orleans!). I found a great little boutique called Spool and couldn't resist these two dresses, scarf and silk jumpsuit.

All in all it was a jam packed 6 days of partying and shopping in what can only be described as one of the coolest places I have ever been.