My Sustainable Outfits in 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by admin

I am feeling far too bloated and unhealthy from to much food and drink to do any outfit posts for the last few days so have decided to go for the lazy option of a round up of my favourite sustainable outfits for 2012.

But before that, just a little reminder about the ethical outfit competition running on my new website style-is.co.uk. I have only one entry so far so if you would like to enter, you could have a pretty good chance of winning these fantastic prizes which include

£100 of vouchers for Spartoo.co.uk
A Skunkfunk Handbag
2 X £10 vouchers for Rock My Vintage

The deadline has also been extended to 4th January to give you a little extra time to put together and post your amazing outfit. You can find out the full details on how to enter here Ethical Outfit Competition.

Dress – Nancy Dee
Cardigan – Charity shop
Shoes – Irregular Choice
necklace – vintage

Skirt – Oxfam Online
Handbag – charity shop
Boots – Dream in Green

Upcycled charity shop jacket
leggings – People Tree
Top – swapped

Dress – Oxfam Fashion
belt -swapped
Necklace – People Tree
Shoes – Dream in Green

Dress – Annie Greenabelle
Cardigan – Charity Shop
Necklace – Made Uk
Boots – Dream in Green

Jacket and Scarf – Vintage Fair
Necklace – Made UK
Organic Cotton Jeans – M& S
Boots – Dream in Green

Vintage skirt – clothes swap
Necklace – Made UK

Cardigan – Braintree Hemp
Dress – Annie Greenabelle
Shoes – Melissa

Dress – Vintage
Leggings – People Tree
Boots – Dr Martins

Dress – Monsoon
Scarf – vintage

Trousers – ASOS Africa
Shoes – Melissa

Dress – Komodo
Shoes – People Tree

Dress – Frank & Faith
Hat – Pachacuti

Dress – upcycled

Well that is it from me for 2012, I am off to the pub for yet more food and drink. Have a fantastic New Years Eve and see you in 2013!

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

Ethical Fashion Brands at Zalando

Posted on November 23, 2012 by admin

I was recently contacted by Zalando to see if I would like to review an item of clothing from one of their ethical brands. I was really pleasantly surprised to find that they have an excellent selection of both men and womens clothing that is sustainable and ethical including People Tree, Komodo, Kuyichi, Monkee Genes, Hemp Hoodlamb, Birkenstock, Toms and Geisswein. They also have a fantastic range of natural beauty brands including Cowshed, Burts Bees and Jo Wood.

I was delighted to find that Zalando just happened to stock this dress by Komodo that I have had firmly installed on my wish list for a number of weeks now. They also have some great discounts on at the moment.

Although the dress is perhaps a little more neutral and minimalist than some of the clothes I usually wear, I though it would be great for those days when I wanted a more professional look for example customer meetings and school governor meetings but also the black lower part of the dress is great for slimming my pear shaped hips and the beige top part for showcasing statement necklaces and beautiful accessories. Today, I am wearing a necklace by Made UK but I have lots more accessories that I would like to wear with this dress.

The fabric of the dress is Tencel® which looks good, is lightweight and breathable but still warm enough for winter or cool enough for summer. In case you don’t already know Tencel® is the brand name for Lyocell which is a biodegradable material made from wood pulp cellulose by Lenzing AG. The trees used are managed for sustained harvest. Another great thing about Tencel® is that it dries quickly after washing so no need to use a tumble drier and I am guessing it will need little or no ironing if hung up to dry, although I haven’t got as far as washing it yet.

Have a lovely weekend!

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

No New Clothes For Holiday

Posted on August 28, 2012 by admin

I have just returned from a weeks holiday in Tenerife. In the past I have been shopping before and during my holidays to buy a variety of different holiday clothes from bikinis and swimming costumes to sun dresses and sandals. This year I made the decision to pack light (well relatively speaking) and not to buy any new clothes for holiday. As I was only going to be there for a week and already have lots of swimwear, sarongs, summer dresses etc it made sense to save my pennies to spend on sangria and make do with the clothes I already have.

It is amazing how little clothing you actually need when the temperature is plus 30 degrees. I took just 4 dresses, a cut off denim skirt and a few halter neck tops plus bikinis, sun hat, sarongs and flat and heeled sandals which turned out to be more than enough. Having a smaller suitcase also made travelling much easier.

Anyway, here are a few photographs from my hols. It was great to be able to take pictures outside but I still haven’t mastered the settings on my light weight camera . I will get round to reading the manual one of these days.

Dress – Monsoon
Bag – Accessorize

Dress- Frank and Faith
Hat – Pachacuti
Bag – Oxfam

Dress – Komodo
Bag – Oxfam

Since I have tried to stop buying clothes and other possesions that I don’t really need I have found I get so much more enjoyment on spending money enjoying myself on a night out with friends or Mr Style Eyes. That said I do still buy the occasional piece of clothing either ethical fashion, vintage or charity shop but I think about it carefully and only buy something that I really love and that will last me for years. What do you think, do new clothes give you more satisfaction than going out and having fun?

I hope you are having had a lovely summer. For me it is not long until the children go back to school and everything returns to normality. I will have plenty to keep me busy as my new website is (hopefully) only weeks away and I can’t wait to share it.

Also thinking about arranging a fashion bloggers conference for next year if you might be interested in coming please comment below on whether you would prefer London/ Birmingham and weekday/ Saturday.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

Six Items Challenge Update – Week One

Posted on July 8, 2012 by admin

I am now exactly one week into the Six Items Challenge which I am taking part in for the whole of July with Labour Behind the Label to try and raise awareness of the plight of real people working in the fashion industry and their struggle for better rights and working conditions. You can check out how the others participating in the challenge are getting on in the Six Items Challenge Blog.

This week hasn’t been too bad with the main challenges being the weather. Feeling cold in my choice of summery clothes and struggling to get clothes washed and dried ready to wear again, resulting in me resorting to drying a pair of leggings with the hair dryer, were probably the low points. On the plus side I managed to get ready pretty quickly each morning as I didn’t have much to choose from.

Her are my outfits for the week featuring the six items – a really old black shift dress and t shirt, a dress by Komodo, leggings from People Tree, Green Printed Dress from Monsoon and patterned trousers by ASOS Africa.

The necklace and bracelets were presents and the shoes are from sustainable shoe brand Melissa.

The scarf is from a vintage fair, the handbag from a charity shop and the necklace a present from my mum.

This necklace was also a present from my mum.

The belt was from the high street and the necklace from ethical jewellery brand Made UK.

The scarf is vintage and the shoes and tights from the high street.

The scarf is from a vintage fair and the necklace also from ethical jewelery brand Made UK.

Now I have worn all of the basic outfit combinations once comes the challenge. I am going to need to get creative and imaginative with accessories this week in order to make some different outfits.

I hope that you have had a good weekend!

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

Ethical Fashion Sales and Discounts for Summer

Posted on July 3, 2012 by admin

One thing that I often here people say is that they don’t buy ethical fashion because it is too expensive. I always see it as an investment as a beautiful piece of high quality clothing will tend to last for much longer and as the styles are often more individual or classic and less trend led, they don’t really go out of fashion. That said I do often try and shop for ethical fashion in the sales as I like saving myself a bit of cash as much as anyone else. There are some amazing sales on at the moment allowing you to shop a great range of fantastic and affordable ethical fashion for summer. Here are just a few.

(just to let you know, this post does contain some affilate links, you can read more about my advertising policies here)

People Tree have up to 60% off in their summer sale with some beautiful Fairtrade fashion including dresses, t shirts and accessories.

Fashion Conscience have up to 70% off in their summer sale including the amazing prints by Fair + True.

Monsoon have up to 50% off in their sale including womenswear, childrens wear, accessories, homewear and even some wedding dresses!

Ethical Superstore have up to 70% off in their sale. They have a great selection of ethical clothing including brands like Monkee Genes, Komodo and Frank & Faith.

soda jacket Ethical Fashion Sales and Discounts for Summer

Seasalt have up to 40% off selected organic cotton items including some very cute seaside style and pretty prints.

Bibico have up to 50% off their simple and effortlessly stylish ethical clothing. So perfect for summer.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Wear Your Wardrobe Challenge – Part 2

Posted on June 19, 2012 by admin

You can see the first part of my Wear Your Wardrobe Challenge from yesterday. Basically my camera was refusing to work properly and I didn’t manage to make as many outfits as I would have liked. Today is a fresh day and the camera has decided to start working again (perhaps it was just me!).

Anyway I wanted to try a few more outfits paritcularly using the Komodo dress that was one of the three pieces that I choose for the challenge. A black dress really is one of the most versatile wardrobe pieces for me. I particularly like the fact that this one has a beautiful lace hem and can be worn for either day time or evening. The loose fit is really comfortable, easy and flattering to wear and it could even work as a tunic/ top with leggings or trousers. I have lots of different jackets in my wardrobe and this dress gave me the perfect opportunity to wear some of them.

Jacket – high street
Dress – Komodo c/o Vouchercodes.co.uk
Shoes – Melissa
Belt - high street

I used to wear this jacket all of the time, it goes with everything but for some reason I got bored with it and stopped wearing it.

Vintage Jacket – Oxfam
Dress – Komodo c/o vouchercodes.co.uk
Shoes – high street
Handbag – charity shop
Belt – clothes swap

I got this handmade vintage jacket from Oxfam a while back but for some reason have not worn it.

If you would like to join in with the challenge and try wearing clothes in your wardrobe that you have not worn before, please tweet your links to #vcukwearyourwardrobe.

Please also check out my ethical outfit competition which has some fantastic prizes!

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Spring 2012 – Patterned Trousers

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin

I love patterns and prints.For spring and summer patterned trousers seem to be big news and I can’t wait. Here are just a few that have spotted. They are great for wearing with a plain top or if you are really brave can be mixed up with a patterned top.

Sahara Printed Trousers – Monsoon

esphahani trousers Spring 2012 Patterned Trousers

Fesfehani Trousers – Monsoon

Hugo Trousers by Komodo

Paul Costelloe Printed Trousers – Oxfam newspaper print Spring 2012 Patterned Trousers

Pianura Studio newspaper print bootcut jeans – Oxfam

Kenneth Cole New York black patterned trousers – Oxfam

trussardi jeans Spring 2012 Patterned Trousers

Trussardi Jeans – Oxfam

lily Pulitzer Spring 2012 Patterned Trousers

Vintage Lilly Pulitzer Capri Pants – ASOS Marketplace

leggings aztec Spring 2012 Patterned Trousers

Aztec Print Leggings by Antiform

Neon Patterned Vintage Trousers – Rokit Vintage

So there we have it! If you don’t fancy pretty pastel colours for spring, there are plenty of alternatives! Having taken some advice from @couturecoco5 on Twitter, even short people (like me) can wear patterned trousers as long as they stick to the close fitting capri styles and wear with heels. Excellent, that is just what I wanted to hear!

What do you think of these ethical and sustainable patterned trousers. Will you be wearing any of them for spring?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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30 Days of Ethical Fashion – Komodo

Posted on December 12, 2011 by admin

On day 12 of my 30 days of Ethical Fashion series, I would like to share with you Komodo (if you didn’t already know about this label!).

Komodo was set up by Joe Komodo back in 1988 and he says that it was born out of a sense of fun and travel but was also about living their own lifestyle and avoiding having to get a proper job! Komodo started as stall on Camden market selling ethnic goods. The company still stays true to its original values sourcing organic and ethically manufactured products where possible and utilising local skills in countries like Nepal. Komodo also supports the Free Tibet campaign by making a donation each time a piece from the Free Tibet collection is sold.

The appeal of Komodo is that the clothes showcase the best handmade crafts of a region but without being too literally ‘ethnic’. They look stylish and original but also not out of place in a western and urban environment. It is great to see another fabulous brand that is desirable for many more reasons than just because they are ethical, to quote the website.

We are a Fashion Lifestyle brand first and do our best to be as ethical as we can in the process, rather than Eco-warriors trying to make fashion.

You can currently get some great offers on Komodo at Fashion Conscience. You can also check out more fantastic brands in my 30 days of Ethical Fashion series here.

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Tuesday Treats – Ethical Knitwear

Posted on November 29, 2011 by admin

Yesterday it was so cold I had to give in and put the heating on. I usually try and last as long as possible by layering as many knits as I can. Mr Style Eyes likes to have a good laugh at me wrapped up in my scruffy old Grandad cardigan and has suggested perhaps I ought to get something a little more stylish. So here are just a few of the most stylish pieces of ethical knitwear that I have spotted recently that also look like they would keep me extra toasty warm.