Wednesbury wears

I spent today in Wednesbury. For those who don’t know it, Wednesbury is a small, market town in the Black Country.  I go there for two main reasons.

1. My mom lives and works there.
2. It has five great charity shops with rich pickings – the missoni dress mentioned in my first blog unbelievably came from there.

I love Wednesbury for many reasons, its two great churches perched majestically on a hill named after a genuine Mercian heroine.(Queen Ethelfleda), the unusual Masonic Hall that lies hidden behind some trees and for the bargains you can find amongst the array of hardware and greetings card shops that somewhat clutter what I find a charming old town.

The weather today had forgotten that it is supposeably summer, and the fashion looks on display in the town seem to have forgotten too. Everyone had jeans on, with long sleeve tops and gasp – bodywarmers. It could’ve been Autumn, colours were dull and uninspiring, but this did match the dull, drizzly uninspiring mood of the day in general.

This leads to the puzzle;- What do you wear when Summer just isn’t Summer?

The answer to this is the Maxi dress. Not the floaty, floral efforts that look so fabulous on warm days, but the tougher, tube style efforts in jersey in tough ethnic and tribal prints. Darker shades look best, black, navy, khaki and animal prints  lookmore luxurious in jersey than brighter shades. Big belts can be added, as can thin knits for the cooler temperatures.

Today I wore my maxi dress in black, with gladiator sandals.  I confess to being late to the glad trend, always finding them to be too masculine for me. But this Summer, maybe it was the influence of Spartacus Blood and Sand, I’ve actually found a pair in black that I like. (Thank you evans for your eee fit!). I added a pretty black elastic and ruched belt to give me a more defined shape, and then accesorised with gold vintage jewelry picked up from a charity shop, a leopard print Birkin style bag from Oasis and an oatmeal cardi from New look. I was reluctant to wear the tube dress at first, my size 10 sister wears them, how could they possibly suit me? The answer is that the dress so suits curves, and with the right underwear it is possibly the most comfortable garment you will ever wear. In addition, it is impossible to ruin, despite the baba smearing chocolate all over it, and me playing for over an hour sitting on a wooden floor. In short, it is a summer miracle dress.

What did I buy today?

Well, for myself I picked up a black floral frilly vest top from Ethel Austin(soon to be renamed simply style – Ethel, we’ll miss you!). this is for my trip to Wales next week – i’ll just add jeans and flip flops in the day, or silver heels for a night in the pub.

I also got a longline, short sleeved cardigan in burn’t orange, simply because I love burnt orange, especially in Autumn(it’s a bonfire night colour!!!) and for £6 you can’t really find a reason not to buy it.

I also bought a few very early Christmas stocking fillers. I know, before I am shot down in flames, that it only August, but I have to be on the ball this year. My sister is getting married in December, and my little boy hits two a week before Christmas day, so December is a very expensive month. Anyway, these were too good to miss. I got a fantastic tulip style winter white skirt for my sister, reduced to just £4 from peacocks. I also got a pretty cotton book bag/eco shopper for my sister – in-law for just £1.50. To put that bargain into context, the average bus fare to get to Wednesbury is £1.75. I got two skinny belts for my belt mad best friend for £2. £2!!! that’s a pound a belt.

Due to all those bargains I must name Peacocks as my SHOP OF THE DAY!!!

As I have previously mentioned, I think the charity shops in Wednesbury are legendary, and I did pick up a couple of bargains today. I found a brand new Tommy and Kate nude cardigan today for just £3.99 and a pretty burnt orange (that shade again) tunic top with bell shaped sleeves fromM&Co for £2.99. Because of its loose shape, I will wear this with black, fitted trousers and heeled shoes boots. i might add a thin belt to this to create more shape.

Wednesbury Wears – good looks.

Although the weather meant that real style was hidden under cardigans today, I did see two inspiring looks that made me smile.

They were;

1. A stylish 30something who showed how black on black can be chic and elegant, even on wet days. Black tapered cigarette pants, with a 3/4 sleeved black slash neck top and black ballet pumps. The only splash of colour was a blond pony tail and accents of silver on a severe black bag. Think beatnick Audrey Hepburn in funny face.
2. A cute twentysomething wearing an above the knee teadress in the unusual colour combination of green and pink with neon pink flats. This shouldn’t work, but it looked so fresh with a neat brown bob.

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