This morning (ahem, afternoon) I woke up and opened my bedroom door to find a beautiful big parcel waiting for me in midnight blue wrapping.
Like a brat on Christmas Day, I tore the box open with pens, scissors and axes in order to reach my new babies. They are my new Zara moccasins and they are now my favourite children who I honour even above my beloved pair of brown moccasins from Chicago, and my graduation gift Chelsea boots from my brother.
I diverged from my original plan in two ways:
i) I'm a Winter baby by birth and nature, so whenever September creeps around I get super excited for the autumn season. I
thrive on Fall/Winter fashion and dread the onset of summer every year. There's nothing worse than the itchy, sweaty restlessness of hot weather in an Urban setting.
Sartorially I don't know how to act as I have around eight winter coats but only like two summer dresses, and most of my shoes are suitable for matching with trousers, tights and little else.
But I digress! Yes, I was supposed to be building up my autumn/winter staples this year ie, very basic items of clothing that can be worn a billion different ways (plain black t-shirt, a white button-down shirt etc), so the original plan was to buy a pair of shiny black loafers which were cheap and go with pretty much everything in my wardrobe. I figured however, that you can find black loafers pretty much anywhere but once my new blue ones went out of stock, I knew I'd regret not having bought them.
ii) As I still retain the status of a broke, indebted and unemployed graduate, I am in no position to be buying fancy shoes. My plan was to wait until I secure a job and then buy myself the shoes as a kind of celebration gift. Of course impatience got the better of me, and I as I assured my father this afternoon: these shoes act as moral boosters. It doesn't matter how much or little money I have because once I put these shoes on, I look and feel like a million bucks!
If you like the look of my new shoes you can find them here at
Zara.
If you're willing to splash out a little bit more and are looking for a similar style and colour, try these Chester Tassel Loafers from
Russell and Bromley or these suede shoes from
Tod's.
Guys should definitely consider these navy moccasins from
Zara or
Reiss's suede loafers.
Whatever you go for, my satisfaction in my new purchase compels me to believe that we should all definitely be deflecting our winter blues towards our feet, and experimenting with every shade from bottle-green to navy to midnight. These shoes in these shades not only add a splash of sophistication to any casual outfit, they also shake up an otherwise dull formal get-up. I absolutely promise that you'll receive endless compliments with a pair of blue loafers on your feet, especially in a suede texture.
Try not to get too bogged down with finding a bargain; although you shouldn't be making yourself bankrupt, I feel as though shoes come under the category (along with coats, jewellery and fragrances) of possessions that you should try not to scrimp on, as you get exactly what you pay for. You'll feel the pinch when investing in a quality pair, but they'll last you forever and if looked after properly, will look just as good when you want to whip them out again next autumn.
Happy shopping!
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Both images are my own.
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So now I go very regularly and actually take my training pretty seriously. However as you can probably tell by my previous choices in footwear, Sportswear is not my forte. Anything with a visible sports logo on it is instantly rebuked by me, and don't get me started on the gym bags. I had recently bought an American Apparel duffle bag that had looked a nice burgundy colour on the website but in reality is a garish red that matches none of my outfits, sporty or otherwise. I set about trawling the web for some suitable alternatives and decided to take into consideration that there will soon come a time that someone will actually want to hire me to do 'fings' for money at some point, and I would therefore have to carry this gym bag to and from work a lot of the time. Well there was no way I'd dare be spotted with a bag the color of a fire hydrant, especially if I'm working an office job with a dress code. Unfortunately the alternatives in the female sections of my desired websites were coming up short also. I needed something with lots of space to fit my gear and any materials I may need for work. It also needed to have side pockets for my oyster card, purse etc and it had to be wearable to suit most of my clothes. A girlfriend of mine flicked a light bulb switch in my head when I bumped into her as she was on her way to spend a few nights with her boyfriend. Her overnight bag was a marvelous Ralph Lauren holdall which fit all of her garments and managed to make her look fabulous.
Though Ralph Lauren is a bit (a lot) out of my current price range I took to the web again, but this time in pursuit of men's holdalls. I managed to find this gem from ASOS which cost around £35 and also came in black, although I strongly suggest getting it in a chocolate brown like I did, as it shows up just a few shades lighter than black anyway and will go with EVERYTHING in your wardrobe.
As you'll see from the pictures, I have already placed my gym gear in there, but I still have so much room I could fit like three small toddlers in there (however this would be highly unethical and I strongly advise against attempting to prove this theory).
There's something so very admirable about people who manage turn 'disheveled' into 'effortless' and 'plain' into 'minimalist' - just by being themselves.
Many Man-Mags have shunned the top knot as seen on various A-Listers such as Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal, and while I can agree that the trend is getting a little bit out of hand, a lot of guys do manage to pull it off. I would say however, that the ones who do work the knot well tend to align themselves with a kind of hippy hapless way of dressing which adds to the aforementioned disheveled effortlessness. Alex Ebert sports long wavy locks which he piles on his head more often than not and accompanies with a beard - and we all know how much everyone is loving the beard trend at the moment. Not only that, but his recent win at the Golden Globes showed us that he does know how to scrub up when necessary while still maintaining his signature eccentric style. 
For some versatility and good old dependability though, I look no further than my newly-trusted fedora. As for Pharrell's signature Buffalo Hat? I say more power to him! Amy Winehouse had the beehive and Elvis had the quiff - I don't see why a good hat can't become a permanent fixture to mark one's individuality!
