If you’re lucky enough to get down to the Manchester Arndale this weekend then keep an eye out for some dancing guys and girls sprouting up all over the malls. This weekend is the first #FlashMobFashion bringing some of the fashion in the centre to life, as well as showcasing new beauty, hair and makeup products from some selected stores. I visited on Friday night to see what I could see and what tips I could pick up!
I was given the fantastic opportunity last Friday to take part in the first #TweetSeatMarch at the Manchester Arndale and live tweet, share and blog about Spring/Summer 2013 trends from some of the great stores in the mall. Over the course of the day, a dozen bloggers, fashion tweeters and enthusiasts were going to be taking to the tweet seat and spread the love for everything they were going to see. I was to be the first, what could go wrong?!
If you were following that day you could see all the tweets and can still read them back by searching for #TweetSeatMarch on Twitter or Instagram. I was to be shown all the latest clothes by Debs Hatfield, the Arndale’s Personal Shopper and stylist. If you need help finding an outfit, she offers a free service in the centre to help find what you want. It is the lovely Debs seen in most of the pictures holding up the clothes for me!
We started with Superdry, Debs had a range of both mens and ladies clothes to look at. They are going very much for the nautical look this season for men, lots of anchors and blue colourings, I tried and got stuck in a very bright yellow canvas jacket that wouldn’t have looked out of place aboard a fishing boat but still I’d wear out round town. I was here for the ladies fashion, they are going for very light Summer items like this dress, simple and perfect for any warm(ish) day in Manchester!
After this we went onto Next. You may have the same thoughts of next in my head, standard clothes that are a bit generic, good for men’s suits and maybe kids clothes. The dread of the 5am opening and buying stuff that doesn’t fit just because it is in their sale. Well I hope you’re prepared to be as blown away as I was. Everything in the first gallery below is from the current Next SS13 range. Fantastic tops, skirts and handbags that you’d expect to pay a lot more than the £32 price tag. My find of the day came from Next, a gorgeous peach skater-dress that would look just fine on the racks of Monsoon, Jane Norman etc. I’ve found it on their site, for £65 you would be mad not to pick it up.
Looking through the gallery for Next you can see the rest of the items that I loved, there is such a great range on offer in there I’d totally recommend giving it a visit on your next shopping trip out. One of the mannequins was beautifully dressed in a bold red dress and matched with a fab black belt and accessories. All again can be found in store in Next. One of the staples for this season is cobalt blue, which you can see in a lot of their clothes, I love this colour and loved everything they had on show.
Finally we moved onto Bank. Now I’ll be honest and admit it’s not necessarily somewhere myself or Mrs B would shop, thinking the clothes are ‘for the young uns and the kids’ but I was, yet again, pleasantly surprised. Debs had some of the Tulisa range to show off, which was filled with monochrome, one of the key trends at the moment and although I’m not normally a fan, I really liked most of the pieces. This is obviously a big push for the brand and why not, I wasn’t sure it was something I’d like but again I’ve been surprised.
The Tulisa range, I think, is aimed at the X-Factor generation, teens and early 20s, but they also have many items for all ages. I especially like the tight, wet-look leggings on the right shape of person, and the same goes for the blazer and short set. I could happily recommend both of these to some of the ladies I shop for. I did also like the maxi style dress, perfect for any occasion or for hiding a multitude of sins!
The short time I had sat in the amazing big brother style tweetseat was great. I think I now need to research into Space Zero and see how much a couple of these are for my library!
I couldn’t have enjoyed my day more; fashion and tweeting, perfect day! I came away with my opinions changed on some stores and also some great ideas for recommendations for the coming season. I can also see myself spending a lot on Mrs B!
Hopefully you have been inspired to check out these shops and see what they can offer you, I look forward to hopefully being on the next tweet seat, looking at some different stores, looking for more fantastic ideas and clothes but looking slightly less dishevelled! At least I was ‘on brand’ in my Next chinos. I try my best!
I have embarked on my first new shopping project for a while, apparently something of a challenge, but the opportunity to use my skills to their utmost. I’ve met Charlotte, who many of you will know as The_Lady_Sybil on Twitter, with her own blog Gin Fuelled Bluestocking, at Twitfaced in April and since then we have talked about clothes almost every day!
After spending time with Charlie and talking at great lengths about clothes and her style, we decided to see what I could do for her, go shopping with her and find some new clothes. By her own admission, everything she owned was knitwear, dresses and similar, so we had set aside a day to go to Manchester city centre and find Summer clothes.
I had been given some direction and instructions already, no-nos when looking for clothes. I am used to this, I’m happy to accommodate and stick sort of closely to their rules….maybe. No animal print, nothing metallic (we will see), no diamante or rhinestone effect, nothing shorter then knee length and needs to have sleeves or be able to wear cardigan or small shawl with. The only rules I went armed with were go in as many shops as we can and try everything on!
Charlie’s own style is vintage, pretty dresses and skirts, in bold colours or bright floral patterns. I wanted to still keep in her comfort zone, so the whole day I picked out things I knew she would like as well as throwing in the odd curve ball to try on and hopefully surprise herself. To her credit, I didn’t have to convince her too much, almost everything she tried on she liked and then bought! Not as difficult as I maybe thought it would be.
Our day started in Debenhams, with their wide ranges and varied concessions surely we would start easily enough and find something? Venturing around the first floor we had collected a few items for Charlie to try on, usual dresses and skirts, simple to get into the day and not overface just yet. Fortunately almost everything was a success and we came away with a gorgeous orange bodycon dress from Wallis, a taupe polka dot shirt dress, a lime green kick-pleated skirt and two quite patriotic red, white and blue fascinators. Charlie loves hats and spent ten minutes trying them on while I tried to give another random lady outfit advice. I can’t help myself, I was drawn to tell her she looked nice in what she was trying on! As Debenhams is so spread out and there are that many concessions around the store, we eventually moved on about 90 minutes later…
Into the Arndale Centre, armed with the knowledge there is a nice strip of clothes shops all grouped together, we approached New Look with trepidation. Not the best of places for me, very rare I pick anything out that I like for my other half, so I wasn’t holding my breath for Charlie. Sadly I was right, the only thing we both liked were a pair of red tartan heels. But shoes were not on the menu today, so we moved on. Oasis, Warehouse, Monsoon were all ahead of us, I was optimistic we’d clean up in here having been stalwarts of my usual fashion habits.
Warehouse provided nothing for us again, no motivation or actual options sadly. Can’t win them all, I am happy to try every shop in the hope you’ll find one little gem. Oasis however was probably my achievement of the day, finding a nice deep blue/purple dress that Charlie was unsure of, so she tried it on and she loved it, bought it! Trying it on AND buying in the sale works!
Our final stop of the day (we were shopping for about 5 hours) was Monsoon. Before we had even entered the door, Charlie’s eyes lit up and she kept saying “Ooh I want it, it’s so nice!” Completely unaware as to what she wanted, she pointed at a mannequin dressed in a very nice tan sahara dress, which she is modelling to the right! I didn’t think it was something she would normally go for, so was nicely surprised that her style is wider than I realised. While in there, we looked through the sale racks and again Charlie found something that got her so excited, a full length black roman style keyhole-neck dress with splits from the knees. Trying these on, she was so excited, the black was something she had always been after, it was more expensive than the others but as she rightly said “all girls need a ‘fuck it’ dress!”
A very successful day for both of us. Charlie came away with a nice handful of clothes and I’d gotten some practice at shopping again and picking out new clothes!
What better time could there be to refresh your wardrobe, or just an excuse to buy some new clothes than when the sun is blazing in the sky?
Whatever suits your body, bikini, costume, maxi-dress, or playsuit, there are hundreds of different options for you to get a few new outfits in order to take advantage of the lovely weather. It is also a good excuse to get out the winter clothes throw them away altogether to buy more when Autumn comes along!
The difficult thing when picking summer clothes are the body-conscious amongst us. But do not fear, as in the summer everybody gets there pasty-white flesh or flabby bodies out in the name of summer fashion. You can’t go wrong with a maxi-dress, designed not only to before relaxing and practical, but can also look gorgeous not matter where or what time of day it is. For example Mango have this very nice Atenea Maxi Dress in vibrant colours, and with the right shoes would be good for one the beach or an evening meal.
If you want to get some sun on your skin, and the maxi dress is overdressed for you, then you can take the bikini route! Boux Avenue, a fabulous lingerie store, have a very nice and affordable range of summer costumes and swimwear, and their sizes go all the way up to 38FF! No excuse for any lady not to look glam in the summer! Their range has dozens of designs and striking colours, so you can mix and match and maybe get a couple to vary your summer style.
Then no outfit should be without the accessories and even wearing a small bikini or playsuit is no excuse. Shoes, jewellery, hats, sunglasses are all options and little bits to finish off your sun-worshipping outfit. Stylispick.com have these Carina-White Slingback peep toe sandal that will go with absolutely any summer outfit.
No matter where you are going in this sunshine or what you are doing, use it as an excuse to exercise the bank balance and treat yourself to some Summer fashion.