The 4-5 piece French wardrobe #6

[eizhowa]

Who ownes a burberry trench here and can tell me more about the sizing. Im normally a Medium

Nymphaea owns one, and Ta-ta has a "famous" one I understand that if you go to a large flagship store, they will do small alterations for free upon purchase. I've heard of buyers having the belt loops moved, as well as the sleeves shortened.

Caramel: What, IKEA doesn't do it for you?

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Mine is 'vintage' at this point ... sizing was generous back in the day. R&N has new ones.

 

[Nymphaea]

I'm sorry, I don't have a Burberry coat. Tried them on a while ago at an outlet store, but wasn't impressed by the quality. Probably they have lines specially made for the outlet stores, because there was a lot of the same coats in different colours and I recognized just a handful of coats from the past season(s). Sizing seemed standard.
Just ordered some plain cotton shirts from Sunspel during the sale, curious for the quality.

 

[Trenchcoat]

Burberry trenchcoat Thanks all. Its not from an outlet store. It's a vintage one from someone. I hope that it will fit.

How are you all doing with the sales. I managed to stay away from zara, H&M and Mango. Havent bought a lot lately. There is one thing that I might buy from the new collection from zara, but i'm still waiting.

 

[Caramel]

Thank you! Ahh the finishing touches are my favorite part.
What are you looking for for your home, anything in particular?
I do spend time standing back to look at the room, squinting to see the general colours, covering parts with my hands to see if things look better without certain bits, and rearranging things here and there. Much like painting.

Textiles are definitely my biggest challenge when it comes to decorating. Throw pillows in particular - I think there must exist some kind of throw pillow code that I just can't crack! I never seem to figure out the right colours/patterns/proportions/combinations when it comes to pillows.
I have recently finished reupholstering some chairs (two small art deco arm chairs for my apartment - in beige linen to go with a tweed sofa - and a deep blue wingback chair for the summer house to go with a beige sofa) and am looking for throw pillows as the finishing touch for the seating area in both places. I have quite a neutral base, with lots of white, cream, beige, and dark wood, and pillows and other small accents are the few things where I add colour, but I always find it hard to get a cohesive and unfussy look with these things.

And artwork is another issue - I can never commit myself to hanging pictures and art on the walls! Everywhere I have lived they have remained leaning against the walls. Hopeless!

eizhowa, I have lots of admiration for Ikea and their clever solutions, but that's the part I'm pretty good at already! For the decorative side I must admit they are not my favourite source of inspiration.

 

[Melisande]

Textiles are definitely my biggest challenge when it comes to decorating. Throw pillows in particular - I think there must exist some kind of throw pillow code that I just can't crack! I never seem to figure out the right colours/patterns/proportions/combinations when it comes to pillows.
I have recently finished reupholstering some chairs (two small art deco arm chairs for my apartment - in beige linen to go with a tweed sofa - and a deep blue wingback chair for the summer house to go with a beige sofa) and am looking for throw pillows as the finishing touch for the seating area in both places. I have quite a neutral base, with lots of white, cream, beige, and dark wood, and pillows and other small accents are the few things where I add colour, but I always find it hard to get a cohesive and unfussy look with these things.

And artwork is another issue - I can never commit myself to hanging pictures and art on the walls! Everywhere I have lived they have remained leaning against the walls. Hopeless!

eizhowa, I have lots of admiration for Ikea and their clever solutions, but that's the part I'm pretty good at already! For the decorative side I must admit they are not my favourite source of inspiration.

What color is the tweed sofa? If the whole room is beigey with dark wood and some dark blue upholstery, I tend to love very subtle faded gold in small tasteful amounts with dark blue, which would go well with the wood and the warm pale neutrals too. For something chic yet creative you can look for throw pillows in beige/cream with a rich blue print and subtle gold parts (embroidery or tassles for example). That, along with another pillow in a woven textile in darker tones including dark blue (I have a kind of Paul Klee image in mind). Just one possible direction. Or for something completely different you can go marine with stripes for summer if that's your thing, or you can add yellow for a pop of colour. Or you can do grey too! Like dove grey pillows along with maybe a bit of some pewter. To make things easy and keep things cohesive I like to do throw pillows in based around a similar colour, but with different patterns and textures and light-reflecting qualities. And then you can add one single small pillow in a solid, contrasting color. Hehe, sorry for going off in my world, I just love thinking about colour and textile. Just some ideas!

 

[fashionista-ta]

What about some animal print?


I have a purple chenille pillow that has great texture. Maybe some velvet ... or you could combine the two--there are some great velvet animal prints

 

[Caramel]

Ooh, those are some wonderful ideas, thank you! I love the thought of blue with subtle gold accents. The blue chair I have is in the summer house, where I like blue as an accent, but without a too obvious maritime look, so that might work really well.
At home (this is where I have the brown/beige tweed sofa, with two lighter chairs) I already have some pillows with gold in them. In the winter I don't feel the need for too much colour and I go for lots of texture instead, fur, metallic etc. But in the warmer months I feel it's too bland, so I usually add some pink, since I often buy pink flowers. I have this really nice silk cushion with kind of 3D sculptural flowers on it in pink, and have been trying to find some other pillows that have just a little bit of pink in them to pick up the shade, but apparently pink is not quite the thing at the moment (blue, however..!).

I'm trying the squinting trick right now, and actually...it might be the rug that is causing most of the problems. It's incredibly bland. Do you have any ideas for that?

 

[Melisande]

It's hard to say but you might widen your possibilities by covering the brown tweed for summer? tweed, brown and pink are all warmish colours, and blue is a cool hue, so it may just be easier to stick to either blue or pink if you want to keep the brown. I have a fresh off-white quilted sort of cover for my sofa in summer.
If you really want blue but also pink, on top of the cover you can maybe try a base of soft greyish blue, soft gray and mauve cushions, and the mauve will help transition the eye to any little pink accents you may want like the flowers or the cushion (maybe on another chair). As for the rug I personally like sort of zebra-y rugs, which may work for you too. And Persian rugs. Or maybe for you a simple rough woven style in a light color but lots of texture for summer. I admit I'm pretty ruthless about hiding colors that don't go. Blue doesn't go with my place, for example, so I run around hiding blue things in closets! Huge difference. But for me it also helps to have ceramics with a little bit of blue and other colours in them, as a more subtle way to bring in a "foreign" colour. In my place I also added tiny pops of hot pink in the form of a tiny accessories (I mean tiny, like an object on a side-table) which definitely lifts and lightens the atmosphere a great deal.

Another way altogether is to do like my sister and just put all your favorite things out, which makes for a really nice quirky and colourful, alive atmosphere.

 

[Caramel]

I'm sorry I'm being confusing! I don't want both blue and pink in the same place. I'll stick with the pink for my apartment I think. For the summer house where I already have some blue I might add some subtle gold details to it, along with cream and beige. The summer house is on the beach, so blue works well there, but I don't want a full on blue/white maritime look. Gold and beige will make it more elegant.

ETA: Sorry for hijacking the thread with decorating questions! Do we have an interiors thread, perhaps?

 

[Melisande]

LOL OK, that makes a lot of sense!!
Yes that sounds perfectly lovely!!

I know, I feel bad about being OT, but this is fun. We could move here:

http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f58/your-decorating-style-67127-10.html

 

[eizhowa]

Can any of you think of any kinds of sunhats that don't look overly glamorous, sporty of romantic? I need a sun hat, but frankly everything I have seen looks ridiculous worn with my casual clothing.

 

[Nymphaea]

^Asos and Topshop have a lot of choice in different hats, also casual ones.

 

[Fewormany]

eizhowa you could try a more masculine model? I've got a hat from stetson that I've worn pretty everyday on vacation. They also have women's hats, and they aren't glam/sporty/romantic (at least most of them aren't).

 

[Melisande]

Can any of you think of any kinds of sunhats that don't look overly glamorous, sporty of romantic? I need a sun hat, but frankly everything I have seen looks ridiculous worn with my casual clothing.

One word: Borsalino

http://shop.borsalino.com/eshop/home/

I totally agree with Fewormany, you should check out the mens' collection. Love the straw hats. I'm sure you can find something similar for half the price though, if you want.

ETA: I checked out the Stetson website, and they do have similar models, very nice, and cheaper too.

 

[eizhowa]

Thanks for the help, guys! I really like the hats you recommended. I actually think several of the models looked nice and should give enough shade. I think looking for mens hats is a good idea. I have kind of sort of maybe a slightly larger than average head, so mens hats will probably fit me well. I'll have a browse in London next week

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I have the big head too I cannot wear my grandfather's hats ... too small.

 

[Fewormany]

Hats are the only article of clothing where I wear XL.

 

[eizhowa]

I'm back from London. I thought the stores would only be filled with SS sale items, but the fall collections were actually starting to arrive, so I was able to cross of most of the items on my FW wishlist I've made a summary of my July purchases. It is a lot, but I am thrilled with each individual piece and how they work together

- Black washed silk shirt from Uniqlo
- White rayon shirt from Uniqlo
- Printed shirt with removable tie from Jaeger
- Black/white tunic-ish breton sweater from COS
- Dark grey wool crew sweater from Uniqlo
- Cashmere turtleneck from Ebay

- Grey herringbone winter coat from COS (similar, mine has one button)
- Black cropped jeans from Topshop
- Grey cropped jeans (similar)
- Black skinny jeans from Topshop
- Reversible scarf from COS

ebay/uniqlo/cosstores/modeoperandi/farfetch

All the shirts and sweaters can be layered, which is great for winter


- Stone-blue brouges from Dune
- Tobacco suede Porsellis
- Balenciaga Arena Chelsea boots

Dunelondon/apc

The blue brouges were an impulse buy, but they looked great on, and were very comfortable.

The only thing I still need are gloves and black ballet flats. But I think I am done for now

How are everyone getting on with their FW planning and sales shopping?

 

[EvaH]

Can any of you think of any kinds of sunhats that don't look overly glamorous, sporty of romantic? I need a sun hat, but frankly everything I have seen looks ridiculous worn with my casual clothing.

Try Eugenia Kim. She makes the best "designer" hat in my opinion