My Passport To Style| Reviews Nature Shops| Emu, Romani Boots

I was recently asked if I would like review a pair of Nature Shops black Romani Suede boots, as I love the companies responsible attitude to the environment and with winter on its way, I thought you gals might appreciate discovering more about this comfortable emu style boot . I felt this particular style offered the versatility and detailing to be styled up in various ways in time for winter 2011. From wearing them full length, for a classic biker style look, with a favourite battered leather jacket and skinny jeans, to rolling them down and wearing with chunky colourful long Navajo knits and tights (like my recent purchase from Warehouse below) or even adopting a luxe ski look and teaming them with a long quilted glossy cream coat, black roll neck fun goggle glasses and a wide leather headband.

First Impressions

The Nature Shop boots came beautifully packaged in a brown card box with large gold floral print and a rope handle. Once open I spotted a swish fabric tote with large gold nature shop lettering and logo which I thought was a really nice touch, as the bag has a drawstring also you could choose to use the bag as shoe bag to protect your boots or just as a tote.

The boots themselves are well made from premium sheepskin and 3/4 length with the sheepskin turned over, there is a chunky brass effect ring that fastens at the outer side of each boot, through which an additional strip of suede is looped and attached with a sweet brass heart stud, this attention to detail I felt gives the boots a luxe edge. At the back of each boots is premium gold stitched initialling.

Comfort V Style

For those of you that have worn this style of boot in a different style such as the stinger, you will know they are quite roomy, so great if you want to wear a thicker sock, however unless its sub zero conditions there is no need as the sheepskin lining works well to keep feet toasty and wick any sweat from your feet away. I love being able to just pull on a pair of boots with no zip, fastening etc which sound incredibly lazy but when you're in a rush it's great! The boots have nice big treads on them, having tried them out on the pathways near my home which are now laced with slippery autumn leaves, they do work to keep you upright and your dignity in tact!

The only thing that I found, was I have what I term sporty calves! So rolling the boot up to its full length made the fit quite tight and meant that the fibres of the plush black fleece inner lining stuck up around the outer edge of the boot slightly, so I would probably wear them rolled down as intended or rolled up with straight black jeans over the top.



please note * I received these boots as compensation for writing this review

My Passport To Style | Granny Dishes The Dirt On Natural Stain Removers

 With wear it for one evening only dressing, becoming a distant memory and the party season fast approaching. I was discussing the merits of certain stain removers with granny after getting peppercorn sauce down the front of my favourite silk dress.

My Passport To Style | Gets Material

Hi Gals, me thinks that the recent thirst for heritage pieces such as tartan and plaid has been brought about by the Royal wedding in the UK and a emotional need for sturdy fashion that will stand the test of time! Thankfully tartan offers a heritage solution with a little more than just sturdiness about it!

 Whatever the reason If you can wear a dress that feels as cosy as a blanket and it still gives you an aura of regal bearing who can argue with that. Loving this tartan duo and  the somewhat unlikely but sweet pairing of Alexandra Mcxqueen and Sarah Parker. If your wanting to buy into heritage with a more modern feel then why not opt for a simple blanket cape or these ear muffs new in from http://www.muji.co.uk/ store, loving the fact that this cape by Muji UK, has not been overworked just a simple pin and armholes, the length is perfect and the colour of the tartan is flattering for all hair shades.  

My Passport To Style Has Been Awarded 10 Of The Best By The Fashion Network

Wayne Hemingway Of Red Or Dead

Hi Gals, I just found out some really exciting news that I wanted to share here with everyone one here who reads my blog and supports it, My Passport To Style has received an award

 '10 Of The Best' from The Fashion Network for being one of the top 10 best blogs in the North UK.

The judging panel included Drapers, John Lewis, The Mail On Sunday and designer Wayne Hemingway and My Wardrobe. If you're curious to know more about the award, click here. If you like your daily dose of fashion blog's you can check out the other winning fashion blogs there also, as well as fashion blogs, fashion business's both on and off line were selected for awards also.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to My Passport To Style and to you all for supporting my passion for writing on the subject of fashion ! See you soon.

My Passport To Style | Alphabet Chic, D Is For .......

D is for Delightfully Dotty tights worn for those days when your feeling a little bored!

check out the Mary Portas and Charnos range here  

image courtesy of blogtightsplease.co.uk

Cardigan The Home Of The Last Jeans Factory In The Uk, Is Back For Business!

As a British gal who is passionate about championing home-grown clothing labels that will help with the re growth of our industry in the UK and our economy, Inspired and proud does not come close to how I felt after discovering the man with what can only be described as a calling to bring the fiercely competitive industry of denim production back to its roots in Cardigan in the UK. Speaking as a fashion blogger, I feel the heritage, craftsmanship and ethics behind a label, can often be lost behind the gloss of fashion but I like Hiatte believe we have reached an important tipping point where the fashionable do care how and where their clothing is produced and are also starting to understand that the survival of our country not just the fashion industry, is dependent on are supporting the growth of home- grown brands here in the UK.

What better way to end fashion week in the UK than with by reinstating the production of jeans in Cardigan. Did you know women in the UK spend more money on their denim than in any other country? To find out more about the entrepreneur and his project, read Hiattes inspiring philosophy on business, please visit here, spread the word and support the project!

My Passport To Style | Matthew Williamsons Spring 2012 Collection

I'm thrilled with Matthew Williamsons exotic use of print and colour for his spring collection, how many designers would choose to flank the outer edges of a dress with flowers? They are usually always the main event on a dress. Did you every make one of those picture when you were a little girl when you painted and image on one side of a piece of paper and then folded in half and opened, but there was so much pain it bled into the centre, this print reminds me of that. His print has a beautiful organic feel. I think he may have sensed that the classic tea dress has been done to death! 

 Rich saffron and pale yellow damask effect print in a relaxed shirt dress.

Loving what I call a desert palette, burnt orange, dusty yellows and ochres and rich bronzes in his two piece short set. the flirty and decadent use of fringing, the architectual use of print placement is sublime. Mexican high society with a strong 1920's asthetic runs through Matthews Williamsons Collection for spring 2012 and I for one will be adding some of his collection to my scrapbook for safe keeping.

My Passport To Style | I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With F

This frow fashion image is one of absoloute favourites from the week, it's like an old historical oil painting, in that you keep spotting new images and symbols and our left to ponder on there significance and meaning. I love how Charlotte dellal has elevated the overdone 50's pin up look and made it look so fresh and soft, loving her seashell art deco shirt print and her giant oyster shell hat is perfectly decadent for ocassion, she looks so comfortable her look does not look the slightest bit gimmicky . I'm also enthralled by the the guy that has been captured in the background, is it a clergyman off duty? Or a man sporting a short white roll neck and long black coat jacket to capture this seasons hot monchrome look that many are sporting this season?     

I had to chuckle at this tangle of back lace legging and cutout black leather wedges, which just make this front row snap look like it was uniform day on the front row, shame, I thought fashion today was all about pleasing your own asthetic.

Pixie Geldof looked in my opinion effortless and beautiful, loving her hair and makeup, she has great shoulders.

My Passport to Style | Marc Jacobs Brings The Great Gatsby Into The Future

Marc Jacobs - Sportwear inspired

Sheer stocking and fabrics

Dropwaist

Betty Jackson - snake skin chain

I really enjoyed watching Mark Jacobs spring 2012 collection, to sum it up, it was flapper girls gets futuristic; lots of sheer and shiny looks. Great cuts, elegance by the bucket load, drop waists, neat jackets, sharply pointed Mary Jayne's and cowboy booties made from plastic, with a transparent neck that elongated the leg so cleverly, he conjured up so many body lengthening tricks throughout his collection I was dizzy trying to keep up with them! It would take pages to unpack them all and one very large suitcase! Fabrics had the looks the look and feel of plastics, or may even have been the real thing, how you would wash them without melting them, who knows or even cares. The use of this material gave the collection a youthful exuberance which I loved. I swooned over his palette, an unusual collection of greens, cool sophisticated greys and mint green and warm caramel and acidic yellows. Casual pieces were smart and sporty with a distinctly 1930's tennis girl style.

I love it when you find an accessory that you know will slot into a next season range your excited by, this Betty Jackson chain by Jon Richard will do just that, grey snakeskin is the perfect accessory to work with Marcs cool mint greens, greys and silvers and those chic drop waists and cowboy booties!

My Passport to Style | Shares What It's Like To Contract Patchwork Fever!



New York Fashion week Oscar -De- La- Renata

Hi Gals, I was recently very ill with patchwork fever, the symptoms ( brought on by many hours of staring at vibrant 7o's inspired folk photo shoots in my favourite glossyy mags) are pretty, although rather nasty! It starts with your vision blurring the boundaries between print, texture and plain blocks of colours, till you become extremely dizzy with visions of hotch potch design. The next stage found me obsessing over how to transform a perfectly lovely patchwork quilt into a coat, I don't think the world is not quite ready for me looking Joseph like, at least not till pantomime seasons starts properly! The finale stage saw me feverishly cutting up every scrap of fabric in the house ready to patchwork into a creation and cloaked in the fall out of loose threads. 



So why not just give way and throw on a plethora of patch work layering as in the image above? The answer is clear in my case, at 5,6 I simply don't have the height to carry of such a large scale mish mash of colour and design, I would end up shrunk to Rumpelstiltskin like proportions, as well as considerably extending my girth, while vastly reducing my fashionable years.

So onto the recovery phase, how did I cure myself, easy, a quick trip to Etsy and the store While There Sleeping, where I found the these beautiful patchwork animals to coo over and reminded me that this trend works best on stuffed animals, beds and models on the runway.So next time you spy a patchwork master piece and start salivating think about what it took me to come back from the brink! 

footnote - fashionable years - like dog years only better!
 
images coutesy of broadwayworld.com, While They Are Sleeping and Oscar De La Renata