She don’t make me nervous, she don’t talk too much

  Ray-Ban Wayfarer Sunglasses C/O Shopbop | Splendid Turtleneck Sweater C/O Shopbop | High Waisted Trousers from Urban Behaviour | Steve Madden Pumps

For me, when it comes to personal style, I've always taken inspiration from both women and men. Even when I first began blogging in 2009, I liked to occasionally incorporate pieces that looked inspired by menswear into my outfits. Nowadays, I particularly love 1960s men's fashion, which may, at least partly, have to do with my love of music from that era. For this outfit, I had Bob Dylan's style in the 60s in mind.

Now that it's nearly autumn, I've taken full advantage being able to wear all black without that uneasy feeling that your look might be bordering on looking like you're going through a belated goth phase in the middle of summer. So, without that on my mind, I paired a lovely black turtleneck by Splendid with a pair of black high waist trousers from Urban Behaviour. For accessories, I wore a pair of black Ray-Ban wayfarer sunglasses, classic black pumps, and my beloved Russian Red lipstick.

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You look better now than last time, but you still look better from afar

Thrifted Sweater | Skirt from Forever 21 | Secret Tights | Material Girl Pumps | Watch C/O Daniel Wellington

Autumn is nearly upon us and I, for one, am ready to welcome it with open arms. I have never been a summer girl. I find the sun and hot weather enjoyable for about a week before getting tired of sleeping with my duvet half fallen on the floor and sweating whilst doing the most minuscule of things. I hum and haw about getting a suntan until it's too late in the summer to even bother. And I always seem to begin the summer with plans to do this and that and end it having done about a quarter of the things I had planned to do. That, though, I think mostly boils down to the plans sounding better at the end of May than when faced with the reality of the blistering sun of July.

On the other hand, I've always loved autumn. Colourful fallen leaves, shorter days, cooler weather, nicer clothes, Hallowe'en and all that it encompasses, upcoming Christmas holidays.

Now, to write a bit about what I had sat down to write about to begin with -- my first proper autumn outfit post of the year. Sometime near the end of spring I bought a huge chunky knit sweater at one of my favourite thrift shops with the cooler months in mind. I'd had it sitting at the back of my closet and thought it would be perfect for the type of outfit I had in mind. I paired it with a skin tight black skirt and black tights to create a nice bit of contrast. For shoes, I opted for a pair of chunky heels I bought last autumn. And since I was going for a little bit of a 1960s vibe with this look, I backcombed my hair a bit more excessively and went with a heavier eye makeup look and lighter lip than I typically do.

And for accessories, I wore the Classic Bristol watch by Daniel Wellington. I absolutely adore the dark brown strap and rose gold face. Such a dream. I was contacted recently by the shop regarding a collaboration and so I also have a discount code to share! The code 'lifeinredlipstick' provides a 15% discount shopwide on www.danielwellington.com and is good through 15 September.

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Pin me up or put me down

Shirt C/O SheInside | Thrifted Shorts | Steve Madden Pumps

I don't have many 'rules' in regards to fashion. The one I do tend to stick to, however, is to dress for the weather. In the summer, that means not wearing overtly summery clothes on cold days (lest I spend the day feeling half-frozen) and trying to take advantage of the rare warm, summery days by wearing summery clothes (or at least things that can't be worn on those cool days).

For this outfit, I paired a black button down shirt from SheInside with a pair of denim shorts that I've had since I was in high school (though I styled them a bit differently back then!). I decided to forgo accessories and opted for simple black pumps to achieve the minimalistic that I was going for.

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Velvet and Tulle

Dress C/O Chicwish | Steve Madden Pumps

Unlike the dress in my last evening wear post, I've not yet had a chance to wear this dress outside of my house. Well, except for the time spent running around out in my garden one evening trying to convince my cat to come in for the night. The things my neighbours have seen and heard. Having lived in the countryside for years, I'm not entirely used to having next door neighbours and have somewhat carelessly continued to behave as though I still haven't. That aside, a girlfriend jokingly asked upon seeing this dress whether it made me feel like a princess. A princess with a massive unexplained bruise on her thigh, maybe.

This is the first in a series of two evening wear posts in collaboration with Chicwish.

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Reading recommendation.

Rearranged one end of my dresser. The glassware, vase, and old perfume bottle are all second hand finds, I looove thrift shops!

Nerdy.

A recent thrift shop find. An old cigarette tin (apparently the kind my late grandfather smoked way back when!).

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