Can't Live Without: Kate Kanzier Cut-Out Brogues

As you read this I will be in Sheffield for my job interview, so prepare yourself for a scheduled (but nonetheless interesting) post!

Remember the Bank Holiday weekend? Seems like an age ago now! That Saturday afternoon I dragged a couple of friends all the way to the Kate Kanzier shoe shop on Leather Lane in London to pick up a certain pair of brogues, only to be told that I was too early by less than a week! Here's what they looked like when I first ordered them:

Brogues: £25, Kate Kanzier

These are truly my go-to shoes: they go with almost everything, and even when they don't they add that "quirky" touch so you can get away with them if you're brave! The leather insides and the uppers are lovely and soft, and don't rub or hurt at all, so they're perfect for long distance walking.

At £25, they are the best value for money I have ever had out of a pair of shoes; I've worn them almost every day (and I mean that) from March to August. In fact, the sole started to come off last week:

Wish me luck in finding a replacement pair now that these ones have finally bitten the bullet – I need them in my life!

xxx

Back To The Future?

I feel like I'm going backwards in a few aspects of my life at the moment, but for style purposes I'm going to avoid that word and say "retro" instead!

My first slice of retro is this beautiful pair of Converse All Stars:

EEK disgusting iPhone photos!

I can't believe I'm writing this, but they cost me a grand total of nothing, thanks to the beautiful people who work at Rubber Sole. If the massive choice and free next-day delivery on their site wasn't enough to draw me in, these high-tops were slashed from £45 down to £18, causing mild euphoria for the teenager in me who has coveted a pair of genuine Chuck Taylors since the grand old age of thirteen! I'm itching to clash these with the Liberty-print tea dress in my imaginary wardrobe, but for now I've settled for my favourite knee socks rolled down to my ankles. Unlike my last shoe-related online venture, these actually fit me properly, are super-comfortable to walk around in (Woolrich, don'tcha know) and look exactly like the picture on the website ... I have a couple of things to say, which are: HALLELUJAH for a website you can actually trust, and HALLELUJAH for a pair of flat ankle boots that look like they will actually last!

(Before I forget, using the code 'goddess' for anything other than Havaianas and Fitflops will get you 10% off your order, and following them @rubber_sole can win you a competition or two from time to time.) You can also see Millie's pick here.

Secondly, I'm moving back to London! Some of you may have read my previous post about missing my offers for uni – I managed A*A*A*A*A, which apparently was not enough for Cambridge or Warwick, but I went into clearing and eventually got myself a place at Queen Mary, University of London. I'm really, really upset about not making the grade for my first choices, but the massive upside of QMUL is that I get to go back to the capital! I lived in the south-west until I was eleven, and now I have a chance to really get to know the north-east. I cannot tell you how excited I am ... Norfolk has its merits but I still miss life in the city, and I'm sure that being based in the style capital of the world will have obvious benefits for the blog, too!

The final hit of backwardness "retro" in my life is my new haircut: it's just layers. Again. (No photos, since it's nothing exciting, but I'm sure you'll see the difference in my future OOTDs.) I kept telling myself I'd do something crazy like dying the bottom half electric blue, but when it came down to it I just wasn't brave enough to take the plunge! Then again, I'm young, and there's still time ...

xxx

Some Sunday Stuff

Heya!


Bit of a random post coming up!


First my OOTD. It's my Dads birthday and we were also belatedly celebrating my 18th and my parents 25th wedding anniversary so we went out for a family lunch! (rescheduled from April!)

Miss Selfridge Dress
Boden Cardigan
Topshop Wedges


I'm sorry that it
 looks like I'm death
staring the camera!!

Next up, I had a massive clearout of my room last week in preparation for going to uni! I also turned my cupboard that was previously full of school folders/school related books/prospectuses into..wait for it...a shoe cupboard (with a little space on the top shelf reserved for my harry potter books &GHDs!) The lovely Rachelle of Behind The Shoes asked me to do a little piece about it so here it is!


So here it is! There are 1 or 2 pairs of shoes in each of the boxes with my favourite pairs displayed on top. I think I counted 28 pairs excluding all my sports trainers/shoes and flip-flops (which are on my shoe rack!)

(L-R, top-bottom) Topshop Deckshoes, Tesco Wedges, Kate Kanzier green flats, Kate Kanzier pink flats, Aldo gladiators, pink Urban Outfitters flats, Topshop wedges, Topshop black brogues, Kate Kanzier brown brogues, Kate Kanzier black heels, Dorothy Perkins patent heels, Dorothy perkins grey peeptoe shoe boots.

What can I say. I love Kate Kanzier. and finally thought I'd share these with you...

I didn't manage to get a picture before half of them had been demolished! How lush do they look? They taste even better. My 16 year old (but 3 inch taller) sister has started a cupcake business to raise money for her trip to Peru next summer! They're really reasonably priced and look how pretty they are! So if anyone in Norfolk/Suffolk is in need of some cheap cupcakes, let us know!


Lots of love, Millie xxx

By The Back Door

Y'know that post where I spent hundreds and hundreds of words talking about how much I hated lace?

Today I realised that, not only do I own the world's most beautiful lace ankle boots, I also own a pair of lace socks (which I'm totally in love with):

Lace socks: £5, Topshop; suede shoes: £15, Dorothy Perkins.

... and I almost bought a pair of lace tights in the Topshop sale last week.

I'm not sure how I feel about this!

– Sanchia xxx

OOTD: Rain Or Shine

Just got back from the cinema – I saw Inception with my friend Sophie, and it has BLOWN MY MIND. I'd highly recommend it if you liked Donnie Darko, Ocean's Eleven or A Beautiful Mind, and it's definitely a DVD I'm going to have to pre-order!

Anyway, the weather in Norfolk was in its usual state of ambivalence, so I went with this to get me through rain or shine:

Top: $28 = about £15, Urban Outfitters
Belt: £10, H&M
Skirt: £9.99, H&M
Socks: £2, H&M
Brogues: £20, New Look
Wrap coat: £15, Tesco

I Love You, Universe.

If you've been following our blog, you may remember this, from my trend focus on lace:

You may also remember me mentioning how much I coveted those Topshop lace shoe boots (see above, they're black) – but in the end, I decided to stay away for my own good, and save the £28 for something else!

Anyway, today I wandered into the Topshop sale with my friend Naomi to help her find some (quote) "nice but not trashy" leggings, and came across these beauties again ...

 

... reduced to £15! It was a sign. And now, they're mine. Ah, the world is all poetry and roses!

I am very much in love with these: they're the most unique, beautiful boots I think I've ever seen, and my heart does all kinds of funny flips when I look at them. (Should I be worried by this?) I know they're not everybody's cup of tea, judging by Naomi's determined silence while I was trying them on (haha!), but that only makes me happier because I'm less likely to look like other girls walking down the street! I was going to wear them today, but sadly the heavens seemed to have opened on Norfolk. I'll be back with my OOTD in the evening – off to the cinema now.

Love Sanchia xxx

OOTD: Suitable for Grandparents.

Heya! So, technically an outfit of yesterday but I didn't get back till fairly late last night and I've spent today in a tracksuit (I was working!) so don't have an OOTD from today (Does that make sense...sorry for the ramble!) I know it's really short but it was a bit caught up on the belt in this picture but I didn't realise till after taking the photos! It's actually a couple of inches longer and a bit more suitable for visiting the grandparents! So here it is...

Roshi Dress (available from MissGuided)

Jack Wills Cashmere Cardigan

Topshop wedges (below) - really old but very practical!

Sorry for weird posing!!

& A face of the day...

Again sorry for horrible posing. This was a mirror picture (yes I know) and I hate staring at the camera when doing these kind of pictures because I look like I'm giving a death stare! Not a great look...

Anyway I used...

Dandelion Blusher - Benefit

Wild Curls Mascara - 17

Clinique Superbalanced foundation (Alabaster)

Boing Concealer - Benefit

Eye Bright - Benefit

It stick - Benefit

Rimmel Summer Angel lipstick

Crushed Walnut Eyeshadow - Natural Collection

and a random peach eyeshadow from an H&M kit. Only peach colour I could find!

Also. I'm getting so many freckles at the moment! They seem to focus on my nose though...argh!

Also my Nana saw my leopard print nails. She said she thought they were interesting (in other words she hated them!) haha!

Lots of Love, Millie xxx

(tweet me @allcamillawrote)

OOTD: Knitwear In Summer?!

Took a quick trip down to John Lewis today with the parents, wearing this:

Stupid poses and no make-up! That's just how I roll ... ;)

Top: £9.90, Mango
Skirt: £15, Dorothy Perkins
Belt: $19 = about £11, New York
Shoes: €15 = about £10, Barcelona
Hair slide & ring: £1.50 each, The Clothes Show


Knitwear in summer may seem a bit excessive, but I found this grey jumper in the summer sales and it is so light! Perfect for layering – finding all these great new season buys makes me so impatient for Autumn ... sigh.

I haven't worn these espadrilles for a while, but for the last few summers they have been my absolute favourite shoes. I picked them up on a family holiday to Barcelona (one of the most amazing cities in the world, if you love fashion or you just love life, then you need to go!) – they were handmade, and some of the stitching is a little loose because I've worn them into the ground. When they finally give up the ghost, I'm going to be on a plane or train straight back to get a new pair; they're just too versatile to lose!

I haven't had a haircut in an absolute age (next appointment is August 18th: you'll be the first to know what I think!) and I just can't be bothered to deal with it in the summer, so it's either pulled back with a big hair grip or in a ponytail usually. But today I found the September 2009 issue of ELLE which was full of big, messy plaits, so I thought I'd have a go ...

Let me know if you think it works!

Love Sanchia xxx

OOTD: Let's Play

Playsuit £20 Oasis

So my Outfit of the day today. I say 'of the day' I actually mean between about 4 and 8. I spent the majority of the day in my ski gear but it's both highly unfashionable and unflattering. No one wants to see that. I wore this playsuit to the cinema with Sanchia this afternoon (to see Toy Story 3. Yes I know.) It was a lovely sale bargain. £20 down from £50 in Oasis! Picked it up when I was helping a friend buy a prom dress. Great help I am, spent most of the afternoon trying on random clothes myself!

I wore it with a plain black topshop cardigan and these shoes. I bought them in the Urban Outfitters Sale for $15 when I was in Boston, USA over easter. I absolutely love them but they're to small for one of my feet (I have odd sized feet!). I always seem to forget this though so I ended up spending most of the afternoon walking around with one shoe on and one shoe off because the pain was so bad! Here's a picture of them not on my feet.

Hope you've all had a nice day!

Love Millie xxx

(@allcamillawrote)

A Lesson Learned?

by Sanchia

I've been very aware for the last few years that I've never owned any sandals. The only shoes I ever wear in summer are ballerina pumps, brogues and the occasional wedge – all of which tend to get very uncomfortable as the weather warms up. And as for when I go on holiday ... well, that's a horror story for another time!

So I decided, as I usually do, that the internet would solve all my problems for me. After a couple of hours trawling through the usual online haunts (ASOS, Topshop, New Look, etc.), I found a link to Linzi Shoes dot com through Twitter. They have a huge range of stock and it's all very reasonably priced, so it took me all of a few minutes to place an order for myself and my mum as well! I went for the "Danna" style and my mum went for the "Kate", all the while feeling very smug that we'd discovered this site all by ourselves. (Can you see where this is going? :P)

In total our order came to £50, which included a £20 pair of sandals, a £25 pair, and also £5 delivery. The package arrived as promised three days later, and although we loved the actual shoes, my size 5s were too big and my mum's size 7s were too small. We had to pay £4.50 to return them to the company, which came out of our own pockets, but our size replacements were sent to us free of charge. Although I do now have a pair that fit and that I really do like, I'm really not impressed with the short, unapologetic email I received after e-mailing to ask them a question about delivery, not to mention the beaten-up shoeboxes that looked like they'd been used more than once already! 

I think in the future I'll be sticking to places like ASOS and Littlewoods, who know how to treat their customers and who offer free delivery and returns on all of their products. Do you have any bad experiences of online shopping? Has it put you off that website, or even online shopping altogether?

Love Sanchia (@wakeorsleep) xxx

AW 10/11 Trend Focus: Brogues

By Millie

So brogues are staying in this autumn winter. I'm a big brogue fan although I only have two pairs at the moment! (A brown Kate Kanzier pair and a black Topshop pair) however I'm lusting after some of these lovelies this A/W! (plus they're all £50 or less!)

What to wear brogues with? Brogues can look great with anything from tea dresses (with some frilly socks!) to rolled up chinos or jeans.

Here's Emma Watson wearing her two tone brogues and some brogues from Alexa Chungs AW2010 collection for Madewells.

(photo by Nick Wolf)

Do you own any brogues? How do you wear yours?

Love Millie xxx