FAIIINT

Archives for March 2016

Soft

Style

Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Warehouse wide brim hat, Barney's Originals draped leather jacket, Vero Moda tee dress, Pieces leather wrap belt, Kurt Geiger Saturn lace up boots, Balenciaga city bag. All black everything casual dark street style outfit. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Vero Moda tee dress, Pieces leather wrap belt. All black everything casual dark street style outfit details. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Warehouse wide brim hat, Barney's Originals draped leather jacket, Vero Moda tee dress, Pieces leather wrap belt. All black everything casual dark street style outfit.

Warehouse Wide Brim Hat * / Barney’s Originals Draped Leather Jacket / Vero Moda Tee Dress * / Pieces Belt /
Jessica Flinn Star Necklace * / Kurt Geiger ‘Saturn’ Boots / Balenciaga City Bag

Last month House of Fraser challenged me to take part in their #mystylemydress campaign and show how I’d style this Vero Moda tee dress. The same dress has also been sent out to a group of other bloggers and the aim is to see how differently everyone styles the same piece. I always enjoy these kinds of challenges as it’s so interesting to see just how diverse and personal all of the looks are, plus it’s great for picking up styling ideas that you’d never have considered too. I’m really looking forward to seeing the other girls posts, and you can check the hashtag to find them too. Each of us was also sent a surprise accessory to go along with the dress, and mine was this hat, which I got a little over excited about when I saw! It’s nice that there was clearly time put into choosing a piece I’d really love and you can never have too many good hats.

The dress itself is a great basic, so it’s perfect for something like this as the options for styling it really are endless. Made from soft viscose, the little details like the longline shape, boat neck and slightly flared raglan sleeves help elevate it to something a bit more interesting than just another tee dress. It’s a piece that could easily be dressed up or down, but for this I decided to go for a fairly casual look, belting it to give it a little more shape but still keeping it nice and slouchy with my draped jacket thrown over. I always feel like simply putting my fedora and these lace up boots on can make even the most casual outfits seem more put together anyway.

Coral

Style

Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Catarzi wide brim fedora hat, Topshop cropped suede jacket, Reiss Coral overlay shift dress, Kurt Geiger Saturn boots. All black everything dark street style outfit. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Topshop cropped suede jacket, Bloody Mary Metal Lovehunters Arrow silver necklace. All black everything outfit details. FAIIINT Kurt Geiger black suede 'Saturn' lace up boots. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Topshop cropped suede jacket, Reiss Coral overlay textured shift dress. All black everything dark street style outfit details.

Catarzi Fedora / Topshop Cropped Suede Jacket / Reiss ‘Coral’ Shift Dress * /
Bloody Mary Metal ‘Lovehunters Arrow’ Necklace / Kurt Geiger ‘Saturn’ Boots / Bracher Emden Bag

I’m such a fan of Reiss, but like with most of the other high end high street brands, the only time I ever pick anything up is during the sales. I can never really justify it otherwise, but when the sales finally do come around I tend to go a little nuts! I came across this dress whilst browsing through Love The Sales, a site that gathers all of the best sale pieces from your favourite brands and stores in one place, making them easily searchable all at once. It’s a little addictive, and just a bit dangerous for your bank account.

Clearly there was no way I was ever going to be able to resist the beautiful black on black texture and layered detailing of this shift dress. The coral patterned heavy lace is such an interesting fabric, it’s woven with subtle metallic yarns which softly twinkle in the light and it gives a really nice graphic look. I’m always going on about mixing textures to keep all black interesting and I just love pieces which already do this for me by incorporating different fabrics and details into the one piece. It makes it so easy to simply throw on a jacket and still have a visually interesting outfit, or really pile on extra textures for something a bit more complex.

Winter Walks

Life, Style

Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT with husky dog Nico wearing OASAP pom pom beanie, The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 jacket, H&M asymmetric jumper, Hunter wellington boots, Topshop faux fur handwarmers. All black everything dark style winter dog walking outfit. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT with husky dog Nico wearing OASAP pom pom beanie, The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 jacket, H&M asymmetric jumper, Hunter wellington boots, Topshop faux fur handwarmers. All black everything dark style winter dog walking outfit. FAIIINT Siberian Husky dog Nico. FAIIINT Siberian Husky dog Nico, standing up and playing. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT with husky dog Nico wearing OASAP pom pom beanie, The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 jacket. Dog kissing licking face. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 HyVent jacket. All black everything dark style winter dog walking outfit details. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT with husky dog Nico wearing OASAP pom pom beanie, The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 jacket, H&M asymmetric jumper, Hunter wellington boots, Topshop faux fur handwarmers. All black everything dark style winter dog walking outfit. Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT with husky dog Nico wearing OASAP pom pom beanie, The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 jacket. Outfit details.

OASAP Beanie / The North Face Evolution TriClimate 3 in 1 Jacket * / H&M Jumper /
ASOS Dress / Topshop Faux Fur Handwarmers / Hunter Wellington Boots *

It’s finally drawing to the end of winter, the days are getting longer and the chill in the air is slowly disappearing, which means me and Nico can at last get in some proper daylight walks again. I always enjoy when it first starts to get dark early and we can walk around the eerily quiet streets and by the park looking at the stars, but as winter drags on, walking in the pitch black, unless it’s a weekend, quickly gets a little depressing. Especially when all you want to do is curl up inside and hide from the cold.

I’m not quite sure how I managed to survive the last few freezing months of dog walks without this The North Face jacket from Blacks. It’s one of those things that I never really knew I needed, but now I have it, I don’t know how I ever did without it. I can’t bear the thought of ever going back to piling on jumpers under my old coat and battling with an umbrella to keep myself warm and dry – and usually still ending up freezing and soggy regardless! Those are the kinds of things that really take the enjoyment out of going for a walk, and when you have a high energy dog who needs his walk no matter what the weather is doing, it’s pretty important that you enjoy going. I think Nico can kind of sense when I’m in a mood and don’t really want to be outside too, we definitely both have a nicer time when I’m not cold, wet and annoyed!

With an innovative 3 in 1 design, the jacket has a fleece inner which cleverly zips in to the outer shell, meaning they can be worn together for added warmth on cold days or worn individually too. The Polartec fleece is deceptively lightweight for something that is this good at retaining body heat, it’s kept me so toasty when I’m all zipped up that I haven’t even bothered to put a jumper underneath it recently. It’s a highly functional jacket and the HyVent outer shell has lots of nice built in features, like underarm ventilation, a storable hood and a double layer storm flap, making it a pretty unbeatable wet weather companion and super versatile too. I feel like it’s got me covered, whatever this unpredictable British weather (or Nico ‘look how muddy I am, lets hug!’) throws at me.