Category: Bag and Shoes

Bag ‘n’ Shoes: Russell & Bromley New Dry and Hobbs Lanesley Bag

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I had a different set of bag and shoes planned for this week, but I abandoned that idea as soon as the postman came this morning!

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Ever since I saw the Duchess of Cambridge pictured in the gorgeous New Dry suede and faux fur booties last week, I was desperate to get my hands on a pair. I already had aspirations for some Ruby Drys, but wedges are so much easier to walk in, and how could anyone resist the beautiful fur trim of these gorgeous shoes? They’re designed by Marvin K in Italy for Aquatalia, and exclusively available in the UK through Russell & Bromley here. As soon as Kate was seen in them, of course, they sold out, but after stalking the page for days I was rewarded when my size came up on Tuesday! (In the US, the style is called Neptune, as you can see above – although the fur trim is rabbit. They were on sale but now are sold out.)

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These shoes are just as beautiful in person as they look online. Comfy, snug and super smart, they go perfectly with jeans, which is exactly what I wanted! They come already protected from the elements (hence the ‘Dry’ part of the name, which is a range of boots in suede from the brand), but you can also purchase Nano spray from Russell & Bromley to top up the finish. I paired them with my Lanesley bag from Hobbs, which is one of my most frequently used bags and puts up with all kinds of abuse without complaining. The Lanesley was a bit of a replikate for the Mulberry Polly Push Lock bag Kate was seen with in 2011, and is the perfect size for an iPad too! But no one cares about that, do they? (Sorry, Lanesley, you know I love you!) This post is ALL ABOUT THE SHOES. And so I leave you with this glorious sight:

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Worth every penny! Keep checking back to the listing for these boots on Russell & Bromley’s site here, because as the returns come in from last week’s orders, quite a few new sizes keep popping up! Good luck…

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: French Sole Silver Sparkle Henrietta Flats and Wilbur & Gussie Navy Charlie Clutch

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Finally, there’s time to post about last week’s bag and shoes combo (don’t worry, I have a special one lined up for this week!). Again, this continues the saga of the French Sole Factory Shop visit last month (read about it here)!

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These are the third pair of my epic haul, and they are very slightly translucent, with a reinforced area around the toes for added strength. The shoes are dotted with gorgeous silver sparkles, and have a muted navy trim. Because they were samples, and had no box, they were actually £20 instead of £25! I paired them with my favourite Wilbur & Gussie clutch (although it has plenty of competition, I LOVE W&G!), the raw navy silk with the beautiful ship fastening! (This style is currently unavailable, but you can browse the Charlie clutch range here.)

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Because of the diamantes on the clutch’s ship clasp, and the gold edging, you can match it to silver or gold accessories, which is handy! As you can see, I usually carry it by the strap handle, which allows you to dangle it off one wrist at a jaunty angle…

I love these silver strips on the heel of the flats too.

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I also love the way the muted colour scheme creates a really subtle look for the Henriettas – the opaque material is also really unusual and great fun. Although the sparkles work well for the holiday season (indoors, of course!), this kind of look would also be terrific for a balmy summer night too!

The clutch – well, what can I say? The Charlie clutch in gold was carried on tour by the Duchess of Cambridge, and her sister, Pippa, is often spotted with a W&G clutch under her arm. Given my fondness for nautical accents, how could I resist this one – especially when it combines two of my favourite colours, navy and red?!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: French Sole Quilted Red Henrietta Flats and Accessorize Alessandra Satchel

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The Great French Sole Factory Shop Haul continues – this time, with the incredibly festive looking pair of red Henriettas with white trim! The main body of these flats are quilted, but the toe is nubuck, which makes them look really pretty, but is a bit of a nightmare if you’re going anywhere that’s a bit damp!

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However, there’s no denying that white and red seem made for Christmas (thanks, Coca Cola!). And, I paired it with one of my favourite bags, my red Alessandra satchel from Accessorize, which my friend Lisa bought me for my 30th birthday. You can purchase similar bags from Accessorize here: they’re one of my favourite companies!

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Attached to it is a little Parazul charm I bought on holiday in the Caribbean. Parazul are one of those companies you see everywhere on a cruise, but at the time there was no way I could drop $100s on a bag, so I bought myself a little charm instead. On the shuttle back to the ship, one of the crew started cooing over my shopping bag, but his face completely dropped when I showed him what I’d actually bought! Still, I like it! And, as well as being a reminder of my holiday, it’s also a nod to my family’s shipbuilding heritage too!

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And, finally, my nail varnish is Goldeneye by OPI – in my opinion, the best bright gold varnish for the Christmas season. Perfect if you want to get into the holiday spirit!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: London Sole Leopard Love Heart Flats and Hobbs Lanesley Bag

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Here’s the first reveal of shoes from the epic French Sole factory shop visit I had last week! As you may remember, I came back with a massive haul, so I’m pretty booked up with my plans for these posts for a month and a half! I also hinted that they were very festive in their design, but I have to say, these are probably the least festive of the batch, which is why I decided to wear them first…

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I almost didn’t buy these ones, but I couldn’t leave the shop without them in the end! These are from French/London Sole’s spring/summer 2012 collection, specifically, their Valentine’s range. I remember seeing them at the time and thinking they were really pretty. The material is patent olive green leather – which is another reason I busted them out this week – it’s been raining almost every day!

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One of my favourite pairs of French Sole shoes are my classic leopard ponyhair flats with red trim, so I had to get another leopard print pair – I would have loved to have had FS on the heart (or even my own initials!) but LS is good enough for me, especially when they were just £25! I paired the shoes with my trusty black Lanesley bag from Hobbs, which is a versatile satchel style bag with a Mulberry-esque postman’s lock, top handle, and cross body strap. It’s my nod to the now sold-out Polly Push Lock Mulberry satchel – which of course, I would love to own, but alas are now rare as hen’s teeth and considerably more expensive!

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Ah, monograms! I’d love to have a pair of personalised, monogrammed smoking slippers from French Sole! I’m thinking MS G would look pretty cool! What do you think of monogrammed shoes, or items with logos on them? Dig them, or find them too flashy?

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: Primark Snakeskin Clutch and Jonathan Kelsey for Mulberry Cropped Booties

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I accidentally did a bit of high/low fashion melding for this week’s Bag ‘n’ Shoes post, pairing a cheap as chips Primark foldover clutch with some gorgeous Jonathan Kelsey boots. These were part of Mulberry’s first foray into the shoe market in 2008, where they teamed up with Kelsey to create a capsule collection that included these rather beautiful cropped, polished, gunmetal booties.

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(This was actually for my Medusa outfit for Halloween – which was pretty uninspiring, to be honest, but I did go all out on the accessories!)

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I have to say, the more I look at these shoes, the more I love them. They’re not so high they’re impossible to walk in, and the colour is phenomenal, but they are a tad battered, poor things! In the end, I thought they went pretty well with the snakeskin clutch – I’m not a huge fan of snakeskin, so I wasn’t prepared to spend much at all on the bag. Primark to the rescue – this was just £6!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: Mulberry Bryn and Ugg Illana

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If you told me a year ago I’d be proudly modelling Ugg boots, I would have thought you were crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re super comfy and I’d love a pair, but they’re not exactly the prettiest of boots. However, earlier this year, I popped into the Ugg outlet store at Bicester Village, and came home with a beautiful pair of Illanas! And, what better bag to pair them with than my new Mulberry Bryn?

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These shoes definitely kick started my love of ponyhair, once I’d realised they weren’t made of actual ponies, that is (derp).

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The shoes are lined inside with a shearling type material, making them super fluffy and comfortable – although they are very high (and slightly perilous) and I’ve been banned from wearing them around certain people!

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But hey, life’s too short to wear practical shoes every day. And you can quote me on that!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: grey tote and River Island skull flats

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If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you may have already seen these awesome new grey flats I bought from River Island in the ASOS sale – perfect for Halloween! I love the pointed toe – I used to think pointed toes were slightly crazy, but I’ve definitely warmed to the look, provided they’re not too pointed at the tips… If I was mathematical I could probably work out the exact angle that hits my sweet spot, but that was never my strong subject at school…

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I decided to pair them with my grey tote bag seen in this post – not very exciting, but it is pretty voluminous and handy for carrying my secret weapon… SLIPPERS! That’s right! When I visit folks I take slippers with me, because that’s just how I roll.

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If you are convinced of the awesomeness of these shoes, they are still available in limited sizes at ASOS here.

Bag ‘n’ Shoes: Juicy Couture Bowling Bag and Croc Kurt Geiger flats

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I thought I’d go back in time for this week’s bag ‘n’ shoes post – these are probably my oldest ‘fancy’ shoes and bag. In fact, I think the Juicy Couture bag was my first ‘designer’ bag, bought way back when at Net-A-Porter in the sale for a little over £100. At the time, I was young, free and single, and living at home, but that was still a huge chunk o’cash! Luckily, I still love the bag to bits – literally. There are missing embellishments everywhere, and owing to some storage issues, it was recently rediscovered smelling a tad musty – but I’ve been working on that! (Oh yeah, this isn’t one of those fancy ‘lifestyle’ blogs that paints over all the less than rosy aspects. I mean, look at those weeds on my patio!)

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It’s fair to say I’ve grown out of JC since, but this bag will always have a place in my wardrobe. The jute and pink thread combo, plus the chocolate brown trim, just does it for me every time! I paired it with another blast from the past – one of the first pairs of shoes I ever bought in the Harrod’s sale – brown croc Kurt Geigers, which seriously need another clean and polish!

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These were probably the first pair of flats I ever bought, because as a teenager, I just lived in trainers. I can’t believe how long these shoes have lasted, but, again, I still love them as much now – maybe more – as the day I bought them! That square toe, those laces! The curved trim! Ahh.

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I guess this is a caution to make sure you always store your bags properly – and even if you think they’re safe, air them out every season. Trust me, it’s a lot of trouble to freshen them up again!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: Mulberry Bryn and glitter Aldo ballerinas

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Wow, what a week so far! It was my birthday yesterday and I’ve barely had time to stop and think all week – the next time I’ll be free to take a breath is probably Monday – but I’m certainly not complaining! However, it does leave little time for blogging. That said, I definitely had to make time for my bag ‘n’ shoes of the week, so I could show off my beautiful birthday present from my husband (which I bought myself in the summer sale, cough, ahem) – a new shiny oak Mulberry Bryn! I’ll definitely be featuring this baby more in an upcoming post – but for now, here she is!

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Because it was a special occasion, I had to break out the glitter shoes I bought last year for the Christmas period – they’re super comfy Aldo ballerina flats, and they’re a mix of silver with some light flecks of gold. And, you can just about see the lovely pearl bracelet my husband bought me as a wedding gift too. This was definitely a combo that brought back happy memories!

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Bag ‘n’ Shoes: grey tote and French Sole pink woven Henriettas

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I recently purchased a pretty new pair of French Sole shoes in their secret sale, and I love them! (And, pst – they have another, bigger sale on RIGHT NOW!)

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They’re actually pinker than I thought they’d be, and to my surprise, I’ve found that even so, they’re more versatile than I thought! They go with the grey trousers I’ve been living in over summer (from Next) and blue jeans, which is perfect for me.

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Bags are also easy to match with pink – my favourite, nameless, grey foldover tote from eBay goes perfectly – which is handy, because I’ve been using it a lot lately thanks to its voluminous nature. In fact, it came to the cinema with me last night and carried my slippers (yeah, I’m not in my 20s anymore…)

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