Collectif Outfit

So once upon a time, I used to do outfit posts – you wouldn’t believe it from the lack of them recently, would you?! I even did a whole month just of outfit posts once too (although that was a really long time ago!). Anyway, this is definitely one of my favourite outfits recently – I bought the pencil skirt and the top when I went for a day shopping with my mum. I’d actually told her not to let me buy anything (you know, the whole – buying a house, bought a car, must save money to afford furniture thing), but I came home with an outfit. To be fair to me though, I did use a voucher I’d been saving since my birthday (more than 6 months before), and they’re both “basics” – at least, in my world they are!
Both the pencil skirt and the stripy top are from my current fave shop in York, Bowler Vintage, and made by my current fave brand, Collectif. Seriously, I’ve already spotted what I want for my Christmas party dress on their site, and I’ve also given to charity (more on this soon, I have a post about Oxfam coming up!) about 5 bin bags of clothing because I’ve decided I want my wardrobe to filled with Collectif and similar. It’s all part of my pledge in my resolutions post (okay, so it was last year’s resolution but these things take time!) to wear more “classic” retro style pieces. I’ve now realised I totally want to wear retro and pin up basically everyday (not that I’ve yet figured out how to get my hair sorted in that style!), so I needed to get rid of the things I didn’t love in my wardrobe and add in more things I do love. The only problem with buying from a store that stock Collectif rather than directly from them is that it’s a bit more expensive, which can be frustrating, but sometimes you need to try things on and see them in person to make a decision.

Top: Collectif via Bowler Vintage | Pencil Skirt: Collectif via Bowler Vintage | Heels: Yull Shoes

I wore this outfit recently for day that I found quite difficult to dress for! I had my first client meeting with work which was with a high name fashion brand in London, and we were also invited to their Press Day viewing at the same time. Obviously, this presented a few problems for me – firstly, we’re based up in North Yorkshire, so I needed something that would survive the train journey well (and I would be comfortable in), and that would take me from a chilly early morning in Yorkshire to a warmer afternoon in London (the temperature can vary SO much!). I also needed to look fairly smart, since it was a client meeting after all, but with the press day thrown in, and the fact that I was invited to this meeting because I’m the “authority” in fashion in the office (sshh, they haven’t figured out that I don’t know that much about it yet!), so I needed to look somewhat fashiony too, so no boring old suits for me – not that I actually own a black suit anymore! So I decided to go down the route of pencil skirt being smart, but in a bright colour to make it a bit less boring, with a stretchy T shirt type top that fitted well but wasn’t inappropriate. I actually didn’t wear these shoes because, train journey, tube journeys, London, walking and me just don’t mix well! I wore a pair of plain black pointed flats, admittedly not the ones I wanted to wear since those had been packed up during our move and Ben chucked that box into our attic storage, and I now can’t find them, grrr. Anyway, the outfit did the trick for me in the end, although the pencil skirt did get a little creasey towards the end of the day, but what can you do?
I find Collectif sizing a bit strange sometimes. This outfit is all a size 10 – usually I’d wear a size 8, but decided to go for the size 10 top thanks to the old breasticles pulling it and making it a little too short. The skirt I sized up in because it’s tight around the hips, but unfortunately it’s too big on the waist so the top comes untucked sometimes – I may need to take it in a little. This Collectif outfit though, I have the size 8 skirt and size 10 jacket, but the jacket is slightly too big and the skirt is definitely bordering on too small. I also own a Dolores fitted dress in a size 8 (which is a perfect fit, I NEED more of these) and the Dolores top (same style, just without the skirt) in a size 12, which is only ever so slightly too big. The Penny dress from them that I own is a size 8 though, and slightly too big on the waist. Sigh. It won’t stop me buying from them though, I won’t stop till my wardrobe is filled with Collectif!
Anyway, Bank Holiday weekend coming up – anyone doing anything nice? We’re having a mini Eurovision Party, and by mini I mean that Charley is coming round, so really mini, but still exciting! Ben’s got the day off tomorrow too, so we’re cleaning the house (yay…) – we’re still getting things set up and in their proper places, just very slowly, so we have some curtains to put up in our bedroom still. We finally installed our new (sliding door!) wardrobes in there the other day though, so I’m finally getting somewhere to put my clothes. I’ve been really poorly this week with the old bladder again, so I’m looking forward to a bit of rest over the weekend, and hopefully some healing time. And I’m also hoping to squeeze in some sewing – it’s my cousin Eva’s Christening next weekend, so I’d like to make a dress for it. It’s a new pattern so I hope it won’t be difficult and I’ll be able to get it finished in time, otherwise I’ll be digging through my dresses to find something else.