I’ve been making every effort to actually update this site more often in 2011, but I’ve been a bit quiet this week as things have been a bit busy, so apologies for that. I’ve still been keeping up with my challenges – Frugal Feb, the Shoeper Challenge and Frocking Fridays – and I’m finding documenting all those outfits and shoe saves really good fun, and it makes me think a little bit more about what I’m wearing each day, rather than just throwing on whatever dress comes to hand first. Especially as in the last week I’ve had parties, work events and London Fashion Week to attend…

We’ll start off with last Friday, and it was off to London Bridge to celebrate ten years of my friend Darika being in London. I wore a blue H&M number for Frocking Friday (one of my style icons, Zooey Deschanel, has the same dress, you can imagine how excited I was to discover that!) but also used the evening as an occasion to ‘save’ a pair of shoes in the Shoeper Challenge. They’re not very easy to see in the pic, but they’re fringed suedette platforms with wooden heels from New Look. Here’s a closer look – they don’t look that high in the pic but believe me, they are. They make me about 6″ tall!

I remember reading somewhere that wearing open-toe shoes with tights looks ‘common’. Well, it’s freezing and I’ve got shoes that need saving, so I guess I’ll live with that!

Next up came a quick trip to London Fashion Week. I only went to one show this season – Christopher Kane (amazing, as expected) – which to be honest was enough for me. I love fashion week and nothing beats seeing the clothes close-up, but I don’t miss the long days and waiting around and was happy this time to just make the one appearance! I wore a red dress from ASOS, which was probably a bit of a mistake as the structured detail refused to sit properly and it creased really badly, but as I spent most of the day with my coat covering it anyway, it didn’t really matter.

The shoes are also ASOS, and a real favourite because they’re super-high but really, really comfy. I think they cost me about £11 in the sale. They’re another first wear in the Shoeper Challenge, so consider these babies saved!

And finally, yesterday’s Frocking Friday dress, which was a bit of a last-minute choice (I got up slightly hungover, put my jeans on and then realised it was Friday and I needed to make an effort)! The dress was found in a vintage shop in West London, cost me about £12, and I believe it’s from the 70s. There’s heaps of fabric in the skirt so it hangs really well, but it needs belting and the sleeves rolling up or it looks very, very old-lady ish!

No pic of the shoes with this one, but that was only because they were my boring old black leather boots, which are on their last legs thus not really worth ‘saving’ in the shoeper challenge.

I have a bit of a confession when it comes to Frugal February. I sort-of cheated, as today I got a new digital camera. I broke my old one about 6 months ago, so have been using a little budget Fujifilm compact that Sian very kindly handed down to me, along with my phone. When I saw the Panasonic I had my eye on had gone under £200, I decided to invest while I had the money. It’ll really make a difference to the outfits pics on this site, and I’ll also use it loads for work and when I go to Australia in May. I kind of consider it exempt from Frugal Feb as it’s essentially a business expense, plus we’re almost at the end of the month, so the money I saved has gone on this camera!