Hello!
So, it has been a long time coming but I have finally re-launched my blog!
It is now called Steph Style and can be found on the link below:
I will be popping an automatic re-direct on this page soon but in the meantime, please do take a look and start following the new and improved blog!
Thanks so much,
Steph
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The Editeur is a luxury fashion boutique nestled away in the heart of Chester, stocking timeless pieces from designers such as Michael Kors, J Brand, Issa and Alice by Temperley, amongst many others. There are some stunning pieces on the website which is great news for all those non-Chester based. Items range from staple shirts and classic dresses, to statement trend-led items. Some of my top hot picks are below:
Equipment Brett Washed Silk Shirt in White £220
Equipment Signature Sheer Silk Shirt Grey Purple Snake £250
Acne Barika Dress £350
Patrizia Pepe Beaded Fringe Dress £325
Sportmax Midas Dress in Lemon £410
Lingerie is a key part of the boutique’s collection and the boutique was kind enough to offer me a complimentary lingerie set. I was sent a classic black lace set by Elle Macpherson which is really flattering as well as comfortable!
Now you have the chance to get your hands on a coveted designer item from The Editeur with their Facebook competition! Simply ‘Like’ their Facebook page and follow the link on their wall to be in with the chance of winning a Melissa Obadash dress! Good luck!
On Wednesday 2nd May, The Fashion Network hosted the final talk of it’s Future Generation series with the Making It On Your Own event held at Thomas Restaurant on Thomas Street, Manchester.
The event was primarily designed to offer advice for those looking to start their own business, go freelance or to build their business. The panel included freelance stylist Martine Alexander, MD of concept store Black White Denim Jo Davies and fashion designer Hannah Beaumont.
The panellists began by summarising their backgrounds; inspired by her love of shopping, Martine Alexander left her career as an IT Project Manager in 2005 to undergo an intensive styling course in Milton Keynes to become a qualified stylist. After initially starting out as a private stylist, she now styles for both private clients and celebrities and most recently styled for the National Soap Awards.
Martine Alexander
Jo Davies spent twenty years working for big companies with huge clients but it was after having her son that she decided not to return to work and instead to pursue her dreams of opening a concept store. Like Martine, it was a love of shopping that gave her the idea for the career change. The eighteenth month old premium store, located in Wilmslow, is called Black White Denim and is designed to offer the key essential pieces of a woman’s wardrobe that will last forever, which Jo acknowledged was particularly relevant in today’s struggling economy.
Hannah Beaumont graduated from Leeds University with a degree in fashion and textile marketing and after working for a time as an Assistant Buyer at Monsoon, decided to launch her own ethical and organic fashion label called Beaumont Organic. The contacts with the factories that she had made through working for Monsoon helped her to start her own label in 2008; though it initially began as eight t-shirts, the company now sells dresses, knitwear, tees and skirts to UK, Sweden and Japan.
When asked how they began starting up their own business, Jo noted that she created her business plan through the help of knowledgeable friends, whilst Hannah was lucky enough to have a family loan. They advised that there are schemes and organisations out there that can help individuals with their entrepreneurial ventures, such as the Princes Trust, and most of these can be found by browsing the internet.
All panellists noted the difficulties and sacrifices involved with starting your own business, which included long working hours, overhead costs, travel costs, employee/assistant costs and loans, amongst others. It was buying too much stock that was argued to be one of the biggest errors made by many start-up fashion companies.
The talk ended with some positive advice for those thinking of following in their footsteps. Jo advised to get a thorough grip with numbers, use common sense, to always be friendly and to cut buying budgets by 1/3. Hannah advised potential fashion designers to start with a small, tight collection and use smaller factories who will not put the pressure on for large orders. Martine praised Twitter as a form to network and build relationships as well as your brand, arguing that fashion styling is more about who you know than what you know. She seemed to sum up best when she advised that ‘fear is good!’
Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you’ve all had fab weekends?
Yesterday the boyfriend and I headed to Chester for a day at the Zoo and a gander around the town which was so cute! We ate at this amazing restaurant on the river front called Hickory’s Smokehouse which was American themed and had a really fab menu; there was a dessert called ‘cookies n milk’ which had a straw in the top of a milk bottle and some of the mains were served in mess tins and mugs which was a nice touch. I had fajitas which were gorgeous – I would definitely recommend the restaurant and would advise that you book in advance! After a few cheeky drinks, we headed back home to Manchester for The Voice and In Bruges!
Today has been spent relaxing, catching up on TOWIE and having a cheeky shop ready for payday tomorrow!
Happy Sunday! Hope you’ve all had great weekends?
My weekend started on Friday night when a few of us popped round to a friend’s for drinks/food/old school Cluedo session which was nice and chilled. Saturday was mainly spent getting ready for my birthday night out in Manchester! Technically my birthday isn’t until Friday 20th April but I will be going home for that so it was the perfect excuse for a messy northern night out! The girls from work and I started by having tea at The Alchemist in Spinningfields with Grazia’s lovely fashion intern Charlie and her designer friend – most of us had the fajitas which were lush, along with some wine, a few cheeky cocktails and some amazing waffles!
After the meal, we headed back to mine for predrinks with everyone else and I did a quick outfit change! I changed into this gorgeous pale blue lace skater dress from Lavish Alice with a vest top underneath from H&M! It is such a cute style to wear though is very short! We then headed off to the Ritz and welcomed my fake 22nd birthday in style!
Pastel blue lace skater dress – Lavish Alice
Pale blue vest top – H&M
Nude wedge boots – Select
Aloha!! Hope everyone is enjoying the sun?! It has finally reached Manchester, which means at last it is time to dust off the summer part of the wardrobe!
Yesterday I wore this fabulous aztec print midi dress from Missguided! It only cost £16.99 and is so easy to wear, though does cling so be warned! I teamed it with my nude boots from Select which were a bargain £7 in the sale! (Sorry about the picture quality – I only had a phone to hand!)
Today I wore a gorgeous mint green lace dress from Primark which was an amazing £15! It ticks the SS12 trend boxes as it is pastel and 50s style all in one, plus I saw the same dress in Therapy at House of Fraser for £45 so it is a bargain! I teamed it with my Select boots and a denim jacket from New Look.
Happy Sunday lovelies! Hope you’ve all had fab weekends?
My weekend started on Thursday when I headed out for dinner at El Rinchon De Rafa with the girls from work! The Spanish restaurant was owned by one of the girls’ fathers and is one of those places that is incredibly popular just from word of mouth! (There is no website and the restaurant is on a little back street by Deansgate, Manchester). We had lush tapas (the chickpea/spinach dish was amaze), tasty vegetable paella and muchos sangria!
The tapas starting to come out…
Mid-way through tapas/paella
Friday night was spent chilling and watching ‘Love and Other Drugs’ – FYI, the gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal is naked A LOT! Yum. On Saturday I headed to the gym in preparation for a meal out with the boyf at Croma, Manchester. I was excited, not just because I’d heard such good things about the restaurant but also because it would be the first time that I got to show off the new dress that I bought from Zara! It is so gorgeous and though I don’t normally spend this much on one dress, I think it’s a classic wardrobe staple. (Plus, the boots I teamed it with I got for just £7 in Select’s sale and the black bag was under a tenner from Primark)! I also wore my hair extensions from Halo and Lauren’s Way fake tan.
Zara dress, Primark bag, Select shoes, River Island chain belt
Croma was amazing – the food is quality and the prices are so reasonable! As you can’t book for a table under 6, we tried to get there earlier but being the popular place that it is, it was full at around 6.3opm. We only had to wait about 20 mins though whilst we had a cheeky vino at the bar!
We shared some garlic bread to start, then I had a tuna nicoise salad whilst Marc had a steak and chorizo pizza (apparently the hoisin duck pizza is lush as well) and then shared Eton Mess! It was all delicious, the staff were friendly and we didn’t have to wait too long between courses despite the restaurant being full.
Today was spent catching up on Take Me Out, eating a roast cooked by Marc, napping and indulging in some flapjacks!
I apologise for the short post once again but I just had to let you all quickly know about the fabulous Benefit offer at House of Fraser! When you buy any Benefit item this week you can get a free deluxe sample of Benefit’s Total Moisture Face Cream!
Personally, I am a big fan of both Benefit’s Coralista blusher (read my review here) and They’re Real mascara (review here)! I also briefly mentioned this moisturiser before here!
So I have been hitting the shops hard again this week (hurry up payday!) and found some lovely new sale bits that might be good for some of you out there!
Firstly, from Urban Outfitters I found these gorgeous colour block heels, down from £110 to £40! I also found this lovely Navajo print gold and black jumper down from £55 to £25!
I don’t normally shop at Vera Moda but after being lured in for the sale I think I might as it has some really good bits! Anyway, I found this fabulous Cocoon coat down from £80 to £25 – it would be perfect for London Fashion Week in Feb!
I’ll start doing some OOTDs soon with all the new bits I’ve bought!
So the manic sale season is well and truly upon us and despite vowing not to get involved in the shop sales scrambles, I cracked after a day. This year I have been quite restrained and so I thought I would do a quick post on the sales bargains I have managed to find on the high street!
First of all I found this cream shirt and these piped red shorts, both from River Island; the shirt was reduced to £20 and the shorts were a fantastic £15!
From New Look I picked up these lovely heeled brogues for just £10! Brogues are my staple footwear and I was after a heeled pair so that no rain water seeps in through the bottom!
I also picked up this royal blue shirt from New Look for a mere £7 which I will probably team with white/red for SS12:
Finally, my mum picked up this amazing Dalmation stole from River Island! It was reduced from £32 to £10, and we also managed to get 20% knocked off the sale price as the hook/eye clasp was damaged:
What bargains have you managed to find?
A 23 year old beauty/fashion PR girl from the Midlands now living in London and writing about all things fashion, beauty and fabulous!
British Beauty Blagger 