I’m a dress and tights girl. All the way. Or shorts and leggings. Basically, I never wear trousers, or even jeans. My last pair of jeans wore out about 8 months ago and I haven’t replaced them. I basically only wear them in the winter anyway; but this year I want to be… less scruffy. As soon as I put jeans on, all style goes out the window and its basically a t shirt and cardigan, ahoy. And I’m so sick of that! Just cos it’s cold doesn’t mean I have to look like I’m 12. I’m also quite sick of tights. They rip a lot, fall down, and apparently cause cellulite?? Wtf. I’m not sure if I believe this but seeing as I’m prone to it, maybe I should step away from the nylon leg incarcerations. And don’t even get me started on leggings. I wear them too much, it’s such a safe choice, and choosing safe means choosing dull. I also hate the whole ‘look at me, I’m wearing leggings as trousers, woohoo’ thing; no love, I can just see your knickers. Not cool.

So. Trousers. Eeep. I haven’t worn trousers, proper trousers since… school? As in, school uniform. Yeah, pretty sure. But, I’ve decided I need to branch out my wardrobe, and I’m so excited about pretty much the whole of AW and all it’s ridiculous mini trends that I feel like I want to throw away all my clothes and start again. Obviously, I won’t. About a month ago it was my birthday so I went down to ol’ Oxford St (mainly as I had vouchers, it would be nice to do Spitalfields/Portobello soon), for a shopping trip that was to serve 3 purposes:

1) Spend £120, in a non BUY EVERYTHING YOU SEE way, only buying things I need, i.e Autumn stuff. I don’t need any more floral dresses, no no no. What I do need, is boots, and some AW-vague things that can transition me.

2) Scope out the Perfect satchel. This is a hunt that has taken me in some interesting directions.

3) Try on as many trousers as possible in 3 hours, in as many different incarnations as possible.

This is what happened. (Warning, photos of me, looking a bit silly.)

Hello. Tis me. This is what I wore FOR the shopping trip. It’s not particularly amazing but I like it and it kind of illustrates the leggings example. Safe. And not in a ‘safe bruv’ way.

Cardigan: H! by Henry Holland, Marilyn Monroe dress: La Senza (yes, it’s a NIGHTY, omg), Lace overlay top: Primark, Belt: New Look, Scarf: Vintage Primarni (irony…) and Leggings: Somewhere. Who knows. Oh, Shoes: Babycham. I liked how the belt covered Ms Monroe’s eyes. Belts over cardigans is a good look, an old look but a good’un.

This is why I don’t do outfit posts all that much. PLUS: Taking pictures of yourself in a changing room is reaally difficult when said changing room is the size of a chaffinch and the curtains kept getting opened by the charming girls next door.

Anyways. I liked these, so I bought ‘em. New Look, £24.99, and they come in a slightly more purpley shade a more creamy one too. The body was £7 I think so I bought that too. A good off-khaki shade, that’ll be an autumn staple.

The trousers of A/W all have a slight nod to the hareem, or to the masculine. So you have to get over that straightaway; but it’s ok because they’re mostly quite flattering, practical, and will go with a lot of things.

They’re kind of hareem, but kind of not. This is a key shape; pretty much all the trousers out there are like this, and I’m definitely warming to them. What I liked about these is they’re tapered and rouched at the bottoms, calf length, and the zip detail is nice. They’re of a fabric that makes them look more expensive than they actually are. Got to be worn with heels though:

Like so.

Heels: H&M (bought a while ago, not on this trip), top: New Look about a year ago, Satchel: Primark (£8!!) Two exclamation marks!

Other trousers I tried on…

Also from New Look. A good fit but I wasn’t sure about the corset-detailing. You can’t see my feetsies but they’re cropped like the previous ones.

On to River Island. These were kind of weird. slightly hareem, but more flattering than usual… had an elasticated waistband and a stupid removable velvet bow, which you can’t really see unless you look at the official River Island pic here. That would come off straight away, not a fan at all. The t-shirt however, I really loved. It’s £19.99 which is not a bad price, but once I had it on… not sure. Apologies for the purple bra, that’s either a fail or a statement. Might go back for it.

These were nicer and I very very nearly bought them. £29.99 from River Island again – see here. Really flattering on me, incidentally, but I’d already spent quite a lot in Primark (more on that in a bit…) and so didn’t. Hmmm. I want them though. They don’t go with the jumper, clearly, you’d need to wear them with a fitted vest or something, but I had limited time. The jumper is immense. It’s a cable knit which is (apologies) like SO IN right now, and the back was chiffon and see through.. a little je ne cest pas! Aha. But at £34.99… I just couldn’t. Not when it wasn’t perfect; the only qualm I had was the sleeve length. What is that? Off the shoulder? Who knows. It didn’t flatter my arms (which are in need of toning) so I didn’t. Get a look here though, River Island Light Grey Chiffon Back Cable Top. Want it though. Hope it doesn’t sell out.

Lastly from RI… these babies. Slightly regretting not buying them but I have to be good; need money for RENT not CLOTHES Rachel. Dark grey peg leg turn up trousers- £29.99. They’re so flattering, a really quirky length (imagine these with brogues and checkered socks!) and I loved how the zip is at an angle, you can’t see so much but it fits with the pleats really well. Sigh. Maybe after pay day I can get these. Maybe not though, I’m supposed to be moving house =/

I also tried on some ridiculous leggings/ski/wetsuit-esque things, can’t even find them online so maybe River Island have BURNED them all. I hope so. They were so bad. It felt like trying to get a wet suit on, but just the bottom half. I don’t know what they’re thinking. Trousers+wet suit=bad. That’s the end of the spectrum I’ll be avoiding. I didn’t even take a photo. Terrible.

So those are a pick of some of the best trousers I’ve found so far. I’ll still be looking out; but I’ve got to get my hands on those Peg Leg RI ones.

I’ll post about the other things I horded on my epic shopping trip next….

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