Recently thrifted

I’ve been trying to cut down on my clothes spending since I participated in Secondhand September. From September to December I didn’t buy any clothing other than a few pairs of tights. I allowed myself a little splurge after Christmas and bought a dress from Zuri Kenya, which was expensive but ethically produced. I also did a bit of charity shop shopping.

I got two items that I love, both from the same shop, and both monochrome. The houndstooth check dungarees needed a little sewing adjustment, as the straps didn’t extend quite as long as I needed them. But it was a simple thing to do. The spotty t-shirt is a Marimekko/Uniqlo one, both brands that I have been interested in for a while but never bought anything by.

I’ve been wearing the dungarees lots since I got them. They go well with a thin jumper in autumnal tones that I got for Christmas. I have only worn the t-shirt once so far, because it’s not been warm enough to do so, but I know it’s something I’ll get a lot of wear out of once the weather gets warmer.

I also bought a dress to wear at New Year. It's got a bit of a revealing neckline, so needs a vest underneath! It's also very short. I probably won't keep it long-term, but I like the combination of fabrics so I'll wear it a few more times before taking it back to the charity shop (I suppose I can think of it as renting a dress for a while!).

Where to buy colourful clothes

I wrote recently about why I like to wear colourful clothes, so now here are my tips about where to buy them!

Lucy & Yak

I've bought countless pairs of Lucy & Yak dungarees, a couple of dungaree dresses, and a jumpsuit. The limited edition print dungarees are always fabulous! They also do great funky trousers.

Lucy & Yak dungarees, Seasalt top, secondhand beads

Dreamland Clothing

Great for fun patterned clothing in fabulous 1980s-style prints. I got a striped top that reminds me of the packaging of Refreshers sweeties, and goes with just about anything!

Boden trousers, Dreamland top, secondhand jacket

Boden

My brightly coloured trousers have all come from Boden - I've got a zingy yellow pair, a bright pink pair, emerald green ones, and teal ones (and a few in more subdued colours!). They are also a great source of my trademark stripey tops.

Secondhand kimono jacket, Seasalt dress

Seasalt

This is the other place I get a lot of stripey tops, and also patterned dresses.

Seasalt dress, Cambridge Satchel bag, secondhand scarf

Independent designers on Etsy

These are a great source of screenprinted t-shirts etc. I recently got the "Creativity is a Way of Life" t-shirt from A Spoonful of Sugar.

Secondhand coat, Boden jumper

Cambridge Satchel Co

Great for colourful handbags!

Secondhand jumpsuit

Secondhand/vintage

Charity shops, vintage stores, car boot sales, and kilo sales, are all great sources of fun items. Dresses are my main secondhand buy, and I've managed to find some in great patterns and colours.

Secondhand cardigan and bag

 Secondhand dress

 Secondhand dress

 Secondhand t-shirt

Secondhand dress, Cambridge Satchel bag, grumpy look model's own!

Why dress colourfully?

The first clothing ensemble I remember choosing for myself as a child was a collection of about five bubblegum-pink pieces from Adams, and the next was some mint green items from M&S. I think my parents were great at allowing me to obtain a whole mix-and-match wardrobe in one fell swoop!

I reprised the pink look in 2006 when I was heading to Japan on holiday, with some pieces from Gap including a jacket, and this is when my love of wearing colour really began to take off. When I looked back at other people's photos of that holiday, I realised I could be easily spotted in the photos with my pink jacket, and I decided to keep choosing colourful coats for that reason. So in China I wore turquoise, in Peru purple, and so on.

I began doing the same when attending events that I'd later seek out other people's photos of on Flickr, and it worked really well! I could easily find my deep pink coat in photos of a visit to the Garden of Cosmic Speculation.

I began to notice how drably most people dressed when I was walking along Princes St in Edinburgh and it was a sea of black, navy, beige, and brown. I was determined to go against that tide.

Wearing colour is not just a way of easily finding myself in photographs, it's also a way of bringing joy and fun to my life and to other people around me. Now I have a name at work for dressing in bright colours, and it's always a shock to people when I dress in black & white or navy (although I do love wearing these colours on occasion!). In fact, I have a mantra that you should dress like it's your birthday every day!

This love of dressing colourfully culminated in me joining in with the In Colourful Company colour walk in Glasgow (and soon in Edinburgh). It was amazing to get together with a group of like-minded people who enjoy colour as much as I do, and to bring smiles to the faces of passers-by!

Sunday self-portraits: 80s revival

Dungarees, rainbows, bomber jackets, hoop earrings, pastels, jelly bags, beads, bright patterns - they all seem to be making a comeback! Here are some of my outfits from the past year or two that have included some of these elements.

Sunday self-portraits: Me in the 80s

When I started thinking about 80s style, I thought about some of the outfits I used to have in the 80s, and here are some of them! 

I loved the black and white patterned shirt I got for a birthday, and wore it with a pair of pink plastic earrings that I got from my auntie and uncle along with a pink t-shirt and socks, and a pair of black ski pants (took me ages on Google to find what we used to call these legging type trousers with elastic stirrups!). I also had a long string of pink beads, and a thin black belt.

The shirt stuck with me through bowl cuts and poodle perms!

I loved putting Sun-In in my hair, and this photo of me with lightened hair is a favourite. I think I look really stylish sitting my a waterfall in my floaty skirt and baggy denim jacket! 

For another birthday I got a mint and white striped shirt, with matching mint leggings, t-shirt, and skirt, all from M&S. I ruined the skirt when eating cherries that summer, and have only just started eating cherries again after that bad experience!

Crop tops were starting to come in - just the thing to try to impress my holiday crush (didn't work!).

Moving forward into the 1990s, some of the same styles continued, and I think this amazing jumper I wore for my class graduation photo in 1994 was from M&S or one of the other big stores on Princes Street in Edinburgh - I remember first spotting it in the window of one of these shops when I was on a bus! I obviously already had the idea of wearing a bright outfit in group photos so I would stand out!

Sunday self-portraits: My colour walk

I enjoyed last month's In Colourful Company Glasgow colour walk so much that I decided to have my very own colour walk following the same route and exploring some of the places in a bit more depth. I wore a different outfit, and took my tripod along so I could take lots of photos with the murals.

I started with a bit of a detour. I hadn't been to the Riverside Museum before, so I walked from Partick station to there and spent an hour looking round before I started my walk. Then I hopped back across to SWG3 and started from there.

When I reached SWG3, where all the amazing murals are, I had a moment of disappointment because there were some guys there painting new designs, and the area at the back was fenced off. But, after taking a few photos with my phone, I plucked up the courage to ask if it was OK to set up my tripod, and after that I just got into the swing of taking photos and forgot there was anyone else there! And there were plenty of murals to explore even with part of the site being closed off.

After that I headed towards the Hidden Lane, but I had a little stop on the way. I'd noticed a branch of Tantrum Doughnuts along the way when we did the colour walk, so I stopped off there to grab one for my morning snack.

I was really keen to explore the Hidden Lane some more. When we went on the walk there wasn't much chance to look inside the shops/studios. Some people went into Bonnie Bling but I thought it would be too crowded, and I knew I would have other opportunities to visit. I went in there and bought a pin, then got directions to Neil Slorance's studio. He was on holiday but I met his studio-mate who runs Recraft which recycles craft materials. We had a good chat, and she'd just bought a lovely papercraft book from a sale that was also going on in another studio, which I had a look at.

I headed towards the city centre, making a stop along the way to look at the Anderston hippos which I'd spotted on the colour walk. These are hippo sculptures that bear an amazing resemblance to those here in Glenrothes, so I just had to have a look at them!

Back in the city centre, I had a meal at Ichiban, and then headed to the city centre branch of Tantrum Doughnuts for my second doughnut of the day. I did consider taking it home, but I'm afraid I couldn't resist eating it there and then!