Three Ways to Wear a Black Leather Midi Skirt this Christmas

Girls Night Out







RJR @ Debenhams Skirt* | Topshop Crop Top | & Other Stories Necklace | New Look Heels | H&M Bag

The Family Event






RJR @ Debenhams Skirt* | Vintage Polo Neck Jumper (similar here) | Zara Scarf | Carvela Flats (similar here)

The Work Do





RJR @ Debenhams Skirt* | Zara Top | H&M Boots | H&M Bag | & Other Stories Necklace

There are many benefits to being a freelancer and working from home.

Every day is a weekend- Tuesday night (and Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, and Monday) is the new Friday night! You get to work in your pyjamas. Or in a ballgown. There are no rules in my office (AKA bedroom.)No morning commute on the Northern line tube (I find PDA uncomfortable with boyfriends or lovers, so that level of breathing-down-your-neck and accidental snuggling intimacy is far too much for me to handle at 7:30am)It's flexible. Sample sale? Always the first there. Work can wait until the evening when there's some discounted Dior on the cards.

But year after year, there is one thing which bothers me about working from home. I don't have an Office Christmas Party. On the plus side this means no getting horribly drunk and kissing the strange IT guy who always smells like baked beans, but it also means I don't have any real reason to dress up and get glamourous. Of course I could run an office party in my bedroom, but with a houseplant and cuddly cat toy as the only guests on the list, it's unlikely I'd have much gossip to chat about afterwards.

At least Debenhams are on hand, setting me the task to style up one black leather midi skirt from the RJR range for three different festive occasions: a night out for cocktails with the girls, a family occasion, and a work do. At least now I had an excuse to play dress up and pretend like I had some nice party to go to (as if I really needed one...)

Girls night out means one thing: glamour. Rather than totally overdoing it I kept it simple and black. All loose and flowing, the skirt has so much drama that it deserves to be the centre of attention.

A family event calls for casual comfort. Cue a cashmere sweater, flats and a scarf so large it doubles up as a pillow for when you get sent to sleep by your batty old Grandma ranting on about one of her collectible dog ornaments mysteriously disappearing.

And as for the work do, well, it's got to be slightly conservative. A bold printed top and classic ankle boots does the trick. You'll be covered up, responsible, and a credit to your workplace. Just don't overdo the Champagne...

Take a look at the full feature here on

The Daily Debrief at Debenhams

Casual Dressing: Converse

Mango Coat | Vintage Polo Neck (similar here) | Zara Bag | ASOS Jeans | Converse*

I once dated a guy who told me that he preferred girls in skinny jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and Converse. Of course it's a classic combination, but at that moment in time when he delivered his womenswear preferences I happened to be dolled up in a gorgeous Topshop Boutique Silk dress and Kurt Geiger heels. It probably doesn't come as a surprise to you that I wanted to throw my espresso martini in his face over his lack of appreciation for my efforts. There I was, trying my best to look all 90's minimal glamour and all he really wanted was a plain Jane.

Casual dressing has never been my thing (as a five year old I would wear prom dresses just to go to the corner shop) but with the huge infiltration of normcore (it still hurts to use that term) and the fact it's just so comfortable and easy, the casual has become unavoidable.

Street-style photographers and paparazzi seem to have developed an obsession with chasing down 'off duty models' between catwalk shows wearing a pair of skinny jeans, an oversized tee and a leather jacket, so it's no surprise that there has become an element of laid back glamour pinned on to the most basic sartorial choices.

But I can't ever be a total plain Jane. So when Cloggs got in touch with me to take part in customising a pair of classic Converse, I couldn't resist turning the laces a bright neon pink with a set of Dylon Fabric pens. With the addition of a bold pink lipstick (Nars Audacious Claudia lipstick incase you were wondering), black skinny jeans and hazy grey layering, this is casual dressing meets casual glamour.

Plain Jane who?

Can I Really Pull Off Over The Knee Boots?

Topshop Control2 Boots | Mango Coat | Zara Jumper | Topshop Skirt | Zara Bag | ASOS Sunglasses

Over the knee boots are my forbidden fruit: something that I always really wanted, but never thought I could (or should) have. The chocolate cake to all dieters. The tall-dark-handsome-man my best mate just started dating (sorry...)

Why? Whilst the models in Vogue and street-style stars with lean-queen proportions seem to pull these boots off in a state of what can only be described as over-the-knee nirvana, a more bottom-heavy and curvaceous me would more likely fall into the territory of moderately-priced-dancer in a Magaluf strip club.

But despite tweeting this a year ago, and writing at the top of my New Years Resolutions for 2014 "get skinny enough not to look like chubby hooker in over the knee boots," I seemed to have had a change of heart.

No, I certainly haven't lost any weight this year (*cries into burger*) despite joining two different gyms and coaxing several free sessions out of the personal trainers, but I did disregard all of my own personal views to try out this trend, probably due to overexposure to over the knee boots on Instagram.

The main issue I faced? (Not including my thigh circumference)

Finding the perfect pair. It seemed everywhere seemed to be stocked with flat heeled boots (purrfect if you really want to look like puss-in-boots), Stiletto heeled boots (if you really want to unleash your inner-dominatrix publicly), Pirate boots (too flappy at the top, a bit too Captain Jack Sparrow for me), and Chunky Platform heeled boots (I'm just not that into emulating Posh Spice before she became the modern VB incarnation we all now love.)

This left one question on my mind for months:

Did a pair of black suede over the knee boots with a small but chunky heel exist anywhere on the planet that wasn't going to withdraw �500+ from my penniless purse?

All hail Topshop. Queen of the High Street. Topshop's Control2 over the knee boots have padding in the leg to hold the boots in place, and have the perfect sixties-esque 3inch heel.

The biggest surprise? They were oddly flattering and I didn't look like Pretty Woman post-pizza binge.

Success.

The Tartan Suit

ASOS Check Blazer | ASOS Check Trousers | Christian Louboutin Shoes | ASOS Sunglasses | ASOS Top | Zara Bag

Tartan suits are a bit of a weird one.

They are an unknown territory that I previously assigned only to very dapper men who know their tailoring, or tall and thin models who have very dapper boyfriends they could 'borrow' tartan suits from and wear with all of the nonchalant elegance of a rock-star-ballet-dancer.

I am not a dapper man. Or a model or a rock star. And I gave up ballet dancing when I was four years old because they would't let me wear a pink tutu to class. So in a complete lapse of sensibility and self identity I ordered a tartan suit anyway hoping for the best... and this is what I got.I came to realise that there is a very fine line between a gritty-grunge-chic aesthetic and emulating TV presenter extraordinaire Lorraine Kelly circa 1992. The vital difference between the two lies in the colour palette of the checks, the tailoring of the suit, and the accessories you wear with it (I stand by the fact that Louboutin's are capable of resurrecting any poor sartorial choice. Lorraine darling: take note.)A major criticism? The trousers. They fit on the hips, rather than the waist. Cue flashback to my youth when 'hipster jeans' were all the rage. And not as in trendy East-Londoner hipster jeans. I'm talking about those awful low-rise, hip-hugging, muffin-top-inducing, g-string-revealing jeans that should be suppressed deep in our memories along with Furby's and that time your boyfriend cheated on you with your best friend at the school disco...

Inside the Studio with Matthew Williamson

Ask anyone working in the fashion industry what's so great about London Fashion Week and they'll tell you it's all about the designers. Words like fresh, gritty, and edgy are thrown about to describe the homegrown city talent. Still, LFW can sometimes viewed as inferior to the classic Paris and Milan fashion weeks, but there's something so innately different about the London fashion scene that you cannot find anywhere else.

London has no boundaries. There are no limits. 

Elements of electricity and dynamism fuel the creativity of the capital. London has the environment that nurtures homegrown talent, providing a platform for new designers to develop and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of fashion, design and technology. In a city of diversity and constantly streaming inspiration, it is a young designers playground for experimentation.

Here we find Matthew Williamson.After showcasing his first collection at LFW in 1997, three years after graduating from Central Saint Martins, he is a classic example of native British talent putting London on the fashion map.

"Our brand has a super clear DNA it's rooted in that sense of bohemian, jet-set sensibility so that's always the cornerstone, the anchor of each collection." - Matthew Williamson.

The SS15 collection was a revision of Williams' signature roots. Kaleidoscopic colour palettes were fused with eclectic prints, giving a relaxed bohemian Seventies energy. Feather-weight silks twist, lift and billow in the breeze. Fluorescent-paradise shades in peacock blues, hibiscus pink, and sunset oranges painted trademark maxi gowns and pencil skirts.

Every designer needs a muse. Matthew works alongside Georgie MacIntyre, his Artistic Director, who shares his visions of print and textile mastery and design.

�My job as artistic director really is to inspire Matthew and help him realise his vision. More recently we've worked a lot closer on the inspirations and designs.� Georgie MacIntyre.

For SS15 the vision is clearer than ever: a Seventies revival drenched in the rich colours of a hot summers day. The whole collection was crying out for an exotic beach break on the white sands of Ibiza.

Harrods and the BFC are currently profiling four of the best British designers. Want to know more? Go inside the studio.