With no real purpose to it, I seem to have collected some rather fabulous accessories over the last thirty days. Starting with a hand-brushed bronze Apex at an Angle cuff (both timeless and contemporary) from Bare Collection that I simply couldn’t deny a spot for in my jewellery drawer, I then happened to have undergone an accessories splurge at Zalando. Initially, I was drawn to the strange russet hue of a beautiful ‘orange’ patent bowler handbag from Gianni Chiarini and sealed the deal by compliment-shopping it with a similarly coloured pair of wedged high heel boots from Even & Odd. In reflection, the colours and textures of Morocco seem to have infiltrated my sartorial habits…

Last week I was invited to Coast‘s flagship store on Oxford Street for a little dress-up session with a small and lovely group of fellow bloggers. In addition to a little make-up and hair refresher (they’re the ones to blame for this month’s Braid Takeover), Coast’s in-store personal stylist Marie pulled us all a selection of beautiful dresses before letting us run around the store to tag – or #hashtag – our favourite items.

While I would happily throw 90% of their stock into my wardrobe, the apple of my eye on the day was their Topaz dress, seen above. Unsurprisingly  I was sold on the chunky crystal embellishments scattered around teardrop cut outs. Quintessential Lela. The heels – their Haniba shoes – were designed by Jean Michel Cazabat and come in real JMC style; all chic and strappy platformed goodness.

Want to get in on the action? Until the 18th, Coast have an online promotion which will get you 25% off any full price items – just use the code ‘Style25‘!

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As much as I would love to go on a designer shopping spree whenever a special occasion rolled around, I couldn’t quite face the guilt when I know how easy it is to hire designer dresses. As the host of a rather important fashion talk earlier in the week, nothing seemed more perfect for the event than this Temperley London hand-stitched knockout. The detail is absolutely incredible and for something so va-va-voom on paper, the silhouette was comfortably modest.

Power dressing of the sparkly variety.

What I Wore:
Temperley London sequin dress, Wish Want Wear. Pien Mien necklace, Taara.

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Painting it black all up in London Town today.

Black and I have a rather on-and-off relationship. For all it’s sartorial greatness, I usually end up leaving the house in all the shades of a neon rainbow. When I spotted this Galaxy Print dress on We Like Shopping (the best site around for targeting local brands in London), however, I developed a major urge to do head-to-toe black. Throwing on my new favourite biker jacket from French Connection (worn here without the buckle best) essentially finished the outfit. Don’t be surprised if you see these two items pop up a lot over Spring – if it ever arrives – and Summer.

What I Wore:
Galaxy print shift dress, China Doll Boutique. Athena biker jacket, French Connection. Handmade black caged heels.

Obviously I got a little bit ahead of myself by taking wardrobe cues from the sunshine today; this outfit is my most hopeful attempt at jumping straight into Summer mode. Blame the delivery of Uniqlo’s staple tunics and pretty jackets coming all at once, but somehow I managed to convince myself that one layer balanced out the other in regards to body temperature.

It didn’t…but I’m colourful and happy.

What I Wore:
Uniqlo tunic as a dress (shorts necessary!). Uniqlo jacket. Dune platform sandals.