Monday 19 November 2012

French Chic- Nautical striped top

I love fashion but what is even more fascinating for me is that fashion never just happens, it is inspired by major events that have shaped history. The nautical stripped shirt is a very french and minimalist look that has stood the test of time. It was interesting to discover that the stripped shirt has history in the French Naval Army. The stripped short was commissioned as Act of France in 1858 as a uniform for all French Sea men, that way if a navy man fell into the sea he would be easily spotted. Years later Coco Chanel introduced the Bretton Nautical stripes into main stream fashion.



The French Sea men dressed in the trademark stripped shirt


The ever amazing Coco Chanel in a Stripped shirt in 1930

So to pay homage to the great Coco Chanel and also just for how amazing I think stripped tops look I decided to put together this simple and amazing ensemble on.





Friday 19 October 2012

PEPLUM LOVE

Hey Everyone
Happy Friday to everyone. I am so excited about the weekend. I am not planning to do much. My job is pretty intense with a lot of road travel so by the time the weekend rolls around I am completely beat. So basically my Fridayevening plan is a date with James Bond and the sofa.

In this blog I am in in peplum top that i really love. I have always been really cautious about the peplum trend just cause I worry about my body type. I try to avoid anything that adds bulk around the hips and thighs. I got this Peplum top in Zara and was pleasantly surprised by how good it looked on me. Tell me what you think about this look. I find that the top is quite slimming and flattering on my frame. As usual I take my photos in one of the rural health facilities that I work in.





Thursday 18 October 2012

Style in the Village

Hey everyone
the last few months have been extremely eventful. I moved from England back to Kenya where i got a job in health research. My jobs takes to some of the most remote areas of Kenya where I am working in health research and its very involving and demanding. Since coming home and facing the realities of working in rural areas my new challenge has been to remain true to my fashion loving self while at the same time being culturally sensitive to the rural communities that I work in, which is not a mean feat. In this blog I am wearing a simple black dress that i got on sale at HnM with flat pointed shoes and fake mulberrybag that I got during my trip to China. The necklace is a clay beaded necklace i got from kazuri you can check out there stuff from this website www.kazuri.com. I like how it looks like pearls makes the whole outfit really classy dont you think?



Wednesday 22 August 2012

The Maxi dress challenge- one dress, two ways

Its been a while since I last updated my blog. I have just been through one of the busiest times in my life. I had a thesis to finish, a short stint in Beijing for work plus parking and moving from Oxford. Its been a crazy roller coaster ride but after all that is done am now enjoying being able to just chill and do absolutely nothing. In my blog today I am wearing a maxi dress worn slightly differently on two separate occasions. I love how I look in Maxi dresses but for the life of me I can never understand why they just don't photo so well. Anyway here goes, tell me what you think. In one its on a cold day and in another its a sunny day. The one accessory that I absolutely love pairing a maxi dress with is wedges.






Monday 11 June 2012

Simple white tee


Hey everyone am so sorry for not being regular uploading my blog recently. Doing research on my thesis has kept me so busy with barely any breathing space and worse than that is the constant rain in the UK. This being my first year abroad I was not prepared for the schizophrenic weather in Europe. its quite strange for me to be in a place where it rains constantly and days with sunny being far less than rainy days. Having said that, i happened to get lucky a few days ago on the one day it didn't rain and decided to dress down in a simple white tee, jeans and wedge heels for dinner with my friends. I am so lucky because about ten metres from my house are lots of amazing restaurants so its easy to dress in heels without worrying about cab fare and walking miles in heels. thanks for viewing my blog. tell me what you think of my look





Monday 21 May 2012

Oxford Preppy chic


Hey everyone, how has your week started. Mine has started with a bang lots of school work. If you saw my previous post, the blazer and sweater am wearing today are the same only I decided to change the look just a little bit to make it more preppy and more "Oxford academic appropriate". I have such tight deadlines for my thesis this week with my supervisor expecting a 4000 word thesis background by friday this week so i decided to dress the part of a serious student to start of my week. I put on a simple white shirt under the sweater, skinny jeans, pointed flats (easier to cycle in) and topped of with a strand of pearls. I love pearls fake or real they add such a touch of glamour and class to any look. Tell me what you think of my look as compared to the previous post



Sunday 20 May 2012

Gate crashing

Its been a long but fruitful day. I spent most of my day today in the library. I have given myself a tight deadline to finish my thesis so i really don't have a choice but to put in some long hours. Anyway as my life always goes (read previous post) i was invited for a cocktail in honour of a prestigious conference of some of the brightest scholars from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. So i gladly picked myself from the library and followed my friends for a lovely evening (that i had no official invite to) and a catch up with some friends i had not seen for a while. I also took the opportunity to take photos of what i was wearing today. I think I look quite like the serious Oxford Scholar that I am supposed to be except for the towering wedges. I am standing outside one of the most prestigious academic houses in the world. Its called the Rhodes House which hosts the Rhodes Scholarship scholars. Very bright students from africa and around the world are interviewed and accepted into University of Oxford on full scholarship.




Thursday 17 May 2012

Colour blocking: Orange and Navy Blue



Its been a while since my last post. The weather has really not been on my side of late with constant daily rain making it impossible to dress up or take good photos. I had an opportunity to dress up recently. It was on a friday the sun had been out the whole day and my friend invited me for a semiformal dinner in honour of  a conference she was organising. Here are a few pics of what i was wearing. Photo credits go to my amazing friend Jojo (her photography skills are amazing)

I love the tie and dye feature on the fabric of this shoes (Shoes stolen from my sister who i think got them on sale at Dorothy Perkins)

 In the gardens of the place I call home while in oxford (we eat in that big tower block behind me) and look at that brilliant blue sky
Its been a while since my last post. The weather has really not been on my side of late with constant rain making it impossible to dress or take photos. I had a photo opportunity recently when we had a whole day of sun. It was on a friday and my friend invited me for a semiformal dinner for a conference she was organising. Here are a few pics of what i was wearing.

Monday 7 May 2012

A lovely day in London

Hey how has your weekend been? I spent the day in London today with one of my really close friends. After a long lunch and several mugs of tea later, we decided to walk it all of by doing the tourist thing. We took a stroll to buckingham palace and had fun taking pictures and giggling like little girls. I love being a tourist cause its the one time you have permission to take goofy photos in front of statues of nude men ;-). No nude statues here though.
The photos are not as clear as I would have liked them to be because of the dull weather today and the fact that I forgot my camera and we were using my phone to take photos
I hope you enjoy the photos though

I hope you don't get vertigo turning your head to look at this one but i love that colour and the fabric of my clothes can be seen up close
I could not resist adding this photo of buckingham palace. I really thought it was quite beautiful.


I think the guy in the red coat behind has one of the worst jobs on earth. He just stands there all day and we (read tourist) all crowd around him like vultures waiting to take a photo of any move he makes. I could have sworn I saw him chewing gum 

I am wearing a red coat that i got from Miss Selfridges on sale, a white linen vest from Primark, A tiger print scarf from Primark. The bag is a Gap Leather barrel bag that i got it for a bargain from ebay, skinny dark wash jeggings and nude ballet flats. This is one of my favourite looks simple clothes with neutral colours topped of with a pop of colour. I hope you enjoy my outfit today. Thanks for reading my profile and have a fabulous week ahead

Sunday 29 April 2012

Orange crush




Hey how is your weekend so far? I have spent most of mine in doors with a few outings with friends. The weather has been absolutely horrible this week in Oxford with rain daily from morning to evening. So to cheer myself up, i decided to wear orange for dinner and drinks with my friends. I am wearing an orange blazer accessorised with an orange patterned scarf to brighten up my whole look of simple white t-shirt, jeans and boots.
Tell me what you think of my look this week. Thanks for all the support I am getting with my blog so far. Am really excited about it and really enjoying the journey so far.

Saturday 28 April 2012

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Friday 27 April 2012

Shades of green with a drop of orange





Hey how is your week so far? Its been really rainy in Oxford this week. I am now starting to get into my new blog. My amazing friends Ify and Oyinda have been at me for months to start so i have finally found the courage and time to do it. Am really excited about it and hope to get challenged about my style by all of you. Today I am in lots of green and you will soon realise that green is my favourite colour and I incorporate in a lot of my daily wear. Here am wearing a beautiful mint green woollen coat i got from the flee market, with matching accessories, the beads are from www.kazuribeads.com, the bag and top are from Zara, jeggings i got from Dorothy Perkins and the cute fabric shoes with an orange bow are from Primark. 
Thanks for viewing my profile. Tell me what you think of my style today.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Post exams dinner


Final exams dinner. After 8 months of slaving over books and essay. The department organised a semi-formal dinner me and classmates giving us reason to dress up. Here am wearing a simple african print shift dress and platform heels. I have accesorised with beautiful african clay beads made by Kenyan women. Go to www.kazuribeads.com if you are in the UK you can also find the beads in John Lewis at www.johnlewis.com/kazuri 

Sunday 22 April 2012

Starting up

This is my first blogging day. I have never really thought of starting a blog and am not sure how this will go but am hoping to make the best of it. This will be a fashion blog. My friends tell me i have great sense of style and it would be a shame not share that. I guess that i my inspiration for starting this.

A little about me, I am Kenyan currently studying at University of Oxford. This has been my first year abroad. its been quite an interesting journey with many highs and some lows (damn british weather and those short winter days)

I am hope to share my fashion journey and my afro growing journey with you
x
Joan