If you like it...Buy it twice?

On a trip to Camden recently, I stumbled across one of the Lily J London stores. The store itself is beautifully decorated with meticulous attention to detail, and the staff were very attentive. Whilst my mum was trying on clothes I noticed this 60's inspired blue embroidered shift dress, very similar to a Valentino number seen on the AW13 catwalks. Yves Klein Blue (cobalt) is one of my favourite colours this season (expect a blog post imminently), so I couldn't help but be drawn to this piece.

Valentino AW13

              (Please excuse the poor image quality, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to do this at night...)

The plain turned-up sleeves mixed with the gorgeous detail of the dress contrast perfectly, the only thing that could have been added would be a plain collar, be it peter pan or not, however this dress works a dream as it is. As if I wasn't sold already, one of the shop assistants then brought the same dress over in a canary yellow colour, which I also fell in love with...

Priced at only £35 each, I thought they were a bargain and since I couldn't choose which one I preferred, I had to have both. Thank you student loan!

My Style Icon

Brigitte Bardot -
French-born Brigitte Bardot is best known for her career as an actress, model & singer. She was born and raised in Paris, and became one of the most prominent sex symbols of the 50's & 60's.

Bardot has been hugely influential in the fashion industry. Not only did she introduce the bikini in St. Tropez, France, in the 50's (where it was still considered too risqué in the US), the open-shouldered Bardot neckline was coined after her, and she brought the "choucroute" hairstyle (similar to a beehive) back into fashion. Furthermore, she was famous for her love of short shorts & gingham print, so much so, that her wedding dress, (designed by Jacques Esterel) was cut from pink gingham print fabric.

Brigitte Bardot made cat-eye eyeliner relevant and that paired with a nude/pink lip is still a much-copied make-up look today; there are thousands of Brigitte Bardot make-up tutorials on the internet.

Fashion:

 Hair: The choucroute

 Make-up: Statement liner & nude lips

I do not own these images.