Heels - £40 Zara

Clutch - £6 Primark

Trousers - £11 Primark

Vest top - £4

Necklace & Bracelet - Diamond petal

This is the kind of outfit I gravitate towards to when there are a lot of meetings going on at work and I need to look more conservative aka covered up!lol   But just because you need to keep it conservative, it doesn't mean you cant add  prints and colour to keep it interesting.  

I love the little leather detail on the vest top and I added this necklace to dress it up a bit.  I cant believe this clutch bag is only £6, I would honestly expect to see it in somewhere like Dorothy Perkins or Oasis.

Woah, sorry for the lateness, I will try to get the rest of my images from LFW organised and up on the blog by this evening! Then I need to catch up with what's been going on in Milan as thus far I've only seen snippets on instagram!

On Tuesday, when London Fashion Week was winding down, I decided to break in my new Dr Martens, which were an early birthday present from the wonderful Matt Lain! They started killing me after about three hours... which I felt was pretty good going! I then spent the rest of the day hobbling around central London, very chic. Regardless of the pain, I love them, they're beautiful, I intend on living in them for at least a year. 

Another key feature of my outfit was my new Beyond Retro backpack*. It's a beautiful plum colour and is nice and roomy so I can fit lots of crap in it! I wore it with my gorgeous new Halston Heritage dress*, (I need to get some snaps of it worn on it's own soon so you can all see how breathtaking it is), and also a cosy Boden cashmere jumper.

CASHMERE JUMPER FROM BODEN

HALSTON HERITAGE DRESS*

BAG FROM BEYOND RETRO*

DR MARTENS

This is a question that has been coming up more often these days. With all the crazy variations out there it's no wonder you ladies have a ton of questions! 

As we skim through Pinterest we see photos of some crazy accessorizing techniques that actually look fantastic. But can you pull them off? 

At Laura's Style, we say that if you like something then there is a way that you can pull it of for sure. There are no RULES to fashion, but there are some things that just look really good together. It's the same as when you decorate a room. Some colors look really good together and some colors really don't. A lot of it has to do with personal preference. A lot of it has to do with us just being the human beings that we are. Believe it or not, colors, styles and the way things flow, really affects our moods. So, I don't mean to get all scientific on you but it kind of comes down to that.

I have to admit. This is a tough subject to explain.  

As humans we generally feel good when we see colors put together that are side by side each other on the color wheel when they are matched with the same level of lightness or darkness. Such as red and orange, orange and yellow, yellow and green, green and blue, blue and purple. But if you want to make even more of a fashion statement there is no harm in wearing colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as purple and green, blue and purple, etc. As you can see. Any color really goes as long as it compliments you. Try to use no more than three different colors in your look. You don't want to look crazy!

When I get dressed, I usually pick two colors that are side by side or within the same family on the color wheel (without even really thinking about it) and then I accessorize using a combination of those two colors and maybe an extra one that is opposite on the color wheel or even a neutral. Those colors will be in a scarf, belt, shoes or jewelry.

We are so lucky that our human intuition tells us what colors compliment us! Some people are better at this than others. It takes a lot of experimenting and practice. Those that struggle might consider hiring a stylist who might have "the eye for color and style" that you are lacking. Hey, we can't all be good at everything!

Right before you leave the house, take one least look in the mirror. If you feel like you are over accessorized, then you probably are. Take one accessory off and the out the door you go!

And, just to confuse you even more, neutrals go with everything! 

And another tip, the more accessories you wear the more simple your make-up and hair!

I was privileged to be chosen to speak at a local MOPs meeting yesterday morning. In case you have never heard of MOPs, it actually stands for Mothers Of Preschoolers. It is a group of inspiring mothers of children from birth to kindergarten, who get together to meet, laugh, cry and embrace the journey of motherhood. 

I am a mother of a 17 year old son so it was great for me to gather with them and reminisce about the good old days when my son and I used to cuddle together and I was his idol. I think I need to start my own mothers group called MOTs. Mothers of Teenagers. I need all the support I can get in that area! 

While MOPs is known for sharing the adventures of motherhood, that's not all these ladies have in common. They all have thoughts and ideas to share and this is a place that they can gather and feel comfortable speaking them out loud. 

I was contacted by Farrah about a month ago to come and speak about my style services as well as my new unique online resale boutique called The Canny Canary. I accepted. After getting off the phone with Farrah I decided to google MOPs to learn a little more about this group. Below you will find the short You Tube video I found that completely moved me. I really encourage you to watch it. It actually brought tears to my eyes. This person she speaks about is so me. It's probably you too. I think it's in more of us than not.

Watch:

So as you heard, she talks about that nudge that we need to live deeply and risk bravery. Speaking at this MOPS meeting was my nudge and I can't thank the ladies from this group for that enough.

This is the table and chair set up that I had my fashion "interview" in. I thought it was set up so nice with the water and all. I felt like I was on Oprah!

I love these posters on the wall above the room that the group sat in. Whenever I looked up at them I had a fantastic feeling wash over me. 

We all have something to give. I think we all tend to battle being ourselves from time to time because we don't think we fit in or think that we are smart enough. The fact is, that we are all smart enough and we are all good enough but the fact that we are human for some reason makes us doubt that. Maybe we were hurt in the past, or maybe you were made to feel unimportant because what you were talking about didn't matter to the person you were saying it to. It's really difficult to come back from that and realize that one person that effected you, isn't everybody. 

You have a gift and you must keep on giving. 

While these moms learned about fashion and styling today from a few of my tips, I learned to be myself, bravely.

 

Good morning guys, its been such a long week I'm so glad its Friday tomorrow.  If you have followed my blog for a while you know I love to travel, I have travelled to 15 countries in the last couple of years and I'm looking forward to travelling a lot next year now that the massive wedding expense is behind me.

       

This post in association with loveholidays.com on why us Brits love to go abroad, I wanted to write about what motivates me to go abroad.   Loveholidays.com sent me this cool scratch offworld map.  It was really fun scratching off the countries I have visited, I also realised how much more of the world I have yet to see!

I love going abroad so I'm always motivated to travel anyway, I love learning about new cultures, admiring architecture and learning about the story behind them, tasting new cuisines and as my photography interests are growing every day (thanks to blogging) I enjoy taking photographs of picture perfect scenery.

Another reason why I like to travel is to have a break from work, especially because I work in an office so I spend 8 hours of my day sitting in front of a computer screen, it becomes very routine and boring.  It’s also a great time for me and Lewis to spend some quality time together exploring and enjoying each other away from every day distractions.

As a Brit the main reason I go away is to get away from the British weather! We haven’t had much of a summer this year.  When researching where to travel the weather is normally the deciding factor for me, as you can see on the map the countries I have been to are normally scorching hot.  I have never really thought about getting out of my comfort zone and going to a colder climate but I would love to try skiing.

When it comes to preparing for my flight I normally try to have my suitcase packed at least two days before I fly, but I leave my suitcase open until travel day just in case I have extra items to throw in!  I have learnt the hard way when it comes to toiletries, it really hurts when airport security throw away your expensive shampoos and creams without even a flinch of guilt! Arrgh. So now I make sure to pack all my toiletries in miniature bottles (you can also buy mini versions from boots or Superdrug).

A trick I have learnt when I run out of space in my suit case or reached my baggage allowance is to take a mini suitcase as hand baggage.  I use to take a regular handbag enough to fit my passport, wallet and a book to read, but I soon realised I wasn't taking advantage of the extra items I could bring with me, but I only do this for longer holidays.  In this case I would take a small clutch bag so I can access my passport and cash quickly.

What do you enjoy about travelling? Do you have any tips to make travelling easier? I would love to hear them.

Good question depending on what you expect leggings to do for you.

I seriously have mixed emotions about leggings. 

I believe every single woman looks best in a pair of straight (but not too straight) boot cut (but not cut too wide at the hem) pants tailored to fit her body type. Leggings can look great too. But leggings are certainly meant to be styled. Not just worn with your favorite sweatshirt. 

The lady in the photo above looks perfect in her leggings. Study that picture for a minute. Notice her leggings look fairly substantial. Not too thin of a fabric. Her top comes down well below her fanny. She looks like she could have short legs so her ankle boots come just at the right height to keep her leg looking long. The only debate I have is that her ankle boots could have been kept black so as to make her legs look even longer, but because the color of the boots work so well with the sweater and they don't come up too high on her ankle, I say it looks great! Her bag is just the right size for her curvy figure. I like the length of her necklace with this jersey. The fact that it is a single strand that kind of goes into a Y makes it visually more appealing than if it was just a regular long necklace. I love her bangs and her hair color with this look, although I would like to see her hair cut into a shoulder length bob.

So as you can see, when you wear leggings you must be styled in order for them to work. If you don't plan on styling them, then just do your workout then take them off!

On Sunday I was lucky enough to attend the SS15 Paul Smith show. I decided not to miss the collection whilst staring through a lens and took a few phone snaps instead, which you can see on instagram. All of these beautiful images have been taken from Style.com. 

Held in the bright, open show-space at 1 Granary Square, one by one Paul Smith clad models made their way around a figure of eight walkway. "Relaxed" sprang to mind as loosely tailored shirts and jackets sauntered past in stripes or muted tones. Many models walked with hands in pockets too, to amplify that casual, boyish look, and even the more feminine finalé garments featured dropped waists and emitted a leisurely vibe! Favourite styles included oversized culottes in a gorgeous grey-blue and stripes, as well as a striped, mannish style jacket worn over a shirt dress. What's fab about this collection is how wearable it is; I love its understated coolness.