SS17 Trends | Barnardo's Charity Shops | Part 2 - The Outfits

At last...the photos have been edited and I'm back to show you the outfits that I found in the three Barnardo's shops I visited on my last post.  The remit was Spring/Summer Trends and so I thought about the kinds of things coming into the shops at the moment and took inspiration from recent street style pictures on pinterest - always a great place to look for style inspiration.

I've kept everything very wearable and real and I should say now that I've mixed in some of my own wardrobe as I wasn't able to find my size in certain items - shoes were a particular issue so I hope you'll forgive me wearing my own in a couple of these looks. I've marked on each outfit what pieces are mine and what's come from the charity shop.

1. Blush

Blush and nude colours are all over the high street now, as are floaty, ruffled blouses so this look ticks both boxes. Blush isn't a colour that works for everyone though so I've paired it with black, inspired by the photo above. This makes it much more wearable and also helps to adapt a floaty, sheer house for daytime... 

Blouse - Topshop - Barnardo's Holywood

Scarf - River Island - Barnardo's Cregagh Road

Jeans - Primark - Barnardo's Cregagh Road

Shoes - River Island (my own)

2. Chanel Style Jacket

A Fashion week (and basically any week) classic...

This jacket caught my eye almost straight away when I went into the King's Square shop. It's got the perfect colours running through it to make it work with black and denim and you could wear it with a plain midi skirt, or jeans as I did here. 

Jacket - Primark - Kings Square

Cream Top - New Look - Cregagh Road

Jeans - Primark - Cregagh Road

Loafers - River Island - My Own

3. Classic Trenchcoat/Slogan T-Shirt

A classic mac will never go out of fashion and this M&S one has a bit of a vintage vibe about it too. Worn with this slogan t-shirt, it's brought right up to date as slogans remain ALL over the high street this season. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the messages but I loved this one.

Trench Coat - M&S - Holywood

Slogan T-Shirt - River Island - Kings Square

Jeans - Primark - Cregagh Road

Pointed Flats - TK Maxx - Holywood

I also loved pairing the slogan t-shirt with this scarf...perfect for warmer days and it's a nice way to wear a slogan t-shirt if you love the look but are a bit self conscious about people's eyes being drawn immediately to your bust!

Scarf - unbranded - Cregagh Road

4. Green/Lace/Cropped Jeans

Despite it being spring/summer, forest green is everywhere this season...

and lace details are huge so this knit from Oasis is a fab nod to both.

 

Also, if you're a skinny jean lover like me, you will have noticed that jean shapes are slowly changing and even I am trying to embrace the change....inspired by the insanely stylish Emmanuel Alt

Jumper - Oasis - Kings Square

Jeans - M&S - Kings Square

Shoes - River Island - My Own

5. Hoodies

This is admittedly a bit of a cooler weather trend but then I remember where we live and the fact that it's spring and still baltic - as it was in New York during Fashion Week when these next two pictures were taken:

I thought I'd give the 'hoody under a coat' look a go. This was my son's favourite outfit and the one most appropriate to the weather on the day these photos were taken. Right in the middle of Storm Ewan. Thank goodness for the overhang at my front door. My son the photographer was in full wet gear and wellies :)

Grey Hoodie - Gap - Kings Square

Jeans - Primark - Cregagh Road

Trainers - New Look - My Own

Coat - Gerard Darel - My Own

6. Midi Skirts

I have just succumbed to this trend and hands up, I'm really late to the party but I think most of us are late adaptors and need to see these things being worn by lots of 'normal' women for a while before we give it a try. They also can be tricky to adapt to daytime so here's how the street stylers have inspired me

and here I am in a vintage striped midi skirt...first worn casually. These photos, given the weather, were the most 'interesting', to take! Passing cars were most bemused :)

Denim Jacket - Vero Moda - My Own

Skirt - Vintage - Cregagh Road

Cream Top - New Look - Cregagh Road

Trainers - Topshop - My Own

 and showing the versatility of a skirt like this, I styled it for going out too...can you tell how freaking freezing I am in this next picture??!

Top - River Island - My Own

Black Courts - M&S - My Own

And there you go - my 6 looks, all created using items from just 3 local Barnardo's shops. Apart from the mac (which was £9.99) all of the items I featured cost less than £5. And I found lots more that I could have used in my post - I had to be ruthless and pick my favourite items and also the most practical and wearable ones. I hope my finds help dispel the myth that charity shops are not worth looking in. There are always some gems to be found in the right shop. I'll definitely be back to look in these shops again in the coming months.

I should say that I borrowed all of the stock to feature and returned all but 4 pieces this week. I decided to buy both scarves (the habit is strong), the hoody and the slogan t-shirt and paid full price for all 4. So watch out for these appearing now and again on the blog. Barnardo's covered some of the costs of doing this post as I had to go back and forth across Belfast a few times to get the right pieces and it was quite a time commitment pulling the whole project together. I also had to pay my son for standing in the rain and wind taking the outfit photos. The weather was 

*that* bad and he's saving up for an Easter trip. He's one smart cookie!

Ax