Monochrome Moods

You can't go wrong with stripes, monochrome and the deepest darkest red lips!

I wasn't going to post this outfit - despite snapping away in my close - as the light was pretty bad and (although the photographer, thanks sister!, was fabby) I wasn't convinced the photos looked good enough. However, all you lovely lot on Instagram showed it so much love I decided to listen to demand and just go with the dark, moody-vibing images! 

The main point of shooting this outfit was so I could blabber on about how much I love my striped culottes!

I came across them in the River Island sale and snapped them up for a bargainous price. I'd avoided buying culottes in the past, mainly because I'm not particularly tall and thought they'd only make me look smaller. But, I couldn't stop thinking about them and with such an amazing sale price I couldn't resist! And, with a heel I actually find them a really flattering length. Plus, the vertical stripes are great for giving the illusion of longer legs.

I love the way they can look just like a midi-skirt, but are bit different and fun to wear. These ones are a really nice silky material and feel luxurious to wear as they swish about while you dance away. All I needed to do was pull them in at the waist with a belt to give them the finishing touches and perfect shape.

They've convinced me that I'll definitely be buying more culottes in the future. I think they look great smartened up with a buttoned shirt tucked in, statement necklace and smart heel or casual with a woolly jumper and chunky heeled boot. They're just a bit more unusual than you're standard skirt or go-to pair of jeans and I loved wearing them!

I just added a silky cami top with a pretty ruffle tucked into the waistband, a leather jacket slung over my shoulders (I won't lie I actually did put it on properly in a very un-pintrest friendly way) and some lace-up heels, that I uncovered in the back of my wardrobe.

The finishing touches were deep, dark red lips and a pretty clutch to match. 

And the winner of 'My New Wardrobe Favourites' the beaut striped culottes!

Jacket - H&M
Top - H&M
Culottes - River Island
Shoes - New Look 
Bag - Topshop