spring wishlist

I haven’t written much about fashion and clothes recently, mostly because having two children under five (one being a new baby) means I’m constantly coated in a wide variety of stains, from paint and glitter glue to vomit in one of several different hues. But now the baby is almost one (one! Can you believe it? Oh, Daisy, my tiny baby, where has the time gone?) and Ben seems to have left his paint-phase behind for the moment, I’ve found myself looking at more style blogs and fashion magazines, and pondering on what I might look like dressed in something other than my jeans-knitwear-coat-converse uniform. Oh the possiblities….

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that I a) try to be as ethical and eco-friendly as possible and b) completely steer clear of the high street. Yes, Topshop et al do some wonderfully beautiful looking clothes, but they are incredibly overpriced (well, for my small budget) and made in some of the most horrific conditions. There’s actually a really good high street shopping guide over at Ethical Consumer, which has been doing the rounds, and it’s got some pretty surprising results. For example, I never would have imagined New Look to come in at number two, with a not-bad score of 10 out of 20 (I suppose it is actually quite bad, all things considered, but not when you take into account George Clothing by Asda scoring a shocking 0), nor would I have thought Marks and Spencer would score so poorly, considering they have a whopping great website dedicated to their corporate responsibility and ethical awareness. So when I look around for new clothes (which isn’t often, I usually just look in charity shops and on eBay), I rarely leave the house, and instead spend my shopping time curled up with a great mug of tea, a packet of biscuits healthy rice cake snack and the laptop. I’ve got a serious attack of the wanties lately, and have already decided my plan of fashion-attack for the Spring (please, cold weather, hurry up and bog off – I’m sick of coats and boots!). Behold, my Spring wishlist!

Clockwise from top left: Marianne Tunic, £115, Toast //  Maitri Organic Cotton Temple Knack Rucksack Bag, £44, Fashion Conscience // Cable Linen Cotton Pullover, £125, Toast // Edith Blossom Collar Dress in Green, £63.75, People Tree // Fine Stripe Jersey Tee, £59, and Leni Necklace, £39, both Toast // Lalesso Fair Trade African Print Ballet Pumps, £30.00, Fashion Conscience // Organic Cotton Tote Bag with Peacock Print, £5.99, Global Seesaw.

When it comes to clothes, I always find myself searching out things that are a bit quirky, but at the ripe old age of thirty (HOW has this happened?), I can’t be trotting off down the road in some of the crazy outfits that I used to put together. I’ve sort of worked out that in the warmer months, I get along best with simple clothing with a nice print – a nice loose shift dress with flats, oversized t-shirts with chunky accessories, the odd tea-dress here and there. All quick to put on and easy to wear, which is pretty much a necessity when I have to get dressed in 0.05 seconds in the morning. And I might possibly have been eyeing up the Lotta from Stockholm website again…

I found the green highwood clogs a few months back, and nearly, nearly bought them. Now I’m torn between those, the new aubergine t-bar delights and the practicality of the apple-green low heels. (Plus, apple green! What a colour!)

What’s on your Spring wishlist? Do you know of any ethical or eco-friendly online stores I should check out?