Made With Love by Kat

I know it’s terribly middle class to idolise the Duchess of Cambridge’s sense of style (and that this post is several months overdue), but who doesn’t feel a twinge of envy when they see her in another fabulous Jenny Packham creation? You have to have a seriously good figure to pull of this colour and so many sequins, but for those feeling brave enough, I’ve tracked down two options from Packham’s diffusion line for Debenhams: Sequinned dress, £185 from No. 1 Jenny Packham at Debenhams   Sequinned dress, £150 from No. 1 Jenny Packham at Debenhams   If those are still out of your price range, this nude lace shift dress is a wearable and affordable option, from Next:  Apricot lace dress, £75 from Next

Grunge. It’s the nineties trend that just refuses to die – if you’re a fan of Dries Van Noten, at least. The Belgian designer filled his spring/summer show with plaid, bleached blonde hair with dark roots, black eyeliner and white framed sunglasses. It’s enough to make you dig out your copy of Bleach and start scouring eBay for vintage DMs. Of course, being Fashion-with-a-capital-F the plaid prints were teamed with chiffon maxi skirts and there were plenty of silks and metallics to give a luxe edge. Waists were nipped and femininity highlighted – don’t think you can just buy a huge granddad shirt from a charity shop and be on trend – not unless you team it with leather leggings, sky-high heels, a chiffon scarf and some seriously swish jewellery at least. The good news is that the High Street has embraced Van Noten’s vision with alacrity. If plaid’s not your thing, try denim or florals, with flat boots or spiky gladiator heels to add attitude. Pretty it up with lace or add a g...

OH mid-December, time of Christmas shopping panic when, inevitably, you feel bad about “only” giving your mum that carefully-sourced vintage cape with original embellishments still intact and decide you need to add some novelty socks and a cellophane “gift box” of soaps you know, in your heart of hearts, will remain on the bathroom windowsill until March 2015, at which point it will be regifted to a distant cousin who was unexpectedly in the area on their birthday. I’m not, as it happens, going to give you tips on how to avoid last-minute shopping disasters right now (well, maybe one: do try not to get drunk if you can help it). Instead I’m going to address a more cumbersome problem – the shopping bag. Don’t get me wrong, there can be nothing more fabulous than tripping down a frost city centre street, arms bedecked with rope and paper beauties from Harvey Nicks, Selfridges and Boodles… but let’s face it, most of us are not a Delevigne and our bags are more likely to be plastic h...

Coral might not look like a neutral - but team it with turquoise, navy, sand, gold, chocolate... That's a pretty versatile colour if you ask me. And now the thermometer has gone beyond brisk and into the realms of downright chilly it makes sense to invest in a stylish sweater that you can pull on with trousers, leggings and skirts. Proenza Schoeler knitwear (left) is the stuff of legend, but at £405 this jumper is likely to leave you unable to pay your heating bills. Head instead to super-coll label Uniqlo (right), who have a v-neck number in exactly the same hue for a gobsmacking £19.90. Yes, you read that right. That leaves you plenty of change to treat yourself to these little beauties: Djinn reworked vintage earrings, £15 from Made With Love by Kat

Few things add glamour to an outfit like a great pair of statement earrings – Prada restarted the trend with their rose and diamante beauties... ...and net-a-porter are currently featuring this gorgeous pair by Marni: Yep, utterly stunning, but at £255 way beyond most people’s pre-Christmas purse strings, as are many (but not all!) of the selection chosen back in October by Elle magazine, which you can see by clicking here .  Luckily there is a host of independent designers out there who have created statement jewels that are far friendlier to your budget: These filigree and aqua jewel beauties are just $27 (£17.27) from Lazy Owl Boutique on Etsy. These  rhinestone and rose earrings have more than a touch of Prada about them, and would grace any Hollywood starlets ears. $57.99 (£37.10) from Queen Me Jewellery on Etsy. Add some cocktail hour glamour with these Swarovski crystal drops , $64 (£40.94) from Eldor Tina Jewellery on...

As part of my shop overhaul for Christmas, I have added styling tips to each of my items (I've also reshot my photographs on a white background - would be interested to know what you think. I suspect I'll be going back to using books in the background in the New Year). This is based on my love of the "magazine" pages of shops like Net-a-Porter, and I wanted a way to incorporate that into my Folksy shop . However, the Folksy set up means I can't show you pictures of suggested items to match each piece - so I thought it would be the perfect subject for a series of blog posts, starting with… Anna Karenina  I love the opulence of the Russian tsars in film and TV, and with all those muffs, furry hats and velvet layers it's perfect for winter. The look is perfect to accompany some of my deeper coloured items (a range I'll be adding to over the next week - I have some exciting new pieces waiting to be photographed!) Team my Nary...

It feels like Autumn already here in the North of England, what with the rain, and the ever-present clouds, so it’s only natural that our minds start turning towards what to wear in the colder weather. However, I can’t say I was overwhelmed by the Guardian’s list of 10 style inspirations for fall. Sade? Princess Diana? And, worst of all, sulky Kristen Stewart who it appears no-one has noticed actually looks like a boy wearing a binbag no matter which couturier she wears. That said, I wouldn’t complain to much if the boyfriend started dressing like Ben Whishaw, although possibly not in his role as Richard II , as excellent a piece of acting as it was. Rather, the Guardian hails his turn as Q in the new Bond flick – a role it seems Whishaw was born to play. For his hair alone, much more tousled than the current neat side partings on Burberry’s catwalk, Whishaw is the male fashion pin-up du jour. They also do well to mention the forthcoming film version of Anna Karenina (screenp...

Ther best thing about being a journalist is receiving the look books at the start pf every season. The ones I've received recently have been pretty uninspiring, but as ever the continually underrated high street darlings Dorothy perkins have once again come up with an adorable new collection. This fabulously kooky jacket and short combo is well on the edgy side of this season't pretty nude trend. Ralph Lauren's catwalk was awash with denim in homage to dustbowl America - a fitting inspiration in these tough times. For those who can't afford Lauren's prices I love this oversized denim shirt. I wish I had long, long legs to be able to wear these brogues. Sigh. I've been buying a lot of Twenties-style dresses lately. But you can't have too many! And of course, every summer outfit needs a pair of fabulous sunglasses!

I am so ridiculously in love with Topshop at the moment. I popped in there this weekend to find something to wear for my Halloween "zombie flapper" outfit (think The Great Gatsby's Daisy Buchanan... as she would look now) and accidentally spent a hundred quid. And that was after I reluctantly left behind the gorgeous vintage-sequinned slouchy blazer, which I know sounds wrong in words but was so very right with my new silk drop waisted dress. They've got some amazing twenties-inspired stuff in at the mo that made me drool a little bit. I did, however, splash out on a dove grey ruffled bolero, which at the time I thought would be one of those "wear once" items, but it turns out it makes everything in my wardrobe look amazing. It's coming out again this weekend with a trompe d'oeil t-shirt and my skinny jeans - if I can get the mud out of them. Pretending to be in a fashion shoot by wearing your best jeans to turn the horse out in a muddy field may loo...

Has anyone seen the November issue of Vogue ? The so-called return of "More Dash Than Cash" for the thrifty fashionista? Well what a joke. Their idea of "budget" is items under £150. One of the bracelets they featured was little more than a cowrie shell on some chain - and it blew the whole hundred and fifty quid! I could make one for about three pounds (and some weekend soon when I've finished my Christmas decoration buying spree I intend to do a tutorial showing you how you can too). They also spent quite a while writing about upcycling, and yet the cost of their "upcycled" items still managed to run into three figures. Are they missing the point or are the editors of Vogue so out of touch with the real world that they think that in a recession we can afford to spend hundred turning an old nightie into a vest top that looks like an old nightie... but with some added sequins. Gosh I'm furious. As it happens, I'm currently working ona thrift/c...

Fashionbite is currently the coolest fashion blog on the block. It was set up during London fashion Week by Emily Sears, fashion guru at Drapers magazine and guess what? She's featured me in her "Vintage Rocks" feature: You can read the full article, here

OK, so last year at the Edinburgh Festival I saw some really, really beautiful bracelets. They were made out of old vintage brooches, beads, pearls and various bits and bobs. They were also incredibly expensive. I thought to myself - how hard can it be? I bet I could do that. Then, like most ideas (at the time I also decided it would be a nice idea to write a stageplay, and the sketch show my friend Luke and I keep chatting about never seems to happen), it faded into the background. But there's a recession on, as we keep being told, and the idea of making pretty, unique jewellery as Christmas presents was very tempting. So a year and a half after the initial idea, I finally got hold of some vintage jewellery, dismantled some jewellery of my own, and fashioned a charm bracelet - I'll find a pic as soon as poss. Then I thought, I wonder if other people would like what I do? I wonder if other people are sick of paying bumped up prices just to have something that you can't buy ...