Outfit August 07/08 - Stripes

Hiya!

Since I've had my new camera (which is light enough to carry around with me all the time) opportunities to take photos happen a lot more often than when I was carrying around a DSLR the weight of a small child. Because of this I'm capturing a lot more photos, even if they aren't that special. The way things have been for me recently I'm celebrating every day I get dressed.

Because I've been completely up in the air mentally since my step dad was diagnosed with the big C I keep finding stuff I'd forgotten about, and this outfit is one of them. I wore this on a roasting hot day in June when my dad (not my step dad) was visiting, so I got him to take my photos.

Doesn't my pops look fetching in my hat? ;) We went for a walk then went to the pub.

I'm wearing:

Hat, past season New Look
Top, Asda
Skirt, past season New Look
Plimsolls, past season Primark

Even though these photos were taken a month ago they're still very much in the ethos of Outfit August as I've made a point of using older stuff for a while. I guess I've grown disillusioned with some parts of blogging - particularly the capitalist side of it. I like new things as much as the next person but I like to have a mixture of old and new things on the blog, which is not very fashion blogger-y at all. The very successful bloggers are new-new-new all the time, which of course they CAN do as they're supplied with everything. But that isn't indicative of real life, and it's important as bloggers and readers to realise that. I've come to realise that being the bastard child of UK plus size blogging with allegiance to no brand (thus being able to call them out if they disappoint) is a bonus, not a drawback. If success is being under the wing of a brand (or a few brands) and my blog no longer feeling like mine, I don't want it. I think maintaining your own flavour under that kind of influence must be difficult, so I'm starting to feel glad I'm not 'bought'. Happiness for me lies in doing my own thing. The blogs I really like to read are by people who look at what they've got in their wardrobes, get creative and try new ways to pair things up. So yes, I'm leaning away from the capitalist thing deliberately.

How do you feel about bloggers and the amount of brand influence they have on their blogs? Do they lose their voice? Does it bore you if I wear older things?

Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo