Bonjour,

Today I wanted to post some pictures of things I've bought recently, but instead of doing a typical haul I thought I'd talk a bit more about my current fashion icons and inspiration, my favourite pieces, and how my interest in fashion really originated to begin with.

Around the ages of 10 to 13, I'd by lying if I said I was at all fashion conscious. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, as barely any girls really are at that age. Looking back, I think I mostly wore things I'd picked out, but having no one to really look up to (such as an older sister), I never realised that clothes could be anything more than bits of cloth you put on your body.

But when I joined the website Stardoll in 2010, my whole perspective changed. Stardoll was originally a dress-up site where you could dress celebrity dolls, but at the point when I made an account it had long since advanced to the stage where each member had their own doll and could purchase clothes for it from a range of shops. I spent a good few months at the obligatory 'noob' stage, wearing the typical outfits, but as the range of stores (and my imagination) expanded, I soon realised the possibilities of a website where you had total freedom to express yourself through something as everyday as clothes. I loved dressing my doll up in all sorts of interesting pieces, changing up the style from one day to the next. Strange as it may seem, it was this, I think, that really sparked my interest in fashion in real life. I came to the liberating realisation that I didn't have to dress the same as everyone else - there were infinite possibilities: the only limits were my daring and bank account.

I would never go as far as to define my 'style' with a particular word, as I never really dressed goth, or preppy, or boho, or anything quite so defined, but gradually I started to develop more and more of an idea of what type of things suited me and how I wanted to express myself to the rest of the world. These days I love creepers, school shoes, velvet, crazy patterned leggings, and have a particular penchant for skirts of any description. Of course, I'm not claiming that wearing creepers makes me unique or original in any way, but in my school they're relatively ground-breaking, being a departure from the usual uniform of Converse and jeans.

I have never been someone who really buys fashion magazines, or even girly-type magazines, so much of my inspiration has always come from the internet. Two other websites were crucial in developing my 'style' and interests: namely Polyvore and Tumblr, both of which revolve around the sharing of photos (albeit in vastly different ways). These days I am less of an avid Stardoll user than I used to be, so these are my mains sources of inspiration. For instance, lately I've been really into the whole vibe of the movie Clueless (which, incidentally, I have never even seen but a few people I follow on Tumblr reblog a lot of stills from it):

I am basically obsessed with plaid, velvet, collars, knee socks and chelsea boots, so you can see where I'm coming from here. Also I could pretty much wear that checked yellow suit every day of my life. I can't say I'm nuts about every little detail, but the overall vibe really appeals to me as something I'd like to try to emulate.

Another favourite discovery of late which has proved quite an inspiration is Olympia Le-Tan's fall 2014 ready-to-wear collection. There is so much I love about this collection, especially fluffy pink jumper (spoiler alert!) and the playing card prints:

Of course there are limits to what I can actually wear in real life, but I truly adore getting inspiration and putting together imaginary outfits in my head. To me, fashion is first and foremost a creative outlet, one more way I can express myself in. I love the process of deciding what to wear, even just to school, from one day to the next, and I've really collected far too many clothes over the years.

On that note, here are a few things I bought when I went shopping in town on Saturday:

Pink Fluffy Cardigan from H&M, €24.99

This is my favourite thing I've bought in a long, long time. It wasn't overly pricey, but perhaps a little more than I'd ideally liked to have paid, but I decided it was well worth it. I absolutely adore it! It's just as fluffy and cutesy as it looks, and I honestly feel like I'm channelling Alicia Silverstone in it.

Black Disco Pants from H&M, €24.99

The second main thing I got was these shiny disco pants. They are, in fact, black, but especially with my (wonderful) phone camera proved quite tricky to photograph. I love them because they're essentially glorified leggings, except they're much more fancy and structured and you can tuck things into them without it looking weird.

Black Tattoo Choker Necklace from New Look, €2.99

And that just about concludes this very much fashion-oriented post. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope it gave anyone reading it some insight into my fashion interests and inspirations.

x