green tea and a book: Summer Outfit

I recently entered a competition to win a pair of designer sunglasses from Valley Optics, who have teamed up with Jones and Jones to run the competition. To enter, you had to put together a summer outfit - worth up to £500 altogether, and with links to the items you selected (including a pair of sunglasses and a dress). My final outfit selection is completely different to what I had expected it to look like before I started, but I do like the final result. It's quite a flexible outfit - suitable for wearing in a range of different ways and at a range of different places!

I chose a pretty cream lace dress as the basis for my summer outfit. I love lace, and cream, and this dress is so pretty. I especially love the collar and the floaty skirt.

Jones and Jones Poppy Cream Dress £60

My initial thought was to pair the dress with a light and floaty shawl or kimono - there are some really beautiful pastel and floral printed pieces around lately, and something light would be just enough to keep your arms warm against any nippy breezes without being too hot or heavy. In the end though, I decided against that completely and went with this contrasting black leather biker jacket! I love the black, and the rougher style against the cream and delicate lace. The angled zippers and studs also add to the overall effect. This jacket takes the outfit to new style areas and makes it suitable for a wider range of events... for evening-type events as well as more casual day-time ones. It would also look good just resting over the shoulders when it's a little warmer... and it would help with keeping warm on those not-so-summery summer days here in the UK! It's quite rock-y, I really love this jacket paired with the pretty dress!

Black Ripple Leather Biker Jacket £120

Gant Sunglasses Roger £80

The sunglasses I chose were these black 'Gant Sunglasses Roger' from Valley Optics. There were lots of really nice designs and styles to choose from! They had a few pale green tinted ones I really liked, but they had larger shaped lenses and I really prefer the smaller styles. The trends lately have been for huge aviator styles, which isn't really me. These rounded rectangular ones in black go really well with the jacket and dress, I think, and would be perfect for summer days and evenings.

These black studded boots (below) have been on my wishlist for such a long time! I love the buckles and studs, and the design of them. I have also seen them in a dark/mid brown colour, but they only seem to be available in black at the moment. I like these in black for this outfit anyway - and would look great with the dress, with or without the jacket! They would work with this outfit with some lacy cream coloured socks, or perhaps a pair of novelty star-printed tights (Sheer Star Tights £4).

I also really love this watermelon clutch purse. I wasn't sure whether it would work with this outfit, but I think it looks quite nice. I absolutely love watermelon and have really liked seeing all of the funky fruit prints around lately! I like quirky things, so this fits pretty well!