A festive day out in faux fur

December was quite a hectic month for me, running your own business can be hard at the best of times, but when you have 3 times as many orders to get through, as well as your own Christmas shopping and preparations, things can get tough.

eustratia faux fur coat blogger

manchester fashion blogger and designer stacey black

This was a day in early December when I managed to escape from the madness for lunch at the Alchemist and a walk around the Manchester Christmas markets with my mum and her cousins.

 

As I was getting ready to leave, I found myself wishing I had a new coat to amp up my outfit and was overjoyed to realise that it was just about cold enough to wear this wonderful faux fur coat from last year’s winter collection for Eustratia. I had been keeping it hidden away in a garment bag so as not to risk ruining it before I had finished shooting it.

 

I was originally going thinking it would dress my outfit up and make it look a touch more feminine. Looking back at the photos however, I realised that paired with the braids and chainmail jewellery, it probably makes me look more like a hollywood version of a Viking queen, which I consider a happy accident.

 

 

 

 

 

To achieve this makeup look, I used my recently purchased Morphe 35T palette and Gerard cosmetics liquid lipstick in “invasion”.givenchy pumpkin bag

 

stacey black dark fashion blogger

Outfit details:

Coat: Eustratia

Sequin front jeans and cardigan: Topshop

Jewellery: Richard Ayres

Bag: Givenchy

Shoes: Miista

miista e8 shoes

antlerdragonfly

Wolf Child

On Saturday, I had the chance to enjoy a chilled walk by the reservoir with Ziva before heading into town for cocktails. Ziva loves the water, but we have to be careful not to let her go near the swans as they are scared of her and can get quite aggressive.

I wore my Wolf Child majestic wolf tee and realised the wolf illustration does look a bit like Ziva and features similar facial markings. I was kindly sent this tee by the brand and really enjoyed wearing it, it was really soft and comfortable and the print seems good quality. I love seeing independent brands with strong ethos producing quality items and am always looking for new ones to feature on here.

dark fashion blogger

lake 4

lake 2

lake 3

lake 1

 

lake boots

Images by Janet Ratchford

Outfit:

Blazer: Karen Millen

T-shirt: Wolf Child

Skirt: Miss Selfridge (similar here)

Boots: Asos

Bag: Givenchy

Necklace: Infinity

antler dragonfly banner long

Winter project

Every so often, I feel compelled to create some images of my own. It could be to experiment with a new hair or makeup look, find the right setting for a new product I’ve created, or bring to life an image that popped into my head.

winter moth 1b

 

This time it was “all of the above” and I shot a couple of images featuring my “Freya” crop top, moth necklace and butterfly head piece.
winter moth 2bI also shot a new image for the “moth girl” t-shirt, as the previous one didn’t really inspire me.

mothgirlnew copy

I continued the set with a set featuring my dog, Charlie, which I will post next time.

Photography by Richard Ayres.

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