Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Glove

 Hey there pretty fairies! How are you?

I appreciate that asking how you are through the blog has a touch of Dora the Explorer about it in that I can't hear you and you probably didn't answer out loud. Nonetheless, I hope you're fine and dandy!

Crystal Methyd as Dora the Explorer

I didn't do a blog last Sunday because I was oh-so busy like an oh-so busy bee doing uni work, Christmassy tasks, and seeing people before shimmying back to Essex for the holidays. That means I've a fair few glorious outfits to show you, you lucky duckies!

So... let's get this party started / let's crack on with it / let's get this show on the road !

toilet portraiture 

I wore this arty-farty-let's-go-party outfit to uni on Wednesday. The navy turtleneck jumper has colourful bobbled flecks of wool that look like confetti, and it's tres cosy. It's originally from Primark, but I got it in a charity shop for a few pounds a few months ago. 

I wore it with two layered kiddie-core necklaces, one which I made myself (Beady McCredie!) from a Sainsburys' children's jewellery making kit, and the other one which I received in a bundle from an elderly lady my mum used to clean for and keep company. The skirt and coat are staples which have been seen before on this blog, so I won't bore you with the deetz. 

On Saturday, I ended up (as I so often do) on the strip of charity shops literally seconds away from mi casa, and I found a pair of leather knee-high boots for £8.99! 

Charity Shop Sue wants you to support your local charity shop

I'd been wanting a pair for ages, eons, perhaps even millennia, but I was anxious about ordering some from eBay in case they didn't fit right as most sellers don't let you return second-hand stuff . 

shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather...

Ugh I love them so much, they're so chic yet so bad-ass, so Nancy Sinatra. They fit well when I wear them with just tights but got a lil bit snug when I wore them with socks AND tights. The trials and tribulations of having big feet. 

boots le house down

I wore the boots with some dazzling star-print tights (Marks & Sparks sparklezz)💫, my khaki ra-ra skirt, and an imitation silk rusty blouse my mum got me from Topshop (RIP Topshop) for Christmas many moons ago.

LOOK AT THEM WITH THE COAT, I'M FLOORED 

 
Sidenote, I find it BAFFLING that Topshop went under when Dorothy Perkins or like River Island are still surviving. F**k fast fashion and all that, but Topshop was cool. Philip Green? Not so much! You should watch the film Greed if you want more of an insight into fast fashion corruption and the immorality of retail tycoons. The ending is kind of rubbish but it's a very star-studded film with 💖Steve Coogan💖 playing a character "loosely based" on Philip Green.

Stevie C in Greed. That's Asa Butterfield in the background who was at the NYE event I was at in Londres at The Pickle Factory in 2019... or at least that's what my friends tell me! I was very, ahem, merry.

I went to Oxford for the night on Monday with my boyfriend to visit his mum, stepdad, and adorable dog, Maple. 'Twas a lovely time of good food, good craic, and good games of articulate (although when I was asked what 'The Golden Gate' was, I blurted out 'McDonalds' rather than 'a bridge').

The Golden Arches were on my mind... (Moschino Fall ready-to-wear collection 2014)

They got me some spectacular gifts which shall most likely be revealed soon when I wear them. My boyfriend's mum is a second-hand guru; she goes to auctions and everything! Goals.

On Thurzz the 16th I took the train home to Essssssseeeex and hauled my luggage like a platform-shoed mule. That very same evening I went to a poetry event called 'The Christmas Poetry Bash' that runs annually at the Colchester Arts' Centre. It stars punk poet extraordinaire Dr John Cooper Clarke and three other bards, Martin Newell, Luke Wright, and Ross Sutherland (who wasn't there this year). 

This blog's title is taken from JCC's poem 'I Wrote The Songs' in which the poet persona recounts all the 'amounts anthems' he wrote which are less catchy versions of famous songs such as, of course, Bob Dylan's 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat'.

Luke Wright, JCC, and Martin Newell. I love their dandyish devotion to the eccentric poet look. Top of the Fops! 

Going to the bash is a Christmas tradition with my friends because it's SMASHING, but it sold out v v early this year as it didn't run last year thanks to COVID, so we couldn't nab any.

Pithy little haiku from the Bard of Salford.

How did I end up there, you ask? Did I sneak in? Gatecrash? Listen from outside with a cup against the wall? 

Turns out some people had returned their tickets, probably because of that fun-sponge variant, omicron, so they were up for resale. Unfortunately none of my friends were back in Essex yet, so I went solo but still luvved it. I did ask my brother if he wanted to come, but alas, he spurned the spoken word.

This is what I wore to the bash:

Bottoms up!

The exquisitely-tailored blazer is Givenchy, and my boyfriend bought it for me from a charity shop for £20 about two years ago but I hardly wore it, which now I realise was foolish because it's fabuuuluuus. I spilled a bit of wine on it when I was applauding a poem by slapping my free hand on my leg with too much zeal, clearly. No visible stains though! I wore a hand-me-down Breton-striped top that my mum gave me underneath. 

I wore another mumzy hand-me-down, too: a dark-wash denim skirt with a frayed hem, which is originally from F&F, and tights that are a bit too opaque for my liking, but we move. I feel the whole look is rather off-duty model, espesh with that slick lickle bun.

Let's all go to Tescos, where Cerys buys her best clothes

I said I'd try to get better at photographing my ensembles, but that grainy, seedily-lit photo above suggests I've REGRESSED. Soz! Maybe it'll be my New Year's resolution to improve the piccies (although I quite liked the meme I saw online that suggested next year, our circumstances should try changing).

I opted for the classic jewellery combo of coral necklace and koi earrings, and the staple under-eye adornments. Too many people have asked if they're piercings (is it even possible to get that area pierced?). 

Sidenote and literary namedrop, when I went to Ruth Fainlight's poetry reading and told her how much I enjoyed her performance, she said she liked the gems under my eyes and called them 'tears', just like a poet would. She's in her nineties and was friends with Sylvia Plath. Check out her work if you're of a poetic inclination! 

a toast to friendship, love, poetry, and wine you didn't pay for (thanks mum!)

To reiterate, the bash was as brill as it always is. Martin Newell tickled the ivories and covered a Joni Mitchell song, 'Twisted', and I nearly squealed with excitement because it's one of my fave songs of hers...

What's so strange when you know
That you're a wizard at three?
I knew that this was meant to be!

I think the bash could do with a female poet, though. I would love to see it!

I'm glad it's the holibobs, although the COVID comeback is really, truly, dreary and depressing. I hope you dear readers are alright, and I'm sending love and Reweary Fairy magic dust to you all. I also hope everyone gets some rest and enjoys themselves with loved ones. 

I can't wait to see my friends and schlurp the rhubarb schnapps I made three months ago that's been fermenting in the cupboard. It's a Nigella recipe, although the picture of her schnapps in the recipe book looked much more Domestic Goddess-esque and had a petal-pink hue; mine looks like something you'd see in a creepy science museum next to a pickled dead squirrel.

my lovely rhubarb moonshine looking questionable 

I'm also going to finish reading Jane Eyre. I hope things turn out well for Jane, she's had a rough ride these past three hundred and something pages.

Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre

Thank you for reading sweet fairies, and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you live it up as much as you can for the last few weeks of 2021. And I hope you dodge this umpteenth wave of COVID!

Virtual kisses and hugs from

Cerys 

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