Week in Detail #4

Wearing - Gap jacket, Levi's marl red sweatshirt c/o Zalando, Libertine Libertine t-shirt, Levi's Commuter 511, 
Clarks Desert Trek, Albam tote bag

Here's a few details of one of my outfits from last week. Zalando offered to send me a piece from their currently Levi's stock a few weeks back, I chose this marl red sweatshirt (now in the sale, they have a nice Converse range too.) and it's quickly turned into a early morning lifesaver. Having three jobs has its issue, hours are sporadic, it's difficult to plan anything, it's hard to tell if I'm coming or going. I need reliable garb which I know will look good no matter what else I wear, sweatshirts and lamsbwool jumpers seem to fit this bill perfectly. I reckon Hollie is sick of the thing already, it's got that nice lived-in feel after only a couple of washes. Its super soft fleece lining is what you want at this time of year, double thumbs up.

Above are a couple of other recently additions, I picked up the Albam tote bag on my recent trip around Covent Garden and the jacket is another strong sale find in Gap. I didn't realise when I was buying it but the jacket is fully water-resistant, which has been coming in handy with all the cycling that I'm doing at the moment (post on the bike coming on soon). Time to catch up with all your blog, I've got behind big time.

So who said colour was dead this Winter?

Photos by Hollie

Instant Round-Up #2

1. Bollards at the ready 2. Red door in Preston 3. Wearing - vintage jacket, Gap t-shirt, Levi's Commuter trousers, Uniqlo socks, Superga trainers 4. Wearing - Levi's shirt, Ralph Lauren t-shirt, Dockers chinos, Converse Shoes, homemade key clip 5. The good stuff 6. Before the big rain. Wearing - Topman shirt & shorts, Puma Suede trainers 7. Looking forward to wearing this shirt now it's a bit cooler 8. All locked up

I thought I'd carry on with my monthly Instagram round up. Sometimes it's just nicer to see your images bigger than the usual  3" x 2", plus not everyone's not got the app so it's a win/win I reckon. I've been posting the odd one here and there but these round-ups tend to be more of a mixed bag.

The first few images are from my birthday o'ther Sunday,we headed down to Avenham Park in Preston for the final day of the Guild festival. I spotted the red door on the way back to the car and it got me thinking about a new project, I'm going to start snapping some doors that take my fancy (along with my ongoing project of taking photos of objects with faces but that's another story). So hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some corkers to share with you. The orange lock-ups sort of counts right? The sun is long gone now so I think we've all had it with shorts for one year, it was good while it lasted but mine are all firmly in the back of the wardrobe. But with the cooler weather comes a whole load of different clothing, including this Koto shirt I picked up in American last year, it was originally a bit too big but I've put on weight so it's ready for an outings.

So there you have it for one month. You can follow me @mat_buckets or on Instajelly. What's your handle guys?

This post includes a sponsored link, all words and thoughts are by me as usual.

Weekly Snapshots

 Wearing - Levi's Commuter 511s, beige Converse, Paul Smith socks

Topman t shirt, Gap chinos, Superga trainers, Penfield tote, Timex Weekender

Dockers khaki chinos, Clarks Desert boots, Uniqlo orange socks

Vintage blue work jacket, Topman cycling shirt & shorts, New Balance 420

Gap check shirt, old Levi's 511s, Superga trainers

Dockers chinos, Converse, Uniqlo yellow socks

I've been busy snapping outfit shots on Instagram recently, it's not replacing my normal detail shots but it's so handy when you're pushed for time. Seeing that my Iphone hasn't got the swanky new camera I don't intend to leave my trusty Canon at home any time soon.

You can follow me @mat_buckets if you fancy.

A Lesson On Looking Awkward

Wearing - Gap polka dot shirt, Topman green shorts, New Balance 420s, Penfield backpack, 

Rayban sunglasses, Muji watch, Paul Smith ring

It's something you can't teach, it just comes natural. I don't knows what my hands are doing, I think they've got a mind of their own. I've got out of the habit of featuring myself on here so lets call this a bit of a refresh, just so you all know who you're speaking to. I've been messing around with the look of this place over the weekend, none of it is permanent as I'm planning on changing the whole thing. If you see anything weird going on just so just roll with it for now.

So it's an "alright" to old friends and a "howdy" to some new ones.

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Don't forget to enter the URBANARA tartan picnic blanket giveaway here

Week In Detail #2

1) Topman jeans, Uniqlo socks, Ask The Missus Brogues

2) Gap jacket, H&M elbow patch jumper and t-shirt

3) Hollie baked some more cookies

4) Colourful vegetables from trend magazine Bloom

5) Final Campaign photoshoot

This week has been another one of those, I'm up to my eyeballs with work but I'm not stressing out too much as I think I'm on top of it all. So here is my Week In Detail once again. The above outfit is what I wore on Thursday when I had to do a short interview at uni. Me and Clare were chosen from our class to represent the Fashion Promotion course, which was really flattering. To be honest though, I totally ballsed it up and apparently so did Clare. Turns out we may be a bit camera shy when I comes to taking. Oh well, another day another dollar.

I've been design a magazine this week for my project and I'm coming to the end of it today, the photoshoot we did a couple of weeks back features inside. It's a simple idea, shooting products on brightly coloured card, but it's really effective. So when I'm all handed in I can share with you my work but you will just have to wait.

Let me guess, BBQs this weekend if the weather holds out?

New/Old Levi's

Wearing - Vintage army jacket, vintage Ralph Lauren brown shirt, Gap t-shirt, Levi's 511s, beige Converse, ASOS wooly hat.

Being on a tight budget is ok really, I seriously do fine. So when I hear of items going that I think could work in my wardrobe I try to snap them up, usually by swapping ect. So when I was offered these Levi's 511s by Johnny from Free/Man via Twitter I jumped at the chance. Being a few years old they have perfectly faded to created their own unique wash, they had just fell out of favour in his wardrobe, so I was there to scoop them up. Check out the cool pattern on the inside of the pockets.

It was a really sunny day across the North West today so these shots took place in Hollie's back garden. Hollie's make up looks pretty ace in the low afternoon sunlight so I took a couple of her too. She took the first few snaps.

In other news I'm making my way down county next week, the plan was to go to London Fashion Week but I'm not too sure on that situation now. I'll be spending 2 days in London but staying over in Brighton to keep the costs down, winner! Who else is going to LFW? 

Trekking

Wearing - Gap work jacket, Topman orange cord shirt, Dexter Wong for Topman baggy trousers, 2nd hand hiking boots, ASOS "Life Aquatic" hat, Topman socks.

If you have been following my last few posts and tweets you will know the headache I've been having about finding some new boots. I saved up for ages to buy some Redwing boots and when they arrived they were as hard as rock inside so it was back to square one. Then all of a sudden I bought two pairs in the space of a week. Above it the second pair, dark brown leather hiking boots, from a vintage shop in Manchester, priced at only £20(which is a surprise, as I'm sure everyone is aware of the rising prices in some vintage shops). I'm pretty chuffed with them I must say, they are in pretty good condition, a few scuffs and still decent inside. They're heavy but they is to be expected from a purpose built boot.

My attempt of a outfit post is always a bit hit or miss, this one is somewhere in between, I haven't got a tripod so I have to balance my camera on whatever I can find, and because I'm tall most of the time my head gets lobbed off. I'm liking the looser trousers at the moment, regular high street chinos are mega tight and will make these boots look like moon boots. 

Anyways, you liking my nod to the rambling scene?

Saddle Shoes

Super close up shots of the leather, suede and orange sole combo.

I mentioned that I picked up some saddle shoes on Twitter about a month ago now and since uni has kicked right off I haven't really had time to think about what looks good on my feet. I've been grabbing for my Vans or Converse at any opportunity.

I took a bit of a break from my current project and decided to take a few snaps of these YMC Saddle shoes that I got in the sale(I am yet to wear them!). Saddle shoes were standard in the 50s but none wears them these days, no the heck not?  had to get them for the simple reason that when a shoe like this comes along you can't say no. Mens shoes don't work like buses, they don't all come at once, it's more like a strike day, not at all.

Here's how I'm planning on wearing them;

Navy pea coat, blue Velour shirt, beige Gap chinos, tartan M&S scarf, orange Uniqlo socks, YMC saddle shoes.

I didn't think I'd ever be matching my socks with the soles, that's new to me. The pea coat is also another new purchase, by a brand called Method via TKmaxx clearance. What do you think about the way I'm displaying the outfit? I quite like it actually, simple ideas are the best!

Thanks for all your feedback on the last post, all your comments will be going straight into my sketchbook.

Go For It Ringo

Wearing - Blue Gap jacket, Ralph Lauren check shirt, beige Gap chinos, beige Converse.

The idea of this post was meant to just be close ups but I didn't get enough of me so I have thrown in a full lengther. I do cringe a bit when I upload a picture of myself but sometimes it's nice to put a face to a blog hey. I've pretty pleased with my latest purchases in Gap(the jacket was in the sale), it's one of the only shops on the high street that I can get trousers/jeans to fit me. I'm like Goldilocks when it comes to trousers, not too tight/not too baggy, just right! 

Hollie has finally pulled out her "car coat" from Topshop. Every girl needs one right? All these pics were taken in a little village next to where we live called Lytham, it's quite a post place so all the charity shops are packed with old designer gear.

Oh and, Ringo WAS a good drummer, he may have had a weird style but I like it. 

Uni is getting really heavy but I will always try and comment back as soon as possible.

Painting Is Finished

Well, I finished the painting I was going last week. Let's just say it didn't turn out the way I wanted it too, I messed it up. You may remember the image I posted last week had masking tape on it, I totally forgot that I had originally drew something on the canvas in pencil. I put the masking tape over the drawing and painted all the gaps in.

In the mean time(when it was all drying), I totally forgot about the original pencil drawing. I excitedly pealed away all the masking tape........to my totally annoyance the nice clean white lines I imagined were actually filled with dirty grey marks. 

So I had to improvise;

I didn't have much choice, filled in the gaps with a load of blue paint.

Looks pretty cool up close to. What do you all thing? Not quite how I expected it to look and not really how I wanted it but it's ok I guess. I do quite like the mish-mash of colours.

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Stop the Presses, I'm actually posting a picture of myself. The reason why I don't much is because I really don't think I'm photogenic and for me to find a picture of myself that I am happy with posting I would have to a million to get a good one. But I did manage it. 


I'm warning you, this is the one and only time I'm going to try and look serious. I can't pull the cool, calm guy look off usually. My tastes are quite relaxed at the moment, I'd also wear this outfit with baggy chinos too, Hollie calls it my painter look.

Wearing - J+ Uniqlo khaki linen blazer, Gap stripey blue/white tshirt, Lee jeans, Uniqlo blue socks, Superga mushroom grey trainers.