Leather trousers have always held both a fascination and a terror for me.
On the plus side: they’re just SO COOL. On the down side: I do not consider myself particularly cool.
And also: what if I pull them down to go to the loo and then I get stuck and I can’t get them back up and I have to put powder and lotion on my legs and then OHMYGOD AM I ROSS GELLER?!
See? Important things to think of when considering leather trousers.
Then my lovely friend Vicky mentioned that she’d bought some coated jeans, that look just like leather but are actually denim and much comfier. So I headed over to the New Look denim section and discovered these really ace Coated Denim Jeans*.
I umm’d and ahhh’d. And tweeted. And umm’d some more. Until the lovely Catherine and a whole load of Pinterest inspiration convinced me to just go for it.
Because YOLO. I’ve always wanted to be Sandra Dee.
Then they arrived, they were gorgeous and I panicked. Cos what the heck do you wear with sort-of-leather-trousers?!
So I set myself two challenges for last weekend:
1) Put together three outfits that I would actually wear in real life, using the coated jeans as a base.
2) Finally, fiiiiinally figure out a way of using my tripod and remote to take my own outfit photos.
And I’m happy to report that I think I succeeded at both!
1. Casual weekend outfit for doing errands and eating brunch
This is my favourite look of the three I put together.
It’s super comfy and is pretty much just a step up from what I wear most days anyway: jeans, an over-sized sweater (the same one from THIS post, in fact), warm coat (ancient from BHS), sneakers and a beanie hat.
The twist comes from the jeans, which I think properly amp up the look, making it a bit more interesting than my usual faded blue denim.
I did actually wear a similar version of this outfit out later to meet Gary and his mates at the pub, but changed into my beloved camel coat and swapped the Converse for my black Vans.
Chilled out but still stylish, interesting and (most importantly) very Me.
High fives all round!
(Fun fact: I’m not wearing white socks. My ankles are just legit that pale. Sigh.)
2. Slightly smarter outfit for the office
Oversized sweaters are one of my favouritest things to wear. (Just in case you hadn’t noticed.)
I popped this huge pink knitted number from Primark over a white shirt, added leopard print flats, a necklace and my camel coat, and we were all good to go.
It’s smarter than my first outfit, and I’d probably wear this out for dinner or maybe to the office (y’know, if I worked in the creative world, as opposed to the corporate world of “wear a uniform”).
This is also the outfit that’s slightly more out of my comfort zone than the other two. The bright colour of the jumper mixed with the leopard print as well as the “leather” would usually be a bit too much for me. It’s not something I would have thought to put together, except I was making myself try new things and experiment a bit.
But I actually really like it and will definitely wear this again!
3. Cocktails with the girls and a night on the tiles
This is my super-dressy option.
Leather trousers/coated jeans are the PERFECT way to snazzy up an evening outfit of top, trousers and blazer, so this outfit was definitely the easiest one to pull together!
The blouse is just a cheapy one from Primark, blazer is also a cheapy one from Primark (though it’s lasted me pretty well over the years) and the boots are one of my fab bargains from the New Look sale.
I wore a variation of this out on Saturday night and I lasted until 2am perfectly comfortably. (Then I started hacking up a lung again and had to go home but hey ho I’ll take what I can get!)
My point is that both the shoes and the trousers were amazingly comfortable: no achy feet and no awkwardly sweaty bum/legs/crotch.
I know, ew. Sorry. Had to be mentioned though.
So sassy.
Soooo… Yay or nay to the leather trousers/coated denim? How would you style them differently?
I’ve already got a ton of other ideas I want to try with these so you’ll probably see them pop up again sometime very soon in an outfit post.
And I just wanted to quickly apologise for the radio silence over the last couple of days. I’ve been feeling all weird and drained of energy since being ill last week, and have really been struggling to focus on things.
Even normal things like getting dressed and taking the tube have been a massive effort. (On Tuesday I managed to get on the wrong train, and it may or may not have taken me about twenty minutes to even notice I was heading in the wrong direction…)
So I decided I needed a little break to just sit and doodle and relax my brain a bit. I didn’t even properly tweet for two days, which is pretty much unheard of from me!
But I’ve had a couple of early nights, a lot of water, and I’m finally starting to pick up again. Hopefully I’ll be 100% back on the ball by tomorrow! :)
Thanks for sticking around and for your lovely messages and comments and tweets. You guys rock xxx
*This post was written in collaboration with New Look.
I picked out the jeans myself and, as usual, if I didn’t love them, I wouldn’t have blogged them! :)
