Styled by Kimberley: Cactus Trend

This post has been a long time coming because I am in love with the cactus trend. It's not even that new a trend any more; we are surrounded by these prickly pals right now. In fact, I've had these patches for months, and since then I've been meaning to put them on a dress. No, a pair of jeans. Wait, I meant a denim jacket. A plain t shirt?

It's a difficult time in your life when you can't even commit to a sew on patch.

I often consider customising clothes (it's how Helen and I started out), but I'm not all that skilled at it and I have a thrifty fear or ruining a perfectly usable item. I put it off FOREVER, when I should really just take the plunge. So, finally, I decided to use the patches to revamp this Monki dress I bought last summer. Oversized and slouchy, it's such an easy item to wear and I adore it... but it is a little boring in its shapelessness. I was a little tired of it and I was verging on getting rid of it altogether. While having a patch-based crisis I decided to give it one last go. I added the patches with a simple tacking stitch, so they can easily and cleanly be removed (ideal for us clothing commitment phobes). And there it is!
I love how a good detail can totally make a whole garment come to life. I've only worn this twice and I've received so many compliments (and had my photo taken my a lovely older lady in the street). I guess I'm onto a winner!

I wish I could tell you to go buy these patches yourself, but the awesome brand I bought them from seems to have disappeared. I'm gutted, to say the least! A couple of months ago London-based indie brand The Whitepepper had a big sale on.. and then closed down their site. At first I just assumed they were just doing maintenance.. but they've since deleted their social media accounts. Word on the twitter grapevine is that they've gone out of business, but these are only social media whispers. Does anyone know what's happened to them? :(
I will remember them fondly. Apart from that time I got stuck in the sushi jumper.

Dress | Monki
Patches | The Whitepepper
Shoes | Office
Socks | New Look
Glasses | IOLLA
Earrings | c/o Jewellery Club
Necklace | c/o Jewellery Club
Bag | Katie Loxton

At least I have these cute new jewels from the Jewellery Club to cheer me up. These are from the uly Cactus Takeover and it came with two pairs of earrings- perfect for Helen and I to share (read: fight over). I heard the August box is about to be released so I've been snooping on social media for an early peek. It's an adventurer box and the illustrations on the teaser are a cute bear and teepee. Someone post an unboxing so I can be jealous and need everything, please.