She’s not just any mate, is Alison. She’s a brilliantly stylish magazine journalist who just happens to write one of my favourite blogs – Not Another Mummy Blog.

Anyway, Alison asked if I was up for a bit of a style contest with her, using nothing but my wily mum fashion sense and the huge array of kids clothes on offer at Zalando. Of course I agreed.

So, I bring to you….

If you’ve never visited Zalando before, be warned – you’ll need at least an hour to peruse the many, many, many different outfits on offer. It took me an hour to eventually choose my three year old’s outfit, so huge was the choice. 

When I’m choosing new clothes for Frog, I have five things I tend to look for:

1) They need to be comfortable

2) They need to be good quality

3) They need to be fun

4) They need to NOT feature a cartoon character

5) They need to be affordable

With all that in mind, this Tootsa MacGinty dress jumped out at me.

Frog already has a pair of Tootsa MacGinty harem leggings, so I know how great quality the clothes from the brand are. Plus, they’re bright, fun and – except for the dresses – non-gender specific, so can be used again if any other bambinos come along who aren’t of the dress variety.

The Tootsa MacGinty St Ives dress was £13 reduced from £28. I teamed it with a pair of cute STUPS high-top trainers for £29 and a Scandi-inspired yellow Kiri scarf for £6 from Finkid, all ordered from the Zalando website.

Our budget was £50 and the only rule was to stick within the price and choose something for our child and not ourself (harder than it looks).

Given the huge array of outfits on offer, you’d expect Alison and I to go for totally different outfits, right? Wrong.

Yep – we both ended up picking the Tootsa MacGinty St Ives dress! What can I say, the lady has good taste.

We’ve both styled up the dress in a slightly different way though. Head over to Alison’s blog to see what other items she plumped for. And then come back and tell me which one you prefer because, you know, it’s a style contest and all.

***

I was provided with a £50 voucher to spend at Zalando for the purpose of this challenge. 

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I’ve written here before about not being particularly materialistic. When it comes to furniture, I’m happy to opt for second hand and give it a bit of upcycling love. Although Boden kids clothes are my achilles heel, I’m just as content dressing my toddler in the second hand versions rather than the pricey brand new ones. My car is anything but flashy and my coat is not designer.

But. Well, I have a confession to make. I am a bit hooked on boots. Especially the ones on offer at online clothing and shoe store Zalando.

Given five minutes free time on the internet, my eye will immediately wander over to look at pretty boots and trainers, adding more styles to my personalised lists on Shopcade. It’s my new favourite (and very indulgent) hobby.

That’s why I got a little over-excited when I received an email from the Zalando team offering me the chance to do a review. I’d first come across the site after reading the rave reviews and tweets from my blogging mate Nickie at I Am Typecast, so I was no stranger to the types of lovely things on offer.

I had no idea, however, of the extent of gorgeous boots Zalando feature. It took me a good hour to trawl through all the different designs, creating a shortlist of my favourites before finally picking the ones I wanted.

Eventually, I plumped for this slightly rock chick pair from Even & Odd:

I have a real thing for black ankle boots, already owning two other pairs. In my defence though, none of the boots in my current collection have pretty stars and studs on or sport a gorgeous wooden heel.

I wore them all day – including driving 50 minutes to work in them – and they left me with no blister at the end. They were cute enough to team with skinny jeans but I think they’ll come into their own with my favourite black lace skater dress. (Incredibly frivolous but it’s nice to feel nice, no?)

My new boots went rather well with my new black silk T’shirt – also from Zalando – which perfectly skimmed any wobbly bits.

(Yes, those are grubby fingerprints on the mirror. I have a toddler, what can I say?)

My sensible head is telling myself not to get too carried away with the love of snazzy new clothes, but I couldn’t help but notice the lovely feeling I had when I wore this outfit earlier this week. There’s something about wearing something I feel good in, which looks pretty, that makes me walk a bit taller. Call me indulgent, shallow and vacuous, but I just can’t help myself.

Every now and again, it’s nice to have something new to wear. Especially when it’s new boots.

Thanks Zalando!

***

Disclosure: The products featured were provided for the purpose of this review. For more information please see my disclosure page.

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I have no shame in admitting I often get clothes envy when I dress my toddler. Her huge collection of outfits – made up of hand-me-downs, second hand bargains, new presents from relatives and the odd Mum splurge – is a sight to behold. And now she has a new addition. A top from Little Punk London.

This is a top like nothing I’ve ever come across before.

The soft long sleeved top is made from 100% cotton, making it really cosy and comfortable. But the thing that really makes this t’shirt is the added extras. Namely, the animals.

The version we have features all of Frog’s favourites – a lion, elephant, giraffe, zebra and monkey – meaning this top has become an instant favourite. Each animal is embroidered with huge attention to detail and sticks on to the velcro-friendly strip across the front of the t’shirt.

My toddler loved picking and choosing which animals she would have on her top. Sometimes they all made the grade, but sometimes she banished one or two in a Simon Cowell like manner.

My only concern is that the top is white. White and my toddler do not always mix. So I think it might be a t’shirt that doesn’t get an outing to the nursery. Either that or I’ll have to buy the red or black version too.

***

Disclosure: We were sent the Little Punk London Stick and Animals Set for the purpose of this review. It’s available to buy online at Little Punk London for £25.99.

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I wish I’d heeded that piece of advice today.

I made the fatal error of suggesting an outdoor photo shoot to review my two year old’s gorgeous new Feu Follet dress and Skeanie booties.

Here’s what happened:

And this is what we were left with…

Never again.

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Usually, this should be a cause for joy, signalling a lie-in and a leisurely cup of tea. But, recently, Saturday mornings (and Sundays come to think of it) have meant something altogether different.

You see, from Monday to Friday, I am long gone by the time Frog wakes up. I leave the house at 4.15am for work, which means the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine plays the role of Gok Wan in the morning, dressing our 20 month old non-toddling toddler and negotiating all the relevant tantrums.

But this is not the case at the weekend.

It’s not the dressing of the child so much as the dressing of the Mother that I find a problem. (I’m on about myself here, not my own mother. Thankfully she’s not reached that stage quite yet. Hi Mum.)

Because to even put on a pair of fresh knickers requires patience of the highest degree. My daughter is obsessed with clothes, you see. Her lust for shoes and skirts and pants and tops knows no bounds. Frog’s obsession makes the likes of Paris Hilton look positively frugal in the clothes department.

Getting dressed with a clothes obsessed non-toddling toddler is one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I rate this on a level equal to coming up with a top line to a breaking news story 20 seconds before going on air.

Getting your clean knickers onto your bare, wobbly behind is just the first challenge. The next part involves battling with the child to stop them putting the dirty pair on their head. That disaster averted, the bra comes out. And, obviously, is snatched from your grasp. So the nipples enjoy 2 more minutes of freedom while an alternative item of clothing is brought forth.

Five minutes of tears later (the child loves a pair of skinny jeans, apparently) and it’s back to the bra. Except the bra has gone missing.

It goes on this way for approximately 45 minutes. And we haven’t even got to dressing the non-toddling toddler yet.

Bring on Saturday morning. *sigh*

She's not fussy. Nappies or pants on the head work just as well.

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Ever since becoming a mum I’ve been veering more and more towards the No Clothes Camp. First of all, my favourite jeans refused to stretch with my newly wobbly belly. Then my tops refused to shrink with my newly shrivelled mammary glands. Then Every. Single. Pair of socks I owned got up and did a disappearing act.

So I’ve been spending my days since June 2010 dressed in a mixture of clothes borrowed from my sister and my husband, with the odd Primarni purchase thrown in for good measure. And no socks.

And it takes so bloomin’ long to get dressed doesn’t it? Especially in the dark when you have nothing for company but the loud percussion provided by your snoring husband’s wind orchestra. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve wandered out of the house in the morning dressed in a fetching ensemble of milk splattered pyjama top and holey leggings, simply because it was all I could find in the pitch black.

Then you’ve got the whole getting the child dressed in the morning thing. If we were to become nudists, the Battle of the Tights would be forgotten. A peace treaty could be signed to signal the end of wrestling matches over jumpers. Bliss.

Can you imagine a world where you only had to get up and make a cup of tea in the morning before leaving the house? A world with no daily choosing of outfits? A world with no hide and seek games to persuade reluctant children into clothes?

I can just see us now -  a family of three, wandering about Berkshire free as the day we were born, with nothing to cover us but a content smile (and maybe a pair of nipple warmers in the current climate).

Lateness would be a thing of the past. We’d be on time, every time.

Punctual. Happy. At peace. What’s not to love about being a nudist?

Well I suppose the heating bills could be a bit pricey. And there’d be nowhere for the cellulite to hide…

Maybe not then.

Someone who would be rather pleased about becoming a nudist

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There’s the first tutu my mum made for me when I was four. I can still hear it tear as my friend attempted to lift me in a less-than-graceful balletic manouvre. Then there’s the white dress I bought in Camden on a trip with my mum and sister and later wore on the first night I ever met the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine.

And there’s the little red shirt.

I remember posing in the garden as an eight year old, proud to be wearing such a special piece of clothing. Proud, because I knew where it came from.

You see, this shirt was my Dad’s when he was a boy in the Fifties. He wore it as he climbed trees and paddled in rivers. He wore it as he was chased by his twin brother. For such an eventful life, the little red shirt was in very good condition when it finally arrived in my wardrobe.

And just like my Dad before me, I wore it as I climbed trees and paddled in rivers.  I wore it as I chased my little sister around the garden.

Amazing, then, that it’s made it to a third generation.

This is Frog’s very first vintage piece of clothing. The much-loved little red shirt.

This is my entry to this week’s Gallery, where the theme is Vintage. Go to Sticky Fingers to see the rest.

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