Mother's day ideas

Look at the lovely Nica Anita bag that Warwickshire Living featured in this month's edition!

It was part of a larger features on ideal presents for Mother's Day.  Other very popular gift ideas include...

The Dandy Handbag, £45.00

Pretty pastel rose brooches, £8.95

And of course, the ever popular envelope purse from our Vintage Travel range, £12.95!

For more ideas, head over to Aspire Style and don't forget to use your Mother's Day discount code to get 10% off - just enter MUM10 at the checkout!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Mother's day customer evening: Thursday 11th March

New season clothes!

Once again, sorry for the extended absence; it's been pretty manic here at Aspire HQ with the winter sale and arrival of much of the new season's clothes.  Now I've had time to update the clothes on the website and gather my thoughts, here's my pick of the stock we've received in the last few weeks...

Ever since Darling dropped last week, their clothes have been flying off the rails.  One in particular flew into my hands: the Laurel dress, which I think is an absolute bargain at £45...

The Owl tea dress by Traffic People is another dress which may be entering my wardrobe very soon, especially since it's only £49.  I love its interesting straps and big bow...

Traffic People have also scored massively with the Maxi Ra Ra dress (£79) - we've nearly sold out in Stratford already, so hurry if you want to get one for yourself!

Another maxi dress which is proving popular is the Sea Mist maxi by Fever, who do maxis very well indeed.  This beautiful creation is no exception and well worth the £65...

As usual, Yumi have come up with some lovely pieces that are ideal for everyday wear.  My personal favourite is the Jinkie cardigan (£39) made of yummy soft jersey with pretty lace detail...

There's so much more at Aspire Style, be sure to check it out.  Next up - this season's hot shoes!

Until next time,

Ria

Look! Even MORE blog-on-blog loving!

Oh. My goodness. Remember yesterday how I was telling anyone who'd listen that the beautiful ladies at Domestic Sluttery had chosen a dress from humble little Aspire Style to be part of their amazing 12 days of Christmas competition bonanza? Those of you who entered the competition to win our lovely Fever Escala dress may have read in that particular Domestic Sluttery post that:

"Don't worry if you don't win, as take it from us, we have the MOTHER of all competitions coming up tomorrow!"

And were they ever right. The competition bonanza has officially turned into an EXTRAVAGANZA with the announcement today that you now have the opportunity to win ALL of the 12 days of Christmas prizes, including the Escala dress! Clearly someone's cracked open the sherry a bit early, but who am I to judge? Have a peek at the lovely array of goodies on offer:

This time to enter, get yourselves over to the competition and inform the Domestic Sluts how you intend to spend the forthcoming festive period. I would attempt to enter myself, but I am slightly grinchy and wouldn't want to ruin the chances of those who do genuinely love Christmas (although I am a particular fan of that pink Paris print from Bodie and Fou and the so-cute-it-makes-me-make-strange-baby-noises Bunny Vase from Hannah Zakari).

I don't know why you're still reading this when you could be winning prizes! Go! Be gone! Make sure you enter by midday tomorrow (the 17th) and don't be spammy - you can only enter once (plus one retweet and one entry for blogging about it).

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

A quick bit of blog-on-blog loving

Hello all!

Just a quick note to say...

WE LOVE DOMESTIC SLUTTERY! And it seems the feeling is mutual. As part of their 12 Days of Christmas competition bonanza, the lovely Domestic Sluts are giving away our beautiful Fever Escala dress, which retails at £79 and is sure to turn heads at Christmas parties/New Years' Parties/when you're in Tescos (delete as applicable). Just look at it!

Sigh... so beautiful... I would like to enter myself, but I imagine it's a bit like all that jargon you get on the back of Hula Hoops packets about no employees or relations of employees being allowed to participate. Oh well, the dress is currently in my office waiting to be sent to the lucky winner, so at least I get to look at it for a while!

To enter, simply get your lovely self over to the Domestic Sluttery website (this link will take you directly to the competition) and tell those lovely ladies where you'd wear the dress. Just two rules: you have to enter by midnight tonight (the 15th) and you can only enter once, otherwise it's just greedy. No one will believe you if you enter several times then say you have some kind of short-term memory loss condition which made you forget you entered.

I can't wait to blog about the lucky winner!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Christmassy windows

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a certain festive theme running through recent posts, and this one is no exception! Our merchandising masterminds Sass and Jane have pulled out all the stops in our Stratford store to create the two most beautiful Christmas windows Warwickshire, nay, the entire country, has ever seen.

Here's a pic of our smaller window in the evening, with the traditional Christmas dinner table adorned with treats from Aspire amongst the post-dinner debris. That's real Christmas cake! There was also a full box of After Eights towards the rear of the table, but unsurprisingly, it's empty now.

This is the same window in daylight hours, looking out onto Wood Street. I love the cosy feel that Sass and Jane have given this window, with the Elena Rose coat and Dot Rose cardign casually thrown over the back of the chairs.

The larger Stratford window is a veritable winter wonderland, featuring the newest Aspire girl (and by girl, I mean mannequin), the lovely Simone. She's sporting the Traffic People Sequin Fan dress, which is ideal Christmas party wear. Sometimes when I look at this window I come over all Nordic and long for an evening stroll along a mountainside crunching through the fresh snow. No one else?

Stratford council have kindly allowed local businesses to take over the windows of empty shops for the festive period, sort of like large 3D advertisements. Laura and Libby really went to town on our window in Bards Walk, where we have on display some of our bestselling items and beautiful gift ideas to inspire people to pay us a visit.

Here's the very stylish Fever Kensington coat, and you can also see the Irregular Choice Flick Flack shoes and incredibly popular Vintage Parcel wash bag at the bottom:

The Monica dress and Escala dress, both by Fever, are amazing for the party season:

So many gifts! Treat your friends! Your family! Yourself! I am particularly a fan of the Dandy wash bag and matching make up bag at the right of the picture (just in case, dear reader, you were thinking of treating your favourite blogger. Have I told you how pretty you look today?).

We're in the running for the best window in Stratford - it's a competition where shoppers vote for the shop window they like the most. So if you're local, or really really dedicated to helping Aspire, please pop into our Stratford shop and give us your support!

On that note, I shall leave you. I'm still suffering the impact of Cyber Monday - the busiest online shopping day in history - the Aspire Style site was no exception to this. Back to the packing and posting!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Gift inspiration

The Christmas rush has well and truly begun here at Aspire, with people stocking up on gifts and treats for the forthcoming festivities. So many of our customers are asking for gift wrapping that we're getting through our trademark pink tissue paper like nobody's business! Fortunately, we Aspire girls are highly trained wrapping machines who work at the speed of light and never even get paper cuts, so we are more than happy to oblige. If you're on the lookout for gift ideas for the ladies in your life, here are some of my favourites:

Aspire gifts by Aspire Style on Polyvore.com

Clockwise from top left: Dandy wallet, £16.95, Ribbon watch, £14.95, Purse - vintage envelope, £12.95, Vintage swallow compact, £7.50, Moomin hot water bottle, £15.95, Owl hot water bottle, £15.95, Overnight bag - vintage travel design, £59.00, Large rose necklace, £8.95, Dandy make up bag, £21.95, Jolies Choses trinket box, £5.95, Stripy leg girl brooch, £9.95, Kimono girl make up bag, £9.95, Aspire Style Gift Vouchers.

There's loads more online and in the shops, so please pay us a visit!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Christmas is coming!

Hello all! Very sorry for the deadly silence surrounding the Aspire Style blog of late, but we've had a bit of a shift around and we're pleased to announce that blogging will now be a very regular (hopefully weekly) feature! So, let's get you up to date with recent developments...

We've been shouting this from the rooftops, but in case you haven't heard, Aspire Style is OFFICIALLY the best shop in Coventry and Warwickshire. Ten of the girls headed to the Warwick Arts Centre in October to attend the Godiva awards ceremony where it was announced that we had won the best shop award. Co-owner Emma and Stratford manager Abbey went up to accept the award, which is now proudly on display in the Stratford shop.

Following the excitement of the Godiva awards, we had to begin seriously thinking about Christmas. In all three shops, we're often complimented on our beautiful displays, and our Christmas displays have been no exception. In fact, one visitor to our Stratford shop even said that our displays were better than Harrods! Credit for this goes to Sassi, Jane and Laura, who worked together to create this beautiful centre table:

Oxford and Warwick are also getting into the spirit of things, with this beautifully coloured table of jewellery in Oxford (notice the cheeky little reindeer!)...

...And this gorgeous ivy-topped bookcase in Warwick - yet another of Sassi's creations:

We've also been having fun helping our customers prepare for the impending party season, and items like the gorgeous Fever Ivy dress and the ever-popular Yumi Bobble dress have been flying off the rails. Incidentally, this weekend (20th - 22nd November) is our 15% off Party Dresses promotion, so get yourself down to one of our shops or visit our website and grab yourself a bargain!

And don't forget, if you're on the hunt for Christmas gifts, you can do so from the comfort of your own home by visiting our fabulous gift range, where you'll find the best-selling Vintage Envelope purse as featured in Look magazine, and the first two pieces from our new Dandy range: a beautiful make up bag and matching toiletries bag. If you're having trouble deciding what to get people, we also do gift vouchers, and with free postage when you spend more than £50, you might have to treat yourself too!

If you want to keep up to date with the latest Aspire happenings, as well as receiving notifications of new blog posts, you can now follow us on Twitter, as well as our fabulous Facebook group. We love to hear from our customers, so feel free to get in touch!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Aspire Style news...and in the magazines!

Well it's been a while - mainly because I've been away on a two week holiday and therefore the previous weeks leading up to it were frantic activity to get everything 'sorted'. As a result I thought I wound do a round up of what's been happening lately at Aspire Style.

Our customer evening (I know it was AGES ago) was a real success with Stratford pulling out all the stops and getting some fabulous fairy cakes which went down very well with our customers!

Not to be outdone, Oxford went for multi-coloured balloons to match their tropical window and a bubble machine to entice customers down the road.

All the shops have been busy having training events so that we can ensure we try and give the best customer service. This included in Stratford a good excuse to dress up... there was a reason behind it.

Alex wearing the Yumi Jamika dress (£55) and Ellyn wearing the Yumi Rita dress (£60)

The girls have used the photos to create a pinboard showing them modelling the clothes to encourage our customers to do the same.

Due to the scorching weather we had in June (although where has it gone now?), we bit the bullet and got a fab traditional awning installed in Oxford. Catherine, the manager practically begged us to have one as Oxford has a south facing window and let alone the window stock fading she was certain she could cook eggs in the heat! So no more fainting ladies now...

Last but not least is the fact that www.aspirestyle.co.uk has been in the press this week! Grazia Magazine featured our Yumi Pansy dress (£45) in their '10 hot tea dresses'.

And Look magazine featured our gorgeous vintage parcel washbag (22.95) and vintage envelope coin purse (£12.95) in their 'Click & shop' page.

The response has been fantastic - with the girls run off their feet packing and posting!

Well that's it for this update. I promise I won't leave it so long next time,

Sam
www.aspirestyle.co.uk
Irresistible fashion, jewellery & gift

Holiday time - inspired by travel

Well my weekly blog is very late due to the fact that I woke up last Saturday morning to the glorious weather and demanded to be taken away. Diva-esque behaviour but tempered by the fact that we credit-crunched it by going camping. Camping is great when the weather's on your side - even my glamorous partner in crime at Aspire Emma admitted feelings of jealousy.

We went to Lyme Regis which is a beautifully preserved seaside town on the Dorset/Devon border with a lovely promenade and these picture perfect beach huts!

This inspired me to share with you our new vintage inspired Paper Planes range of gifts which are all based around the travel theme and are just lovely!

Vintage travel by aspirestyle on Polyvore.com

From top left, the range includes the 'Parcel' toiletries bag, complete with string (£22.95), big enough to put all your essentials in and with the address as 'Wash your hands and your feet, now it's time to fall asleep'. To the right is the 'Vintage postcard' make-up bag (£14.95) with 'Let's kiss and make up', in the middle is a lovely 'stamp' design compact mirror, which is perfect for a gift as it comes in it's own cardboard airmail envelope. Bottom right is a vintage style satchel (£45) with buckled straps, embroidered 'return to sender'. Finally bottom left is our new best seller, the 'airmail envelope' purse (£12.95). Where the address would be written are the words ' save your pennies 4a rainy day', with stitched airmail, stamp and S.W.A.L.K detailing.

Our merchandiser Sass was so taken with the range, that she's developed her Parisian themed window in Stratford by using the range and including a gorgeous Pashley 'Poppy' bike in pretty pink. These Pashely bikes are handmade in Stratford-upon-Avon and are renowned around the world.

Here is a close-up of the items pictured above in the shop.
















And here is another pic of that gorgeous bike - At £395, it's not the cheapest - but wouldn't you feel fabulous taking your exercise on this? You can add accessories, such as a classic front basket, but you'd be a bit worried about leaving it anywhere I think!



Picture source: www.discountbicycles.co.uk

Anyway, hope this installment has cheered you as much as it has me on this rainy day!

Sam
www.aspirestyle.co.uk
Irresistible fashion, jewellery & gift