Aspire Style - A Midsummer Night's Dream

As you may or may not know, good old William 'The Bard' Shakespeare, was (probably) born on the 23rd of April 1564, so in Stratford upon Avon we like to mark this event annually by putting on the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations.  This forthcoming weekend, Stratford will be paying homage to the great play-write with:

"a packed programme of special celebratory activities - great days out at Shakespeare’s historic houses, literary and music events and amazing theatre."

AND a window display competition!  We came second in the competition for the best Christmas window in December (an absolute travesty - we were robbed), so we're eager as beavers to win this one.  The competition  is open to any shops in the town creating a window display linking their business with any theme from Shakespeare.  This was obviously a job for Aspire Merchandiser and all round Lovely Lady Sass, who chose A Midsummer Night's dream as her inspiration and created this:

Not the best picture in the world (the glare kinda ruins it), but here are some close ups of the three main elements:

1) Titania, Queen of the Fairies (wearing the beautiful Fever Alina dress, £69)

2) A Donkey's head (hired from the RSC itself!) to represent the cursed character Bottom

3) The pretty woodland scene in which the story is set (featuring Cath Kidston handbags, £55, Tan Studded Platforms, £45, and Irregular Choice Kim Oh No heels, £79)

So magical!  The judging will take place on the 23rd, and the winner will receive a plaque at a ceremony attended by the press on the 24th.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!  I'll let you know next week if we're successful.

Until next time,

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

What to Wear Wednesdays - Get Nautical

Avast ye, sailor!  Nautical is one of those trends that has been popular for several Spring/Summer seasons in a row in recent years, and it's easy to see why.  With three main colours - red, white and blue - it's easy to mix and match pieces, and it's a fun trend; these are the kind of clothes which make you feel like playing.  So please give a hearty 'Ahoy!' to the Aspire take on Nautical...

WTWW Nautical by Aspire Style featuring Poetic Licence shoes

Items in this set:
Fever Cannes Bardot dress, £59
Poetic Licence My Haven sandals £59
Red or Dead Trickster satchel £35.95
Red or Dead Dakota white clutch/purse £23
Red or Dead Dakota red clutch/purse £23
Swallow necklace £9.95
Solid knot cuff £9.95

Shiver me timbers, cap'n, that outfit looks pretty shipshape to me! (Sorry)

Until next time,

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Friday Floral Fix - Cezanne side lace dress

Back in stock as of today: the STUNNING Cezanne side lace dress by Fever - a brand our customers love for their flattering designs and high quality.  This dress has been featured in A Change of A Dress and has been one of our best sellers in the shops and online this season.  It's ideal for summery weddings, picnics and parties, or even if you're just going to Tesco and want to be the prettiest lady there.

Gosh, it's pretty, isn't it?  And at £69, it's a lot of pretty for your money!  It's got a tummy-flattening panel so no-one will notice if you've had one too many scoops of potato salad, and ties on the side of the waist to cinch you in.  Aspire owner Emma wears hers with a pretty green cardigan, which is ideal for the Spring sunshine we've been having.

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

What to Wear Wednesdays - Vintage Creams

Welcome to the second weekly What to Wear Wednesday!  This pretty floaty vintage creams outfit has been very much inspired by the sun, which has been playing hide and seek all week...

Items in this outfit:

Traffic People Maxi Ra Ra dress : Maxi dresses : Clothing : Products :..., £79
Jeepers Peepers Claudia sunglasses : Accessories : Products : Aspire..., £13
Poetic Licence Loopy sandals : Shoes : Products : Aspire Style |..., £59
Dandy handbag : Products : Aspire Style | Irresistible fashion,..., £45
Vintage leather bird purse : Purses : Handbags : Products : Aspire..., £15

So pretty!

Until next time,

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Promo update

Because we're in a generous and giving and lovely and kind mood today, we've decided to extend our 15% off offer until the end of tomorrow!  Just enter the code B0904 at the checkout and the discount will be automatically applied.

You can thank us in cupcakes.

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Friday Floral Fix

Florals are, once again, everywhere this season - I think it's just the time of year and the fact they're a safe, easy step to instant pretty.  I was going to do a single blog post with our best flowery products, but there were just so many and I had such problems selecting just a few that instead, I'm creating another regular feature: Friday Floral Fix (even catchier than What to Wear Wednesdays, I think).  This feature will showcase a single item a week, starting with this week's Cath Kidston messenger bag in folk flower print:

When this bag arrived, all the Aspire girls instantly fell in love.  I personally am a fan because I'm one of those carry-my-life-around-in-my-handbag types and this messenger bag is nice and roomy, and has compartments aplenty so I don't spend half an hour looking for my keys.  The lovely soft adjustable strap also means I can wear it as a cross body bag, which helps massively when I cycle to work!

It's only £38, and for today only we're running a 15% off promotion which would make it £32.30 - a real bargain for a Cath Kidston bag!  Just enter the code B0904 at the checkout and the discount will be automatically applied.

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

What to Wear Wednesdays - 50s Style

Welcome to a brand new regular feature of the Aspire Style blog entitled What to Wear Wednesdays (catchy, no?), where we will showcase an outfit completely made of Aspire products!  Yes, I know it's terribly biased, but we are a) full of so much loveliness you don't need to go elsewhere and b) running a business here, people!

Those of you who subscribe to our newsletter will have seen the arrival of new brand Tara Starlet to the Aspire Style website and shops, and those of you who aren't subscribers need to get involved here!  Tara Starlet is a London-based Mother and Daughter team who take their inspiration from the 1940s and 1950s, and we've used their beautiful full circle prom dress as the centrepiece of this 50s style outfit:

WTWW 50s Style by Aspire Style featuring Jeepers Peepers sunglasses

Items in this set:
Tara Starlet full circle prom dress : Clothing : Products : Aspire..., £75
Silver pearl necklace : Jewellery : Products : Aspire Style |..., £6.95
Rose ring - pastels : Jewellery : Products : Aspire Style |..., £4.95
Jeepers Peepers Sandy black sunglasses : Accessories : Products :..., £15
Poetic Licence Girls Night shoes, black : Shoes : Products : Aspire..., £69

All products are available from www.aspirestyle.co.uk including the very stylish sunglasses from Jeepers Peepers, another exciting new Aspire brand!  I think this outfit is perfect for picnics in the park, or parties, or pretending you're in Grease and doing the hand jive, or going up to boys and saying "tell me about it, stud".


Until next time,


Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

Happy Easter! Here, have some cheap shoes...

Hello all!  I know it's raining, but if you've got the day off today why not head to your local Aspire shop and check out the shoes?  Ok, if you're really aqua-phobic you can do it online.  We've had a lot of new styles delivered in the past couple of weeks, and there's something for everyone.  If that alone isn't enough to tempt you, how about this...

So pretty!  I love those Kim Oh No shoes from Irregular choice, they're a really cute rockabilly style and look absolutely amazing on.

If the prospect of heels so tall makes you want to run and hide, you can prettify your feet with lovely sandals.

These cuffed ankle sandals are going to be a big look this summer, and ours are not only just £29 (or £24.65 if you buy them these weekend) but they're also really really comfy.

I have been coveting these Mint Julip sandals from Poetic Licence for a while now; maybe buying them this might make the sun shine again?  They're reduced from £59 to £50.15 this weekend - a saving of nearly a tenner!

The Genteel shoes, also from Poetic Licence, may look a bit high, but the clever platform means they're actually surprisingly easy to walk in!  They look so beautiful on, and you can keep your tights on with them now until it gets a bit warmer.  Normally £75, these babies are £63.75 this weekend! 

You can see all our pretty pretty shoes here and you have until the end of Monday to bag yourself a bargain.  Go!  Go now!

Until next time,

Ria

www.aspirestyle.co.uk

All change at Stratford and Warwick!

Customers of our Stratford and Warwick shops are in for a bit of a treat as both shops have recently had their clothes rooms refurbished and now have a greatly increased capacity.  Do you know what that means?  That's right, more clothes.  Which is probably a good thing since we went a bit crazy on the ordering front for this season - at least now we have space for all the pretty pretty clothes we have coming in!

Both stores now boast two-tiered rails, effectively doubling the amount of clothes which can be displayed, and new forward-facing rails allow us to show our maxi dresses in all their glory!

Here's a few pics for those who haven't had a chance to pop in and see us yet...


Warwick

Those of you who have been into our Warwick store before may remember the window in the clothes room - if you do, hold onto those memories!  They're now limited edition because...

...the window is no longer there!  We've now maximised space in the Warwick clothes room by boarding up the window so it can be used to house more pretty clothes.  Here you can also see the two-tiered rails in full effect!

The back wall in the clothes room has now been painted in a colour I like to refer to as 'Aspire Pink' (the paint company probably call it something else).  Look at the lovely new light fittings - they really give this room a unique boudoir feel!  If you can't take your eyes off the beautiful Fever Sea Mist maxi dress on the back wall, don't fret, it's available here for just £65, with free P&P!


Stratford

The change in Stratford didn't involve any boarding-up of windows, but has been dramatic none the less, and not just because we've moved the wardrobe:

We've also replaced the bulky shelves above the rails with nicer thinner ones, and now the scarves have their own custom-built rails (you can just about see them at the right of the photo).

The shoes have their own individual glass shelves, which make them look gorgeous!  Here we have (from top to bottom) the Kim Oh No shoes (£79), Oz Shoes (£65) and Pep In Your Step shoes (£79), all by Irregular Choice, and the Genteel shoes (£75) by Poetic Licence.

Look, space designed specially for holding maxi dresses!  Here we have the lovely Fever Amazon maxi dress (£65).

We're getting new stock in all the time, and hopefully in the next few days we'll be able to announce the arrival of a lovely new brand!

In the meantime, don't forget to follow us on Twitter for updates and exclusive competitions, and feel free to email us with any comments or questions - we love to hear from our customers.

Until next time,

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk

The New Nudes

Sounds like a good name for a band, no?  If you're as frequent a reader of the glossy fashion mags as us Aspire girls, you'll be well aware how massive a trend Nude is going to be this Spring and Summer.  To quote The Trend Report in Vogue:

"The big story for summer though, is nudity - the vast majority of shows opened with nude, ice-cream colours, making cut and drapery the big style statements as opposed to eye-popping colours. Where last summer we obsessed about colour blocking, next will be about subtleties of tone: nude with peach with washed out nutmeg, or grey with icy blue. A general lack of clothing will be approved of too - your underwear must look its best next summer because if it's not on show it's not worth wearing - only to be covered by swathes of knotted and ruffled sheer chiffon - and a touch of lace will keep things interesting (Stella McCartney, Fendi)."

 Here's our pick of the finest nudes Aspire has to offer...

New nudes by Aspire Style

Items in this set:
Traffic People Maxi Ra Ra dress : Clothing : Products : Aspire Style |..., 79 GBP
Darling Shaa dress, pink : Products : Aspire Style | Irresistible..., 55 GBP
Darling Livy cardigan : Clothing : Products : Aspire Style |..., 39 GBP
Darling Minnie top : Clothing : Products : Aspire Style | Irresistible..., 39 GBP
Poetic License Mint Julip sandals, black : Shoes : Products : Aspire..., 59 GBP

Teaming pretty feminine beiges and pinks with black creates a stylish look which also stops the paler-skinned lady looked washed out.  The stunning Maxi Ra Ra dress by Traffic People has been a bestseller in the past few weeks, with one customer even buying in bulk for her bridesmaids!

Don't be afraid to branch out into other candy floss colours, such as this beautiful Lilan dress by Darling, £55:

The Amalfi dress (£60) has also been much admired by our customers, with its vintagey colours and floral design making it ideal for Summer weddings or picnics in the park...

That's all for now, be sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest news from Aspire HQ, as well as exclusive offers and competitions!

Until next time,

Ria
www.aspirestyle.co.uk