How to Style Culottes for SS16 | The Archive by Alexa Range

You may have seen that I pondered my purchases from the Archive by Alexa range from M&S last week (Do I want to wear something so hyped?) – having bought the Harry blouse in pink and white and the Ada trousers and blazer, I’d already decided to keep the latter.

The jury is still out on the blouses…!

So – culottes! M&S describe these as trousers, but although they’re strictly wide-leg cropped trousers I’m going with culottes for the purposes of this post (less of a mouthful). I’d had a few requests from readers asking that I try styling culottes, but I’d resisted till now… In the end resistance was effectively futile.

I’M STARTING TO FEEL LESS AND LESS LOVE FOR SKINNIES AND TOTALLY FALLING FOR CULOTTES INSTEAD. PAIRED WITH HIGH ANKLE BOOTS THEY DO SOMETHING TO YOUR PROPORTIONS THAT MAKES YOU LOOK INCREDIBLY LEGGY.

To get to the point: I’m a total convert. Whether it’s because I’ve seen so many fashionistas rocking them in street style photos I don’t know, but I’m starting to feel less and less love for skinnies and totally falling for culottes instead. Paired with high ankle boots they do something to your proportions that makes you look incredibly leggy… Perfect for long-waisted ladies like myself.

This only works with a high-waisted pair (these are perfect, especially as they have two sets of buttons to allow for expansion) and a tucked-in top.

SHOP THE LOOK:

I still find my longline blazer (a good couple of years old now) incredibly versatile, and I also added a classic white tee (this Union T white t-shirt is a marvel of white tee perfection) and the same paisley scarf that I wore as a belt last week on the blog. The orange tote has turned out to be a fantastic addition to my tote collection – how does orange go with everything…?

I actually wore this outfit to London last week – I did more walking than I’d intended so the boots were not such a great idea by mid-afternoon. (Next time I shall pack my pair of fold-away flats like I do for evenings out in heels.) My photographer [husband] couldn’t accompany me so we shot the pictures locally – I’m aware the location doesn’t look very London-like… the suburban streets of Devon had to make do this time.

HAVE YOU TRIED CULOTTES – OR WIDE LEG CROPPED TROUSERS – YET? (LET ME KNOW IF YOU’RE CONTEMPLATING THEM BY COMMENTING BELOW, OR TAKE IT TO TWITTER @NOTLAMB!

ASOS blazer (I like this drape-front long coat) | M&S Archive by Alexa Ada trousers | Union T classic white t-shirt c/o | ASOS paisley scarf | Hobbs Adlington tote bag c/o | Mango boots (these snakeskin ankle boots are similar) | Lulus sunglasses c/o (these black cat eye sunglasses are a dupe) | Barry M ‘Blueberry’ Gelly nail polish