#TARDISTUESDAY The Snowmen and the Polka Dots

 Hello! 

It's been less than a year since I shared this TARDIS Tuesday inspiration but I have a little change to it.

It's an outfit worn by Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) in Doctor Who Christmas special, The Snowmen, right at the end.

It features a black silk, polka-dot blouse from Jigsaw, a pair of navy shorts from Whistles, a brown belt and a red satchel

https://www.facebook.com/ClaraOswaldCosplay/photos/the-snowmen-modern-outfit-jigsaw-bib-tab-shirt-in-blackwhistles-mim-tencel-short/146884895501986/ 

I changed out of my work outfit tonight to wear this cooler outfit. I'd also worn it on Saturday before going out to dinner but didn't get around to photographing it then.

I acquired the screen-accurate silk blouse from Jigsaw via Vinted a little while back for the princely sum of £5 and was very pleased for the cost for this soft silk blouse.

I seem to have lost my camera (actually very perplexed as I now keep losing things from my handbag. Lost my purse also...) so had to try and use my phone propped up against a watering-can. Not the best quality photos.  

I am looking forward to pairing this blouse with red- I think it will work very well against a nice scarlet-shade!

I was grateful not to have any special evening plans this evening, was planning to get my reports done but what with getting dinner ready, making lunches, doing the washing up, the thought of starting them was pretty grim...so I quickly wrote this post.  I had one orchestra last night and have another tomorrow night and I have developed a cough/sore throat/lost voice. Grrr.

Bit premature, but here is my poem for this week's prompt word which was 'Puzzle'.  I've always been rather perplexed by the name, Monkey Puzzle Tree. There was a fine example of this Chilean tree in an a road close to my childhood home and I was always rather mesmerized by it, as well as intrigued by its name.

I'm quite proud of myself that I have managed to prepare myself a mixed fruit breakfast for the past 3 weeks to eat on the train on the way to school. More often than not, I don't manage breakfast, so managing to stick to this has been great! 

One wonderful contributor has been the cherry tree in the carpark adjacent to some flats on the way home from the station.  I noticed it littering the pavement with cherries 2 summers ago, it seems NO ONE picks them, what a waste, and investigated picking some for the past 2 years.  This year was a bumper crop and I've been solidly picking them for two weeks and eating at least 12 a day, along with cherries, strawberries (now homegrown, 30 picked today, but also some from a colleague who was going to chuck them out but offered them to me first as she knows I'd be annoyed if she were just chucking them because she didn't want to take them home...along with a cucumber), grapes, plums, and, for the past two days, melon.  I forgot today and I really missed it so I made sure to get it ready tonight, for tomorrow, along with a healthy salad for my lunch! Hurrah!

Hope all is well with you!

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Face the Raven

 Is it really 6 years since I last shared this cosplay? I'm staggered I've not shared it if so!

It was worn by Clara Oswald in her 'final' episodes (actually- she made two more appearances after her death, but in both, wearing this jumper!)

The jumper is an all-in-one from Topshop, her jeans, Topshop probably and her trainers from Ash.

Image borrowed from BlogtorWho

And here is my 2025 iteration:

I wore this for school today (with different shoes!) and realised I had a twin- one of the girls was wearing an identical outfit and her hair is pretty similar to me- not sure why she was wearing it as it's not our school uniform at all! It's actually a really comfortable outfit to wear and quite smart too as well as easy to wear given that the shirt and jumper are all in one.

It's not been the best day for various reasons.  But, I got through it.

I am grateful for:

1. Having made a big vat of veg stew out of the mouldering things we had in the house yesterday, it meant we had dinner ready for tonight (plus some garlic bread and new kale) and already put some in soup flasks for tomorrow night too.  

2.  Got back from Northumberland and realised that, because the Milk and More website wasn't working on Tuesday, hadn't cancelled the milk. It sat out on our doorstep from Tuesday to Saturday night (plus Saturday's milk) and DIDN'T GO OFF! 

3.  Lovely old colleague came back to help me take the choir to our concert rehearsal today. I love her- she's so fun and positive!

4. My choir got a shout out for confidently singing our harmony part in the No Worries mashup- was super proud of them.

5.  I have a warm home.

6.  Nice stranger put my chain back on to my derailleur on the train.  He got his hands all covered in grease doing it. He was nice to chat to.

Sometimes, you have to just try and make your own sunshine. Even if it's a vague bit of brightness through a fog. 

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Peri meets Clara!!!

Hi there!

It's time for another Summery TARDIS Tuesday!  I was planning to wear this outfit worn by Clara Oswald in Doctor Who, The Ultimate Guide.  I last wore it here for TARDIS Tuesday in September 2020

Image borowed from this Pinterest

The outfit is a beautiful oil-slick rainbowy dress from Yumi.  She wears it with a pair of black/white/yellow, colour block, T bar sandals from Dune, a pair of winged sunglasses and a straw hat.

It's a great summery outfit in many ways!

Here's my version:

I LOVE anything oil-slicky or rainbowy so this dress was one I was eager to find early on in my Clara phase! It was often available as a resell from other cosplayers at a high price but I waited until I found a muggle selling one for less than £10.  It was a bit twisted in this picture! Mental note to self- look in mirror before taking a photo.  It is SO much prettier in real life than it comes across in pictures!

I wore CBC's charity shopped genuine Panama for the photo (I bought it for him!) and a pair of sunglasses I bought in Greece.  I wore both of these last time I wore this outfit.  Finally, I added my Clarks T-bar leather shoes.  These are my standard concert shoes now- they were charity-shopped and are super comfy!

This is a great sunny day outfit BUT for the material it is made out of. Whilst it is breathable, it is synthetic so not convinced I would want to wear this out on a scorching sunny day though for an evening out, it would work!

However, as I was wearing the dress, admiring its lovely rainbowyness, I suddenly wondered if it would work as an alternative top for Peri's Two Doctors outfit, an outfit I interpreted around a month ago or so.

I knew it wouldn't take too much effort to locate the shorts and headband which were lying on my spare room floor and the shoes which are my garage shoes so I quickly tried to see if I could turn the dress into a top. Ta daaaaaaa!

All I did was roll the dress up and tuck it under the waistband and I undid the zip on the dress a bit. Admittedly it looks a bit chunky but I think some other Claras could try and do a Peri outfit using this dress too!

What do you think?  Does it work better than my previous interpretation of the top?

So here they are, side by side:

Which one do you prefer?

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara from Face the Raven- the alts that fooled the cosplayers!

 Hello!

I last wore this in March 2020 at the start of Lockdown 1!!! I was interested to read my post where I wore it- food was mentioned a bit!!! I went to look at Hazel's blog because apparently she prompteds some of the food discussion and saw my slightly hysterical (in a good way) comment but discovered she had posted again! Yay

I wanted a warm cosplay and decided to wear this for church on Sunday morning.

It was worn in Clara Oswald's death episode- where she died!

She only wore it for a short amount of time as it then gets covered in detritus and she changes but it's a cute simple outfit

It consists of a black sweater from French designer, Claudie Pierlot with a white pleated frill at the hem and a bright green piping at the neck.

She wears it with skinny jeans and her Black Ash Cool wedged trainers

Nothing has changed since the last time I wore this outfit except that happily, I found the skinny black trousers that I always wear for Clara's jeans!

I still love the fact that I managed to find a sweater that was so similar plus a green t-shirt to wear underneath! It's fun to trick the cosplayers into thinking you have something Screen accurate! I like the texture on this jumper and since it is not merino wool, I'm not so worried about getting holes in it!

It's not the most interesting outfit but I am fond of it!

Hope all is well with you.

Tonight (when this is scheduled to post), I have an orchestra rehearsal for my concert on Saturday (in Nottinghill) and I have realised there is a Malaysian restaurant around 2mins down the street from the venue so I am going to go early and get some dinner there so I am not doing my usual 'bolting down some food on the train'  routine! Here's hoping I manage to get there in time!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Robots of Sherwood- Clara's tartan cute look

Hi,

Welcome to another TARDIS Tuesday! Today, I'm featuring an outfit worn by Clara in series 8 of Doctor Who.

 I have featured this outfit twice before: in May 2019 and earlier in September 2017

It's not changed hugely but I have made a slight alteration.

https://claraoswaldcosplay.dreamconnect.de/?p=586

Sadly, we didn't get to see the outfit for very long, nor in daylight which is a shame since it is SUPER cute!

It featured a teal Oasis jumper and a Topshop purple and teal skort (that's a picture of shorts and skirt). She wears black tights and I THINK she wears her Bertie Astor wingtip heel shoes.

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

And here's my 2022 iteration!

I started with the same Topshop skort I've worn each time (it's screen accurate). It's really short but cute.

I teamed it up with an alternative Oasis jumper which has a leather collar. This jumper originally had a floral colour and a fake shirt bottom but the wonderful Ang adapted it for me. She even managed to turn the floral collar into lining for another Clara dress so not to waste it!

Today, I decided to wear a different pair of Clara shoes- these are my Bertie heels rather than my black suedette boots I wore last time.

I can't work out where I got this leather collar from but it is not the one I usually wear.

I wore this on Sunday for an orchestra rehearsal.  The skort IS short but I do like how well this outfit goes together. The whole thing really needs an iron but that's not going to happen!

I have not worn this outfit for school for obvious reasons but I hope Clara didn't- too short!

Hope you had a good day!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday Cold War 5

 Hi!

TARDIS Tuesday features an outfit that I have attempted or  worn 5 times on this blog. It is worn by 11th and 12th Doctor companion and my personal New Who favourite, Clara Oswald.

I last wore this outfit here in July 2019 (& I actually wore the outfit out in public about a week later for our opera performance at music camp!) and it remains unchanged from that last version. I chose to wear it this week because I was looking for another dress which turned out to be sharing a hanger with this one.  I threw it on the floor in a hurry and this morning, when I got up (Sunday), thought I might as well wear it, since it was out anyway!

Let's have a look at it in one awful grainy shot and then a couple of promo shots:

IMage borrowed from Doctor Who role playing wikia

Image borrowed from this Pinterest but belongs to the BBC

It's glamorous, it's shiny and it gets covered up by a Soviet Naval jacket!

Here's me:

It's been 3 years since I last wore this and I've put on some weight since then. It was always V.E.R.Y tight then but now it is super tight!

It features the pale blue Vivienne Westwood Pannier dress which, despite, it being very tight, is such a beautiful fit.

I wear it with a navy blue cotton military-style jacket (which cost me £5 from eBay- this was out of the wardrobe too because I wanted to wear it for the Jubilee performance for our Trooping the Colour song on Friday).

The shoes, from Red or Dead, are lovely, but high and I only recently located them as they were hidden right in the middle under the spare bed.  The bag is a lovely one I have for weddings...although in practice, it's waaaay too small for me- I need a camel to hoik around the stuff I need!

You can see the dress alone here- this is how I wore it for our opera performance at music camp- we were supposed to be in 'wenchy' costumes. It seemed  most apt!

For your delectation (or horror?) I include a few attempts inside my kitchen, where I attempted to recreate Clara's "Ahrgh,I've just been covered head to toe in freezing cold water!"-look and a photo where she is wearing headphones! All not very successfully but at least they are a bit funny!

Hope you have had a good day!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday outfit: - The Name of the Doctor - Clara Oswald

Hello there friends,

I hope all is well with you .

The last time this outfit featured on my blog, it wasn't worn by me!  The lovely Ann at Polyester Princess wore here.  The last time I personally featured it was December 2017.  I also know I did 2 versions of it previously in around 2014-2015 but I can't find the posts!  Each time, I have worn a different dress.

Let's look at the original:

Image borrowed from:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/65865213287481253/ 

Image borrowed from:
The Ultimate guide to the fashion of Doctor Who

Jenna Coleman is wearing a tartan dress from the NW3 collection at Hobbs made of wool blend with navy sleeves and collar. She teams it with a gold-plated Dormouse necklace, also from Hobbs, her ubiquitous black tights and a pair of burgundy knot wedged shoes as well as a couple of bracelets.

So, how has my 2022 edition remained the same or changed?

Have a look for yourself

Yes, your eyes have not deceived you, I FINALLY have the dress! It's very hard to find and very sought after! How did I acquire mine?  Well, I had another quite rare dress which another cosplayer wanted, although mine was an different coloured one- she agreed to swap dresses with me.  The slight snag was her one was a size 16 but I still swapped it. Fast forward to last year and another cosplayer had obtained the dress in a 12 but it was too small for her but she remembered I had a 16....so we swapped!

It's SUCH a beautiful-quality dress and it feels really nice.  The 12 is a bit big for me but I am glad as I wouldn't want a dress in this sort of material to be too fitted.

The burgundy shoes I am wearing came from Clarks around 7-8 years ago and they are the same ones I wore last time.

The necklace is even more rare than the dress and I only know 2 people who own it.

This Christmas, I received 2 beautiful wooden laser-cut jewellery pieces from a local jewellery-maker who, it turned out, is the wife of CBC's work colleague.  I got in touch with her back in January and asked her if she would consider a commission.  My friend Rosie provided me with photos with measurements of her real Dormouse necklace and I sent them to Katy (at My Pretty Little Earth- if you are into Space or nature, she has some really lovely wooden pieces at very reasonable prices) and she came up with the most wonderful wooden recreation of it!

I'm super happy with this outfit but what do you think?

Tonight, I'll be at my first rehearsal of my most local orchestra since February 2020- very exciting!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Under the Lake- Clara Oswald

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your kind comments on my clumsy, last post. It was reassuring to have your thoughts on it too and know that my decision at school was one you agreed with.  The news seems to get more awful each day but keep praying for Ukraine, Russia and the world.

I am posting my TARDIS Tuesday from this week. Still don't feel 100% on posting right now but if I can spread a little cheer and normality, then that would be good

This photo was taken yesterday on my birthday (grr, 41).  I decided it was time to wear one of my favourite Clara outfits again- one of her most teacherly of outfits from Under the Lake/Before the Flood, a brilliant, base-under-siege style Who adventure.  I've probably worn this one (in various iterations) around 5 times on the blog- the last time was December 2019, pre-Covid- remember that blissful time?

Image borrowed from this pinterest

The outfit features a cute Pinafore from Miss Patina, a Topshop mustard ribbed turtle neck, black tights and Topshop black ankle boots with socks.

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

And here's my, almost-identical-to-the-last-time, outfit!

The pose below is from a moment in the episode where Clara expects a high-five from the Doctor but he doesn't oblige- the caption is, "Don't leave me hanging!"

This is a comfortable and practical outfit for school (I didn't wear the proper Clara boots as they are suedette and it was raining so I wore Clarks leather boots instead AND leggings- a must for cycling! My top is from Select instead and is the closest match to the real top except for slight colour difference.  The only slight problem is the top is cropped- it can sometimes ride-up which leads to a cold midriff!

Tonight, CBC and I were supposed to be at orchestra in West London but there was a Tube Strike which neither of us were aware of (I thought it was Wednesday and Thursday). Typically, I was running late, the one time where I'd need extra time.  The buses and such were absolutely mobbed.  We didn't think about using London overground to get to Shepherd's Bush until later but my lovely Flute 2, Bryony, told me that she was almost there (well ahead of me) and then there was a signal failure on that line so they all got turfed off at Wilsden Junction. Oh well, perhaps it was just as well we turned homewards. We feel dead guilty though but it would have been really frustrating to battle there and be hideously late and wet and then have to battle home again.

Lots of love,

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara's red and black look from The Day of the Doctor

I last wore this popular Clara look on here on March 10th, 2020.  What an absolute age ago that seems and that was just before went into Lockdown.

Image borrowed from this Pinterest

She wears a ridiculous contrast in her outfit with a £350+ Bellstaff Roadmaster coat on top of a cheapish River Island ditsy red floral tea dress.  Her accessories are a Hobbs horseshoe necklace and some black Topshop boots

Image borrowed from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/339881103102661537/

Here's my outfit which is pretty much identical to when I wore it last year except for my hair being shorter, different boots and a better location.

I wore this outfit to visit an art exhibition at the Factory Project which is quite appropriate as Day of the Doctor begins in an art gallery!

This beautiful glass sculpture by the lovely Lex Shute (who I had the pleasure to talk to after this photo) has a definite other-worldly quality to it- could definitely be Zygon-tech- they are the villains of the episode.

I felt cute in this outfit, yet practical with the coat for the possible rain but still a bit dressy and smart.  I wore my new Clarks boots for the day as I had to walk to and from the stations to reach the gallery so my other Clara boots aren't as comfortable.

My coat is a secondhand Barbour one rather than an expensive Bellstaff one but I like it and it's really good for the weather at the moment so it's become my current jacket of choice.

CBC just made a tasty veg risotto which I am very thankful for as I was so tired and fully expected to cook dinner (as per usual - despite my longer work journey, I end up doing it  the majority of the time or we'd never eat).  I did get out all the ingredients and make up the stock though- so I helped a tiny bit!!

Hope you are well.

TARDIS Tuesday- Mummy on the Orient Express flapper dress

Hello there,

Today, for TARDIS Tuesday, I thought I'd go back to a favourite glam Clara look.

Here it is:

Image borrowed from 
https://claraoswaldcosplay.com 

In Mummy on the Orient express, Clara wears this wonderful bronze-beaded flapper dress from a brand called Leluxe. It must have taken absolutely ages to intricately embroider all those beads and sequins onto it.

I've done a few permutations of this look and today, I'm updating the look a little bit and wearing an alternative dress.

I am a bit sad that I WAS going to wear this for my concert in London on Saturday but I chickened out of it because I was worried my flute might get caught on the beads in a quick page turn after a rest but I WANTED to wear it!

This dress was bought second hand from eBay.  They sell this type of dress by the dozen from Chinese sellers but someone obviously bought one and it didn't fit so I ended up with it for £8.  It's less accurate in terms of shape and detail than my other Mummy dresses but this one is the best colour!

My shoes are from Clarks and my gloves are from Accessorize and both were worn on another occasion when I did this look.

This time, I decided to add a little pearl hairgrip (she wears more of  Rhinestone clip)  and added 2 beaded bracelets which I've had a long time (both gifts) and a wine glass as a prop.

I just did this side by side photo but realise that she's not wearing her gloves here and has a phone in her hand so maybe have to try this again!

The concert went really well on Saturday and we had a really big audience which surprised us all! My audience of Deputy Head and SENCO really enjoyed it.  The soloist, Eleanor Corr, was really amazing good and our Mendelssohn was really exciting, especially the Saltarello (have a listen to the Philharmonia play it below!) 

The only downside of the day was the horrendously busy Central line train on the way home- uhrgh, it was so packed!

Yesterday, both CBC and I were really tired after getting home so late but I did a few things like dig up my Jerusalem artichokes.  I had two big tubs full of them and I picked 3 bouquets of flowers which I took into school to share with colleagues today.  I also made some fruit amber out of some rhubarb from the garden, a tub of blackberries I picked and 3 large cooking apples from a 'Help yourself' box plus some honey from a friend's bees.

I hope all is well with you!

x

TARDIS Tuesday - Clara's glamorous red outfit from The Caretakre

 Hello there.

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, I am featuring yet another outfit from The Caretaker.  I featured one of Clara's two main outfits last week from this episode.  You may be wondering why she wears so many outfits.  Well, the episode begins with a series of flashbacks from Clara's manic double life trying to juggle a full-time teaching job along with dating Danny Pink and running off in the TARDIS for adventures with the Doctor.  Thus, we see a variety of outfits from Clara.

The most dressed up is this one.  Clara is just about to go on a date with Danny Pink and the Doctor arrives in the TARDIS inside her flat.  He persuades her to go off in the TARDIS.  Unfortunately, she turns up to her date with Danny with seaweed in her hair in this outfit.

Let's look at it:

Image borrowed from 
https://claraoswaldcosplay.dreamconnect.de/?p=622 

Clara wears this red lacy mini-dress from Kooples along with her Topshop black and gold ankle boots and a silver sparkly handbag on a chain.

Image borrowed from
Clara Oswald Cosplay

I can't seem to get a full shot of Clara wearing the dress from the front so here it on my friend Chrissi's mannequin.

And here's my version of it:

Kooples is a very expensive brand and to be honest, the fitted nature with daring front plunge (though covered in thick lace), means I would probably not pursue the screen accurate dress unless I found it super cheaply- I don't think it would suit my pear-shape.

I found this alternative dress (originally from Oasis) in my local charity shop and I figured for a fiver to charity, it was worth a try.  It's much more my shape as it has a loose skirt but I can definitely see the similarity to the original.  It only JUST fits me- I had to work hard to do it up! 

I have Clara's original Topshop boots which are very smart.  

My sparkly handbag is one I bought for another Clara outfit but realised it would definitely do!

I'd love to wear this out for a smart evening with CBC.  As it is, I just wore it for photos on a Sunday afternoon!

I thought I'd try to do 2 side by sides with the photos I had.

Alas my lighting is a bit different, but it was funny to realise I had a suitable corridor to recreate this photo!

Just for Sheila, here's the STUFF in a closeup!

A rare outfit with no jewellery!

What do you think of this outfit? 

Do you prefer my one or Clara's?

Hope you are well!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday meets Style Imitating Art- The Caretaker

 Hello there,

I missed TARDIS Tuesday AND Style Imitating Art these past two weeks and I thought I'd combine them today.

Let's look at both inspirations:

Here is the Style Imitating Art piece chosen by Salazar:

Gunta Stölzl‘s tapestry “Cows in Landscape

Here's my Doctor Who Inspiration:

Clara Oswald in The Caretaker

And here is my outfit:

The reasons I chose this outfit for both posts is that the art piece is a tapestry piece and the star of this piece is the Topshop tapestry skirt.  Also, a lot of the colours of the skirt are in the tapestry inspiration piece. There are touches of burgundy in the tapestry which are the colour of my shirt. Also, I am wearing black tights and shoes and the edging of the tapestry features black.  It may be a tenuous link but there are lots of circle/spots on the tapestry and perhaps that could be the moon collar-clips I am wearing.  What do you think? Are you convinced by my explanation???

I love this Clara outfit but it is very unforgiving to wear- the skirt has NO give whatsoever.  I wore this outfit tonight to go out for a Thai meal with my Mother in Law and Brother in Law.  I felt smart and comfortable until I ate too much food!!!

My mother in Law is staying with us for 3 nights...she was supposed to be staying in a hotel by the seafront but she hurt herself turning on the high bed and got a bit scared so she came to stay with us...which I'm not sure why she didn't do in the first place.  Anyway, I got a text from CBC telling me she was going to come and stay as I returned home from school, exhausted after a long day and staff training. I was dismayed...the house was an utter tip and really in need of a clean! Honestly, the worst it could be. It was a frantic hour of cleaning and tidying and further background cleaning before and after she arrived.  And then more later. And our bedroom has a massive spread of stuff thrown in there across the floor. But it is nice to have her here with us.  Hurrah!

Tomorrow night I have a rehearsal with my flute trio for our recital on Friday (hurrah, I've been granted the day off school) ...isn't my September musical!

Hope you are well!

xx

P.S.  If you haven't looked at my Colourscape post and you love beautiful bright colours, please take a look!  It's my last post!