Frantic Christmas fashion – three looks to get you through the season

Have you spent so much time coming up with gift ideas and shopping for everyone else that you’ve completely forgotten yourself?

It’s so easy to get caught up in festive planning – the tree, the stocking gifts, the requests from relatives for gift suggestions for your children, the shopping for your own gifts, the wrapping, the festive food shop…

If you’re anything like us, your Christmas to-do list just goes on and on. And nowhere on it does it say: Find something lovely to wear for yourself.

So our fashion editor, Karen Skagerlind, has done it for you, with three Christmas outfits.

Stop making festive frantic fashion mistakes!

I’d love to know how many items of clothing are purchased at the last minute over the festive season, only to be relegated to the back of the wardrobe or left hanging in the dry cleaners until next December.

And there’s plenty to buy for. The pre-Christmas office party, the formal function that your spouse tells you about a week before, and the impromptu girls night out that can send you into a tailspin of retail therapy which sees you buying a novelty jumper before you can say “Santa”!

That’s why it’s important to identify your Christmas style and plan ahead for your Yuletide wardrobe.

If you’re normally a trouser girl, then don’t splash out on a LBD just for Christmas. Go for a tuxedo trouser suit instead. And if you can’t walk in heels, then go for a velvet ankle boot with block heel for a seasonal update.

To help you avoid a frantic festive fashion purchase you’ll regret come January, I’ve put together three inspirational outfits to see you through the Christmas period – and beyond. Merry Christmas!

Christmas outfit one – formal festive frock

If you have a black tie event or more formal cocktail function then you can’t go wrong with a bit of old Hollywood glamour.

This Little black dress with bell sleeve and gem heels are simple yet sophisticated and let the details shine through. It’s a great shape to flatter most figures; hiding any over indulgence on the tummy and upper arms, fabulous for those who have a great neck or shoulders and like to show off their pins.

If you’re not confident to bare legs then I wear a matt sheer tight (like these 10 denier ladder resist tight from Autograph M&S).

Wrap up with a new shape faux fur bomber jacket and add some Christmas colour with a glitter box evening bag and let these gem earrings pick out the blue. Remember less is more so don’t overdo the decs by adding a necklace too.

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Shop the look

  • Ruby & Ed – Mink Faux Fur Bomber jacket, £280
  • Iris & Ink – Gabriela Off-the-shoulder Satin Dress, £185 (exclusive to The Outnet)
  • J.Crew – Enamel Edge Earrings, £48
  • Uterque – Bowed High Heel Shoes, £115.00
  • Karl Lagerfeld – Kadeau Miniaudiere Multi, £130

Christmas outfit two – Boxing Day brunch

At some point during the festivities you’ll be required to venture out on a bracing walk; be prepared with basics but don’t be boring!

This is when a bit of tulle will tart up a breton and some gold heels will add glitter to a practical boot. These fingerless mitts add a pop of fizz too-the equivalent of adding pomegranate to a cheap cava!

Keep cosy with a faux fur coat, in leopard print of course.

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Shop the look

  • J.Crew – Tulle Cuffed Stripe T-shirt, £45
  • MIH – Tomboy Jean, £215
  • Mango – Leopard Faux Fur coat, £119.99
  • KG – Kurt Geiger Black Mid Heel Calf Boots, £180
  • Jigsaw – Mini Lua Cross Body Bag, £98
  • Jigsaw – Gia Sheepskin Fingerless Mitten, £69
  • Hobbs – London Erin Pearl Earring, £22.00

Christmas outfit three – Christmas Day at home

Okay so you wake up Christmas morning. Bucks fizz is on the go and you’re wrist deep in giblets, pinny on and wearing a new pair of slippers that will retain their comfy plumpness until the Queen’s speech.

You want to be relaxed with a gloss factor; it’s not any old Sunday after all! Velvet joggers are my answer – velvet being THE fabric of this season – teamed with a silk vest (it can get quite hot, appliances at full blast, a house full of family and friends, the central heating straining, not to mention an annual log fire).

I know silk doesn’t seem very practical but it will help you to keep cool (or keep your cool…) and the napkin can get replaced with a sequin jacket when its time to go to the pub or a game of charades begins.

Slippers should be replaced with heels. These ‘Pop pump star print’ heels nod to the glitter Disco trend and will compliment the blue of the top. My hubby does not understand why my Christmas outfit requires a stiletto, but it makes me happy – even if I only do wear them watching the latest David Walliams’ adaption with the family.

The Nails Inc nail kale formula will nourish and strengthen your nails, and if you want to look glowing under the fairy lights then apply this limited edition Hourglass powder to look your best throughout the festivities!

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