Attollo Girl Style: Charity Shop Gems

Attollo is a brand that is about women, feeling and looking confident and beautiful. Lingerie is the root of all outfits, and is with us pretty much every waking minute of the day keeping our lovely twins in place, looking marvellous- well that's the idea! 

Branding ourselves as a lifestyle brand, we wanted to start the Attollo Girl Style series on the blog! 

Style doesn't have to mean big bucks, we both know, we've had to find some money saving tips to keep feeling stylish..... 

 

......or semi-stylish at least! 

Being curvy girls, we find it a challenge finding anything in the shops that firstly, fits us, secondly flatters us, and thirdly, that we can afford! It's often hard to find smart clothes for meetings too! 

Dressing for our big boobs is a challenge most of you will be able to relate to, and if not, if you have amazing long legs, too amazing for the high street to design for, or you're so beautifully petite for the mass market that nothing fits properly, or perhaps you're a rugby player with quads and calves too big for any retailers jeans, you'll get why we're a little fed up with dressing for our shapes and battling the high street designs.

We're changing tactic now and see it as a challenge accepted - we WILL find great style for our curves, and start creating an Attollo Girl Style! Our first hack - find the best charity shops, and get some style on a shoestring...! Here are some of the pieces we love from some of our favourite Charity shops:

1. Fleurette's Vintage Louis Vuitton

2. Alice's leather Boden

3. Fleurette's High-Waist Jeans

4. Alice's silk scarf

5. Fleurette's Pencil Skirt

6. Alice's Gucci's

7. Fleurette's LK Bennett Heels

8. Alice's Smythson travel wallet

9. Fleurette's Wolford Body

10. Alice's designer nude courts

We pop into our local charity shops at least once a week excited by what we'll find next! 

Love A&F x

IoD Annual Convention 2015

It was an enormous honour to have received invites to such a prestigious event as the Institute of Directors 15th Annual Convention. The Director General, Simon Walker, an incredible man, very, very kindly invited us as his personal guests - it became a date in the diary that we've been looking forward to since all summer! 

At this point we had no idea who was on the line up. As soon as we heard that we'd be hearing from Anya Hindmarch, Sir Charlie Mayfield, Lord Mandelson, Lord Lawson, Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, Matt Brittin, Simon Stevens, Richard Scudamore, David Miliband, Josh Lewsey and Ian Ritchie, it's fair to say that our excitement went up a few notches! 

The event ran all day, with around 1,000 people attending in the glorious Royal Albert Hall.

The topics ranged from evolving business philosophies, the impact of technological change, how banks can regain trust, the future shape of boards, barriers to growth and future risks, and what the next era of growth and innovation will involve. 

The IoD's main mission for the day, was to leave us Directors feeling inspired, revitalised and passionate about our jobs and roles within the business community. IoD - you did just that, in spades!

After Simon's welcome speech, the day was kicked off with a political debate between Lord Lawson and Lord Mandelson: Are we best in or out of the EU!

Following with a different kind of politics was David Miliband, now President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. His organisation's work was not only eye-opening but also very moving. 

As keen rugby fans, we were especially excited to hear what Josh Lewsey, former Rugby World Cup 2003 winner and Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive of the RFU, thought about what rugby and business can learn from each other. The answer - quite a lot!

The final speech before lunch was Matt Brittin from Google. He made us all think when he said: "The 'www.' is what we want, where we want, when we want". 

In between the incredible panels and discussions, we got the lunch box of all lunch boxes! 

The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park was turned into an IoD lunch box central, so uniformed it could have been a commercial! 

Topped up on food and wine, we took full advantage of BMW's showcase! May have climbed into a couple and got carried away...! 

Best of all, we got to spend our lunch break with one of our business dad's, the absolute babe and truly amazing Paul! 

Food and car time over, we couldn't wait to head back in where our favourite conversation of the day was waiting for us - a conversation with the one and only, incredible, amazing, role model, Anya Hindmarch! 

 

Lady Barbara Judge OBE, IoD Chairman spoke passionately about the role of women in the work place, something that both of us could strongly relate to, being in a very female industry!

  

Wrapping up, serial world record breaker and one of the world's greatest explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, took to the stage. Who knew he was actually a stand up comedian! He had the entire Royal Albert Hall in stitches, recalling his many adventures, with incredible true British dry, sarcastic humour - his talk about 'Business beyond Boundaries' put many things into great perspective - what an honour it was to hear of his many, inspirational and courageous adventures! 

 

All in all, the day left us with a sense of British pride and pride in the people that lead us in terms of business, politics, retail, science and knowledge. We are truly lucky to have such leaders in their industries! Thank you, to Lady Barbara Judge OBE, Simon Walker, Jimmy Mcgloughlin and the whole team at the Institute of Directors and the Royal Albert Hall for such a memorable, and fantastic day. 

We're going conkers for Autumn

With October round the corner, winter coats, scarves and gloves have started to emerge on the London streets in the early, crisp morning!

Many have a distaste for Autumn but at Attollo HQ we love it! Here’s why:

1.   Autumn wardrobes are arguably the best wardrobes - you can mix and match with different layers, textures and colours. New seasons have already emerged on the high street, making many of us pine for pay day! Although the quest to find that perfect winter coat is are a tough challenge, we love our autumnal wardrobes of blanket scarves, thick woolly jumpers, leather and wellington boots and beanie hats!

 

 Photos: The Londoner

2. The weather has moved from sunny, muggy and humid, to sunny, crispy, golden and amazing!

Photo: Pinterest

3. Food in the summer is undeniably great- during the summer, we’ve got into the habit of replacing roasts with BBQ’s. Now, BBQs are away and roasts are back! We’ve missed you, crispy, crunchy, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings! We’re not stopping at roasts; stews, jacket potatoes, curries and soups are back on the menu, with warm comfort eating puddings like apple crumble are back in our tums!

 Photo: The Londoner

4. Mornings – yes it’s a little darker at 7.00am than it was only a few weeks ago, but its crispy, sunny and the perfect trench coat + scarf + leather glove season!

Photos: Pinterest
 

5. Crunchy leaves that send you nostaligic at the sight and sound of them, reminiscing on childhood memories of running through a mountain of red, yellow and orange crispy leaves.



Photos: Gal Meets Glam

6. Tea is an excellent idea no matter the time or day or month or season or year. But with the temperatures dropping, there’s an extra tad of amazingness to every cup of tea!

Photos: Fortnum & Mason

7. Thanks to the amazing people behind the Rugby World Cup, Downton Abbey, Strictly Come Dancing, Lewis, the X Factor, nights in just got a lot better! You know it's Autumn when the TV guide turns really really good!



 

Photo: Google

8. Borough Market is one of our favourite places in London; hustle and bustle, local produce and mouth watering foodie eats, there's something for everyone. In Autumn, it's an extra special place with hot scrumptious food and hot, artisan nutty coffee!

Photos: The Londoner

9. Walks are wonderful, whether you're a city lover or country bumpkin, they are great! They are especially great in Autumn while we can enjoy sunny, spectacular days, with a crisp and chilly breeze! Going for a walk through London's Regent Park, with a hot cup of coffee, up to the summit of Primrose Hill and you'll get a spectacular view of London's autumnally-changing skyline!

Photo: Gal Meets Glam

  

10. A pumpkin spiced latte on a Sunday afternoon walking through the golden, leafy London parks is pretty wonderful. Autumn is the only season for PSL's and we love to make the most of them ahead of the Christmas drinks menu!



Essentially.....we have fall-en in love (get it?!) with Autumn here at Attollo HQ! Love A&F