dream style in UK: (tea)spoonful of sugar...

Two years ago, when I was still at university and suffering from a particularly desperate cashflow situation, I entered a competition to win £250 to spend at Warehouse. It was fairly straightforward - you just had to make a list of your top five 'must-have' items from the website and then the lovely people from Warehouse picked their favourite list. Amazingly, I won! It was all quite exciting, especially because I literally had no money to spend on clothes at that time and it meant that I could actually buy a coat to see me through the winter months. Had I not won that competition, readers, I'd probably have died of hypothermia. Really.

Anyway, last week, ASOS were running the same sort of competition, except you had to pick three items and the prize was £1000 to spend on the site. Yep, £1000. That's a whole bunch of clothes. Even though I didn't actually come across the comp until the last minute and there was already A LOT of entries (understandably), I figured I'd give it a go. I mean, who doesn't want to win £1000 to spend on ASOS? In fact, who doesn't want to win £1000 to spend anywhere? I'd probably have entered if the prize was £1000 to spend at Millet's.

The thing is, picking three 'must-have' items from ASOS is really quite difficult because there are literally hundreds of beautiful things to choose from. And of course, because it was a competition I wanted my list to be unique. I spent a long time clicking through lots of different dresses, shoes, jackets, tops etc etc and in the end I went for three items that (I think) were suitably fabulous but not too obvious. The winner was supposed to be announced on Friday but I just looked on the ASOS Facebook group and it said the winner would be announced next week so I'm keeping everything crossed! Seriously, ONE THOUSAND POUNDS!!!

If you're interested, here are the three items I chose;

I'm loving maxi dresses at the moment so I went for this gorgeous printed one by Aqua Couture;

I wanted a pair of fabulous shoes on my list, and I thought these Carvela bondage-inspired platforms were really striking;

The final item I chose was this bejewelled bandeau bodice (hello alliteration!) by One Teaspoon;

I love this!!!

I remember when ASOS was first launched (back in 2000 when I was a wee 12 year old!); ASOS, in case you don't know (though I'm sure you do) stands for 'As Seen On Screen' and the whole concept behind the site was that it sold clothing 'in the style' of celebrities, so basically, things that you've 'seen on screen' and want to copy. Now, ten years later, while you can still buy celeb-inspired stuff, the site is no longer all about copying celebrities as ASOS stocks countless brands, both designer and high street, which are stylish in their own right and not just because Ashley Olsen was seen wearing them.

I've mentioned before that I don't often buy clothes online, for the simple reason that my size varies depending on where I shop and I can't be bothered with the hassle of sending stuff back if it doesn't fit. Because of this, I don't really visit ASOS very often, however, after spending a bit of time there for the competition last week, I'm definitely reconsidering! In addition to all the well-known labels you can find on the site, such as French Connection and Oasis, ASOS also stocks loads of independent and new designers which I doubt I'd have come across otherwise.

One of the labels that caught my attention was Australian brand One Teaspoon, which I noticed while I was weeping over the bandeau top above. I think the clothes are similar to the stuff you get at All Saints, although slightly more toned-down. The collection on ASOS features a selection of cute tee-shirts, tops and a couple of dresses; all quite simple but with a casual, urban feel to them. While it's not cheap (some of the tee-shirts are £40 and that bandeau top is £120!), I reckon that if I did have that kind of money I would definitely be spending it on this brand, as all the pieces are so unique but wearable. Here's a few more of my favourite items from the brand;