Monsoon Motivation: Simone Oaks

Sometimes it is hard to believe it is June already! Time is moving so quickly and of course, this is not the summer a lot of us planned or expected. We spoke to some of our blogger friends, to find out what they’ve been up to, their favourite at-home trends and to talk us through their Monsoon edits, get ready for some serious inspiration with @simoneoaks!

 

How have you been spending your time at home?

As a busy working mum of two, we have been juggling a few plates between home-schooling, working and making the most of the slower-paced lifestyle. I am very grateful for where we live, now more than ever and we have tried to make the most of the village walks from our doorstep in rural North Yorkshire. We have been making the most of not having to be anywhere at a specific time, enjoying family movie nights, den making and Lego marathons! I have been trying to tick some of the home DIY projects off the list- note the word ‘trying!’. I have taken up running (well jogging) which if I am honest is something I have never enjoyed in the past. I have paced myself and I try to do 3-4 morning runs each week which I am now starting to really enjoy! I have also taken up weighted hula hooping, which is great for the core and if anything, it gives my children something to laugh about!

 

Can you take us through your top ten picks from Monsoon and why you picked them?

 

Poppy floral tea dress

In my opinion, every summer wardrobe should include a timeless tea dress. This shape flatters all figures, the flutter sleeves and lightweight sustainable viscose fabric make it a super comfy choice for summer. The poppy floral print is so feminine and has a beautiful vintage feel. I love vintage fashion, and this has a real 1940s feel! 

Julissa floral print skirt & blouse

I adore this co-ord set as it is so versatile, and the coral ditsy print is bright but yet classic. The skirt has pockets- big tick! Is anyone else obsessed with pockets?! The elasticated waist means you can tuck the matching blouse in comfortably and the tie waist detail draws your waist back in for a flattering cut. The Julissa blouse features the popular puff sleeve detail but subtly without being oversized. I will be wearing this co-ord together to make a style statement or with neutral linen culottes and a crisp white blouse.

Billie sustainable embroidered lace maxi dress

This boho style maxi dress is a wardrobe capsule piece. It is perfect for summer garden parties, weddings, and festivals. Life is too short to not wear the dress- so don’t save it for best! Make a special meal and enjoy a garden date night. The tiered maxi hem and intricate embroidery neckline make for an extremely beautiful garment; one that can be worn year after year.

Florence embroidered straw shoulder bag

I love the circular shape of the Florence shoulder bag, a twist on the traditional basket bag. As a busy mum of two, this can stylishly store all the mum essentials for our summer picnics. The blue embroidery is a beautiful detail and the reverse is plain which means you can carry it, either way, depending on your outfit. You can never have too many basket bags; our bedroom has a beautiful display all year round!

Minnie suede peep-toe sandals

My go-to style sandal every year is an Avarca style sandal. The suede upper makes them incredibly soft and comfortable to wear, and they are easy to pop on and off. A timeless classic, to go with all my summer outfits. 

Lilla embroidered jacket

Living in the UK means a summer light jacket is essential as the temperatures drop. The slightly oversized cut and open-front design makes it great for layering. Don’t be afraid to clash prints and textures to make a style statement.  

Francine floral joggers in pure linen 

The comfort of a joggers fit but with a linen tailored look. They are perfect for working from home and chasing around after the children and our Cocker Spaniel! I can create a casual look by teaming them with a white t-shirt and flats or opt for a heel and jacket for an evening look.

Savannah hammered disc stone drop earrings

When it comes to jewellery, I love all things gold and nude. The hammered disc detail and the nude stone additions create a beautiful pair of earrings that go with every outfit.

Aesha floral tiered maxi dress

This stunning floral maxi dress reminds me of the secret garden (a firm childhood favourite!). The mint green backdrop and colourful garden florals make for a beautiful silhouette. The crepe fabric is perfect for swishing (as my 5-year-old daughter would say) and the waist tie detail draws the eye to your waistline.

Shop Edit >

 

Trends have taken a bit of a turn during this time at home, what would you say your favourite trend is right now?

My favourite trend right now is the return of power-prints and they appear to be back in a huge way this summer! There has been an influx of giant florals, clashing hues, and oversized polka dots. Power prints coupled with puff sleeves and intricate broderie anglaise detail are a summer wardrobe must-have. I like to make a statement and go for a full look with a co-ord set or dress.

 

How do you boost your mood and stay positive while indoors?

Although we have been embracing the slower days, I have made sure I have stuck to my usual morning routine by dressing in clothes I would normally wear to work. Feeling like me and dressing to face the day definitely helps to lift my mood! I have tried to focus on the little things as it turns out they are pretty big things, especially at the moment. Baking and cooking home-cooked meals and eating as a family have created a structure for the day and a time to reflect and make plans for the future.

 

Can you give us a motivational quote that helps you feel inspired?

Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder.

 

Monsoon Motivation: Laura Spencer

Welcome to our latest Monsoon Motivation post! We spoke to some of our blogger friends, to find out what they’ve been up to, their favourite at-home trends and to talk us through their Monsoon edits, next up is @dayinthelifeof_laura, get ready to be inspired!

How have you been spending your time at home? 

It’s been a busy old-time juggling work and home-schooling. However, I have managed to take up gardening. We had our garden landscaped just before lockdown and for the first time ever I have raised beds. I’ve planted lots of flowers and they are looking so healthy and happy. We’re over the moon with our garden now, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the sunshine reading books.

I’ve also finally managed to launch my blog which has been very exciting! I’ve had some lovely feedback so far, it’s been very rewarding. My blog is a mix of fashion, lifestyle and interiors. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but I’ve never got round to perfecting it. To see it live is a real achievement for me.

Can you take us through your top ten picks from Monsoon and why you picked them?

 

Rhiannon dress

The handkerchief hem is so different and such a gorgeous shade of blue.

Betty dress

Adore the colour of this dress, a little different from everything else I own. It’s a standout shape and is a very easy to wear summer dress.

Fagen dress

A soft and comfortable wrap dress, if you’re looking for that really easy-to-wear summer dress, this is the one for you.

Dede daisy dress

I have this one, the pattern is so pretty. A simple shape to suit all shapes, this dress is the perfect transition piece between day and night. Simply add a pair of heels for a totally glamorous look.

Florence bag

The perfect summer bag, big enough to even carry your beach towel! With a beautiful design featured on one side, it’s a must-have!

Wren bag

Such an intricate design with a little drawstring inside, this design is such a classic piece. Perfect for day to night looks too!

Valeria swimsuit

The colour is just perfection! A must-have swimsuit for the summer.

Tina dress

This season’s must-have is the puff-sleeve! Featuring buttons down the front and my favourite a waist tie for the most flattering look.

Iris jeans

My most favourite pair of skinny jeans. I wear these at every available opportunity. The fit is spot on and they’re hugging in all of the right places.

Samia spot blouse

Such a classic blouse, it would look adorable teamed with a pair of white skinny jeans and a straw bag!

Shop Edit >

 

Trends have taken a bit of a turn during this time at home, what would you say your favourite trend is right now?

For me, the one trend that is really shining through right now has to be the puff-sleeve. They started to see a revival last year but this year they’re everywhere! Not all shapes suit everyone so it’s about finding the right look for you. I’m very curvaceous so I opt for a low-key puff-sleeve, there seem to be more and more shirred puff-sleeve dresses and blouses coming into play each day! I can’t get enough of the puff!

 

How do you boost your mood and stay positive while indoors?

 

Each day our family does a Joe Wicks workout together, even my three-year-old boy Archie joins too! It’s been great to get fit again and also to have the time to work out as a family.

We go on daily walks and have explored so many areas of Cheltenham we didn’t know existed! We have found so many new walks and all near our house, it’s been a real tonic for us all. I have found myself getting up and getting dressed just for our walk together each day.

 

Can you give us your favourite motivational quote that helps you feel inspired?

 

“If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it.”

I remember hearing this quote and feeling so inspired to never give up. Always keep going, however tough it may seem. I’m watching the Michael Jordan documentary at the moment and I’m hooked! He’s one of the greatest basketball players of all time, his work ethic was unbelievable.

Monsoon Motivation: Pia Grace

Get ready for so motivation! We spoke to some of our blogger friends, to find out what they’ve been up to, their favourite at-home trends and to talk us through their Monsoon edits, first up we spoke to @piavibekegrace!

 

How have you been spending your time at home?

We’ve got into a whole new routine at home during the lockdown and I’ve been really enjoying having more time to spend on hobbies.

I love to paint and these last weeks have given me the time to do some watercolour painting. I’ve painted lots of cards for my daughter to include with her bouquets, and I’ve now quite a stock so won’t have to buy birthday cards for the foreseeable future!

 

Can you take us through your top ten picks from Monsoon and why you picked them?

The Alaska Printed Dress in Organic Cotton

With its gorgeous Tropical colours, this loose-fitting dress is a dream to wear. Style it with simple Summer accessories for daytime or add some wedge espadrilles and gold jewellery for evening.

Julissa Floral Print Blouse

 The prettiest summer floral, this cute cotton blouse can be worn with denim shorts, cream or white jeans. I’d wear it either tucked in or casually tied at the waist for a French girl vibe!

Clara Denim Midi Skirt in Ecru

Such a classic shape and so easy to style with a simple Tee or Cami, either keeping it plain or adding a pop of colour or pattern. I’d pair the Julissa Floral blouse with this skirt too. So many options and ways to style.

Wren Beaded Tote

I’m in love with this bag! It has all the holiday vibes for me and is great as an everyday summer bag. The drawstring pouch keeps all your belongings secure and safe too. Roomy enough for everything you need!

Lotus Scalloped Sleeveless Linen Top in Pink 

A linen top really is a wardrobe staple for summer. Cool and light to wear, perfect under a jacket on cooler days or teamed with jeans, shorts or skirts. The pink is a really lovely shade for sunshine days!

Julissa Floral Print Skirt

The gorgeous Julissa print again, this time in a skirt! Such a pretty midi length skirt, with a tie belt and patch pockets. Team with a simple top or add the matching Julissa Blouse for a full floral outfit. The Lotus linen top works so well with this pretty skirt too.

Carlotta Floral Embroidered Shirt

White cotton is always such a fresh look for summer. The Carlotta shirt with its embroidery and cut out detail has such a vintage vibe to it! Pair it with the Julissa print skirt and a summer basket for a true ‘Italian Days’ feel!!

Vanessa Jumpsuit

Jumpsuits are so versatile and super comfy! Style with trainers and a denim jacket for a cool day or roll up the legs a few times and team simple sandals. You could also layer over a tee and wear into late summer.

Rhi Raffia Knot Headband. 

So stylish and simple, a headband is a great way to add an accessory. This is light and easy to wear and will compliment any summer outfit.

Primrose Plaited Leather Sandals.

Plaited leather sandals to finish off all my chosen outfits. White, silver or gold, they are a simple fuss-free sandal that you’ll wear all summer.

Shop Edit >

Trends have taken a bit of a turn during this time at home, what would you say your favourite trend is right now?

One of my favourite things to wear right now is colour. It’s such a mood booster and picks you up if you’re feeling a bit down. I’ve definitely embraced colour more than ever in the last few months. Getting up each day, doing my make-up and putting on a colourful outfit has kept me feeling on top of things in this strange time.

 

How do you boost your mood and stay positive while indoors?

Daily yoga always boosts my mood. Just a short yoga practise each day, it can be as little as 15 minutes, will make all the difference to how you feel. I couldn’t be without yoga in my life!

 

Can you give us a motivational quote that helps you feel inspired?

One of my favourite quotes has to be …  “It’ll be alright in the end. And if it’s not alright it’s not the end.” 

 

 

An Update from Us

To our Monsoon Community,

We are so sorry that we have had to temporarily shut our stores in England again, but we hope this will be a brief farewell and that we will see you all very soon!

We want to reassure you that we are taking all the necessary steps to continue to make sure our staff and customers are safe. Our doors are temporarily closing on 4th November, but our online store is still open or call us to order on 020 3783 8836, until we can open our doors and welcome you back again. We have all you could need online from early Christmas gifts to winter warmers to treasures. Also, our stores in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, IOM are still open.

If you have an item to return to store don’t worry! Our extended Christmas returns policy means that anything you buy up to the 24th December 2020, can be returned up to 24th January 2021.

If you have a click & collect parcel you are now unable to collect, you’ll have 10 days after our stores reopen to pick up your order or you can arrange for it to be shipped to you.

 

 

Keep in touch

Other ways we would love to keep in touch with you all is via our social media channels and newsletter, where we will endeavour to offer some light relief and support during these uncertain times.

We are thinking of you all, and hoping your friends and family are all safe and well.

 

Gift Cards 

We’re still accepting gift cards as a payment option, but we’re not currently selling new gift cards. 

 

Your Queries 

Unfortunately, our customer service team has been disrupted, which has left us with a reduced team answering emails. 

If you can’t find the answer to your query on this page or within our FAQs and need to email us, please understand our team’s response will be slower than our usual standard. We ask not to send duplicate emails and to please only contact us via one channel otherwise this will push your query to the back of the queue.

Thank you for your patience.

 

 

With love,

 

Team Monsoon

 

 

Monsoon Recommends: Part Two

Found yourself picking back up a loved hobby or craving to learn new things? Us too, these are just a few of the things we’ve been up to…

Embroidery and sewing

Reading new books

Working out at home

Running

Singing in a choir

Gardening

Cooking and baking

Cleaning, while dancing along to music (of course)

Upcycling furniture

Wardrobe clear-out

Learn calligraphy

Get creative with art at home

 

Our love for music grows and grows with our time at home. So, we put together a few of the hits from our favourite artists and created a playlist for you to listen to when around the house or out exercising, these are some of the highlights…

Florence and The Machine

Ramz

The Killers

Oasis

Lady Gaga

Whitney Houston

Fleetwood Mac

Swedish House Mafia

Leanne Rimes

Coldplay

Angie Stone

Drake

Aurora

The Spice Girls

Craig David

Blue

Blondie

Beyoncé

Vampire Weekend

 

Listen to our playlist >

 

 

Let the hours fly by with fun games you can play indoors or out in the garden, these are just a few of our top picks!

Yahtzee!

Scrabble

Jenga

Monopoly

Monopoly Deal

UNO

Articulate

Twister

Beer pong

Creating your own quiz with friends

Knowledge Is Power

Cards Against Humanity

 

Read Part 1 >

 

Staying Happy at Home with Naomi Robertson

 

I’ve been asked how this time at home has impacted my life. I have been affected in many ways which I will do my best to explain. Initially nervous. We all needed to adapt very quickly to a new regime not just work but also my family.

Working from home isn’t something we really did, and I wasn’t sure how it would work. There were more questions than answers that we were having to resolve literally on the hoof! Quickly and efficiently.

How were we all going to communicate with each other? Like properly?  We needed to get it right, like immediately and quickly at the same time we were grappling with a new environment at work and mentally trying to understand the new world outside our front doors.

It turns out, I feel, we have adapted at lightning speed – become quicker, slicker, more efficient and massively joined up as a team. This came as a huge and very welcome surprise.

There’s no travel time, so I can squeeze a quick boot-camp and 5k run, meal planning with my husband, a handful of simultaneous equations with my 13-year-old all before I grab a quick cuppa and still hit the ground running at 8ish with a full day of zoom calls with my amazing team.

I can’t even remember what discussions I had with friends before this time indoors, but I definitely don’t remember swapping Martini recipes. Banana Martinis, given to me by my very clever friend, have now become a thing, although not so clever the next day and now I can’t even look at another banana.

 

 

Now we discuss at length what we will do differently on the other side. Be better people, be healthy and strong, cherish your friends and family, continue to support the environment.

What’s the new ‘normal? Is now the new normal? Or is the new normal everything we now long for or aspire to be when we go back to the old normal?

We are probably more connected to our families and friends now than ever before even if we aren’t on zoom calls all the time they are in our thoughts and hearts in this difficult, strange and unknown time.

I am LOVING being with my family, this strange gift has landed in the house which is called ‘time’.  The diary has been whitewashed. No one is dashing off to an event, work, pub, fun suppers, cricket matches, hockey, play dates,

festivals, marathon training!  Seeing it as time we have been gifted to spend together as a family. I always think something good comes out of something bad and this is my ‘pandemic positive’!

I went into this asking myself what all the fuss was about? But now every day has made me understand how seriously we need to take it.  Everyone is exposed, our loved ones are exposed. I’ve never loved my 13-year-old son more and I couldn’t be happier being holed up with the most loving husband of 22 years.

We need to respect the rules. Even if you feel fine.

Do it for them x

 

Naomi’s Drink Recipes

Naomi has been trying new and exciting drink recipes, courtesy of her good friend the co-founder of Wahaca, Thomasina Miers, so you know they’ll be the perfect recipes for sharing with your friends on your next video call.

 

Tommi’s Banana Flower Frozen Margarita

 

Elderflower season is nearly upon us and its flavour goes beautifully in this surprisingly light and delicate-tasting margarita.  Use up bananas that look as if they are going to turn by peeling them when just going brown and freezing in slices. They are perfect for throwing into the blender with the rest of the ingredients below. Perfect for getting an at-home disco started…

 

Makes 2

Method: blend

Glass: Martini or champagne coupe glass

 

Ingredients:

150g frozen banana

85ml 100% agave unaged (blanco) tequila

25ml triple sec

30ml elderflower

30ml fresh lime

3 handfuls of ice

 

Blitz the bananas and ice together.  Pour in the rest of the ingredients and blitz until smooth.  Pour into two frozen margarita/martini glasses and drink with a teaspoon or paper straw!

 

Rosé Sangria with Ginger & Mint

 

With the sun shining so beautifully it feels like the whole country is about to go rosé mad. This light take on a more traditional sangria, blushed pink with rose wine and given a deliciously fiery lift with its ginger and mint syrup should do the honours nicely, a refreshing aperitif to sip on your doorstep, windowsill, or any other place where you can get a glimpse of the late evening sun.  Steep with raspberries and cucumber and bask in it.

 

Makes 2

Method: stir

Glass: high ball

 

300ml rosé

30ml brandy

40ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 tbsp mint-ginger syrup (see below)

Fizzy water to top

 

For the mint-ginger syrup

100g water

100g sugar

50g very thinly sliced ginger

A handful of torn mint leaves

The zest of a lemon

 

To garnish

A handful of raspberries

Slices of cucumber

Mint sprigs

 

To make the syrup put all the ingredients in a small pan and bring to a simmer.  Turn the heat down and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Turn off the heat and leave to cool. Refrigerate until needed. You can make this the night before if you like.

To make the cocktail slice thin rounds of cucumber and put into a jug with the raspberries and mint. Pour in the wine, brandy, lemon juice and syrup and fill with ice. Drink in the early evening sun.

 

Naomi’s Monsoon Playlist

 

Naomi also made a playlist for you to enjoy! Get ready for your Friday night zoom or have it on in the background when getting away from screens for a while, with this dance inspired playlist.

Listen now >