New Year’s Eve Outfits

 

We’ve (almost) got all our Christmas plans and outfits ready and starting to look towards the New Year. Whether you are having a small gathering with friends and family or planning on an evening out, our edit of New Year’s Eve outfits will have you heading into 2022 feeling extra-special.

Embroidery, sequins, velvet, faux fur, and shimmering metallics are all on our list, if you need help deciding what to wear this New Year’s Eve, look no further.

 

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The showstopper

 

 

New Year’s Eve dresses made elegant with embroidered detailing on sheer fabrics. A piece that will turn heads and get all the compliments, you’ll want to find more occasions in the new year to wear this design to.

 

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The artisan collection

 

 

Inspired by our love of craft, our Gracie dress is part of our artisan collection. Intricately hand-beaded and perfect for making your New Year’s Eve a really special one, you can discover the story behind this beautiful design on our dedicated blog post.  

 

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Read the story >

 

 

The top & trousers combination

 

 

Looking for a New Year’s outfit that isn’t a dress? We’ve thought of that too. Bringing ruffle trims and metallic finishes together, pair this statement blouse with a pair of black trousers and heels for drinks celebrating the arrival of the new year.

 

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The ultimate party dress

 

 

Sparkles all over and faux fur trims, this is the NYE dress to turn to for nights out celebrating. Glisten all night long as you countdown to 2022 surrounded by friends and family.  

 

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The soft touch

 

 

Velvet is the fabric we look to for winter celebrations, making it the perfect pick for the New Year. With added bits of shimmer, this burgundy wide-sleeve dress is made for the biggest celebration of the year.

 

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Christmas Crafts with the Kids: Marlenka

 

The Christmas holidays have started and with all the gift wrapping and card writing you have on your list, it’s time to keep the children occupied with at-home crafts. This season we’re inspired by decorations, and Marlenka has put together a handy how-to guide with garlands and baubles made from things you can easily find in your home.

 

 

Wooden Beads and Clay Stars Garland

 

 

 

This is such a simple and yet satisfying activity. I must admit Florence loved joining in. We just sat there talking and threading the beads and stars. It was so relaxing.

We started off with rolling out the clay, flattening it with a rolling pin.

We then cut out star shapes. You can do any shapes you wish.

 

 

 

 

Before leaving it to dry for a day or so, I made a horizontal hole, using a toothpick.

Once the clay stars have dried, we then threaded them onto a piece of string alongside wooden beads.

 

 

 

 

You can just use your imagination here on what you’d like the pattern to be.

 

 

Cupcake Case Baubles

 

All you need is:

 

Cupcake cases

Glue gun

Glue sticks

String

 

 

 

How to:

 

Flatten a single case and fold it in half and repeat.

Once you’ve folded all of them it’s time for the glue gun.

Open a single case that you previously folded in half and apply glue from the middle moving outwards.

Repeat on all of the cases.

Once you’ve done that, apply two lines of glue on the outside of the case and stick another case on top of it. Repeat the process with all of the cases.

 

 

 

 

Once all the half circles are glued together, attach a string with glue.

Apply glue to the side of the cases and join both sides together creating your bauble.

 

Visit our instagram for a how-to video guide >

 

 

Children’s Christmas Party Outfits

 

It’s the most magical time of the year. Choose Christmas outfits that will match the memories with sparkly dresses, novelty motifs, and cute accessories on Christmas play dates, parties, and at-home activities this season. Create their own little winter wonderland with sequin Christmas trees, sleighs, reindeers, and more in our festive collection.

 

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Shop Christmas >

 

Sparkly Christmas party 

 

 

Glittering fabrics and sequin motifs for the Christmas holidays will keep them smiling. Playing dress-up whether attending parties or staying at home, these are the pieces they’ll pull out again and again.

 

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Fun & festive

 

 

Christmas morning just wouldn’t be the same without festive-themed jumpers and dresses! Make Christmas day even more fun with reindeers, dinosaurs, and sleighs that are all ready for time spent around the tree.

 

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Slumber parties

 

 

Keeping cosy is all part of the season. Make their Christmas day outfits the comfiest of all with pyjama sets and onesies that are as cute as they are festive!

 

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Little celebrations

 

 

Find Christmas outfits for the youngest in your family with jumpers and dresses covered in sweet motifs and glittery sequins. The perfect presents for the little ones on your gift list too.

 

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And the novelty accessories to match…

 

 

 

Finish the kids’ Christmas day outfits with reindeer, house, and castle bags, that they can keep all their mini gifts in and by their side for the rest of the day (and Christmas holiday of course).

 

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Christmas Crafts: Baking Chocolate Bark Gifts with Hermine

Give the gift of homemade baking this Christmas with inspiration from Great British Bake Off Semi-Finalist, Hermine. Sharing her chocolate bark recipe, these delicious treats are perfect for wrapping up in jars and gifting to family and friends this Christmas.

Hermine has recorded a video so you can bake along with her or read her handy how-to below.

 

 

Ingredients

400g of dark chocolate

100g of white chocolate

A few drops of pink gel food colouring (optional)

80g of dried cranberries chopped

80g of sliced pistachios

A handful of pretzels biscuits

 

 

How to 

 

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

 

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Add the food colouring and mix well.

 

Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl placed over simmering water, pour the melted chocolate into the lined baking tray, and spread it around using a spatula.

 

Drop a few teaspoons of pink chocolate in the dark chocolate scattered around. Using a skewer or a knife whirl the pink chocolate around to create a marble effect.

 

 

Sprinkle over the dried cranberries, the sliced pistachios, and the pretzels. Set aside to dry at room temperature or place in the fridge for at least one hour.

 

Cut into small pieces using a knife. Place a few pieces into a jar and decorate using old wrapping paper, craft fabric, ribbons, and flowers. Your creativity is the limit when it comes to this project.

 

 

Useful Tips

 

It is always best to allow your chocolate to set at room temperature. Although leaving it in the fridge produces a much quicker result, the condensation from the fridge will leave marks on your finished product.

You can pick ingredients to suit your taste. Dark, milk, white or ruby chocolate. The same goes for your choice of dried fruit and nuts.

When choosing food colouring for chocolate, oil-based food colouring is the best. Water-based gel colouring has worked for me but in small quantities. Remember that with chocolate, you want to minimise the amount of water you add as water makes chocolate seize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our favourite outfits for the Christmas season

 

Enjoy the Christmas holidays with outfits made for all your festivities. From drinks on Christmas Eve to walks on Boxing Day, and everything in between, we’ve got all the inspiration you need in our edit made just for Christmas.

 

Sparkly knits, festive prints, party dresses and the comfiest of nightwear – what you want to wear this Christmas is ready and waiting for you in our latest collection this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Shop Christmas > 

 

 

Feel festive at Christmas Eve drinks

 

 

Meeting up with your friends and family for drinks on Christmas Eve is a tradition we all love. Stay warm and keep it festive with our ivory ruffle sleeve jumper layered over our embellished star print dress.

 

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Bring sparkles to Christmas Day dinner

 

 

Sparkles made for your Christmas day outfit. Keep it casual yet festive with embellished knits and velvet trousers, that tick all the boxes for the main event.

 

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Dress it up for Christmas evening drinks

 

 

Go all out for Christmas with our occasion collection. Rich red and golden shades are perfect for the season, and for taking with you into the New Year too.

 

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Wrap up for Boxing Day strolls

 

 

Boxing Day outfits for those who like to wander after the festivities. Pair neutral knits and patent trousers with your winter boots for keeping warm while outdoors.

 

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Shop trousers >

 

 

Or snuggle up in pyjamas the whole holiday

 

 

 

For those who plan to spend all of Boxing Day on the sofa (or the whole Christmas season) choose pyjamas and knits that you’ll want to wear all night and day in our new collection.

 

Shop nightwear >

 

Christmas Crafts: Christmas Wrapping with Deborah Brett

 

Christmas is truly here when you’re surrounded by all your gifts, glass of mulled wine in hand and ready to wrap. This year we teamed up with Deborah Brett for wrapping paper ideas that are sustainable and have a homemade touch.

Make your gifts the ones under the tree that your loved ones reach for first, with woodblock festive print wrapping, featuring Christmas trees, snowflakes, the possibility are endless – the perfect crafting activity for the whole family.

 

 

What you need to follow Deborah

 

Roll of recycled brown paper

Acrylic paint

Sponge

Foam mat

Wooden stamp

Ribbon from past gifts, string or twine

Foliage from the park, garden, flower market

Baubles or old Christmas decorations

 

 

How to

 

Start by laying your foam mat on your kitchen table or work surface.

 

Lay your paper on top.

 

Put a small 50p size dollop of acrylic paint onto a small saucer. You can even add a few different colours at the same time to create an ombré effect.

 

Dab your sponge into the paint and transfer to the printing block. I used different types of snowflakes and trees to decorate my paper.

 

The trick is making sure the whole block is covered in paint but not too much.

Then choose your position on the paper, press firmly and lift. You should have a lovely, printed shape.

 

Then repeat. Don’t worry if they aren’t all perfect. The patina of hand printing and things not being perfect simply adds to your wrapping paper’s charm.

 

As you are using acrylic, your paper will dry fast. Make sure to wipe your block clean rather than soaking in water.

 

 

How to wrap

 

I use green Scotch magic tape. A plant-based adhesive. It also uses recycled plastic and cardboard for its packaging.

 

I use ribbon from past gifts that I’ve saved throughout the year. Or used coloured string or twine.

 

I use old Christmas ornaments to add a dash of sparkle to my gifts.

 

Try collecting leaves from your garden or park and spray paint using metallic colours. Although I’ve noticed florists selling metallic asparagus fern sprigs if you would rather not spray paint yourself.

 

I use pinecones, berries and dried limes from my old wreaths to give presents a Christmas twist.

 

If you fancy make wool pom poms in different colours to add to gifts instead of baubles. Choose a range of sizes and colours.

 

I adore Covent Garden flower market. It’s filled with gems for decorating your own wreaths, trees and gifts.

 

Once you have wrapped your gift and added ribbon or twine add a few pieces from the above list to the centre and tie them in place with a knot and a bow. I love making each gift individual but maybe grouping all my gifts in one colour theme.

 

I added recyclable brown craft tags to label each gift. I used a white or silver pen to write the name on. Or you could use my biscuit recipe from my last Christmas post for Monsoon to make your own personalised gingerbread name tags.

 

Meet the Artisan: Karen Embellished Blouse

 

We have worked with our artisans since 1973 to create our unique hand-crafted look and feel. One of the designs that shows our love and dedication to these traditional crafts is our Karen Square Neck Embellished Top – the perfect design for festive parties day or night this season, we wanted to show you just how this piece was bought to life.

Meet one of the artisans that created this piece, Shakuntala.

 

 

“My name is Shakuntala. I am from Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) where I went to school as a child. I have been working at my current job since June 2017 and my husband does a private job at another company.

 

 

I love my work as it gives me financial stability to support my family. I have two sons who are enrolled in school. My hobbies are cooking and making my family happy.”

 

 

The ARTISAN Collection

 

Working with craftspeople in faraway places is a complex process with lots of challenges. But it’s always been an important part of who we are and what we do. Our continued commitment to using handcraft helps sustain skills and livelihoods, as well as adding something special and unique to our collections.

 

A member of our Monsoon team personally visits our artisans, to watch our beautiful product come to life and get to know the people behind the intricate craftsmanship. We’ve worked closely with our ARTISAN suppliers to introduce worker handbooks where artisans can track the number of pieces they’ve worked on and, in turn, keep a record of their wages. This helps create transparency in the supply chain, letting us know who is making our clothes, and allowing us to make sure that the artisans have been fully paid for their beautiful work.

 

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Christmas Crafts: Festive Decorations with Candice Lake

 

This festive season we’re all about Christmas crafting at home. For some inspiration, we turned to Candice Lake to find out what crafts she and her children were up to this year. Enjoyed by kids and adults alike, we’re ordering the oranges and ready to get started.

 

 Candice has put together a handy guide below for you to follow!

 

“I love the festive season, and naturally so do my children. This year I thought it would be really fun to make some decorations with my children to hang on our tree and around the house.  They love getting involved and these decorations are SO simple for them to partake in, also it’s great for all ages and abilities as you can make them as simply or intricately as you like.”

 

What you’ll need 

 

4 oranges

Small handful cloves

Cinnamon sticks

Thin ribbon, twine or string

 

 

Method

 

Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Slice the oranges very thinly. Arrange the slices on the trays, then bake for 45 mins-1 hr, turning halfway through cooking, until completely dried out. Leave to cool.  We got distracted and they ended up in the oven for about 2 hours – hence the crispy appearance of some of them!

 

The most important thing for these decorations is that the kids enjoy making them, not that they look perfect.  We just poke holes in the oranges and then my children thread the string through them.  You can then stud the oranges with cloves thread some ribbon, twine or string through the centres of the orange slices, then tie a knot to secure.

 

Also, a fun little trick I found was that hanging your dried oranges in front of a light really allows them to shine. Just poke a little hole through the top of each orange and threaded them with string.

 

et voila – Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas Crafts: Floral Centrepieces with Willow Crossley

We’re ready to start planning our Christmas table for the big day and getting creative for the family table. We spoke to florist Willow Crossley for inspiration on our Christmas table centrepiece. Using a selection of dried flowers, she creates a beautiful floral bowl that can be enjoyed at festivities throughout the season.

 

Willow recorded a how-to, showing you how to make your own at home and we have also put a handy guide below for you to follow. Happy flower arranging!

 

 

 

What you’ll need to follow Willow:

 

Chicken wire

Pot tape

A small bowl

A selection of dried flowers.  I have used helichrysum (strawflower), grasses picked earlier in the year from the hedgerows, Limonium, miscanthus ‘dry feather’, Amaranthus Yearming Desert, heather, acroclinium and stypha pennata.

 

 

How to

 

Start by cutting a length of chicken wire.  The size will depend on the size of your bowl.  You want to scrunch it up into a ball that will fill the whole bowl.

 

Keep it in place with a strip of pot tape which you stick from one side of the bowl to the other.  If it’s a big bowl, you may want to make a criss-cross shape using two lengths of tape.

 

 

One by one, add the flowers by poking them into the bowl, using the chicken wire to support them.

 

Lengthwise, we want the stems to be proportional to the size of the bowl; aim for the general size to be around one and a half times the height of the bowl.

 

Keep adding the flowers until the bowl is full.  We want to hide all the wire; I find the strawflowers, tucked in low are great at hiding the wire!

 

 

I like making a few bowls and dotting them down the table for a very beautiful, everlasting Christmas table.

 

Have a very happy Christmas!

 

December: Monsoon’s Journal

This December we’re feeling festive sitting around the fire, mulled wine in hand and ready of all the Christmas-themed events and activities this month has in store. From visiting our new Bluewater store to get your gifts (with complimentary gift wrapping) to watching festive movies and browsing the Christmas markets, we have a list of things you’ll want to tick off the wishlist this season.

 

 

We’ve opened our second boutique store, at Lower Guildhall Bluewater. Inspired by our heritage, craft and commitment to sustainability, you can read more about our store in the link below – and don’t forget to come visit us!

 

Discover more > 

 

 

Not much says Christmas more than the Christmas markets. Whether you are still ticking off your Christmas gift list or just want to immerse yourself in the spirit of the season, find the best ones to browse in England with a handy list put together by Visit England.

 

Visit England Christmas Markets > 

 

 

For Christmas jumpers that a little more stylish and a little less novelty, we have the collection for you. Find designs you’ll want to wear after the festive season too with our latest knits.

 

Shop Christmas jumpers >

 

 

Christmas movies at home or on the big screen are a must. We all have our favourites, but for some more inspiration Vogue has given us their top picks, and Backyard Cinema are showing the classics for viewing in cinema settings.

 

Vogue Christmas Movies >

Backyard Cinema >

 

 

You may have seen on our social channels or in store that we teamed up with MakeBox & Co in our new Bluewater store to bring one of their craft boxes to life. Get crafty at home and discover all their boxes in the link below.

 

Visit MakeBox & Co >