Westfield’s AW11 style challenge: The heritage trend

Recently, I popped over to Westfield to do some hardcore retail therapy. No really, it was hard work not just a jolly! Let me explain. Their AW11 campaign is based on five key trends for this season: sequins, mod, heritage, faux fur and coats. I’ve got to admit, it can be a little daunting to go to Westfield with a specific item or trend in mind, the choice of stores is a little overwhelming and they all have their own trends going on. On the upside though, if you can’t find what you’re looking in Westfield then it probably doesn’t exist anywhere! To tie in with their offline campaign, they bought in four  bloggers including yours truly to take each trend and shop it til we drop! I had a choice of sequins or heritage, sequins was the obvious choice given that I’m a fashion magpie so I chose heritage to give myself a bit of a challenge. 

Elements of the heritage trend have been around for a few seasons now; think Hunter wellies, cable knits, riding boots, tartan and tweed. Tartan always features at Vivienne Westwood and iconic British fashion houses Daks, Burberry and Mulberry are the epitome of heritage. An entire heritage look can be a little much but it’s easy to give a nod to the look without going OTT, autumnal colours like mustard yellow, forest green, deep blues and rusty browns give a hint of heritage to an outfit, as well as faux fur and thick wool. You can also accessorise with a pretty brooch or plaid scarf with a knee length skirt and pussy-bow blouse. Easy peasy.With about an hour and a half to go, I headed straight to Topshop which turned out to be heritage heaven. I wanted to go for a more subtle take on the trend and was in my element with burgundy wide leg trousers, chunky cable knit cardis, quilted coats and an abundance of heritage colours. 

This faux fur collared, oversized rust coloured boyfriend coat
is an unassuming piece which epitomises and it formed the basis of my outfit.
Everything I paired it with automatically looked heritage. I initially tried it
on with burgundy wide leg trousers but the colours were so similar it just didn’t
look right; the oversized jacket also didn’t work with the wide leg fit of the
trousers. I opted for a pair of blue tapered trousers, the jewel toned hue
worked well with the coat and they came with a camel coloured belt with equestrian-inspired
buckle details which lent itself well to the trend. 

Here’s a video of me shopping my trend!