LFW S/S 14

The universe seems to have conspired against this post ever making it online - my computer's been down, my internet's been down, my life's been down (and up and down and up and down) but I've made it! Though I love blogging, it's a mighty struggle against the side of me that would rather paint and read in bed all day than even look at a keyboard.

     <my current soundtrack, ft. emotional and abstract tunes>

In between painting my room and throwing pity parties about how much revision I haven't done, I managed to make it out to fashion week this half term - by which I mean that I literally popped out for a couple hours in between coats of white Dulux. Me and a very co-operative friend, being LFW virgins, had no clue how one would end up in an actual fashion show, so we took a few strolls around the (free) courtyard at Somerset House and soaked in the *fashion vibes*. Despite my collapsing, 4-year-old bridge camera and utter lack of street style knowhow, I got a few decent snaps:

 

So witchy. So bizarre. Are those clouds on her coat? Maybe I'll never know. Maybe I love it anyway.

 

Booty indeed. Sportswear is something I haven't really found a way to interpret yet, but this get-up is downright inspirational.

 

This babe isn't just being a fashion icon - she's wearing one on her arm. Conversation-topic bags are popping up all over the place at the moment. The nearly-all-black and alien hair are also to my liking.

 

Here's wishing I knew boys as sharp as this dude; mixing tartan, logos, and excellent facial hairwas a top choice.

 

Long coats were everywhere, and this outfit proves that they make literally anything look elegant and eye-catching. Yes, dungarees are still fashionable (along with other 70s styles) but we seem to be moving more towards a grown up cut and polished materials.

 

This guy is just too cute. Mandal alert! And, bonus, they're merman-dals. I'm guessing his toes were pretty chilly, but he rocks all blue, a favourite for spring 2014.

 

Talk about statement. Tomato shades are looking red-hot right now (snicker).

 

Another long coat, plus checks for extra fashun.

 

Even more long coats. I mainly wanted to photograph these two because the one on the left had hair like Disney's sleeping beauty. Sooooo pretty.

 

I didn't manage to get a picture of my own outfit, but I was wearing this gosling green fluffy jumper, a tea-length green kilted skirt, my favourite clompy platform loafers, and...

 

Green Lipstick. Green. Lipstick. Personally, I thought it was a tasteful shade of metallic forest green, but lots of people have a hard time believing that leaf-lips can ever be tasteful. I certainly garnered a few stares walking around Covent Garden. I've grown a thick skin from years of strutting my stuff in weirdo clothes, so I was more entertained than offended. In any case, nobody batted an eyelid at Somerset House, where weirdo was positively banal. The couple photos I took of the lips ended up as this fine piece of photoshop screwing:

 

And that's it! This may have been rushed through in the late evening, and I may hate it by tomorrow, but at least you all know I'm alive and kicking. My aim is to cover some LFW highlights at the weekend, late in the game as it is, but knowing me... don't wait up for it, is all.

 

xx

 

All This Mess Undressed

This is going to be a bit of a weird one - I think it would probably be a 'November Thoughts' if it weren't already halfway through December! I usually do most of my bloggy stuff at the weekend, but last weekend I was in Oxford overnight (watching a wonderful production of Kvetch) so I didn't get around to it, and I currently have no idea what I'm going to write about. Let's see...

 

I really like the outfit I wore in Oxford, above and below. Not only was it super warm and comfortable, but inadvertently grunge-inspired. I thought about going the whole hog with messy, smudged makeup, but sometimes it's better just to pick and choose elements of a style, so I went with my usual strong brow and natural face, plus a neat flick of black liner.

 

I've finally figured out gifs!

The skirt is a vintage kilt (previously owned by my granny) the graphic tee is also vintage (my mum's) and the shirt is Gant, inherited from my brother. I am nothing if not resourceful when it comes to finding new clothes! Shoes are from Bertie, and coat from Primark. Alternatively, you could wear a black turtleneck underneath the shirt, as I did the next day.

Some other things I like at the moment:

• Marika Hackman, the queen of weird, beautiful, melancholy music, especially her collab with Sivu, another favourite of mine. Listen to 'Skin' and the rest of her music here.

• This pondering of Susan Pevensie's life after Narnia, as recommended by RookieMag. The type of empowerment talked about here really speaks to me.

• Also, this short story. Ah, so beautifully romantic and unromantic at the same time.

• My hair. This may seem vain, but I wanted to grow it for such a long time but, when I started to, it turned lank and boring. Now it is finally at a length where I can style it in funky ways, and it's getting its old candyfloss-ish volume back. Yay!

• On that note, French plaits. They keep all your hair back, don't make your head look alien, and leave pretty curls behind when you take them out.

• The Paradise, on BBC one. To be honest, I watched this 60% for the costumes, but the plot is pretty great as long as you ignore how rubbish the main love interest, Moray, is. The evil Tom Weston is so  much more interesting. The second series is on BBC iPlayer, the first is available on DVD.

• Strong coffee. How else are we meant to get through mock exams? I was entertained by the barista who clearly expected me to ask for something weak and syrupy, and had to ask three times 'So you actually drink black coffee?' Next time, though, he remembered me as the black-coffee-girl, so he's a winner.

• Not Christmas. I am a complete Grinch. Sorry.

So, as I said, a weird post. Better things are on the way - I'm planning out a post on female-specific insults, and some music and gift ideas (the closest I'll get to Christmassy). Have a lovely weekend,
xxx

Topshop // Meadham Kirchhoff

I've been wanting to write more about things other than my personal life and fashion - I'm sure hearing what I get up to isn't interesting for everyone - but I rarely see something in the fashion world that is both accessible and exciting to me. However, all that ended last Thursday when the Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop collection landed!

The whole frilly, furry, crazily colourful Kirchhoff vibe fits right in with my current aesthetic, and it's not often that their amazing pieces are available to the less privileged of the fashion world. While some of the clothes are certainly out of my budget - with one fur stole reaching an eye-watering £250 - others would be perfectly reasonable investment buys for the regular Topshop customer, such as a slip skirt for £25 or an eyeball tee for £30.

The collection is divided into three subsets: Cherry Blossom (a girly pink pastel dream), Cherry Cherie (a more reserved navy blue collection), Cherry Pikka (fun and filled with patterns), and Cherry Satanika (a shouty, rebellious look). Browsing through the clothes, I didn't pay much attention to the four Cherries, and I think the collection works quite well as a whole - you can definitely pick and choose from all four looks. Most of the clothes have a teenager-y feel, what with all the fun clashes, and there's a ton of witchy imagery, and awesome prints. It's all very  Rookie, which makes sense when you consider the connections between Meadham Kirchhoff and the mag. My favourite pieces include:

These brogues - I really like the fancy ankle strap, and this recurring bejewelled pentagram.

This pretty pastel headband, featuring the same pentagram adornments, which would go perfectly with massive hair.

This delicate shift

 

This simple (but special) navy swing jacket. 

 

I also adore the pastel pvc pieces - I've never really got into plastic fashion, not due to lack of love for the trend, but because I've only just started wearing some of the more kooky stuff that I admire. If I had money to spare, the skirt below would be on my wishlist for sure - blue fur? How could I not adore it? I would probably pair the skirt with a pastel turtleneck, matching sheer socks, and some chunky-cute shoes from the collection. Some might think of a matching furry jacket as overkill, but you shouldn't pay any attention to that - Topshop, again, has just the thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, finally, the reason this post is about a week late: illustration! Below are the coolest sisters you'll ever see, wearing clothes from the collection. I get the feeling these chicks might return for future posts - we'll see...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you love the collection as much as I do, be sure to grab your favourite pieces quickly - I already missed spotting some of the pieces before they sold out, and the rest are disappearing pretty fast too.

 

That's all for now, see you soon!

xx

 

Mayla Sunshine

I thought I would do a quick outfit post for today, as it's pretty late, but there is lots more exciting stuff coming later this week (it's half term, so I have loads of free time that I should be spending revising but lol who needs revision).

bitchface as usual

 I was having a serious case of I-have-nothing-to-wear syndrome this morning, probably because today was the first time in two weeks that I've worn normal human clothes (rather than blankets and pyjamas and misery).

smirk

 It ended up partially clueless inspired - hey hey tartan skirt and sheer knee socks - and partially sixties inspired. The latter is probably because I was getting hyped up about the super exciting Southbank Centre Sixties Festival, which I'm visiting tomorrow. There will be music, talks, discussions and performances about all elements of the sixties, from LSD to beat poetry to Frank Zappa to climate change to The Beatles, and just about every other relevant topic you could imagine. We are looking at 'The Swinging Sixties' in History GCSE at the moment, so it should be pretty helpful for that too.

Top: My mum's.
Skirt: Beyond Retro.
Socks: I'm not sure, but you can find similar ones in most hosiery departments.
Boots: Topshop.
Coat: Primark (many, many years ago!)
Watch: Baby G

Anyway, back to today. After music theory classes, we headed off to an art exhibition in Reading. Some of the pieces there were amazing, especially considering lots of them were by amateur artists. It also made me feel like creating more of my own art, which is always lovely. I may put up some photos of the exhibition later this week. And, on the topic of future posts, I took some photos of my makeup today, but I'd like to do something a bit cool with them, so watch this space!

That's all for now, cheerio!

Creature Comforts

Being at home with flu (ugh) has given me plenty of time to cobble together a lookbook-fashion-inspiration-type-thing. Recently I've been loving everything bright and fluffy that sort of looks like a wearable, friendly monster, hence the above collage (created in Photoshop, which I have had for two days and am in love with, despite my lack of any skills whatsoever)

Featuring  this jumper ,  this skirt , this thing of beauty , this miracle of fashion ,  this wondrous creation , and this cookie monster inspired fabulosity , as well as a yeti, a furby, and (my personal favourite) a couple of wig-wigs.

And, just to make it clear  how insane my sense of style is, I illustrated what these would look like all together:


This gal is obviously a tad embarrassed at the furry getup I gave her.

Just needs some manic furry shoes, am I right?

Hope you enjoyed!
take care lads :*
(I say as if anybody reads this blog...)