Favourite

It just needs to be noted how fucking awesome Emma Watson looks right now.  I usually enjoy ladies with slightly more – how shall I put this – ‘outlandish’ style but she just looks so good being herself and enjoying fashion (not trying to be something she’s not).  There are too many twatish teenagers these days tottering, pouting, shagging rock stars and generally believing they are a lot cooler than they actually are.  

Emma is so refreshing right now. 

and HOW RAD does she look in Burberry A/W 09 campaigns?  I was flicking through Vogue the other week and she stood out an absolute mile.  Models blend into models into models into models, but she stood out looking fresh faced and surprisingly fierce.  

sorry for the image heavy post, I got a little carried away.  All images courtesy of google.

Regular Choice

So on a friends recommendation, I had a quick flick through the irregular choice website and was pleasantly surprised to see some absolutely awesome stuff on there.  There was a time when I was maybe 17/18 when I used to go to schuh in order to get my irregular choice fix.  They were fun, quirky shoes which I desired beyond most other brands.  I kinda grew out of them however as I grew older,  I think the last pair I had were black peep toe wedges which I threw out cause some little metal deer was stuck on the front and his antler used to spike my toe.  I kind of got sick of the ‘quirky’ness of the shoes which imo sometimes detracted from a shoe which, more often than not, had a really interesting shape or design feature.

 

However, looking at the stuff now, the pronounced shapes and colours still resound, but the brand seems to have grown up about 5 years!  Theres some really great stuff on there which genuinely stands its own with high end a/w 09.  (unfortunatly the price has sky rocketed along with the quality of design).

 

Some favourites:

 

If you have a look at the site you’ll notice they do also do the customary parrot printed cowboy boot for the confused 16 year old, but hey, we’ve all been at the stage where we think its the right thing to do.  Almost a rite of passage and I’m glad they are still around for silly post pubescents to follow in my footsteps.

Currently Channelling – My So Called Life

So after completing the box set of house for the second time (Gregory House must be the sexiest character invented right?!), I was looking for something else.  My thoughts were; Greys Anatomy, The Wire or Nip/Tuck however the shoddy local virgin-cum-zavvi-cum-head shop was all out of first series’s!  I could have the second series of pretty much anything for £15 but no first series!  So I decided to buy the complete box set of mid ninties series ‘My So Called Life’ starring a fairly awesome Claire Danes and a (stop me if I’ll go to jail) completely gorgeous Jared Leto.  I’ve only watched the first episode as of yet which I very much enjoyed.  However, just as the storyline was thrilling, so were the clothes.  It was perfect early 90’s adolecent grunge stuff.  Were talking lumberjack shirts (tied round waists), tiny velvet dresses, high waist stonewash denim shorts, fantastic hippie hair and various grungy/denim based apparel.

After my recent DIY velvet skirt and general 90’s feeling, I got pretty excited and started to look towards it as inspiration for other cheap/easy/DIY fashion ideas full of plaid and teen angst.  But I’ll try not to let that distract me from the actual plot…

Here are some random google images to show you how hot the style (+Jared Leto) is…

awesome!

Lions and Lambs

D.I.Y

So over this weekend I hope to post some pictures of my DIY efforts.  They are mainly skirts (grey jersey maxi, velvet mini) and I probably won’t be showing the picture of the faux suede waistcoat I made for the staff summer ‘ho-down’ party!

I have had so much inspiration recently for DIY efforts – probably due to Balmain influenced shoulders.

 Norweigan wood from Etsy has been particularly inspirational with her new line for Shrimpton Couture.  She has done some awesome things with simple shoulder pad/bra cups and fringing, feathers, beads and various other embellishments.  

I definitley think an alternative is achievable.  I’m thinking almost band jacket shoulders with subtle embellishments on a plain black standard tee.  I’ve seen the amazing harnesses norweigan wood creates, however, after a long deliberation I have decided these are not for me.  Neither are cage skirts.  

I’d love to hear about other DIY ideas you lot have.  Also when I post my own efforts, criticism (however constructive) will be much appreciated.  Ciao for the moment.

Hysteric Glamour

After hearing ‘hysteric glamour‘ mentioned a few times I decided to check it out.  There’s some beautiful things such as vintage style t-shirts, printed dresses/jeans with detailed and macabre skull and snake prints, dresses with interesting shapes and cuts and painstakingly distressed jeans.  My favourite item is this skull print t-shirt.  I’d love to wear it simply with denim and leather:

I’m rather taken with these snake printed jeans:

Intricate Print:

Interesting shapes:

Although a lot of the stuff is lovely, I can’t help but feel its overpriced.  The vintage style T-Shirts are nice but are effectively nothing more than a print on a pre-washed tee and cost around $140! I mean, I don’t mind spending a bit if I can see workmanship/material cost etc but please…ninety quid? For a printed t shirt?  I don’t think so.   Still, fair play if people will actually pay that – at least someone’s winning.

Still I’m just bitter as my serpent jeans would set me back £290 ish.  Woe is me.

claw

oooooohhhhhhh dear…

I’m thinking Etsy Alchemy (if anyone would be that brave!).  What a pretty thing.

sci-celine

In my ongoing mission to find ‘boundary – pushing’ shoes, I came across these Celine Graffiti Print Cut Out Sandals.

they’ve got that stoopid hole in foot type thing like the D&G’s but overall they are so much more exciting.  That sole!  That heel!  The fact that the foot would add something by way of art due to the shapes the shoe has.  I’m fairly much in love with them.  They are really stupid though.  And immature.  And they remind me of when I bought multicoloured swear platform boots that looked like clown shoes when I was 11 and never wore them.  Seems like I probably haven’t grown up….ha!

I’m going to be making a skirt in the near future.  A heather grey jersy maxi skirt with a slight fishtail in the vein of:

I know I’m a boring doofus but its so lush.  So anyway no pattern involved, I’m just going to drape and attempt to pull something together that looks semi OK.  Any tips let me know.  And I’ll try and get a picture taken for more talented seamstresses to sneer at!

Cirque d’Stiletto

So it seems to me that I write about footwear more than anything else on here which is strange because I never thought of myself as one of those ’shoe girls’ who talk nothing more than choo’s and blahniks.  But hey, here I am chatting again about shoes.

However these aren’t necessarily shoes which I particularly want, more of a trend I’ve noticed.  The trend? ‘Experimental’ footwear.  Footwear to frighten, repulse and seduce and footwear that seems to defy the laws of physics.  Such examples as Nina Ricci (fall 09)

and D&G

The Nina Ricci shoes I adore.  Not so much the second couple (where they shoes incorporate heels which don’t meet the ground) but the first pair as the shape is so elegant and edgy.  I love the shape and style of the shoe itself and the fact that it doesn’t have a heel adds to the appeal as a quirky design feature.

I find the D&G shoe ridiculous as they are fairly boring as designer shoes go but have, in all honesty, a really fucking stupid design feature which I bet you wouldn’t even notice if your foot was in the shoe (except obviously the PAIN you would be feeling – can you imagine?!).   I find the ‘experimentation’ of these shoes completely unnecessary  except to cause mortal injury to the wearer.

I would love to find out about more shoes whereby the fundamental design had been altered.  Shoe shapes and styles have been explored fairly completely within their basic shape and now designers seem to be attempting to explore the shoe in a brand new way.  Not even adhering to the codes and conditions which were believed to be scientifically necessary!   I think if this trend really takes off, it could be fascinating to see the direction it takes.

Please let me know of any other shoes which experiment in this way – I would love to see more!

Hoof

I just thought you needed to see these:

Don’t ask me where to buy them (that was my first question) because I have no clues.  A friend sent me the picture and she found them on a German blog. They are unknown, fucked up, beautiful objects and they shall sadly never grace my feet.

Unless of course someone can source them, in which case you are my new best friend!