Dressing for the Office

As I am starting my new job very soon I figured it was about time I invested in some clothes. The office for me is a creative studio so a suit isn't required (nor is it my style) but I did want something that could be adapted to see clients, was fashionable and comfortable enough when sat working at a computer. Oh, and that I could adapt to be wearable in winter. If I see one more pair of 7/8 trousers I may scream, as much as I love them. Oddly enough I don't want my ankles to freeze and this wind is not productive to anything less than full length/thick tights.

Finding clothing that transcends AW11/12 and SS12 is not easy. The process becomes even harder when you try to find something that won't require you to wear heels. My poor ankles are currently very weak (who knows why) and as such heels aren't really suitable for trotting around in all day. I've not had much luck, except for a few items in Next and Oasis, but there are some great new pieces showing up in the spring collections and I can't wait!

 Marks and Spencer

Left: Deco Diva Limited Top £35, M&S trousers £25, Shoes £29.50, Earrings £12.50, Watch £25

Right: Park Avenue Autograph Top £45, Trousers £45, Shoes £29.50

A River Island Christmas

River Island is a strange one. It is very rare that I go into one of their stores and see something I actually want to buy. It all seems too samey, too tight, too short and basically just not me. As for menswear, if the boy came to meet me wearing most of the stuff they sell I would probably freak out. Jeans that have a crotch settled right between your knees is just not a good look as far as I'm concerned.

You may find all this a little backwards if you have taken a look at any of my Fused fashion spreads (such as this one) because River Island feature highly. Their campaign images show really beautiful clothes, which I have realised exist but mostly only online or in the large stores. I am a bit of a shop-a-phobe, I love talking to people but hate having to fight my way towards a dress. That's why this year I will be scouring River Island's website for some of these wonderful Christmas pieces.  It's probably not a surprise that I particularly love all of the feathers.

 Baltimore Feathered Collar Dress £60.00 and Shelley Feathered Dress £70.00 with Purple Agate ring £10.00

Temporary Secretary

Over the past year I've put together quite a few fashion spreads for Fused and Area including a selection of purse friendly suggestions for the annual student guide and more recently (but not yet published) a colourful autumn spread. Fused and Area are independent magazines and as such I like to include a mixture of well known brands and lesser known gems. One such gem that I have used in several recent spreads is Temporary Secretary.

Sarah Wong founded the brand in 2008 and it's gone from strength to strength with fabulous designs and a great blog. In fact, she recently won the A/W 11 Look Magazine's Blog Competition - congratulations! In all honesty though, I think she shines when she gives the reader an insight into her life...particularly her adorable posts with the lovely cat Oscar.

Brand wise she is always a pleasure to work with, ready to help and with lovely pictures of her quirky and kitsch handmade jewellery. I can't wait to get my hands on some of her latest pieces... particularly her laser cut wood range and typewriter rings. I love the bright red tab key, I think I'll have to get that and a letter. Thankfully, it'll be Christmas before we know it. This year I am definitely making a list.

Images from the Temporary Secretary blog and website.

MA Fashion Exhibition

So after really neglecting everything that isn't my MA for the last year I have finally finished. Hopefully this means I can settle into a nice job in a marketing agency or with an in house team that will let me be creative and, most of all, will help me to learn more and hone my craft. Fingers crossed.

To celebrate the MA Fashion Department is hosting a private view of our exhibition tomorrow from 5-7pm in the PR1 gallery on the ground floor of UCLan's Victoria Building. As I now live 100 miles away I have sadly had nothing to do with the organisation but I am hoping for drinks, nibbles and lots of banter with our guests. If anyone is in Preston you should nip and and say hello, the more the merrier. Here's what you'll see if you do...

Open publication - Free publishing

Autumn/Winter Style in Fused Student Guide 2011

For the second year on the trot (which is nice because it gives the impression it went down well last time) I have compiled the autumn/winter style pages for Fused's annual Student Guide, which has been transferred to their pocket sized Area format.  So, I suppose, it's now Area's Student Guide but it is as awesome as always.

You can find it here or embedded below (p14 - 19) but you should read the rest as well.  I particularly like 'How to Get Laid on the Cheap' (p34) and 'The Carpels' Guide to Birmingham Music' (p58).

Open publication - Free publishing - More fused

The Return of Colour

I went out for a friends birthday the other day and her lovely sister decided to compliment me on my pale skin tone. "You're ever so white aren't you, it's wonderful, it goes so well with your red hair. It suits you so much better than blonde. My friend likes to white up and make the best of her pale skin, she has all the make up for it you should speak to her later because you could do that too!" Bless her, she was being genuine.

See what I mean about ghostly? I'm just grateful this was taken with a terrible camera phone. 
My hair doesn't even look red on this photo so I can only hope that in real life I don't glow this much.

I have a bit of an issue with my skin tone pure and simply because I look a bit dead at times. I get stressed out very easily and this stress results in a wonderful array of dark tones beneath my eyes that just will not be covered. Needless to say I feel more ghostly than wonderfully pale. Thankfully, Twilight has meant the fact I look like a Cullen (I've been told I could pass for a vampire...charming I know) actually mildly acceptable.

Thank goodness that spring is coming though! I cannot wait to add a bit of shimmer, get out in the sun so I look like a normal human being in winter and throw on some bright colours. Yes, the return of colour this spring will be paired with the return of colour to my skin (I hope). Blue, tangerine or neon brights, they've filtered down from the catwalk and now the high street has some great options...

From top left: ASOS '60s Mac £75, Next Ruffle Playsuit £38, Topshop Peep Toes £68, Topshop Court Shoes £62, ASOS Tailored Shorts £30 and ASOS Peg Leg Trousers £40. 

BLANQ: Identity

BLANQ's (Jeffrey Wang's) Identity, a series of manipulated photographs, chronicles the progression of a woman "who morphs from innocence to struggles, and back to innocence."  The alterations give the impression of a woman shattering, unable to control her own destiny.  This is enhanced further by the mannequin style characters that also feature.  They seem to represent the struggles people go through to establish who they are, whilst continuously influenced by the world around them, their peers, their family, the media etc.  The development of the images is amazing so take a lot at the whole series.

This is not the first time I've featured BLANQ on this blog, I discovered Blanqworld's 36 Stratagems on their website nearly a year ago.  Having been called BLANQ, Blanqworld and simply Jeffrey Wang it's no wonder it took me a while to find the article link again for you to have a second look.  There are some great new projects, including Evolve, so have a browse if you like what you see here.  I'm pretty sure that as we all blur our digital and real lives, with our cameras instantly airbrushing and us adapted our digital persona to create a new variant of ourselves, this kind of photography will become commonplace in editorials.

Mien Clothing

I love to stumble across new and unique brands...and it's even better when someone I know has started it.  Sarah Morton started Mien with her boyfriend Tom during the summer as a mini project.  Tom's graphic design makes for some quirky illustrations, whilst Sarah creates bold prints and photography orientated t-shirts.

Sarah's Godzilla and Tree Designs

Tom's Peekaboo and Zulu Designs

Each of their t-shirts is screen printed by hand and would make fantastic gifts.  They are currently hoping to rebrand so all Mien branded t-shirts are on sale from as little as £5...hand designed and hand printed for a fiver is a bargain I think, especially when you won't be seeing anyone else walking down the street wearing one. They're in the process of creating a website but currently sell via Facebook and sporadically eBay.  Simply email them on mienclothing@hotmail.com to say hello or to order.

Snuggle Up

I don't know about where you are but is officially freezing in England.  Both in the West Midlands (where my home town is) and the North West (where I am at uni). Halloween has gone, Bonfire night has gone and now the long stretch is ahead of us.  There's even talk of snow.

I cannot stand the cold.  I especially can't stand the cold when I'm in bed.  I'm not one to lounge around in lace and satin.  I'm more a cotton t-shirt kind of girl, usually with some retro cartoon or generally silly print splashed across the front.  I like to mix and match as well, switching shorts for trousers etc dependent on how effective the central heating is being.  Here is my favourite pyjamas this winter.

 Talk Nerdy Set (New Look £12), Honey Monster Oversized Tee (Topshop £18), Reindeer Socks (Topshop £5), Fairisle Slippers (Accessorize £20), Afraid of the Dark Set (David and Goliath $52)

The Business of Trend

I have started an MA in Fashion and Lifestyle Promotion.  Today we had a little introductory session where we all spoke about ourselves.  Name, age, how we got to be on the course, what was the best thing that we encountered on the way, likes/dislikes, who we admire etc.

During this the head of Fashion Design at the university discussed how she loved her job, she loved trend, it didn't feel like work...but that trend itself is like a product.  A product that she doesn't particularly like because if everyone of us brought into it we'd all look the same.  However, what it comes down to is that whether you're a designer or a promoter you are trying to influence people to buy into the trends that you have acknowledged.

Trend is a funny thing.  Designers can get inspiration from anywhere...history, culture, or a cupcake they see in a bakery or trend forecasters.  Trend forecasters scour the land (the whole world!) looking at 'cool' things: a street, a shop, an artist, a subculture that has its own trend within society.  Then they sit back and plan what will happen next.  In the next 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 100 years.  I love it.  And hate it.

Trend is like marmite.  I sit here in my tapered trousers (the shape of the season don't you know!) and I wonder why I chose these.  I didn't acknowledge they were in trend...I hadn't gazed at them in magazines, I hadn't spotted them on catwalks.  I hadn't planned to purchase that particular style, I'd just gone into the shop and there they were but then subconsciously I might have planned to purchase them.  After all, the designers for that shop had planned it.  They'd researched, developed, seen them on celebrities and cool people at catwalk shows and filtered trend down for the high street where it has been successfully sold to me.

The business of trend is frustrating.  Frustating and wonderful.  It's rather amusing to think how it all comes about.  Especially now, in the last throws of fashion week season with Paris Fashion Week in full swing.  I wonder what makes people plan certain items to purchase and what makes others, like me, do it off the cuff with subconscious considerations.  After all, Oscar Wilde said "fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months" yet so many people have been dying for autumn to arrive so they can grab their shearling coats, boots, everything...

Trend Repeat

Everyone is blabbering on about Autumn/Winter 2010/11 fashion.  What's more, during this blabbering they are completely disregarding summer (I know it's optimistic but it's August so I'm hoping for more sun) and wishing it away so they can wear long boots, wool coats, shearling etc.  Yes, it looks good, but you know what?  It's been done.

Victoriana, womanly cuts, A-line, fur...  I love fashion but I sure wish people wouldn't go on and on about things being all exciting and wonderful when in fact they are rather similar to last year.  Sorry, I sound bitter, I'm not.  In fact, I love fashion, but is anyone else getting deja vu?

Beauty's going all copycat on us too.  Time to drag out that red lipstick again!  Vogue's rundown of how to wear the look worries me.  " Draw on a deep Cupid's bow.  Take the colour slightly beyond your natural lip line."  Beyond your natural and drawn on reminds me of a clown or a five year old playing dress up.  I'm very blonde, very pale and have teeny rosebud lips... Anyone that knows something about beauty care to offer me some advice on how this is supposed to work?


Dolce and Gabanna Image from Vogue

Forever 21 comes to the UK

Obviously I read other peoples blogs...and lots of them feature Forever 21.  The outfits they posted looked good and were priced cheaply, so I was jealous we didn't have them here in the UK.  I could have ordered online but it's just not the same so Forever 21 was shunned on my bookmarks until such a time that England was deemed worthy.  We took Topshop to America after all, it's only fair to share!

Now that time has come, hurrah!  Forever 21 have taken over a shop in Birmingham's Bull Ring, directly opposite H&M.  It was announced months ago but now the signs are up and everything.  My first thought was that it will be probably be like H&M...very good in the press, very shit in real life.  I mean, nothing H&M has featured in magazines is ever available in the stores.  Plus, they inevitably end up looking like a jumble sale.  Needless to say my brief excitement was replaced by nervous curiosity.  Any American readers want to tell me what we can expect from Forever 21 here in Birmingham?

 Images of Forever 21 Interiors from Blood Sweat and Fashion

Couple Dressing

I don't know if this is a common thing but the other day at the pub I couldn't help but declare I was worried because whenever I see the boy we're dressed the same.  Whether it's colours/material/pattern it has happened every time I've seen him for the last few weeks...we don't plan it.  In fact we mostly get dressed at different times/in different places completely unaware until we're both dressed.

I remarked on this unusual occurance the first few times and he laughed and brushed it off....until I went to stay with him in Leeds and his flatmate went "awww how sweet, you match."  We looked at each other and that was it then, I could see it had settled in with him and he wasn't too happy about it.  That evening when we both walked into the living room in red shoes, and red shoes aren't common, he went "we've done it again."  We went out for food, returned to his flat to meet friends before going out and he actually got changed.  It amused me that he was concerned about couple imitation.

Turns out this isn't an odd thing.  When I brought it up amongst friends apparently it's happened to them too and it's always uncomfortable.  Has this happened to you?  Is this a universal thing?  You see, I found it quite comforting, I liked the idea that we had some form of psychic connection/inherent ability to coordinate with each other in the most basic of ways...maybe that makes me strange.  Should I be forcing the boy into his room to change rather than just laughing about it?

Celebrities are mocked/praised because of it, fashion magazines ask whether this 'Couple Dressing' is trendy and photographers point out the irony of two people 'fitting' style wise... I found an entire collection in Reclarkgable's Behance portfolio called Couples.  The images were so apt and so good, what with each photograph using the same models and the same poses just with some fabulous styling.  Here are a selection that make my point perfectly.

Calum Harvey: Not Just A Label

Calum Harvery is a good bloke.  Not only does he regale me with amusing stories, delays getting back to his studies to ensure that I get back to the Midlands when the Tube decides to be rubbish but he also gets drunk with me at inappropriate moments.  These moments are very sporadic, we don't see each other anywhere near as much as I'd like, but if someone will sit outside a bar wearing an oversized jumper, rescued in a recycling mission, that has a black bin bag fused to the front all in the name of experimentation then you know they're special.

And he is.  So special Not Just a Label have featured him on their front page.  He moves randomly around the page but he's there.  Check it out because his clothes are pretty good too.  He's another Graduate Fashion Week 2009 winner, nabbing himself the Textiles Award.  Awwww.  Shame people have now taken our crowns.  Read the amusing tale from our Graduate Fashion Week Winners Reception for more tales of Calum.

And Calum if you read this yes I am rubbish at keeping in touch even when I start the communication.  I am messaging you back in just a moment.

So I'm a Geek...

I like to pretend it isn't true on occassion but I am, most definitely, a geek.  I love gadgets, I love what technology can do and I always get excited when I see something that utilises these aspects in a fashionable, design focused manner.  Hence, yesterday I succumbed and brought the iPhone 4.  Don't judge me.  (And yes, I love it.  And no, it hasn't broken - signal is fine and I have no weird yellow dots...yet!)

Despite this now gadget purchase this weekend I am most excited about an article I read on Style Bubble  "Furthering with Furber".  Whilst I usually try to publish new material rather than material I've read elsewhere I feel this is necessary...  Aesthetically amazing, technically developed and as eco-friendly as a shoe can be...


Icica from Helen Furber on Vimeo.

Helen Furber's Icica project has a quality that is very rare to see within graduate work...and as a recent graduate I have seen my fair share...and I can't wait to see what she does next!  She's not the only one showing potential from her class (check out the magazine Furber put together showcasing work from students on her course at her blog) but she's definitely the most forward thinking.  I envision recycling and swapping, mixing and matching heels with uppers for a truely bespoke way of design.

 Images and video taken from Helen Furber's Vimeo and LCF pages.

I love Jennifer Behr

I love Jennifer Behr.  I do.  She's wonderful.  Definitely just makes me think of Blair Waldorf though and a wonderful life where a headband is not just a headband, it's a crown...and you know what?  I want a crown.

 Images from the Jennifer Behr Website

Sailors Knot ($172), Encrusted Ribbon/Chain Wrap ($228), Denim Rosette ($138) and Patent Spiked Bow ($228)

Due to a big dance festival work closed early as our bosses headed off the weekend and we got to go shopping.  Well, we got to go shopping after I made some elasticated headbands, painted flowers, cut feathers and added them all to make some fabulous head dresses.  So today I went scouring the high street to find some Jessica Behr knock-offs as she is massively out of my price range.  (Even though the prices are in dollars I still know when a headband is out of my league!)

I failed completely in my search.  Well...that's a lie, there are some nice headbands out there.  Not Jennifer Behr but good, from chic to embellished.  The only problem is as I can actually now make flamboyant head dresses I'm sure I could embellish a simple headband or, indeed, make an elasticated/ribbon based one myself.  Therefore, I couldn't bring myself to part with over 10 well earned pounds for a headband.  The only problem is I'm pretty sure I'll never get round to making one myself.  I'll definitely need to bribe myself to the haberdashery store.

ASOS Black

I have been patiently waiting for a while for the launch of the latest ASOS Black range after seeing some carefully styled piece in one of their magazines.  I fell head over heels in love with a feather skirt...not so surprising if you read this blog often, I have quite the penchant for feathers.

So when it launched a few weeks ago I raced home to order said skirt.  Patiently waiting...the next day delivery was not so next day thanks to Parcelforce having a mare with their electronics system...I dug into the bag when it arrived only to find I do not have the right figure for it.  Not in a "I can't pull off feathers" kind of way.  Oh no.  In a "this doesn't fit at all kind of way".  Silly me forgot that due to all the structured feathers there is a lack of movement and stretch...and apparently my hourglass figure doesn't exactly fit ASOS's image of the perfect size 10. 

However, despite all this I am still in love with ASOS Black right now.  The range fully embraces the extravagent side to fashion using all the best fabrics and embellishments, drawing inspiration from romanticism and Parisian couture and utilising a nude palette that encompasses everything from grey to cappuccino rather than just cream...bravo.  Whats more they have taken ruffles to a new level and Spring/Summer 2010 is all about ruffles in my humble opinion.

Here's my pick of the best pieces, and yes the skirt is included because it will fit someone and they will look fabulous...

 Jumpsuit (£75), Frill Dress (£120), Heavy Ruffle Dress (£120), Feather Skirt (£65),  Cluster Sequin Skirt (£75), Sequin Embellished Playsuit (£75)