Vintage superstore

In just a short walk from the Bullring in Birmingham, you come to this magical place. The new vintage shop, selling well everything vintage!

It’s been open about a month and it is quite possibly the biggest vintage shop in Birmingham city centre (urban village and yo-yo being the only other two I can think of currently). It sells clothes, bags, hats, shoes, belts, jewellery and possibly a whole lot more (didn’t have a good look) filling everyone’s share of vintage clothes.

I had a short rummage around (I think a good hour or two is needed to really browse) and did purchase a jumper/waistcoat type thing (hard to describe, but nice) for £8. But I wanted much of the shop!

shop window & shoe wall
If you live near Birmingham and happen to be in the centre at some point, I recommend a rummage around. I’m sure you’ll find something as it’s blooming massive.

Next Project

I am going to recreate the chain scarf featured on style bubble and pictured on the right. I simply do not have £25 to spare on buying one from United Colours of Benetton, so I may buy several balls of wool (provided it comes to less than £25, otherwise it would be completely pointless) and get knitting. I wonder whether I’ll actually ever finish it, if I do, I shall post the results on here.

Something about a cardie

I visited my grandma and auntie earlier and discovered my auntie had purchased Grazia magazine. This was unusual as my auntie normally buys Now, so I asked her about it and she said “I wanted to see what it was all about”

Anyhoo, that was a long pointless story, but I had a flick through it and I came across this page:
I have been wearing massive “granny” cardigans (my case literally a granny cardigan) for a while now, so psshhh to them. And I know that it is probably considered a “grunge” look, which is supposedly “in” right now, but seriously why is grunge in, it’s what you wear to rebel against fashion.

Not only that, but all the cardigans that these celebrities were wearing cost well over £200. What a waste of money.

I’ll tell you What not to wear

Yes, I watched it. Personally, I do not like the show. I do think the new presenters are better than Trinny and Susanna, who I think should actually be shot for crimes against fashion.

My only questions, why the leopard print? And why the footless tights? None of which are flattering looks on anyone. Although I suppose leopard print can be worn successfully if worn in the correct manner- though most people don’t wear it correctly and therefore it ends up looking common and quite frankly a bit cheap (as do most animal prints) thus, I do not like it.

Some of the clothes they dressed the people in just reminded me of younger people, like my age (the people this week were only late 20s/early 30s so it’s not too bad I guess) Mind you, all the people my age seem to be into fashion lately- except it’s not fashion anymore, it’s just a trend that everyone is following, making them sheep. I suppose the women did look better and they did seem more confident and comfortable in themselves, which is the idea of fashion really.

I still don’t like What not to wear.

Craft weekend- Step 3

Get crafting!

This is the first creation I have made this weekend. An embellished jumper.

I was inspired by the vintage jumpers I’d seen in the Topshop vintage section and by this jumper I saw in November’s Vogue.

The jumpers in Topshop were about £20-£30 and this one in Vogue is £895. I am not willing to pay either of those prices (especially the latter) so yes, I created my own from a jumper I purchased yesterday for £2.75

I spent a couple of hours sewing the pearls (beads from old pearl necklaces) onto the neckline. Of course it’s not a good as the ones in shops, nor is it particually fancy or difficult, but it’s a nice subtle touch I think.

I’m not sure whether I’ll sell it or keep it. I am veering towards keeping it at the moment though. I am also not sure whether I should add more pearls elsewhere on the jumper or whether I should leave it as it is. Any suggestions?

Photos:

The big craft weekend- step 2

Gather the required materials

This would be a big pile of old clothes and material which I have accumulated from my family, the charity shop fandango yesterday and purchased from places such as the rag market in town. Obviously, I am not going to be able to make this all into new things just today, but it’s good to have a large quantity to fulfil random moments I feel I wish to craft and particually for coral stars.

Now for all you lovely people out there, I would say if you don’t want to make a lot, look for a couple of pieces from charity shops or ask friends and family for any old clothes. Then you can recreate them into something fantastic and new. Alternatively if you want to start from scratch and you are comfortable with sewing, you could get a sewing pattern and some material. If you are a beginner, I would say, start with simpler things such as customising a t-shirt until you are more comfortable with making something harder. You don’t necessarily need a sewing machine (although it helps) and hacking things up with scissors always works (my first creation was an accident. I had cut a hole in the side of a t-shirt and it looked a bit daft so I cut some more holes and it looked ok)

I don’t know whether that is any use, but I tried. The next posts will be the monstrosities that have been made. Looking forward to it!

The big craft weekend- step 1

Be inspired.

I have decided to have a big ol’ crafting session this weekend (and possibly into the week) as it’s something I haven’t been able to do in a while. I have gotten a few ideas from craftster and the november issue of vogue as well as thinking myself.

Tomorrow, my friend and I are going to all the charity shops (thrift stores) in the near vacinity to pick up as much as physically possible (well I am) that can be reworked, revamped or re-something-ed.

Next installment will be tomorrow! (hopefully)

The fashion backbone

Reading the back of the Aussie conditioner bottle, it said:

“There’s more to life than hair, but it’s a good place to start”

Very true! And you can apply it to fashion too.

There is more to life than fashion, clothes and shopping, but if you feel good in what you are wearing, then generally, you’ll feel good in life. That is the theory anyway.

To be a man or not to be

I quite like this ‘boy inspired’ look (although I think those photos don’t particually look mannish)

I think I would probably do it wearing an actual men’s shirt or something similar.

I feel a bit bad though because girls go and steal boys clothes and boys would look weird if they started wearing dresses. Having said that, there are a few clothes, such as cardigans, that many males wear now.

photos from vogue

Mind explosion

Current thoughts in my head:

1) I need something worthwhile to blog about on here

2) I should do some crafting (for my waredrobe and for Coral Stars)

3) I need to complete this design for that clotheshow competition I mentioned a while back.
Despite the fact that Karen O is not my style icon (don’t actually have one), I used her simply because I can do something quite weird. It’s not a great design, but there is no harm in entering! The trouble is it has to be in by Friday… oh dear

4) Why does everyone in my school now dress/look the same? I actually know this answer, but it is still going through my mind

5) Mufti (non-uniform) day on Friday, I wonder how many people will actually wear pink

The hair that was raven

Right the hair first. ————————————–>
I like it. My friend did a really nice cut and the colour is subtle, which is what I wanted. Quite possibly one of the best haircuts I have ever had because:

1) It’s actually what I wanted

2) I did not feel odd in my friend’s house as I have been there before (I find salon’s very uncomfortable to be in)

3) I got a cut and colour for a fraction of the price

Of course, I do not recommend anyone else letting a friend cut their hair unless they trust their friend completely and the said friend has cut hair before.

Foof!

Finally got this wordpress blog working. Whoopee!

Then I had to transfer all the previous entries from rose sequin which took an arm and a leg. I decided that I am going to turn that into a dream diary type blog.

Now I am off to get my hair cut and dyed by my friend. I’m not too sure whether brown hair will actually suit me and I am extremely worried about looking like those err… slutty type indians (you know the ones which have straightened brown hair and are like just well), but I have purchased the dye and bleach and as my friend said “you won’t you’re an indie kid”.  Don’t actually know whether I am actually an indie kid, but whatever.

Anyhoo I shall post the results later!

“My style is unique”

You know when people say “I have a really unique fashion sense”, do you ever think haha, no, you do not. At all. You look just like everyone else.

If I see people who actually do have a unique fashion sense, I think wow, you are cool. These people don’t tend to say “I have a unique style” they just get on with it.

Pinny… err… uppie?

I really want a pinafore. Not so much like the one picture (this one is from Topshop), but I still want one. I think they could look really quite cool.

Whether they are actually fashionable is beyond me, because despite the fact I blog on here about fashion, I am not an avid follower.

But a pinafore is cool.

The Devil wears Prada

I actually decided to go out of the house and I went to The Devil Wears Prada. I thought it wasn’t as funny as I had hoped and also it didn’t seem that fashion-y. I mean, I did like some of the clothes, like that white shirt with black jumper & skirt outfit (pictured right), but some weren’t that great in my opinion, like that brown dress (pictured left).

It got me thinking however, do I really want to go into such a cut throat world when I am older? (as I have always wanted to be a designer) The answer is probably no, but then fashion is something I love, (despite the fact that many of my clothes are not great and I rarely look decent) and sewing/crafting is somewhat another passion of mine. So really the answer is yes, I would like to, but whether it’ll be enjoyable, I have yet to see.