Hoot hoot

Is it just me or do owls seem to be somewhat of a craze lately? I’m sure I’ve literally been surrounded by owl things lately. I mean there was that owl bag in topshop a while back (which I was contemplating buying, then though pah, I can make that) and then there were some pants (knickers/underwear not trousers) I saw yesterday. Then last friday we went to a science lecture with school. The only talks which were vaguely okay was one where a man was talking about birds of prey and another one where a man was talking about chemistry (he was quite amusing). Needless to say the man had an owl (quite a cute one may I add) - it just seems to be something going around.

Photo from Google

Fashion IS for everyone

As I was having my rare browse of different (fashion) blogs (involves clicking links from one blog to another), I came across Too Fat for Fashion. I firmly believe that fashion can be for everyone and the blog demonstrated this perfectly.

Recently, much of the British press have been going on and contributing to the size 0 debate (something that I’ve written about in the past). Whilst they may go on about how awful it is that all these models are so skinny (which they are - and in my view size 8 is still a bit thin for someone who is as tall as models are), I do think that not many of them would not like to see the clothes modeled by models of larger sizes. It is extrememly hypocritical, but unfortunately that is the world. I know very few people who stick to what they believe in or are saying and it’s such a breath of fresh air when people do.

I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of the Gossip. I don’t particularly like the music and I don’t particularly think they are ‘cool’ (inverted commas because this is only what I think is cool), but after seeing the article on Too fat for fashion, it has made me think power to Beth! Many shops do not cater to plus sizes and whilst I am not plus sized, I still view it as a downfall. Just because someone isn’t thin, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to enjoy fashion. It baffles me because it misses out a huge section of the market, so it was really enlightening to see that she also took a stand and didn’t just cash in like I’m sure many other people out there would probably to.

Air stewardess chic?

This reminds me of air stewardess clothing. You know the kind with that really awful looking print, that rarely looks good. Well, that opinion has now gone out of the window! I actually quite like the top and the general styling of the outfit. It’s simple, which is definately what you want in hot summer months.

Photo from Foto Decadent

Get the thrift on

Sometimes I forget the sheer wonder of charity shopping - then I remember.
(Note to self: Have a charity shopping spree rather than complaining about lack of money.)

The only thing with charity shopping,  is that loads of other people are doing the same thing because of their desire to be ‘different’, - resulting in a) nothing good left for you and b) everyone actually having a similar style. The world works in strange ways.

“Nu-rave” - why must it be spelt like that?

“Nu-rave” a craze that’s been going around the UK for a couple of months now (this is a long overdue post I think). I describe it as a craze because it can’t really be described as much else, it’s a mainstream craze, nothing more to it really. Glow-sticks, brightly coloured clothing and “nu-rave” music is basically what’s involved.

Typical “nu-rave” bands include the Klaxons and apparently the New Young Pony Club. I’m not a big fan of the Klaxons, but on the whole I don’t mind the music. Mostly because recently I have been listening to more ‘beaty’ things (electro I suppose - introduced to me by my good friend, who was introduced to it by the Mighty Boosh) and so “nu-rave” is kind of falling into the category (on wikipedia, it was classed as “a style of music fusing elements of electronic dance music and rock”)

Now I come to the ‘look’ of “nu-rave” folks. On the tv last weekend, I heard it described as “looking in the mirror and thinking, yep I look like an idiot”. I’m sure many people have bought straight into it - it’s not exactly hard with high street brands such as Topshop having a whole collection dedicated to the trend (’POP’, which I blogged about a while ago); Entire magazines such as POP also just on this one topic (I actually forked out the £5 for that issue and I didn’t particularly think it worth the money); tv programmes such as Skins featuring “nu-rave” people (made me laugh, especially the hoodie with the flouresant pink “TWAT” written on the back).

You’d think that I would completely hate it because I pretty much hate anything that is an obvious trend. Yet honestly, I’m a bit undecided about it. On the one hand, I’m not about to go and start dressing head-to-toe in “nu-rave” style clothing, because I have my style, yet elements of the style do appeal to me. I mean, I have some bright blue tights from a couple of years ago which I do love. People who claim to be “nu-rave” or “electro” and solely that do annoy me, because personally I like to have more than one interest and element influencing me, variety is the key. It’s tricky really, I don’t buy into mainstream trends simply because I know that 6 months down the line, it’ll be obsolete and kind of pointless and quite honestly I don’t really care about being classed as ‘cool’ or ‘trendy’ for those few months. It’s a strange concept really - how can someone love fashion, but not be willing to love trends. To a certain point, everyone, be they fashion followers or not, are influenced by trends and the catwalk, because the ideas are taken and turned into something more wearable for consumers to purchase at a shop. “Nu-rave” is something that’s around, but I think it’s something that ought to be taken with a pinch of salt. Fair enough if you’ve been into “nu-rave” before it became a mainstream phenomenon, but I just think that for those of us who haven’t, you kind of risk looking like a sheep really - you know, just getting swept up into the hype.

Metallic shine

So, since seeing Skins last Thursday night (which is a brilliant programme may I add), I’ve been wanting some metallic clothing. Such as that worn by Cassie (though I’m not limiting it to metallic shorts), who seems to have the best waredrobe out of all of the characters. Whilst briefly on the topic of Skins, Thursday’s episode was especially good. I laughed when all the ‘Nu Rave’ kids were puking flouresant sick, though that the hoodie that said “Twat” on the back was quite good I thought (I’ll talk about the nu rave craze at a later date, I sense it may turn into a ramble).

I’m pretty sure metallic fabric is in fashion again (though don’t count me on that, because I haven’t exactly looked at ss07 trends in great depth), so I’m assuming it won’t be too hard to find. Failing that there is the option of buying metallic fabric and transforming it into attractive garments.

(sorry, this has been posted later. I’d been looking for some attractive shiny metallic fabric images to use, but alas, there are none)

Topshop browsing

Just had a small search of the Topshop website (I was trying to find something metallic for another post I was doing). Although I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I noticed that there are some lovely things in the Brands at Topshop section at the moment.

All images from www.topshop.com

Par-taay!

It’s funny, things to blog about do pop into my head, it’s just I haven’t any time to turn them into written pieces to post. I think I need to learn the art of time management. It’d be very useful.

Anyway, enough of that. Yesterday it was my friend’s birthday party (kind of a house party I suppose). And I was really late because through raiding the entire of my waredrobe (and part of my mother’s, though she had nothing) it occured to me I have no party type clothes. I mean, we already have established that I have very few bottom halves (skirts, trousers, shorts, jeans etc), but even with my tops and things, I have more daywear clothing. (I ended up wearing a dress I purchased from the clothes show, bright blue tights and silver sequined shoes, which was okay)

So it got me thinking, what do the lovely readers of my blog do when it comes to parties? Dressing up a casual outfit can be done, but for those who haven’t a clue, any tips or tricks the rest of you have found may be worthwhile.

Shopping in Birmingham

I’ve been sort of like a zombie this past week. I was helping out backstage (doing make-up urgh) at the school opera thing and although I didn’t do a lot, for some reason or another this week has been packed. Thus the no posting-ness.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, so I thought I may as well really. From all the posts that I’ve done since August, there is one which constantly seems to have the most views. As a result, I’ve been thinking about compiling a list of good shops in Birmingham (UK), because although I often dislike the city, it does actually have quite a bit to offer. (If you know of anywhere I haven’t mentioned in the following post, feel free to leave the suggestion in a comment)

High Street
Of course, there are all the typical high street shops…
Topshop, H&M, Dorothy Perkins, Mango, Oasis, Primark … I could go on, but you’ll find them mostly in the Bullring and the surrounding area.

Vintage shopping
As I posted before, there is the big yellow vintage shop, which is big, but there are also loads of other great places in the city. There’s Yo-yo (they don’t have a website as far as I can see, but this shows you where the shop is) and Urban Village (which has moved from the custard factory to china town I think) which are both really good. Then there is the Saturday Flea Market, which is every Saturday at the Custard Factory, that’s really nice because it’s loads of different sellers. I also recently discovered that there is a vintage stall in the Rag Market (Saint Martin’s market), I did feel it was a bit pricey considering it was in the market (where I think everything should be cheap), but it had some okay stuff. Of course, the Custard Factory does have a few other little shops in it which do sell some vintage as far as I am aware.

Charity Shopping
This is the one area that the city centre does fall down, because I think the only charity shop it has in it is Oxfam. If you venture out of the city centre, I know that Sutton Coldfield has a couple of charity shops, as does Wylde Green and Erdington has tons of charity shops.

Other random places
When I was younger I used to go to Oasis Market. I was never a goth/punk/grudge etc type person, but for some reason I did go there a bit. For someone who is into the whole alternative scene (you probably already know it exists, but nonetheless), it’s somewhere to go.

The Rag Market (Saint Martin’s market) and the indoor market are pretty good for crafty folks as there are tons of fabric stores, haberdasheries, wool shops etc.

That’s pretty much all I can think of at the present moment. I realise this post isn’t incredibly useful to someone who doesn’t live in the Birmingham area and if I’m not too zombie-like again this week, I post something of use.