Le Thème Nautique - Everything sounds more stylish in French.

Hello readers; I’m new to the world of Fashion Blogging, but I will occasionally be dropping in to broadcast a few of my ‘words of wisdom’, eg. telling you what I have recently been wearing or desperately seeking on the high street. Usually to no avail.

Whenever there is a hint of summer in the air, I am instantly inclined to dress up in bright primaries and navy and white stripes. I must admit, I don’t go for a full on sailor suit, but any little hints of anchors or reminders of the sea please me a lot. My current favourite bag is one I purchased about two years ago, and, in fact, when I had been drinking rum. This clearly had a positive effect on my shopping skills and its piratey associations lead me to want this nautical bag. The great thing about it is that you are not confined to wear only blue. I teamed it with a yellow cardigan, navy top and white shorts, which wasn’t too ‘hello sailor’ for comfort, but felt quite summery.

I no longer approve of the whole ‘drinking for the sake of it is fun’ business, but since that single intoxicated trip I have not been able to find anything quite as exciting. Recently, however, I did get a pair of earrings from Topshop, one anchor shaped and the other a blue heart, which fitted in pleasingly with the theme; and a pair of blue and white striped pumps, which are amazingly comfortable. Nautical is quite an easy look to wear, it doesn’t require any specific items, only the odd accessory, and it’s great on warm summer evenings (haha).

So my style icon for today…

AHOY!

Hoops

The second trend related thing I’ve posted this week.Recently, I’ve been noticing an increase in the amount of people wearing hoop earrings. It seems that they are no longer being associated with chavs and people are actually wearing them. I’m not a big earring person really, though I will admit a few months ago I was contemplating wearing hoop earrings. I didn’t, simply because I could not bring myself to wear them (chav associations you see). Anyway, a little bit of predicting/noticing going on here… hoops may be on the rise.

All earring images from either Topshop or Accessorize

Mellow Yellow

Yellow. So many things are yellow. The sun looks yellow (although it is just a ball of heat and light, so I have no idea what colour it really is). Daffodils are yellow. Yellow reminds us of sunshine and summer. I’m sure the avid trend followers will know why I am rambling on about the colour yellow. It is a trend this season, non?! That is correct, the colour yellow is a trend. Be it shoes, dresses, whatever.

I don’t own anything yellow and honestly, I have no intention of doing so just at the moment. I’ve no idea why, but I don’t feel in a particularly yellow mood. I like the colour (I like most colours, except for some reason, I have a mild disliking for the colour orange). This summer doesn’t feel like a yellow summer, maybe that’s just because of the absolutely horrible and disgusting weather that has been plaguing much of the UK this week.

Nonetheless, yellow is “in” and I am meerly doing my blogging duty and informing you lovely readers of this fact (though I am sure most of you know this already). I shall also have to alert my mother to this fact so she can crack out her aptly named “daffodill dress”. Oh the joy.

Back to the good old days

As a society that consumes trends in a ravenous manner, I am not surprised that recently I have been noticing people reverting back to the “classics”. What these classics are I’m sure many people would like to dicate to you. However my personal view is that they vary from person to person.

The classics of your wardrobe are the staple garments and shoes that you would wear consistently (and love) regardless of whether they are “in” at the present moment. They probably contribute the most overall to your personal style.

But I do wonder, since I have read about classic pieces several times, whether in fact wearing classic pieces is going to turn into some kind of trend. Regardless, people choosing their classic garments as opposed to something trend driven is something I’ve been noticing on the rise recently.

Vintage bandwagon losing it’s wheels?

Well, I’m back! Whether that pleases you or not I have no idea.

There was an interesting post on Style Bubble today about a Times article on vintage clothing. (on a side note: I do love the way Susie presents things on her blog - you can tell she is genuinely interested and a true blogger because she updates often with useful things)

It’s a bit tricky really, because I’m not about to deny that I am unfortunately one of those people who probably only really got into “vintage” when it became a more mainstream craze. I am only (almost) 16 so you know. In all honesty, if it hadn’t been some sort of craze, it probably would have clicked eventually. I mean I used to buy things from charity shops to alter when I was 12 anyway, so it’s not as if I’m being one of those vintage thrill seekers as it were.

So in that sense, I would be a complete hypocrite if I started saying that it really annoyed me that it became a trend to own vintage clothing. And a hypocrite I do not wish to be. But I would like to clarify, I have never once thought that vintage clothing was the pathway to individuality.

Sure, vintage clothes can contribute to personal style, but it’s always HOW you where the clothes not what the clothes are. That’s probably why I don’t buy fancy designers. Although the quality may well be amazing (it should be), to me, it sometimes seems a bit extortionate to charge so much money for a single garment - it’s not the clothes themselves that give someone style, it’s the way the person wears them.

I agree with Susie in that sense, but in favour of the Time article, I do wish that vintage as a trend would go away. I can only imagine how much money vintage shops have made over the past few years. I’m not surprised if many people have jumped on the bandwagon and bought into the trend. I’m sure the number of websites/ebay stores selling vintage has increased over the past year alone, not mentioning actual shops. The thing is although I do wish the trend would go away, it seems to be one of those situations that as soon as it’s been introduced to people, it’ll be difficult to erase it. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem whatsoever with “vintage” clothes or with people who genuinely love to wear “vintage” - I myself have found that the clothes I always seem to turn to are things I’ve robbed from my mother (if she’s planning on throwing them out, I see no problem in this) as opposed to things I’ve purchased from a shop.

I suppose it’s just a question of what people want. As long as there is demand, it’ll be a trend. However, trends come and go like the blink of an eye and soon enough there will be something new. Maybe it’ll be the complete opposite - futuristic anyone?

Jelly jelly jelly jelly jelly

A year ago, my friend and I had a discussion about jelly shoes. I say discussion, but it was more exclamations about how wonderous these shoes were in our childhood and how we wished they made them is bigger sizes. The people surrounding us just looked at us as if we’d lost our minds, but neither one of us cared. Jelly shoes were the most amazing things when we were children - they had the ability to allow your feet to get completely soaked at the seaside, but still protect you from pointy rocks and stones etc. That day we both agreed that we would try and hunt some down and of course we had no luck. We even laughed about how in a year’s time, jelly shoes would be back.

Sure enough, we were right and whilst I am not going to start claiming we were the ones who started it or the ones who were there first (because people like that have a tendency to annoy me), I can excitedly pronounce, WE WERE RIGHT!!

And with shoe shops around the UK going jelly shoe mad, I am going to embrace this trend and buy myself a pair. It’ll take me back to times gone by and that makes me happy.

Photos from Office

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

“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)

Neon days and neon nights

(photo from google)
Neon - a trend which I’ve been noticing for a while now! What can I say, I’m not surprised and I love it! Loads of clothes have been really dull recently, I love grey as much as the next person, but after a while it gets tedious. With dull weather, who needs a dull waredrobe as well?!

Topshop has a new line called POP - which has ‘neon’ clothing (inverted commas, because in my opinion it’s not bright enough).

(photos from topshop) Okay, so some of that I may not wear (partly because it’s really quite expensive and not nearly neon enough) but, it’s still quite nice. The other big high street brand, H&M also seem to have some decentish stuff in their spring/summer07 collection. Which is good because I have been really disappointed with h&m recently (and topshop come to think of it). Some being brightly coloured yay!

Sorry, seemed to go off the original neon topic there. Back to it: I personally quite like neon, probably because I have been liking this electro vibe (CSS, Ladytron, Robots in Disguise etc) recently, which my friends and many other ‘indie kids’ have also been experiencing I think. The only question remaining is, is neon suited to everyone? My answer is why not?!

Leggings for the faint hearted

You know my aversion to footless tights. I really really detest them… yet somehow, I quite like this look. I know they’re leggings, which is different to footless tights, but the principle is more or less the same. I find the leggings look more tasteful and it’s slightly different (you don’t look like a sheep to trends… I think I just have an anti-trend thing or fear of looking like everyone else).

To be honest, I generally quite like leggings (although I wouldn’t wear them because you need good legs). You could wear them with quite a voluminous top, long t-shirts or as pictured here. They’re quite versitile really. Hmm, *ponders*…

Photos from Foto Decadent

It’s in the jeans

I really like the jeans this model has.

I am a bit fed up of skinny jeans now (although the trend is alive and well) - wearing and seeing, no matter how much I have grown to like the trend. I may practically live in my jeans, but I’m not an expert on the trends or styles etc (Denimology is good for that), but I do think something along the lines of what this model is wearing is a look for the future.

(Photo from Stylebubble)

I can only blog about what I know

Birmingham’s latest trend - vintage boots and black tights.

I only wish I had a photo for you.

Yes! It’s on the brink.

You know a trend is on the edge of dying when you see a small child dressed in it.

Footless tights that is. You know my aversion to them. This news pleases me greatly.

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