Topshop Charity Sale

Something which may be intriguing to those living in the UK is the Topshop Charity Fashion Sale, which is taking place this week. Unfortunately, I am a bit late in posting this and the London and York events have already taken place, but if you live in the vacinity of Manchester or Brighton, then it’s all a go.

Oh and you can apparently get your own stall! It’s just a shame that I don’t live anywhere near where they’re being held.

I started this trend

Being away from blogging, fashion and life in general for so long creates problems when you return. It’s hard to get back into the swing of it especially seeing as I am feeling very uninspired lately.

I will however say that it did amuse me when I saw this T-shirt (pictured right) on Topshop. The slogan reads “I started this trend” which I find rather ironic because obviously they didn’t.

In fact, this latest trend for oversized writing on t-shirts was made popular by everyone’s lusting after the House of Holland t-shirts (such as that pictured left). Personally, I’m not attacted to any of these t-shirts because I do not find large writing appealing on a T-shirt, but hey ho, that’s just me.

In fact, if you think about it these large writing T-shirts aren’t a new concept and if I had to wear a T-shirt with oversized writing, give me one with a political message such as Katherine Hamnett’s designs.

Hell, with present day political situations, I’m sure some amusing slogans could be thought up.

Images from Topshop or Google

History is a mystery

I love learning about the past. History is a subject which really inspires me, though I hated taking history gcse because I’m terribly slow when it comes to writing essays (the time is just not enough – an extra 15 minutes was all I needed). Nevertheless, I still love learning about history because it is the foundation of the present day and I find it incredibly interesting.

For some of that time when I was meant to be ‘revising’, I actually started reading this book that I have on my shelf – “Fashion – The Century of the Designer“. I’d often glanced through it, but I’ve never actually sat down and read it. The history of fashion is something that I do not know much about, which is terribly sad because it is rather exciting. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to finish reading it because after reading up to the 1960s I thought it was best to start doing some revision otherwise I would actually fail (and I didn’t want that)

Fashion as we know it, is a fairly new concept. But all throughout history people have dressed in beautiful clothes. As I was browsing amazon uk for a link to the above book, I came across this book “Four Hundred Years of Fashion“. I can’t formulate an opinion as to whether it is good or not because I have not bought it, but it does look most interesting. I think I will indeed have to buy it to read.

Fashions past are the inspiration of many many collections. And there is no stopping people bringing past concepts into their own styling. I’ve always thought that incorporating different ideas is the way to go – no boundaries, no limits.

I’m back baby!

Oh yes! Exams are officially over much to my delight. Though I’ve found it rather an odd feeling not having to do any work.

Anyway, blogging will be returning to normal soon enough. With my random observations and ramblings on fashion and fashion-related topics.

Over and out for now!

#1

I was going to wait to post this, but I figured I may as well share rather than leaving it lurking about. More posts after 15th June!

Inspiration:

(From Foto Decadent)

Result:

(taken on 21st May 2007 – I said that fashion never stops)

I said I’ve been wanting to try out fashion photography and since I know nobody who would be willing to be a model, I thought diy it (quite literally). So here is my first attempt and hopefully at some point, I shall meet someone willing to model for my next, so that it can venture into the realm of clothing rather than just heads.

Taking a short nap

My apologies for having not updated for a while. This is just a quick post to say that I probably won’t be updating again until about mid-June because of revision, exams etc. Fashion never stops though, so I’m sure there will be many posts to come soon after that. You can of course have a browse of some of the links listed along the side or even delve into the past archives for the time being.

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

A smile on this grey day

After a week of being in an off mood with the world, I am finally feeling positively delighted.

I have been searching for Nylon since I first purchased the November 2006 issue last year. It appeared that the local WHSmith’s had stopped stocking it since that time.

Today however, after being released from school at 10am (study leave started today, we weren’t just allowed to go) and having a mind-numbingly boring time in the park, I went in to buy some sort of magazine and to my joy, there it was. On the bottom shelf, with just 2 issues left. Needless to say I hurriedly bought it.

I know I’ve only read two issues (three if you count the back issues on the site), but having tried several magazines over the past few months, it is one of the very few that I can actually read. A lot of fashion magazines in the UK are
a) pretentious,
b) dull to read,
c) aimed at a different market to myself or
d) just so haute that it doesn’t relate to daily life.

All those living Stateside definitely have it lucky you have something readable over there. I now know I can still buy the magazine for inspiration, but I just wish there was a UK equivalent!

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.

The past week

I’ve been appauling with updating recently. I don’t really have much of an excuse either. I suppose the biggest fashion news this week was Kate Moss for Topshop collection being released. Honestly, I am not going to bother doing any posts on it because frankly, I don’t find much of it appealing. You can of course check out various other blogs (such as Fashionologie and Catwalk Queen) for sufficent coverage if you are a Moss fan.

I on the other hand, have been celebrating a birthday and consuming more than I normally do (in the way of shopping not eating).

I’d rather buy things from shops in the sales or when they’re reduced. And Topshop’s buy one get one free offer means I have aquired 4 different garments.

A small browse of Urban Outfitters also saw these shoes (pictured) coming into my ever so small collection. When shoes are reduced from £35 to £9.99, you just can’t say no, even if you can’t walk in heels! At least now, I can learn/practice before the school prom in June (oh yay, what fun… that was sarcasm).

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?

Quick note

Just a quick note to say that I know I haven’t updated for a while and I’ll try my best to update at the weekend. I’ve got my art exam coming up on thursday & friday, so I’ve been busy trying to get all my prep work done in time. Anyway, I will update later on in the week if I can.

P.S. I’m having a bit of a sort out of all the links, so if anyone would like to swap links (have theirs added to the list and send a link coming this way) then please let me know through the power of commenting.

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

Memory Lane

The holidays can be dull sometimes. And on one of those dull days where you just sort of amble around the house a bit, a trip through the archives of Foto Decadent is in order.

Of course, that’s exactly what I did to cure my boredom and all I can really say is wow. Some of the dress are absolutely amazing and the photographs are equally stunning. For some reason, I found myself drawn more toward the black and white photographs. Maybe it’s just the mood of the images (or the mood I’m in). Regardless they’re enough to spark some form of fashion interest, even in someone who claims they don’t follow fashion.