"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different".. Coco Chanel. I shall live and die by this quote. Be who you want to be, not who someone wants you to be, it honestly is the difference between being happy and not. I aim to blog about fashion and all that surrounds it.

Monday 26 December 2011

Generosity

Hello there!!!
So, the kayos that's been building for months is finally over. All in 24 hours and 'poof'. The hundreds thats been spent is ate, drunk and surprises sprung on our loved ones. So, was Santa good to you all?

This year I wasn't bothered in the slightest with what I was getting so I didn't ask for one thing... Anyway surprises are always better! So opening my presents yesterday morning I was greeted by many lovely things, but I shall only share the fashion things with you :)
So.... First up, which was probably the most surprising gift from my parents... A Alexander McQueen scarf. Oh my god it is beautiful. I also received the Savage Beauty book, again it's beautiful with presentation and so on! However, slightly frustrating as I made a pledge to myself that I would not get it until his retrospect was brought to London.... I may not read it until that day instead! Sorry Alexander, morals!
I also got some makeup bits and pieces, a cute little max factor gift set in a cube tin, including mini eyeliner, mascara, lipgloss and two nail infinity nail varnishes. Used the mascara s eyeliners this morning and very much liked them on my stubby eyelashes! Shall be investing in a full sized one!
I've also turned all spotty this season... A cute little 80s style chiffon head band with a large bow on it from River Island thats comfortably and quite soft and light against my shortish hair at the moment along with a fibrous knitted leopard print jumper. Again it's so comfortable to wear and it actually really snug to wear although it's holey!!
Finally, a little Ted Baker makeup bag to keep my bits and pieces in, light weight and sweet pastel colours and soft girly print it's very cute. Inside it has a side zip and compartments allocated for brushes which is a bonus so I no longer have to rummage for ever to find my brushes!!
I also got a black and white polka dot skirt from River Island(no picture yet) that is going to be proper comfortable I can tell, I have another style in the same cut already!
So... There we go, my top fashion bits from my family.. Not to bad I don't think. However I also got other thing that are equally amazing, all in all I'm a VERY happy girl

Hope you are too,
All for now and enjoy the rest of your holidays x

B x

Tuesday 20 December 2011

1920s on the brain

Hi all...
Dont think I've really said too much about my up coming styling project at University but I do have it constantly in my mind. 20's is my theme and all things glam and glittery is the aim! Anyway, been looking at the cloche hats out at the moment in River Island and Accessories... Not true to form but possibilities... Sorry again I diverse. When I was in River Island I saw this beautiful little beaded 20s style top, with £25 off! For such a small piece it is extremely heavy to hold but comfortable to wear. So simple yet lovely!
Anyway... Another thing added to my train of thought and well... I guess I could include it as research and place it in my sketch book! Hey-ho another dollar down!
All for nowww

B x

Sunday 18 December 2011

ASOS Fashion Forecast Shoot


For Christmas, I came back home from Uni and spent some time catching up with my old Textiles teacher from my 6th Form. In the course of conversation she was telling me how she wanted to try and 'gee' up the year 12 &13's whilst dragging them through the theory work, having been there, in hindsight, I would of loved a bit of fun like this.   So being a true fashionista, she turned retail for an idea. She received, like many of us, a email from ASOS with seasonal goodies and forecast's of what we 'must' purchase for the new season. 


So, seeing what the trend predictions were for the upcoming seasons she created a styling task, using only what the girls had at home already. There was Heritage, Cowboys and Indians, Colour, Wild, 60's, Fetish and Boy meets Girl. All a bit of fun with Claudia, the teacher also getting involved. 


So once the girls having been set their style a few weeks previously I opted to go in and take a couple of pictures for them so it wasn't a lost cause, and a way to promote the subject in the school to lower year groups, to show how diverse we are up in Textiles.      It was all good fun, some of the girls didn't really get into it as some of the others, but I loved it. It was great to work with different types of people and just to communicate with others that have never done anything like it, it was a learning curve for us all. Everyone was wonderful. My sister even came along to do some makeup and hair on a few of the girls that wanted it, check 'Wild's makeup and the '60s' beehive!!!














HERITAGE












Makeup artist:
www.emmadowdell.co.uk



Cowboys and Indians

Colour





WILD



60s












FETISH











All the girls and Claudia


So, overall it was a good couple of hours, running around the school and trying to find different and varied locations for all the looks. Was fun and challenging. Hope you like the photo's and the girl's takes on what they think the next big things will be!!!




Take Care 
B x



Saturday 10 December 2011

Topshop

Just a quick message you lot, listen up..

I went to Lakeside, Thurrock today, crazy I know so close to Christmas!! Wasn't too bad surprisingly, anyway! 


I went to the newly refurbished, new Topshop, ooooh it is a gold mine! The mise en scene of the store, with beautifully high stands and the proper shoe department down the back. It is phenomenal. So much better than the old shop, which many a-time I found myself walking out in a rage due to the state of it. This one, totally different story, I literally had to be dragged out!!! It's safe to say Santa's getting a VERY long list to go just there itself. 

I must stress that you go and have a look, even if you don't buy. And look out for, as I put it, the Flamingo on drugs dress, its a cracker, every colour big chunky round sequins, in a little strapless number. Tempting just for the fun of it. 

I shall return, and I shall conquer. The burgundy lace shorts, the velvet platform boots, the pink cut away dress with embellished shoulders and the dog tooth high waisted shorts. OH, who cares. Give me one of everything!!!


Enjoy, I know you will..

Friday 9 December 2011

A night at the department store

Sunday 4th December 2011, NEC Birmingham

It's that time of year again where kayos erupts in Birmingham in the form of Fashion, dance and a all over extravaganza! 

I went along and actually made it this year, I had tickets for last December but due to the crazy weather I physically could not get there alive.  So I made it, along with my sister and I hate to say I was a little disappointed in comparison to the previous years that I had gone. The media has done it again, over commercialised a event that now every Tom, Dick and Harry run's too.  However there was a few good bargains to grab and I managed to source a couple of christmas presents, always a bonus!  Again there was the stars of Hollyoaks and 'TOWIE', wonderful. Still I cant escape it!!!!  Im glad I didnt pay out for a platinum ticket this time, the only truly worthwhile part was the Fashion/Dance show. I LOVED IT, and even with my standard tickets, we had a pretty decent view. Unfortunately I didn't take my Canon SLR with me, but my little compact did a standard job. (see below)

George Lamb, Jade (winner of BiNTM 2011) and Grace Woodward.
The Risk

My favourite shot from the show

Jade




I would certainly pay time and time again to see these talented people do there thing and strut there stuff. The choreography, visual displays and styling was just amazing. Such an inspiring thing to watch... now to just get involved!
For anyone interested, don't let my opinion of the kayos put you off, if you havent done it before, it really is worth it for £20 odd quid, but if your down south like me, hit the London show in the Summer. Its near enough the same, and the shows are JUST as awesome! 


All for now, take care guys and girls 

B x

Tuesday 29 November 2011

1920's Warm up

Today at Uni we had a one day brief task, it consisted of being set era's and creating a photo shoot within hours and presenting the final images. We we're paired up, one the photographer, one the model. I was the model for Lily and we had the 20's. Instantly we knew we wanted to do the iconic 'flapper' style, we knew someone with a vintage flapper dress, I bought a little black wig and we borrowed some shoes.

I woke up and did my make-up as '20s' as I could manage, with the elongated eyebrows and rounded matt red lips. I had previously found some locations in Worthing that we could possibly use, ideal for what we wanted to create.

possible locations:



We had such a good time creating our test shots for after christmas, Lily was amazing and we worked excellently together throughout the day and our final shots we presented are below.







All for now,   take care

B x

Saturday 26 November 2011

The God to our soles.



Well, the other evening, my life (to the current moment) was complete.   I met Monsieur Christian Louboutin himself at Harvey Nichols, London for his first book signing.   Amazing to say the least.

An experience in life I am glad I did not miss out on. To have sat next to such a genius and be spoken to like a friend was a moment I shall never forget. As for the book, outstanding. Worth every penny and to have it addressed to myself with the signature of Louboutin completes it that little bit more.


To queue for a hour after being told the chance of not getting a signature, being star struck and shaking constantly was not the best part of the evening however... Amazing. It was safe to say I woke up Friday morning feeling like I had had the best dream possible.





A moment I shall never forget. 


Never give up on a idea,  follow every possibility.


B x

Thursday 27 October 2011

Far from Fashion..

They say dogs have become a fashion statement, whether its guys with a pup to get the attention of the ladies or if it is the ladies themselves with a little pup in a Louis Vuitton bag over the crook of her arm.. However, this isn't that..

Last week a friend asked me a favour, to capture her dogs and their little brothers for christmas canvas' as presents... before thinking into this further I said yes, to be fair, they are pretty cute, they being Louis, Oscar, Alfie and Buddy. For starters I was working with stars, Louis and Oscar inspired their owner to open a tearooms along side her salon in my local home town (Spa Cottage and Louis and Oscars, Billericay) So yesterday I set to the challenge and quickly it came to my why the saying 'never to work with animals or children' is so widely spread. 

As adorable little fluff balls they are, they are so energetic and self determined. We did two shoots due to the boys loosing concentration, but the end result we managed to shoot a good few frames, which in turn Ruth was more than happy. Here's a couple to have a look at.. Enjoy 

Alfie

Buddy

Alfie 
Brothers, Alfie & Buddy

Oscar

Louis, Oscar & Buddy



Cute really.....



B x

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Westfields Windows..

Finally I made it down to Westfields at Stratford during my reading week back home. I combined by trip to london with a visit to the V&A Postmodernism exhibition (review to come at a later date!), lunch in a little family run Italian and finally the pitstop to Westfield's itself.  First of all, What a longggg day!

After buying 3 books at the V&A, carrying them for several hours first the first problem, combine that with trying to shop, general half term busyness and then rush hour. It was a rather stressful afternoon.

Anyway, once me and my mum got to Westfields itself, it just got busier.. However, it is huge! As expected. We only spent a little time there due to the lateness in the day and getting home again, however whilst wandering around and taking in the surroundings we came across a magnificent smoothy bar, yum! I cannot remember, for the life of me, what it was called but it was heaving! It was on the 1st floor, roughly in the middle, outside La senza! So that was a refreshing bonus as by this time I needed hydrating to be able to full power shop!

Whilst glancing around the shopping centre I noticed that on the Ground floor that there were several display windows that were hugely lavish. Whether it was huge ten foot masks or a teaparty styled window with mannequins they were beautiful. I didnt manage to get photo's of them all due to the huge swarms of people buzzing past but they were worth a trip to see on there own!!!!


Stunning..

Till next time, 

B x

Monday 17 October 2011

Mid season

The weathers getting gloomy down on the south coast and it tickled my fancy when I received yet another email announcing, for the 3rd time, that River Island have started their midseason sale. I finally broke under pressure, several times I have looked and tore myself away but over the last few days I managed to establish 3 items that I very much could NOT live without. I don't think I did too bad considering, a blouse, skirt and a jacket all for £65, see below.

It isn't very often you can buy that many things for such good prices... so I keep reassuring myself.



Now I just have to wait for them to come to fill you in on if they really were worth it...
Silly comment, of course they we're worth it!!! 

B x

Friday 14 October 2011

Sky high Shoulders

Its obvious whats soon to be dominating the scene this season... shoulder power is back, but not quite in the 80's original flare still off towers of padding.  This time, it is to be fair, a little more exaggerated... Just the way we love it.

And to make this even more amazing, my most favourite man has gone and stormed the show with these shoulder stoppers, Mr. Christian Louboutin has gone from spikey soles to shoulders all in one season.
With several styles popping up here and there, it isn't easy to miss out on the beauty of these bags. Another true style of Louboutin, ever outlandish and faithful to his passion. Keep keen and watch out..


B x

Tuesday 20 September 2011

The Lanes

Hello all out there,

Two days into my new life and University course we have a little research afternoon out and headed down to Brighton to 'The Lanes'. We had a general task to photograph any and everything keeping our current project in mind, unfortunately mine didn't really reflect in anything I saw today but still loved capturing some pretty awesome frames.   I've laid on the floor, ran out into the road and risked my life against the elements at the end of the pier.  Pretty awesome day and to get my mind in gear for my project, here I have uploaded some photo's from my day for you all.

I must stress the fact that if you ever are near or in Brighton, have a visit to the quirky little lanes and take in the surroundings, beautiful vintage shops, pricey pubs and cute cafe's! Cannot wait to go back this weekend for a shop, would you believe I was so occupied today I didn't have time to do that!!!! 


Enjoy..










Write again soon,

B x