COA

CHELLA...

It's that time of year once more, where baby birds emerge from eggs, lambs spring from the wombs of their mothers to grapple with the realities of life, and every Brit between the ages of 16 and 22 sits around, revising for exams, wishing they could be at Coachella. Only the coolest and best festival EVER.

How do I know this, I hear you cry?

Well, truth be told I have never myself attended the festival of music, sunshine and beauty (as I like to think of it), but as a fairly regular gig-goer and festival attendee (who in this country isn't) it has always seemed to me to be like the holy grail of music festivals, although this may be largely shaped by the annual street style shots by the likes of Mr Newton et al, where all the people in sight are gorgeous, young, cool and stylish, basking in the Cali sun. Damn them.

Anyway, to give you an idea of what I mean I thought I'd re-post a few of my favourite shots so far this year, most of which were again, shot by the genius Mr Newton.

Photos courtesy of Mr Newton for Harpers Bazaar

Whilst I am madly in love with Katy Perry's choice of outfit in the final photo (when else can you wear a totally sheer floral maxi if not in the middle of the desert at a festival) having had many festival experiences in my time, I understand the value of practicality over gorgeous floatiness. (Well, unless you are - as I'm sure Katy is - staying in a plush 5 star hotel rather than a tent.) For that reason it has to be picture 4 that tugs most at my sartorial heartstrings. Lace up shorts have been laying like a heavy burden on my mind of late, not least because of the difficulty in finding the right pair. The reddish-brown denim works perfectly against the warm taupe desert hues and the simplicity of the outfit is perfectly complimented by the bright chiffon wrap, practical yet nevertheless adding a hint of the ethereal to an outfit that otherwise ticks all the boxes of rock chick 101. Not, I might add, that there is ever anything wrong with that!

Hopefully I'll be a bit better about posting now, so until next time....

xxx

Narcissism

All clothes courtesy of John Lewis or stylist's own. 

Hello all.

So these photos we all taken for the fashion section of my University paper. I know I haven't posted any photos of myself on here before but I thought they were cool and thought it might be good to get some sort of outfit posting going, or at least let everyone know what's going on in my life! I can assure you all that I have no pretensions at all about being a model. I am NOT one, nor could I ever be, and nor, particularly, is it something I strive to be. But my friend Joy (whose fashion Blog I mentioned below) is the very talented fashion editor and an extremely good stylist and make up artist, and she asked me to model for the shoot (the theme of which I'm sure you can guess is minimalism) and I thought it would be fun to give it a go!

Frankly I'm super pleased with how they've turned out, which is in no small part thanks to the fantastic work of our photographer, Eliska Haskovcova, whose photos are stunning and whose blog you can check out here. I have honestly never worked with anyone so patient and willing to give even the smallest of direction in a kind and enthusiastic way. She was a pleasure to work with and I reckon she'll go pretty far!

Be still my beating heart...

So because I'm so bad at putting outfits together to photograph (or even bothering to shoot my day-to-day wear) I thought I'd post about a label that I've been keeping an eye on, and which, to my personal sense of style, just keeps getting better and better. 

Founded by Christine Lai and Eric Espinoza (I'm not entirely sure when, but recently at any rate) UNIF clothing produces apparel for men and women that genuinely make me want to weep with joy. Their looks are pure, concentrated punk chic, but with lashings of grunge rather than the luxe embellished look favoured by most other designers, not to mention a dose of California sunshine and the hippy look it produces. I found out about UNIF after stumbling upon Christine's blog and falling truly, madly, deeply in love with her style. Mixing vintage and new items and more importantly juxtaposing sizes and textures (all with the added touch of some sky high 90s style platforms) and I was a gonner. I'm pretty sure most people don't know this, but Kurt Cobain has always been a style icon of mine, and I've always had a secret fascination with punk. (I saw "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" the other day and I can't stop thinking about Rooney Mara's haircut and piercings. It's very unhealthy.) For me the grunge/punk look is not only the most comfortable, but also considerably more interesting and attractive than the modern hipster look - something which relies too heavily on tailoring for someone such as myself who prefers to throw things on and buy a good proportion of her clothes from the men's section in shops. 

Anyway, I thought I'd show you some pics from their last collection (their current one I can only find in video form, but if you want to see it it's on their website http://unifclothing.com/.)

All clothes, UNIF

I hope you like their stuff as much as I do, even if it isn't what you would normally wear. I've yet to buy a piece myself, (mainly because I'm a student and therefore constantly skint) but it isn't unreasonably priced stuff, and if you are interested you can check out what they've got to offer on nastygal or wasteland. 

If your tastes are slightly more subdued (and I would not judge you for it) but you feel like spicing up your wardrobe a little, they have recently branched into shoes, producing these gorgeous little things:

UNIF Hellraisers, available here. 

Enjoy...

January, Febuary, April, May...

Hello all, and a very happy new year!! 

I'm writing this from the gorgeous city of Tel Aviv, where I'm currently spending some time with the BF catching up on my sunshine intake and plenty of epic food. At any rate, I know I've not been good with my blogging of late (I've been insanely distracted by just about everything this holiday) but I thought I'd throw a quick one in, just to let you know what's been on my mind...

Firstly, something which is constantly tugging at the back of my mind: every year my university have a week at the end of term with lots and lots and LOTs of balls. And when I say balls, we're talking black/white tie, with full top hat and tails ballgowns. Which, let's be honest, is every little girl's dream, to dress up as a fairy princess and frolic through the night like Cinderella (preferably without the midnight curfew and loss of shoes) either with your prince, or with one you find on the dancefloor...

Anyway, as one might expect in these situations, a dress is required. I've been keeping my eyes out for one for a while now - and as a poor student my budget isn't high - so I've been looking for vintage items, updating myself on theoutnet.com and up-and-coming designers. I've even considered designing one and having it made... 

But then I saw this, on GaryPepperVintage:

Dress, by The Babushka Ballerina

Quite aside from the fact that the colour is simply mind-blowing, this dress is the epitome of what I'm looking for - classic without being boring, bold without being off-putting, has just the right amount of movement needed for a night spent on the dancefloor, and is exactly the kind of thing that would turn heads- always a necessary attribute.

I would totally recommend checking out the website - the dresses are gorgeous and many are unique or custom made. They design, I believe, mainly for bridal parties, but hey, a dress is a dress! Unfortunately they're based in Australia, but hell, I'm going to email them anyway and see whether they can ship to the UK! 

- Wish me luck! -

In other news, and on a final note, please check out my friend Joy's blog, very recently started. She's got some great outfit shots up, (something I really need to get down to doing), and trust me, her looks are not to be missed!

I'll update you on my trip upon my return, but until then, as they say here in T.A: laila tov!