Blue hair!

Mufti Day

I haven't always imagined I like fashion. This is mainly because in my early teens I had this misconception that fashion was about simply fitting in to a preordained formula of aesthetics and ideals. On the train home from work tonight sat in my uniform I began to think about all the time I've spent dressing to specification, and how much energy I've put in to rebelling against it. The first time I began to explore the idea of rebellion in dress it was directed not at my actual school uniform, but at the uniform adopted by my peers. Mufti day was a chance to show your classmates that the similarities in appearance were not simply controlled by our school but manifested in an esoteric form of similarity. I didn't think it through to this degree at 13 but I knew what I was doing, I knew what everyone else would look like. Insolence, even then I wanted to shake the world up. I remember my mom looking at me and asking me if I was sure that was what I wanted to wear. I wore it anyway. 

Now I'm not going to claim it was an ensemble of stylistic genius, because it wasn't, it was a vile combination of shiny silver and black floral dress worn over a jersey top with a fur collar. Everyone who saw me that day, every slogan branded sports wear clad peer laughed at me. "Why are you wearing that?!" I told them it was a "movement" I didn't know what I meant then, but I think I've come to find out. 

The unofficial 'best dressed' award of the day went to a girl called Kat, she was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with 'WAREHOUSE' written across her chest. All day they ridiculed me for my strangeness and complimented her on her stand-in uniform. I was slightly jealous on the day, mildly mortified at my uncontrollable outlandishness, but in hindsight, I'm quite smug about it. It was the first tangible step in the separation of myself from the idea of fashion being about conformity. 

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Louis Vuitton Fall 2011 RTW

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
-Oscar Wilde

I spy with my little eye this devil of a detail...

A Grey Sky / Blue Sky Trade

Woah! Lets not get ahead of ourselves...The sun is barely out, the holidays haven't been taken, sun tan lotion isn't yet the price of myrrh, but in come the autumn trends. For some this crystal ball brings back a  reminiscence of 'Back to School' adverts before your last exams are even over. But not for me. I love autumn, watching the cheap plain T-shirts disappear, the unflattering boob tubes slip unwanted off the hangers in to a vile pile on the floor, it's too cold for those all too transparent white linen trousers. All this could be in part due to my jealousy, that bronze bikini clad life has never and will never be mine, my pale skinny frame and horrendous summer allergies keep my eyes locked in love with the September style reprieve. This autumn already has my excitement, retro furs, delicate vibrant prints, painted on pencil skirts and of course my greatest loves jackets, hats, scarves and gloves. Every year I'm pleasantly surprised by the tailoring and detail offered up by our High Street favourites last years New Look countryside gent inspired Tweeds, Topshops Hollywood glamour furs and River Islands wearable military. This year I feel I'm in for a treat, 1940's glamour reworked in luxurious colour pallets, masculine mod suits with feminine sparkle and the increasingly popular evolution of heritage fabrics.

This summer I'll be watching through my window for the skies to change and a chill to creep into the air.

 Got more stripes than an very prepared mime? Me too. Paint your face and stand as still as you can.....

Topshop

Topshop

Dresden Dolls :)

"i can paint my face

and stand very very still,

it's not very practical

but it still pays the bills"

Topshop

Converse 

Motel Rocks!

asos

Lulu Guinness

Yves Saint Laurent

Office

L.A.M.B

Gwen!

WARNING! Unicorns attack mimes!

The Grimaldi curse

"Never will a Grimaldi find true happiness in marriage."

.....But THIS is the Royal wedding I'll be watching for the dress!

Small Rewards....

The sleepless nights, the stress, the loan is all spent, my future hangs on these results...

....the joy of a £12 vintage bag, I'll carry love letters in it when I leave my little world....

The New Black Death?

The sad faced little girl stares off blankly into the distance. 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!' The infamously vacuous and ill thought out words of one of the fashion industries biggest icons Kate Moss. This is the message we're sloganeering across our children now? This is our backdoor policy on happiness? Start the self loathing young, keep them hooked for life. 

The T-shirts themselves have nothing to do with Moss herself but are the creation of the company Teenmodelling.tv. A delightful little enterprise that also sells a vibrantly coloured badge proclaiming 'Waif or Death'. 

The fashion industry tends to bare the brunt of the criticism doled out by the media and government alike for the promotion of an unhealthily emaciated frame. It's the fashion industry that's causing the rise in cases of eating disorders in children as young as 5, it's the fashion industry that glamourises anorexia. Good scapegoat, if not a little unrealistic in terms of target audience. Have these six year olds been brainwashed and distorted from flicking through Vogue or could it have something to do with the 'obesity crisis' that's being sold as the next Black Death by our own government. The Change4Life adverts, although a good idea are delivered with the forethought and tact of an off guard Kate Moss. As an adult, I know what's good for me, I know it's about balance, I know a kit-kat and a cup of tea isn't going to kill me. But these adverts aren't aimed at adults they're aimed at children, and the message is food will clog up your arteries and give you cancer, if you eat something....anything you have to run around until you've proved you're sorry for your weakness, no crisps at break time, muffins as contraband passed through the school gates by an unfit mother. Now I'm not saying feed your children McDonald's every day, I'm saying perhaps by making such an issue of it we're setting up a generation of children for unhealthy attitudes towards food before they've even been exposed to size zero, celebrity culture or haute couture.  

I'm the dandy highwayman!

 

L.A.M.B

SWOON!

Who needs love when you've got L.A.M.B!?

Southampton

The Black Rabbit followed me even there....

As the dawn rolled around someone in the hotel room next door shrieked out to the whole floor "Get up! Get up! We're going to be late!" I was awake. All week I'd had the importance of this day drilled in, up and through my consciousness. The nerves kicked in and my stomach railed against me. I'd travelled here, I'd written on the coach, I'd written in the park, I'd written in the bar and I'd written in my bed. The journey and the pen are inseparable entities for me, inspiration with every mile, clarity and distance. The city was beautiful, everywhere the bright young educated things sprawled out in the sun reading their textbooks building a future in their minds. I had decided to dress myself as Louis XVI Dauphin of France, a pauper prince, black linen and white ruffles, still pale even in the glare of the sun. As i walked towards the university the last two years flashed before my eyes, all the things I'd learnt, the world of fashion and art I'd immersed myself in. I knew this place was right for me, I knew I'd work until I'd found a home within its walls. The journey home filled me with determination to return.

Playing dress up

Dauphin of France,pauper prince 

I made my own addition :)

Invisible Monsters

‎'Just before Evie comes screaming down the stairs and shoots Brandy Alexander, what I did was pour out about a gallon of Chanel Number Five and put a burning wedding invitation to it, and boom, I'm recycling'

'Chick Lit.' Hand me back my sense of frontal lobe and we'll brush it under the carpet...say no more about it...what's that smell?...is it the rotting stench of overt gender stereotyping? I think so. Me, I like my literature to go off with a bit of a bang, I want blood, sweat, style and fashion. Enter stage right Chuck Palahniuk, Chuck Chuck Chucky, before Fight Club was a whisper in the wind or a twist on the tongue one of the most terrifying, beautiful and poignant fashion novels was being shown the door by quaking publishers. Can we sell this? Who's the market? Can you tone it down?...I'll read it Chuck, me and your mesmerised cult following will devour it, never you mind.
"Invisible monsters is your favourite book, what's it about?"
"It's an unflinching narrative of the female attitude towards physical perfection."
"Um. okay but what happens?"
"Models, brutal accidents, glamorous transsexuals, drug theft, chiffon swathed injuries, Dynasty style stand-offs...should i go on?"
Are you so beautiful no one can look away, are you so monstrous no one dares see....

Treat Me Like Your Mother

I'm off to Topshop for a Dead Weather inspired rampage.......

Wayfarer Ray-Bans

Leather Biker, Topshop Boutique

Zip Necklace, Topshop

Cashmere Mixed Vest, Topshop Boutique Basics

Cloak and Dagger nail varnish, Topshop

Eagle Buckle Jeans Belt, Topshop

A Big Gun, NOT topshop...

MOTO Black 'Leigh' Skinny Jeans, Topshop

Autumn Black Contrast Buckle Ankle Riding Boots, Topshop