Sharp and to the Point

You have seen this shirt before when I first got it, but since then i've taken the fabric scissors to it! Since it was a size 12 it was too big and also a bit too long, and I wasn't happy with how unbalanced it looked because of the large shoulders. In the previous outfit post I wore it with the front knotted up and high waisted shorts, which was okay but didn't quite work. I decided to make it into a cropped shirt, but rather than a straight hem I decided make it slanted. It took literally twenty minutes- really quick and easy!shirt- Topshop, trouserse- H&M, shoes- New Look, necklace- V&AThis necklace is incredible, I got it from the V&A when I was on the csm short course for £8. It's such a great statement piece but it's also really lightweight, unlike some necklaces which are dripping in beads and jewels so are so uncomfortable to wear! I wore it on the last day of the course and both of the course leaders complimented me on it, so it's definitely a winner for me. You could probably make one yourself with a short length of fringing and

Slithering Around

I got very bored revising this morning so thought I would take a few photos of my new top for you (I also watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone due to my boredom, but that's a separate matter). I bought it last friday, when I was browsing Topshop before work because I wanted some new sunglasses. I am going to return the sunglasses this week because they are too big, but whilst I was wandering around I stumbled on this top. It was the snakeskin print which first attracted me, and I really like how it's slightly sheer- although I must admit I didn't realise just how sheer until I looked at these photos!top- Topshop, trousers- Mini Boden, boots/bag/bangle- charity shops

As you can see the arm holes are very low which means your bra is completely on show, so generally I would pair this with a plain vest top or long sleeved top. What I really like is how the top is so floaty and feminine, but the snakeskin print makes it feel way edgier.

I'd quite like to get some new jeans soon, I fancy a skinny black pair because these are quite blue. I'd love to get a different style of jean but because i'm only 5'3" they don't really suit me, so i'll just have to stick with the skinnies! In my dream world I'd love to own a pair of the black skinny jeans by Georgia May Jagger which are slightly high waisted and have lace up side seams (they were in Vogue a couple of months ago I think). But it's getting a bit close to summer to be buying black jeans, so maybe i'll have to wait until autumn.

Jumper Rework

I must say this isn't my favourite outfit ever, but I wanted to find something else to wear this Karen Millen jumper with so felt a need to experiment. I sort of like it with these shorts but they are a bit baggy so I have to wear a belt, which I really don't enjoy for some reason. It was also quite chilly on this day so I wore some over the knee socks, but I think they made the outfit look a bit washed out and weird. It also meant I had no idea what shoes to wear!I am so obsessed with these little hoopy earrrings right now! They were from a set of about 12 pairs from H&M for £1.99 so obviously aren't the best quality, but they sure aren't the worst. When I wear them I feel like a cross between a pirate and one of those 2 year old chav kids who have their ears pierced pretty much at birth, which I think is a pretty funny thing to feel! I really want to get my ears pierced again, either another in my lobe or my cartilage on my left ear. I am on study leave as of today and don't go back for a month, so inbetween my exams I'm determined to post more regularly- I have several things to show you (including things I've made and things I have bought). I have my more revision heavy exams first but they will be over by thursday so definitely after then things will get busier around here!

Colour/Attitude Inspiration

I wish I could take all of these photos and turn them into a wardrobe full of clothes and shoes. They sort of sum up the person I wish I was more like; if I were braver my hair would definitely be half blue!

Stripes vs. Stripes

Often when I find a great piece in a charity shop I will get it, but then not know what to put it with. This was definitely the case with this Karen Millen jumper which I found in a charity shop at an animal shelter. I'm not sure when it was made but it has a very 90's feel to me (maybe late 80's) as it's a bit cropped, so sits just above the hip bones roughly. This is an awkward length because it's too short to wear with jeans without exposing yourself, but a just a bit too long to wear with high waisted skirts or shorts. This morning I decided it was finally time to sort myself out and find something to wear with the jumper, and I remembered these trousers which I bought a couple of years ago for work experience. The jumper does still hang a bit lower than would look best so I tucked it in, and I must say it's a very comfy outfit! Ideally I didn't want to wear it with black because I don't think it makes bright colours look so good, but it's not too bad.

Jumper- vintage Karen Millen, trousers- H&M, shoes- Monsoon, bag- Mischa Barton

It is a little crazy I must admit, but also pretty cool! You can't see very well from the photos but the seams between patterns are turned outwards (if that makes sense) and on the right arm (the smaller stripes) the seam twists around the arm.

I love how well this bag goes with my shoes, the colour is almost exactly the same and they both have gold studs- a perfect match!

Razor Sharp

Today was the last day of school before the Easter holiday's so we finished at 12:30, so I thought I'd show you this shirt which I bought yesterday. I had seen it before when I was looking for a white shirt but I shunned it because of the shoulders- as you can see in the pictures below they are very pointy! However Topshop have a sale on right now and it was reduced to £3, and as I seem to really like white things right now I just couldn't leave it. It is a size 12 so it's a bit big, but I discovered today that if you undo a few buttons and tie it up at the front it looks a bit less baggy. I'm still not sure that I'd actually wear it out, not like this anyway because I don't have the confident for tiny shorts plus belly showing! But i'm sure I can find a way to wear it that doesn't involve so much skin and still looks nice. Maybe even just putting a jacket on to hide the huge shoulders?

shirt- Topshop, shorts- vintage, shoes- New Look, necklace- Accessorize

That Mysterious Material

This is the outfit which I wore yesterday before the school ball. I bought the shorts on thursday after much debating in my head about whether to or not- they were £15 which I think is a good price and I adore the shape. The fabric feels like a cross between suede and silk (I know, that sounds very weird), so they are really light and comfy too. This girl in the hairdressers actually said to me that she loved them and asked where I got them- they must be good! I've owned the shirt for about two years but have never worn it because it just didn't seem right, but I think that the colours work well together. I don't know if you can tell from the photos but the shirt is navy blue with small lilac polka dots. Normally I would wear a plain long sleeved top or body suit with anything high waisted, but I took these photos just before I left to get my hair done for the ball so I needed to wear something which didn't go over my head!

shorts- H&M, shirt- Tesco, shoes- Topshop, bag- Grandma's, necklace- Accessorize, tights- White Stuff

P.s. I love how my hair looks here, the naturally blonde highlights stand out so nicely. I'm still considering dip dyeing my hair a sort of blonde/ombre colour.

A Vintage Shirt And A Handmade Cape

Today was actually rather busy for a change, starting at 9:00am when I had an appointment with the hairdresser for a trial run of my hair-do for the school ball in a few weeks. It took quite a long time because my hair is so thick and he had to curl it all first! Straight after that I went to Cambridge with mum (hair still all fancy!) because we'd seen there was a vintage fair being held there. It was really busy and kind of hectic but things were quite reasonably priced and I found a beautiful white shirt and various earrings (below). There were individual earrings for 50p and none had backs but seeing as I had spares at home anyway I got a couple; I especially love the green one in the photo below. The shirt has pleats down the front and is slightly sheer, but the best part is the embroidery around the collar and cuffs! I honestly could not believe my luck, I've been searching on the high street for quite a while now for a nice white shirt but none of them have been good enough. And this beauty only cost me £8!

When I got home I went out for a while to take photos of my finished textiles project, for which I made a cape. The deadline is on friday so i'm glad to have completed the actual garment but I still have lots of coursework to do- it's going to be a bit hit and miss as to whether anyone in my class gets it done by then to be honest! We have already had an extension on the deadline once so it shouldn't be too bad. I had to take these photos for my evaluation and was actually surprised at just how warm and comfy my cape is! Sorry that there are lots of similar photos but I will cut them down more later. The cape is made from tweed with laser etched leather pockets, a suede collar and fur trim around the hood- the lining is silk which I hand painted myself. You can also see my new bag which I bought in Cambridge! It's lovely and big, and the best one I've seen other than the Mulberry ones. Thankfully this one was much cheaper so mum said I may as well have that for a year or so and then when I know what i'm doing in terms of university etc. I can always think about upgrading.

cape- made by me, bag- Mischa Barton, shorts- vintage, shirt- vintage, tights- GAP

Animalism

Last night I had to go to school to watch a production of 'Animal Farm' because my friend was acting in it (she was the goat if you were wondering!). I can't say I really enjoyed it much because I was very tired and it's not exactly a joyful play, but I did like having an excuse to wear something more interesting than school uniform! I usually work on thursdays and fridays but I took the week off for this, which was quite nice though seems a bit of a waste of my holiday.

top and shirt- H&M, cardigan- charity shop, jeans- mini Boden, bag- vintage, headband- Zara, shoes- New Look, socks- H&M

I only bought these heels yesterday after school, because I had no lessons in the afternoon so went to town for a bit. I very rarely go into New Look but I had a voucher to spend from Christmas so I thought I may as well, and I fell in love with these shoes! As I think I've mentioned before I never really wear heels because I don't have an occasion to, and these ones are actually quite high, but they are almost a wedge so not too hard to walk in. I also bought another Chanel lipstick the other day because I wanted a more obvious 'going out' one. Lucky for me John Lewis were doing a price match so it was 10% off on top of my discount! Apologies for my rather patchy skin but I haven't been wearing makeup much this week, and even here i'm only wearing the lipstick and a tiny bit of face powder.

necklace from a vintage store in Norfolk

Vogue Paris

Just browsing around the magazine stands in WHSmith on saturday before a work meeting I stumbled on a copy of French Vogue- I knew that they sold the US version but I hadn't seen the french one before! The cover is beautiful too, i'm sure Vogue UK often has quite ugly or boring covers but this one is very cinematic; it may look like a blurry photo on my part but actually the cover image is all faded and pixel-y, giving it a vintage feel.

I won't pretend that I've tried to read much of it- I may have got an A in gcse french but i've forgotten most of it now! I have picked up that there's a much greater emphasis on art and exhibitions, not just fashion, and I saw a film review of 'Never Let Me Go'. I really wanted to see that film and was planning on going tonight with some friends, but it isn't showing any more- even though I swear it only came out around March 3rd! There are also eight whole pages given over to profiles of up-and-coming British designers (including Holly Fulton and David Koma) which I definitely need to work on translating at some point.

There were more cinematic photos inside, like the cover image, but my favourite shoot was this one below on a beach where all of the outfits were super bright and colourful. These make me long for summer so much!

I've been off school ill today which wasn't fun but I did watch Mulan and then Coco Before Chanel, which was kinda fun for a change. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get into town for a bit after school before my life drawing class (yes I know, it's strange but kind of fun, and definitely useful in art). It feels like an age since I went around any of the charity shops so I'd like to go there, plus I got a New Look voucher for Christmas which I want to spend! I almost never shop there but I have spotted some wedge heeled ankle boots which I quite fancy, if they have them in the branch here. Fingers crossed!

London Fashion Weekend

Last sunday I went with mum to London Fashion Weekend, which is basically a big designer shopping event held at Somerset house at the end of Fashion Week. There are five different types of tickets you can get, depending on what you want (entry, entry + showbag etc.); we went for the entry plus catwalk.To be honest the shopping wasn't all that amazing, some nice Michael Kors heels but I don't have any occasions to wear heels. Being the last day of the event it didn't seem too busy, although when we were going into the catwalk area there seemed to suddenly be hundreds of people- each seating area of the bench was tiny too! Someone called Zara (I think she's a presenter?) hosted the show- I absolutely loved her outfit and hairThere were four sections to the show, the first had the theme of 'Black Swan' so there was lots of black and white, and lots of lace and frills.

The next section were all designs by Bora Aksu- I have to admit some outfits did seem a bit dull but some of the dresses were really cool and looked kind of like they had body organs on the outside in an alien-y way! I didn't take photos of every look from the catwalk, only the ones which looked nicest to me.

The third theme was 'Colour Blocking', which got me excited when it was announced as I really like this trend. The stylist had chosen to go down an quintessential english route but with bright colours a la Christopher Kane. If i'm honest this was my least favourite part of the show because the colours weren't as bold as I thought they would be- some were quite pastel-y which I really wasn't sure about. Still some good looks in there though!

There was a big gasp from the crowd when this model came out....And so to the final section which was without a doubt my favourite- and i'm sure it was everyone else's too! These were a selection of Mark Fast's designs; basically lots of fringing (fringeing?), lots of cutouts, and everything was skin tight! Absolutely stunning, I adored everything I saw, although I wasn't quite as keen on the dresses with the big jewels on. I want multi coloured fringing!!

This was his wedding dress design to close the show. Quite possibly the most beautiful dress I've ever seen in real life. That model was SO tall though, which made her look even thinner!

Don't they just look stunning all lined up together!