GIVEAWAY

I'm having a giveaway on my other blog here. It's any MAC lipstick that you want, some H&M accessories (hair bows and three pairs of earrings) and two Natural Collection lipsticks.

Aminaka Wilmont A/W11

The collections by AMINAKA WILMONT have been following a clear pattern and Autumn Winter 2011 continues the sequence. They like to stick to colours within collections, not daring to venture out into more bold patterns and prints, instead creating their collections around the colour of the season. Spring/Summer 09 was black and white, Spring/Summer 2010 was nude and gray, A/W 10 – nude, S/S 11 is blue and white and A/W 11 is revisiting the gray that was introduced to us in S/S 10.

Their design signatures are described as being ‘sensual, flowing and innovative silhouettes embracing soft, voluminous draping of effortless complexity and avant-garde tailoring.’

Short bodycon is rejuvenated for A/W 11 with long socks, wedge boots, washed leather jackets and animal prints combined with tie-dye.  

Some items were not so wearable, making even the models look chunkier – a clear off put to prospective customers. 

TOPSHOP Unique A/W11

After watching the show for Unique yesterday I was left with mixed feelings, not only was I left feeling slightly unimpressed by the pieces, but with ideas for what Autumn/Winter could look like with a little modification...

There seems to be a lot of 101 Dalmations-esque prints and furs filling the collection and Mary Jane heels teamed with patterned tights and knee high socks. Knee high socks teamed with heels is something I've wanted to do for quite some time, but haven't found the right pair to practise with. This collection has deemed it a good idea for me to try the style not only with knee high socks but with patterned tights underneath also.

Further items to come of the catwalk once again are maxi skirts and dresses, things that I haven't tried and probably don't have the confidence to. The furthest I will consider is a light summer maxi dress, and even then, my social calendar doesn't often call for the elegance needed to pull off the look. I imagine myself wearing a maxi dress abroad, sipping cocktails by the poolside whilst watching evening entertainment, as opposed to in a nightclub, seeing how many tequila slammers I can drink before I pass out.

I'm pleased that the show has offered another season of affordable fur coats, but I would prefer to snatch a vintage buy on Brick Lane. It also looks like another chance for those who bought a jumpsuit for AW 2010 to rewear them, although for those of us without long gazelle-like legs, it may be a better idea to buy a romper and save the wide legged variety for those with the correct altitude.

Bold yellows seem to be a follow through from this S/S, so it may be an investment worth making if you can pull off yellow. I've never seen myself as being the yellow type but you never know, if the right thing catches my eye...

Blouses, probably my favourite thing to continue from A/W 10 to A/W 11. Blouses are just so versatile; they can be worn for work and play, I like to mix mine up with a high waisted mini skirt and wedges, or glam a cream pussybow blouse, black skinny jeans, black blazer and ballet pumps.

Peter Pan collars! My current lust, I cannot fathom how much I am loving them at the moment. Sometimes I wonder if anybody else gets as excited as me if they see an item of clothing, be it top, dress or coat, with a Peter Pan collar whilst shopping?!

Black and white seem to be ruling A/W with black tie swagger. The fringed showgirl dress, pictured below, looks to me as if it has been inspired from an old 1920's flapper number.

The only problem I envisage is the lack of neutral colours; nude, camels and creams were by far my favourite colours for the past season and it seems difficult to face a future without these comfort colours as I am forced to break into bold block colourings for S/S and return to the deep burgundys, aubergines and phthalo greens seen back in A/W 09.

 

Photos taken from style.com

wedges

I like a good wedge. A versatile shoe; not only can they be worn both casual and formal, they are easy to walk in (no matter whether inebriated or not), they make your legs look so much longer and they glam up an outfit with minimal effort. The perfect shoe for both night and day, shopping or clubbing. Here are some cheap takes on the fashion icon.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

 

my A-Z of favourite bloggers

blog [blawg, blog]

–noun

1. a web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.

–verb (used without object)

2. to maintain or add new entries to a blog.

-

‘Blogs are currently vital to the industry simply because they forecast what's "in" with consumers which greatly helps designers, they also provide constant style inspiration for people worldwide.’ This is a quote taken from 17 year old Kristin Prim’s interview with Teen Vogue in 2010. After starting her blog at 12, the New York fashionista became so successful that she now runs her own bi-annual magazine, ‘Prim’. Blogger success stories such as this show how passion and confidence can help build a career; and it is for this reason that I have compiled an A-Z of blogs of note, which anybody can follow and gain inspiration for their own innovative ideas. 

A Little Obsessed – Sabrina is an 18 year old student from London and author of a-littleobsessed.blogspot.com. She has a passion for beauty products and fashion and uses her blog to share experiences of different items and recommend thing to others. Expect products being positively reviewed at around £5 as Sabrina loves to find a bargain.

Beauty Crush – Sammi Maria is a 21 year old fashion student from London, and also the founder of beauty-crush.com. She studies in Southampton and is interested in both style and make-up design with a love for expression through photography. She is inspired by Haute Couture but prefers street style.

Cats and Rocking Chairs – is a blog created by a 23 year old Scottish post graduate of law, Morven, who describes herself as having too much time, rings and cats on her hands. Her blog, morven-catsandrockingchairs.blogspot.com features photographs of her outfits, her style being a mixture of Navajo pieces peppered with Parisian and bohemian items.

Discotheque Confusion – Stevie Mackenzie Smith is a fashion Blogger of successful and widely read discothequeconfusion.blogspot.com  with a love of 70’s style, overalls and peonies with a penchant for Chloë Sevigny.

Ellevictorie – ellevictoire.blogspot.com Victorie is an Austrian blogger posting photos of her daily outfit and her buys, an inspiration is Alexa Chung. She loves high street stores such as Zara.

Fashion Toast – fashiontoast.com is the brainchild of Rumi Lenora, an American model and photographer, posting pictures of herself taken from shoots, by herself and by friends and is definitely a blogger of note, winning not only the 2011 Bloglovin’ Blogger of the Year but also the Best Personal style blog.

The Glamourai – theglamourai.com’s Kelly began writing to share her thoughts about style with the world. She explains ‘I take pleasure in celebrating the finer things in life.  I love dressing up every day, decorating my apartment and experimenting with my hair.  I love hunting down vintage treasures, mixing prints, and wearing too many accessories.  I love shopping online and dishing my finds.’

The Haute Pursuit – thehautepursuit.com is a blog, and a personal style diary and musings of a self-anointed fashion aficionado. Taken from the blog itself, this is how Vanessa describes herself as an 'eternal dreamer/fashion blogger/wannabe writer: Vanessa aka The Haute Pursuit is a twenty-something-er obsessed with fashion, art, film and of course all things cool, glam, and rock and roll. Flipping through the pages of The Haute Pursuit is like stealing a look into Vanessa’s mind where you can experience her wardrobe adventures as she indulges her every fashion whim.’

I Heart Vintage – Kavita’s blog iheartvintagex.blogspot.com is a great blog documenting her buys and wish lists from high street to online stores such as eBay, with daily photos of her outfits.

Jack & Jil – Originally a street style photographer, jackandjil.com now captures images from fashion weeks, shows and shoots.

Kingdom of Style – Michelle is a 37 year old British Graphic Designer, DJ and Fashion Blogger who contributes to the style site Fashion156 and Vice Magazine. She explains, ‘Fashion stimulates me in the same way design does, even though sometimes I find beautiful in the ugly. My friend Marie and I write our blog Kingdom of Style for the love of talking about fashion and style.’ You can find the blog at kingdomofstyle.typepad.co.uk.

LLYMLRS – llymlrs.com is a blog founded by Lily, a British 20 year old student documenting her outfits, style wants and reviews.

Milkteef – Emma Woodley writes the blog milkteef.com providing readers with many a weekend wishlist and photos of her outfits.

Nasty Gal - blog.shopnastygal.com is a great blog which also sells items which it features. Owner Sophia Amoruso has been combing the racks, pressing the pleats, and snapping the shutter for NASTY GAL since its inception. In her free time and offers a wide selection of the most desirable and coveted vintage clothing and accessories available online, as well as unique new designer pieces.

Oracle Fox – oraclefox.com is an independent blog written by Mandy Shadforth, an Australian Contemporary Artist based in Queensland. Her blog references images from pop culture combining her interest in fashion, art and the mysterious. However the underlying essence of Mandy's concepts revolve around her love of nature, beauty, travel and culture. 

Phosphene – phosphenefashion.com is an exciting blog documenting the life and fashion of Sophia, showing her latest (usually high end buys such as Prada) and taking outfit of the day pictures.

Rackk and Ruin – Molly at rackkandruin.blogspot.com runs both the blog and an Esty shop of her jewellery pieces. Definitely check her out.

Style Rookie – Tavi Levinson, 14, from Chicago USA, started her blog, thestylerookie.com,  in 2008 at 11 years old, since then she has gained more than 50,000 readers worldwide and is frequently invited to sit front row at fashion shows viewing the latest collections by Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Miuccia Prada. Since then she has appeared in numerous magazines such as Teen Vogue and graced the cover of LOVE.

That’s Chic – Rachel created thatschic.net and blogs her outfits which are mainly created from vintage finds, with a very indie style and photography.

Uncia and Tigris - Clare Marie explains on her blog unciaandtigris.com: ‘I'm twenty year old blogger from the UK. I study Fine Art at university, and I love makeup, and fashion, and photography, and hummingbirds, and maps and tigers. I love fog, Greek myths, and mountains.’

VIPXO –vipxo.co.uk is a blog by Victoria India, a 21 year old BA fashion design & production student in her third year of university living in Leeds. Her forte is finding great Ebay and bargain buys from the high street and creating her own outfits from current trends.

Who What Wear - Katherine Power is the co-founder and creative director of whowhatwear.com, and prior this, she was the West Coast Editor of ELLE and ELLEgirl. Hillary Kerr is the co-founder and editorial director of the blog, she was a Los Angeles-based freelance writer for publications including ELLE, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and Maxim. Together these women have created a blog that has won the 2011 Bloglovin’ award for the Best Fashion News blog. This is a great blog for keeping up to date with the fashion world.

Zoella - schoee.blogspot.com in an interview by a fellow blogger, Lauren, at laurensdressingroom.blogspot.com says of what led her to blogging; ‘I had been quite eager to have my own little space on the interwebz for beauty chat and fashion musings but I was far too shy for YouTube so I decided to set up my own little blog, not really knowing what I was going to start writing about first or how many followers I would get.’ She now has 6000 loyal followers. Her style is of bargain high street buys and vintage car boot sale finds with a layout and photos which are pretty and chic, you can’t go wrong following Zoe. 

© This is published as an artile in 'Daydream Nation' so please do not take any of my work. If you wish to use any of my work, please ask.

happiness is not always the best way to be happy

As is sit here is my leather armchair with my laptop precariously balanced upon my knee whilst I try to sip at my steaming coffee, I see two magpies through the window. Birds are funny. I've always thought about what it would be like to be so free, so beautiful; so beautifully simple. Being superstitious, two magpies is representative of 'joy' and although I am not feeling particularly joyous in my hungover state, I feel that today will be a good day to start my blog documentation on the interweb. There's a lot I could write about sitting up here, but instead I'll begin my blog.

I hope this journey will be exciting for you because I can tell that it will be a whirlwind for me. There isn't much you need to know about me, we probably share some things in common, but even if we don't, it shouldn't get in our way. This is in no way me trying to be mysterious, please feel free to fire away as many questions as you like, but I don't want to provide you with some unwarrented spiel about myself. It's time I started doing what I love and forgetting about everything else, because happiness is important.
'Let the wild rumpus begin!'