FLYING SAUCER

Careful, B. Hell hath no fury like a Chuck Bass scorned.

I might make all post titles Gossip Girl quotes? It feels like I've been watching that show non stop for about three years!

Anyway I must firstly say that the outfit in the post below was not exactly an outfit, I took it when I was trying on the trousers and just happened to be wearing top! Otherwise I would have thought the pink on pink might seem like pyjamas ha ha.

images from facehunter, the sart, milk  

I'm trying to figure out why is it that when I wear white tights, I immediately pair them with girly, 5-year-old stuff or preppy Gossip Girl outfits, whereas there are so many super cool ladies out there who manage to look edgy and even a little bit androgynous in theirs. How do they do it?! I can't really pick out any commonalities apart from that it seems they might have found their outfits and then added the white tights instead of say black, rather than doing what I do and working an outfit around white tights. Ahh confusing! No super flared skirts, red, or sailor collars might help too! It's insanely annoying that I could only bring a small suitcase full of clothes home but I'm working with what I've got and might use some white tights in an all black outfit for a change. The stark white certainly adds a cool dimension, especially with black shoes.

next stop- more pink

Seriously, wind really fucks me off. I get windrage reeeeal bad. Like in Manchester there's been insane winds where everyone stops in awe just because it's so strong and then they get blown across Picadilly Gardens. Argh! It takes me hours to do my hair and then the wind just blows it backwards in my face and all my curls just get split into a frizzy mess. Then it changes direction and i get a major hair-lipgloss situtation and then I swear really loudly because do we actually need wind?!?!?! The some old lady hits me with her handbag. Probably. That bit hasn't come yet, but it's inevitable. Today I had my suitcase, Bestey bag, heavy Luella bag and an Office bag full of shoes and I couldn't get on an empty bus so missed my 9 o clock lecture. Then I was assaulted by wind and cried. Not really, but I did make my biweekly trip to H&M and seems like Friday is a great day for new stock because they had the PINK trousers I've been waiting for. Eeek £30 though, bit overpriced for two legs of cotton yes? And they fit a bit strangely, I can't tell if they're high waist or low slung? I bought them though as a symbol of a new Easter shopping ban until loans come in and I can assess exactly how little I have to live on. Still it will be exams so I can't go out. I'm writing this on the train to Birmingham (only my 3935797746290th time on this journey.) Also an SA in HM actually knows me now. We are like shopping buddies, only she takes my money and I take her clothes. The shop is amazing though really. I don't praise it enough! Also I'm sorry for offending or torturing people with the last post. I used to think designer stuff was extremely unattainable and not relevant to me at all inmy little life but once you start saving and cut out all the little impulse buys that you will chuck away in six months, you eventually get to a point where you might see something you know you absolutely love and would get buried with and then the money doesn't seem so much. Hence what I said about wearing the things you spend so much on, even if they are so precious, you buy them to wear, if you just wanted to look at them you could just look at a picture! The only problem is that if they fall apart in a year would you be gutted or wouldn't you already have something else amazing in mind? It's Gretchen's rule too, the way after a while once you've worn and owned something so many times, it does become more normal to you and you put things in perspective. That said, I still take all my clothes in hand luggage just encase I loose my case on journeys. I hope you all have a great weekend, remember the competition still applies to all commenters until Easter Sunday! It's really a thank you for reading here because I also don't say that enough. Sometimes when you're so stressed and tired and fashion is the last thing you are allowed to think about, blogging seems to far away and hard and it just gets pushed behind everything else. Then you get a bit scared of posting again and I think that's where you're standards get set really high and you think 'ah I can't just post something rubbish out of the blue now' so you hold off. But all your comments and feedback this week has really brightened my days and I'm feeling really positive about Easter and Summer and this season. Maybe that's why I boughtpink trousers?! I'm going to live in Central Library this Easter, literally. Melissa and I are going to hit up Tesco for orange juice, energy drinks, cheese twists, donuts and munchies just like a-level time. I'm thinking outfit snaps each day? Ahh I'm starvin marvin but there's on OK guy sitting opposite me and I don't want to eat my sandwich. It's carrot, red onion and sundried tomatoes, I made it myself omg I have to eat it. Ah train = long winded posts!

gone to heaven, be back soon

 

Oh my Goood. Today I bought the best things of my liiiife!! Ahhhh! Right well if you were in Manchester today or possibly the rest of the UK, you might have experienced TORRENTIAL wind and hail and rain. I finally handed in a project that we had to work on in groups since September and we were all praising the rainy skies and I decided to moseyoff to town and meet my friend between lectures. You know the jeans quest and how I tried every style on earth and I couldn't find 18th Amendment jeans anywhere but found them online at Flannels. A few weeks ago I went to the store near Deansgate but they said they'd gone into the sale and moved to the outlet store, and this is where this beautiful tale began.

 

I found Mecca. Literally! Flannels just opened an outlet store in the Northern Quarter in December so it was a stroke of luck that I suddenly decided I needed jeans in my life. On that day I had wondered round for ages and couldn't see any store, so went into my magazine haven Magma and they pointed me to a big iron door camouflaged between shops opposite still on Oldham Street. The shop wasn't open though! It's only open Wednesday to Saturday, and today after being battered, bruised and hit in the face by hail and my own umbrella, I remembered I've been meaning to go there and took a detour.

 

Keep in mind this is no fairytale as I was so flustered and windswept I'm surprised they didn't chuck me out. The store in in fact a large basement with rails and tables of majorly discounted designer stock. Like Dolce and Gabbana, Marc Jacobs and Prada all half price and beyond. Clothes, shoes, bags, ah it was marvy! There's not an insane amount of stock but it's quality over quantity as they had the it shoes and bags and other sizes in the back. I saw massive Fendi wedges and those colour striped Prada bags. The sales assistant was super helpful and I tried on a few pairs of the jeans but none fit right or as well as the French Connection pair, so looks like they're a keeper!

I then wandered around a bit lusting after the shoes and spotted THE Miu Miu teacup heels. Major swooning later I thought hey, they're half price, £170 from £350, I'll just see if they have my size. They were like angels wings on my feet, omg they're amazingly high and platformed and just incredible. I've had a money box that you can't get into since my 18th birthday which I've been saving for a rainy day and today was the ULTIMATE rainy day. I wasn't totally there though but I took them off and saw the bottoms were a bit scuffed. The SA told me that they may have been returns and there would be some money off... i.e. £70 off!!!??!!!! So there were some Miu Mius in the colour I wanted that just happened to be reduced in only my size!! I ran to the till.

 

There are some things that you will never wear because they're too precious. Well these aren't like that!! There is no point in looking at them after a year and they are almost perfect, or looking at them slightly scruffed up but having had the best times wearing them. I don't know, is that a bad theory?

 

Obviously I won't be wearing them to skanky clubs (aka Snobs or Zoo) but maybe nicer clubs (aka maybe something like Pout?) and then every other opportunity. Not like I go to any shows so Jak and Jill don't need to worry any time soon, but I will get immense pleasure for as long as they are worn. By the way, they are in the Flannels online sale too but in the outlet store they had black but not in my size- Itried a 40 for the benefit of the doubt but they were too big and, despite being a more practical colour, just not as perfect! I would take trips there for people but I'm going home for Easter now, but it might be worth ringing up and reserving a pair, pretending you are a VIP! I'm going to pretend that my pair were leant to a movie star at a premiere for a night.

at your fingertips

Thank you for the great welcome back! For a few common questions, yes emails about an apparent mumps epidemic have been sent around my uni too! Also I didn't think redheads could wear pink but both MAC makeovers I've had have been pink and purple so who knows! I think it does depend on skin tone and the shade of red your hair it. Speaking of pink, I think I've reached a leap from 'yes I'm loving pink atm' to 'woah Barbie girl!'. I think it's time for some fake nails...

Ahhhh don't abandon me yet! You see I am the world's worst nail biter. When I'm stressed or bored or nervous or restless or anything, I just nibble my nails and I have never, ever been able to grow them, ever. There have only been two points where I managed to grow a few, but it's just too alien and annoying, and so I just noticed them too much and absentmindedly nibbled away. I don't even know I'm doing it! My Nan is allllways urging me to grow them and since my sister got her nails done on her birthday, I thought heeey how great would some SUPER fabulous nails be! There are areas I couldn't go, such as the nails that are meant to look real, as in have a white tip and pinky centre with cuticles- no way hosé, even the thought of one of those snapping off is scary! I'm thinking something really obviously fake and fabulous and just plain crazy. My nails are so short anyway and I wouldn't have anything that would go past the tip. I'm thinking the random picture above- hot pink! Or maybe coral? Or maybe with some crazy design? I heard good things about Calgel, which lets nails grow underneath? Ooo seriously I'm excited, this opens so many doors to rings and bangles! Have I gone nuts?

longest post in history ever

It's 1am on Sunday and finally, finally, finally I have time to post! Yesss! Blogging seems to be successful for life's multitaskers and busy bees but I crumble like a cookie when my google reader hits 1000+ and I have five assignments and even more presentations. And this is the second weekend I've had free since September. I LOVE weekends!!! There is nothing better than getting to do all the things you never get round to doing in a really slow, lovely way, topped off with lots of milkshake and muffins. So this is just the longest post ever of everything I would have posted in the past few weeks. Prepare yourself! It ends with something fashion relevant I promise. I'm so ready for Easter, this term has been a real jolt to the system but it seems like the world is run down lately so lets not talk about it!

Last weekend I went to Brighton for another visit to my friend's uni and it was sooo nice there! The weather was amazing, pity we only got to spend five minutes on Brighton beach. The day before took eight hours to get down there from Manchester, and at 1pm Melissa and I were running across London to make our coach by seconds. I need to get down a gym pronto! Then I sat next to this Russian masseuse who started reading my Elle and commenting on the inner beauty of the soul and then gave himself a facial with a free sample of coco butter, which entailed him slapping his face and groaning a lot! I took my bargain Betsey bag which fits an insane amount of stuff in, and on the train loads of cute girls got on, probably on a day trip to London, and one had on what looked like bowling shoes with neon laces. I love secret snaps!

 

The party was pretty marvy due to some plotting by me and Melissa- it's wise to know which bowl of jelly has about ten different spirits in! I don't talk about my friends enough on here for the amount of clothes conversations we have so this is Vanessa, who seems to suit all the stuff in my wardrobe that I buy in the hope that would will make me look super cool but infact I am not at all super cool, in a hot coral skirt, and Melissa in some H&M hammer pants and orange platforms, for once she wasn't the teeniest!

Speaking of parties, our living room still hasn't recovered from the house party in January, oops. Our landlord is coming round tomorrow, I'm sure he'll be impressed as always. I hope you like our Hollyoaks poster. But if any of you out there are house hunting for the first time, think twice about living with ALL girls! Sometimes it ain't pretty. I helped in the Textile school open day on Wednesday and showed round the future students, all of which are too cute but I *hopefully* won't be seeing them next year as I'm nearly on the way to Sweden! The application isn't 100% yet and I still have to get a high average in the summer exams but there is a possibility that I will be studying in Boras come September!!

I also took part in another Modepass project where a group of us tried out an Eple and Melk jacket, check out the other blogger's photos here! It's funny to see the same thing worn so many different ways. Whenever I do something like this,  always gravitate to something dissimilar to my usual style, I guess receiving a random item is the opportunity to experiment. It's great for my green H&M trousers and some pink socks. Did I mention how I am going crazy for pink at the moment? Well I am. Crazy I tell you!

Seriously, suddenly everything superbly tacky and Barbie and retro and extra glam and fabulous is high on my radar. The more sickening the better! I don't know what it is, maybe a reaction to the popular blogging style of really cool, edgy girls that no matter how hard I try, I just can't at all pull off. This seems kind of the direct opposite, but whatever the case, I'm going nuts for tack. So of course I checked out the Hello Kitty range for MAC and lusted after everything, settling for the brightest lipstick called 'Big Bow'. I was desparate for a lipgloss too but a returned gas bill meant I could splash out on a YSL gloss, which stays put for aaages! Still I didn't realise it was £19 (!!!!!) until I was at the counter, how insane is that!?

A lipstick essential is also this Lipcote stuff, which is seriously good and withstands the test of clubbing time. I should know! Not that I've been out a great amount recently, I've been to Fallowfield lots to take advantage of Font £2 cocktails and Baa Bar £1 shots, hence can splash out on lipgloss!

 

I also received the SWEETEST package from Conny of Love Hearts and Crosses, an accessory store full of goodies of all prices. I love these gold angel wing earrings and have worn them loads to go with my ghetto fabulous fantasies but the rest I will offer in an Easter competition! See the bottom of this post for details, it will run until Easter Sunday and every commenter until then will be entered into a draw.

While I haven't had much shopping time, I did try on these Aldo heels that are all over the blog world in store a few weeks ago. It's true the they are the perfect heel height, but alas too pricey for me right now. The shop assistant said that no one had ever tried them on before and it's probably true that I wouldn't have if I hadn't seen other bloggers rocking them, so blogs really do have an influence! I asked if I could take a photo for the purposes of showing my 'boyfriend' hehe.

As for this weekend, I've sorted my life out and collated almost all notes into a cute Hello Kitty book. I'm tempted to make scrap books for the season but don't want to cut up magazines just yet. I can't decide as soon it will be too late!

 

Also I though I'd solved the whole 'too many tights' conundrum but getting a washing hanger for small garments and hanging lots on there. It lasted for about a week before it broke and then half of the pegs fell off, so now they're just slung over it, which is OK but still not the perfect solution!

 

Ah and here are the wedges I got and wore in the last post! They were pretty well priced for Office and are the perfect height and have hearts and bows on! Not at all cool but I like them a lot and tottered around Didsbury think weekend in these white tights and a skirt from Primark. I haven't bought anything in there for God knows how long but how could I resist a Luella inspired coral pink skirt with a bit bow and ruffles? I'm going to change the buttons though. It's funny because there are little holes where they must have added more buttons but decided they are too cheap to put five on a skirt and took two off! Cheeky!

vintage lace top, primark skirt, vintage white tights, accessorize leopard hair bow

I would have made this a separate post but I need to get everything out of the head to make room for more stuff! So here are a few Luella inspired looks that are not so much Luella, but all the clothes that make me happy!

vintage floral dress under H&M polka dot skirt, jonathan aston pink socks over vintage white tights, random pearls and pink beads, primark net bow headband

 

H&M nude corset, Oasis silver skirt, Topshop polkadot pencil skirt, River Island lilac tights.

Oh how I love these lilac tights!! I can't wait until it's officially warm enough to wear them as I can't now with my purple coat- I'd look like a blueberry! So here's the haul from Conny at Love Hearts and Crosses. I will split it in half along with some goodies from me and offer the prize packs to two commenters in the next weeks until Easter Sunday. You can be anywhere in the world! All commenters during these weeks will be entered into the draw, just make sure you fill out the name and email box carefully when commenting!

 

Also as it's Mother's Day, here's my Mom with her friend Sharon at my sisters birthday party. They danced until 4am!? Haha now I must really go to bed, although I've just been googling for ten minutes as while writing this post my neck felt really heavy and my glands have swollen real big?! I'm literally never ill *touch wood* and fear I have mumps or worse. Please God nooo!!

it's going to be a 70's spring?

Right around this time last year I proclaimed I would have a 60's summer. Well it turned out to be a 50's summer more than anything, but thisyear is going to be a 70's summer! How fickle! You may or may not know that I'm on an everlasting hunt for the perfect high waisted, bell bottomed, Dazed and Confused (the film), disco-ball diamonds inspired jeans. Well on one of my 'lets go crazy' shopping trips on a Friday, I decided that today was the day that I found some of those jeans. And I did! Kind of. I went round literally every high street shop and to Selfridges and then even to Flannels and Harvey Nics, describing my search to every poor SA in sight. I had a last, half-hearted attempt in French Connection and found an amazing girl who let me try on about ten pairs of high waisted, flared jeans. Thank heavens, they exist! I boughta pair that aren't as high waisted as I'd hope but they actually fit. Well tbh I'll have to be very careful when generally sitting down or making sharp turns but hopefully this is a success! I do however hear of a Flannels outlet in the Northern Quarter which has 18th Amendment jeans? Anyway, not so sure about French Connection as when I got home, I noticed a really small pull in the fabric, which in denim means it would stretch to a snag over time, so I had to take them allll the way back, and now (if you can tell in the photos) a button has fallen off! I didn't really want a sailor style waist but I don't want stuff to fall off without any wears! By the way, if you're wondering if all I ever wear is this cropped shirt, it's not true! Though it must be true that for the past weeks, every time I've gone to take a photo I'm wearing it that day, and I haven't exactly worn it much. Also I just bought some new wedges (!!!) to go with the jeans and my whole general summer vibe in mind, which I'll show you on Thursday. They have huge platforms too so you have to bounce along and most likely topple over once in a while on a raised pavement, but hey I don't mind embarrassment for hot footwear.

Not that they exactly need to be, but I've clipped them in the photo below to show what they might be like if I made them even tighter at the top. There's a scene in D&C where a girl's friend has to zip up her jeans for her before a big forest party, a bit like a Special K advert haha, because everyone wore them so tight- my kind of film! There isno point in legwear imo if it's not tight. Also I don't think I'll wear this tee with them, I'm thinking it's the return of smocks or maybe floral corsets- but I understand there is a VERY fine line between this and a boho throwback, and I don't want to be Sienna Miller!

By the way, the label is still on! And without going into details you might not care about, I've finished a string of all nighter essays and actually have time to blog, thank you God!

love for love?

There seemed to be a huge hype for LOVE, Katie Grand's new magazine launch since joining Condé Nast, but I haven't read any reviews of it. I suspect all the people who got a copy have been caught up at fashion week! Well of course I'm not (I am caught up in a huge mountain of work though, where did it all come from!?) and I went home last weekend so it made for excellent train reading.

I was under the impression that it was an exclusive for fashion week and then would be released only to be found in obscure corners of magazine stands. I went to Magma in the Northern Quarter to pick up Lula and saw a huge stack so picked up thehefty copy of LOVE too, which in hindsight was a bit of a mistake to do at the start of my weekly Friday shopping sesh as my arms were falling off by the afternoon! I've since spotted displays in all high street retailers with stacks of the mag so there goes what I thought!

I did lug it onto the train and I believe it's biannually, and so considering Lula is now £6, you do get a lot for your fiver. It really did confuse me though. First I had to read it awkwardly because sitting behind a cover with a naked Beth Ditto on the front does make for some shocked passenger faces! Jeez can't I read my magazines in peace! So yes, I had to fold over most of the pages and skipped the whole of Beth's boobs as I didn' think the lady next to me could cope with the shock if she happened to look over.

Like I said though, it's not exactly like any magazine I've read before. This might be considered a good thing but it takes a while to get your head round what exactly you're reading. First for the cover- the sad thing is that Beth Ditto already appeared naked on the cover of the widely distributed weekly NME rag and she had nothing covering her then but her hands. I've also seen Beth nearly naked in the flesh at Reading a few years ago. So the cover couldn't be described as shocking or innovative or very aspirational; her makeup is divine though. Katie Grand starts with a 'love letter' where she describes her love of Beth and what she stands for, the essence of imperfection in the most striking way, a face of defiant self-confidence.

It's easy to note now that this magazine is truly personal to Grand and really showcases her love of the industry. The first kitschy theme with endless questions to celebs and professionals of 'what's your favourite love song?' and 'what do you love to hate?' will probably not continue, but this issue will be a novelty in the first place, almost like a fresh start for Grand to pour all her past experience into before 100% embracing her new role and moving forward. So it's hard to work through the magazine as it holds no similarities to any other magazine structure, riding straight into a very eclectic A-Z of things the LOVE team, well, love. That's essentially the theme of the magazine- the voices of the writers are extremely apparent and it's a bit like reading the kind of newsletter you'd make as a school project- where all the news is along your agenda. Not that I'm showing any comparison to anything you could make at school, but there is actually a slightchildlike vibe, maybe it's a bit of hesitance from the pressure of testing new waters and being in the industry eye. It's very sweet and appreciative of everything it features.

The A-Z ranges from models to trends to designers to even other magazines. The fact that they said they loved Interview is a prime example that this magazine is not at all about gaining a solely competitive or profitable place in the market, but about creating a reference to what the industry is about at the current time. I keep rreferring to the 'industry', by which I mean the background fashion industry; the editors and journalists and lecturers and photographers and all the people that make things happen, and those who network, building friendships and relationships that gain themselves a reputable status in the contribution to what fashion is today. When reading I don't feel like I relate to the magazine at all, but it's like I'm tasting the buzz that London has and in the article about Central St. Martins, I could almost feel what it would be like to sit in the dated building with the designers of the future all around. There's a lot of 'we love' and even quotes from LOVE contributors on their personal loves; I expect many LOVErs of this magazine will know exactly who they are talking about all of the time and be able to answer 'ah yes CSM is just like that as I remember' and 'oh that designer is like that in person.' It's not magazine to lecture or teach, but more embrace today's fashion culture and basically just love all over it!

And so back to Beth Ditto, who we haven't seen or really heard fromfor two years, and I don't know if I can speak for the whole majority of the country, but I only know her as being successful through her one Gossip song; essentially because it was featured on the Skins advert. Obviously they must have a big fan base and Ditto did make a splash in the fashion world (namely the POP editorial), but right now we haven't seen her for so long, and so I'm not motivated by her or the cover to pick up the magazine to find out where she's been and what she's doing. A few of the stars featured in LOVE seemed a bit strange to me too, for instance Duffy and Kelly Brook. I love the Kelly Brook pictures of her as a Red Indian and she looks stunning in Prada, but I'm not so sure why we want to read about her that much? The article goes on the angle that she's a real woman who has had a pretty eventful life in the media eye, but has always been treated a bit unfairly and has not been given enough credit. As before, it seems like Katie Grand might have a soft spot or admiration of her and featured her purely as an indulgence. I did like reading the article, but it's still a random read! The same with Duffy: why her over, say, Adele?

It will be interesting to see which direction the magazine goes in, as it is not heavy in throw away articles, tips or anything commercial and typical of magazine which promotes an aesthetic, conformist idea of beauty. It's edited down to the core interviews and a few editorials on the strength of acclaimed photographers and models. I believe Katie Grand has produced LOVE literally right from her heart and it was lavish and lovely to read. I think the next issue will go in a totally opposite direction though, but I guess that's the beauty of a biannual magazine. What did you think?

stalk my cuts

I joined the Style Stalker waiting list after Susie Bubble wore the fab bustle skirt so well, but while waiting spotted the lovely cut-out dress. Now I'm all for another BBD (body-con black dress) and used it for a few weeks as my reality shopping deterrent, i.e. in shops when considering items, thinking 'hmmm but is this really better than that item online?'. I got it when my last Debs wages went in and a few days later Rumi of Fashion Toast posted some gorgeous photos in the dress- fab! Maybe lovely isn't the best word to describe the dress as it fits effortlessly into Rumi's hardcore style and I just had to pair it with my curly locks and platforms with bows. Next time I wear it I will try not to girl it up I promise! It's great though, it feels marvy on, plus it's the kind of thing that when you're out, girls will constantly be looking at you slyly in a sort of 'I wonder where that dress is from? would I wear that? hey look at her dress' way, if you see what I mean? Not that that's a good thing, but you know you're not wearing something ordinary and you won't see ten other girls in a version (at least not at the moment!). That look happens a lot when I wear my I'm Your Present playsuit, I think because it's so super short and basically could practically be a bathing suit! I know that I love to look at other girls' style, especially if it's something I haven't seen in a store. But then again it would be nice for girls to smile when you see them looking you up and down? Do you know what I mean? If I see a girl looking at my outfits, I always give them a big smile!

If you're thinking about the dress, I got a size 6 as the sizing chart said this was a larger small, but in reality I think it's more of a UK 6-8 (XS), and next time I would get a dress in an 8. I think this is because of the cut-outs and the stitching around them which doesn't stretch, so it's hard to stretch it over your shoulders as it's tight anyway! It's made to perfection though and shipped super fast, even from Australia. I totally recommend! I'm thinking the dress with the cut-out shoulders is looking might fine too...

This might be a good time to mention I am nominated for Europe's sexiest vegetarian?! I've had the PETA logos on here since the start so that might have had a hand in it but it's very funny to tell people! If you think I deserve a vote, that would be lovely! Especially since all the other nominees seem to have professional photos and are actual models whereas mine is just me in the spare bedroom at home.

P.S. I bought some JEANS! Can't wait to show you...