Blair Waldorf (and Tommy Hilfiger!), you complete me

Every time I see this Tommy Hilfiger advert I spend forever looking at it - it completely captivates me!  I absolutely love what the girl is wearing in the second picture.  Re-running through my Gossip Girl box sets means that i'm currently having a bit of a Blair Waldorf moment, and I think the advert captures the essence of her style perfectly (maybe it's a cross between Serena and Blair...even better!).  

Blair - it really doesn't get better than this!

Especially appropriate today...Until next time xo xo

Florals...old news?

I love the floral print as much as the next person, which is a LOT, but I can't help feeling that it's getting a bit old.  Like the Breton tee and skinny jeans, florals will never go out of style, and I certainly will never stop wearing them; but I don't need magazines waxing lyrical about them as though they've just discovered a groundbreaking trend (see Vogue April 2011, page 63...beautiful but a little patronising).  See the photos below for a slightly different take on the usual 'pretty' look.

Dress - Kate Moss for Topshop 2007

Dress - Zadig & Voltaire

OFW Couture Show

'I'm not even wearing a long dress on my wedding day, so why should I have to wear one to your event?'  That's my standard response when I attend a 'white tie' event and face confrontation for the fact that my dress doesn't even come close to reaching my knee. I don't know why i'm so against wearing a long dress. Maybe I find the obligation to go floor-length restrictive and dated; maybe I value my legs too much (unlikely!!); or maybe I just don't think it works for me.  I've never actually even tried one on in the 22 years i've been on this planet so maybe i'm just being narrow-minded, but either way, one of my greatest fashion fears is the long dress.  

So you can imagine my horror when I received my invitation to the Oxford Fashion Week Couture Show and saw the words 'DRESS CODE: WHITE TIE' emblazoned across it.  I had been fully intending to do an Alexa Chung/Erin Wasson and slum it in my denim hot pants and leather jacket, but it was not meant to be.  I compromised with my Vanessa Bruno strapless dress (short of course) and Chanel jacket, and kept a low profile during the Champagne reception.  Thankfully I was not alone in my boycotting of the white tie dress code, but I still felt pretty awkward amongst all the mainly horrible and old-fashioned floor-length ball gowns (I would like to take this opportunity to exempt my friend Irina Higgins from this rather scathing generalisation, who looked positively stunning in Alexander McQueen...photos to come when I find my camera cable...).  Not only do I not like the look for myself, but I think very few people can actually find the right dress and carry it off...I can honestly say i've seen about 10 successful attempts in my whole entire life (Irina included!).  

Perhaps my bias towards the floor-length gown was why I left the show itself feeling slightly underwhelmed.  I couldn't have been more impressed with the effort that had gone into the production of the show, and i'm 100% glad that I went - it was certainly a spectacle, and maybe that's what couture is all about. But there was not a single dress that made me go 'Yes, I have to have that!!!', and not once did I feel inclined to clap along with the rest of the audience when a model emerged.  The photos below are what I consider to be some of the more beautiful creations that we saw on the night (apart from the Dar Sara wedding dress, second from bottom - the photograph makes it look remarkably less tacky than it was in the flesh); I am always captivated by Matthew Williamson's prints and designs, even though I probably wouldn't wear them myself, and some of the simpler designs (the first and last pictured below) were unarguably gorgeous from an objective perspective.  

Maybe I chose the wrong show to attend.  I felt as though I stuck out like a sore thumb from the second I arrived, and although I thought some of the clothes were quite nice, I was clearly missing something that every other person in the room could see.  I fully accept that this is probably because I am still very young and not mature enough to appreciate the glamour and beauty apparently inherent within the long dress.  Hopefully one day i'll stop being so stubborn and give in to the trend!

All things said, enjoy this selection of beautiful photographs taken by Jake Galson...

All images courtesy of Jake Galson Photography 

http://jakegalson.co.uk/

Until next time... xo xo

Ethical fashion - do you really care?!

It's probably unusual to see a fashion blog at the moment with very little reference to the big four (NY, London, Milan, Paris), but i'm going to do something a bit different and introduce you to a fifth - Oxford Fashion Week.  This event was established in 2009 and has expanded every year since then.  Initially it was an event focused around the students and locals in Oxford, but both designers and models now come from far afield.  Last night I attended a debate between a number of people within the fashion industry which was focused around three issues.  I'd like to take just a couple of posts to give my opinion on these as I found the event so thought provoking, and tomorrow I will be attending the couture show (FROW!!!) so keep your eyes peeled for lots of photographs from that.  If anyone is interested, here is a link to the website where you can find out a bit more about OFW - http://www.oxfordfashionweek.co.uk/home.

So the first question posed to the panel last night was as follows - 'Do consumers care about ethical fashion and supply chains?'.

What do we even mean by 'ethical fashion'?  For me, ethical fashion is all about labour standards, but it can go so much further than that.  It can include buyer standards (are we paying a fair price for what we are getting?), environmental considerations and sometimes even the moral standards of the country in which any given item is produced.  I think that every brand needs to consider ethics otherwise people just aren't going to buy from them - it's too much of an issue in this day and age.  But there is definitely a balance to be struck - it won't always be viable from a retail perspective for a brand to focus 100% on ethics.

I care about ethics within fashion - I would never condone the use of child labour, for example, and I would never wear real fur.  But in all honesty i'm not entirely sure I make conscious decisions about where I shop on this basis.  I don't shop at Primark but that has nothing to do with me boycotting a brand so often associated with unethical practices - I just don't like the clothes, and quite frankly, don't spend my money on cheap things that are going to last me a week.  I can afford to go elsewhere, so I do.  I take comfort from the fact that I am not contributing to their unethical practices, but that's more of an added bonus than the driving force behind my decision.  Yes, most of the clothes that I wear are probably made with ethics in mind, but this is just incidental to the fact that I like to spend good money on what's in my wardrobe.  Who knows, maybe i'd feel differently if I discovered that the likes of Isabel Marant or Z&V were exploiting children in third world countries, but I can't say that for sure until it actually happens, which hopefully it never will.  I have a feeling that i'm not the only person out there who thinks like this, and who feels a little bit guilty about it.  Can we really say that we 'care' about ethical fashion and supply chains when we are never actually forced to make conscious decisions on this basis?  It just seems a bit too easy.  To care surely means to do something slightly more positive about the situation?

On a slightly lighter note, it's great to see that a lot of designers are embracing environmental ethics.  Giorgio Armani has been known to use hemp as a material in some of his designs, and Stella McCartney sticks religiously to her no leather and no fur policy.  It's cool to care!

This is such a big question and i've approached it from only one of many perspectives, not even beginning to do it justice.  If anyone has any other thoughts then please do message me.  I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the lack of pretty photos this time round, but prepare to be amazed on Sunday morning!!

Until next time xoxo

To tatt or not to tatt?

I think you either love them or you hate them.  I used to fall on the hate side of the debate, always asking the people covered in them 'but what will you look like when you're 80?!?'.  But yesterday I saw a picture of Freja Beha Erichsen (see below) and my mind did a complete 180.  Yes Cheryl Cole's tramp stamp undoubtedly cheapened that (already cheap looking!!!) Versace dress, but somehow, when it comes to Freja, subtle and intricate tattoos seem to do nothing but compliment Valentino couture.  Who would have thought?!  Freja has the words 'this world tonight is mine' circling her wrist, making me realise that tattoos can be beautiful and intimate.  

Freja Beha Erichsen

Tattoos seem to be having a bit of a fashion moment.  You only have to look at the catwalk to see what I mean.  Christopher Kane's collection was apparently inspired by Yakuza gangster tattoos, and Acne worked with a renowned Swiss tattoo artist who created bespoke tribal patterns that the design house then embossed onto leather.  

Acne

So although I probably won't be rushing out anytime soon to scar my body for life (my Zadig & Voltaire phase can't last forever right?!), i'm definitely thinking about considering it.  Maybe a star or a swallow on the inside of my right wrist or on my left shoulder.  Maybe some words that mean everything to me.  But for now, I might just invest in a pack of Chanel's transfers, even though temporary is soooo last season...

Chanel

Until next time xoxo

All tied up

One of my greatest loves...the scarf!  What better way to completely transform a look?!  And it has the added bonus of keeping you warm!

LOUIS VUITTON - Leopard Stole


I have a bit of a thing for leopard print, and so it was only natural that I fell in love with this iconic scarf many years ago.  Unsurprisingly, I don't have £800 to shell out on a scarf at the moment, but my absolute star of a mother found me a gorgeous alternative...

Scarf - Glen Prince of Great Britain

Stars

I actually had this scarf for a long time before I saw her outfit, but it really reminds me of the Chanel cardigan worn by Erin Wasson at NY Fashion Week (see my earlier post).

Scarf - Glen Prince of Great Britain

Next on my agenda...

I stumbled across this beauty on one of my favourite fashion blogs (definitely check it out... http://www.thedauphine.com), and with my birthday only two months away, i've got my fingers crossed!  The way you tie a scarf is so important - the more volume the better - and this scarf was designed with this in mind. Genius.  Hopefully this will be the next addition to my collection!

'I constantly get asked how I tie the large scarves in my photos, so I designed a scarf that essentially ties itself. Just wrap it once around your neck and then pull the opposite end through the small leather loop and - voila! - the perfect wrap!'

Scarf - Etsy

A quick shout out to my good friend who inspired this post...you know who you are!  Thank you for making me want to write.

Until next time xoxo

I'm tempted...

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that i'm obsessed with my hair.  My dream is to have Blake Lively hair (only perhaps a little messier), and i've been trying to grow it for years.  Sadly my hair doesn't seem to want to cooperate and i'm beginning to wonder if I need to have it cut before it will grow to a substantial length.  Up until yesterday, I would never have dreamed of taking off anymore than about a centimetre (I'm not sure that my face is nice enough to carry off a shorter cut), but then I saw Jennifer Aniston's latest style...  It seems to be dividing the world at the moment - people either love it or they hate it.  Personally, I think she looks absolutely stunning, and I am amazed to say that I am seriously considering going the same way, even if it's just to make my hair healthy enough to reach the lengths of Miss Lively.  Watch this space...