How does one top a pencil skirt - made out of real pencils?

As the rain beats a steady, rhythmic pattern on the London pavements, the last thing one expects to see is a flame haired damsel riding a bicycle, in platforms even Naomi Campbell would shy away from, a black ring around one eye and a t-shirt that blares the words CLIMATE CHANGE or something to those odds. But if you had been in St. Pancras last night that isn't far from the image you would have seen, for it was the holy of all holies....Vivienne Westwood's SS14 collection. As a pale, red headed beauty walks onto the catwalk, hair covering her eyes, you wouldn't be surprised if it was Grace Coddington or Viv herself from 30 years ago. The shape starts to dance, moving around in an almost animalistic manner, swaying to the silent music....until she abruptly stops, lifts her head up and you realise it is the iconic, Lily Cole. Of course you understand now; the two women are trying to save the world one logo emblazoned tee at a time. The show that follows is quick and dirty - the way any Vivienne Westwood show should be. It is fashion in its purest form - wearable but with that elegant mix of eccentricity. As if the mad hatter were alive and well and designing for Ms Westwood himself. And the only thing better than that? My housemate was sat next to Anna Kendrick....Shawty get daaaahhhhhhn.


Vivienne Westwood Red Label - Vogue.co.uk

Now, some may say I am biased, but LFW is by far my favourite - Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane, Vivienne Westwood, Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda Illincic, Erdem, Marios Schwab....need I go on? Here are some of my fav pieces so far:

Peter Pilotto (Vogue.co.uk) - The AW13 collection was so spectacular I was considering selling a kidney to get even a tiny piece of it. Prints. That is the word I associate with PP - eye watering, hallucinogenic, utterly perfect prints. And what is this? Yes he has not only paired the on trend kaleidoscope print with a bell shaped skirt, but has made the entire ensemble pastel coloured. Incroyable.



Burberry Prorsum (Vogue.co.uk) - This is the show to be seen at. It may have gone through that strange chav phase, but now, you are only truly in fashion if you are watching the new collections strut down that runway - thank goodness they stream these things live now heh!! Pastels, sheers, lace, female boss suiting and underwear as outerwear was championed on the catwalks this season. Some of the outfits saw all of these things at once, proving the only way is Burberry. I wonder if they vajazzle??



Roksanda Illincic (Vogue.co.uk) - Taking a 50s housewife skirt and toughening it up is no mean feat. A Grease like flavour could be seen throughout the collection with high waisted, full skirts being worn with pretty tops and bows in their hair. Boxy shapes and monochrome brogues brought these pieces firmly into the modern day however, making an irresistible combination of...well... Danny and Sandy.



Jonathan Saunders (Vogue.co.uk) - To some, a trip to your Dad's wardrobe in the 70s, to others the perfect combination of the SS14 trends in separates. Block colours, knee length shorts, silks, boxy cropped jackets, sheer shirts...this man has thought of everything. But then again I supposed that's why he is one of the most recent British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund winners - keep an eye on this maverick, I believe the best is yet to come.



Mary Katrantzou (Vogue.co.uk) - If you haven't seen her pencil skirt (literally made with a pencil print) then you haven't lived. You know how Michael McIntyre is so funny because he tells us stuff about our lives we already know? Observational humour if you will. Well Mary does the same thing but with prints. A thousand mirror print flowers on a skin tight silk dress? Lipsticks chasing down the side of a bell shaped ensemble? It is real life....with a slightly less real price tag. My forever obsession - Brogue dress, mmmmmm.



And on that note I suppose I have to leave you with the Mary Katrantzou pencil skirt, which started out on the catwalk as this (telegraph.co.uk) .... yes they are real pencils...



And was translated into this (polyvore.com)...


See you tomorrow for more LFW fun!

Bring Bacon or Die

Hello!

Please check out the video links I posted on the blog below. They are hilarious and my apology for not writing yesterday. The guy that makes them is an absolute genius. Not that I say any of that stuff. Although I have mentioned Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Victoria Beckham and everything fashion in recent posts...and all I do is talk about my hair and drink vodka sodas...#toteschicdrinksandhair. It is not like me or any of my friends though whatsoever....I mean we don't have beards for a start.

You may wonder why I didn't write yesterday. Basically I had a family day - with my best friend's family. Myself, her and her younger sister huddled in bed eating bacon and egg sandwiches until 3pm (maybe due to a few vodka sodas the night before....what they didn't have any champagne). We talked about our childhood - we all three grew up together from 4 years old - we ate more food than the body can handle - and more food than a fashion girl should eat in the course of a week and just laughed until we could laugh no more. I highly recommend a day without phones, televisions, computers; grab a loved one and talk about the time you thought it would be funny to cut your own hair then ended up having to wear a headband at the front of your forehead for 6 months because the tuft you hacked off wouldn't grow back...RW i'm looking at you. In a time where no body talks, talk; where everyone eats out, cook and where everybody gets up and showers, stay in bed and wallow...the last one is advisable for one day only.

Even though I am trying to be more in touch with my human side and less so with my technological side, I have watched a couple of good movies recently. The Vow with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams is the best thing since you decided Nutella was good for you because it has nuts in it. Rachel and Channing play a young very much in love married couple who are torn apart when they are in a car accident and Paige (Rachel) forgets what happened in the last five years of her life; her entire time with Leo (Channing). It is based on a true story and worth a watch - there is no cheesey "I knew that would happen" moments and it is in some places heartwarming. Also, for the first time I watched Easy A with Emma Stone last night - it was quite good. It also has tons of young hotties in it ) - Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl fame), Cam Gigandet (Twilight and Burlesque) and Amanda Bynes (the girl that was on everything on Nickelodeon when you were ten, who although continues to play under twenties in films is herself likely about thirty). It is a modern take on the Scarlet Letter but with a twist. Easy watching, does what it says on the tin kind of stuff. Also, start saving for The Help which comes out on the 12th March (in England) - literally the most wonderful film I have ever seen.

Now to stop watching movies and to start on real life....

J

Thakoon S/S12 Collection

Fashion Trend: Just there sheers. I love a good sheer. It is so elegant, so feminine and yet so racy at the same time. A lot of S/S12 runway looks incorporated sheer in some way, so it needs to be in your wardrobe. A sheer blouse tucked into a pair of patterned denim in the day. A sheer dress in the evening or for those who are risky enough a sheer shirt with no bra - I will have to leave this look to Kate Moss unfortunately. For once, big boobs are not in. Make sure you are making your sheers work for you and not that you look like you are working as a street walker when in them. Don't show too much, add feminine accessories and other pieces that draw the eye. Thakoon layered sheers over the top of opaque materials in his S/S12 collection and it looked very pretty. Try it yourself if you are afraid to show too much skin. http://www.thakoon.com/collections/lookbook/spring-2012

Alexander McQueen
£1,585

Fashion Item: Jackets with peplums. I am a lover of the peplum because it is the most wonderful body shaper and it can be worn OVER the clothes. Move over Spanx!! A peplum is a small skirt that is attached to dresses, skirts or jackets that is basically just an added fashion extra. Besides looking chic it gives the idea of an hour glass shape if there isn't one and hides the lumps and bumps if there is too much of one! Jackets with peplums are really in at the moment and can be worn casually with jeans or as an expensive extra to eveningwear. I am naturally fawning over this Alexander McQueen beauty.
http://www.alexandermcqueen.co.uk/uk/en/shop/Womenswear/Shop/Jackets/P-BLACK-COTTON-CANVAS-EDWARDIAN-JACKET.aspx They are a classic look that will keep coming back into fashion - the peplum has been round for hundreds of years as it is. So pick up a piece and just keep bringing her back out when peplums are in...or you have eaten too much.

Merriweather Jacket £104.61

 Store or Label: J Crew - most people in America don't realise but they actually give student discount - so my friends over in the U.S should check that out. They are a little bit more expensive for your everyday casual clothing, but they have a good variety and the pieces are great quality. They are in England now and they sell everything from wedding stuff to a standard jeans and tee combo. When we buy basic pieces we either want to pay nothing or we want them to last - if you are the latter type of person, give J Crew a look. I am in love with striped jackets at the moment so I am thinking of picking this one up, which is really not that unreasonably priced. Have a look on the website and you will realise it is basically a grown up, smarter version of Gap. Try it.(http://www.jcrew.com/womens_feature/NewArrivals/teesandknits/PRDOVR~67732/67732.jsp)

Celebrity or Designer: Jonathan Saunders - it would be wrong of me not to put him here, even though I have talked about him in 17,000 blogs already. He is the winner of the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund which awards £200,000 to help an up-and-coming talent get even bigger. Jonathan, from Scotland, will also receive a mentoring program that is sure to catapult him into superstardom. He isn't afraid of prints, shapes or the unusual but also can tone it down and make a woman look romantic, delicate and feminine. Watch this space and watch his needle!

Now, fly free my pretties and enjoy your Monday!
Becky xx

USP? ABC!!!

Hello Friends,

For those of you that have already read this post you might realise it is slightly different to the last time you looked it over....that is because I managed to delete it.... So this wonderful blog is a newer version of the original!!

The first and most important thing that I told you all was that my blog may look a little different from now on, as I am no longer unemployed!!!! That is right friends, the interview that I was at on Thursday has offered me a position! The company is a PR/branding company called Yellowdoor. It is owned by the red haired power bob herself - Ms Mary Portas. I am BEYOND excited. Starting in March finishing... who knows. Perhaps three months, perhaps never if I can sneak into the showroom and hide amongst the Acne jeans!!

Anyway I attribute some of my new success and the above job offer to blogging. Due to my new found love of this art I have been checking out other blogs. The things people write about are often awe-inspiring and sometimes a little creepy. I saw blogs where girls let their boyfriends choose their outfits, blogs where women wear man-repelling but fabulous clothes and even blogs where people write what (and unfortunately who) they want to do before they die. Enlightening to say the least. So I decided I wanted to do the same sort of thing with my blog. Make it into a 'something'. So, to start out small, for the next 26 days I will be doing an alphabet of fabulous things. Fashion trends, fashion item, store or label I am loving and celebrity or designer in the news. So without further ado, I begin with...

A

Fashion Trends: Aquatics - Now before you all rush out and buy yourselves a tail and start calling your best friend Sebastian, I am talking about prints, shimmer and sharktooth necklaces! Everyone from Chanel through to Giorgio Armani sent fishy fun down the S/S12 runway and it is beautiful to say the least. Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel showed sheer dresses with koi carp swimming amongst small circular scales - sounds odd, but once seen is beautiful. For those who are willing to go all the way, get a piece with fish, sea horses or shells on it, for those who are less keen, fishy jewellery and bright coloured pieces with shimmer also work. It brings a whole new meaning to the game 'Go Fish'.



Avery Printed Silk Satin Dress
Jonathan Saunders

Fashion Item: Avery Printed Silk Satin Dress by Jonathan Saunders. I know I keep mentioning him, but he really is going to be a big deal. He just won the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund and will be even bigger than he is now. So if you can afford the £1000+ for this dress on Net-A-Porter, where he has a great collection brewing, buy it now because his stuff will only get more 'spensy... (http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/182397)

Store or Label: Anthropologie. If like me you love Urban Outfitters because it looks like a sleepover on crack, you will be obsessed with Anthro. It is where adults who still love Poptarts would shop...im sure. They sell everything from the most beautiful dresses through to the most insane aprons - it really makes me wish I could do more than just dial for pizza. Oh well. In America they send you a cute birthday candle necklace on your big day and you get money off in store. Money and a gift?! And there are no big red lips in sight. (http://www.anthropologie.eu/)

Celebrity or Designer: Adele. I know this is so two days ago, but everyone is talking about Karl Lagerfeld calling Adele fat. What people are less quick to post is that he said she has 'a beautiful face and a divine voice'. This is the point, if Adele lost weight she may not sound the same and I am too obsessed with her for that to change. A lot of people are up in arms about this, but the truth is she is a little bigger than the average superstar. It was perhaps a little mean that KL used the word fat but we all know he would skin his mother and wear her as a coat if he thought it would shock. So Adele keep singing songs about heart break and Karl, keep making dresses that break my heart!

Now, go out and enjoy the weekend!
Becky xx