Dress Like Victoria Beckham ....but by spending a lot less cash and eating a lot more burgers.

Hello!

How is everyone?? I took a little break from blogging because working is hard and I was tired when I got home...welcome to the real world right? But I am back and ready to annoy you all again. I had a wonderful birthday filled with friendship and love. I received a camera so I can take pictures of stuff I think is cool. To start with, I bought a few random pieces of clothing and will show you them!!

Top left is a really colourful tribal skirt!! It was from New Look and I believe was about £15. It looks so cute with a white sheer shirt or a champagne coloured sheer shirt tucked in!! Loads of gold jewellery and tan wedges??? Oh, go on then. The maxi skirt is a gorgeous orange and is from none other than my love - Tesco. £12 I think and the quality is wonderful. I wore this with a yellow and white polka dot top and brown ballet flats. Finally the two little things underneath are a black and (although it looks salmon) neon pink boob bandeau!! These are a god send!! I may be a little slow on the uptake, but finally I have arrived at the boob bandeau platform. I LOVE sheer shirts with bras showing underneath...so sexy. BUT, some of us have slightly larger...assets.... than others and a bra on show could be a little terrifying. So instead invest in a couple of these (£2.99 from New Look). They can also be worn under baggy vest tops and things with low armholes. So cute under white sheer shirts though. Just adds that pop of colour needed!!

Also I bought a dress from the H&M Concious Collection. It was a bargain at £14.99 and is made of Lyocell - an eco-friendly manufactured fibre. The collection is really cute so if you havent looked yet...well what are you waiting for?!!!!

I made a completely ridiculous birthday list of things I would never hope to get: Louboutins, Chloe bag, Burberry trench, Louis Vuitton luggage. You know, the staples. It made me think. Am I going to go through life wishing I owned all the designer things I want, get really depressed that I dont have them and spend a substantially amount of money...and shame...eating and crying into a Terry's Chocolate Orange?? NO!!! Well hopefully not. Instead I have been looking up high street copies of all the things I want and dear friends, I will share them with you. Here are my favourites...

(Left) Matalan £14 vs (Right) Stella McCartney £955.

Mirror print is so in right now - Stella does the cutest pair of trousers and a top to go with this as well....

(L) Asda £8 vs (R) Victoria, Victoria Beckham £950 (Net-A-Porter).

Another great print, with just a slight variation in price...ahem. Bring a whole new meaning to crazy cat lady.

(L) Topshop £28 studded slippers vs (R) Louboutin (Net-A-Porter) £635.

Everyone has studded everything. Dont get left behind as the only one who doesnt go off when walking through the metal detector at the airport.

(Top) ASOS £35 vs (Bottom) Jil Sander £1,540

The ASOS trousers HAVE to be mine. I will buy them and I will love them more than anything. Like Kate Moss said - nothing tastes as good as paisley print feels...or something along those lines.

(Top) Zara £39.99 vs the oh so lovely (Bottom) Mary Katrantzou £1,105

I am her greatest fan and I would give the earth to have a piece of her clothing (literally it costs the earth) BUT you can find a whole host of Mary-a-likes at Zara. So look there and try not to cry too much when you walk past the neighbour you have that grows pretty flowers that remind you of MK's SS12 collection. Sigh. You will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine.

And those are my favs at the moment. Look hard enough and you can always find a good look-alike. Its all about being a ruthless...and penniless (boo) shopper. I will bring you more as and when I discover them.

Some tidbits for today before I go:

- In A/W look out for metal toed heels and pumps a la Chanel as these are an extension of the lady-like trend happening at the moment.

- Also look out for heels with see through sides as Beyonce was pictured wearing. These were in a few years ago and I had a gorge pair from New Look, which of course I gave away thinking they would never come back into fashion again. Alas, even I make mistakes.

- Tulisa was voted FHMs sexiest woman... think of this what you may, but she has taken a lot on the chin recently....

- Preen, Jenny Packham (pretty much 50% of Kate Middleton's wardrobe is by JP) and Roksanda Illincic (Colleen Rooney was seen wearing their 'it' dress of the season to the horse racing - it was hot pink and had massive sleeves) have all either done recently or are about to launch collections for Debenhams. They join the likes of Matthew Williamson who has been there for a good while now. Remember that collections such as these sell out quickly so keep your eyes peeled. They are not as heavily advertised as collaborations with H&M etc, so you have to do your research. Or wait for me to tell you and then buy me a gift as a thank you!!

- Tomorrow is voting day!! Remember to make sure you vote for someone you care about or not at all!! Dont just guess as we could end up with some nut job!! Remember fashion is only as pretty as the prime minister's wife that wears it...

Hope you all have had a good day!

Night xx

So I am wearing houndstooth leggings, get over it

Afternoon crazy ones.

We are today back to the alphabet - like Sesame Street but with more feathers and less child labour. Before that I feel it is my duty to tell you I am starting my internship in SIX DAYS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I am the most nervous. You may remember the sheer panic that was caused by me trying to find an interview outfit and that only got seen by one person....(she liked my shoes by the way) but the first day outfit will be seen by all...seen and judged. So you have to make the choice - do you:
Option One - Wear joggers and have everyone think you are a douchebag, hate you for being apparently unfashiony and resolve to give you the nickname Pat Sharpe. Everyone thinks you must be best friends with the CEO of the company to have gotten the job because you smell like Snookie and look like MC Hammer -  but then dazzle them a little bit each day by wearing something more fashiony and having them think you have been inspired by them...
Option Two - Wear the most fabulous black dress, black blazer, skyscraper black heels and black sunglasses inside so people think you are a douchebag and hate you for being pretentious. You will get the nickname Prada as in "The Devil Wears" - but then slowly start wearing less stern clothing each day causing people to possibly thaw out and stop putting salt in your coffee...
Option Three - Wear the most fashionable outfit you have - bordering on fashion insanity - people in the street look at you and think you are cool - people in the office think you are a douchebag and hate you for trying too hard. You will get the nickname Harper (not because of the fashion magazine) but because you look like you have a stylist dressing you like the Beckham's child. The other problem with this is people will expect you to dress as fashiony everyday and that is hard to keep up therefore you have to slowly un-dazzle them each day until you are eventually dressing as option one...
Option Four - Wear moderately fashiony clothes so you can go up or down in the fashion stakes each day. Remember everyone will hate you for the first week anyway because you are interning in fashion - but at least they will call you Becky.

P

Snakeskin Printed Denim
French Connection
£98

Fashion Trend: Printed Denim - You have to be loving this trend - it is basically any kind of denim with any kind of print. You can work mixed prints in a whole new way by wearing printed jeans with a normal printed top. It gives a whole new life to our staple blue jeans!! Literally EVERY store has jumped on this trend so you can spend as little as £15-£20 on getting a pair. If you are adventurous go for a crazy bright pattern that will draw the attention to the jean or if you want to be a little more subdued go for a darker pair with a darker print - you really have free reign when it comes to this trend. If you want to go darker then kill two trends with one stone and get the snakeskin print jeans from French Connection - the print is difficult to see on the picture but is obvious in real life. http://www.frenchconnection.com/product/Woman+Collections+Jeans/74XA7/Snakeskin+Printed+Denim.htm

Floral Skinny Jean
New Look
£22.99

If you are wanting to try a bold colour look no further than New Look who have really cute printed denim in all colours, prints and sizes. Not only can you look at printed denim, but also try acid washed denim and tie dye which are equally as cute! All New Look jeans from http://www.newlook.com/shop/womens/jeans_20017?trail=1002%3Acat20017&icParent=subCategory&icCategory=cat20017&prodLimit=100&selectedFilterSize=&icStartPage=1&icSort=

Parisian Acid Wash Spotty Skinny Jeans
New Look £24.99

A.P.C Paisley Print
Cotton Dress
£250

Jil Sander Paisley Print
Jacket £1,160

Fashion Item: Paisley Printed Anything! - I suppose this is a tiny bit of a cheat because this should be in the trend section but I thought you guys would understand. Paisley will be a fad for a while but it is BIG at the moment. It was seen all over the runways on dresses, skirts, trousers, accessories, so you really can do what you want with it. No longer is that ugly old tie your dad wore ten years ago an embarrassment! Tie it in your hair, wear it as a belt, put it on your handbag, just be seen with it!! Liberty are doing a range of the most gorgeous paisley fabrics if you are daring and skilled enough to make something for yourself http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/fabrics_paisley. If not why not try a Jil Sander jacket or an A.P.C dress. Both available (and pics) from http://www.net-a-porter.com/Shop/Search?keywords=paisley&x=0&y=0. The Stella McCartney pyjama suit I want is also blue paisley - yum - another double trend!

Highness 160 Suede Pumps
Louboutin £635
Net-A-Porter.com

High Power High Waisted
Briefs Spanx £34
Net-A-Porter.com

Store or Label: Porter group and by this I mean Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter. If you have never taken my advice and looked at these sites then I cannot even explain to you how magical they are. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk down Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, stroll down Miracle Mile in Chicago, totter down Madison Avenue in NYC or just flit through the stores in Paris? Well these beautiful people have made that a possibility without you ever having to leave your living room. They have stock as soon as possible after it being on the runway - my McCartney paisley pyjama suit is already on there for example... Every designer you have ever loved is on there (for men and women) from Acne through to Zac Posen. They have a huge range in price point, so don't think it is just for the rich gals and guys - they sell Hunter and J.Crew right alongside Louboutin and Chloe, so give it a look. I will warn you though it is addictive and it is best not to have your purse ANYWHERE near you if you can't afford anything.... All designers, pics and purchases from http://www.net-a-porter.com/Shop/AZDesigners

Celebrity or Designer: Paris Hilton - whether you love her or hate her (I secretly love her...shhhh) this girl knows what she is doing when it comes to getting media attention. Earlier this month she turned 31 and threw a bash for her and her closest friends - namely Wiz Khalifa, DJ Afrojack and others of the like. Paris not known for small birthday bashes hosted an 'Eyes Wide Shut' themed party where guests were invited to a modern masquerade ball. To be honest isn't pretty dresses and jewelled masks all of our fantasies! Tons of celebs, tons of booze and tons of fun no doubt. Masks were handed out on arrival and would have caused a lot of random hookups i'm sure... I just think on your birthday you should be who you want to be and wear what you want to wear - so go get it Paris!

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/inside-paris-hiltons-eyes-wide-shut-themed-birthday-bash-2012252

See you all tomorrow giggle monsters.
Becky xx

B is for Ben Foden?

The steam is rising from their bodies, the fire is blistering behind their eyes, the profanities are flowing freely from their mouths....thats right, the rugby is on. Therefore it has been very difficult to not make my B blog (following on from the A yesterday) about Ben Foden and balls....the rugby kind of course. All jokes aside, I often wonder why some of the younger rugby players are never faces of fashion companies. I understand Dan Cole may not be your man of choice unless you work for a facial hair trimming company, but most of them have the body and the height that would look damn fine in an Armani suit. Anyway, I digress...

B

Navy Poplin Dress - Jason Wu for
Target

Fashion Trend: Bargain designers. What I mean by this is designers creating lines for highstreet companies. Most recently we are talking Jason Wu for Target and Marni for H and M. This trend gives us mere mortals the opportunity to tell that lady in the street that asks where we bought our skirt, that it is in fact Stella McCartney. She will walk off trying to work out if youre that one off This Morning and you will quietly mumble "for H and M" and hope she thinks you coughed. The only sad thing about this trend is that those of us who live, breathe and embody fashion are often pipped to the post when trying to buy our new bargain piece because mean wannabe money makers buy up the whole collection and sell it for closer to the price Jason Wu already sells his clothing at. Shops should have a system where you can only buy one of each piece per transaction, making it harder for people to ruin the opportunity for others. (www.target.com)

Beaded Woven Wedge Sandal
Burberry

Fashion Item: Beaded EVERYTHING from the Burberry Prorsum range. The Beaded Woven Wedges and the Beaded Georgette Dress. Wear them together!!!! The dress only comes in the gorgeous yellow, but the wedges come in that colour and turquoise...can you imagine them together. Stop. Its too much fabulous. (http://uk.burberry.com/store/womenswear/dresses/prorsum/prod-44550761-beaded-georgette-dress/ + http://uk.burberry.com/store/bags-shoes/shoes/wedges/prod-38185071-beaded-woven-wedge-sandals/)

Store/Label: Balenciaga. I am choosing them because I LOVE their RTW collection. I am also obsessed with their advertisements in Vogue etc. As I have said in a previous post, the model is not classically beautiful, she has downright bed hair and basically looks out of her depth. But my god does it make me want to own the clothes she is wearing. (www.balenciaga.co.uk) For those of you - and that includes me, who find this a little out of your budget, I am also loving www.boohoo.co.uk at the moment. Its Net-A-Porter for those of us who cant afford the brand new LV bag we want...even though we love it WAY more than those who can, right?!!!!

Celebrity/Designer: Blue Ivy - Beyonce and Jay-Z's baby girl. Whether or not you believe this is their actual child or that Beyonce didnt carried it and used a surrogate, you have to admit you are eager to look into this girl's wardrobe. Beyonce was spotted for the first time at Carnegie Hall on Monday supporting her husband on his double performance. Whatever you want to say, pregnancy definitely agrees with her and she stole the show in a tight fitting red dress...and she wasnt even on stage.

Go out Be Beautiful and have a great Saturday night!!
Becky xx

Get your ballgowns on kids, we're going to Tesco

Good Afternoon,

Today I had a great conversation with a friend of mine about (surprise surprise) fashion. As two people who have spent some points in our lives living in London we were musing about how much freer you feel - fashion-wise - when you are there. For those of you afraid of fashion, of which there are many, you may think I am being ridiculous. The truth is though, in London confidence is the only fashion that people should follow. The conversation was started by the fact that my friend was wearing a beautiful sheer beaded top which when I asked where she purchased it from she replied with "New Look...in Oxford Street obviously". Why obviously? Perhaps we put too much emphasis on the 'London Look'.

London is no doubt the fashion capital of England and therefore you go into any store and will find a fuller, more comprehensive and often edgier range than you will anywhere else in the country. Is this because London people are naturally more fashionable than the rest of us or is it because we perceive them to be as such? I commented to my friend this morning that some of the outfits I bought whilst living in America I feel too self conscious to wear in Gloucester because I think them too 'trendy' or 'fashion forward'. The point with London is, you could wear a black bag as a dress, belt it and someone else in your office is bound to come in wearing the same thing the next day. And therein lies the freedom.

Being a fashion follower is obviously very different to a fashion leader. If you put a table filled with healthy foods in front of a person, she would eat these and lose weight. If you put a store filled with fashion forward looks in front of a person, she would choose an outfit people see as on-trend. In London the real fashion followers go into Topshop and buy a black dress but then pair it with their grandfather's belt, a watch they bought at a vintage store and a pair of shoes from a charity shop. They customize their looks; tie a belt instead of putting it on the traditional way, carry their huge bag as though it was a clutch, wear a pair of Tesco sunglasses with a Nanette Lepore dress. Then they walk out their house and people, including myself stare in awe. Knowing how to work it is the real 'London Look'.

Now I do believe you should all go out and look confident in whatever you decide to wear, but I must make a small comment.... If you have to question whether what you are wearing is appropriate for Tesco...it is not appropriate. I saw an ENTIRE family in Tesco at 8pm last week dressed in pyjamas. We are not talking the Stella McCartney pyjama pant suit either. The mother was wearing a fuchsia coloured La Senza dressing gown with slippers....In. Tesco. HAVE SOME PRIDE LADIES!!!! What I tend to do if I am concerned about what I am wearing is think 'where have I worn this before?' and then assess the current situation. If the answer is 'in bed', 'to the young farmer's ball' or 'that time I walked through London during Gay Pride and got glitter in places no human should have glitter' then I know it is not suitable to pop to Lidl.

Confidence is always the new black. Like Tim Gunn says "make it work".
Becky xx

Every Morning I Wake Up, Before I Put On My Pyjamas...

Morning Bloggers,

It has already been a very stressful morning as there was some kind of kitten fight club outside my window that woke me up in the wee hours. If they were wanting to re-enact a film couldnt they have chosen a quieter choice? Perhaps SATC? As my friend once said, the musical, Cats and the SATC gang are not so different; they are all just old moggies eating breakfast together and bitching because one of the group has gotten older.

Anyway. I was upset at being woken so early because I tend to go to bed quite late. Since blogging, it seems the idea for the next day's blog comes to me, fully formed in bed. The only problem is that this process refuses to start until somewhere around midnight. Last night I was thinking I have blogged about unemployment, fashion, movies and, well, chocolate. This made me think of the part in The Social Network where Eduardo asks Mark if they can put advertisements on The Facebook and Mark replies no because "we don't even know what it is yet". This is how I feel about my blog. Im not sure how far it will take me or if people will like it - although I must say I have had some really great comments from those reading it - but I also dont know what it is yet. It may end up being just fashion, because hopefully one day I will be employed....but at the moment I am enjoying writing my musings to you and I hope you are enjoying reading them!

So I thought I would some days put an upcoming trend that I am obsessed with vs one I am not. So first things first: prints have been MASSIVE  for a long time now and everyone from designer to highstreet have jumped on the bandwagon. Birds, fish, tribal and polka dots have all been big and will be going into S/S 12, but the best one I have seen so far is the collection by Prada - dresses, shirts, skirts all in pastel colours with gorgeous car motifs. I. DIE. (http://www.prada.com/en#!/advertising-campaign-ss12/woman-print-campaign) I am especially loving...although still building up my bravery...to try mixing different prints. You have to be VERY careful when you do this otherwise you will end up looking like a cracked out Barbie. Leighton Meester is the QUEEN of mixing prints, so look to her for inspiration.

And the faux pas? The Pyjama Suit. Now, dont get me wrong I am not stifling creativity here. I just think this has gone a bit far. Us normal women - not a size 0, not 5'10" will look like we are late for a meeting and therefore thought clothes were less important than punctuality. Obviously never true...kidding. Probably. The girl in the link next to this statement however looks like we all wish we did when we got up in the morning. I dont think we need another reminder that we look less Heidi Klum and more The Gruffalo when the alarm goes off. http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/spring-summer-2012/ready-to-wear/stella-mccartney/full-length-photos/page/2#/image/20 (for all of you that want to look at this ready-to-sleep-wear). I am in no way saying that Stella McCartney is not the best thing since Alli, im just saying that sometimes even I think things need to be reeled in a little...

Anyway gang, as always it has been a pleasure. My tip today is to email companies even if you dont think they have any vacancies as I did this and have been told to send my CV to one of them. Good luck and happy hunting!

Becky xx