luella goes from geek to goth

if luella s/s 2008 was 'geeky cool' than a/w 2008 should be titled 'pretty goth'. big, girly pigtails and pretty skirts contrasted with gothic lips and a dark colour palette. our expectations of an oxymoron fashion statement, that has become unique to luella, was fulfilled once more. looking like they had stumbled out of enchanted woods, feeling a little mystified, this season's look was inspired by folklore and fairytales - with witch's hats, crafty embroidery and gypsy inspired hair accessories defining the collection. waistlines continued to be high and peter pan collared blouses, sweetheart dresses and gingham prints - that was all the rage last season - was translated from bright candy-colours to warm winter shades. think rusty oranges and deep blues. wooly pixie hats, thick coloured tights and scarves that became hoods that became scarves were simple, practical and perfect for english winters. i predict, come christman, they will be on every girl's wishlist.

are you ready to JUMBLE?

i've done many interesting and unusual things in my life but never thrift shopping and live music at the same time. that's why the jumblist massive sale which promised exactly that sounded like a little bit of fun. obviously the 'everything 1 pound' part sounded pretty fun too_ the sale was held at 93 East Feet which is apparently (unknown to me) a pretty notorious venue to brick lane regulars. the results: a black chiffon topshop skirt with tulle lining and a leather belt with gold detail buckle for a total of only 2 pounds (aha. they were serious about the 1 pound an item thing). not only did i get a bargain but i also heard some pretty interesting music_ there was rob thomas who, when not entertaining at jumblist sales can be found busting at liverpool street tube station and then there was lail arid who sang about hugging trees and fashion magazines which was actually pretty fun and funny (seriously though she wasn't bad at all). the UV lighting sorta affected my colour judgment and left me wondering on more than one occasion whether the dress i was holding was blue or purple. most of the clothes were highstreet, with tags still on them - not the usual old pussy-bow shirts and maxi dresses. jumbling was all the rage today but i think i'll go back to thrifting... apart from being better at it i think i kind of miss the smell of vintage clothes, the lack of ambience and being able to tell the colour of the garment i'm holding without squitting.

wardrobe for sale! anyone?

women selling off their wardrobes... aha it's a trend. i have decided it is de-fi-nate-ly a trend. it's taken off on ebay and now daphne guiness is doing it too. she is auctioning off (a fraction) of her, i'm assuming, fabulous wardrobe and even better she's doing it for charity. i recently interviewed susan muncey (ex-boutique owner of London's hidden gem Fashion Gallery) about her soon-to-be launched online boutique, ShopCurious. she kicked-off the launch of the website with "the susan muncey shopcurious sale" where she parted with some of her most treasured wardrobe items. see like i told you it's a trend but i think maybe you would need a really impressive wardrobe filled with way too much clothes (although what does that mean actually?) in order to have the guts to sell some of it. so why is it a trend? i'm not completely sure yet? i'm still exploring, pondering and biting my nails about that one... but maybe it has something to do with the idea that "if i sell the old stuff i'll have more space for the new stuff"... maybe? i dunno...

i-Dedicate this to agyness.

we've seen her on the catwalk of London Fashion Week, on the cover of one to many magazines, in the windows of nearly every big designer store and hanging around camden town... and yes i know what you thinking. you couldn't see any more of her even if you wanted to? well you're wrong. this month's issue of i-D is 'the agyness deyn issue' and they are not fooling around with their themed issues. it's not just a cover page, an interview and a few pages of jaw-dropping photos. it's 6 cover pages, an interview with her, her mother, her sister, her bestfriend and her boyfriend (phew.) and a whole magazine, cover-to-cover, of jaw-dropping photos. i-D has lovingly dedicated themselves and their entire may issue to the british beauty agyness deyn . whoever said she's the next kate moss should seriously rethink that statement cause i don't remember a magazine ever dedicating an entire issue to kate??

my ♥ for chloe sevigny

i just found the lovely miss sevigny on the pages of an Uniqlo ad in this months issue of i-D wearing clothes from jean-michel basquiat t-shirt series, which was like opening a bag of skittles and finding loads of red skittles (you would understand if you knew how i felt about red skittles). hasn't she just been popping up in the most wierd and wonderful places? she recently joined the elle editorial team as their style advisor and now has her own monthly style column. she's graced the pages of magazines and every perfume counter looking wonderfully pretty as one of the three faces for the new chloe perfume - a girl after her own name. she has such an electic mix of quirky cool and girliness that kirsten dunst couldn't live up to even if she tried. here's why i ♥ chloe so that you'll have reason to love her too.

1. she was adorning RayBan Wayfarers long before they were cool.

2. she changes professions (model, actress, spokesperson, designer and columnists) with such ease and is actually unsurprisingly good at each and every one of them.

3. she's been nominated for an oscar and golden globe (incase you've forgotten)

4. she's not conventionally pretty yet still i could name several girls (and guys) who would want to be her.

5. she's so fashion savvy and ahead of the game that elle gave her her own column.

6. she's in this very glamourous and arty (dance number) ad entitled "Carousel" for Ritz Fine Jewellery - which i love!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPTs8MgSYHU

7. she's teaming up with the (just as lovely) zooey deschanel in Divorce Ranch, an indie comedy/period piece - looking forward to it? please all raise your hands now.

vintage overdrive. (urban junkies workshop)

is it just me or have we seriously gone into vintage overdrive?! vintage shopping not so long ago was a fun and delightful shopping experience that we did on saturday mornings with friends exploring a treasure trove of past-on gems at affordable prices. Nowadays saturdays are simply a morning of window-shopping, glaring enviously at those Chanel pumps with the very steep triple figure price tag. the first time we reach into our purses is to buy a skinny vanilla latte, extra hot, no cream which is not nearly as satisfying as a good-vintage buy, close but definitely not close enough. i propose that we all boycott the vintage fashion craze and find something else with more vintage cool then a pair of 1970’s Vivienne Westwood sunglasses. let’s say an old record player from the 50’s or the very first model of the Polaroid camera? Polaroid has recently announced the discontinuation of their products so get down to finding and hanging on to that now-retro-looking 80’s Polaroid camera of yours that has probably started collecting dust in the box labelled ‘junk’ and divulge yourselves in old-school Game Boys and other vintage-tech that won’t result in a call from you bank manager.

polyester potential.

Like all fashion lovers I sort of have a problem with polyester and I usually refuse to buy anything made from it unless the clothing item in question is truly lovely and not too expensive. Seems vintage fashion sellers are well aware of our feelings for synthetic material - they tend to write 'luxurious silk from 1968' on the tag even though clearly the item is marked '100% polyester' on the inside.


But a recent article in W Magazine got me thinking about the future of polyester and its potential as a luxury clothing material. Lanvin, one of the worlds most elegant and lavish fashion houses, recently used polyester in the making of their iconic floaty dresses. Aber Elbaz, designer at Lanvin, admits that he 'loves the feel of (polyester)'. But surely he's not talking about the same polyester that was overly used in the 60's and 70's to create most of what we see and try our very best to stay away from in thrift stores today?

Apparently polyester is no longer the restraining and tacky material it once was. Synthetic material has been improved and is slowly making a comeback as more and more designers are choosing to use polyester.

If big fashion houses are dabbling and divulging themselves in synthetic fabrics to create beautiful and breathtaking pieces maybe polyester will no longer be the unspoken and forbidden word in fashion. I won't exaclty be rushing out to get my hands on as much polyester as possible but it does mean that I might have reconsidered that clothing item labelled '100% polyester'. Maybe one day there will be no horror reaction to a tag that reads 'luxurious polyester from 2008'.

the death of the ultra-cool polaroid.

unless you haven't heard... Polaroid Co has decided to officially discontinue their products within this year. invented by the ingenious Edward Herbert Land in 1947 the polaroid has been around for well over 50 years and has left a stamp on the world in the form of billions of polarized film. i can't help but wonder how our lives will change without polaroids... what will the fashion world do? how will jason mraz take photos of himself on stage and throw them out at his audience? and what will amusing sites such as postcardpolaroid.com do with themselves now?

in the 1990's Polaroid sorta had a revival and that's probably when my love-affair with instant film began. my first Polaroid was actually the Polaroid JoyCam and then the iZone and only then the regular sized Polaroid camera... more than anything it's probably cause i love anything pocket-sized and the iZone polaroids were tiny compared to the regular sized polaroid. (oh god and do you remember the SpiceCam?? i remember it was the height of cool to have one. random thought sorry.)

but with digital cameras (and facebook profile pictures) taking over our lives... i guess polaroids have kinda taken a backseat. nowadays our camera-savvy friends take the photo and instantly we gather around him/her trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the outcome. is my double chin showing? or has that huge spot that i'm so discreetly trying to hide with my v. interesting hand posture reared its ugly head? and after much protesting ('i look horrific in that photo'/'you gotta delete it'/'if you post that up on facebook i'll delete you as my friend') the photo is deleted - without ever actually being a real photo. with polaroids - we embrace the imperfections and bad hair days... on the most part cause instant film is rather pricey but none the less you gotta admit that there's never a bad photo when it comes to a polaroid.

i'm personally sad to see polaroids slowly but surely seeping away. there's certainly something about them - i dunno it might be their old-school cool or quirkiness but there's just something unique about taking a polaroid and owning a polaroid. something that i'll miss in the future and that's why i intend on getting my hands on as much instant film as i can or at least as much as my bank account will allow.

on the otherhand i think we might also have a found a window to something with vintage potential? my advice is to hold onto all those instant snapshots (even if they are of you in your pajamas) cause they might be worth more than you think one of these days.

in the mean time... visit http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-polaroid-film.html and sign the petition to save polaroid film!

80's apparel_

i was browsing about topshop yesterday and tried on a blue & white striped bodysuit with a high waisted flared skirt similar to the ones shown at miu miu s/s 2008 show (a look that i basically stole straight off the catwalk) the look worked well but the blue & white striped bodysuit didn't quite work so well with the rest of my wardrobe. and so began my (unexpected) search for a black/white bodysuit that would fit right into my collection of wardrobe basics... and where better to get a bodysuit than AMERICAN APPAREL? yes i actually went looking for a bodysuit... you remember those leotard tops that we happily agreed to own in evert colour that had us resorting to descreetly pulling at our pants, trying desperately to get rid of a wedgy without anyone noticing? aha - think hard! the suppressed memory is definately there somewhere at the back of your mind. i think i can finally admit that the 80's are officially back! but really it only seems natural that with highwaisted trouser/skirt back in the fashion spotlight that bodysuits would naturally follow... the two fundamentally go hand in hand - yes? a decade or so ago i was totally working the highwaisted jeans/bodysuit look and lets not forget the legwarmers that went over the jeans! now that we have embraced the 80's comeback it comes as no surprise that AA is fast-becoming a hit store on the high street. the bodysuits were flying off the rails so fast that i could barely get my hands on one that wasn't a XS or L... but i guess with so many more AA stores filled to the rim with shiny spandex and skin-tight lycra in every colour under the sun i shouldn't have any problem getting my hands on some 80's apparel for the second time around.

fashion lets loose!

you know how they say "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" well fashion is running and screaming refusing to be dull this spring. designers return to their childhood for some inspiration and start having some silly fun as they turn this seasons catwalk into fashion's very own playpen.

lego hairbands. crayon coloured shoes. heart-shaped sunglasses. spongebob squarepants. playsuits. lego belts. batman motifs. mickey mouse head pieces. smiley faces. floppy bows.