Dumdumdeeedum... Skipping Along to Another LFW Show!!!

Short post this evening... Might be something to do with the huge lack of sleep I've been living on lately ( - I'm a massive insomniac - ) and also work being really quite hectic at the mo. Oh, and the lovely, and slightly expensive, very merry evening out I've had. Sigh.

Anyhoo... As you may have noticed if you read the lovely Claire's blog, The View From Here, we went to another fashion show on Monday evening.

Claire - Glam as ever...

Moi straight from work... I look like a small child hehe. (Take note of the velvet hair scrunchie... I am newly obsessed!!!) Wearing: vintage Escada wine silk shirt, Luella bag, Cheap Monday self-studded jeans, M&S sandals, Boots bordeaux velvet hair scrunchy.

It was the Maaike Mekking show at CAMP near Old Street - very East London, very too-cool-fash-un... Claire and I had a great time commenting incessantly on everyone's ensembles, and yumyumyumming at the red velvet cakes that were on offer. (Not so much at the wine though...)

The show, which annoyingly started almost an hour late, did present some rather cool clothes, the stand-out ones of which I attempted to get good photos of in poorly lit conditions on a poor camera. Like Claire, I felt that a lot of the clothes were let down by some rather shoddy modelling. If you're going to have non-professional models, then at least brief them on how to walk, the speed at which they should go, and that they should STOP at the end of the runway. I missed some photo ops on my favourite pieces because a couple of the girls moved far too fast and didn't even pause for breath at the end of the white carpet... Sigh.

However, I did appreciate several elements of this collection. Aside from the cupcakes, I rather liked the oriental details, the cut outs and the subtle definition of the girls' silhouettes behind both structured and loose clothes. The show was simple, but by having them walk against a wall, the shadows emphasised the free-flowing movement which made several of the pieces rather interesting. Saying that, one of my favourite pieces was a rather stiff white dress, so maybe I should just shush! ;-D

This floaty pleated trouser and white top with bra-as-outerwear thing going on was rather special and I was sad not to get a better shot... I think the collection, with it's muted but striking pallette and hints of lovely pattern-creativity was overall good. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as Saturday as the crowd was a bit too hip for little ol' me, and the lighting and models - annoying, niggling details - really put me off.

Adore this dress... Great brocade-esque details.

Scary China Doll look... Love the shirt though!

But maybe the cupcakes and the white dress, cute white shirt and pleated trousers may have been worth the adventure into East-London-Land for me...

Night All!

Xxxc

Vintage Loveliness, Family Goodness and Inspirational Architecture...

I have mentioned a couple of times in the last week or so that it was my confirmation on Sunday. It was lovely as my parents, several close family friends and my godparents came down to attend, and, of course, my best friend was there, as always. 

Getting confirmed while at uni was really important to me, as if I go into academia, I'll most likely do church history or theology, so being involved in college chapel life is a big part of what has made this year really, truly, one to remember. We have *the most gorgeous* early George Gilbert Scott designed chapel, adorned with truly beautiful carvings and a roof covered in paintings of obscure saints - this means I spend most of my time in there, neck craned back, staring at the ceiling, trying to identify the saints above me based on my very crude knowledge of iconography!

image copyright 2008 St John's College, imported from www.joh.cam.ac.uk/chapel_and_choir

Anyway, enough about that, here's the photos of *the dress* I wore... which is far more important ;-D 

Me, chattering away about something. Looking rather pale, but that's usual, so not giving away my completely shattering - physically and emotionally - previous 48 hours... Oh, the WONDERS of MAC concealer and foundation, NARS blusher and Max Factor mascara ;-D

These were all taken in the lovely gardens, overlooking the Cam, of the Master's Lodge in college... (The mothership is in green and my daddy is the big guy between Will and me.)

Since, I believe, it was Mother's Day *everywhere except the UK* quite recently, I thought I'd show you a picture of my mother and I... She's my rock and my confidante. I am quite a daddy's girl too, but I couldn't do without talking to my mum most days. Silly huh. She and I are quite different but equally, we are *exactly* the same in so many ways... Though she's far more *chic* than I could ever be! Something to do with the rail thin, ex-model / alpha-female, senior-partner-lawyer thing lol.  I also find the deathly pale vs. healthily tanned / nut-brown from 2 seconds in the sun contrast hilarious... Shows what years living in Jamaica will do ;-D

This is probably my favourite picture... Sitting between the two men in my life may have been a bad plan... ;-) Hilarious!

This silky floral shift dress is *absolutely* my favourite thing in my wardrobe now... It's vintage from the 1960s and, as far as I can tell, handmade. I love the subtle, wide boat neckline, the high waist (- mine falls higher than average, so "waisted" stuff often looks crap on me -) and the unusual colours - the orange flowers matched my watch and nails ;-D. It was perfect for the weather and the ceremony (though it was covered up by a massive floaty white piece of cotton  - a surplice - for the service - all members of college have to wear one on Sundays, Saints Days and for special services like this one... It's just college variant academic gowns for others!)

I got the dress from a website called Love Miss Daisy Vintage, which I have to say, is probably the best online vintage emporium in terms of service and quality I've so far encountered. They have some really beautiful pieces, in great condition and which are extremely good value - prices range from £18 to £100+ for dresses... I stalk their new uploads most days, and yearn for quite a large percentage of things! Today, I gave in and ordered a skirt and completely unneccesary cocktail dress to compensate for the pain of revising the 1948 UN convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide! Laura of LMD is so so lovely, and you can add her on twitter (@LMDvintage ) to ask questions and just generally chatter! :-D This site is *seriously* worth your time, and they're featured in quite a few magazines and on celebs so the stuff is only going to get *hotter*! I'm greatly amused by the fact that my new dress is going to be in the July issue of Woman & Home hehe.

Thanks tonnes to the Novelista Barista, who gave me an award yesterday!

She has a really lovely blog, so you really should all check it out. I think the rules run to something like - I'm supposed to give out 15 of these, but I'm just going to give it to the people who immediately spring to mind, irrespective of numbers :-D

So, Claire, Laura, Winnie, Tina, Liz and Casey... Have this award, you are all AMAZING! 

Also, thanks to everyone who commented such lovely things on the last post... The location was in fact, not a castle or park, but one part of the (massive) gardens of my college, down by a stream-tributary of the River Cam. It's my new favourite place as it's sheltered from the wind and covered in daisies! Nice place to revise on a warm day :-D

Right... Talkking of revising, I should be doing that now... 

Xxxc

Popping in...

I had planned to post a tag-catch-up before now, but that's on the back burner 'til I can find my camera in the mess that is my room... 

Anyway, I was having a quick escape from dissertation pain to play on LookBook - my favourite of the Chictopia / Modepass etc type of site... And since my brain is too dead to do anything other than say... "I like." "Pretty." "Want dress." etc - in manner akin to Me Tarzan, You Jane / McQueen dress / Louboutin heels / vintage scarf etc, here is a quick stream of images that have made me smile and feel a tiny jolt of inspiration through my otherwise dead-brain:

- Can I please *be* this girl? She's so cute! And that skirt is calling out to me!

- Not exactly my style, but she looks so great, I'd think about rocking it... LOOK AT THOSE SHOES!!!

- Adorable yet naughty with those tights! Love the skinny belt over denim shirt... Wish I could ever find ones long enough to do that without revealing my arse to the world lol.

- LOVE this! Illustration as well as cute pic! Those tights are adorable, and I so want to read a kids book drawn like that... Now. Please. Thank you.

- Looks like such fun! I miss fun. I also NEED those shorts... I'm a sucker for red at the moment!

So there you have it... I popped in... Splurged my tiny little bit of current inspiration... Now I should go drink more red bull, and try to kick my brain into gear over my dissertation case studies... 

61.5 hours 'til IT'S ALL OVER! This makes me want to cry and laugh hysterically at the same time! ;-D Can't wait for the freedom to lie around on the backs, reading Murakami / Dante / Golding, procrastinating from revision, and laughing at my mates looking like complete idiots playing frisbee / croquet / strange made-up games that make no sense...

Xxxc

P.s. I'm trying to keep up with my Google Reader, but am epically behind on comments... Please forgive me, and I promise I'll be back and replying and generally being my usual hyperactive-blogging self! Honest!

P.p.s. Say hello on twitter! I'm constantly updating at the mo. Keeps me a tiny bit sane...

Red Legged Exhibition Exhibitionist

So today was the last day of *this* exhibition of Sarah Wilson's work...

I'd been meaning to go all holiday - there are many examples like this where I wait and wait and wait 'til the last minute and almost (or do) miss great stuff.

Basically, this is going to be a two-part post... This is about my clothes today... Because I am impatient and can't wait to put them up... And part 2 - next week - will be about the artist, collection and exhibition itself! 

So. Here goes.

Shocked. Bright legs. Art. Light.

Wearing - Red M&S tights, ubiquitous ToyWatch, ASOS.com horse print shorts, Motel lace back dress (wrong way around) over Tavi / Borders and Frontiers teeshirt and Hush Puppy black sheer-lace-up heeled Oxfords. Oh, and in the first two pics, I'm also covering up with the ever-useful Tibetan shawl and carrying the UBER-CHIC (not) laptop bag!

The exhibition was at New Hall (now Murray Edwards, but we still call it the old name...) College, which is what's called a 'hill college' - i.e. out of town by about 15 minutes or so - FAR in Cambridge terms, AND it's all girls... Eek. I like my 70:30 boys to girls ratio thank you very much! ;-D (More about New Hall's art collection in Part 2!)

It was the first properly sunny day we've had (in Cambridge - I'm excepting my sunny Hampshire Easter Monday here...) in ages. Bliss. Not quite warm enough for uncovered legs, but certainly teeshirt weather!

Sorry for the short-ish post. I've got several hundred more dissertation words to do before bed. Sigh.

Xxxc

Photos, as ever, by Alex Tatton-Brown

Kidnap / Escape, Countryside, Theatre... Oh, and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Yesterday evening, I went out to dinner with my best friend, Will.

In honesty, I have four people in the world who I might genuinely refer to in such a way... To me, the term is one I personally don't attribute to the people I've known the longest, or neccessarily to the people who know Absolutely Everything - friendship is a voyage of discovery after all! To me, a best friend is someone I feel completely myself with and trust to be able to deal with all my crap if I need someone to be there for me, without worrying they won't be there the next time. (And it goes the other way, as the million-and-one conversations on the kitchen floor with room-mate attest.)

Will is basically my adopted-big-brother. His mother does actually describe me as "the daughter I never had", so that's pretty much correct... These two photos pretty much sum us up - one was taken at a May Week (in June) garden party last summer, and the other was at a friend's birthday party about the beginning of my 2nd year.

Anyway... Carrying on with my ramble...

Will, being the dashing gent he is, recognised, over dinner, the distress I've been in, and immediately decided that I could not spend Easter weekend in Cambridge, but that I was going home with him to his parents' house in the Hampshire countryside. Let me just point out, that I know his parents very well, and this is not an irregular hide-out for me...

So, at 4am this morning/yesterday, after racing each other down the motorway, we arrived at his. Since then, it's been pouring down with rain, but it's warm and cosy and quiet... Well, note exactly true, as they have a dog and a puppy! (I'll try to post pictures of them before the weekend is out, as they're JUST ADORABLE.) Not managed to do work yet, but that's partly due to exhaustion. And yet I do feel inspired. It may be grey, but the colours of the landscape around are so comforting. The greens and browns and occassional flashes of red and yellow from hedgerows and gardens make me smile...

I was also the happy recipient of benefits of someone else's misfortune. Will's younger brother, who came home from Oxford today, was ill and unable to attend the performance of Merchant of Venice that was on at the Watermill Theatre tonight with Will and his mother, so I was roped into attending too.

Oh yes. Such a hardship. I hate Shakespeare I do. Oh wait. I love Shakespeare. I lied. Very Badly.

The production was directed by Edward Hall (Sir Peter Hall's son), and had an all-male cast. They are doing Merchant in rep with Midsummer Night's Dream, which Sally (Will's mum) went to on Monday and proclaimed as hugely successful. Well, tonight's performance was equally successful. Though the women really annoyed me - partly from inconsistencies and partly because the guy who played Jessica was Just Weak! Basically, it was really well staged, in a prison, with a great set of leads and some really strong acting and direction. Merch can be incomprehensible at times, but this interpretation was affecting and clear in direction and speech from the word go. Brilliant. I just hated that Portia was played like a Tranny, while Jessica seemed to be supposed to be a girly actual-girl which were portrayals neither consistent with each other, nor with the prison-setting, in the case of Jessica. But that's small fry really, considering it was a throughly engaging production of a play I've never before liked. Even the gory scenes like the eye-removal were done well! And the choosing of the box for Portia's hand in marriage - pick which of the gold, silver and lead boxes have Portia's picture in, get the clue right, or otherwise get a skull or a mirror with mean verse attached - was extremely well done. Especially considering the last Merchant of Venice I saw, my mother and I almost shouted "sack the hatter" at bows... They did have silly ones.

So anyway. In the spirit of this week's outfit posts, I do have a few, though please accept my apologies for the wearing of the same dress I wore last weekend! This time, with different stuff, but essentially, not Massively interesting...

- "slaving" at the computer...
- poseeeeer! that fire is so so toasty! this is the annexe downstairs, that is basically a self-contained flat, where I'm working / sleeping for the weekend.

- this weird lavender thing makes me happy!

- reading Conrad by the fire...

I wasn't massively dressed up for the theatre... It being a provincial one, there's no need to think more than country-smart and warmth. So I'm wearing my Acne Jeans, Topshop dress, mother's old charcoal cardigan, Kate Kuba heels and Tiffany tear drop necklace, bracelet and earring set. Relatively standard in a countryfied, comfy way.

Hmmmmm. This was supposed to be a short post... So I might stop there. And go to bed. Lol.

But before I go... Lazy Oaf have a SALE on til Monday... 20% off at the checkout with the code youareggshellent until Midnight, Easter Monday! Check it out! I'm thinking of getting one of these... Maybe...

Night night!

Xxxc

Studstudstudstudstudstudstudstud... etc.

So today, I got a bit of a DIY-bug... The brainstorm was mainly as I received (and ordered more) studs to play with today. These are just silver stars and pyramid studs, which I’m using on denim...

First 'play' was with a Top Shop layered frill denim skirt that I studded with a smattering of stars... Mainly for clubbing wear as I’m not this skirt’s biggest fan, but it was on its way out, so thought – in the interests of reduce, reuse, recycle – to do this instead:

Outfit is TopShop denim skirt, H&M white vest, M&S grey lace vest, M&S silver pumps and GAP baby blue men's cardigan...

The pyramid studs are currently being used to convert my 5 year old, rather shabby, black Cheap Monday skinny jeans into something along the lines of this:

 from Jak and Jil blog

Not exactly original, but looking okay so far... Another piece of denim I'd consigned to the 'rarely-wear' part of my wardrobe. They remind me far too much of my 17 year old self, head over heels in love with a blonde, blue-eyed, Harrow(School)-boy-metal-head lol. He liked them as they were the only thing in my wardrobe that was black! Hehe. Not much has changed eh. Except maybe my taste in men... So hopefully this'll give them a new lease of life other than being worn when there's no other option ;-D - I'll post pics when they're done.

I also ordered some skull-shaped studs and coloured (purple and baby blue) pyramids that I'm going to try to persuade myself to use on my beloved AA purple tri-blend tee... I might have to buy a double of it tho. Or get a blue one and play with That! Oh the possibilities!!!

Don't know if my heart can take the risk otherwise! ;-D  Yeeeek! I'm getting all these from the AMAZING ebay seller denk_universe who I cannot recommend enough... They're really quick for shipping, cheap compared to other retailers, and just generally really sweet! Plus the Mexican stamps on my package are just Too Kwl!

Sigh. They're even 'Tajin, Mexico, ARQUEOLOGIA' stamps... How fitting!?!?!? 

:-D

I think the skull studs are going to be used for a project along these lines:

- I'm currently waiting for this tee-shirt from voltage.vox on ebay... and I reckon, if I use the studs to attach (along with some sturdy invisible stitching) some velvet ribbon to the sides to pull it in at the waist it could be really fit! I ordered a medium to get some length and loose-ness around the shoulders and neck (which I'll probably cut out anyway ;-D). Thoughts on colour for the ribbon? I haven't been in VV Rouleaux for aaaaages and I can't quite bring myself to buy online as their shops are Such Fun... So this one might have to wait til after I've been home.

In other news... 

I was supposed to be 'smart' and on box office today, so in the ultimate boring outfit, I'm workin' my amazingly amazing grey Acne jeans - I buy a new pair every year in their brilliant online sales lol and they're the only jeans I wear... Slightly different washes, but always Hep style and grey! Unoriginal much. But I suppose I don't wear jeans much, so these do the job and go from casual to smart rather well. Plus a vintage Jaeger silk shirt (missing a couple of buttons - *note to self: replace them before Mother, whose shirt it was originally, cottons on!*), black M&S pumps and necklace from Etsy, yeeeeeeears ago... I got to their shop after a tip from SusieBubble (and I think, from Queen Michelle too, but can't find that post...) - Paraphenalia was the name, but they don't seem to be on there anymore, which is a Crying Shame!

Right... That was supposed to be a short post. Ha ha ha.

Back to the dissertation-grind!!!

Xxxc

P.s. Thank you so so so so so much for all the amazing comments on yesterday's blog post. I was having a really really really bad day (yesterday and today), and they got me through... Hugs. You're all immense!

*Edit* Paraphenalia can now be found at http://shop.paraphernalia.nu/ - thanks to Rebecca of The Clothes Horse for that!!!