FIERCE!!! in Studs and House of Holland... (And more savings-fun)

Well, since I managed to have a panic attack at 3am last night, I decided there was nothing for it but to get through my pyramid studs! 

So here are the jeans... DIYed! 

There weren't Quite enough studs to finish a pocket, but almost... I think they're wearable without 'finishing ( - I was going to do a full half pocket - ) if not quite kwl as they are!

I took the whole pocket off, as I preferred the slightly neater look, and unlike in the Jak and Jil photo, black denim just doesn't have the same look, frayed and torn apart!

So... What do y'all think?

I was glad to have these this morning, as it was my first day out and about, working in the University Library - ok, only for a few hours, but still! - rather than in my own room... It felt good, not to float around, as is my usual want, but to stalk around town in black denim and an oversize crrraaaazeeeeeeee tee-shirt from House of Holland... (Claire - this is the one I got in my first foray into Cocosa!) Otherwise, I'm wearing Kate Kuba suede and faux snakeskin shoes and the ribbon of a net-a-porter box as a belt!!! Hehe. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and all that! ;-D

I'm already trying to think of what to do next! (After the AA tees and the Mick Jagger one which may take a while to get here anyway, and ribbons may be a long term plan too...)

I was on Koodos today - they're having an up-to-80%off-sale at the mo on brands like Sara Berman, 7 for all Mankind, T-Bags dresses, Miss Sixty, Betty Jackson, Maria Grachvogel - to name a few - too...

And I saw these:

They are Superfine jeans down from £250 to £60!!! Though my bank account's running fairly low at the moment, at least for purchases over the £10 mark... and I thought... what about trying to stud chevrons onto my black jeans...? Might try and find another pair and do it in gold, but it seems like a fun, if slightly more intermediate plan than the ones I've been making so far...

Any thoughts? Maybe I should hold off on studding everything is sight tho... Hehe.

In other recession-friendly-sales-and-discounts-news:

1) the Tate (museums) online shop is offering a 10% discount with the code 10%Twitter09 - so tempted by the Rodchenko and Popova hammer and sickle scarf still, but my purse will be remaining in pocket, as I know that I get the same discount - without postage - at home due to my discount, but it's a really good deal! I'd also recommend the brooch and tote bag from that range and I'm wierdly attracted to this children's bag:

I just want to cut off those backpack straps and add some felt handles to make it into a cute but eccentric bag to take somewhere like the next Planet Angel party I get to... (For those that don't know, Planet Angel is like a rave, but more hippy... and is a secret... so Shhhhhhh. But I gave you the link, so you can have a look... I haven't been for ages and am SO looking forward to going every month in the summer! Before you write me off as a hard-partying-druggie, I'll put my hands up and say I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do ANY drugs... I just get hyper on sugar and dance... Lots... and Lots... and then throw some glitter at people...)

- back to savings now -

2) Hervia.com - Vivienne Westwood's online shop - is offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders OVER £68 until Midnight, Monday 13th April...

3) Don't forget Hervia's current Melissa for Vivienne Westwood shoes, for which the discount code MEL02 still applies, until MIDDAY TOMORROW (Thursday 9th April)!

4) UK Members-only sales

a) SecretSales - quite low end mostly, but they do currently have some Herve Leger dresses reduced massively (talking 2 grand to 350 quid) and good jeans sales...

b) BrandAlley - great sunglasses, had Melissa's for £20 the other day... lots of tat but also lots of gems!

c) Cocosa.com - the creme de la creme of online members-only hand-picked sample sales... From House of Holland to Allegra Hicks to Matthew Williamson (clothes), Bex Rox and Laura Lee jewellery, Hunter wellies, Loewe and Pauric Sweeney bags PLUS competitions for jewellery / bags / events etc. AMAZING doesn't begin to describe the discounts on here...

If you want membership, then follow and message me on twitter @cassiopeiadoes so we can private message emails, or comment (with ur email inc'd) on here specifying which one. I'll then send you the code for joining or send invite emails! I won't deny I get vouchers for recommending people and especially on Cocosa, that's an immense thing lol. (I'm on another new one, but it hasn't opened yet so will post that when I know more...)

5) Acne online shop has just opened an IMMENSE outlet store - we're talking 50-70% discount on really great stuff! Go here.

6) ASOS - code that I'm unsure about working... APRILDELIVER gets free delivery on orders over £50. Apparently. It didn't work when I tried, but that was the day that ASOS was malfunctioning a lot...

*Phew!*

Deep breath. That was a lot. Thanks for bearing with me... I should really go finish the case study I've been working on all day...

"ox bones... blah blah... ritual deposits... blah blah... monumentalising landscape... lalala... burnt bits of daub... ???... contiguously sequenced buildings... ooooh! bird flew past... ritual continuity... ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!"

It's not that bad, but I'll be so so so glad when this dissertation's over!

*** Sorry this post seems to be all about "promotions" - it's not supposed to be, but I got excited about them all, so thought you might like them too, especially given people's reaction to other 'deals' I've posted... Maybe I'll try to do a weekly save post? Do you want me to? Not sure how long it'd be most weeks, but I can do my best to unearth lots of discounts... If you want? ***

Let me know!

Xxxc

Theatricalities Past...

Since I'm attempting to string out the boat-race pictures for as long as possible, today's post is a wander down memory lane to my days as a costume wench at Cambridge's ADC theatre...

This performance of Mozart and Salieri (February 2007) was my first foray into costume design, after initially doing lighting as it's what I'd done at school, and really set in stone my love for creating a character and for working in theatre in general... 

The production was brilliant, selling out a lateshow slot (absolutely impossible to do!) and the people made my entry into the horrendously cliquey world of cam-theatre extremely easy. 

Theatre is no longer a part of my life in a meaningful sense, as to be involved, you basically have to sacrifice degree / college life / friends / sleep / health - if you're me... It's actually in the CUADC constitution that if you get more than a 2.2 then you're not doing enough theatre! Totally true. Hehe. But I don't regret a single second of it. 

There were many other productions I was involved with, and each one makes me feel proud to have been involved and to have produced such professional quality work. It's a real team effort and Cam does produce some outstanding actors and directors and technical people, but I don't regret leaving it behind. I still have great friends from doing it, learnt loads of skills I'd never have had another opportunity to develop, and still occasionally work on the theatre box office. But not doing shows has given me and my health a bit of breathing room.

Heart-to-heart aside, this production was hella-fun. Despite breaking up with my long-term boyfriend the weekend before the show went up, it remains in my mind as one of the most positive experiences Cambridge has offered me (as well as providing a great rebound boy lol). And there have been many. (Not rebound boys ;-D honest!)

It is probably the darkest show I costumed, but its small scale and period costume coupled with freaky scary make up really made it fun... I'd been briefed with descriptions of Japanese theatre - particularly Kabuki, Kyogen (there were masks involved...) and Bunraku. 

The director had also expressed a wish for the types of coats for Mozart and Salieri to wear and the general colour schemes. For make up, I had Edward-Scissorhands meets child-playing-with-facepaint on Halloween with a bit of climbing vines, mould and rot thrown in... Haha.

And working with actors does make you open your mind to the ridiculous in life a little more...

And sitting in dressing rooms gossiping for hours with some of my closest friends, playing with green face paint isn't exactly the biggest chore in the world!

Ah... Here comes the "costume wench" photo! Don't I look so nervous! Ah to be a first year again. Sigh. Got to love all the costume repairs I did for that show, though it wasn't as bad as the show I'm going to show you next time when I had to fix the entire inseams of one of the boys' trousers with gaffa tape for the whole second half of the opening night as he'd been dancing so enthusiastically!

***Please excuse the crappy quality of the photos - the originals are on my removable hard drive which is currently at home, so these were copied off facebook, with resultant reduced number of pixels. I did my best!!!

I hope you enjoyed that little foray into my theatrical past... I'll show you some more shows and chatter about theatricalities in general in upcoming posts!

Xxxc

Lies.

Now, I know I commented somewhere that I wasn't going to blog until I'd got these essay deadlines out of the way...

But I may have told a fib. Not on purpose. I was FORCED by T-B to go out and "play pick-chas!"

So. There you have it. I have no will power. Please excuse the fact that my skirt is unironed! ;-D

I like swinging from trees. Trees make me happy.

In these I'm wearing: 

- Zara cardigan bought in Florence... (I do find it funny that I can never find stuff I like in British Zara, but take me there in Italy, and I come back with a suitcase STUFFED with Zara clothes!)

- Hermes skirt that I found in a charity shop... (From the cherubs / eyepopping primary colours / nautical print, it's got to be 80's) 

- Eley Kishimoto shoes, bought in a sample sale at BStore last year... (Some of my favourite shoes ever, and despite the humungous heel - so so so comfy!)

- Topshop tights, Primark bag, Toy Watch and Macrame flower necklace bought in Florence... again! (I wandered into a tiny little craft shop, where the lady made things on a board in front of you. When I went in, she was giving lessons to another woman and they were chattering away in Italian, made me sit down - by gesturing madly at the chair and patting the seat, and proceeded to carry on with the lesson. I sat there for about half an hour before deciding I needed to carry on with tourist-ing! There were loads of lovely things, but this one caught my eye...)

Please excuse the large numbers of photos... T-B takes too many that I like. :-D He's trying to 'improve' you see, as the camera's relatively new. Any views on the photography will be appreciated from his quarter, as I'm not letting him put any of the me photos up on facebook. Personally, I think he's amazing at taking photos of people. His vistas are ace, but some of these come top on my favourite pictures of me ever; and that's hard since I HATE photos of myself and get really antsy when the camera's out. This is another reason for doing this -someone else taking my blog photos - thing. It'll maybe help me get over my photo hangups... Cross fingers! ;-D 

Hmmmmmm. I should probably go do some work. I have a black tie alumni dinner tonight, that I've spent the last month organising... So no time to work post-6pm. And it's almost 2 now. Sigh.

Xxxc

M by MJ makes me want Autumn to be here again...

Since Cambridge is a city through which artic winds, that would be at home in Siberia, continually blow, from October through April, I truly loved the Marc by Marc Jacobs collection... 

It just LOOKED warm!

I can so imagine wrapping up in one of these outfits, Mary-Cassatt-style  sitting out under a tree, at midnight, in the slightly chilly, crisp not wet bit of autumn, toasting marshmallows over a camping stove, and trying to read by torchlight... (Yes, I actually do that!)

It was a return to grunge in a way, but the tartans and layering were not the ultimate touches for me... Those were the lace, the huge scarfs and the billowing trousers tucked into boots. The colour combinations are also going to haunt me for MONTHS! Be still my beating heart. 

 

And I SO want those knee patch tights... I'm thinking turquoise tights, cut up orange ones and LOTS OF UHU!!! ;-D

Oh for autumn leaves, hiking in the woods, and more than 3 months to exams... Sigh.

Xxxc

Oh How I Want To DIY

Philip Lim 3.1 catwalk show... Pics at Style.com

For some wierd reason that I don't really understand, I LOVE these Lim loafers.


SO ripe for a DIY!


Slippers (resole) at endless.com, studs at studsandspikes.com
If only I had more time...

Xxxc

HAUL!

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post - mainly as I've been ridiculously busy with the new term. 3rd year is scary!

Anyway, as recession blows its cold wind across the nation, my buying habits have been reduced to pretty much nil - especially I bought quite a few of the 'essentials' i was previously missing toward the end of the hols. My wardrobe is currently filled with fun bits and pieces - a mixture of favourites both new and old, and a medley of clothes that had been languishing in the back of my wardrobe back home. I'm not really having many sartorial crises, as my core wardrobe is pretty sorted, and my only problem is how freaking far the laundry is from my current digs!

However, I haven't had anything new to play around with for quite a number of weeks.

Yet today, the clothing gods smiled upon me, in the form of a few freebies given out by my friend who runs a creative space here in Cam. They had a make-do and mend event today (that I was unable to attend due to being at work... sob!) which left a number of clothes unwanted and unloved in the studio this evening! So, in return for some romantic advice ( - my proper use around here lol - ) I was allowed to rootle through the leftovers and found some plain totes, a fat square of fabric, three dresses (two of which require altering to sort bagginess in wierd places - can't help it that I'm HUGELY hourglass / slightly less weight on my hips after a month of weight gain due to stress-out yukkiness and torn cartilage-forced lack of exercise), a suede jacket, a red wool coat with black collar and a black knit halterneck with sparkly tie at the front... ALL FOR FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Yay! Right. Tomorrow, I work. Honest!

*photos and descriptions to come soon...*

Xxxc

A few outfits...

It's exam term, and what better way to procrastinate, than to play with my clothes?

We have today's outfit - led-zepellin t-shirt which is a slight DIY project on one from Camden Market yeeeears ago, skirt from h&m, ribbon from john lewis (pink and velvet) and m&s ballet pumps... (also worn with a pink h&m hoody.)



that is something of a composite of two non-starter outfits... One from last week (skirt and pumps with gap top):



And one from last night at 2am trying to work out what I'd wear today (top with yellow satin ribbon, ferragamo vintage black suede shoes and french connection much longer skirt rolled up and paper-bagged with ribbon as it's far too big for me now but I like the effect)...



Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

knitting book goodness...

on a slightly related note to my previous post, while in the charity shop, i also bought two books - one on knitting toys (my first planned projects shall be a brownie doll for my mate's birthday - she's a brownie guider - and a scarecrow and cowboy for the kids of a friend...) and another - quite old - one called 'scandinavian knitwear'. the latter has really very complicated patterns i doubt i'll be able to do for a while... but they're SO GORGEOUS!!!

Take a look at the projects i hope i'll one day be proficient enough to complete... And the toys i'm going to start as soon as i have the yarn!










Again, sorry for the quality of the photos - crap camera and unsteady hand...

crafting project #1

okay, so i love crafting... i'm always starting new things, whether it be knitting, embroidery or just altering clothes I've thrifted... I'm not hugely proficient, but I like to play around and experiment.

My latest (procrastination while revising) project is a scarf in primrose cashmerino wool, with white wedding rose trim... it's not too far along, but here's a quick sneak preview pic...



it was originally supposed to be a bit skinnier and in thinner wool - to make a scarf / belt thing, but this is how it's ended up... quite happy with it at the mo.

xxxc