Another pair!

So last weekend another pair of jeans arrived! Just before we went on holiday... Awesome timing!

This time, a yummy pair of thin grey stretch denim from Firetrap on Box-Clothing.co.uk, that I was kindly sent as part of a promotion. The 501s are great basics, but I have to admit, the boyfriend prefers these... They do make me feel like I should own a leather jacket and heels with spikes on them!

If I could, I'd do it like this...

+

Alexander McQueen Leather Belt

+

Christian Louboutin Boots

+

Helmut Lang Vest

Dries Van Noten blazer 

Okay, so it's not a leather jacket but...

Anyway. Back to the jeans... They're nicely clingy, and don't create too much of a muffin top (- always a problem for me)!  They do slip down slightly at the back, but this is mostly due to me being a weird size, having to wear a 30 inch waist even though most of me is skinnier than that... (Damn thighs! ;])

Still want to try the Levis Curve-ID tho! 

No pics at the mo, as still no camera, but I promise an outfit post soon!

Xxxc

Denim Chitchat.

So today I finally bought a new pair of jeans... 

I've been wandering around for months in a far-too-large pair from TopShop I bought to go to Stockholm with - they had to be big to fit my oh-so-very-sexy thermals underneath! But not such a good look to rock around town, I can tell you!

I'd been resisting buying any more denim, but with a looming "long weekend" on the Kent coast with Boy, I took the plunge today, and spent far-too-long in Peter Jones "contemporary-casual" section. (It's actually a John Lewis, it's slightly posher than normal as it's on the end of the King's Road, and has a different name...)

So, to cut a long and boring story short, I ended up getting a standard pair of Levi 501s, which I'm surprised at as they've never suited me in the past. But hey, bodies change, right!

No pics tho, as I am currently without camera. Bugger! 

Apparently women try on at least 10 pairs of jeans before buying one... I can definitely relate to that. The damn things never fit properly. Even these give me slight muffin top. 

I also contemplated Not Your Daughter's Jeans - in which I was an 8!!! HAHAHA!!! It's the extra 2% lycra I reckon... Normal jeans have abut 2% but apparently these have 4%. 

However, I didn't quite have the £130 to spend. Plus, the name slightly put me off! They are really good for flattening the tummy though. If you are looking for basic, straight or bootcut jeans with a high waist that doesn't cut into you try them... I'd possibly have bought them if I'd had the cash, I think.

My only slight annoyance though was that I had been thinking of looking up Levi's Curve ID jeans... You know the ones that are fit according to shape?? 

There's been chatter about them lately, and I'd really like to try them. Has anyone gone there yet? Interested to know if you guys think they're as "revolutionary" as the various press bits and pieces make out...

Xxxc

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

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

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!!!

Sequins and motorbikes...

Vogue March 09... Just loving this image. Sequins and an old motorbike. Though I haven't been sure about the Meadham Kirchoff jeans, they work here...

I really like the bleached quality of this photo. I having quite a rich, black day, but my heart yearns for the lighter sun-washed colours of summer... Sigh.

Xxxc

Going round on the windmills in my mind...

Mishmash of street syle (The Sart, Style Slicker and Copenhagen Street Style), the makeup and colourway from the Kinder Aggugini show and the Richard Nicoll for Topshop stuff from Dazed Digital...

Feast:

I regularly think I prefer street style photos to runway... There's just so much more personality.

Though I did have several mini heart attacks at the TopShop unique show... Lots of my favourite 'colour' - grey grey grey - yum yum yum - aren't I wierd? Cyberspace meets 80s meets circus. Yum. I'm feeling more black and shiny these days. plus I've always loved metallic. ;-D

sequin wings? off the shoulder? me likey!

FIT purple sequinned pants... Probably akin to my ASHISH rarely worn sequinned rugby top, but so so so perfect for Planet Angel...

OMG!!! HAVE TO HAVE THAT TUNIC!!! SERIOUSLY!!!

Jewellery-crush...

I so have this as a DIY project... Neon fabric paint, black body con dress... Numnumnum.

Grey layers... All slouchy... Yay.

Xxxc

Gotta Love the Sart!!!

Here are a few of the Sartorialist's posts at Style.com that I'm LOVING... Got to love Fashion-Week styles. Such variety makes my head go whirly, and they really give food for thought!

- Simple. Scarf. Want.

- Pink. Pop. Blue. Pop. Yum.

- Forest green + Wine-dark-purple + Sunniest yellow! (Admittedly on someone else.) Great colour combination that will haunt me for WEEKS!!!

- Denim ahoy. Just so casual, yet sweet. I'm reeeeeeeeally getting the roll-ups and hat vibe...

- Again. Purple. Pop. Blue. Pop. Yellow. Pop. PLUS. Turban magic + Roll-Ups. Sigh. Heaven. Yum. Overload.

;-D

Xxxc

Night at the Museum

So last night I spent the evening shepherding kids around the archaeology museum in the dark... It was really truly surreal. Cambridge does a 'twilight in the museums' event where all the uni ones shut off the lights and do fun games. Ours involved picture cards and torches, finding which objects details on said cards came from. 

I have to admit I had quite a lot of fun, though by the end of the 3 hours, I was fecking freezing, as I'd left my coat upstairs. Oops!

Having been in my Eley Kishimoto heels all day, I stashed a pair of black flats in my bag to aid not-falling-down-holes-in-the-dark. Turns out I could have kept the heels on - I'm more agile in them anyways. See the scarf-necklace red-layering fun below...

The bit of the outfit seen here consists of Hobbs blazer (nicked from the mothership), Topshop Batgirl tee, Tibetan stole from Nomads in Cam, a charity shop silk scarf and red metallic beads bought in Florence for a euro. The unseen details were my grey Acne jeans and Eley Kishimoto shoes. (Though I wore M&S crease toe flat pumps in the gallery...)

 
Xxxc

Drinks, Driving and a Darling 'new' Teeshirt...

I've had a week of being down-in-the-dumps and staying in, missing people, post finishing at the Summer School, and have just started being sociable again! Leaving behind the cat and Murder She Wrote...

None of my home friends are being particularly approachable at the mo (comes from spending the first 2.5 months of the summer away or working 24/7...) and my 'rents, who were supposed to be away on holiday, but for various reasons aren't and have been underfoot, have been driving me INSANE!!!

So, I got out. Dinner and quite a few cocktails with my workmate La on Tuesday (outfit post will eventually surface... along with the full story), and yesterday, I went to the pub with another workmate... We had a brilliant time - him drinking two small glasses of red wine (classy ;p), me on one cider and then lime and soda as I was driving.

Anyway, I wore the following outfit:

- Acne Hex Royal Grey Jeans (new pair I got on sale at their website to replace my old faithful, but falling apart and a tad too big, slightly darker grey pair I've had for YEARS), two tone converse (denim blue and shell/salmon pink tabs from office) and massively oversized print tee I bought for Є1 at a rag-stall in the market by the Capella Medici in Florence... The tee was to be tucked in and the (almost down to my elbows) sleeves rolled.

Post-sedate-pubbage, I agreed (after much persuading) to let my (graduate) mate, who has never learnt to drive, have a first 'driving lesson' a la moi down one of the private roads around the school we live in... It was hilarious! I don't think my little Clio will ever forgive me, but a little bit of clutch abuse was worth the obvious enjoyment he got out of it... I was hanging onto my seat in paranoia, but it was a great laugh. He didn't once crash into anything!!! Hehe. We did 1st and 2nd gear and speed bumps. Not too bad for a first timer eh! Regardless to say, it was approaching midnight, so we thought a longer lesson would have to wait for another time...