London Fashion Week Day 1

 

Being ill is becoming very tiresome now. All I do is sit and lie down and lie down and sit with the odd occasional walk to the tap to refill my water bottle. As I sit, I flick through my Twitter news feed. Now what can be more depressing when you’re ill? Seeing the updates of Fashion Week or seeing the opportunities people are getting. I can’t help but feel jealous about the people attending London Fashion Week, I literally want to muster all the strength I have and haul my duvet with me just to experience the amazing plethora of fashion at Somerset House. Sadly my strength remains pretty much lack lustre and I linger on my sofa watching endless hours of TV and updating my Twitter feed every two seconds, so at least it feels like I’m witnessing the eye catching moments of Fashion Week as if I am actually there.

Here are my favourite looks from Day 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every show was an absolute creative delight, showcasing the different inspirations and techniques of all designers. The industry just keeps on getting stronger and more inspiring each season.

 

Bright Colours

It's safe to say I've been well and truly sucked into the neon faze of S/S 13. Despite staring out of my window into the cold grey sky, I can’t help but lust over bright colours even if the weather does look like something out of Narnia. As I sit and dream of the summer, the future does appear bright. Colours can change your mood, whenever I feel lack lustier my clothes appear to be more wintery ranging from black to grey, but a pop of optimism in the form of colour definitely does lift your mood.  

 The way I’m feeling at the moment- ill, emotional and very drab, my mood is definitely in need of a pick me up. If I need sunglasses to look at the colourful clothes then they are definitely going straight into my shopping basket. So goodbye to this dreary, freezing winter and hello to the highs of summer, as long as I’m wearing neon and I’ve got a cocktail in my hand I know the sun will shine, well we can only pray, this is England after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underwear as Outerwear

       

The bedroom used to be the only place where underwear was seen; private quarters for your intimate lacy garments to sneak out, until Vivienne Westwood plastered lingerie over everyday sweatshirts in her 1982 Buffalo collection. Before this a slip of bra strap was seen as inept- god forbid the exposure of an actual bra. Symbolizing sexual power and inspired by the late 1970’s punk fashion, underwear as outerwear has eroticized the catwalks, but in a more look but don’t touch fashion instead of Ann Summers men’s fantasy- so hands off boys.

The corset, which was originally deemed as a symbol of oppression in the early 20^thcentury has become utilized as fashionable outerwear, empowering women with thanks to Lycra and elastic in the 1980’s. Jean Paul Gaultier’s provocative collections, which birthed from Westwood’s anti-fashions continually tried to normalize the unexplored. His obsession over the corset, which comes from the love of his grandmother’s salmon pink lace up stays, has fuelled his constant return to the boudoir for inspiration.

Even though Gaultier appears to have championed this concept, his celebrated conical bra corset worn by Madonna in 1990 bears resemblance to YSL’s black beaded conical breastplate gown in his 1967 African Collection. New York Fashion Week S/S13 saw Francisco Costa revitalize this avant-garde look with sculptured dresses in marshmallow white and liquorice black revealing circular conical brassieres.

In the 80’s this trend represented the uproar of street style and club fashion. However, with the boom of the burlesque scene in the 21^st century and the erotic fantasies of the ’50 Shades of Grey’ trilogy, underwear as outerwear has once again sexually charged the runways with skin baring becoming the hottest trend. D&G featured 50’s style bralets and raffia corsets while Dior’s S/S10 sexually exposed a purple satin slip ‘dress.’

The original anti-aesthetic now appears to be uncovering a more reserved noir romance as seen in Jason Wu’s S/S13 collection. Infusing lace and leather with sheer sheaths and lacy elegant bandeau’s Wu created a respectable style instead of a scandalous scene. To recapture this cheeky honoured concept, we should look to Westwood’s saying of “fashion is about eventually being naked.”

 

Sick Day

Tomorrow marks my third week of lying on this sofa and also the third week without chocolate. I don't know how I have done it- seriously I've gone from chocoholic to tee-total, this is not out of my own choice obviously, not by all means, it’s because of my glandular fever diet, so basically, I live off of fruit and vegetables with the odd yoghurt. I forgot to add it also marks the number of days I have been wearing PJ's give or take the odd day that I decided to wear jogging bottoms instead of my onsie. There is definitely some unwritten code that the minute you get ill is the minute you slip into something comfy, whereby it just makes your whole body want to slump down on the sofa with a duvet.

So as I spend my days watching numerous films and countless episodes of cooking shows I find myself searching through online shopping pages, but the only thing that strikes me is what's the point of buying these amazing heels or jumper when all I'm going to be doing for the next month is wearing my PJ's. What I should really be looking at is PJ's and not wedged heels, because let's be honest the Doctor is hardly going to let me out for a night and the only place I would wear these heels is combined with my dressing gown on my sofa.

So here’s the reality of my life at the moment:

1)      I’m going to watch LFW catwalk shows on my laptop while wearing my PJ’s

2)      I’m going to flick through fashion magazines while wearing my PJ’s

3)      I’m going to attempt to do my work while wearing my PJ’s

4)      I’m going to nurse myself back to health whilst wearing my PJ’s

 

What I really want to do is hit confirm and purchase these amazing new post box red platforms from Topshop and strolling to uni in this monochrome polka dot shirt from Zara, but that dream will sadly remain unpaid in my shopping basket.

 

Topshop - Platform Heels

Zara- Blouse

 

 

Instead here’s to buying more PJ’s and slipper socks, if anyone else is ill out there share your latest sick style and lets all slump together.

Here’s my latest favourite nightwear that I’ve found so far

 

Selfridges- Red Birds of Paradise Robe

Topshop- Snow White and Dwarfs PJ Set

Topshop- Blue Oversized Solgan PJ Top

Next- Soft Onsie

Topshop- 'I Heart Bed' Slogan PJ Set

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the absence

I'm sorry for my lack of posting lately- January has definitely been very chaotic. The year started off extremely sadly with some heart breaking news and then quickly moved on to me ending up in hospital with acute tonsillitis and glandular fever. Still feeling like death and not being allowed to do anything for a few months due to my severe tiredness and lack of energy my diet has also been completely transformed. Where should I start my list? I’m not allowed chocolate, high fat foods, too much tea/coffee, too much bread and definitely no alcohol so where does that lead me to? A diet overdosing in fruit and veg and herbal tea, on the plus side I’ve become very fond of camomile tea. So what with drinking three litres of water a day and being pumped with vitamins my skin should be flawless but sadly what with taking penicillin for the past two weeks the affects haven’t been great and my face is let’s say a patchy beetroot. So my weeks of recovery will consist of endless hours of Come Dine with Me and fashion research as I can’t do anything else.

Despite having such a horrible January it did end on a happy note as my family have bought a new puppy. After the death of my beloved border terrier Alfie in September and the family being very lonely without him we are so happy to introduce this new little fluff ball into our lives. I would like you all to meet Boris the Poochon. I can’t wait to bring him home in the next three weeks. So here’s to happier February.

Criticism of style

Since going home for Christmas and speaking to various friends I have realised how judgemental people can be when it comes to style and fashion. I recently got asked the question: “What do you wear to University? Abercrombie and Fitch?” and I immediately replied: “God I would get death stares if I wore anything like that” this was the exact reply I gave when asked about Ugg boots. After this I realised I kept getting asked questions like this and started to find myself saying the same thing: “Oh no everyone would judge me” and I’ve now started to irate myself because unconsciously I am becoming forced into not wearing fashions that I actually find very comfortable.

The fashion industry is very elitist and quick to judge, however why do 18 year olds have the right to criticise one another’s clothes especially when they are not seen as superior within the industry. What with the rise of trends and global takeover of fashion, the world has become very fashion conscious and stereotyped. For instance a person who sees themselves as a ‘hipster’ says: “They wouldn’t be caught dead in Uggs.” Is this because they don’t find them attractive or is this more likely because Ugg’s has become associated with the ‘chav’ scene? Over the years it has become much less about personal style and much more about fitting into the right crowed and the stereotypical interests of it. A few nights ago a friend of mine said: “People are too judgemental about other people’s styles. Yes you may not like what a certain person is wearing but that does not mean they are any less fashionable than you, that’s just their style” and I thought this was such a good saying. Perhaps the world needs to stop being so pedantic about what other people are wearing and focus more on their style instead of trying to follow the heard because essentially fashion is about freedom.

 

I'm back

Hey, sorry for my absence these last couple of months have been an absolute blur to me what with University deadlines and catching up with friends and family at Christmas, but now having started University again I’m back in action. Keeping following as there will be many more posts to come.