Don't give me no lip child

At the moment I have a bit of an obsession with the 22 year old Brazilian born model Alice Dellal. I have included images of her previously in a post on Dominic Jones jewellery but at the moment it is her street style and catwalk appearances that have caught my eye. Dellal is without a doubt an unconventional, distinctly unusual, rebellious model- how many other girls do you see parading the catwalks of fashion week with half shaved heads and nose rings? I personally think that her punk-rock, dishevelled mess style is a refreshing change from the groomed glamour or waif like weirdness of other traditional models. I am distinctly envious of her wardrobe of leather, ripped denim and studded waistcoats- how does she manage to make florals look tough?? She always manages to look completely at ease and comfortable with her image without it having the contrived 'I'm so hard' appearance of certain other 'celebrities' who have tried, unsuccessfully, to capture the punk-rock aesthetic.






My appreciation for Dellal's style was doubled instantly upon witnessing her on the catwalk for Pam Hogg's AW10 collection. Pam Hogg is the original self-taught London punk designer. Her collections of metallics and skin-tight lycra bodysuits are a perfect reflection of her experiences onstage as part of industrial and post-punk bands. Hogg's clothes are the type of fashion attire that only extreme personalities can pull of successfully, hence why Lady Gaga was seen rocking out a 'super-hero' style orange Hogg leotard recently with charisma and typical Gaga attitude.

I've had a discussion with a lot of friends recently who are growing tired of Gaga's predictable 'out-there' and 'arty' fashion creations. I personally love that she is doing something besides the typical stereotypes of Pop and other mainstream musical genres. I love to speculate on what she will wear next and I am forever wonderfully surprised- a jacket of shoes, a cape of human hair, a head-dress of a bat skeleton. It's wacky, it's weird and I love it.

Short but sweet and definitely sexy

I was having a quick look through the Emporio Armani Fall 2010 ready to wear collection and despite the simple glamour of the clothes the one thing that really caught my eye was the hair styling. Each model sported a casual asymmetric gamine crop which was effortlessly sexy. So often on catwalks the models sport some variety of the standard long luscious locks that the look gets boring- this season I've loved the textured 'fros at Louis Vuitton and the long plaits at Alexander Wang and this short crop is the latest hot look. The models had a variety of hair colours, face shapes and skin colors- proving that short 'dos can work on everyone, and that you don't have to have Serena-like hair to be sexy.

An Italian Adventure- part two

v

An Italian Adventure- part one

These are some wonderful things that I've picked up on my travels in Italy.




Mask from Venice, glass bead necklace from Lucca.




Rosary beads from Rome.

I have more photos to come but at the moment the site keeps crashing!!

A fashion treat all the way from Dubai!

I've been dying to show people these photos for such a long time. Introducing my best friend from school Jessica Chudasama who is a gorgeous, super talented and all-around fabulous model in Dubai! Last Easter I had the honour of seeing her strut her stuff in Dubai Fashion Week, sitting front row no less!! Although I obviously love European/American Fashion you have seen nothing until you check out the vibrant colours and intricate detailing of these clothes. Photos don't do it justice- the looks were dazzling (and Jess of course was stunning)

Essential Everyday Chic

Just a little note of something I stumbled across whilst trawling through the enviable designer products on Browns, Net-a-porter and Matches.





Freda by Joanna Sykes at Matches is a fabulous little collection of beautifully tailored separates which would be ideal for a chic city wardrobe. All of the pieces are pattern free and in versatile shades of black, white, cream, navy and a gorgeous tangerine orange- so they would serve as perfect items for a layered look. I am personally loving the Polly jumpsuit, the Alexa blazer in orange and the Amber full skirt in Navy. Plus for a bit of dazzle factor there is the Nona jacket which is a gorgeous sort of dirty metallic silver.




For a simple but timeless look there is the Hannah classic shirt and Alison leggings. You have to smile slightly at the products labelling with girls names, especially Alexa!! This girl gets everywhere!!



I think that blazers, especially well made, tailored ones such as these, are a trans-season staple. A blazer can be layered over a cashmere jumper with a big scarf, jeans and boots in winter or it can be thrown over a cute little dress/playsuit/shorts come summer when the sun is out.

And to add to the appeal of this collection it has recently been modelled by none other than my girl-crush of the moment Olivia Palermo!

I dream in black and white...

I was sitting people watching in town today, waiting for a friend and as per usual I got distracted by my iphone. It is unbelievable how with the advances in technology these days you can do pretty much anything on a phone. Whilst my little brother has his phone filled with games and my stepdad has information/news apps, I, of course, have fashion apps. My favourite is the Chanel one. You get an edited video of the most recent catwalk show, high-quality photos of each look, Chanel news and locations of Chanel stores worldwide. I was flicking through the looks and accessories from the S/S couture show and I came across this:



aside from the sheer wonder of the hairstyle and the silk sheen of the dress I was instantly struck by the large tie and diamonte/crystal tie pin. Without a doubt this look is the female version of Lagerfeld's daily attire. I have always been a big fan of Lagerfeld's look- he has such distinctive style that you can spot him instantly. He always looks sharp and sophisticated in his monochrome suit but there is always a slight detail which makes each look fresh- a pair of bejewelled gloves, a stripy tie or an array of silver rings. His attention to detail fascinates me.





If you are interested in Lagerfeld and the behind the scenes world of Chanel then it is essential to watch 'Lagerfeld Confidential'. This DVD documentary was released in 2007 and follows Karl as he designs, perfects looks backstage, talks to Nicole Kidman and is interviewed about his life. At one point you see Lagerfeld making a sketch for a dress- from looking at the finished product you would never have imagined that it was produced following the outlines of a felt-tip drawing!!! During the interview Lagerfeld is remarkably candid about his sexuality, his interest in fashion and his personal opinions on celebrities and other fashion figures. An absolute must see!!

Pretty people

I just had to quickly post up some pictures of my 2 favourite style icons of the moment: Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo. Both of these lovely ladies have an incredibly distinctive personal style which I love; they know what suits them and they stick with it, only mixing up their looks slightly for different occasions. The two looks below are from last nights ELLE style awards.

Here we have Alexa, displaying her propensity for girly doll dresses as I like to call them. Alexa is aware of what amazing legs she has, so she can get away with very short styles, but always keeps the look clean and classy by keeping her arms covered up. I love that she has embraced Spring's pastel colour palette whilst adding some neutral accessories, and as always her make-up is simple, her hair slightly mussed up but in a more groomed up-style than usual. It is Chanel, obviously.



Olivia Palermo should be crowned the Queen of Accessorizing. If I could raid her wardrobe I would head straight to her jewellery and belt collections because she seems to own everything. This look really reminds me of Carrie's wardrobe in the SATC movie- simple dress jazzed up with an embellished belt. Although she is in all black, you can see there is a slightly metallic print on the dress and what looks like some kind of shoulder detail which adds some interest. I personally have a wardrobe of black, and so I love it, plus Olivia demonstrates that tights are the perfect mid-season layering item. Like Alexa she has a tousled centre parted up-do which focuses all attention on her outfit (and her insanely perfect bone-structure). Oh and the dress is Mathew Williamson. Boho deluxe I feel. But with a hard edge.





http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/ has full coverage of this event. Go check out the Olsen twins and Rosie-Huntingdon Whitely who are all dressed exquisitely too.

Sex Sells. YAWN.

I have been thinking a lot recently about who exactly fashion is for. I live with six girls this year, and nine for the two years before that, so we have many in depth conversations about seemingly shallow things like clothes, boys, sex and food. The one thing which we always talk about and notice is that we check out girls a lot more than we do boys. This is obviously affected by the distinct lack of hot guys in birmingham but the truth still stands- girls are more interested in impressing and gaining the approval of other girls than the opposite sex. When we have lost weight, when we get a new haircut, when we buy a new dress we are hoping for a compliment from our female peers- after all, would a (straight) guy even notice?
This concept seems to have carried through into high fashion and the world of celebrities too. If you look at advertising campaigns there is a general trend for brands selling staple goods like denim, or casual street wear, to use sex as the main tool for capturing the audience's attention. You only have to look at the notorious Calvin Klein underwear, jeans and perfume ads to see that this is true, while more innovative and original designers have more intriguing conceptual shoots, like the Marc Jacobs shots by Juergen Teller.




In the world of celebrities there also seems to be a sharp divide between those truly interested in fashion and forging for themselves a distinctive style, and those who just put on like a hanger the clothes handed them by stylists or the styles and designers which they know are experiencing a popular surge. Nothing epitomises this distinction more so than the girls of Girls Aloud. I will not deny that I used to be a big fan of Cheryl Cole- during her first season as judge on Xfactor I found her sympathetic approach to the contestants quite touching, she actually seemed fairly genuine, and her outfit choices at first seemed quite young and cool. But come 2009's run of the talent contest Cheryl's look got tired. How much longer were we to endure her identikit look of massive hair extensions, huge false eyelashes, deep tan and increasingly tiny physique styled with ever more boring flesh baring, short or tight dresses. In short Cheryl was dressing for the men, not the ladies of high fashion. And as her private life was exposed in the tabloids it appeared that Cheryl was committing the ultimate girls sin- sticking with a man who has proved to be a first class jerk. You only have to read her interview in Glamour to see that she is a girl blind in 'love'- when asked what Ashley had done for her recently she replied that he had made her a cup of tea. RIGHT. WHAT A HERO.




The absolute anti-Cheryl is the increasingly chic Nicola Roberts. Once labelled the 'ugly one' of Girls Aloud for her pale skin and red hair, Nicola is fast becoming a full fledged fashionista. Her hair and skin colour may be a contrast to the stereotype which the media enforces of 'sexy', but she is unique and interesting which to me are far better traits than having a tan and big hair. Nicola has been spotted on the front row of many a fashion show in an array of vintage and traditionally British designs which have gained the seal of approval from the online and published fashion community.




If it came down to being 'sexy' or 'fashionable' I know which label I would rather choose. Let's hope this new decade is the dawn of some more interesting celebrity styling.

Sparkles...

Wherever I go on holiday I always try and pick up a bangle as a souvenir and addition to my ever growing collection. Now when I decorate my wrists with jewellery I have something beautiful to look at and a wonderful reminder of the places I've been and the experiences I've had there.
The mass of bangles on my arm here come from extremely varied locations: Dubai, Mexico and Italy along with my christening bangle and some random picks from stores in Britain such as Accessorize and Urban Outfitters.



This snake bangle I actually bought for my mum a few years ago but have now stolen it back because I liked it so much! It really reminds me of all the wonderful snake themed jewellery that Rachel Zoe has (If you look at her book Fashion: A to Zoe there are some great pictures of pieces she owns and one of a kind bits which she was able to borrow for some of her celebrity clients)



This opal ring was a present for my 21st from my grandparents. My grandma has given me several items of jewellery from her own collection over the years but the one thing which always caught my eye was an enormous, dazzling opal ring which she had promised to my mum. It seems she caught the hint and found a beautiful vintage one which is now all mine!!





This is the ruby and pearl (I think?) gold ring which my mum gave me for my 21st. I couldn't get a detailed picture of it close up from a side view which is what you really need to see because the gold setting is an elaborately swirled, baroque pattern which i just LOVE.



The nailvarnish is Chanel 'Rouge Noir'- best shade EVER. I have got through probably near 10 bottles of this.

I swear sometimes I get more excited about packaging than the actual product itself, especially when the bags and boxes are so iconic like this.



Can you guess what it is yet?



Classic gold with diamonte 'CC' earrings. A present from my wonderful grandad for being such a geek at uni. HARD WORK REALLY DOES PAY OFF!!