I’m a Brit girl through and through but any excuse for a party is all good with me, in honour of Independence Day I have put together a selection of all American patriotic treats…
Category Archives: Events
Raf’s debut for Dior
Subtle and simple as ever, Raf Simon’s debut collection for Dior in Paris stood true to his signature style that was often displayed at Jil Sander but with hints of archived Dior characteristics. The collection was still relatively simplistic for a couture show but the subtle embellishments and embroidery added a feminine edge and the bright lips and slicked down hair added glamour.
Huge skirts highlighted the cinched waists and the sheer tops added a risque feel to the otherwise ladylike collection. Cigarette pants teamed with killer pointy court shoes rang true to the Parisian setting but the floating full skirts they were teamed with retained the elegant edge.
All in all a pretty stunning debut collection…
Hackney weekend
Second festival of the Summer down, Radio One’s Hackney Weekend. Minus the crazy British weather which had us burnt and then drenched within a minute of each, it was fantastic! The day was amazing, some real great acts and so much squeezed into one day: Tiney Tempah, Florence and the Machine, Professor Green, Chase & Status, Ben Howard, Rhianna, Jay Z and so many many more!!
Here’s what I wore, it was hot but wet and therefore a muddy field to contend with:
Sunglasses – H&M | Dress – Topshop | Jacket – H&M | Bag – Primark | Belt – Primark | Wellies – Hunter
Next day’s shopping outfit:
Jacket – H&M | Dress – H&M | Belt – Dorothy Perkins | Boots – H&M | Necklace – Topshop | Watch – River Island
Jubilee weekend fun
This weekend has been much much fun! The weekend started off with a shopping trip and a bit of background research for my debut article on British Style Bloggers which will be coming soon. Then a lovely dog walk around the forest followed by a scrummy pub lunch. Followed up by Dot to Dot festival at Nottingham then a Jubilee buffet! Phew!
I am very excited to announce I’ll be writing for British Style Bloggers as a seasonal columnist this season, my first article will be published this Friday and this weekend started off with some background research on my topic, mixed in with a little bit of shopping. Every store has gone Jubilee crazy with bunting and corgis galore!
Saturday I met a friend for a country bumpkin day, dog walking and pub lunch. We headed out to a pub and wandered around the forest with two very excitable puppies, it didn’t rain which was a massive bonus. Followed up by a huge pub lunch, one thing I’ve noticed as I’m writing this is that my weekend predominantly revolved around food and drink! Eek I have to keep reminding myself I have to be in a bikini in 5 weeks…
Next up on Sunday was Dot to Dot festival across various venues in Nottingham. The weather was truly grim. Rain, rain and a bit more rain, not what you want at all when you’re in and out and don’t particularly want to look like you’ve been involved in some kind of monsoon. However, rain aside, the festival did not disappoint as usual. I’ve become a fan of the festival over the past few years as it’s a great platform to see up and coming music acts in a small intimate setting and Nottingham really does have some great music venues.
Highlights of the day were (I’m a bit biased here) my friends’ band Wanderlings which played a blinder! They’re definitely starting to get noticed now and rightly so. I have a huge girl crush on Lucy Rose, the girl is cute, beautiful and my god she can make good music. Really easy to listen and watch and seemed really humble and genuinely thankful for the huge crowd she drew into Rock City. The best act of the day by far was Jake Bugg, I certainly predict big things for this guy. He’s only 18 but seems so much more mature and his confidence is warranted and not at all arrogant. He too packed out Rock City, quite a feat for someone largely unknown, he did Nottingham proud. Dog is Dead, another great musical talent to come out of Nottingham, were amazing. They’re so tight and seem so much older and experienced than their years. I saw these guys at last year’s festival and they were in the basement of Rock City which was kind of full but even at full capacity the room isn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination, this year they completely filled the main room and everyone looked to be completely loving them. That is what I love about this festival.
Monday was mostly spent cooking up a storm in the kitchen ready for the Jubilee celebrations yesterday. Tuesday was completely revolved around food and drink, all British of course. Scones, clotted cream and jam, Jubilee champers, cucumber sandwiches (with the crusts cut off), victoria sponge and tea. Watching the legendary Liz on the telly getting all patriotic and quite choked up about our great Queen and nation. Fantastic weekend and the best bit, not long until the next!
God save the Queen
Getting into the spirit of the Golden Jubilee and giving praise to good ol’ Liz by loving all things British, Jubilee and quaint! Below are a few things I’ve spotted whilst doing my usual browse of online shops and Pinterest. Literally everyone is going nuts for the Jubilee and every high street store has a Queen/ Jubilee/ Great Britain trend with the obvious Union Jack emblazoned clothing and accessories as well as the less obvious princess and queen style jewels and accessories. I’m actually pretty excited to get all patriotic with tea (or Pimms!) cucumber sandwiches and victoria sponge next week…
Jubilee – Taken from Pinterest (Jenny Holiday)
Golden Jubilee Cakes – Taken from Pinterest (our-favouriterecipes-blogspot-com)
Topshop – Jubilee badges
Next – Union Jack lanterns
ASOS – Union Jack sunglasses
New Look – Union Jack head scarf
Next – Cake stand
Religion – Union Jack cardigan
Topshop – Crown ring
Met Ball 2012
Metallic was definitely the resounding theme at the Met Ball 2012, female stars quite literally tried to outshine each other. Below are some of the sparkling beauties:
Cameron Diaz in Stella McCartney & Carey Mulligan in Prada
Jessica Alba in Michael Kors & Karolina Kurkova in Rachel Zoe
Dree Hemingway in a Topshop Unique & Nina Dobrev in Donna Karan
Lana Del Rey in Joseph Altuzarra & Malin Akerman in unknown
Bianca Brandolini D’Adda in a Dolce & Gabbana & Debra Messing in unknown
Michelle Dockery in Ralph Lauren & Gwyneth Paltrow in Prada
Just another festival look post
The festival season is upon us and yes yes I know there are a million and one posts and articles about festival dressing but so what?! I like it, I’m already planning on what to wear to the ones I’m going to. I’m like a cameleon kids, changing my look for the festival I’m at..
Below are just two styles I may well go for…
Miss Selfridge – Silver lame tee
Topshop – MOTO acid playsuit
Topshop – Tropical Leaf Bomber Jacket
Nike Blazer Mid
Topshop – Curved Felt Pork Pie Hat
AJ Morgan – Encino Sunglasses
Lazy Oaf – cross necklace
ASOS – Adjustable Cross Rings
Urban Outfitters – Gold Watch
For all those too cool for school types, hipster dressing is the epitomy of the east London trend setting scene. I’ll be rocking this look at the Radio One Hackney weekend.
Miss Selfridge - Maxi Dress
All Saints – Jagger Godiva Jumper
Office – Calypso leg tie batik fabric
River Island – Fringe cross body bag
Topshop – Short Feather Headband
Ray Ban – Retro Circle
Wired Jewellery – knuckle ring
The boho look is one that has been around forever and never seems to become unappealing, it inevitably changes year on year. I like the relaxed look that is easy to go from day to night in, perfect for festivals. This is something I’d wear to Dot to Dot in Nottingham in just a few weeks time!
Culture vulture
For Easter weekend I wanted to do something different and for once that meant not shopping!! My friend and I embarked on a cultural weekend in which we went to the theatre, out for dinner and to a gallery, serious culture that!
We made a last minute dash to the London Palladium to see the Wizard of Oz, with totes in tow, and got there with about 5 minutes to spare. It was one of the best shows I have seen, I actually sat open mouthed with childhood amazement. And the dog… adorable!
Black button up sheer dress – H&M
Grey sweat top – Topshop
Tan lazer cut brogues – George @ ASDA
Gold three tier chain – Topshop
Fur trimmed leather jacket – Topshop
The whole production was flawless and exciting. There was pyrotechnics, snow, projections and lots of sparkle. I loved it!!
We walked what felt like miles and miles and the weather totes did not agree with my hair which looked like I had been dipped under a shower and pushed through a wind turbine is quick succession! Regardless we made sure we got around and did as much as physically possible.
The next day we went to see the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern, we didn’t book… this was a big mistake! I was determined to see it though so we queued, and queued some more, and managed to get tickets for the last entry of the day…phewy! I have mixed opinions of Hirst but I wanted to be able to see the pieces for myself and make my own mind up and there’s something about being able to stand centimeters away from pieces of art worth millions of pounds.
Before going into the actual exhibition we went in to see ‘For the Love of God’ the infamous diamond encrusted skull, worth around a crazy £50million! Again, we queued and then had a bag search and a metal detector scan and were herded through into a pitch black box into the centre where the piece was set upon a pillar under several spotlights. It is stupidly beautiful! Lover or hater of Hirst, you cannot deny the beauty of the piece, who doesn’t love diamonds? Particularly in that quantity!
I obviously knew some of what to expect from the exhibiton but actually seeing it for myself rather than pictures was a completely different experience. I did often find myself wandering around slightly bewildered by it all, it’s not only the actual pieces of art themselves but the juxtaposition of how they are displayed. You have the well known spot paintings dotted around and then there will be a lamb preserved in formaldehyde, they seem so opposite and the effect is you don’t know where to look and what to think.
I never realised quite how intense my morbid interest in things was until this exhibition and ‘A Thousand Years’ – the cow’s head. My first reaction was to be shocked and appalled by it, but quite frankly I wasn’t, I was completely enthralled by it. I couldn’t take my eyes away and I made sure I walked around it all and bent down to look at every part. I don’t pretend to be an expert and I don’t have a strong enough opinion to get riled up about it all but to me this is the pure definition of art. All around me opinions were divided and even with my friend and myself there was a divide, she walked away instantly and I was in awe. It has everyone talking and it draws in people that wouldn’t normally say that are interested in ‘art’. One part that I didn’t particularly enjoy was the lingering smell that managed to escape what is quite clearly pretty sturdy reinforced glass, not so pleasant…
The giant ashtray was smelly and dirty and then the wall of cigarette butts lined up along tiny shelves was intricate and almost pretty. It’s a really odd mixture and things you don’t think you should like or are beautiful suddenly look very different. My opinion is still very much undecided. I’ve been swayed so much by other people’s opinions and critics slamming Hirst and part of me thinks he’s merely a con artist, making (or instructing others to make) impossibly expensive pieces, part of me thinks it’s pretty damn genious! Either way it’s had me and many others talking which surely is the point in art?!
The exhibition is on until 9th September at Tate Modern and it is defintely worth a visit!
National Cleavage Day
Today it is National Cleavage Day, now normally I don’t buy into all these weird and wonderful ‘National Days’ but this is one that should be celebrated! Not by drooling men, but by us ladies that are proud of our bangers!
I, myself, have fairly sizeable assets and they haven’t always been something I have entirely wanted sitting on my chest but as I have become older (and wiser) I have learnt to love them. Don’t get me wrong they are sometimes a bit of a pain to shoehorn into certain styles of tops but by god when they are, there’s a cleavage. So, let’s all celebrate boobs! Below are some tops to really showcase those lovely lady lumps… (eurgh I used a Black Eyed Peas lyric, apologies!)
Fazane shear top
Topshop studded bralet
Motel striped bodysuit
ASOS extreme sweetheart body
Topshop broderie anglaise bralet
ASOS colour blocked body
Marilyn
Yesterday I went to see the Marilyn exhibition that is currently on display at the Getty Images Gallery on Eastcastle Street. It’s one I’d definitely recommend, there really are some stunning images and the most exciting part for me, some of Marilyn’s outfits.
The exhibition has been running since 5th March but yet when I was there yesterday there was a constant flow of people coming in and out and wandering around. Heavy black frames were hung in groups or stories based on the images inside. Some larger images demanded attention and these tended to be the iconic glamorous Marilyn we are all familiar with. Some more personal and relaxed images gave a rare insight to the woman behind all the evening gowns, peroxide blonde quiff and that beauty spot.
Along one wall is a glass cabinet housing some of the famous outfits from the films Marilyn starred in and this is what I found most fascinating. I was looking at these gorgeous dresses and finding it difficult to comprehend that the one and only Marilyn Monroe, a woman we are all familiar with and most are in awe of, had once filled them out with her legendary curves.
Whilst looking at these outfits I overheard a mother and daughter’s conversation: Mum - ”She was a size 14 you know?”, Daughter – “Actually, she was a 16″. A simple snippet of a conversation sums up the goddess like status Marilyn will always have, two generations both trying to outwit each other with their knowledge of the movie star and model. Marilyn will always be a subject of admiration and wonder.
Marilyn runs until 23rd May 2012 at Getty Images Gallery, 46 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8DX, admission free.
