Monday, September 30, 2013

Helena Bordon, Jardins des Tuileries




Helena Bordon - suit by Viktor & Rolf, bag Charlotte Olympia, shoes Diego Dolcini
xx

Ella Catliff, Paris


Loving the pastel colour of Ella's skirt - so feminine! xx

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Polina Sokhranova after Viktor & Rolf



Polina Sokhranova - Interview magazine Russia. I have been following Polina in the media a little bit but have never photographed her at fashion weeks before (to my shame I actually didn't recognise her when I saw her at the first show this morning!). Russian fashion media is very scarce when it comes to people who actually have their finger on the (right) fashion pulse and there are only about five Russian ladies who I follow closely and am interested in what they have to say and Polina is one of them.  For Russian speaking readers check out this interview with Polina on Look At Me and Wonderzine.  

Polina is wearing a dress by ORGANIC by John Patrick, Celine shoes, Vintage sunglasses and sweater
xx

Portraits on the street...


Friday, September 27, 2013

The anti-repelling fashion experience....

Leandra Medine aka The Man Repeller at LFW

I have been dying to talk about something that has been bugging me lately and that also happens to be something The Man Repeller has based her entire blogging career on (I mean the woman managed to write an entire book on this subject [which i am eagerly anticipating btw])...

A few months ago I was pulled up on my dress sense by a couple of my male friends, who very subtly questioned why I put so much effort into covering up my tiny frame into so many layers of loose clothing.... This conversation also happened to coincide with the time I was going on about three dates a week (internet dating - a topic for an entirely separate post) and the jury came to a unanimous decision that I should - "put it out there more" and "dress like a single girl for once" (apparently there is a difference between how single and taken women dress..how archaic..). In my defence - I just happen to like loose and slouchy clothing - always have and most likely always will. But I couldnt let the comments go unanalysed and for the sake of a social experiment I decided to ...errrm... sex-it-up a little in my wardrobe. I must say the results in terms male attention were incredible... Apparently it is still all quite primitive out there - the "tighter-tighter shorter-shorter" mantra is as relevant as ever.

However, what I did find interesting or even challenging was how difficult it is to shop for such 'outspoken' clothing. Since this was more of a temporary thing (no, im not planning to look like a skank for the rest of my life) I decided to shop on the more affordable side (i.e. high street) so that I could guiltlessly dispose of the items in a few months time when the charity bin would get more use of the clothes than I would. Asos was of course my first point of call.

Tell you what! Dressing sexy is so much harder/colder/uncomfortable than it looks!! First of all, try finding something that is both sexy but not sl*tty enough to make you walk in the opposite direction if you run into someone from work on the street. Secondly, sexy clothes are much harder to pull off in cheaper fabrics because not only do you already look like a skank but you are running the risk of looking like a cheap skank!

So after trawling the web of internet shopping for bodycon dresses I finally landed on this Hybrid number which I decided to wear to Ascot - of course accompanied by the push-uppiest bra I could find and a pair of spanx (not so sexy but creates an illusion nonetheless). The feedback on my outfit was very positive but of course on the day I turned a pale shade of blue (what else do you expect.. its June in London...duh!), couldnt breath properly because -who knew- a push-up bra can potentially cut off your circulation and ability to breath and deep down felt anything but sexy because the spanx look like a tight version of the ugliest granny pants ever.

I have pretty much continued dressing in a similar manner for the rest of the summer... managing to somewhat lose my 'style identity' in the process but gain some self-confidence along the way (probably for all the wrong reasons but whatever...) Here are some..ahem..samples (or shall i call them 'skankples' to give you an idea:


(beaded skirt - Needle and Thread; top - French Connection; black dress which I had shortened- Hybrid)

Shopping for sexy yet not sl*tty clothes was an absolute mission! And not only for me - inspired by my newly acquired wardrobe my friend R also decided to give it a go and found it just as challenging. And all she was looking for was a cleavage friendly top that would be appropriate to wear under "I am not single but neither am I dead" situation.   

So what I began to wonder is why the designers season after season make it so hard for us to dress sexy?? Now I know you will say that "sexiness is in the eye of the beholder" but come on… most men are pretty basic and primitive… and unless they are your  GBF (gay best friend) or have a particular fetish for leather/50's skirts/crop tops/[insert as appropriate] they are probably pretty clueless about fashion. 

And even if they are clued in - like my lovely ex-romantic interest who used to work for one of the big fashion houses - they may still not appreciate that particular trend. Case in point - we were discussing the whole "New Balance trainers with just about everything" trend which I think is brilliant especially for fashion week.. considering the amount of running around I will be doing. He summarised it in one sentence - "it's cute..but not really shag inducing". As a single (and fashion conscious) girl it's not exactly what you want to hear about a pair of £60 trainers that you may or may not have already purchased! Not that I want to look "shag-inducing" at fashion week but you know what I'm trying to say. 

So to wrap up this long structureless rant…. I am back to square one, now that the seasons have changed and dressing sexy has become even harder…. and looking at my recent order history on Asos, one may confidently conclude that I have in fact given up on the whole 'sexy' thing….unless whatever planet you are on sweatshirts, parkas and new balance trainers are considered sexy (in which case I would like to know the name of that planet immediately because I will be moving there ASAP!)

To be continued! xx

Monday, September 23, 2013

Effortless cool, London


 Such a simple outfit yet she looks so effortlessly stunning
xx

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Last days of sunshine...


Blogger Ellie Blair outside Somerset House (hat by River Island, cardigan by Topshop) 
xx

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Keep calm and drink champagne! ♔

So later this week I will be celebrating my birthday.... "celebrating" being an overstatement of the year - I actively avoid celebrating my birthday most years. I personally think birthdays are stupid (apart from the presents... presents are never stupid). Wait..come again.. you want me to celebrate the fact that I'm getting older?! Errm yeah right... like a needed an official reminder day for that...thanks!
 It's also the one day in the year that you hear from people you havent heard from since your last birthday but they are still considered to be your friends...because Facebook says so (remember nothing is ever official unless it's on Facebook!). To be quite frank my actual friends I hear from without there being a need for a compulsory 'get in touch because its her birthday' day. Although lately I dont even need a birthday to remind me that I'm getting older.... facebook reminds me of it on a daily basis with the never ending flow of engagement status updates (yeah ok i can deal with this one..) followed by an alarmingly increasing number of pregnancy announcements and [oh, lord!] photos of toddlers. Seriously?! We are in toddler stage already?! How could this be happening to me?! Have I been living under a rock for the last five years or something?.... You also know that you are getting old-er when the characters of Sex and the City series become more and more relatable...and your discussions of men (or lack thereof) with your girlfriends inevitably end in statements like "It's ok...I'm not worried about not being married just yet...I will make a great second wife!" Well you know what....I don't think I'm getting older... I am convinced that my friends are in fact having babies ahead of schedule! That's what happens when you make friends with overachievers. "What to do" you ask? Keep calm and drink champagne!  (like there was ever going to be a different answer..) :)) xx 



Madison Leyes after Mulberry

Natural shots like this one are so hard to come by at fashion week because everyone is so serious... so fassshiooon. Lucky for us at least the models dont take themselves too seriously :) p.s. loving the grey and red combination at the moment - grey is so winter appropriate whilst red adds that much needed dash of brightness/chic/communism [call it whatever you want really :)] xx

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Hello Fashion Week - I have missed you!!!

For some reason, for as long as I have been in London (which to be fair hasnt been that long but it sounded like a nice dramatic intro to a post) summer is always a whirlwind of craziness but the end of summer inevitably marks an end not only to craziness but also to yet another one of my relationships (imaginary, dysfunctional etc etc). According to a familiar pattern it drags on and simmers through the winter... shows signs of bad health in the spring.. then peaks in the summer and dies a sudden death somewhere between "September" and "the weather is sh*t again in London". 
  
Luckily... September also marks the beginning of the fashion month and I am oh-so-excited to welcome it this year! After 3 months of style oblivion and wearing havianas, cork wedges and cotton dresses (accompanied by a large number of various beady looking bracelets which are meant to be travel souvenirs but actually come from Topshop at £1 a pop). I have finally decided to pull my head out of the sand and smell the roses. 

Two days before the New York fashion week started, I shamefully typed in "main trends of AW13" into Google (NB shameful about the fact that i need to google it... whilst completely shameless about doing it at work..at my desk..in an open plan office..wait a second......nope! still no shame). Google didnt let me down... 27 pages of links to various sources offering me their perspective on what we should be wearing this winter. And alas! The annual magic pill worked once again and I have regained my will to live (and spend beyond my means pretending that shopping therapy is the only thing that is going to get me out of the seasonal depression/mourning of yet another failed imaginary relationship). 

So boom boom! First item on the list - Oversized Coat preferably not in black.... Found this lovely lady very inspirational at LFW today.... [I wish I could bleach my eyebrows.. she just looks so unbelievably cool]


xx


  

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Goodbye summer! Welcome back blogging!

Can you guess where I have just come back from? :))