Lana Del Rey - Style Icon for Today

I haven't blogged in over a year, I can't believe it has been that long! I suppose I did not have much inspiration; but this is where this young lady comes in. 

It seemed when I was in desperate need of a new fashion icon, she was there like a call from the heavens, to help me renew my love for style and perk up my wardrobe.

It's no secret that I adore the 1940s and 50s, however, dressing in that style does not really give room for  in my other love of hoop earrings and gold jewellery.

But as it is plain to see, Lana embodies all of these style points effortlessly into her own look. Hoop earrings never looked so elegant!

She even has the killer nails.

 I had always admired these when looking into female Japanese fashion styles (especially around the 'Gal' and lolita trends), but never dared to wear. 

If you think those are adorned you should see the dedicated nail-lovers' work...

(side note: although I do think the above nails are incredibly cute, the logical part of my brain luckily steers me away from thinking that they are anywhere near the realms of normality, not to mention practicality...)

Anyway back to Lana. Her nails have taken inspiration from this, and still give her the air of 'trashy-elegant-chic', if that sort of paradox can exist. If she can actually pick things up, however, remains an ever present mystery. 

I think overall what that really stands out for me, when it comes to Lana and fashion, is how seamlessly she has incorporated elegance, sex, cheap-chic, and lolita into one style; and incorporated it, ultimately,  as one person. She fully embodies those four traits into her mannerisms, music and fashion, and its what gives her the mystery and seductive nature she so successfully puts across to her audience. 

The sexual themes she presents do not appear in a crude, obvious way, as they so often do with a lot of celebrities (*coughcough* Rihanna).

But instead they give her a lolita style intrigue, whilst also giving her the opportunity to flaunt ideas of submission and dominance within her fashion and work.

As we can see, there is such a thing as subtlety when it comes to submission and dominance style fashion, or S&M fashion if you will. Rihanna doesn't seem to have mastered it, 

But Lana has, first time...

xxx

1970s Style

I really can't believe how much I have neglected my beloved blog, but I just haven't had much inspiration. Although I draw on current fashions in my blog posts, I'm not a complete follower of up-to-date trends. I like to think of this blog as an inspiration giver, on the front of music and fashion! 

Well anyway back to the post. It was this recent Darwin Deez video (yes I know I have blogged about him before) of the song 'Constellations' that made me think of the topic of this blog post:

The amazing '70s fashion really reminded me of a lot of the 1970s style I had seen around the shops at the moment. I'm much more of a fan of early 70s, when the trousers weren't so flared. So these Camel Belted Pleat Front Tapered Trousers from Topshop fit the bill perfectly! 

I really like the front pleat, as it really brings the trouser out of being to casual and frumpy. Camel is definitely a colour I associate with the 1970s, and you can never go wrong with a nice pair of beige or camel trousers I always think! 

A lovely floaty blouse is next on my 70s fashion agenda.

Well if money was no object this Chloe Pussybow Silk Crepe blouse would be perfect. The low-slung pussybow is a perfect choice, loosely tucked into your camel trousers. But for those of us who have to tighten the purse strings there is this lovely Pussybow Blouse from Oasis, which is just as lovely, and in a very similar colour:

My favourite item from this 1970s revival are the platform loafers:

These amazing shoes are from River Island, and I am seriously debating if I can part with my cash just to own them, (whether I can walk in them is another matter entirely). They also do them is this lovely tan colour too, which is probably the shade I'll buy them in:

Long gold necklaces, bangles and brown satchels are always a must too with the 70s style, but if I started blogging about those too I'd be here all night. Brown satchels are everywhere at the moment, but this Tan Triangle Lock Satchel from Topshop is pretty perfect for the look:

BEWARE, I have had this bag twice and the clasp has broken on it both times! It's just so nice though...

I hope this has all been inspiring for you all! Oh and Happy New Year!

xxx

Men's Fashion

I often air my views on women's fashion on this blog, but this time I would like to talk about men's fashion. I suppose there is a ring of truth to it when men complain that there is not as much choice in fashion for them as there is for women. However I do not think that this is a good excuse for men to throw on a Jack Wills hoodie and jeans and call it an outfit.

PLEASE DON'T DO IT!

Ok well I accept that no one would ever wear these colours together, but if you just changed the colour scheme to navy-white and swapped the brogues for some canvas plimsoles, it could be any self-assured polo playing wannabe in Guildford.

I must stress that obviously this is my own opinion on male fashion and that I understand that there are probably people who do like the looks that I slating.

I must admit that I am definitely not a t-shirt kind of girl, I love shirts. And shirts are definitely a good basis for a man's outfit. As demonstrated by the amazing Adrian Cano on Lookbook :

Even though a shirt and brogues are featured in this outfit it is still looks casual; as the shirt is denim and he is not wearing chinos (or a pretentious cardigan slung around his shoulders).

Or one could go for the sharp cut suit as modelled here by the (used to be) lovely Mark Ronson:

I say 'used to be' as I have learned recently that he has now bleached his hair blonde and has now gone for an 80s look, what a traitor. 

But anyway the skinny tie and sharp cut suit, reminiscent of late 1950s attire, always look amazing to me. A suit shouldn't be restrained to only evening wear,we should look back to the classic times when wearing a suit was normal attire for a man, what ever the occasion. If a guy was wearing this walking down the highstreet, I would be incredibly impressed.

Finally we have, what is to me, the creme de la creme of men's fashion: The Ivy Style. 

This style originates, as the name suggests, from the Ivy League universities in America from the late 50s to early 60s. This being my favourite era I suppose I would be biased towards it, in terms of men's fashion, but i really do think it is a classic style. 

Many of the indie kids of today don't realise where their turned up jeans and boating shoes came from. And although (from my indie post bellow) you can see how I feel this look hasn't progressed necessarily in the right direction today, I still love the fundamentals of the quintessentially 50s look.

Men of the world take note, study this website (www.ivy-style.com) and I don't want to see another Jack Wills body-warmer as long as I live!

xxx

Indie (...or Hipster)

Dear readers I am very sorry that I haven't blogged since May, but I simply just haven't had any inspiration. However, since having a gentle nudge from Hannah ( excitedandinspired.blogspot.com ) I decided to blog about a topic that has been on my mind recently: 

indie-ness. 

Being indie or hipster, as the americans like to call it, is a genre that includes music and fashion and is widely considered to be a social identity to young-ish people. I personally like the 'indie scene', (it's so not indie to say that though, real indie kids don't ever admit their indie), because it generally falls into the style of fashion and music I already liked. However, it seems that some aspiring teens have made it their aspiration in life to be as indie as possible, and frankly they have just taken it too far.

I have compiled a list of things that entitle people to fall into the indie category.

 Some of these things really annoy me. 

1. Ray Ban Sunglasses/Glasses Without any Lenses

It is fair enough for Ray Ban's to be in with the indie kids. They are nice sunglasses and some people really suit them. However, I do think it is a little silly that every tween/wannabe who wants to be indie will go out and purchase said sunglasses and parade around with them in the boating shoes (see more on these bellow). Especially as they are rather expensive and are infact, not trying to show off their style (which isn't really their style anyway as they are just copying the exact colour and model of sunglasses as everyone else), and are in fact just trying to showcase their wealth.

There is no excuse for wearing glasses with no prescription on them or ones completely without lenses. It just looks plain silly. Especially if it's a clear plastic lens and you can't see their eyes because the light keeps glinting off them, and you know in your heart of hearts that they bought those for £12 in Topshop and thought 'oh I'll wear these with my ripped tights and denim shirt, and it'll totally complete the look'. *Sigh*

Well I suppose it could be worse, they could have gone for the "Get 3 for £5" offer down in Camden market. Then they'd have them on rotation throughout the week.

2. Guy's Clothing Options

Well if you are true indie then you can just go into vintage shops or raid your attic for your cool dad's old '80s stuff and throw it all together into some divine retro/clashy/slighty-camp ensemble, that'll have all the indie girls aloofly lusting after you.

But if you are an annoying Topshop boy, who basically only buys clothes from said shop, and only creates outfits from the male indie staple items list, then you will be dressing only by these few items:

Striped Sailor Style Longsleeved Top

Turned-up Skinny Jeans Without Socks. 

The More Ankle on Show The Better.

Boating Shoes

Denim Shirt. With Top Button Firmly Done Up (It's What Makes The Outfit).

3. Girl's Clothes Options

Anything from Topshop, Urban Outfitters and vintage shops (because you love mixing highstreet and vintage together and you get that little pang of satisfaction when someone asks you where something of yours is from and you reply with "sorry it's vintage").

 Look like you've got dressed in the dark, and kind of pull it off if your true indie, but don't pull it off and just look like you've clashed a load of prints together, if your a wannabe.

Top it all off with a denim shirt as a jacket, ripped tights, brogues, over-the-body satchel, and hippy elastic head band over back-combed hair.

4. Indie Music

Bands you have to love if you are indie:

a) Bombay Bicycle Club

b) Vampire Weekend

c) Foals

d) Arcade Fire

e) Mystery Jets

f) The Maccabees 

I happen to love these bands. But they have all become extremely indie mainstream, with the Ray Ban loving hoards, who walk around in their The Smiths t-shirts but I swear wouldn't even know that 'Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before' wasn't by Mark Ronson (Who I love, wasn't trying to put him down). If you are extremely indie, you will only like B-sides and say things like "oh yeah I only liked their demo, I went off them when they went mainstream". You will talk about completely and utterly underground bands who no one has ever heard of, and you will enjoy the look clueless look on people's faces when they ask you who your favourite band is and you reply with "The Momoraths, you've probably never heard of them, they're quite obscure".  

(The Momoraths are actually a really cute band, look at their site!)

5. Indie Attitude

Finally we have the indie attitude. Basically, to be truely indie you have to be incredibly aloof (to the point of almost looking rude). Be awkward, quirky, and skinny. Look as though you really don't care about anything as your hair is always limp and cut in an out-there style (usually involving a large fringe or cows lick). And you pose in a languid model-esq manner around boutique clubs and bars, ordering Corona and Red Stripe.

I think that has covered everything, and although this kind of turned into a cutting rant of the indie kids of our times, it seems I have a love/hate relationship with the genre as a whole. 

To be honest, I love indie. I'm just so indie, I don't say I am.

xxx

If I Were a Burlesque Queen...

Hello my darling readers! While trawling the internet for sparkly things I can never buy, I came across the wonderful world of new age Burlesque outfits. The new burlesque costumes I had only ever noticed were the beautiful outfits Dita Von Teese wears on stage (usually made by fellow Burley-q star Catherine D'Lish)

So many Swarovski Crystals! 

But when looking through pages and pages of retro-inspired clothing items, these caught my eye:

The rhinestones, the feathers! I couldn't help but think of my beloved Dita and her carousel horse outfit.

They also had these t-bar beauties:

Both of these shoes are by Bordello at www.babygirlboutique.com.

It had never occurred to me that you could buy Burlesque things for yourself. I had always assumed you had to get them made, but of course with Burlesque being such a popular show nowadays, people want to be able to recreate it at home and perform their own shows (God forbid).

I now understand why I see so many Burlesque shows being advertised with women performing who are, shall I say, well well under the bar that Dita has set. But I think that doesn't stop the items being beautiful, even if the woman wearing them isn't showing them off at their best. 

Then we come onto pasties or 'nipple tassels', and the adorned or bedazzled g-string. These may be incredibly crude stripping items of clothing to some people, but I think they are absolutely beautiful.

I love these heart pasties too from Talulah Blue:

Sparkly hearts that you put over your nipples? What could be better!

Well all in all I doubt I'll ever be a stripper, but who knows, perhaps you'll see me prancing about campus in a pair of pink rhinestoned heels next week...

xxx

Diamonds and Pearls

I am feeling in a rather bejeweled mood, today it seems. I have have precious stones on the mind and they seem to be attached to various designer labels I love...

Words cannot describe how much I adore these crystal embellished leather flats by Miu Miu

They have them in black leather as well as brown, but I think the brown accompanies the gold contrast well. I also love the bow detail. I always think if you add a bow it makes a garment that much lovelier. 

And who better to design in the spirit of jeweled opulence then Vivienne Westwood. Her mini bas relief pearl choker is a beautiful piece; that has a hint of Marie Antoinette to it, I feel. Swarovski Crystals adorn the pendant and add to the extravagant, yet elegant, feel of the necklace.

Of course, If you really wanted to turn heads with an luxuriously extravagant piece, there is always the Vivienne Westwood crown. 

Oh what a fair, just, and stylish queen I would be...

 

xxx

Darwin Deez

Well boys and girls I seem to be highly influenced on the ole' musician side of things lately, so here is a post on a new up and coming artist/band I like called Darwin Deez.
His songs are catchy and pop inspired, but sit comfortably in the indie genre. My favorite songs are probably 'Constellations' and 'Radar Detector'. This is the awesomely cool and quirky video for Radar Detector:



I like his quirky late 70s look of oversized jumpers/jackets and headbands (even though he looks about 6ft 5in!). His dancing skills are something to be admired too!

I like The Strokes-esq monotone effect that is used on his voice mixed with the drum machine and short-sharp guitar (that apparently only uses 4 strings and uses a special tuning invented by Darwin). It makes for pop-y, feel good tracks; which he/they definitely delivers. Everyone seems to be unsure whether Darwin Deez is a band or just the solo Darwin with a band attached so it seems necessary for me to write both possibilities of he and they!

An album has not been released yet but will be on the 12th of April, but you can still purchase some of his songs on iTunes. If you join his mailing list you get 2 free songs, so join now!
He is currently touring and will be performing at Portsmouth Wedgerooms with Everything Everything
on the NME Radar Tour so I may well be posting a live review of them very soon!!!

xxx