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

Golden Silvers

Even though this blog is a homage to fashion and fashion inspiration, I am a music student so I would like my blog to include the occasional article on a band or artist I may love at the time. 

Today my music article will be about the band Golden Silvers. Do not fret though fashion lovers, this post will not only be on music, as the lead singer has excellent taste in clothing and this happens to be one of the reasons I regard them so highly (other then the fact that they write very good songs). 

Their first album is called 'True Romance' and definitely shows how Romanticism is making a come-back. It has excellent use of synthesizer, the synth accompanies the songs well and doesn't take over (this often happens in bands attempts at using this instrument). The singer's voice is strong with a unique tone, but highly likable nonetheless. And the lyrics are interesting with clever metaphors and references to Greek Mythology (always good in my book!). My favorite songs on the album are 'Arrows of Eros', 'Magic Touch', 'Please Venus' and 'True no 9 Blues (True Romance)'.


The band is comprised of lead singer and keyboardist Gwilym Gold, bassist Ben Moorhouse, and drummer Robden Alexis Nunez. They have played at many of the top festivals, including Glastonbury, and have been placed in the top 10 of The Guardian's Best Albums of 2009.

 This is an acoustic video of their song 'Magic Touch' made by WatchListenTell, who make interesting acoustic videos of new upcoming bands, see their amazing YouTube channel here. Their harmonies are so tight and I would definitely buy this if it was made into a recording. I love the lead singer's sense of style, I wish all boys would dress like this. I love his outfit in this video, and his hair, he's just so cool!

Their sense of style obviously shone through as they appeared in vogue with an article and photoshoot,
You can read the article here.


Overall I think they are a great band and will become very big, very soon. You heard it from me first!


xxx

H&M Has Got The Blues

I have entered the H&M 'Blues' contest on Lookbook.nu, I did a very late entry as I have only just joined the Lookbook community! But here is my look anyway:

 I went for my usual classic prim and proper look, but added the jeans to make it more casual and emphasise the 'blues' aspect of the look. 

The prize is £100 worth of H&M vouchers which definitely would go to good use in my hands, so fingers crossed! 

xxx

The Handbag

Well everyone who knows me is aware of the fact that ever since I was 15 years of age I have carried a Cath Kidston bag on my arm at all times. I purchased a new one, every 6 months or so, from the latest collection that was out, and have now acquired quite a few in various different colours and prints. 

That love affair has now sadly ended.

 Cath will still be in my life in the form of travel cases, rain-macs, makeup bags, and umbrellas etc. But I will not be buying a Cath Kidston handbag again. Everywhere I look I see Cath being exploited on every other girl's arm. It is time for a change! And the direction I'm looking is designer (ironic I know seeing as I am a student with no job and no money). I have had my eye on a mulberry bag ever since I turned the pages of my first Vogue and took in their classic approach to the very wearable and timeless designs they create.

I love the Classic Bayswater bag. I prefer it in the brown leather as that look is always timeless and tends to go with everything.

I also like the Hayden Messenger, But I have the feeling it wouldn't hold everything as it's smaller then the Bayswater.

I like to think that when I have a job It will be feasible saving up for a Mulberry bag as the ones I want are around the £400-£500 mark. However If I money wasn't such an issue I would be looking at a Miu Miu bag.

I actually love this Bugatti glazed leather tote, especially that it's glazed and has a longer strap to go over the body.

I also love this Large deerskin leather tote, though it is way out of my price range (probably due to the deer-ness of it) It also comes with a shoulder strap.

Maybe when I get a job I can start saving for one these beautiful bags. Until then I will have to stick with the crowd and carry good ole' Cath around. A girl can always dream though...

xxx

Karen Elson

Karen Elson is definitely one of the most beautiful models to ever grace the catwalk. She won Vh1 Model of The Year 1998, and the British Fashion Award for Best Model over Lily Donaldson and Danny Beauchamp.  She is also a talented singer and owner of the vintage shop 'Venus and Mars', in Nashville Tennessee. She is an all round beauty.

Her flaming red hair and eggshell white skin definitely set her apart from the other models and put her in a league of her own.

This picture is for Hannah :)

Karen in Lula Magazine

Karen is a muse for me and I hope she inspires other people to create beautiful things too!

xxx

Agent Provocateur

Valentines may be over but that doesn't mean that we can't all invest in nice lingerie out of the romantic holiday. When I stop being a student and start earning enough, one of my first shopping trips will be to Agent Provocateur. Their beautiful and slightly risque lingerie is at the top of my wish-list.

For the romantic, pretty in pink look:

Gypsy Bra £95, Waspie £145, Brief £75

Or a for a strong sleek, black set: 

Nikita Bra £75, Suspender £50, Brief £45 

(or if you're brave Ouvert £45)

In all of the Gil Elvgren pin-ups I have seen, the girls always seem to be wearing fluffy pink, white or black mules to accompany their lingerie or kimono. I looked everywhere for some and have finally found them!

 

Pom Pom Mule £145

I would gladly trade in my comfy slippers for these, but then there is that little case of the £145...

To see more of the amazing Agent Provocateur range look at their website http://www.agentprovocateur.com/

xxx

Being Audrey

It was my friend's birthday yesterday and the theme she chose for it was 'Musicals'. All of my favorite musicals come from the 40's and 50's, so I sought through them and thought about which character I could be. However I soon realised that none of the musicals had any characters that people would recognise. I wondered if I could take a character from one of my favorite's, 'Funny Face' with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, but I thought that no one would recognise Audrey from that film. I then remembered that 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' had recently been made into a West End show and I could dress up as Audrey's character 'Holly Golightly'! I got the dress, the pearls, and for the all important hairstyle I followed a tutorial on YouTube by Strawberry Koi Vintage (who also has an amazing blog http://strawberrykoi.blogspot.com/). And this is the finished look!

I had a wonderful time re-creating this look and will definitely be doing it again soon! With a little help from my friend Amy for the hair...

xxx