Coming in from the Cold plus Colours of Autumn designs

Hello from the rain battered Midlands. I realised yesterday that it's been a while since my last post, but I hope this makes up for it as today is a double barelled one- an outfit and some more of my sketches. First up is a shoot from yesterday.

The weather has been completely miserable and wet all week here in the UK so I had to resort to doing shoot indoors instead. Or in this case, in front of the fire. I wanted a cosy atmosphere as it was so horrible outside.

The dress is an American Apparel one (already seen on this blog in a different incarnation a long time ago) which I got in a charity shop for free. It still had the original price tag on, and they said I could have it for nothing as it was only fit for a halloween costume- how wrong they were! But this assumption worked out  very well for me. The cardigan is another charity shop item, and is the cosiest thing known to man (well, woman in this case.) The vintage belt was given to me by my paternal grandma which she wore in the eighties- thanks Babi!

Both the hats are vintage. One is a thrifted piece and the other was my maternal great-grandmother's. The brown lace ups were found by my mum in a charity shop. They are sadly too small to go out and walk in but are fine when I'm just lounging around. Silk scarves and gloves seen in shots are all family items and the vintage vogue is one from my collection.

And on to the second part of this post. Autumn has now officially been washed away in a torrential flood, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to post these sketches. I was so inspired by the glorious colours and images of autumn this year that I had to somehow translate these into designs. I also took alot of photos, but more on that another time..

These are my ten designs inspired by various aspects of autumn, be it a tree or a cosy jumper. I'd love to hear your feedback on them. (All designs are copyrighted to me!)

                                                I think this one pretty much explains itself. 'Little Red Riding Hood.' What else is there to say?

This one is a cable knit grey jumper dress (with knitting needles in her bun to match.) I wanted it to look cosy and quirky.

The thought behind this was a bundle of twigs tied together with twine. You could call it 'The Twiggy'!

Just generally a warm comfortable dress to wear, paying attention to the detail- such as the pockets with visible stitching and the orange socks peeping out of the boots.

You can't have inspiration from autumn without thinking about fire. I think its sometime just as interesting to concentrate on the back of the dress as the front. I couldn't resist finishing this off with a chimney top hat complete with complimentary smoke! Whimsical is my word du jour here.

Autumn leaves- another one that pretty much doesn't need explanation. This is acually based on and idea I had for a dress when I was about 11, you could call this the updated version.

Berry red corset over a crumpled silk grey dress. Layering of a slightly different style!

One of the reasons I love living in the countryside is all the greenery (or orangery and red-y depending on the time of year obviously.) Trees are so beautiful all year round. Again I wanted to concentrate on the back.

The skirt was inspired by the rust and decay that comes naturally with autumn- the season of change. The cream layered top is a thermal vest over a red silk shirt- underwear as outerwear. And the hat is brown faux fur.

I started and gave up on this design about 3 times. I had the idea of a 'skeleton leaf coat' in my head but that was about it. In the end I had this idea when I looked up to see my vintage tailcoat hanging on my wardrobe door. This skeleton leaf translucent coat is part bed jacket, evening coat and tail coat. The headress was an idea taken from a plant I saw walking home after school one day last week.

I would have posted these yesterday but its been another really busy weekend and my house has been in complete and utter chaos! Our landing is about to be redecorated which means that about 1000 books (quite literally) have had to be removed from various shelves and are now sitting around in precariously balanced wobbly piles on the floor and sundry windowsills. An example is shown above.

One last thing to say is a massive thank you- I now have over 200 followers! This really means so much to me, thanks to every single one of you.
Ooops, this is definitely the longest post I've ever done. Congratulations to anyone who's waded through the waffle to the end.
Goodnight and sweet dreams.

Monochrome Shadow Puppet

This is the final part of the photos from the shoot done with the fantastic flo. (As some of you may have remembered from previous posts, her blog is http://florencefox.blogspot.com/ - sorry, some shameless advertising for a friend! I love flo's photography, and I expect to see her go far with it.)

These were actually the first images of the day to be taken, and our whole idea was to focus on the lighting and use of shadows against a plain background.

It was my idea to bring along some peacock feathers as props. They were all shed by two peacocks who live at a nearby arboretum, and were then dutifully collected by us.

The white lace bodice was my great-grandma's. There is a black lace one to match, but unfortunately that one is much too big for me. I love the shape of this piece- my great-grandma made it when she was young. It was then worn by my mum when she was in her twenties, then appropriated by me. (Gosh! Never heard that story before! Me? Borrowing things from my mum? How unusual..)

The black skinny jeans were flo's, and so were the gold sparkly braces. The black lace up shoes (my new favourites!) were found by my mum in...ooh!Guess? No,could it be a charity shop? So thanks mum! Both the necklaces and the bow tie (customising the top in the first photo) and the vintage trilby are also all mine.

This is a bit different to my usual style, but worked really well for these photos.

I just wanted to give a massive thank you all the interesting people who commented on my 'size debate' post. I always love hearing so many different views from you lovely people. I've noticed that the debate posts seem to be pretty popular, so what would your view be on maybe a more regular debate?

I am currently now feeling very ill, although a lot of it is probably my own fault- I had an incredibly busy weekend that finished with me writing an analysis of this breathtaking play called 'The Idiot Colony' until very late on sunday night. Other activities included a textiles workshop with this amazing duo who's company is called 'Pretty Rubbish'- they specialise in recycled and vintage textiles. See their inspiring designs at http://www.prettyrubbish.org/. I customised a t-shirt that I'll have to showcase on here at some point...

I'm now off to go and feel sorry for myself, don't forget to give me your opinion on your ideas about regular debates!

To the lighthouse

I've been waiting for a while to showcase one of my new family pieces. This was given to me by my mum's 2nd cousin (have no idea what relation that is to me!), Susan. She bought it in 1965 when she was in her late teens. So imagine how happy I was when she asked if I might like to have it!

Lets start with the actual construction. Being incredible interested in fashion design and the making of clothes, I find this particular article fascinating. Each panel of fabric is seperately sewn together, to create the volume of the skirt. It also has a 24" waist- I could only just squeeze in!

The first photos were taken on a structure right by the sea, and I can tell you that scrambling over slippery rocks in high heels isn't the safest thing I've ever done! I know that the metal structure isn;t strictly a light house, but I just really liked the title.

The red jacket is a Betty Jackson one found in a charity shop, brand new! I love her designs.. And sorry to use that cliched phrase but they're very "quintessentially British" in style. This jacket is perfect as it not only looks great with anything, but also keeps me warm- something rather unusual as my dad would be happy to point out when I insist on freezing rather than wearing a raincoat.

The boots in the first shoot were my mum's. They are one of a few pairs that I turned my nose up at a couple of years ago and then rediscovered eargerly recently!

The last two photos were taken by the very fabulous flo. These photos were also inspired by 'The Kosh' that we saw in Edinburgh over the summer holidays- very theatrical!

Worn with a blackstrap top and lace-up heels that my mum bought for me.

Now I promised a debate- And here it is! I recently read an article in The Guardian Weekend (which I love) about bigger models. It annoyed me so much that I drafted a response to send to them, which unfortunately it never did. So I thought I'd post it here instead...

It was with interest that I started to read the article entitled 'Why big models are big fashion news.' But unfortunately that interest turned to disappointment as I got to the line "For anyone sick of seeing dangerously underweight adolescents dominate the style landscape (and who isn't?)"

I was hoping that the guardian might take an open minded stance in this 'size debate', but the writer simply proved the common misconception about slender people. I am 5"8 and 7.5 stone, and only 14. I've been naturally slender all my life, for the simple reason that I have a fast metabolism.
But I am sick of people informing me that I'm underweight, without even bothering to find out anything about me. I read this particular article over breakfast, while eating a bacon sandwich and fried egg. Does that sound anorexic to you?
It seems that its fine to criticise and belittle naturally slender people, but imagine what would happen if it was someone of a size 16 was called that dreaded word- 'fat'? Of course that would be an unfair horrible comment to make, so why does the writer of this article think it's fine to accuse people such as me of having an eating disorder? Or maybe that isn't judged as insulting to some?
I understand that there are many people who do have serious problems with weight and food, but they need help- not just mindless criticism. By putting everyone under the same umbrella, steroetypical views are just reinforced.
I thought that it was truly great that models of all sizes were being used, but why does the fashion industry have to have this one 'perfect body shape'? I personally think that if everyone was just happy with their own healthy size, and stopped trying to make everyone fit in with one ideal then this whole situation would be resolved.
The plus size models at the Mark Fast show was an inspired idea, but my problem was that that the clothes chosen didn't actually flatter them. You should dress for your own body shape, whatever it is. I know that I'm never going to be curvy, but I accept it and get on with life because there are much more important things to think about.
I'm only ever reminded of my body shape when I read something like that. I feel judged by it.
I think it;s tme to start celebrating and flattering all sizes!

Whats your opinion in this ongoing debate? I'd love to hear your views.

Edit: I realise that some of the photos haven't shown up properly here, I'll deal with them tomorrow.

Preaching Vintage Fashion (my first shoot behind the camera)

When my friend Zoe suggested that she'd like to do some posing so that I could take full control of the other side of the camera, it seemed like a great idea. Even better, she agreed to let me style her completely with some of the contents of my wardrobe. Zoe would freely admit that vintage style is not something she would think about choosing herself- but doesn't it suit her!

The whole inspiration for the day was 1940's Hollywood glamour. The dresses, the hats, the make-up. Allthough funnily enough, only one of these dresses is genuine vintage. The grey sleeveless one worn with the two hats came from Beyond Retro. The blue beaded one is second hand Next, the black lace one is from a charity shop and the blue one is thrifted Topshop. But they're all second hand and do have a real vintage look.

The grey top with lace underneath the blue dress was one customised by me, and the tailcoat is a vintage family one. Shoes throughout are some Mary-Janes that unfortunately no longer fit me, so were given to Zoe at the end of the shoot! All hats, necklaces, watches and rings are various vintage pieces either found in charity shops, market stalls or are from various relatives.

I think that Zoe looks really gorgeous, and am quite proud myself with my first foray into being the person doing the photography- a role that I definitely want to explore a lot more!

Running out of time now, sunday night homework and all that jazz. So I will defer my latest 'debate' until the next post. Hope you enjoy the photos.

The North Wind Doth Blow

I'd like to start off this post by saying a big thankyou to everyone who gave me feedback on my last blog post. I personally didn't want to cut down on the amount of writing, but wanted to check that I wasn't boring all of you as I waffled on!

I was going to wait another day, but I couldn't wait to post these photos on my blog! These were taken by my dad on the last day of my half term holidays (I'm now back at school, contemplating my art homework while writing this.) We drove up to the hill above my village to shoot this, and we were immediately greeted with a downpour- typical rural living. But in the end, the sun came out.

We rushed out to try and take photos before another wandering rainstorm hit us. It was so windy that I was literally clutching my hat to make sure it didn't take flight into a nearby field!

The dress here is actually a tartan skirt that I rescued from being thrown out, because I really liked the fabric and thought I might turn into a bag or something else suitably creative. I then noticed that if I hoiked it up and added a belt then it actually made a rather lovely dress. I put it over a vintage shirt that my mum had in our dressing up box (she used to be a drama teacher- lots of dressing up things around the house!)

The leather jacket is an Escada one found in a charity shop- the leather is the softest imaginable. Its now known as my 'photography jacket'- I now wear it out whenever I'm a-wandering with my new camera.

The boots are vintage ones bought by my mum in the nineties, the belt a student purchase of hers. Both hats were recent charity shop finds and the brown bag was my granny's. The woollen scarf was my great-granny's and I think the leaf necklace is a family piece.

I'm really pleased with the new blogger posting template, meaning I can make the photos a lot bigger!

I have an interesting debate lined up for the next post, I'll be looking forward to hearing more opinions.

Edit- One of the photos didn's show up, so I've added it in now!

Pink Silk at Dusk

Hello everyone.

I only got back yesterday from Wales and loved reading all your comments on my last post. I will try and reply to all of you lovely people soon.

These photos are very new, only being done this afternoon! The incredibly wonderful Florence took these. She started her own photography blog recently too, and I advise that you all go and take a look! When you do, some of the photos may look a little familiar.. I'm always really inspired by working with flo. She has a great eye for detail.

Find it at http://florencefox.blogspot.com/

Today we wanted to do a shoot inspired by a show we both saw over the summer in edinburgh called 'The Kosh.' It was a really amazing one woman dance show. So the theme for this shoot was glamour and eccentricity. I arrived at her house with a vintage suitcase and big bag full of clothes to try out! Too much as usual..

This is a vintage silk slip that was my paternal great-granny's. I think the colour is that perfect dusky rose shade. In fact, the only type of pink I will wear! The little grey top underneath was from a charity shop and the little vintage white satin shrug was bought at a local stall. It did have a beautiful fifties wedding dress with it, that my mum tried to dye red- unsuccessfully. It was blotchy pink and had to be thrown out (I was only about 7 at the time, and didn't exactly think about rescuing it!) What a sad waste. But luckily the shrug has made it's way into my open hands and I wear it all the time.

The tasselled shawl was Babi's (my czech grandma.) I think it has a bit of a Liza Minelli in Cabaret feel. Talking of which, I watched that film the other day. I've always thought it's such a classic. What is your favourite classic film? I'm always a sucker for an Audrey Hepburn one, especially Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The belt is inherited, and sadly now falling apart slightly. And the rather amazing pink satin and rhinestone shoes were given (!) to me by Rosie, who owns a neaby vintage stall. I always buy something there, she has such an eclectic range of jewellery and garments. I was so amazed when she gave these to me, I think they are possible the most flamboyant pair I own.

I have some more photos from today's shoot to share with you soon, as well as my first shoot with me behind the camera!

Oh, a quick question to you all before I go. Do I write too much on my blog posts? I often find that I have so much to say, and really enjoy writing them, but would you honestly prefer it if I cut down the text? I'd appreciate your opinions...

Pirate Hoards Autumn Gold

To start off, I just want to thank everyone who got involved in the debate on the previous post. There were some incredibly thoughtful and insightful comments. I'd love for people to carry on commenting on it. It's great reading your thoughts!

Now, on to today's blog. This is one in a very long line of charity/thrift shop finds.

This is a Jaeger dress that was found in Edinburgh over the summer. We were staying on Nicholson Street, which has the most charity shops possible in a single area... So as you can imagine, I couldn't wait to start combing through them. I actually noticed that in my latest Vogue, it mentioned that specific street of charity shops. It's obviously a popular destination.

This was from 'Shelter' I think, specialising in vintage. What I was drawn to first with this dress was the fabric (see the closeup.) I love the child-like effect of the crayoned flowers on bright yellow. The fact that it was vintage, Jaeger and only £6 settled it for me.

I customised it a little to suit me more. The hem was cut off to knee length, with the surplus fabric tied around the neck in a pussy bow to give it a seventies feel. I'd usually be thinking about what pair of heels to put with a dress as fabulous as this, but then I noticed my wellies out of the corner of my eye! Then it was on with the Radley belt (charity shop) and up with the hair into a messy bun. It's the new tramping around the countryside look, Daaaarling!

The photos were taken on the welsh coast in front of a picture postcard estuary. That's the best way I can be dragged out of the house to go on walks now, with there being a promise of a shoot for my blog at some point along the way!

One last thing to do before I finish is to give a massive thank you to the bloggers who got back in touch with me about the designs I did for them. I enjoyed this project so much, and it was lovely to be acknowledged by some of the people who I drew. I thought I'd just put a small quote from each one to tell you what they thought.

Jane from Sea of Shoes- "You’re a fantastic artist and I wish you all the best-hope someday your designs translate into real life and I can get my hands on those ruffly anklets"

Raez from Cheap Thrills- "Two runway-worthy outfits designed just for me, I love 'em:) Such creativity!"

Adela from Pink Champagne- "You are a wonderful artist, and should definitely consider a career in fashion photography/illustration. I LOVE the picture, and am already thinking of ways to interpret these looks"

Nicky from Lips Of London- "I feel so special having you a fabulous blogger take time to draw outfits influenced by my style!"

Karla from Karla's Closet- "THANKS SO MUCH! very sweeeeet of you, i love it!"

So thanks again to those bloggers, and also to everyone else who commented. It really made my day! I hope to show you some more of my designs sometime..

I'm on holiday now until thursday, but I'll look forward to catching up when I get back.

Green Scene- Part 2 (plus debate)

This is kind of a carry on of another post, as you may notice the same dress again! But I had too many photos to do it all in one, so though I would split it up.

Here I've got it with this gorgeous forties utility coat (complete with original utiltiy label!) that is also my mum's, and a bright green shirt dress- place of origin also being my mother's wardrobe. I seriously want to steal half her things!

The hat is a vintage Kangol one found in a local charity shop, and the leaf necklace is a family piece. Boots as before.

I would spend lots of time explaining this, but I think all of it was said in the previous post! But I will say that this is officially the last shoot done on my old camera, from now on they'll all be with the Canon 5D.

So I thought I'd devote the rest of my writing to a debate.

I recently found an article on the internet (not sure where) about teen fashion bloggers. But more interesting than the article itself was the 'your view' section. I found it fascinating reading these, but there was one point that riled me slightly. There were a number of people who thought that if you had a fashion blogger, then you were always obsessed with getting new clothes and feeding the capitalism of society. Apparently this 'frivolous' subject should also have articles of meaning too.

Now I'm personally very interested in fashion, but not just the 'clothes' aspect. I love designing (as is obvious!) and photography. These are my two main passions. I find that my blog is a perfect creative platform to showcase my ideas and style.

Nearly all of my clothes are from charity shops, market stalls and flea markets or family items. The massive majority of my wardrobe is vintage!

But just because I often write about fashion, it doesn't mean that this is my only thought in life. I love writing (fiction and on occasion, poetry), reading all types of literature- my favourites of the moment being the Bell Jar and Small Island. I'm really interested in art and take inspiration from all areas of life. I try to steal the newspapers my parents buy so I can read them first and would like to say I'm rather academic.

Fashion just happens to be one of my interests. Is there anything wrong with that?

Now, I really do understand that everyone is allowed their own opinion on things, but I think you should be able to appreciate other's choices too..

So whats your opinion on all this? I'd love to hear your views.

Red Riding Hood

The first thing I have to do here is express the amount of excitement about my new camera (okay, well it's actually mine and my dad's camera, but I just like the way I can say it's mine.) Eeeeeeee!

Okay, now I can carry on with the blog post. So these are the first batch of photos taken on said camera- a Canon 5D to be precise. They were done on an autumn afternoon at a nearby favourite place to walk. It used to be an iron age fort and had views across most of the county.

But on to the outfit! This stunning satin red evening coat was purchased by my Czech Great-Grandma (paternal) in Washinton D.C, America in 1966. I believe it was bought for an important reception.

The vibrancy of the coat complimented the colourful leaves falling around me.

When the coat found its way to me, Babi (my grandma) referred to it as 'The Balenciaga Style Coat.'

As you can probably tell from the nature of my shoots, I love the fantastical, the surreal, myths

and fairytales. I'm really inspired by Tim Walker's photography and I love planning the use of contrast in the resulting photos- even if I'm not taking them! Hence, an evening coat in a wood.

I can't believe the quality of the photos taken with this lens.. I think I'm in love!

The black dress is a WareHouse one found in a charity shop by my mum, the boots (my favourite of the moment!) are also charity shopped and the necklace made from freshly picked berries and leaves was the creation of my lovely mum!

I'd also like to quickly say a huge thankyou to the following people for giving me blog awards..

-Jill of http://streetstylelondon.blogspot.com/ for the 'Over The Top Award.'

-Sophie of http://beautiful-rampage.blogspot.com/ for the 'I think You are an awesome Girl'

-http://expensive-junk.blogspot.com/ (Sorry, didn't know your name) for the 'Splash Award'

I'm sure there was someone else too, but I've completely forgotten. If there is, could you please make yourself known so I can give you credit?

Thankyou so much to all of you! It's really lovely to be acknowledged..

One other thing, I now have over 150 followers. I' really like to thank every single one of you for taking the time to follow me. I can't believe that I didn't even have a blog a few months ago!

Boots not made for walking

Hi everyone. You may shout at me for not being very responsive lately (blog posts and replying to all you lovely people) but please don't as I'm feeling a bit fragile and tired.

Two weeks ago we spent the weekend in Bristol with friends. City Life! People! Civilisation! This demanded.. serious boots (the kind I never get to wear in the rural hills-for obvious reasons.)

The aforementioned boots have been posted before, in monochrome, but hell they needed visit away from my shoe shrine collection! So off we trotted- me and the the topshop spiky heels to suitable locations in the city. Mind you, once I'd laced myself into them I realised that I was restricted to about a 20 yard radius! These are the pefectboots to admire, sit down or stand up- but not exactly suitable for pounding the pavements...

The hole in the wall provided a useful frame in a nearby carpark, and I loved balancing on the wall outside my friend's house!

The backdrop of the last boot shot was taken, barefoot, back at home, after an incredibly active weekend.

In the majority of the shots I'm wearing a much loved (to the extent that some of the buttons are missing) two sizes too big charity shop Jaeger blazer. It's belted in with a 30p leather vintage belt, also thrifted. Miss Selfridge knitted dress and favourite tartan tights/ indigo skinny jeans.

The final shot was my little homage to the shoulder pads of this season paired with a homemade lace t-shirt. All jewerelly family vintage pieces.

And of course, the boots! They were £20 down from £80 in my best ever topshop sale find.

I'll be back to normal soon with more country posts coming this way...

Scenery Greenery-Part 1

I can't believe the weekend is almost nearly over, once more. I relish mine, and they always go way too quickly for my liking! And all the creative things I planned to do on a sunday evening are replaced with homework and getting my uniform ready.

I guess it's just Sunday Night Syndrome. Am I the only one to get it?

Anyway, here are some photos done at the beginning of the week- taken by my parents just up above my village in the hills. The dress is (unfortunately) my mother's. Although I'm trying to think of a way to smuggle it in to my wardrobe! She got it from Beyond Retro in London- She just happened to see it before me!

The jacket is hers... (vintage again) from the often mentioned Rosie's Stall in a nearby town.

The boots, well they're actually my mum's too! (Maybe I should just rename this post 'Mother's wardrobe'? Either that or I'll just have to blame her for great style.) I recently rediscovered them in my usual snooping through her wardrobe, having turned my nose up at them about 2 years ago.

The green hat is a vintage one found in a charity shop and the brown bag was my great granny's. (I like the detail on the clasp!) The glass foil necklace was also another inherited piece.

So I think that's about it.

Oh, but thankyou so much for all your wonderful comments on my last post of sketches! It's great to get some feedback, and I hope to post some more sometime.

Huge thanks for another few blog awards, I'm going to feature them in my next post. And more thanks to Jill for writing another lovely bit about me on her blog.