Leave The World Behind You.....2011

Have The Best Night EVER...x

Tom Ford Geek...Really?

Thomas Carlyle, or Tom Ford as he is known as, has achieved so much, not just a designer who turned Gucci around, and a film director, but some what of a phenomenon, it seems everything he touches turns to gold under his own label, Tom Ford. How could you possibly be at the top of so many products? Well its possible, there are currently 16 private blends and 5 signature fragrances of which Black Orchid has gained international fame, his alliance with Estee Lauder to create the Tom Ford beauty brand and his partnership with Marcolin Group to produce and distribute optical frames and sunglasses, is there any stopping this shooting star? I hope not. People who think things are not possible need to take time out and research how these superstars started, I wonder if Mr Ford worried when he dropped out of NYU only after a year, or when he was sat in Chloe's press office in Paris sending clothes out to photo shoots. There cant possibly be any more incentive to keep going and carrying on than just looking at where the highly succesfull designer now stands.




Tom Ford eyewear was introduced in 2005 and the collection as it now stands is highly respected, proving an immediate hit and already has a faithful following gracing some of the most famous faces around. When I say eyewear I'm referering to optical frames as opposed to his equally succesful sunglasses range. Im unfortunate, or fortunate enough as I can now wear these frames!, to have quite bad eyesight, I could try and claim that these are not a mere fashion accesory but are absolutly a neccesity for my everyday life in order to be able to see, but that would be a lie, there are 100's of styles I could choose from, but I am set on picking this frame as a sure way of buying into the brand! (Im definatly in Luella's Stage Four-Proper Job-'embracing the world of designer purchases.')



Firstly I would like to say, and maybe this is slightly unjustified, that I am well aware that different people buy into different trends, either through sheer love of the products, or fulfilling their job as a dedicated fashion follower, but one of these in particular really got to me? Wearing clear lense glasses without actually having the need to wear them as a means of correcting their vision. I dont need to ask why, I know the answer...they look good/cool/fashionable. Maybe, possibly, sneekily, I'm just saying that as I am in a position of NEEDING them, grants me special permission? Well in a way yes, but I equally understand that the wearing of glasses is no more a punishment (didnt see you all copying us when we was in our unfortunate four-eye'd school years!) as opposed to now, where we are in the position where the likes of Tom Ford are offering us the most beautiful frames to be seen in.

Now, the actual frame itself, perfectly sized not to big, on the border of looking like a fashion accesory, as they do have to do their job, and not too small tiny framed, looking like and old fashioned secretary, whose really trying to make there glasses a nice asset? It cant be denied that the fashion movement towards geeky chic, and the new focus on frames, the bigger frames, has clearly influenced my choice in new glasses, I cant play down that I secretly think my new glasses will make me part of the 'cool' gang AND I have my one up on them that I actually need to wear them? Definatly no longer a chore, I can cope with wearing them...if I have to.




Oh, and just demonstrating that my new chosen frame looks just as nice on men aswell ;-)

Luella's Guide To English Style

I love reading a fascinating book, and even more so when it is associated with fashion. I greatly appreciated opening Luella's Guide to English Style on Christmas Day, as soon as I began reading the Introduction I knew the whole reading experience would be that of enjoyable as well as inspriational, it also contained great opnions and knowledge that I was not aware of, down to Luella's close friend Katie Grand wanting to start her own magazine and in turn creating Pop and now working as the editor for Love Magazine. And who says you cant make something out of what you love doing? Although Luella's career did'nt end in the most promising of ways, researching her 20 collections under her belt, concluded that she can gracefully say she showed the world her talents as a designer. And with her last collection SS2010 went out with a memorable bang.

From the very beginning of this book it is clear to see that Luella's aim is to figure out what makes 'British women so staggeringly adept in the art of expression through style.' It is interesting to find out that her niche brand of English fashion, was inspired by so many different movements, for example Punk, to grannies, super heroes, Cornish witches all the way to equestrianism and football casuals. It made me laugh when she went on to make another 'important point, which is that English Style doesnt necessarily hail from the notorious square mile of East London that is home to those achingly sublime twenty-somethings whose every waking moment is dedicated to making sure that every centimetere of their attire exsists as validation of their superior style' Someone had to say it...

Its amusing that Luella dedicates part of her introduction for justifying, what makes her such an arbiter? To her credit she has ticked of some of the tedious steps leading to the great 'Fashion World' Attended Central Saint Martins. check. Apprenticeship at Evening Standard, then going on to landing her own desk at ES Magazine. check. Then 'procedding with trepidation to the hallowed halls of Vogue House' Eventually leading to her first collection, 'Daddy, I Want a Pony'

And Ive only just begun the book...My pink ribbon is firmly holding down my first chapter to read..The Seven Stages of Woman... I'll update when I've read more of my beautiful book.

Just finished my first chapter, 'The Seven Stages of Woman' I can conclude that it took me on a predominatly, in some parts. scarily accurate interpretation of a woman's style changing as she ages, and let me firstly introduce the correct name we will now be referring to, 'Miss England' or 'The British Bird' Luella continues to use, I prefer the first. Are we really that predictable? The whole chapter was fantastically knowledgable and captured stages in your life, that I certainly can relate to...Luella's passion for the English Style is heavily emphasied through all the stages, and she puts it, through Miss England's 'seven ages, in common with morning-after-mascara, her style gets better with age.' 'Through these stages the experimental building blocks of earlier decades start to fit together more easily and her very own, personal sense of style properly forms.

Stage One-Childhood. 'As a kid it's all about fantasy' And we know we were all once a parkly tutu'd forest fairy with mum's high heeled sligbacks, then the next day a Power Ranger. 'It might sound a little hackneyed and a little too Hoxton eccentric, but thats only because as adults we are burdened with self conciousness and rules that we spend the next fifty years trying to shake. The summary of this stage 'Two plus two always equals five, ignoring the idea that everything should be correct and proper' Thus the first blissful, unselfconcious stage is over and gone before she even knows what she's got.



Stage Two-School Daze. 'Teenage kicks are a pivotal moment in Miss Englands journey of discovery...this is when self-conciousness begins' This chapter made me smile, due to the accuratly relyed fight with the kind of cruel attire which we were forced to wear, namely the drab, counter-instinctual, school uniform. We are unaware of it at the time but, 'take the worst fabric and cut, put them on a confused girl and make her wear the same combination og grey and burgandy for fived days a week and see what happens. 'The Favourite Customisations of the Scool Uniform' made me laugh, why do we do that? I suppose its our way of individuality coming out, 'but this is in context of being part of the group, dressing the same as her best friend.'
This was descried as 'the most sincere form of lifestyle and dressing she will ever know.'



Stage Three-Recessionista.The third stage of Miss Englands style eveolution (the charity shop years) is the equivalent of going through a personal recession,' and they say England is at its most creative in a recession. Luella describes this is the 'foundation course for dressing' It was a very interesting perception that 'money-is-no-object thinking comes at a price. Too much cash means zero creativity' I can totally see how this is true...'invetion is the key to self-invention' It was also inspiring to find out that many designers find their inspiration from charity shops, the quality of the fabric is better and its possible to learn alot about construction and technique.' Luella beautifully describes this as 'cool, in the properly individual sense of the word. She's hit upon the true wisdom of style;she has cracked the code. she has just been given membership to the odd-looking elite of British Style. Pass Go. collect £200.

Stage Four-Proper Job. This stage 'embraces the world of designer purchases' Is anyone else finding some of this strangly true? She goes on to explain Miss England now has to figure out where 'indivuality fits in once she's passed through the guilded doors of Selfridges, or logged on to the perfect item minefeild that is Net-A-Porter.' And I love this part...when she has eventually purchased her all important designer investment 'she'll wear them with anything that will dress them down. 'There is something absolutly bloody marvellous and incredibly English about attaining that status symbol and then denying its status.' Stage four is summed up with 'feeling cool, uncool, cool then uncool. Anxiety is exhausting, acutely concious of being judged.' Ever read a book where you nod alolng and are completly wrapped up in your own little world...it was happening here.



Stage Five-It Takes Two. This older stage in Miss Englands life was about having them beautiful little creatures, children. She now wakes up 'with the realisation that the trail of ticking boxes is over. Hurrah.' 'Just as her style taste is taking PhD status, life comes and hits her in the face. Oh, how cruel. Oh, how great.' Harder to relate to obvioulsy, but still just as amusing, 'theres a new duchess in town and she feeds her chickens in Christopher Kane,' to take in and hopefully avoid , some of the neglect on style, when the time comes along.

Stage Six-Back in The Saddle. She is now into that 'mix of naive irony and rebeillion has been thrown on huge bit of life experience.' This stage is quite involved with 'deep thought and scrutiny, paring everything down to the bare essentials, shredding her inhibitions and neuroses, shes also shredding pretentiousness and mixed references. And begins to base her dressing-up decisions on who she is.' Although Im definatly not there yet, I do get an understanding of this whole new more mature stage. 'Everything now means something, as opposed to screaming out individuality.' I catergorized my Mum in this stage, and it is definatly true of her, 'lots of things that look very similar, starting to prefer the posh stuff and clever cut becomes a neccesity for practical reasons, not just because of some style theory.' 'Caring about craftsmanship makes her a continuing part of English tradition, quality over quantity.' I laughed at the summarised finish, 'How long before the estblised English Tradition, and its frumpery, that you are mocking becomes the very thing you are?'

Stage Seven-Granny Nirvana. 'Stop thinking, start playing' thats the motto for this stage. Luella strongly believes that 'British grannies do this better than anyone else, the glorious, who-cares, pile-it-on granny style, grannies are the queens of exuberant mismatch'



Luella your Seven Stages are genius!

J'aime Mon Carre

Hermes fashion house was established in 1837, I feel it would be unnecessary to reel of paragraphs of praise for the luxury brand, the fact that we are near to 2011 and it is still one of the most wanted brands across a vast audience. And it seems that the famous Duc carriage and horse will be lingering in a whole new branch of wardrobes owned by the new, trendy, fashion-forward younger audience and have taken the initiative to demonstrate the vision for us in their new street style website 'J'aime Mon Carre' showing the masses how the 'cool' girls wear their Hermes Scarf. The label recruited British Photographer Matt Irwin snd stylist Francesca Burns to create the project which showcases images of girls all around the world wearing their scarf.










The idea of wearing a scarf appeals to me greatly for several reasons, the main one being the fact that although there may be current trends, maybe more so in the younger generation, on the way it is worn. It is almost certain that it will never be 'out' of fashion. One of Hermes most recognised products today are their signature scarves, purchasing one is a justified investment when you begin to research the amount of craftsmanship that goes into producing them every year, woven from the silk of 250 mulberry moth cocoons, hand printed using multiple silk screens, and the hems are all hand stitched and aside from the most beautiful texture and design the scarves have another unique trait that is unprecedented; that its scarves are made with a scent. And finally the proof of our love for them...during the Holiday season in its Paris boutiques, on average, one scarf is sold every 20 seconds.





J'aime mon carre, I Love My Scarf, and who could argue that Hermes is not at the top position for the most beautiful silk scarfs created, not me. Hopefully my passion and absolute love for Wild, Thick Hair is now quite clear from reading my previous post, there are very few contenders that can stand in the way of not letting these beautiful tresses just hang beautifully without interfering with tying it up or any other kind of styles out there, the messy plait may just sometimes be an exception, or random plaits discreetly hidden, but a bright silk scarf tied in numerous ways has my full permission to get involved.





I love how these beautiful pieces of silk can be tied in various different ways, conveying a completely different look from just the positioning of the scarf, the way it is tied, the length or the colours chosen. and who can call it a measly fashion trend when it ranges from these beautiful girls in all the major cities to Queen Elizabeth choosing to wear one for her portrait a British Postage stamp in the 1950's.



My favourite version of the way a scarf is worn comes back round to my 'look' which I am still not getting better at explaining, and pathetically rely on images to speak for me. Worn with anything or anywhere, on the beach, out in the cold shopping, shouting INDIVIDUALISM! from each girls head as it is completely down to you how the scarf is tied...What is your favourite version of the scarves?

Who? What? Why?!

This blog, which I am strangely proud to expose, is not based on expert insider knowledge, innovative ideas or stlyes nor the latest happenings in the Fashion World, instead this is inspired by uninfluenced personal thoughts and opinions expressed through both writing and chosen images.

It would be a fair judgement to catergorize me as an outsider in most, if not all, elements that contribute in making a successful blog. A photographer, or journalist, people working within the Fashion World and such would be able to make justified criticisms, however, I've hopefully avoided that by emphasising this is merely written about fashion and such things from my own taste and personal views.

My short lived perception of the blogging world suggests that it is not competitive, extremly diverse, highly opinionated, exceptionally inspirational and a general mass of evidence that represents support, encouragement and compliments for fellow bloggers and their outlets they have created.

And why not be part of something you love?....I asked myself.

Live the Life You Imagined....



Some of the blogs that inspired me to create one of my own...Thank you




And the book that handily collated many inspirational blogs together for a great read..

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Oi Repunzal, Repunzal, Let Down Your Hair To Me....

Once upon a time....actually to be honest Repunzal has quite a dark story which I only recently discovered, initially all I pictured of the story was a beautiful young girl letting down her beautiful long hair so the King's son could climb up and reach her in the tower and live happily ever after. I was taken a back with the enchantress taking a womans baby, locking her in a tower with no stairs nor door, the angry outburst at the King's son, 'you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it and will scratch out your eyes aswell.' and if thats not bad enough, I definatly wasnt prepared for the Ultimate Punishment...'In her anger she clutched Repunzal's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of sissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off and the lovely braids lay on the ground.' Im speechless, the thought of all that beautiful hair being cut off, unimaginable



OK I know its all a bit dramatic, but it just ever so slightly emphasises my absolute love for Long, Wild, Thick Hair...Them three adjectives, describe my perfect head of hair, it makes any outfit look beautiful, a bikini look out of this world, a pretty dress look even more beautiful, jeans and a tshirt look perfect, in my view it perfects every look you could possibly try, and give it that 'so beautiful' 'effortless,' 'so feminine'...absolutly flawless [of which it is not] image to others, or maybe just to me. The proposal, I admit, of girls with long hair and boys with short goes way back, supposedly the first woman and man on earth Adam and Eve may be accused of creating the whole imagery. However, like with most things linked to fashion, trends change at such a rapid pace that there are few things that remain the same over the years. Although, as with anthing there are the latest haircuts Alexa's pixie bob, Agyneses bleach blond extra short cut , Alice's half shaved head, the list goes on. It's not as versatile or easily to switch naturally and play about with unlike buying a new jumper, and in a peculiar way your choice of hair gives a judgemental image of what you like, your style, what sort of person you are, what music your into, it can change a whole image, it has the ability to make you look edgy, high fashion, cool? And even if unintentionally it creates a first impression from people, fashion concious or not, a correct prediction or totally untrue.

I'm well aware, like with clothes, shoes, make-up its all down to personal taste, for me its easier to project my vision of beautiful hair in pictures as opposed to attemting to portray it through words. It also seems that, the hair I love, goes hand in hand with a ceratin style of girl. Im afarid to say it but the images that I 'oooo' and 'ahhhh' over are predominatly a smoking, messy looking, casual clothing, cool attitude, sort of looking girls. Poor description I suppose, so thankfully the images back me up where my words cannot. They also coincide with ceratin magazines and editorials, but that is not limited as this look can be recreated anywhere, on any sort of girl. A few months back Abbey Clancy, infamously known under the title of Wags, was transformed into this sort of look that I am trying to relay here. This image, personaly, shows that it can give a person a completly different look that although I class it is a general 'look' is individual and not obvioulsy following a fashion trend, instead making things your own, putting your own stamp on things, not having to be perfect and spend hours perfecting anything. the more flawless and messier that accidentally happens, the more beautiful it looks, effortless for anyone. Maybe its an English girl thing? As Luella Bartley states that 'In fact hair is one of the most telling signs of true English style and the brush its worst enemy-as proven by stalwart bed-head Kate Moss.'



A fan myself of browsing through magazines, reading blogs and other material on the internet, there is a strong sense of satisfaction when reading an individuals writing, whatever the medium, and completly understanding their vision, even if its not necessarily your own taste, its still a pleasure to feel open and acceptng of other peoples views, and to fully agree with what they are saying as well as experiencing some sort of relief that your not the only one with these thoughts and passions. As an outsider to the fashion world I can fully appreciate all sorts of styles and designs and can be completly absorbing and un-judgemental due to my lack of expert knowledge. However, what I do have, is my own visions and taste, and coming back to the subject, hair...the longer, the messier, 'That' overall look...you cant beat it.