Tartan

 

 

 

 I'm not sure if it's because I'm half Scottish that I get so sentimental about tartan, but I like that this fabric always manages to be edgy but reassuring homespun at the same time, and as long as you have plenty of black in your wardrobe, you can never go wrong with tartan pants or a skirt.

My Passport to Style | Influential Trends A/W13

 

 

This is a proud moment, if ever us bloggers have been influential, it was clearly visible on the A/W 13 runways where maxed out layers ruled supreme, any blogger worth her salt has perfected the art of piling on layers of fabric to add texture and interest. We learnt it from the best in the business Susie Lau.

 I’m not sure about the trend for only buying half a coat ( because the rest has been skilfully lopped off, with a very expensive pair of shears) somehow it doesn't feel like money well spent, but I’m keen to emulate some of the artful tucks, luxe folds and fabric clashes as paraded on the A/W13 catwalk shows.

 Thankfully, hourglass gals like me can celebrate that curve hugging pieces have not been wiped from the face of the high street just yet by heavy pleated pants and thick slouchy coats as we are all encouraged to man up.

After spending a pretty frustrating morning trying to pare down (read cram) the contents of four rails of clothing into my very small glossy black closet, I rediscovered a 50’s inspired shift dress that I could wear with an old khaki cropped roll neck layered over it, to transform it into a wiggle skirt, result!         

 

*mages courtesy of vogue*

2013 Vintage By The Sea Event - Celebrates 80 Years Of The Midland Hotel

 

 

 

What did you get up to yesterday? I spent three hours, deciding which vintage-inspired look I should wear, (based on our very unpredictable British weather) for my invitation to Wayne Hemingway's event, Vintage By The Sea. I finally decided on a Ben de Lisi 50s inspired, linen wiggle dress, a bright blue linen coat with chunky black buttons and ruffles on the front and a small black patent, boxy, grab bag.

 

 

 

 Outfit sorted, camera and brolly packed, I wiggled my way down to the train station. Ten minutes later I was enjoying lovely views of Morecambe bay, whilst I tottered along the prom to the Midland. I love visiting the Midland hotel and taking in all its creamy art-deco curves and lines. It was nice to see it overflowing with people and all thing's vintage, from Punch and Judy shows; classic cars and ice-cream vans to glam gals wearing red lipstick and seamed stockings.

 

 

 I managed to pick up a vintage bargain inside at one of the vintage clothing stores a malteeser coloured mock croc clutch. I was very tempted to have a full retro hair and make over at Guys, and Dolls pop up salon seeing some of the starlets emerging from a mist of Elnett hair spray, but I decided to save my money for a visit to the Routunda bar and a date with Elvis (well his music really) a chip butty made with smoke butter and a butterscotch Daiquiri which was every bit as dreamy as it sounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sadly, I didn't get to chat to Wayne about his American Indian wrestling father Billy Two Rivers, or the many crazy outfits he got to model as a child on Morecambe prom created by his mum and his nan, or to ask how he felt about moving out of fashion and into design on a much bigger scale, but if I had of done, I would have wanted to thank him for throwing such a great 80th birthday party for the Midland Hotel and Morecambe his hometown.       

 

 

 

Wayne Hemingway Hosts Vintage By The Sea In Morecambe

 

If you have heard of British designer Wayne Hemingway MBE you will probably know he is viewed a little like the Godfather of vintage in the UK and set up his fashion label Red or Dead in London in 1982 with his wife Geraldine.

 A custard tart or butter pie might be more his cup of tea than a bowl of Italian spaghetti and meatballs as he was born in the small seaside town of Morecambe, famous for its sunsets and art deco hotel, which luckily for me is just up the road.

 Whether you have heard of Mr Hemingway’s label Red or Dead or not, you might be interested to know he will be hosting one of his famous yearly vintage bashes not in London, but in Morecambe to celebrate the Midland Hotels eightieth birthday this year.

 I’m going to be hopping on a fast train to Morecambe tomorrow (Saturday14th September) to sample a pick and mix of the best vintage has to offer at the Vintage by the Sea one day festival.        

 

 

*images courtesy of vintagefestival.com*

 

#Destination Denim

So today I want to talk plain old denim minus any fancy pants prints, you probably already know that I’m slightly denim phobic, seeing as I’m on a good day I’ll just say I have a curvaceous Beyonce type lower half and I have struggled in the past to find jeans that I can honestly say work better than a pair of trousers or a dress, my wardrobe/floor, cough, is over flowing with my alternatives simple jumpsuits, track pants, pj and Capri trousers.

My Passport To Style | Why I Don't Do Denim



Believe it or not saying you don't do jeans is a taboo subject in Britain it's like saying you don't put salt and vinegar on your chips. How do I know this because I am one of a growing minority or women that realise that as much as they love denim jeans, they don't do much for their hourglass figure, the sometimes thick stiff fabric bunches up in the wrong places. I think perhaps Europeans have a slightly different attitude they don't feel that their sense of style and youth are so deeply imbedded in the denim culture, they enjoy tailored clothing. British women wear more denim than any other country and whilst I have no wish to outlaw denim in the UK, it has become a bit of a uniform, to the point that if I wear a simple A-line dress, my friends think  I have dressed up! Hooray for camel flares and A-line pinafore dresses! 

Why I Like Being Fashionably Late

 

 

 

 

I have been sucked into a bit of a non fashion vortex recently, which is not really the type of thing you admit to if you’re a Fashion blogger, but as my official title is Fashion and Lifestyle blogger, I think I can allow myself the occasional slip up. So how did I find my way out of it? Simple really, a chance encounter with a lilac leather slipper with an elegant studded toe after a bit of a lame search for some sensible, go with everything type of flats on eBay. My heart started to beat a little faster and my palms got slightly sweaty when a pair of lovely lilac leather slippers by a designer I had never heard of, Olivia Rubin ( I did say vortex!) popped up, one click later, they were sold to the lady in the fluffy dressing gown and Harry Potter mug, it was Sunday!

 

 I hear that apart from many other colours pale pink is big this winter 2013. Last winter I bought an A-line skirt in sugar almond pink, but struggled to find some shoes that worked with it, I personally like to toughen up pastel shades with navy, black and slate grey but nothing seemed to quite work, until I found the perfect compromise in these pretty flats the black toe caps have been generously sprinkled with tiny gold baubles and a few larger gold studs for good measure.

 

 

 Metallic toe caps seem to be popping up a lot lately and these feel luxe but still casual enough to wear with my pink skirt during the day, even better, through my chance shopping encounter on eBay I discovered the rest of Olivia Rubin’s collection of wacky and fun S/S13 architectural prints in the Asos sales. I guess being the last to know about a designer label does have its perks! I heart the dress with the eye wateringly pretty pansy design, Olivia Rubin’s big gutsy pastel leopard print with a sporty zipper and her purple slightly slouchy long sleeved brick T, the last time I felt this pleased to discover a new designer range was after discovering Henry Holland’s granny inspired winter prints and Tatty Devine’s fish bone necklace.         

 

 

 *images courtesy of asos *

Step Into A Blue Suede Shoe

Fair Trade dress - Topshop

 

 

Thanks to the birth of the royal baby boy, the colour navy blue is back on our fashion radar for A/W 13, as you know I have a bit of thing for wearing this colour a lick of it changes me from care free to blue blooded siren in minutes and works to whiten up my eye balls and perk up my skin if I OD on pizza the night before or miss out on a few hours sleep and although blue is soon to be in again, as a classic it’s never really out, like some hybrid colours I could mention, like Tango orange, I’m just saying.

 My favourite look I have spotted for winter is wearing a dark slick of petrol tones, using a combo of shiny textures in dark green, navy and black worn with a crisp white shirt. Right now I’m on the lookout for a navy pair of silk shorts and matching PJ top and a blue print Kimono to wear as a dress so if you spot either of these on your travels I would love to know, are you a navy addict like me or is the only blue worth having your denim collection?     

 



Graduate Fashion Week - The Northern Connection

Cartoon Graphic Prints

 

I was lucky enough to see some of this years London graduate fashion week on my door step at a viewing at UCLAN in Preston which is currently ranking amongst the top four most prestigious Universities to study fashion. I thought some of you might like to check out the talent. Last year UCLAN fashion students scooped four awards at London Graduate Fashion Week including the Zandra Rhodes textiles award. After my initial minor embarrassment of my sharing my appreciation of what I thought were baked bean head dresses with my neighbour when they were in actual fact plaits that had been photographed I recovered quickly and got visual goose bumps as a some incredible pieces whizzed out from behind the curtains. I was fascinated by the edgy cartoon graphics and quality street wrapper inspired pieces.The skill and talent of the students was evident as models sauntered down the runway wearing inspirational cuts and heavily embellished collections that with out doubt Susie Lau of Style Bubble would trade some of her coveted wardrobe for, you can read her coverage here and check out some much better images too!

Quality Street Wrapper Colours

 

Mexican Mash Up

 

 

Peruvian Inspiration  

Cartoon Retro

China and Metalics

Plaited Head Dress

Mexico and Lots Of Beading

80'S Does Jocky Strip For Women?

Metalics And Menswear

 Inspiring Menswear

 

 

Antidote To Bloggers Block - Refinery29

 

The jig is up I have been suffering from the dreaded bloggers block, but holy Krispy Kreme doughnuts Refinery29 has bust me out of the block and all it took was tangling with some of their souped up accessories and in particular a bright purple scuba shoulder bag, although I would probably go for apricot, the apricot tone works so well in this dusky squishy funky fabric. It's very satisfying when one happy story leads to another and as I skipped merrily down the path to the perfect underwater handbag, I ran into the label & Other Stories, it's rare I find a handbag shop where I could quite happily stage a love in with every handbag on offer, so thanks Refinery29 I owe you!

Double Duty| Dressing With Topshop

 

 

 

I recently bought this navy knitted tile jacquard dress from the Topshop sale, I was pretty chuffed to nab this geometric beauty, for lots of reasons I love the colour navy and the ease of flinging on a sweater dress.The centre panel breaks up the body and elongates, always good, but I was also pleased to snap up a print that cleverly covers two of this S/S13 trends.

Avoid Dodgy Socks - Last Minute Gift Guide For Men

  I'm a bit of a sucker for gadgets and wizardry when it comes to Christmas gifts, so I would fit the mould for a gift buyer for men perfectly, but there is a but, I don't like gifts that have extra functionality unless they also offer quality, despite what we sometimes think at this time of year, men don't want a pair of funny socks unless they are made from a superior blend of fibres that will allow their feet to breathe. So first up on my last minute Christmas gift guide for men has to be a pair of Adidas Originals Superstar.The number of men that I know that are always up for a bit of Adidas Originals is well, a lot, so when I came across this slick very wearable pair in grey with the high shine of patent grey stripes running across them amongst JD Sports  range of trainers I thought they had it all, on closer inspection there was still more to come, the trainers come in four other colours and also, believe it or not, with 4 sets of inter-changeable stripes and two pairs of laces - yes you heard me right men can customize these trainers as and when the mood takes them at £65.00 I think that makes this pair of Adidas Originals Superstar a pretty solid gift choice.

 Bath time would not be bath time without a little ducky, but how about a rubber ducky that acts like a floating speaker whilst the egg shaped transmitter works its magic, I thought you might like that one - and the speaker does work it's been tested by a source close to me, ooh have you heard me, put me in a mile radius of gadgets and I think I'm Moneypenny at HQ! You can get hold of the Audio Duck for £14.99 from WHSmiths.

 For men that like to cook, in my opinion cooking doesn't get much more macho or fun than blowing things up or using dry ice, chemistry boff and chef Heston shows you how, oh and how to make the perfect cheese toastie and his famous triple cooked chips,his book Heston Blumenthal At Home from Waterstones is priced at £22.50. Follow that up swiftly with the perfect way to make an expresso with the De'Longhi Icona Espresso Coffee Machine in manly aubergine at £169.95 from John Lewis if your feeling generous.

 So finally we come to what I believe are the ultimate in Christmas socks made from lisle yarn in black and white with a tiny white skull motif, they are pretty sharp, priced £16.00 from The Kooples.

 *This is a sponsored post*