My Top Festival Pieces To Pack This S/S 2012

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Whatever the weather, us die hard festival surfers are begining to think about booking tickets to our favourite festivals for 2012 and stuffing our rucksacs with stylish easy pieces that will create a multitude of looks that reflect what mood we are in. So I'm sharing my top go to festival wear pieces for spring/summer 2012. I had to start with this vibrant skirt, from the resort 2012 Henry Holland collection, it has a little bit of the magic of Peru, Mexico and Tibet woven into its stripey flamboyant fabric that we have come to expect from House of Holland pieces. A plain black or white t- shirt is all that's needed to pull this look together, what could be easier.

How To Avoid Being Stuck In The Mud

 Before you get practical about the prospect of heels jamming into mud, black plastic high wedge sandals are the answer or any of the super stylish wellies below (swipe them with your baby wipes to keep your tent a mud free zone) would work just as well as the killer heels features. If it gets a little nippy throw a biker jacket, poncho or heavy cream or ivory knitted cardi knotted at the waist over your t-shirt.

Choose Your pj Top Carfully And It Will See You From Day Through To Snooze Time!

I love the idea of wearing this subtle Marni print PJ top from H&M, with some denium cut offs and these black and white wicker print wellies. Clashing a dreamy floral tote like the one below from Karmal Loop with any print looks very Global, perfect for your festive frolicking.Sling a simple bright pendant around your swan like neck, like this orange wooden faceted version from Hybrid Handmade featured here and throw a sweet brolly over one carefree shoulder (amazon) for good measure and you have a low fuss high impact festival wardrobe. Hoorah!! 

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My Passport To Style | Styles Up Age Of Reason Pocket Scarves

Age Of Reason ( UK accessory label) celebrated their first birthday at the end of March 2012 and as sensible as their silk scarves first appear to sound, these are not sensible air hostess type scarves, not unless you count pink ink splattered pugs adorned with safety pins or russian dolls caught up in a web of neon coloured chains. Age of Reason British designer Ali Mapletoft from Brighton, sent me three silk pocket scarves to style up differently featuring three of her russian doll designs in a variety of bright orange and turquoise colours. On closer inspection I noticed that one of the dolls was wearing a fetching leopard head scarf, great fun! Each doll on the pocket scarves is designed slightly differently exciting news for any silk scarf collectors out there. Age of Reason have just unveiled their commemorative jubilee pug scarf, in both their full sized neck scarf and a pocket square. I would love to see a certain member of the Royal family sporting this design to celebrate this years diamond jubilee, classic head scarf style! I guess we shall have  to wait and see... I decided to enlist a model for this challenge and as luck would have it I knew the perfect gal, the beautiful Nicole Wilson who was up for the challenge. Scroll down to see how working with Age of Reason inspired me!

I tied two contrasting pockets together to create a tie to wear with Nicoles plain grey shirt, the flash of neon orange on one side of her collar adds a nice twist.

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 I liked the idea of doubling up these pocket scarves and styled one as a short neck scarf on Nicole and the other as a belt for her jeans, leaving a triangular flap at the front made for a playful look.

 I updated Nicole's classic top knot by wrapping a pocket scarf over it and securing with some thin elastic, this look can be recreated to look casual or sleek depending on how loose or sleek you decide to wear your top knot. I love the windmill effect created by the pockets silk corners.

Using a Russian doll pocket scarf with neon orange accents quickly transformed my old large rose gold watch face into a fun time piece as modelled by Nicole!

To find out more or to buy an Age Of Reason original silk scarf go to

www.age-of-reason-studios.com   You can also find them at Matches Fashion, Coco De Mer & Whistles

Thanks to Nicole Wilson for modeling this collection styled and photographed by myself.

Credits for additional Age of Reason images go to www.capturefactory.co.uk

My Favourite Floral DIY Of The Year!

Take a humble cotton bud and dip it in your favourite colour snip the cotton bud in half and stick each half into a round ball of foam at evenly spaced intervals until each foam ball is covered. Spear your virtual flower head onto a long thin piece of green wood or plastic if you want more bend and then arrange your budget price exotic blooms in a vase of your choice! This is such a effective look, you could try painting the foam a contasting colour such as pink or yellow. Have fun!  

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Alphabet Chic



Liberty floral high tops

Y is for yellow, the colour of the brave and the bold, the colour of custard, daffodils, lemons and the middle of a crunchie. I like that yellow is bold and pretty, without being sickly I declare yellow the new pink!

Sunshine tote

Erickson Beamon earrings

Trend Alert | Why I'm Dodging Sun Beams!

Hello again! I really didn't  get the whole ombre thing until fairly recently, I had no burning desire to join a herd of pink dip dyed ombres, which surprised me as I love fun trends, but basically I'm a bit of a boring purist when it come to my hair, maybe this is for the best, as I think the ombre hair trend is in fact intended for those with poker straight locks, not my frenzy of dark waves! When I saw these ombre tights it was love at first sight, they are a stylist/photographer/fashion bloggers dream, no tanning booth required to help create shapely legs, just slip these tights on for instant shading in all the right places, darn that heat wave!! 

Hainsworth And Clarks Shoes Create The Stuff Of Legends

 

I noted with glee recently that high street shoe shop Clarks have gone all rebellious with their latest collection of shoes that reflect British rock royalty, shrugging of any last vestige of rumour that Clarks shoes are only for those of an age to grow bunions or small children in need of correctly fitted shoes. As someone who has had to endure pitying looks from friends in the past (when Clarks fashion cred was on a much smaller scale) when I confessed I was a fan and bought my shoes from there, as they actually provides stylish and comfortable fitting shoes for my five and a half duck shaped feet, even I was impressed by their latest collaboration with Yorkshire fabric mill Hainsworth who supplied the famous scarlet doeskin fabric used in the design of this seasons dessert boot that looks like it has stepped out of Sergeant Peppers LoneyHearts Club Band.

Shiny Happy People!

For those of you Marni fans who were in raptures that they were soon to be guest designers at H and M, but then failed to get your hands on pieces of the collection (or were unwilling to camp in a sleeping bag OVERNIGHT outside the doors of your local H&M!! ) that you wanted after they sold out in a record 24hrs! You might be pleased to know that I recently stumbled across some great Marni Esq  pieces whilst browsing in Topshop, Marnis collection for H&M was all about contrasting shiny fabrics, unusual prints and simple sporty lines all tied up with a chic Italian bow that is their signature.

                           Just A Magpie At Heart


 I confess to having magpie tendencies, put me within a eighty mile radius of anything remotely shiny and I will soon be lining my nest (wardrobe) with the latest pretty bauble to hit the high street! As a curvy gal I need to proceed with caution as to what shiny pieces I can actually wear, these latest sporty pieces from Topshop are goof proof for those shy of shine.

Top Style Tip - Think Out Of The Box When Trying A New Trend

 I particularly like the idea of wearing this shiny graphite coat not as a raincoat but open with a patterned baby blue t-shirt and these shrimp pink trousers and a bold but simple necklace. These metallic sandals are a nod to the look and have the sporty simplicity that made me first fall for Marni, wear them with baby blue rolled up jeans or some silk draw string trousers in the same colour, if you're thinking of  buying into this seasons luxe look.    

Why I'm Doing A Madonna

Silk Coi Hat, love this model and her hair and makeup

I want to do a Madonna and recreate the film the Great Gatsby purely so I can source all the beautiful clothes I and my friends would get to wear at all the best parties we would attend, what inspired this latest fantasy of mine? Me stumbling into BHLDN an online Canadian bridal shop, but hey the small matter of the store being for brides to be, is in my opion pretty irrelevant, clothes this pretty need wearing at least twice a week!!

backless silk waistcoat

slender long mint tutu skirt

loving that the bows look like swallows swooping downward

Hybrid | Designs A Pendant For Me And Invites Us Into Their Virtual Workshop!

 If you read my last post featuring the talented  Cari-Jane Hakes of Hybrid Handmade you will know she agreed to design a piece of jewellery for me so I could share her design process with you here on my fashion blog. I chose a long necklace and asked her to use my new pin interest boards for inspiration.

Cari -Janes  inspiration board based on my pin interest passions

From this she created her own inspiration board and also made up another board of some of my favourite pieces including the Storm necklace (top centre), the Barnacle ring (top right) and the Yellow Submarine ring, (centre right) from there she came up with her own sketches of what she wanted the piece to look like, creating a tactile piece that could swing from a long cord or chain and be held in the palm of the hand. She drew on detailing featured on the silver barnacle ring which I love so much, such as the faceting and the clever copper barnacles; she then brought the sketches to life using a piece of wood and turquoise, it's has been really exciting spending time in Cari-Jane Hakes virtual workshop and seeing her create my necklace. Thank-you Cari-Jane!   

Can you believe this is the back of the wooden version!

And Here's My Finished Pendant,with the back below

Meet Soulful Jewellery Designer Cari- Jane Hakes

Yellow Submarine ring

I recently came across Cari- Jane Hakes jewellery and her blog after she left me a comment on a fashion post I wrote during London fashion week. We both share a love of architecture and the enjoyment of translating that into our sense of style, me as stylist and fashion blogger and her as a jewellery designer. Add to that I'm a bit of a sucker for the poetic and with the names of Cari-Janes pieces ranging from Storm necklace to Yellow Submarine ring I had to find out more about her label and her design process.

 I have never been particularly snobby about jewellery, having lots of costume jewellery and can honestly say I cherish my strings of plastic beads and clusters of colourful glass brooches (and how they can help transform an outfit) nearly as much as the pieces in my jewellery box made of green amber or white gold. Cari-Jane knows how to be playful with proportions and shape, when you look at Cari-Janes work you feel like you have just stumbled into a room of special objects, adults would not of let you play with, but you know in your heart you could have hours of fun playing make believe with, her pebbles contain tiny spy holes and gleaming rings, sprout copper barnacles , wearing a piece of Cari-Janes would be like wearing a secret that only you and she know about.

Rock Pool ring

 I asked Cari- Jayne to design a piece for me and I thought it would be fun to share her design process here with you. Here are some of my favourite pieces from her current collection, in part two of this post on Cari-Janes work, I will be sharing what inspiration Cari -Jayne used for designing a necklace for me based on some of my passions and key pieces from her collection and her design process and sketches.

Storm Necklace

Fearlessly Feminine Necklace

 You can find more of Cari-Janes Hakes work here at hybrid handmade

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