Five Golden Rings, Three French Hens....

No I'm not going bonkers.You will see why the title of today's blog post is very appropriate.

Parisian Love Affair 

I'm back at home after a wonderful week's holiday in Paris, suffering from crepes, croissant and macaron withdrawal is no joke! The shock to my system was softened slightly by coming back just in time for the excitement of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I love that a creative like Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) was chosen to create this event, his skill in bringing to life British history, punctuated by moments of the ridiculous and the breathtaking light displays was genius! It was thrilling watching the birds eye view of the landscape Danny Boyle created unfolding from the comfort of my sofa. For the volunteers and athletes involved the atmosphere must have been epic!

Is Karls Latest Line More Elvis Than Olympic? 

Quite a few fashion brands are establishing pop-up shops around the site of the 2012 Olympics and tying into the buzz around sportswear. After visiting Chanel in Paris I was not surprised to learn that Karl Lagerfeld wants in on the action in the UK too and has just launched a pop-up Olympic inspired collection for women. For the maestro of stiff collars it seems an unlikely fusion line, on the other hand if anyone knows how to work a uniform (which essentially is what sportswear is, albeit more relaxed) Lagerfeld does. His Olympic styled line up consists of detachable metallic sparkly collars in bronze, silver and gold, metallic splashed skinny jeans, medallion Ts and glittery white biker style jackets.


 Personally I'm not convinced, I love the Chanel classics (even if I can't afford them) and generally appreciate Karl's creativity and fearless approach to putting a spin on the classic lines of Chanel but this line feels like easy money and slightly blah rather than inspirational. Stella M is the queen of   sportswear design and knows how to fuse the ease of sportswear lines with her imaginative prints in her women's wear collections.  - methinks the maestro of collars is perhaps punching above his weight, what do you think? 

P.S I will be sharing my adventures in Paris with you on a weekly basis and splitting my time there into about four posts, I have a silly amount of snaps I want to share with you and thought this might be a better way to do it. Part one will feature this week so watch out for it! Sx

images courtesy of Vogue                   

Joining The Dots At | Louis Vuitton

 I was slightly peeved recently that a store I have worked with on a casual basis did not take forward my fashion branding idea to celebrate the stores first birthday, the brands colours are black and red and I felt a ladybird theme was perfect for this fun family clothing store. Oversized glasses with red or black spots and red or black frames were to feature as part of the staff look for the day combined with a very spotty window! I'm sharing this here, as I believe taking risks and putting your ideas out there is an important part of being creative, developing your own sense of style and becoming a success, even if we don't always shout about our rejections. As you know I love Japanese design and have a soft spot (no pun intended !) for genius Marc Jacobs. 

 I recently discovered Louis Vuittons latest collaboration with 83 year old Japanese artist Kusama which has resulted in a very spotty collection and was pretty chuffed to note the dotty/spotty glasses in the promo shots. On the face of it the designs seem really simple, but by mixing up the size of the spots and using clever colour combinations, the pieces have an exciting energy. My favourite pieces are the black spots on yellow and the (I love how the colour tricks the eye into thinking cheetah print) transparent plastic mac, so fun, I knew Marc would have to slip some plastic into the collection. What do you think of this latest collaboration for Louis Vuitton, a bad case of measles or super stylish? 

    

Kusama

Florals Are Forever

Florals are forever, well at least they will still be around come A/W 2012, I breathed a sigh of relief as the thought of being plunged into drab clothing after a pretty rancid summer was just too much to bear! This zesty sporty combination from Preen is a great example of what's to come and is part of their A/W 2012 collection. The must have jacket to work these winter florals and bright 60's looks that will have us doing the twist and shout? Khaki. I think these three military jackets deserve a shout out. 

Rokit- genuine vintage army supply

House of Frasier - Pauls Boutique

   

Barbour classic safari

ModCloth Fashion | Empowering Shoppers

All ModCloth- credit -Gathering Springs

ModCloth Fashion Empowers Shoppers

As I was skipping through cyber space today I happened upon a ModCloth sale, for those of you not familiar with this online boutique, it sells an eclectic mix of vintage inspired pieces by indie designers. Reading the husband and wife teams about page was refreshing, they believe that customer is king in the realm of fashion, they want to turn the way fashion can dictate our sense of style on its head and give some of the control back to the us, by allowing fans of their clothing label to vote for samples of clothing they want to see go into production  in this way we their customer, get to choose some of what we can buy from ModCloth.

 High Fashion Or Just Highly Unwearable? 

 The creativity of high fashion is thrilling, but at top fashion designer level, it really is solely the fashion designers creative process and their vision that eventually as I'm sure you are aware filters down to fashion brands on the high street, who then put their own spin on it. Hopefully making them wearable for us. As a personal stylist, following trends and making them work for the women that I work with is important, but on a personal level every now and again even with help of high street interpretation, there will be an extreme fashion trend that only a model could ever hope to carry off, yet it has saturated every nook and cranny of the high street to such a point, I feel forced to wear the latest style of trouser that do nothing for my shape or risk remaining trouserless for the new season.

What do you think? Do you ever struggle to make the new seasons trends wearable, or find your groove with some of last season's styles only to feel frustrated that the new seasons trends just don't reflect your personal sense of style?

Would you appreciate having more of a voice about which trends/ styles of clothing you would like to buy and wear, or do you think the fashion balance is as it should be and you would rather leave the hard work to fashion designers?  

Missoni A Ray Of Sunshine

A while ago I blogged about my extreme brolly fetish, but I have to say even I am weary of having far too many opportunities to show off my brolly collection. I have almost given up all hope of ever seeing the sun again. So until my holiday (I promised I wouldn't ever say the F word again,  I know how tedious it can get when bloggers keep mentioning their intended holiday destination) I decided to go on a little virtual handbag shop to brighten up my day. Methinks with all the money saved on not buying a full summer wardrobe, splurging on one of these Missoni beauties might not feel that bad.

 My favourite designs are the bag with the zig zag pattern that looks like it was done with a wax crayon really quickly, what I have now lovingly dubbed the pineapple design, in yellow and the shoe lace small evening bag, which reminds me of those sewing cards you could get as a child with punched out holes that you threaded a long colourful lace through to create a shape. How about you, are you a Missoni fan? Do brightly coloured bags work to change your mood on a miserable day?  

Supercharged Kitten Heels

super aloof super beautiful Grace Kelly

Rockstud metal heel sling backs- by Valentino

With my road trip through France almost in sight, well almost two wee weeks away; for any Francophiles out there, I'm visiting Reims, Alsace - Lorraine, Champagney, Mont Blanc and Paris, my thoughts have turned to the thrill of finding the unexpected in the world of fashion.

To make a grand sweeping statement, much of fashion latest seasonal trends are made from recycling previous eras, punctuated by brave innovation from time to time, from the likes of Alexander Mcqueen or Jonathan Saunders. The fifties and sixties is such a strong force in the design world that the A-line shift dress has become a bit of a cult classic as has the shrunken cardi.

Denium and pink crochet Gilette -Urban Outfitters 

 I love it when I stumble across clothing and accessories where the detailing is a total contradiction of what we imagine the piece should be about, like this kitten shoe with stud detailing by Valentino and this denim and pink crochet jacket I love that in theory both of these reworked classics should be tacky and not work, both lace and studs have been done to death in my opinion, but the trashy Mexican feel of this denim jacket is so fairground and works perfectly and the sliver of silver studs on these cream kitten heels have ramped up their coolness factor to a level I liken to Grace kellys aloof beauty.

Blackpool Tower modelled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris 

 I hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings about my passion for finding the unexpected in fashion. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the Eiffel tower in Paris (since I often visited it's look alikey Blackpool Tower as a child) and sitting at a pavement cafe watching stylish Parisian people drift by.    

Eiffel Tower!

Do It Yourself Style

Keep your bottom warm and cheerful with this homemade rainbow saddle!

When times are tough the tough get creative, here are my top three thrifty but stylish D.I.Ys Do you have a favourite D.I.Y that you made recently?

Plastic spoons who would have thunk it? So elegant you could use black spoons too.

I love this idea for make up brushes, you could paint the base white if this is too rustic for you.

source pinterest- find me here

Shiny Happy Packing!

I'm off on a eleven day road trip around Europe in the next five weeks, which is pretty exciting! We are doing big cities and more rural locations too. You can find the yellow suitcase featured here on my Pinterest board amongst other fun objects!

 I'm planning to eat lots of cheese and to share some of my first ever outfit posts with you along the way, ( I have just splashed out on a Cannon PowerShot G12, which I need to get familiar with) we are driving to the Alps with a two day stopover in Paris on the way back.

 I want to pack really comfy cool layers that won't crease after long hours sat in the car that can be styled up to create lots of new looks.

 With so many festivals around the corner I thought you might be curious to see the type of pieces I'm planning on packing for my trip as I'm thinking the whole comfort, crease free, hardworking holiday wear is probably top of your list too if your preparing to do the festival circuit.

 My top tip is to stick to a fairly tight colour scheme, mine is going to be mainly blues, oranges and splashes of pink, that way you should be able to build plenty of new looks from less. The mainstay of my holiday wardrobe will include jumpsuits, maxis and lightwear joggers or silk PJ pants, vests plus what you see here.Clothes and accessories are from Monki, River Island, Benetton and Toms. What's your top tip for packing light?

Roadtrip Outfit 1

River Island jumpsuit, will wear with lime green or back toms and layer a shirt over the top

Denim shacket - River Iland to layer over jumpsuits and maxis wear in cooler weather buttoned up with silk PJ pants

sweet Monki bag will add a subtle pop of yellow to orange, navy, washed out blues

River Island pale pink rafia wedges perfect with thin tailored navy jogggers and a white shirt or orange jump suit.

Roadtrip Outfit 2

Monki short Parker in peach

Black lace Tom shoes

 Roadtrip Outfit 3

Navy straw Trilby  Dorthy Perkins

White sleevless shirt River Island

Navy Jogger style trouser - Benetton

lace lime green Toms

   

      

My Passport To Style | New Meaning For The Term Bromance

Umbrella Stuffed With Flowers

  

Mary Poppins Not Mary Portas Is Responsible For A Nation Of Brolly Lovers

I have always loved brollies, umbrellas and since I live in a pretty wet country it's perhaps just as well. My bromance (the word I have adopted to mean brolly love) with brollies started when I first watched Mary Poppins and it has stuck through thick and thin, like the time I made the mistake of going telescopic and buying a cheap mini brolly, that blew inside out after one use while the rain blatted down on me and the broken spokes from my sad little umbrella rattled across my skin, one by one as I simultaneously spat clumps of wet hair out from my mouth in a gollum like fashion and my waterproof mascara did a runner down my cheeks. I was not a pretty sight and vowed to get myself a brolly with a proper handle.

Why Your Brolly Can Be Your New BF

My latest umbrella is vintage, maroon with a Japanese print running along the edge in black and gold trim around the top of the curved wooden handle. Midsized it shields me perfectly and looks pretty stylish with my navy mac, shrimp pink jeans and gold pumps; the frustrated actress in me likes the bonus of an accessory that can take you from demure, peeping from behind your brolly as you twirl the handle, to spy in one swift move, as you use your brolly like a magic illusion, jamming it down over your eyes like the extra large brim of a hat, so others can't see you, but you can still see them perfectly, when invisibilty is required. If you can, I advise getting a large brolly with a strap that you sling across your shoulder, it will become your new bf I promise. If your looking for inspiration I have quite a collection on pinterest take your pick!  

You can sign up to more of my fashion capers via email top right of My Passport To Style

Smudgy Lady Twirls pretty Pink Umbrella

Stealing A Kiss By The Light Of The Moon

        

Fathers Come In All Shapes And Sizes



Pursuit Of Happiness

Kramer Versus Kramer

About A Boy

Here are my top favourite father roles in film, men that played the role of being a father with such feeling and style it left you breathless with emotion. Why have I included Hugh Grant in About A Boy? Well to me a dad is more than just biological, it's someone who is always by your side when you need them, cherishing you and encouraging you to be the best version of you. So I included this film which has a special place in my heart for many reasons.Sorry for going smushy on you all! x