Grunge meets Sequins

As a typical Londoner when it comes to dressing, I like to dress things down. Tailoring with boots, pretty dresses with messy hair, and now - sequins with grunge!

The Ashish AW14 collection combines the two, sequined sportswear style clothing with rips and tears, to reveal more sparkle. Coke and Tesco style "carrier" bags and the grunge staple - the check shirt.

More images from IsMental blog.

Autumnal purchases

Basically another excuse to put an infinity picture up! An image or rather a few hundred images of me wearing my newly purchased coat from ASOS. I was actually trying on the Monki leopard print dress that you can see on the bench. Unfortunately it made me look more Bet Lynch than Dita Von Tease!

I also treated myself to the Lancome Artliner - I have read some great reviews about it. My once trusty Rimmel liquid liner has been letting me down of late. I am a big fan of fat black flicks!

Animal Orchestra style

I like this look from Nadia Bailey, an Australian fashion blogger I follow. I am particularly into the Yves Saint Laurent necklace worn with the all black outfit. However I'm thinking for ordinary folk, there must be a curtain tie or DIY project that would better suit, rather than paying £310.12 + P&P for the privilege. Let me know if you know of any!

House of Hackney shop opening

We went to the opening of House of Hackney's first 3 level store on Old Street. It looked stunning! This is a picture I took of the shop window featuring their Palmeral range, complete with a model in the matching dress. There is a great write up of the store on Susie Bubbles blog here.

Non knitted chunky knits

Graduate fashion student (2013) Philli Woods collection. Found via the brilliant Tumblr blog Jen Cheema. Images from Catwalk TV.

Hippy trippy leather styles

Check out this dress in relation to the Alan Aldridge post below. I was searching on Etsy for something completely different and this crazy dress popped up. It is the creation of Striptych Leather who are based in Southsea, England. Each piece is handmade and therefore totally unique. There are other items in the shop but they don't compare. I would love to see pictures of the people that buy them!

Eye of Horus Part II

Had to post this in relation to the post below below - although thinking about it, I may well have already stuck this on the blog before. It's Marios Schwab SS11.

Eye of Horus

The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. Due to my obsession with the eyes and lips thing I have become a fan. Check out my Pinterest board if you like! I have noticed it's also becoming more popular as a feature in tattoos. These bucket bags caught my eye (caught my eye ha. Ugh)

But before you get too excited, they are over $1000. I think I have mentioned the designer before on this blog - Wendy Nicol. Have a look at her site here.

any ideas who this is? image origin unknown

Miu Miu Rasoir Eyewear

Interesting glasses from Miu Miu, sort of a cross between 50's cats eye ones and science lab goggles.

from Madame - AirFrance

Goodhood goodies

I loooove this bag, boyfriend Steve loves the Babar print so much also!!! (that's OK right?) View the Babar collection and the Opening Ceremony bag on the Goodhood website.

H&M's Conscious range

How 'conscious' it actually is I have no idea, and I'm not sure what the Vanessa Paradis link is, is she just the model or did she have a hand in the design or concept, I don't know.

Have you checked out & Other Stories yet?

I haven't visited the shop yet, but I have already made an online purchase. & Other Stories is a new offering from the H&M empire. It's a bit like Cos, but with more of a youthful edge and less of a price tag. Judging by the pictures, the shop looks pretty cool as well, although I may leave it a few weeks to check out just to make sure I don't spend anymore money this month.

Here are some bits that caught my eye:

image from Vogue.com

More patterns from House of Hackney

Sneak peak at the new House of Hackney AW range This print is inspired by a beautiful Mey Mey rug from the Oriental department from Liberty. It's their most 'me' print so far!

Acne and the Maxi

I've have always loved a maxi skirt, I'm not sure where this originates from - but I have worn them since my teenage years. Which is part of the reason as to why I am loving the Acne SS13 collection. Dressing things down is also great in my books, something that Acne have done really well here, by teaming flowing skirts with printed graphic tops and chunky flats. See more of the collection here.

Shiny Shizzle

The 'iridescent' or 'holographic' trend has been creeping onto catwalks recently. With Hussein Chalayan and the shiny leggings and matching shoes from AW12. More currently Jonathan Saunders and Stella McCartney SS13. Is it tasteful? maybe not in all cases! is it fun? Hell yes!! I have been creating a board on Pinterest for a while now of this trend. I love the Sportmax jumper!
 

Top left, Hussein Chalayan leggings and shoes. Images and more from here.
Earrings by Dannijo
Top right, Jonathan Saunders SS13 
Middle, shoe by ASOS
Clutch bag by Stella McCartney from Farfetch
Wallet from Urban Outfitters
Oxford shoes; Zoe by Miista
Jumper by Sportmax SS12
Bottom right - Bottom, top by ASOS
Hologram Tee from here
Nail varnish by American Apparel
Gabby dress by Motel

Have your cake and wear it

Check out this crazy cake girl! DJCosmosis is from Toronto and bakes cakes inspired by her outfits. I discovered her via the brilliant Fred Butler and her blog. These cakes are kitsch and colourful with a pinch of madness - love it! You can see pictures of the sketches, planning and building of the site on this garishly fun tumblr found here.

According to Fred, she is also launching an online magazine called Galgalz which is worth checking out, even before it's launched - due to the crazy gif madness that will ensure I look back at this in the future!

Blog recommendation part IV

Although it's a men's street style blog essentially, it's still well worth checking out, whatever sex you are. Mister Mort comes across some great characters in his day to day life.

Shiny shoes

Love these! Don't think they are available in the UK, shame. They look sort of 60's space age. If you do want to buy them from the US they are available here. They are by New York shoe label - Messeca.

Sea creature print patterns

Helmut Lang's SS13 collection features the collaborative work of Michael and Nicole Colovos from the label, their designer Pascale Gueracague and tattoo artist Thomas Hooper. As you may be able to tell, Thomas takes a lot of his inspiration from the German biologist Ernst Haeckel and his illustrations of animals an sea creatures.

Thomas Hooper is originally from Hastings and now has a tattoo studio in Brooklyn NY. There is a great interview on Post-New.com site where he talks about growing up in the UK, his inspirations and tattooing as an artform.

Catwalk images from The Terrier & Lobster.

left image from here right image from here

High Street Goth!

So, whilst preparing myself for the New Years party, of which I took no decent pictures. I realised how easy it is to do the goth look these days! Back at school if you dared to wear black nail varnish you were deemed a goth or a worse a greebo straight away!

Now days, you just have to pop into your local River Island and you're done! How the times have changed. Anyway to demonstrate this, I have created the below collage!

Roughly from right to left, top to bottom:

Zara jump suit
Una boots, Miista
Crystal Head vodka
Monki gloves
Topshop necklace 
Topshop cross ring
Monki top
Oasis dress from ASOS
Monki lace top
Bag from Nelly.com
Nasty gal ring
Urban Outfitters top
ASOS cuff
Monki gloves again
Miss Selfridge Dress
Monki ring
Topshop leather lace cutout top
Miista Angela boots
Topshop cross earrings
Free People top