Little Girl & Boy Lost

I always think its incredible when magazines (particularly Vogue) do photo shoots that are inspired by old fashioned fairy tales. This spread proves my point on how fashion can do something magical when it comes to re-creating well loved children's tales.
Little Girl & Boy Lost is a re-take on Hansel & Gretel, cleverly mixed with aspects from the story, including ingenious set design and styling equals an Annie Leibovitz and Grace Coddington special! Also Lady GaGa adds a touch of spice being the witch...all I can think is how appropriate?

The complete story appears in the December 2009 issue of Vogue.

Winter Warmers!

To keep our spirits up I thought I would share some winter warmers to keep us cosy! Just remember to stock up on the hot chocolate!

Pink Lace Bow Mittens Miss Selfridge, Bear Hat River Island, Rose PJ's New Look, Knitted Socks Accessorize, Doll Hot Water Bottle Topshop, Dark Cherry Mocha Starbucks, Cashmere Dress Warehouse, Ear Muffs Accessorize, Plum Slippers Dorothy Perkins.

Winters Nearly here...

Walking past this tree the other day to uni really told me that winter is nearly here! Not that I needed to tell you considering the wet cold weather outside! I can't believe how quickly it has come across upon us!

Where have I been?

Hello my lovelies! I apologise for the lack of blogging recently, it has been a very intense five weeks what with two very time consuming projects. However that is all behind me now (hopefully) and I can continue with what I do best...blogging about anything that takes my interest! For any of you that are curious to what I've been doing throughout these projects...here's a brief description on what I've been up to! Yes when they said 2nd year was to be harder they really weren't lying!

River Island Rocks Project

One of my projects was to create an event for the River Island Rocks competition! After being put into groups of four we were to set up a proposal for a fashion event to promote River Island to students in the area and gain publicity. With a £1000 budget we had to take every cost into consideration including venues, promotion and hiring! Tough job but with a £1000 prize to the winning team its defiantly one of the most rewarding projects...that's if your idea beats the 15 other groups in my course and then the other four universities who are also applying...yeah pretty slim chance! Also perhaps after our disastrous presentation with soo many technical problems me and my group should perhaps bury our heads in the sand and hide instead? However despite this I would love our event to win and that's not only because of the cash...I'm generally impressed with what we have put together, if it wasn't for my lovely group I don't think it would have worked out! If you want to take a look at the blog I created for the event visit my visual diary blog!

Also here's our trailer...

Technical Processes Trend Book

And the other project I've been doing? Well we had to create a trend book using technical samples we had done in class and combine them with illustrator! Yes I have developed a huge hate for illustrator...never before have I felt such a strong urge to smash my computer into tiny minute pieces... Anyway despite the programmes difficulties I did overcome this and have created a 13 page trend book. Here's one of my pages as an example of my work.

Make Do & Mend!

So it's been a bit late and I've left it till the very last minuet to blog about this spread but I think its one that needs to be talked about...

Seeing Vogue as just a pretty picture book with expensive clothing and envious models (honestly I do try and read it) I was very surprised to see that the recession is even affecting our fashion highness!

This months Make Do and Mend photo shoot proves this point. They have cleverly used everyday household items and made outfits that are actually quite stunning...ok Mr Tim Walker and his clever camera skills may have had a helping hand, but these clothes are amazing. I never thought that I would be saying that wearing a bin liner is a good look but you have to agree this is defiantly D.I.Y at its best!

Visual Merchandising at Loot!

Throughout the summer I worked at Jack Wills and a children's stall in Brighton Lanes. I also helped out at Loot, a men's clothes shop adjoined to the stall. Loot was opened in January this year so the shop was still new and still needed to gain an image to entice new customers in. Having experience within retail and hence studying fashion, the manager of Loot was interested in my ideas to give the shop an 'image'. Because the shop sold men’s clothing, particularly focusing on the ‘new mod’ look which is popular in Brighton (Harrington Jackets, Monkee Genes and Relco shirts, being some of the brands he sells) we decided to go for a school theme, creating an image that our target audience could relate and buy into.

We made displays using old bookcases, desks and benches. We also managed to find an original school blazer and satchel which we put in the window. Mixing old photographs found in flea markets and old textbooks gave the shop a great school theme and made a lot of customers want to stay longer to look around the shop. Hopefully I can put some photographs of the shop and how it is coming along later when I’m back at Christmas!

Photograph curtesy of my brother and his friends.

Monkee Genes

I've always been a bit of a Topshop girl when it comes to jeans, always sticking to the same size and style just changing colour to match season.

However, it was when my little brother of 16 bought a pair of Monkee Genes (from Loot where I work in Brighton Lanes, don't forget the 25% discount there!) that I actually discovered how amazing these jeans are! All throughout the summer that I worked there I never once tried on these beauties and I was kicking myself in my new black jeans from Topshop (the pair that are now claiming dust in the depths of my wardrobe!) I had to have a pair! Not just for my sake but also for my brothers because to be fair who would want their elder 21 year old sister stealing his jeans? Not much of a street cred for him there!

I am now happily sitting in my jeans and 'oh my' these jeans are amazing! They mould themselves to your legs whilst flattering your thighs (in my case this is a very big thumbs up!)

So if you want a great investment this autumn/winter (infact all year round) then I urge you towards Monkee Genes!

Pink, Pink, Bright, Bright, Pink!

Coat Paul Smith, Headband Topshop, Quilted Bag French Connection, Leopard Print Shoe Jimmy Choo, Pink Skirt with Broach River Island, Earrings Miss Selfridge, Bubble Hem Dress Matalan, Pink Rose Drape Side Top Topshop, Horoscope Briefs Miss Selfridge, Jacquard Dress Warehouse.

In keeping with the 80's that is still a major influence in fashion at the moment, the re-emergence of bright fuchsia pink is current throughout designer and high-street! So get your inner Barbie out and celebrate pink again!

Marilyn Minter for MAC

Marilyn Minter has teamed with MAC cosmetics new limited collection for Autumn 2009 alongside painter Richard Phillips and illustrator Maira Kalman. The collection features a lot of glitter and gloss in bright glamorous colours.
Marilyn Minter is perhaps most famous for her images of mud splashed diamond studded heels and enlarged images of lips, giving beauty and fashion a raw edge. Her video Green Pink Caviar was very controversial, sparking either love or hate of her work whilst gaining an interest in the media and critics alike. Her video has also featured in Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour, linking two very similar characters in art and music.

"I was shooting stills of models with long tongues swirling and sucking bakery products from under a pane of glass. I wanted to make enamel paintings along the idea of 'painting with my tongue'. My makeup artist shot some short videos during the shoot just to see how it would look. The low definition videos looked so good that we made plans to do a professional high definition video. This made sense to me as I have made both billboards and produced a commercial advertising a painting show in 1989." - Marilyn Minter

Belle & Bunty Autumn Winter 2009

I had to share with you the new collection by Belle & Bunty. I absolutely love the mutual grey colour palette mixed with gold and black which gives the outfits strength on otherwise a very blank canvas. I particularly love the gold and black patterned dress and chunky knit wear! Effortlessly cool!