OMG DRG

Anonymous blogger Disneyrollergirl outed herself yesterday.  An end of an era, she can now be referred to by her real name of Navaz.

It's like when Belle Du Jour came out, except a bit cooler and a bit less smutty.

You may remember I wrote a post on blogging collaborations in which I managed to get a quote from Disneyrollergirl herself.  You may read the post here.

If you are a Londoner, you may also go along to see her do a Q&A with Vogue's Creative Director Robin Derrick at 6:30pm on Thursday night.  

As a Cardiffian, I'll be attending the Pica Pica Cardiff Blogs Meet-up instead.  Definitely just as good : )

(Image: Disneyrollergirl)

I HEART Vintage

With the recent closure of Lunacy Boutique, it comes as no surprise that the newest independent fashion venture in Cardiff is making its tentative first steps online instead of on the high street.  I Heart Vintage is a second-hand clothing website, the brainchild of two local residents Sarah and Reena, whose love for vintage clothing motivates them to seek out individual finds for themselves and others.

Since I share a passion for vintage with the fashionable entrepreuners, I was keen to ask them a few questions about their venture:

Why did you decide to open an online shop?

R&S - We both love the high street and the key for us is mixing high street with vintage.  We aren't top-to-toe in vintage all day everyday and we don't claim to be vintage experts. We just have a passion for fashion so wanted to share this through setting up I Heart Vintage. We were lucky to have the support and generosity of family and friends which allowed us to set up the online store around our full time jobs. 

Would you ever think about branching out into the high-street?

R&S - We both work full time so at the moment that wouldn’t be an option for us but it’s not something we would rule out for the future. I think we would like to explore other opportunities the high street could offer such as working with stores who would like to add vintage to their range and would be interested in stocking a selection of clothing from I Heart Vintage.

What do you think about vintage in Cardiff?

R&S - We love the vintage scene in Cardiff and have enjoyed being a part of it as we have shopped many times at fairs such as Blind Lemon Vintage and Milgi's Northcote Lane Market. It's really exciting to experience the other side of it now, having become sellers particularly as the options for vintage shoppers in Cardiff grows. We've been able to raise our profile through the vintage networks in Cardiff by selling at fairs such as Make it Pretty and Milkwood Gallery's flea market. This has really helped us and it's been great to meet and get to know other vintage sellers. 

In the near future we are looking to work with local talented designers whose products are inspired by vintage fashion and showcasing them on I heart vintage. We hope that this will help towards the already thriving vintage scene in Cardiff and play a part in promoting Welsh talent. 

 Where do you source your clothing from?

S – We source our stock from a combination of wholesalers, charity shops and private sellers. My Auntie Pearl gave us a good kick start by kindly donating all her beautiful clothes from the 60s and 70s. Shopping runs in the family! To begin with we’re customising quite simply perhaps by shortening, removing shoulder pads or adding buttons but learning to make clothes or change them dramatically is something I’ve always been keen to learn to do.

 What sort of price range will the clothing be in?

S&R – Prices on our website for clothing start at £20 with accessories starting from under £10. We have chosen a great selection of items for the online store with the majority of dresses around £30-£40. At vintage fairs we’ll have a broader price range too.

Why Cardiff?

S&R – We both love Cardiff and live here so made sense to get the business well known and established here before taking on the rest of the world! ;o) Plus vintage is up-and-coming in Cardiff, so it’s great to be a part of it here and we’ve met lots of other great people here who are doing similar things especially jewellery makers who we would love to collaborate with in the near future. 

What era of vintage is the clothing from?
 

S&R - For I Heart Vintage we define vintage as being 80s or before. At the moment we have a lot of 60s and 70s stock but we select items according to what catches our eye more than what era it’s from. If we love it and think other people will then we’ll go for it.

                                        
How would you describe your own style?

S – I have a quite diverse style and incredibly varied taste in clothing. I love the look of celebs like Carey Mulligan & Milla Jovovich. On the high street i love Urban Outfitters and Top Shop. My friend Flair always looks amazing although she says one of her style icons is my mum!  My style and taste has constantly changed although and I’m a little bit less impetuous when buying things now. I’m constantly learning what goes together and what suits me personally.

R – I love Fearne Cotton, Alexa Chung and Kate Bosworth’s style so usually look to them for inspiration. I really like the way they mix their vintage pieces with high street clothes. I like their modern take on vintage. And even when they wear designer pieces you can usually count on Topshop and Urban Outfitters to come up with a great copy. And I am with Sarah on the love of these high street shops as they are my favourite!

................................

Hmm, good answers.  I very much agree with Reena and Sarah that the vintage scene in Cardiff is burgeoning (just like the blogging scene!), and I love that they're both eager to promote Welsh designers. 

I also love the clothes on their site, especially the 70's maxi-dress above.  Pass me my (imaginary) fedora and bring on the new season please?  I wonder if the couch and the furry cushion will get thrown into my purchase if I ask nicely??

I'm also liking this soft-looking dress (below), particularly for the nipped in waist and pussy-bow style neck.

There's plenty more on the website and prices are pretty reasonable too.  You'll also be smug in the knowledge that no one else will be wearing the same item as you.

I have to say though, as much as I love the site, buying vintage online does have its cons.  You miss out on feeling the quality of the item, of falling in love with the intricate detailing and incredible craftsmanship of a vintage piece.  

 Luckily, Sarah and Reena are still going to be selling at various markets, good news for us vintage-lover that still like to shop in the old-fashioned way. 

You can go say hello to them and their lovely items at:

Make it Pretty at Chapter – Saturday 5^th February

Blind Lemon Vintage Fair at City Hall – Sunday 6^th February

Blind Lemon Vintage Fair in Swansea – Sunday 13^th March

Fittingly, their also having an old-school launch party at 10 Feet Tall tomorrow night, featuring a clothes stall, a bespoke I Heart Vintage cocktail, CUPCAKES, a free prize draw, and Vinyl Vendetta DJing.

Let me know what you bought?

Lennon Face

I've always had a slight aversion to John Lennon-style sunglasses.  That's less to do with Lennon and more to do with Elton John though.  He makes me associate round specs with big faces, tacky signet rings and gold teeth.  

That's why it's come as a surprise that I'm digging on (sorry, had to throw some 60's vocab in) a more spherical shape for summer this year.

I especially like the translucent floral ones and the coral pink shapes seen on the right, and in an ideal world I'd be packing both pairs into my suitcase for an immediate trip to Rio, along with a macrame bikini and some jelly shoes.

Instead, I'm sitting in my cold room researching SS11 trends for a job application.  I'm guessing the little round buggers have subliminally slipped into my subconscious from their use in the various shoots, shows and campaigns I've been coming across.  They've already managed to worm their way into my blog twice, here and here, and have had a runway presence at Bodkin and Jil Sander, as well as in various other places on the interweb.

I'm therefore going to put my proverbial money where my mouth is and forecast that these are the shape for the new season.

Slight tip: the larger versions are more flattering if you don't have the cheekbones of a model.  Plus they make you look a little more 60's 'it' girl than stoned hippy.

Bye bye last year's fake Cambodian Wayfarers - the future's bright, the future's...circular?

Art of Uff

The internet is the best tool ever invented for the inquisitive (nosy) among us.  Where else can you browse through the drawers of the rich and famous or check out a designer's wardrobe at the click of a button?

Stylelikeu is a website which takes a mix of people, from 'it' girls to rappers to bloggers to people living in a teepee in their friends' back garden with reeeeeeally interesting dress sense and analyses their style through a video lens.  They go round to the houses (or tents) of these creative dressers to see them rifling through their closets, talking about their dress sense, and generally showing off their quirky selves.

(The teepee couple.  I'm seeing a trend for round sunglasses on this blog.  I think I like them.)

It's kind of like an underground version of Cribs for those of us who are obsessed with style.

It's also an anthropological study into fashion tribes.  The videographers explore where the sense of the person's style came from, and it can often be connected to where they grew up, and who they grew up around.  For example there's one American girl who grew up in Tokyo, who has a clear Harajuku influence in her style, even though she hasn't lived there for years.

(Uffie)

One of the vids is of Uffie (above). If I had to summarise her I'd say she was an authentic and far superior version of the vile Ke$ha.  Even bringing Ke$ha into the equation kind of undermines Uffie, but if you listen to the track I've posted below this video you'll see why I had to make the comparison.

The pink ombre hair, the chipped nail varnish, the quote on her style, 'it changes daily, sometimes it looks like I could be homeless, sometimes I wear really pretty clothes.'

Girl after my own heart.  If I was a super cool female rapper who lived in Paris and had an tres amazing figure, then I'd totally be Uffie.

Zooey

Ah, Zooey Deschanel.  I met you in Elf, loved you in (500) Days of Summer, but am confused by you in this music video.

I do like your lipstick though.

Label Lust

Just discovered Bodkin and had to share.

Love.

I kind of dismissed the fact that Spring/ Summer 11 is meant to be all about the bright colours, particularly tangerine.  

Until I saw this ad campaign that is.

Head-to-toe white is also meant to be in - which looks even more wearable with a splash of orange in the '7' labelled picture - don't you think?

I love that it's all about how the clothes drape on the model, and how wearable every item is.  I know I've already said that, but it is!

I also love how the shoes bring the looks together.  Especially those brown boots.  I need to get me a pair of those, along with some brightly-hued shorts.

(Images courtesy of Bodkin)

Designer Bloggers

Arguably Sweden’s most famous blogger, Elin Kling made sartorial headlines last week due to her design collaboration with huge high-street players H&M.  The first collection of this kind on such a high-profile scale, it consists of eleven bohemian-inspired pieces, nine of which are items of clothing, and two of which are accessories.  

The lack of items and simplicity of design makes it a capsule collection, mimicking the pared-down fashion that is synonymous with Stockholm street style.

In a press release from H&M, Kling supports this idea, stating; 

“The collection is minimalistic and raw, but with bohemian elements, something that reflects my personal style well.”

The collection will appear only in Sweden, leaving the international consumer to wonder if H&M is planning to pair up with bloggers in other countries, or if any other brands will jump on the collaboration bandwagon.

I asked one of Britain’s most illustrious fashion bloggers, Disneyrollergirl, for her insight on this.  She surmises:

"For a brand as big as H&M to take on a blogger as guest designer is huge news because up until now, its collaborations have been with established international designers. It's not the first time a brand has worked with a blogger as a guest designer but because of the size of the H&M brand, this is significant and I imagine many more will jump on the bandwagon. Well-read bloggers do have celebrity-like followings so it makes sense that brands will want to utilise this - they get the blogger's creative input, a slice of their audience and all the media coverage that comes with the story."

I’m inclined to agree with Disneyrollergirl, and it makes business sense to the blogger as well as the big brand.  Of course, we've seen how bloggers have come to be recognised as a respected source of fashion knowledge with regards to writing and commentating on the fashion industry, but this design collaboration is a bit of a twist.


As a blogger and an avid blog reader, I'm eager to see how the partnership between the established fashion industry and the debatably independent online contributors develops further.

Now what’s Swedish for vive la revolution?

(Image courtesy of  Uniartfashion)

Bicycle, bicycle.

I'm liking all these simplistically named, self-explanatory photoblogs I keep finding like Rides A Bike. There's something pure and soothing about looking at slightly different yet endlessly interesting pictures of the same theme.

Like Sophia Loren riding a bike.

Or Audrey Hepburn

Or Brigitte Bardot.

Ok, you get it.

The age of digital revolution that we're in at the moment means that we can be overcome by the endless amount of information available to us online.  There's something refreshing about just looking at archaic pictures of starlets on bikes.

Almost makes you want to throw caution to the wind and turn off the computer to go ride your own bike, especially on a sunny day like today.

(Images courtesy of Rides A Bike).

Kim

When I posted the other day that I was thinking about going to teach in South Korea, I didn't realise that tensions between South and North Korea are really bad at the moment.  I'm a bit gutted to be honest, I really had my heart set on going somewhere completely alien for a year, and the pay to teach in South Korea is ridiculously good.  It would mean that I could save up to set myself up in London on my return AND have enough money left over to do some more travelling.

Seeing this picture makes me think I should just go.  I've done my research and it seems like the media are blowing things out of proportion, as usual.  I've contacted a couple of British bloggers living in Korea and this seems to be the general consensus from them.  Kim Jong-Il is really just a big softie right?  I've seen Team America; he's just lonely...

Also, what a fashionista! He's looking very Anna Wintour in this picture with the concentrating pout and the indoor sunglasses.

Check out the funny photoblog on http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

It's a Tumblr of Kim Jong-il.  Looking at things.

Street Photography

I came across these incredible pictures taken by Vivian Maier, a street photographer who snapped various subjects in the 50's, 60's and 70's, predominantly in Chicago.

The pictures are very alluring, due mostly to the precise framing which is contrapuntal to the candid nature of the shots.  They allow the viewer to gain an introspective gaze into historical American society due to the different array of settings Maier shoots. Her artistic is eye is phenomenal, as is the fact that she barely printed any of the 100,000 negatives she took in her lifetime

These pictures could have been thrown out completely had John Maloof (also from Chicago) not picked them up at an auction.  He tried to locate the photographer, but after researching found an obituary stating that she had died two days previously.

Sad to think that she never saw most of her images in their developed state.

(Images courtesy of www.vivianmaier.com, Maloof's blog on the discovery of the photographs.  Go check out more of her work.)

AWOL

I'm not going to be posting regularly this week, I have work experience until Friday and am sans laptop.

This is because someone convinced me to buy a ridiculously heavy seventeen inch version, taking the 'lap' element out of the 'laptop'.

In English? It's heavy; I'm weak; I couldn't carry it.

Poster Season

I love these posters, they take classic meaningful lyrics and 1970's style colour and typography, creating simple but effective artwork as a result.

I'm personally drawn to them because their creator, Mico Toledo, picks the best lyrics from the most timeless of artists.  He features a different line each week, with artists ranging from The Rolling Stones to Blind Melon.  Also, I love that they look like they've come from the archive of some infamous recording studio.

FYI, they're also very on-trend this season since Spring/ Summer 2011 is fully about the Seventies (my second favourite decade after the Sixties).  Not that you need that as an excuse to paper your entire household with these awesome prints.

Moon Walk

The sun came out today for a nanosecond, hideously tricking me into believing that it could be warm outside.  Of course, it's still freezing, the type of temperature where you need a strong hat and a stronger pair of boots.

I haven't located a decent pair of boots in any of the shops this winter so have been, quite ridiculously, alternating between an old pair I dislike and some unsturdy ballet pumps.  School-girl error when it deigns to piss it down with rain.

Incidentally, it does this a lot in Wales.

All the high street boots I've seen this season have all been a little too plain and yet unfunctional.  Which is why I think that I've been drawn to these moon boots; they're quite the opposite.  They're utterly ridiculous and tacky and give Uggs (which I hate) a run for their money.

So why am I even slightly attracted to them?  For starters, it's probably the fact that they're Chloe.  Then there's the idea that I could jump into water while wearing them and be smug in the knowledge that even if I fell into Dr. Foster's puddle my toes still wouldn't get wet.  

I also think that they'd make me feel like a designer Powerpuff Girl and I need a little cartoon colour in my life to replace that ever elusive sun.

Then there's my sudden whim to go and teach English in China or South Korea.  If you've ever been to Asia you'll have seen the enchantment that Asian girls have with kitsch cartoon characters.  I think I'll fit in well stomping around Seoul in a pair of these.

Cover Girls

Having just read this article on the magazine covers that sold or bombed last year, it seems that WWD Media are asserting that figures show Lady GaGa to be the cover girl to shift copies of your publication.

It's interesting and somewhat gratifying to note that a celebrity I despise reading about, Taylor Swift, is a sure fire way to ensure your magazine sells poorly.  It seems that her smug face is so off-putting that people just can't bring themselves to pick it up off the news stands.

It does make sense, a cover girl is meant to embody what the magazine is all about.  If I see Swift on the front of a magazine it conjures images of lacklustre and blandness, leading me to assume the content of the issue will follow suit.    The women that magazines choose to adorn their front covers intrigues me for these reasons.

I somewhat understand the appeal of Cheryl Cole, apparent sweetheart of the (generally unopinionated and easily led) British nation, but this does not explain why she's gracing the cover of January Elle.  Elle is a well-respected UK fashion magazine.  Cheryl Cole is an unimaginative mannequin with a stylist.  And not even a good stylist if this year's X-Factor outfit choices are anything to go by.

The perfect Elle Cover Girl is someone like Alexa Chung, who graced October 2010's issue.  In her behind-the-scenes video she tellingly uses the collective pronoun when discussing the theme of her cover, leaving the viewer fully aware of her artistic input into the sixties-influenced look she is donning.

She also appears incredibly articulate, interesting, irreverent, and even funny.  She can discuss fashion with ease, without sounding vacuous and boring, 'My style icons vary, sometimes it'll be someone in a film like Julie Christie in Darling, sometimes it'll be someone that I see on the street that I think looks really rad.'  

Alexa also gets top marks for being able to pull off the use if the word 'rad' unironically.  She's a hero.  A really rad one.

Quite the opposite of Cheryl Cole/ Tweedy with her blase mutterings about vests; 'you can never beat a white or a black vest'.  Yeah, whatever Cheryl, I think you probably can.

I'm about as ambivalent about vests as I am about you.  Yawn.

Image 1: NY Daily News 
Image 2: David Vasiljevic

Image 3: Mister Neil

Resolutions

It's foolish planning to start your 2011 resolutions on New Year's Day.  You're most likely hungover, tired, cranky, and your friend has just accidentally driven you straight from the New Year's Eve party into the drive thru of McDonald's.

In fact, it's foolish to have any kind of New Year's resolution as it's likely to last about three days.  Just like my resolution not to buy any floral items of clothing this year.

Welcome to my wardrobe, brand new Topshop cover-up.

(I am definitely going to be kinder to my liver though.  And I'm going to finally learn how to do a fishtail plait.)

Let's Go To Detroit

Since I’m suffering from the January Blues, these pictures by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre perfectly suit my mood.  They document the shockingly rundown metropolis of Detroit, USA.

The City’s been ravaged by the end of the capitalist boom far more obviously than anywhere else in the Western World.  Although you imagine that the images are heightened in appearing more hauntingly beautiful due to a romantic notion of Detroit as a lost and abandoned city, this video (incongruously featuring Johnny Knoxville as narrator) shows that the faded grandeur of Detroit’s buildings is genuinely awe-inspiring.  The ruined glamour  is not singularly created by clever lighting and camera angles.

The images conjure up a feeling that you’ve happened upon a modern day Pompeii, or even a recently unearthed Atlantis.  Check out the lack of people in this picture – this is in the heart of a metropolis !  

Imagine Fifth Avenue, New York or Oxford Street, London being this empty at a peak time.

It’s all a little Gatsby-esque; the American dream versus that always lurking American nightmare.

 As a novel geek the pictures of the library particularly make my heart ache; all those unread books wasting away.

The epic faded grandeur of Detroit’s modern ruins both encapsulates the waste that is accumulated in modern society and the crumbling nature of capitalism in the Western World.  

Since I’m on a fashion vein with this blog, it came to my mind that these buildings would be the ideal location for a fashion shoot in an edgy magazine.  A squeamish thought due to the irreverence of displaying and advertising expensive clothing against depictions of truly depressing decay. The pictures are a lament of wastefulness, so using them as a backdrop to sell expensive clothing would be tantamount to blasphemy.  Plus the pictures are stunning enough with merely Detroit’s inanimate objects as subjects.

There is a twist (or an antithesis) to my argument however. 

If you actually watch the documentary I previously linked, you see that the residents of Detroit vehemently refute all the notions that I, along with The Guardian, have discussed.  

So maybe there's scope for that fashion shoot after all...

Here’s the link to all the pictures.

And here’s the Guardian article on the subject.

Compare it to the documentary and make up your own mind.

NYE

My hair is still big, my black nail varnish is chipped, my feet are hurting and I'm still very hungover.

I want to be propped up in bed drinking Vitamin Water while wearing a mohair jumper.  

Either of these will do:

The sunshine in the pictures makes me look forward to Spring days and transitional Spring dressing (i.e wearing less clothes).

Happy New Year.