SS11

I wish fashion would calm down sometimes.  Chill out a little bit.  Maybe take a break and go find itself in Thailand.  

This is purely so that I can have some time to catch up with what's going on. I mean, I'm only just easing myself into buying my SS11 pieces and it's already this year's New York Fashion Week.

Here I am, feeling ridiculous that I've been getting excited about sunglasses for weeks, and the fashion industry is getting hyped up about what everyone's going to be wearing in September.

That's why I thought I'd try and rewind time by taking us back to last AW where everyone was planning SS (this is NOW!).  Especially since I haven't actually given you a rundown of the trends you're going to be wearing in the next few months yet.  Here are some of my favourites.

 BRIGHT RIOT

Paul and Joe

Proenza Schouler

Jil Sander

SUPER SEVENTIES

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs

IMPRINT ON ME

Pucci

Paul and Joe

 

Paul and Joe

ALL WHITE

Chloe

Chloe

So, I'll be wearing bright orange flares and a white t-shirt with huge floral accessories.  Until September that is.  Then I'll have a fashion-induced breakdown due to trend overload and will have to undergo therapy after constantly attempting to remove all my clothes in public spaces.

Oops!

 What will you be wearing?

(Images courtesy of Style.com).

Pretty as a Picture Collage

I'm not generally a fan of tattoos.  I find that the average person has terrible taste (sorry, different taste) and I don't appreciate most of their clothing choices, let alone the tacky marks that they often choose to brand themselves with.  I also find the concept of eternally inking your skin a little bizarre in our world of constant fads and changes.  You probably already hate the generic pattern on that dress you bought in Topshop last September, so why are you surprised that two years later you also hate the generic design that you got drawn on yourself permanently?

If I had to - and I stress HAD to - get a tattoo, I'd probably get a similar one to Top Left Corner Girl.  Perhaps one a little subtler and more whimsical though.  And then I'd never wear my hair up, ever.

Moving on, let's name Top Right Corner Girl and Bottom Left Corner Girl Sasha Pivarova.  I'm not sure if it's her so am using my amateur model knowledge in guessing.  I also don't know which magazine I got these images from as I'm useless.  What I do know is that I've started incorporating hats into my dreams of SS11 sunglass buying.  Yes, it's still woolly jumper weather, so I emphasise that these are merely fantasies and that I am not about to purchase or wear sunglasses or hats anytime soon.  

I'm particularly keen on the straw boater however, and urge you to let me know if you see a similar one floating around in your own daydreams, or on the high street.  Just for the purposes of research of course.

I leave you now with this small surprise: Bottom Right Corner Girl is in fact Savannah and Sienna Miller's Mother in Paris, in the 70's!  Clearly she's passed on the genes of awesome hair and effortless style on to both daughters.  Lucky ladies.  I'd love to show you a picture of my own Mother looking particularly debonair in France in this decade, but I'm afraid I've seen pictorial evidence suggesting that she was more into posing gawkily in South Wales (like mother like daughter then).

(Images: Tumblr, Vogue).

Sartorial Seoul

Scott Schuman from The Sartorialist (the original street photographer/ blogger extraordinaire) has recently been in Seoul, South Korea shooting some trendy locals.

I like to think that he was inspired to visit after reading my rambling posts about maybe going out there.

People don't know much about South Korea that isn't gleaned from sensationalised Western news stories about the 'war' with the North.  It's actually an incredibly advanced country which is doing better than Britain economically (although who isn't?) and is very up-and-coming in terms of fashion and street style.  I'll be proving this to you in blog form when I finally go there to live (please please please).

 (FYI, The Sartorialist also regularly documents his obsession with hipsters on bikes - a guilty pleasure I share with him as a fashion fanatic and vintage bike lover.)

(Images: The Sartorialist).

This Shit is Bananas - B.A.N.A.N.A.S

Ok, so I'm sure that title's been used before to describe Prada's SS11 collection but it's just too appropriate and easy to reference such an over-the-top, fruit-filled catwalk show with the infamous Gwen Stefani lyric.  In fact, I think it would be churlishly inappropriate not to.

I'm mostly covering the show now, three months after it happened because the marketing team at Prada have done their job a little too well with their video campaign.  I'm a sucker for a cool video campaign, and this is one of the most visceral I've seen in terms of making you really need the clothes.

I wasn't even a fan of the looks Miuccia Prada sent down the runway in Milan in September, but after the toe-tapping glory of the above video I'm now pining for clashing prints, enormous sunhats, gigantic stripes, platform boaters - and most importantly - Oompa Loompa sunglasses.

What is it with me and sunglasses?  Someone recently asked why my blog is so summery when the weather outside is ridonkulously cold.  I gave the rather saccharine answer, 'because it's always summer in my head'.  Which is probably the lamest thing I've ever said, but it's completely true.  I fall to pieces in winter as things seem so lacklustre, to the point where I often try to make myself feel better by pretending it's summer, whacking up the heating and wearing a bikini to lounge around on the sofa.

I don't really.  I've tried it, but it's too cold in my house not to layer up, even with the boiler on full blast.

 

I love a bit of a paradox, so the fact that Mrs. Prada (as Miuccia is so often referred to) has termed this collection 'Minimal Baroque' fills me with a certain delight.  In that, 'that term really doesn't make sense but I still get what she means, me and this really famous designer are sooooo on the same page.'

Check out the actual video by the guys behind the Prada soundtrack song too.  The song's called Mirando by Ratatat and the video is proper visceral as in it's devoid of fashion-forward brights and finger-clicking models and is full of explosions and people being shot.

I'm still a little bit addicted.

(Images: Style.com)

Saturday

Lazy day.

This Saturday I have been:

Discussing - VBS videos with my little brother.

Drinking - Plenty of water to try to help me through my hangover. 

Eating - Homemade Thai Red Curry and Cadburys chocolate (so much for cutting down).

Dreaming - About going away.  Have started filling in my Korea applications!

Reading - Elle Collections.  Which is a beautiful and inspiring read.

Feeling - Pretty iffy. That hangover's fault.

Listening - To Broken Bells.

Nice day.

(Image: Antique Neon Signs).

Project Arcade

 Photographer Amy Davies is in the fledgling stages of a visual project documenting Cardiff's Victorian Arcades.  It's a really different project, borne out of an inadvertent photograph and an unassuming tweet, which you can read all about in her blog.

My personal favourites out of the inital collection are the pictures taken using the hipstamatic iphone app, the simplest of digital camera equipment. I love these images because I think the old-fashioned effect created by the technique are perfect for this project, almost giving a nod to the shops I prefer in the arcades - independent vintage ventures like Looby Loos and Hobos. 

The antiquated nature of the pictures remind the viewer that the Arcades could become a mere relic of Cardiff's past rather than the functioning spaces that they currently are. I don't want to scaremonger, but like Amy I've noticed the vacant shops and worried about the future of the arcades and the businesses within them.

 

Many of the images convey with clarity the tiny details that can be missed when you’re rushing through the arcades, like the handmade marketing ploys in the shop windows (above) and the pure architectural beauty of the Victorian buildings themselves (below).  These photos that are void of the hipstamatic effect with all its blurs and quirks are taken with a more traditional digital camera.

 

The people who own the shops and who work tirelessly to keep their businesses going in the face of recession, interfering roadworks on St. Mary’s Street and the evil capitalist venture that is St. David’s 2 (sucking the soul out of shopping and independence - and I say that only half in jest dear reader) also need to be recognised as integral elements of the arcades.

That’s why I’m looking forward very much to the upcoming portrait shots that Amy has planned in the coming weeks of owners on their premises, along with seeing how the project develops altogether.  Watch this space.

(Images: Amy Davies).

Edit: Blogger Lucy Sherriff of Vintage Cardiff has explored issues surrounding why Cardiff's Arcades are facing trouble.  Read her interesting and informative posts here.

Do's and Don'ts

Do - Choose one statement piece that you love (like this incredible structured Miu Miu dress) and fashion the rest of your outfit around it.

Don't - Think you can't get away with wearing an outfit like this. This woman is Anna Dello Russo, Editor of Vogue Japan, who is fast approaching 50.  If she can make this look good, so can you.

Do - Wear some funky sunglasses.  Taking a less overworn style like these cat-eye glasses gives the outfit an edge. 

Don't - Go matchy-matchy with accessories.  The watch is cool but with the metallic edged bag, shoes AND belt, the outfit begins to look dated, a little bit posh WAG.  Mix it up a bit colour and style-wise to stop the outfit from becoming passé and a bit...blah.

(Image: Anna Bernecker)