Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Today, the sun is nigh and teasing me with visions of beaches and cocktails and T Spoon’s “Sex on the Beach”:

(Don’t try and pretend you don’t remember this song.)

Despite the ravishing sunshine, the weather itself is deceptive and cruel, and a nippy wind chill ensures that scarves, jackets and workman boots are still very much necessary.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been secretly donning denim hotpants and experimenting with this season’s super cool ice cream shades indoors though!

(Top: Zara, Shorts: Topshop, Hair clip: Dorothy Perkins)

(Jumper: Topshop, Shorts: As before)

Um, excuse the dirty bin liner in the second picture. It’s not rubbish, honest, I just keep forgetting to take all my hideous wardrobe monstrosities to the charity shop.

Also I hope you like the new look of the blog. I was in the mood for drawing summery stuff today!

Question time: Are you excited for the summer months? What trends will you be embracing this summer?

So I’m a bit late in posting this but if you haven’t heard already, Benetton have launched a new “It’s My Time” campaign to find 20 individuals to fly to New York and model their Fall/Winter 2010 collection. This isn’t just your average model casting however – Benetton are hard at work looking for REAL people with REAL personalities and REAL style. Even if you don’t think you have what it takes to be the next Kate Moss, this casting is all about a bit of harmless fun and showing off the true you, warts and all.
The signing up process is dead simple – just a few vital details here and there, followed by however-many-photo-and-video-uploads of yourself as you like! You also have the opportunity to vote and comment on your favourite lookbooks, too.

I’m glad at least one high street chain is taking notice of the significance of using real people in their campaigns. It seems like Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty has highlighted the public’s appreciation for everyday faces on our local billboards.

Question time: what do you think about brands using non model types in their campaigns? Is it a good idea? Have you entered the Benetton It’s My Time competition?

P.s. I apologise for the lack of postings recently, and am back with a vengeance a full-bodied, non-advertising post next week regarding alternative/indie style!

In the meantime, please vote for my lookbook on Benetton’s “It’s My Time” campaign!

There’s no doubt that the brains behind Topshop are good ones. Sir Philip Green and his empire have worked incredibly hard to provide us (the average everyday consumer) with high fashion pieces at affordable high street prices. And now, with Green’s favourite high street retailer making itself known stateside as well as over here, more and more of us fashion-conscious people are immersing ourselves in the greatness that is the Topshop brand.

But whilst I have very few negative comments to make with regards to Topshop and its endless collections, I can’t help but feel that its infectious spread on the consumer nation has resulted in the rise of the “Topshop Tabitha”s.

“Topshop Tabitha” is a young girl, probably between the ages of 16-23, usually still financially dependant and scrounging off her parental guardians, though she may be partial to a little part-time work in the customer service department of a well-known superstore. Tabitha is fashion-conscious, but not necessarily fashion-savvy. She reads well-known fash trash such as Look and More, yet she could never tell her Balenciaga from her Bottega Vaneta.
As the name might suggest, Topshop Tabitha spends what little money she has on… well, you guessed it… Topshop. Everything she wears is Topshop. The skirt, the shoes, the jeans and the tops. All. Bloody. Topshop. When Topshop Tabitha goes to flaunt her latest trendy finds at yet another college friend’s party, she finds herself surrounded by similarly-clad Tabithas. Sound somewhat familiar?

I think I was a bit of a Topshop Tabby at one point. Scratch it, I was. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with proving your loyalty to your favourite retailer sometimes. And believe me, I’m in no way making a mockery of the Topshop Tabithas out there – better to be fashion conscious than completely fashion indifferent, no?!
But when it comes to originality, us ladies can never win with the big brand names, no matter how lovely they are. There’s only one way to avoid wearing those same damned key pieces as everyone else – and that’s to vary where you shop. Vary vary vary. Oh, and throw in a bit of vintage too, that’s always original.

So, I admit, with this very lacy, very ruffly outfit all courtesy of Topshop, I was a little worried I might be joining a whole host of other Tabithas as I handed over my debit card. Thankfully though, I made sure the pieces were selected from the “Last chance to buy” rail, which hopefully might mean they’re somewhat limited edition…?! Or maybe I just need to stop worrying about everyone else having the same clothes. If I was really that bothered, I’d stick to my mother’s hand-me-downs or something. I hope you like the outfit by the way – I’m planning to wear this with patent black heels and black opaque tights for mine and Julius’ first year together.

Question time: How do you feel about Topshop? Are you a fellow Topshop Tabitha, or are you far more varied in your wardrobe choices?

So the other day I got to be a model, courtesy of Covergirl Studios, London. It wasn’t an opportunity of a lifetime or anything remotely exclusive, especially considering that anyone can just pop along, have their hair and make-up ‘reinvented’, followed by a fifteen-minute shoot.
Despite my opinions on modelling (I despise the idea of it, and the industry), I decided to go along for the sheer laughs and experience. Plus, I figured it would be a great day out for my best friend and I, who I hadn’t seen in almost forever.

So, it turned out the photoshoot experience was a good one, aside from the constant nagging to purchase at least one digital print of myself. I mean, the photos were brilliant, I’ll give them that. But £70 for one photograph?! Really?! You see, I really honestly truly think that these personal photographing companies are a bunch of conning nitwits. Firstly, they try and con you out of your fully-refundable-deposit by burgeoning you with offers and photo packages galore. Then there’s the makeover, prior to the shoot. After having every strand of hair tonged and sprayed in the most painful way possible (I think my scalp was still throbbing the next morning…), they dab at you and brush you and poke you with a million bacteria-ridden brushes, ’til every pore is clogged and caked with every foundation, highlighter and concealer of cake-like substance. Even then, after all the effort made to my face and hair, I decided I preferred my own styling anyway. Didn’t tell them that, though.

As for the photoshoot itself, I felt like every pose, every position, and every prop was cliched to perfection. “Ahh, the infamous legs draped over the chair look”, I’d think slyly to myself, wondering how Kate herself would work this pose. Looking back at the pictures, I decided they resembled every other professional portrait I’d seen splayed over friends’ Facebook profiles. Definitely not worth £550 for the whole lot. Still, the latest special offer provided me with one free photograph of my choice, which turned out to be the photograph pictured here. It’s very racy, in my opinion. But still, cliched much? I certainly wouldn’t have paid anything upwards of a tenner for it. What do you think?

Question time: Have you ever had any professional pictures taken? What do you think of these studio companies? Do you think their prices are justified?

P.S. It’s lovely to be deadline-free again and free to post at my own peril. Stay tuned for plenty more updates and thank you all for the lovely comments!

Be back soon!