Happy Images

Some images can be really inspiring, or they can lift your mood for hours after. 

Outside with the sun and the fresh Spring air with lawn mowers buzzing in the background, I photographed the Magnolia tree in our garden in all its Spring time glory along with the neighbours, competing for sunlight. This tree has been loved, climbed, swung on and then the petals fall and are  greatly enjoyed by our tortoise.

Andromeda enjoying the petals.. I wonder what it would be like to have your favourite food literally falling from the sky. I would be the size of a house I think.

My large assortment of necklaces makes getting ready quite tricky sometimes, outfit, necklace, earrings, rings, jacket, bracelets, shoes...it's a job some mornings.

       I really loved the light in the room when I took these shots it was kind of warm and pinky.

What's inspiring you at the moment?
Or have you taken any photos that have instantly made you feel happy and warm inside?

Wish Wish Wish

Things I'm loving at the moment...but some cost more than my rent....

When my eyes clapped on this on one of the London Fashion Week websites ages ago...I've been trying to figure out a way to own this. I think a true mark of how much you want something (and whether it's worth it), is if you still want it months down the line. And I do.

 

STOLEN GIRLFRIENDS CLUB

Techno Floral Print Gothic Silk Shirt

£240

from my-wardrobe

Oh just think of all the different ways you could wear this... Oh the possibilities!

Maja Two Dress £370

Peachy perfection by who else but DVF.

The slashed neck and sleeve length are so flattering and the knee skimming length is super flattering.

  dvf

I remember being star struck when I saw her front row at Nathan Jenden's show in Battersea 2009 when a friend and I were doing work experience with him.

Oh...did I mention they also have it in electric blue?!

Also love her brilliantly jarring print on the Zalda Bis wrap dress

 Sublimely fruity!

I love this 

Fruit Crop T-Shirt 

£30

lazyoaf

Also love 'water colour slob tee' and 'palm trees crop tee'

Loving this shirt from ASOS  £35

It's called 'Shirt With Swan Print' but I really think there is an error - it's clearly flamingos!

 Look at the legs!!

asos

Worship My Wedges in Coral

£60

office

These wedges are boootiful and bright they'd cheer up any gloomy day.

 Ooh I can see them now with mega tight blue jeans, a shirt and a wide brimmed hat. Lovely

Pretty much love all shoes by Charlotte Olympia and LOVED seeing her shoes on the models of Alice Temperley. This pair are very cute...if a tad out of my price range

Charlotte Olympia

Meredith Striped Canvas Wedged Sandals

£565

net-a-porter

 Brian Atwood

Aura Polka-dot calf-hair sandals

net-a-porter

One day when I am very very rich...well actually..I would sooner do more charitable stuff... but if I had any cash left over, I might fantasise about buying these beauts!

asos

Burnt Orange Chiffon Dress with ribbon waistband

£24

As I have wanted this dress for about as long as it takes for a baby to be made AND it has dropped from £42 to £24 - I think I should get it....

 Printed Quilted Jacket 

£55

Mexicana Blazer

£60

both from asos

I adore these little jackets they remind me of something very similar I bought at a market in Ecuador but the moths attacked it. I would love to get my paws on another one similar...even though it may not have the exact same charm - or price for that matter!!

So that just about completes my Wish Wish Wish list for the moment. Although some of these things are from ages ago and some more current. I've always got my eye on something!

What are you wishing for?

Will you actually buy them..or are some of them but a dream like some of mine?

XXX

 

M is for Mint Green

Ever since I can remember, I have loved this colour.  

It really does look great on everything... clothes, nails, jewellery.... as well as guitars,  scooters and vans. 

Whether it is on trend or not, I have always worn it and always will - but I am pleased that this year it is getting a proper mention and heads up for being so lovely!

Beautiful ASOS shoes. This is true mint green to perfection.

shoeperwoman

Lovely T-bar platforms from Zara - although a little too high for me, I can appreciate their beauty!

This is a slight variation on minty green it's a little more aqua, but very cute

On a Vesper, I think mint green looks particularly sweet.

I seem to have a little bit of an obsession getting photographs of me standing next to a vesper on holiday...I have many photos of me next to them - sometimes on them too...

One day I WILL own a Vesper or Tamoretti or something...and you will see me binging around Brighton with a baguette and vegetables and maybe some fresh patisserie popping out the back boot like I'm someone out of Amelie...

nor-magazine

Extremely coveted Louis Vuitton mint stilettos and mules seen on the models for SS12. I love the silver tipped toes. (I couldn't find the mint picture!)

OKAY okay...this isn't mint green. BUT I love this van and it deserves a mention!

I squeeled with joy when I saw this lil van in Corfu Town.

 "This is what I neeeed in my life!" 

I exclaimed.

I still have dreams of this little van being mine and bopping around town doing daily erronds... For the mean time though, I just have the photo to keep my dreams alive.

Maybe I could get hold of this man and his van...and ask if he would like to sell it to me...

 Mmm minty green nails!! This is a great one by Barry M - it's slightly creamy and looks super dupes!

My minty green sheer shirt from ZARA has been a bit of staple for a while now, and looks lovely with a jumper over the top for slightly chillier days. It's bright and cheery which makes me happy!

I love this necklace I picked up in a charity shop, it's very Art Deco and pretty much looks great with anything!

trocadero

Beautiful sterling silver rings to adorn fingers. My favourite place to get my rings is Portabello Market, you can find some lovely things there, lots to choose from, with spikes and skulls...I'd probably have a heart attack if I went to India because they'd be really cheap too. It would just be too much to bear!

Ladies who went minty

luckymag

Kate Bosworth in Jil Sander (ages ago). I love the simplicity, and the pink lipstick compliments it nicely - although the pink lipstick is a necessity, because without it, it would have been a bit of a washout. The top half of this dress isn't particularly inspiring, although this was obviously Sander's aim - to fully complete the look of simplicity in its design.

scottsdalefashionista

Kerry Washington in a floor length Escada dress last year. I love the length and the trail, and she clearly feels gorgeous - and she should, but I'm not overly keen on the cutaways and low neck - it's a bit TOWIE for me - but that's just me. She has an amazing figure so why not I guess...It's beautifully made and fits like aglove. The look is completed with pink lips again, which is lovely. Mint green looks fantastic on her!


Mint Green looks super lovely on olive and darker complexions, but please be assured that those with fairer skin can work it too! Just really darken up the eyes, put lovely sweeping strokes of dark eye shadows on and it'll work a treat.


So there you have it, my extremely comprehensive guide (HA) to mint green and why I love it so! - Spring is just around the corner, and pastels are going to be everywhere - so time to pick your pastel. I know which is mine!

The Old Fire Station Shop

The Old Fire Station has had a re-vamp in Oxford with dance classes, projects with Crisis to help homeless people get back into work and a lovely new cafe. I was really impressed with the art shop in there with lots of beautiful hand-made cards and jewellery that I loved!

These were my favourite pieces:

I love these cuff links, I bought the moustache and anchor ones, they would cheer up any blazer or suit.

Wolf + Moon, custommade.co.uk and Alice Shields among many other favourites. Pop by next time you're on George Street in Oxford. Lots of lovely presents here - if you're shopping for a girl or looking for a card for someone with a quirky sense of humour or love of art or design - this is a good place to start.

I wanted everything!

Happy Sunday y'all X

Re Fashion in Oxford

I swished, wound yarn round my digits, and almost bought a wedding dress!!

Those that know me well, know that I am very conscious of the environment, and its limitations with our 'using up' of natural resources that have a definitive shelf life.

I hate waste. And I am a little *obsessed* with recycling. BUT I believe we all should be. The planet we live on I think, MUST be our top priority.

So...I was very pleased to discover that the Town Hall in Oxford was hosting a day in the large main room called RE FASHION. We were offered a taster of lots of different local companies who are reusing fabrics and other components to make other useful things. The aim being, to reduce what is sent to landfill.

The R's...

 Reduce Reuse Recycle and... Re-purposing!

Re-Fashion Event Included:

Swishing - bring along your unwanted clothes get tokens, and swap for other people's unwanted clothes. Simples!

Sock Monkey demos - make your old socks into adorable little monkeys!
Finger knitting - dextrous digits creating scarves etc with no knitting needles in sight. Genius!

College Catwalk show - Students from the local Oxford and Cherwell College showing their creations.

Vintage Wedding Catwalk show

Craft Vendors

Vintage and Retro clothes galore
Stall serving hot drinks and yummy homemade cakes.




As well as appearances from Darn It And Stitch shop owner Jo,  darnitandstitch who stocks beautiful vintage fabrics buttons, ribbons and all the things for keen knitting/sewing creators, crafts/purses and bag maker Loulabelle madebyloulabelle, Oxford Tailor oxfordtailor  and the clever and creative Cultural Criminals who turn old lorry covers and off-cuts (that would otherwise go to landfill) into vibrant durable bright-coloured bags and satchals culturalcriminals

Cultural Criminals

Darn It And Stitch

Helen & Douglas House also appeared with a vast amount of goodies in the form of rails of vintage fashion to scour through (which I did). They are in the midst of promoting their new shop Vintage and Retro Helen & Douglas House, which is due to open this coming Monday 23rd January. They have been given this space until July 2012 - but with any luck, it will take off by storm and they will get to keep it!  - Situated next door to the old Helen & Douglas House in Summertown that still resides there.

I love this orange shirt maxi dress complemented by this beautiful Christian Dior scarf. I liked the dress so much, that I bought it. The fabric was disgusting/synthetic/static hair inducing... so I don't think I will wear it, but I would like to make a pattern from this dress and make it in a gorgeous fabric. I might even make another with a cross front and a thigh high split!


Helen and Douglas House  also presented their stunning vintage wedding dresses on a catwalk show. I tried on two of the dresses afterwards and was very close to buying one...even though I'm not planning marriage anytime soon. (Yikes!! - Ryan you can relax my love!) One was a beautiful heavily beaded dress, and the other from the 30s which  unfortunately I could barely squeeze in my head.

This dress was stunning with it's intricate beading and sequins all over. It was very heavy in fact.

Everyone said I should get it, and at £120 I might have, but what stopped me was that I didn't imagine myself in that dress when getting married - it wasn't what I envisaged. But if was beautiful.

(I imagine my boyfriend is sweating profusely at this moment)

 This was the stunning 1930s dress however I was too big..or it was too small...either one :(

Beautiful dress and adorable print all over with the lovely button-up back, but the shape didn't look overly flattering, so I didn't even bother trying this one on.

Did you know that:
Every year consumers in the UK buy two million tonnes of clothes of which 1.2m tonnes ends up in landfill. Just 300,000 is reused or recycled while the rest ends up in the back of the "national wardrobe".  

This is a hideous statistic. But with more education, and days like this to explore other options hopefully we can work to reduce this huge amount of waste.

Have a look at these articals and websites exploring the matter...
ethicalfashionforum.com
telegraph.co.uk/earth

I also swished a very plain and ordinary top for this jacket and shorts ensemble. It may look quite dowdy, but I see potential in all sorts, and I have high hopes for this one!! What you can't get the feel of from these photos - is the feel and the softness of these pieces, that really attracted me to them, as well as having a small obsession recently with 'Midnight Blue' hues!

With the jacket sleeves pushed up, worn with some sort or shirt, or top with high waisted shorts, I think it would look very sweet.

And these shorts fit beautifully and are very soft, but are incredibly long. With the hem shortened, these shorts would look adorable with a loose blouse or wide necked teeshirt tucked in, with some nude patent courts for a sweet, classic evening ensemble.

It was a Swishing Success!!

I felt really positive after this event and really feel that with more events like this one, more companies like Cultural Criminals exploring alternative resources and more awareness, that Re Fashion will just become the norm.

So you 'eard! - Get your stuff down to your local charity shop instead of chucking it - and while you're there, have a shmooze at the goods instead of your scheduled weekly trip to Primarni!

Happy Recycling! XXX