Hippo Who?

Whilst I was out of action and generally mourning the blogshere due to major technical issues (i.e my pc died a sudden death)I continued to blog in my scrap book needless to say I have one epic long backlog of posts to publish.Many seem invalid and way past their sell by date (fashion just keeps on revolving with such light speed momentum that s/s 11 trends are already stale leaving an awful bad after taste: bring on those fresh and minty s/s 12 key trends already...ridi-culoooous eh?).Despite this, I thought I'd share with you my hippo dress obsession which to be honest I've only just snapped out of...

Let me to take you back to a few months ago when I was style stalking my two fave fashion forward girls (Paloma Faith and Marina of course, who else sticks their middle finger up towards fickle fashion trends like these two?I love 'em and their colourful clashing clobber!)when I noticed a recurring theme Marina's super fun, super loud ,super over sized pop-art T-shirt dresses.One particular dress that I became utterly determined to hunt down and steal featured a big fat cartoon hippo face.Yep this was enough to have me following hundreds of tangled, turning links via numerous image search engines. For days my investigating came to no avail each and every time.Broken links, bits of articles and lots of incorrect information was all I kept stumbling across.Seemed the designer behind Marina's hippo dress would forever remain an unsolved mystery?Then I struck gold and discovered the woman behind the hippo (err so to speak)is print designer Yang Du who's s/s 10 collection consist of many a happy cartoon animal character inspired by a trip to the toy museum...oh Yang Du I sure do love you!

My pal the palazzo

Phew after what feels like a whole century of pesky skin tight denim that is the skinny jean, the nightmare is over for there is at long, long last more trouser/ pant options available to us girls who don't fancy going down the Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse style route.Just take your pick what shall it be? Perhaps a sixties inspired denim flare?Polka dot culottes? Or my personal favourite and much preferred trouser the high-waisted p-p-palazzo not only is that quite fun to pronounce but the palazzo has the ability to take you from OKish ordinary to cool Riviera chic chick yes quite a transformation just in one little or rather super-wide big trouser. Who would have thought eh?The
pasta dish sounding trouser has such sophisticated qualities. Qualities that its harem and jean rivals cannot compete with-fact.Can a skinny jean swish, sway and offer that feminine flow of freedom in a way that the palazzo does so effortlessly?For those of us who are guilty of being attached to our faithful skirts and dresses (hands up, yep I am one of those girls!)the palazzo trouser isn't too much of an enormous style leap,plus one doesn't have to deal with denim nor sacrifice those familiar, pretty and soft patterned fabrics that us girlie girls are so fond of and have such affection towards-chiffon's,cottons, crepe, jersey, silks these darlings can still remain in your life without threatening those trusty summer dresses that vacate inside your wardrobe,the two may just become best buddies.
There is one minor glitch though.With such an abundance of palazzo's out there from polka dots,nautical stripes,Aztec triangles and ditsy florals its impossible to pick out the perfect palazzo isn't it?Well lucky for you not one to be put off by a challenge I've done my research (bit of a bitch that was-not browsing the many rails of highstreet shops), and narrowed down the best palazzo trousers out there...skinny jeans, harems and the rest you should all be afraid very afraid, for your time in the fashion spotlight is about to reach an abrupt ending.Ha!





images:look.co.uk,topshop,river island





P.S...TOMORROWS POST- YANG'S COLLECTION POP ART-A-PLENTY

The wait is over

I know it's midnight(ish)round about now but heck I'm busting to blog (it's been forever if not a decade already since my last post...so you want an explanation for my slacking huh? Well it's simple I've had no computer!Yikes and yes I lost my life support machine that is the oh so stylish fashion blogshere, tears were indeed very much involved as was lots of hanging around and saving for this God send of a laptop.I attempted to fill the void with magazines-a-plenty however it just didn't fulfill those fierce fashion hunger pains like blogs can and do.Magazines are rice cakes they only fill the hunger for oohh five minutes, blogs on the other hand are, well blogs are thick crusty bread -much more substance and far more satisfying. Look at me back for five seconds and I'm comparing fashion to bread...you get the drift). I'm very much aware how I'm most probably to be the only one who is reading this post what with me doing a complete vanishing act since what , September '10?
Just in case there are any prettyneon readers that remain out there?Here is a quick glance at what I've been stalking since I last logged off...those Miu Miu shoes, the face paint gone stark raving mad Vivienne Westwood accessories campaign,Juicy Couture (I want to be there amongst all that vibrant out door tea party mayhem with the 'ickle white bunnies, heart shaped balloons,hats and bags)and of course swooning over THAT Paloma Faith frock- no words for it really just a big fat WHOAWOW!
Well night all, see you in the morning with what is possibly in my humble opinion the very best pair of super-wide trousers you have and will ever see in your life...just maybe?

Getting theatrical

So we all know what this time of year consists of in terms of fashion, as sadly from September onwards this seasons trends all become a little predictable no need to style.com it. We all know the fashion drill already. In the following order...purple sequins,purple sequins and erm more lashings of purple sequins.Bored now. Or so I would usually be come this time of year, when every shop window merges into one giant sequin scene (if not sequin slaughter?).After paying much attention to the high street windows I've noticed that this season is fresh new and exciting finally those dusty sequins have been shaken off the A/W ritual is over, by introducing more textures and more style options than perhaps ever before. From rich brocade velvets,pleats,leather,Victorian inspired lace designs and vintagesque embellished old school glamorous fifties inspired frocks.All can be found in Pearl Lowe's new collection for Peacocks.







images

It's no secret that I adore Pearl Lowe's designs as many times I've sat here gushed, swooned and preached on and on and on about how excited I get whenever a new collection is revealed as I tick off and count down the days, obsessively checking out the Peacocks website for updates or sneaky peek glances.Oh and I have a slight style crush on Daisy Lowe too.But the latest installment of Pearl Lowe makes all previous collections look drab, I love the theatrical touches and grown up Gothic details and what with those festive celebrations approaching it's time to get organised and avoid the December mayhem.So I am instead doing some festive clickingI must,must, MUST act quick before any size 12/14's vanish (I made this mistake last time and cried a few tears into my pillow)and I have done just that.By mocking up my Xmas day ensemble (see above)using computer magic i.e photoshop,though some more tweaks may yet be made I'm undecided about the heart bag and I think there's too much blue going on...a festive smurf is not what I'm aiming to achieve.I may break it up with another colour? One thing is for sure the shoes I'm definitely adding to basket and the dress shall soon be on it's way, eekk I can't wait, oh the shallow, materialistic bliss!

Can't Speak French

Remember how yesterday I was quite excited about my recent fashion find all thanks to the dentist? Well multiply that sheer excitement by ooh I don't know say a billion? And that's how ecstatic I am about my further finds on Derhy.The website is fantastic bursting with gem after gem, no clogs or coats with bits of sheep fluff stuck to them(I really dislike most of this years Autumn/Winter trends simply not my cup of tea: no offense sheep or sheep lovers each to their own).I've never seen such a mind blowing array of dresses and adorable fun Tops, all splashed with the most vibrant prints.One day into my Derhy investigation I've learned that it's french...do you know how distraught I am that I ditched my french lessons back in the school days. Gutted.Fear not as the website can of course be translated, phew!
However, I still very much want to pack up and relocate to France. Where's my fashion passport at? Until that day arrives the Derhy website will have to make do I guess...how do you sigh in french?




images

Falling in love

I don't often blog on the go, as mobile reception is super slow around here. However I felt compelled to declare my love for Derhy.com which I've just discovered at the dentist of all places. I've never considered the dentist to be a fashion hub of exciting news/trends etc.
I should probably explain as I have about 20 minutes before they poke, push and pull my teeth around in there...the dreaded dentist room with the even more feared dentist chair ekk! Must distract and separate myself from this grim clinical reality, like right now!
I browse through an impressive selection of magazines while I await my fate (erm two fillings-bottom teeth *ouch* they kill the most),no Heat or OK mags here which are far worse than any dentist procedure in my humble opinion anyway. I can't believe anyone reads them things? Page after page of Z-list celeb 'miracle fat busting' diets and tacky celeb love 'triangles' oh the drama.
I'm rambling. Ahh yes so I pick up Style magazine, when a thin book slips out and falls on my lap, immediately the front cover grabs my attention or my inner free spirited hippie's attention anyway.Why what is this? My investigation begins not a second to waste, hmm some brand called Derhy? I'm oblivious to Derhy yet I'm already in love and want to be nothing more than a Derhy girl (just look below and your no doubt appreciate why to be a Derhy girl is my new shallow ambition) when I grow up.





images Derhy.com

...I must dash off now to the dentist chair, my investigation and research into Derhy continues.

Top of the gloss

First up wow wow wows thank you ALL of you for all your comments and emails that you sent me after my last post I was and still am blown away by all the nice things you said the feedback was insane, I forget that people read this. And I'm really glad it made some of you feel better and more confident about yourselves, size tags should never define us as women, nor restrict our style.Once again many thanks gals. I must say I'm so very extremely ecstatic to return here back to blogshere where I belong it's like my home from home,yes confessions of a dork right there! I've had no computer (for fucksakes Santa please drop that red Dell laptop down my chimney on Xmas eve. I've been such a good girl and even ditched the toxic coffee.Come on I deserve it!) for a good month or so now hence the silence.Though probably quite a pleasant silence huh from all those messy fashion ramblings and rants of which I spit out and type going full speed haha.Seriously though I've been climbing the walls and reading back-to-back issues of Vogue to Bell (my pet lion head - rabbit. Not to be confused with an actual lion...now that would be silly wouldn't it?), though trends have very little importance to her, being an animal and all she doesn't have an opinion on fashion editorials unless it features a bunch of green lettuce, carrots and other various rabbit friendly vegetables,in which case she expresses her love by munching on magazine pages.Anyhoo's inspired by many weeks of reading Vogues to Bell (whilst dangling an bright orange carrot in front of her little pink nose in an attempt to catch her undivided attention...see this is what happens when you have no access to fashion blogs, no exchanges of comments etc- results in trying to have a fashion related convo with a fluffy rabbit who to be honest most of the time was baffled and just jumped around the garden.While I chased her ass around lecturing her on style, despite of course her not actually owning a wardrobe.Sigh), I thought I'd compile my own sort of Top Of The Pops (if this reference means nothing to you please youtube it...it will transform your life) style best of Vogue 2010 (so far) chart. Erm or something along those lines?

So it's no secret that I'm a slave to glossy monthly magazines,the whole lot of 'em I have no shame in admitting I judge them by their covers, flick through the pictures first ignoring all txt, then go back start again but second time round I absorb the written features, third time I over analyse the reasons to as why one image or editorial has me returning back to its page for more again and again and again days, weeks, months and years later.
Nor do I feel ashamed by the fact I have to OCD stack them in correct year/date order, I'm ridiculous over the top precious and protective over one particular fashion magazine. Vogue.Perhaps I'm over protective of her (Vogue) because I still recall when I first began collecting them as a tomboyish 10yr old child with an magpie eye for pretty things be it shoes, bags, dresses never mind if I was running around in shorts and over sized T-shirts collecting insects and cutting my knees open skateboarding. Pretty clothes were very much an attraction to my scruffy self. I guess in simple terms Vogue introduced me to the world wide wardrobe of life, art, culture and so on.Vogue has been and still remains an education to me, though no longer does it replace my Sunday night homework sessions.Though the fact still remains that Vogues excites and has such an inspiring impact on me as it did back when I was 10yrs old.Now it's become a grown up picture book with txt.
And whoa what delightful pictures Vogue has provided us with this year.Some will forever be etched upon my brain for along time to come, influencing my wardrobe and style decisions whether I be aware of this or not.Because Vogue editorials have that Derren Brown effect on you and your style subconscious, 'frilly coloured ankle socks and peeptoe shoes hmm what an odd idea of mine.Oh no hold up I remember spotting this in Vogue months back' This was my method of selecting the best of Vogue: almost all the images/editorials below from this years issue of Vogue have had an subtle ripple effect on my wardrobe,some have motivated me to depart from the familiar and push my creativity.Other Vogue issues from this year had me wanting to have a cheap sleazy night out at an gritty motel head to toe in in Miu Miu (see Vogue April issue), before signing up to the circus, and afterwards embarking on an road trip along the coast in my simple vintage lace dress hiding my face with giant sunshades.Vogue never fails to encourage us all to think outside the box?Or should that be outside the wardrobe?See what I did there?Enjoy...




Vogue October issue

Vogue Febuary issue



Vogue March issue



Vogue April issue