Country Girl

T-shirt made by me

Jeans by Punky Phish

Shoes from Topshop

Misc. jewelery

Another rather lackluster outfit post of what I threw on to go to the shops. Please welcome the guest model accompanying me; one of my four Ridgebacks, Tara. Also note the reappearance of the star t-shirt I made the other day - such an easy item to just throw on, especially now it looks so much better thanks to an iron and wash to remove the chalk pattern outlines!

We had lovely early-autumn weather today; blue sky, sunshine and a spot of a breeze. I spent the afternoon reading Checkoff's plays (now read The Seagull and Uncle Vanya) I can't quite decide what to make of them; I certainly enjoy the way the dialogue was written and particularly with the Seagull got into the plot but I can't decide what the author is saying - there seems to be a lot of criticism of intellectual/artistic types, is this his view or is it just for humour? In fact throughout one wonders if these characters are to be pitied (feeling the pinch, regretting life decisions...) or if this is satirical perhaps even mocking the protagonists for not appreciating how much worse off they could be. Defiantly something to look at further. Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

I also spent a bit of time wondering around the yard taking photos of some of the animals and flowers.

Couture in Singapore

I never knew much about Singapore until I started university, since then I have made friends with a lot of people from the country so I am now an honorary 'Wingaporean' and have even picked up the habit of using 'la' in my speech. From my limited understanding of the place it's main attractions are the food culture which is fascinating with a great deal of importance placed on the food of street hawkers and shopping.

 

Hawker Centre - basically a food court with lots of street sellers

Chicken with rice - a very simple dish but the one a lot of Singaporeans miss the most

Bearing this in mind it seems like a perfect place to start a second Haute Couture Fashion Week - it's location means it's convenient for citizens of booming eastern countries (highlighting where the real spending-power in fashion is) but very western so customers from around the world won't be put off. The first Haute Couture Fahsion Week to be held outside of Paris will be in Singapore from the 26-30 October as part of their Women's Fashion Week and headlining designers presenting are Gustavo Lins and Stephane Rolland. I always enjoy Couture Fashion Week as although I can only dream to afford the pieces in the collections I view them as real works of art so having twice as much to see can only be good news!

Designs by Stephane Rolland

Fashion Month Already!

Gosh, I can't believe it's that time of year again! I made little effort to follow fashion weeks closely for the past year because I was too busy being swept up with all the excitement of my first year of university; I only just got to grips with the A/W11 collections thanks to some quality time with ELLE Collections on the journey back from Cornwall this weekend! Now I reallise that NYFW is already upon us!

New York tends to produce the most wearable collections and already there are certainly no shortage of things I'd happily don.

Tee for Two

T shirt, £200
Mango vintage tee, £23
ASOS printed tee, $33
V–neck striped t–shirt - ENZA COSTA - T-shirts & jerseys - Tops -..., £125

...and two for tee!

For a fair old while since reaching my teens I have basically never worn t-shirts, the reasons for this were that most seemed to have ugly pictures/slogans on them (I'm very picky about embellishments), were really overpriced (for stingy old me anything over thirty quid seems a lot) or were ill-fitting or in unpleasant fabrics. Although over time I acquired a few  the thing that converted me was strangely enough a Primark men's tee that I nicked from my boyfriend! I find that a nice plain tee is actually a great staple and is much more effective for dressing down outfits than a vest.

However I still can't find many tees that are what I want at the right price so I have decided to make my own.

My first attempt is a white silky fabric overlaid with some star-print voile since I had these fabrics kicking around already, I took the pattern from a Zara top that I love by tracing it onto newspaper and am really happy with the result, often when I've made clothes I find they look very amateurish but I feel that this time I have achieved a much better finish.

I'm now planning on making this in lots of jewel coloured silks but first I need to get up to London for a visit to Shepherd's Bush Market!

The brows have it!

Audrey and Viv knew good brow!

The thing I receive the most compliments about from women not related to clothes or accessories are my eyebrows. Although I plucked my eyebrows from about fourteen I only began to fill them in during sixth-form after seeing a beauty blogger say that she felt it was one of the most important parts of her make-up routine. I have to say that she was absolutely right and it is now something I wouldn't leave out in the morning (the other essentials for me are foundation, blush and mascara)! Eyebrows really frame your face and give your whole look definition, I like to keep mine strong and slightly tapered - I find the very drawn-looking, narrow brow very dated.

I've never had my eyebrows done professionally and found my shape through trial-and-error, initially I would make them way too thin but this doesn't really matter as they quickly grow back. I normally pluck mine and find Tweezerman tweezers to be best - yes they're a bit pricier but they are very sharp and come with a garuntee so you can send them off and get them sharpened. Always work from below when plucking to create a nice arch other than neatening a few stray hairs above. You can also wax by getting a bit of prepaired wax strip, if you hod this up to your brow you can see through it to draw the shape you want, when you cut it out you will have two symmetrical pieces to use for each eye.

Regarding filling in I prefer to use eye-shadow rather than a pencil as it gives a softer look and is very quick. Use a shadow that is similar to your hair and use an angled brush to fill in. If your brows tend to be a bit wild use some brow-gel or, if you're stingy like me, some hair-spray on a brow-brush to keep them in place.

Also, if you're in a hurry in the morning and don't have time to tidy up your brows a handy quick-fix is to use a heavy coverage concealer along the brow bone to hide regrowth!

Et voila - quick and easy brows.

Ghost

Growing up I never really had an opportunity to decorate my bedroom as my parents had decorated all the rooms of our house in quite a specific style which they didn’t want to change. This means I am particularly excited to plan the interior of my new flat which I am moving into at the end of September before starting my second year of university.

The flat is in a Victorian building close to Regents Park so I’m trying to strike a balance between the modern and classical with furnishings that will fit in and also not be heavy or darken the room as it isn’t very large.

One of the things I’m really lusting after are these Philippe Stark Louis ‘Ghost’ chairs. I love furnishings from the time of Louis XIV but the real thing would look rather heavy and over the top for the space I have, but these transparent plastic ones have the lovely classic shape but will keep the room looking light. The only problem is the price tag – at £179 each when I want four as a dining set I may be waiting a while to get them.

Now I’ve just got to find the rest of my furniture…

Kartell Louis Ghost Chair Clear by Philippe Starck available from Heal's

The Elements of Style

When considering starting a blog one of the things that challenged me and put me off was naming it - what's in a name? While a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, when staring at a page of a nursery catalogue bearing images of yet-to-be-smelt the stout and ballsy sounding 'hemlock' would not hold the same appeal as the elegant 'gladioli', even if their appearances were identical. Therefore I've always felt a certain pressure in choosing something that reflected the aim and nature of the blog, had a nice ring and on top of that, wasn't already taken!

Having resolved to give this blogging lark a proper go (instead of my previous half-arsed attempts) and discarded various initial word-combinations I decided to go through the bookshelf for something that might inspire me. I found the very thing in my mother's copy of 'The Elements of Style' by William Stunk Jr. and E.B.White, this is not (as I expected when picking it up) a guide for aesthetic style but for writing. It is constructed in a delightfully simple style with five sections: 'Elementary Rules of Usage', 'Elementary Principals of Composition', 'A Few Matters of Form', 'Words and Expressions Commonly Misused' and finally, 'An Approach to Style'. The pithy and direct instructions guide the aspiring writer to a style that cuts the dross to deliver a clean and efficient style.

"14. Avoid fancy words
Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able. Anglo-Saxon is a livelier tongue than Latin, so use Anglo-Saxon words. In this, as in so many matters pertaining to style, one's ear must be one's guide: gut is a lustier noun than intestine, but the two words are not interchangeable, because gut is often inappropriate, being too coarse for the context. Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason."

This attitude reflects my own preferences for style: although I do like things that are exciting and different (one of my favourite styles of interior design is that from the time of Louis XIV) I tend to set this against a simple background: I love elegant shapes and if I go for colour I will generally chose something simple rather than a busy pattern. So where is this all going? to the name 'An Approach to Style' which is broad enough to cover all the aspects of life I like to talk about without being to instructional or pretentious. Conveying that this is a bit of a journey as I have yet to fully discover my style and sometimes wonder if I will; or want to!