Florence Welch,

I wanted to leave the last blog up as long as possible, so as many people as possible noticed the discount code, but for those of you who haven't read it yet, 'loveheartsandcrosses' have given a special discount for readers of my blog!

So scroll down for your exclusive discount code :).

I want to post about one of my main style icons! She's also an amazing singer, i'm going to see her live tomorrow, so I thought it'd be an apt thing to post about.

Florence Welch, from Florence and the Machine!

Her style is forever changing, and she even once said herself that she thinks it'd be hard to keep up with her style as it's always developing. Her stage look for the summer was very gothic and luxurious. However, her own style is very mixed and matched, very experimental, and very fun.

Most of her items are from charity shops, vintage shops, though she also loves high street - the lace top in the photo below is from Topshop!

I'm going to focus on her personal style, rather than her stage style, and attempt to find a few items to recreate her look!

I was going to try and pick a favourite item out of the above, but to be honest i love them all! Though i'll probably buy the satchel, as i've been wanting a vintage looking bag for a while, and this is perfect - and really reasonable!

If I could afford it, i'd buy the shoe-boots. they're beautiful!

I'll post pictures of what Florence actually wears when I see her on Sunday :)

xoxo

Discount times!

The lovely people over at loveheartsandcrosses.co.uk have given me a special discount code for all you subscribers/readers :).
loveheartsandcrosses sell the most beautiful individual jewellery! You're guaranteed to find the perfect accessories for brightening up your winter wardrobes :)

the discount code for getting 10% when you buy any item at loveheartsandcrosses is: wearingblack

this code will work up until 31st December 2009 - so you can buy all your christmas pressies :)

i'm so good to you guys ;).

let me know if you buy anything!

xoxo

Houndstooth.

I want to focus on one of my favourite trends for A/W 09: Houndstooth.
I've always been a fan of Houndstooth, as I think it's quite a classic pattern that has been in and out of style over the decades which is good for two main reasons:
1. If you invest in a houndstooth piece, you can keep it and wear it even when it's not in fashion, by bringing it into trend with a few accessories.

2. It'll be easy to find some vintage houndstooth in charity shops!! It may be a smaller type print that is in fashion at the moment, as prints tend to be more graphic nowadays, but even small print houndstooth is gorgeous.

So here's a few examples of houndstooth (also known as dogtooth!) on the catwalks;

As you can see, the size of the print varied immensly, from Preens extremely oversized graphic prints, to the more classic smaller dogtooth on the Aquascutum mac.
Here are a few high-street picks;
I absolutely love the red dogtooth dress from New Look, it's gorgeous! I also love the french connection dress, though it's slightly out of my price range!

If you aren't feeling quite so frivolous with cash this month, head for dogtooth accessories such as;
. Tights
. Handbags
. Belts
. Hats
. Scarves
. Bangles

and if you're feeling extra creative you could buy dogtooth buttons, or patches of material, to decorate plain items of clothing.

xoxo

Giles Deacon for New Look

The latest Giles Deacon range for New Look is set to hit stores next Monday, entitled 'Gold' it's his ninth collection for the store, and i've got a sneaky peek into the collection! So here are some of the best bits :)



These are absolutely GORGEOUS. Ankle boots are all the rage this a/w, and the sequins make them a double trend = win, win situation. You really can't go wrong with these!


More sequins! These will definitely get you noticed on a night out. I love that the sequins are on the heel too.

The gladiator trend is still around for A/W but to be worn with thick opaque tights, or with leggings.

I love these shoes, they're quite simple, but the amazing jewels and multi-strap makes them quite eye-catching.

Now onto the clothes! Starting with one of my favourite pieces, this amazing print skirt! I love how the print is very graphic, and quite distorted.

This gorgeous monochrome dress is very on-trend. The emphasised shoulders are very 80s. And I bet the black lines make it very figure-hugging, yet quite flattering, as it really emphasises all those curves!

Wow, i am completely in love with sequins at the moment, and this is brilliant! It's hard to tell from the photo, i think this is one of those items that you need to see and feel the material to appreciate, but from what i can see the material looks so floaty, but it seems to nip in at the waist. This will definitely be an easy to wear party piece that will get you noticed!

This dress is SO Balmain! The emphasised shoulders complete with the intricate detail (looks like studding, though could be sequins!) make this dress almost like designer. It's a very simple classic dress, but is so gorgeous! I love it!

Last, but definitely NOT least. My favourite piece. I'm not sure what it is about it i like, as to be completely honest I dont think it would flatter me at all. But i just love everything about it! The striped pattern, the asymmetric sleeve, the fitted-ness aruond the waist. It's just gorgeous.

I have to say, i honestly think this is the best Giles Deacon collection so far. Not that I have disliked the previous collections, but all these items look very well designed, and definitely have that designer flair about them.

Roll on Monday! Let me know readers if you end up buying anything :)

xoxo

Guess who's back?

Back again! :)

I haven't posted in quite a few months now, and i'm really sorry about that! But i have been so busy! I can't believe how many followers I have now, considering it's been over 3 months since my last blog, i've got like 63 followers?! How on earth did that happen! Haha!

I'm definitely going to be posting a lot more regularly now :) To keep you going in the mean time, however, here's a video of me competing in the very first episode of New Look TV's Style Wars :)




Let me know what you think of my chosen outfit!

I'll be posting back VERY soon :)

xoxo

Hand me downs.

Sorry again, that I have been unable to post for a while. A-levels still going on! Unfortunately! Thankyou for those who have wished me luck in my exams :)
I have only one left now, which is on Tuesday, after that I then have to set up our schools art exhibition, and then i'm a free woman hahaa :).

I have quite a long post for you today, yay!
All thanks for my Nana! I have been given lots of her old clothes to rummage through, to see if there was anything that I might want. So I'm going to post some of my finds :)
Not everything has been put on here, but some of the best finds. It was so exciting have bags of stuff to rummage through :) My living room floor was like a jumble sale when I'd emptied them all out.

Also, I would have photographed alot more of the items on me, except that I have damaged my shoulder/neck/back and am unable to move my right arm alot. I only tried on my two favourite items, and that was painful enough!

So here goes :).

This first top, above. The picture does no justice. I think the top is meant to be worn with the zip to the front, however I tried it on with the zip to the back, and it turns the top into a crop top style :) So two trends in one - exposed zip & crop top.

Item number two! I love this, and yet again the picture doesn't really capture the ruching effect that is simply gorgeous in real life. This is a little tight on me, unfortunately, however I have have have to keep it! I'm thinking of wearing it over a tea dress, or a plain tshirt.

Item 3. This was SO hard to photograph, and this still doesn't really show you the detail properly. It's baisically completely black lace. The pattern is gorgeous, and I think this could be alot of fun to style up. However, I am debating cutting it into a crop top, as the lace pattern does look a bit overwhelming once on.

Item 4. I absolutely LOVE these cut-off shorts :). White denim is in right now, and these are really high waisted, so look really vintage and cute when on. I recently bought a red & white striped top from H&M that i'm thinking of pairing it with for a nautical look :).

This has to be one of my favourite finds! (I've just realised how many black items i've picked out..!) I just love it so much. The writing around the waist reads 'Le Gap' and it is made by a French label (not one I recognised). It's really quite figure hugging, but flattering at the same time.

And I love the back section! I find it quite ironic too really.. (Le Gap...!) I love French culture too, so another reason why it appeals to me :)

And my other favourite find! I know, I know, it's technically a bra. It's vintage Marks & Spencers ;). But I've been inspired by Susie Bubble, and am thinking of styling it like this;

In that picture I'm actually wearing it with a pyjama top from Primark!! But I couldn't find a white top that I thought looked nice with it.. i'm going to have to buy one I think :).

I love this look though! And it really fits in with the whole Gothic trend that is apparently going to be in for A/W 09!

I'll post again soon :)

xoxo

my latest buys :)

I'm going to spare five minutes of precious a level revision time to do a quick post on my latest purchases :).

This is my newest purchase, literally half an hour fresh from asdas :) haha. I was rummaging through the reduced rail when I saw this gorgeous coral/pinky/red coloured cardigan. I loved the ruffles down the front, so bang on trend. And the price... £4 down from £14!! What a great bargain :). It wasn't till I got it home, though, that I realised that the sleeves are a kind of translucent crepey material. I wasn't sure about that at first, but after trying it on, it looked so cute!

These pearls I bought yesterday from New Look for £8. I remember Primark did a similar necklace earlier this year, and I missed out on it, and i was so gutted. I couldn't believe my luck when I walked in New Look yesterday, and they had this! I love it :)

For £1.99 I got this canvas shopping bag from River Island :). For those of you who didn't know, 'Chelsea Girl' was the original name of River Island, my Mum worked in 'Chelsea Girl' when she was younger lol, so I felt it was only right to get this bag :)

For ages now I've been wanting to get some false lashes, and I picked up two pairs for £7 (..i think lol) at the Clothes Show. The top pair have little diamontes on, and I was planning on wearing those to the prom, and the bottom ones I want to wear for my birthday meal out tomorrow night :).

Oh, and the yellow nail varnish, is from Superdrug £1.95! I love those Superdrug nail varnishes they're so cheap, and the colours are gorgeous.

Sorry that this is such a short post! Hopefully my next post won't be too far away :) I've only got two exams left now! Good times! Though i've also got my driving test, and lots of other things coming up. Hopefully i'll be able to post next week though :).

Thankyou to my followers, 35 now! Happy daaays :)

xoxo

Style Shake Prom Dress,

I hoped that my next post on here was going to be an upbeat one, however unfortunately this is not going to be the case. Please carry on reading though, as I really want to people to know about my experience with StyleShake.

(For those of you not familiar with StyleShake, they are a website that allow you to design your own dress which they will then make and send to you within ten days.. sounds too good to be true, right?!)

As I posted on here a couple of weeks ago, I ordered my Prom Dress from StyleShake. The site boasts material "...sourced from companies that also provide fabrics to couture houses" - their words, not mine. Zips that are "...invisible zipper so well hidden that once fastened, it looks like a seam" and overall; "We pride ourselves on the high quality of every single dress that leaves our studio."

This, sadly, is not my experience of the site. May I add, that all of these points I read AFTER receiving my dress, so it's not as if my hopes had been raised extremely high, I just expected a dress that fitted me well, since it is 'made to measure' and something that is wearable to my Prom. I also wish to add that I'm not an extremely fussy person, I used to regularly shop in Primark afterall!

The dress itself is made from a very thin material, that seems quite low quality. It appears to have catches on it, and looks a little bit tatty if i'm honest.
The back of the dress is elasticated, something which I was no aware of when ordering, I did not read this anywhere on the site, however they have kindly pointed out to me that it is discussed here "http://styleshake.com/photogallery10.aspx" however, there is NO pictures of the elasticated back. Something which should, really, be pointed out. Also, the elasticated back is only discussed in regards to the strapless dress, mine is halterneck.

I was kindly informed also, that I was able to send off for samples of the material prior to ordering a dress, however it seems on the website that this is only available to those ordering dresses for weddings.
"http://styleshake.com/weddings.aspx"
I am actually quite surprised that it suggests these dresses can be worn for 'bridesmaids' I would not want my bridesmaids in dresses from StyleShake.

The zip on my dress, supposedly invisible, sticks out quite a bit. I understand the difficulties of a black a white coloured dress, the zip is black, so on the skirt it does show up. But why boast 'invisble' zips, if they cannot be offered?

I have emailed in my complaint, stating these facts in full, and StyleShake have informed me that they cannot offer me a refund, as my dress was 'made to measure' - something I have difficulties with, seeing as my dress does not actually fit me properly.

To be quite honest, I know that they offer 'free alterations' and they have offered to replace my zip IF 'I think it is faulty', but this is going to cost me in postage.
A £66 pound dress is going to end up costing me over £70, and I know that I will still not properly be happy with it, as the material is my main concern.

I am so upset at the moment, because I have nothing to wear now. I cannot really afford to go out and buy a new dress, which is probably going to cost me over £100 (and that's without any additions such as jewellery, shoes etc.)
This is also the last thing I really needed during my A Level exams. I feel totally helpless, I do not know what to do. In the email I got as a reply, I was made to feel as if it was MY fault, for not requesting a material sample. Sorry, but I did not look under the section of the website entitled 'Weddings' as I was not ordering my dress for a wedding!

I just really wanted to post this to prevent other people from making the same mistake as me. Maybe I was just unlucky, I don't know. Or maybe my expectations were too high? But for a site that boasts all that it does, I don't think my dress lives up to the website descriptions.

I'll be posting something a little more positive soon :).

xoxo

The Clothes Show,

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go to the Clothes Show Live! I won a pair of tickets from a competition with New Look for designing a print for a prom dress.

So I went along yesterday, it was the first time I'd ever been, and it was so good! The fashion show was the best part, and i tried to take as many pictures as I could but my camera was totally playing up. I couldn't get the flash to work right on any setting! It was so annoying. Roll on my birthday, hopefully *fingers crossed* i'll be getting a SLR for my 18th birthday.. hopefully!

But I managed to get a couple of good pictures!

I watched a couple of talks on the Style Stage which spoke about trends for A/W 09, i'd heard of a few of these before, and I will be doing blog posts on them soon so that you can be ahead of the rest, and hunt round the sales and charity shops to get the A/W trends before anyone else!

Lots of summer trends were covered too, and the clothes featured in these photos are from New Look, they're either in stock now, or will be in store throughout the summer.

I've just looked through my photos and those two are seriously the best - rubbish!! Argh, my camera is so annoying! I do really love that floral print dress though. But i'm a sucker for anything floral really. As you'll see next! This was my outfit for my last ever day at sixth form. I've been going totally crazy on florals recently. Yesterday at the clothes show I bought a ring with a pink rose on it, that i totally love! But i'll post about my recent purchases tomorrow :).

So heres my outfit;

(I've no idea why the photo has gone totally out of shape.. i cropped the edges off, and now it's stretched itself and looks really odd :/)

And my favourite earrings at the moment! They're little white roses that cost me £2! from Peacocks :) So i'm definitely feeling the floral fever atm!

I ordered my prom dress the over night too, so hopefully it'll be here soon! The site says within ten days.. we'll see! And i'll definitely do a post about it when it arrives, i can't wait to see what the material is like, and how good quality the dress is and whether it fits properly etc :) Ooh the excitement!

Oh, and I have to shout out to 'GirlOnAVine' who has named one of her beautiful Etsy creations after my blog :) I'm so greatful, and it's such a gorgeous piece, that has a real vintage feel to it;

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25691593

So, thankyou! And as always, thanks to all my followers and readers :).

xoxo

Style Icon; Karen O!

Karen Orzolek, lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.

I find her fashion sense simply amazing. She has such confidence in what she wears, and it seems she can pull of anything! Her outfits are designed by her friend Christian Joy.

I want to see if I can recreate a Karen O inspired look!

Blue leggings; New Look £8. Black Studded dress; Miss Selfridge £45;

I absolutely love that dress from Miss Selfridge, when I went to see Angry Vs The Bear the lead singer was also wearing that dress;

looks fab with leopard print tights too!

xoxo