Top 5 Fashion Rules

Here are a list of my top 5 fashion rules, you have probably read similar advice before, but I feel that this is because often these rules are popular for a reason as they work.

1. Don't buy something just because it is this season's trend

Basically only buy something because you like it and it looks good on you, by all means dip and out of trends if they work for you, but don't be a slave to a fashion as you (and incidentally your credit card) probably regret later on.

2. Be brutally honest with yourself if clothes look good on you or not

Admittedly easier said than done, especially if you see an outfit in a magazine and develop an image in your head of how you will look in real life. Case in point, I had a vision in my mind that leather leggings were going to make me look like Sandy at the end of Grease, the reality of it was that they made my thighs look like elephant's legs wrapped in bin-liners. Sad times indeed.

3. It is better to buy one expensive, well cut piece than to clear out the stock in Primark for the same price.

Again, I have often failed regarding this rule. The smug joy of thinking 'Yes I have spent £50 in Primark and will have enough new clothes for the rest of term' has often over-ruled the thoughts on 'I could buy one top from All Saints and wear it every day for a term to justify the cost of it'. However, as I get older and wiser, I regret buying all of those Primark clothes, which often had terrible cuts on them, and fell apart after a couple of washes, and wish instead I had just been more sensible and bought one beautifully made thing instead. Also  my consumer conscience is slowly catching up with me, some how the 'economies of scale' argument of Primark doesn't seem to be true, bottom line someone somewhere must be getting ripped off if we can buy a top for £4.

4. Accessories are often more important than the clothes you wear.

Accessories are so important, but in my opinion vastly overlooked, and really undervalued by students. On a tight budget you can relatively cheaply update and transform an outfit to make it look like a new outfit each time, very useful if you are getting to the end of your student loan....

5. Shop around for designer bargains

Yes I hear you cry, it is all very well advising to buy expensive well made pieces which will last forever, but how can I do that on a student budget? Well in my opinion TkMaxx is your new best friend, especially with their 'Gold Label' section, with designer clothes with often up to 70% off. I love Tk Maxx in general though, as there is much less chance that you will see someone wearing clothes from there than say Topshop, and individuality I think is so important in fashion.

Harrods Christmas Windows Display

Harrods Christmas Windows -  Peter Pan Theme

http://golondon.about.com/od/londonchristmasphotos/ig/Christmas-Lights-2010/Harrods-Peter-Pan-window-1.htm

Went to Harrods the other day, felt I had to write about their beautiful and interesting window displays - this year is the theme of Peter Pan, celebrating 150 years of Peter Pan. Harrods inside, is as always a feast for the eyes and senses, especially the Christmas World, which I must admit I acted as always like a huge kid in, getting ridiculously excited about the wonderful Christmas decorations!

I also found this great shop near Harrods -  it is called Pandora, and sells designer 2nd hand clothes, most of them are in really good condition, especially the handbags, they also have several other similar shops selling  discounted designer goods on the same street as well.

http://www.pandoradressagency.com/index.php

Uni paper fashion shoot

Apologies for not posting anything new for absolutely ages..........very poor show on my part....

Basically I have been super busy with work etc, but anyway, here are some of the photos from a fashion shoot I took for the uni paper...

Vogue December 2010 Issue

It is 5.20pm and already pitch black outside, and all this the week the weather has been truly dire, I even made the foolish error of wearing ballet pumps the other day - I know it is my own fault, as they were from Primark, but really I think my feet would have had more protection if I'd wrapped my feet in towels. Utterly useless.

Anyway, one thing has managed to cheer me up this week, besides the hilarious, so bad it is almost good, 'The only way is Essex'...is the new issue of Vogue! Dare I say it has brightened up my day like the moon lights up the starry night....I realise this is a terrible, terrible metaphor, but I felt I should emphasise the 'Star' theme of this month's issue.

Besides all of the normal beautiful designer clothes etc they have in each issue, which usually only serves to depress me when I think 'ooh that is nice...I wonder how much....damn it is more than my student loan..for a year', they also have a special decade of supermodels photoshoot, basically showing all the big names, aka Moss and Schiffer, etc.

Interestingly they also decided to put Emma Watson on the front cover, and did a massive spread on her. Although I suppose HP is coming out this month, so perhaps not a huge coincidence. Is she really a super star, is she worthy of front cover status? This seems to be an issue which is causing great debate on the chat forums.

I suppose she is a bit of a super star, and whilst I feel sorry for her, having to have been in the media spotlight for the last 10 years, comments such as 'I was visiting Cambridge and I was on the bus and all these people were trying to get my autograph, and I suddenly thought, why am I even on the bus? I'm famous!', don't necessarily make me warm to her immediately. I have had to paraphrase that quote, as one of my house mates has pounced on my Vogue, and I haven't had a chance to get it back off them.

There is also a nice horoscope themed photo shoot, but I almost miss the grand Tim Walker photo shoots, they usually seem to have in the xmas issue. But apart from that, top form as always Vogue.

Heroes and Heroines Exhibition

Yesterday I went to Leeds City Museum and visited their 'Heroes and Heroines' Exhibition, which displayed several costumes from famous films, such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean', and 'The Duchess'. I can only imagine how tiny Keira Knightly must be in real life, judging from the size of her costume from 'The Duchess', she must be a size 4 or something ridiculous like that. There was a a slight pwahor! moment when I saw one of Orlando Bloom's costumes from 'The Pirates of the Caribbean', and also with one of Colin Firth's costumes from 'Pride and Prejudice', although sadly they did not have THAT white shirt from the lake scene, which would have been a source of great happiness if they had.

Other costumes from films and television series, included some from 'Evita', 'Miss Potter', 'Cranford' and 'Finding Neverland'.

I won't lie, it isn't exactly the biggest exhibition, so might not really be worth a visit if you live hours away, but definitely worth popping in to see if you live in or near Leeds, or are interested in fashion and films and is very cheap, only £1.50 for a student ticket and adult tickets about £2.50.

H&M and Lanvin...A new kind of fireworks....

My excitement for bonfire night may now be overshadowed by the fact that I had my first glimpse of the Lanvin collection for H&M. In fact the colours and the whole collection in general seems reminiscent of fireworks - so bright...exciting....and captivating. In other words I want it all now! I also coincedently now want/need a bigger student loan as well to make this dream possible...


Whilst in general the collection is exquisite, some pieces in my opinion do have a bit more of a POW factor....

Seriously that skirt looks much more expensive than £35! I think that can be easily justified - thats only about 2 good nights out, in my student mindsight, easily sacrificed I think on this occasion...

I have to say that I am very sad that the collection isn't coming to Leeds...so I guess I will just have to shop online for it or try and persaude my Dad to buy it for me when he is up in London for work...although not sure if he has recovered yet from when I forced him to go to H&M for the Jimmy Choo collaboration....

Roland Klein

Roland Klein

I was fortunate enough the other day to hear a talk by Roland Klein, arguably made all the more enjoyable by his divine French accent. It was fascinating to hear about his experiences working within French couture, during the 1950s, at Dior, and later how he worked as Karl Lagerfeld's assistant for about 5 years. Interestingly, apparently Mr Lagerfeld, is a very kind, generous and funny man, and nothing like his austere, 'Kaiser', persona that he seems to portray, especially through those big black sunglasses. Also he was telling us about how he studied at the same fashion college as Yves Saint Laurent, and apparently the teachers there didn't think that he was anything special, and couldn't see him going far. So the moral there is that teachers aren't always right....

I was also really impressed by the sheer volume of celebrities and famous models seen wearing his clothes in the images he showed us - such as Yasmin Le Bon and Naomi Campbell. He even showed us some of the original sketches for dress designs for Princess Diana, and I even recognised a few of the outfits!

All in all, a truly inspirational talk by a fascinating man.