Daym those Dungarees!

A developing fashion trend must certainly be true if even the Guardian is commenting on it.

Ah yes.. the dungarees are back. As seen on the catwalks for a/w 13, these denim delights are definitely back to play. And not simply in the sandpit, oh no! Spotted on the likes of Alexa Chung, the queen of kooky cool, it would seem that the dungaree drift is part of the #90sthrowback mania.

But come on now, this 90s reemergence is something I'm more than happy to embrace. Hells it means I can wear my beloved scrunchies without fear of being laughed at by those with a birthdate post 2001!

Myself and a sister form another mister in
dungarees being pumpkins. Naturally.
 Circa 1999.

Besides, as the evidence to the left implies, the dungarees were a clear wardrobe stable of mine back in my 90s fashion heyday.

This time round however, rather than purchase my denim overalls in BHS children's wear section, I think I may satisfy my 90s fashion cravings at Topshop. JW Anderson for Topshop to be precise.

Although more a pinafore dress than actual dungarees, I think that this little number will allow me to live out the dungaree dream without making it too obvious that I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Plus, I think it will make me feel a little less 'builder' and a tick more feminine.

Tschüssli!

Switzerland, it’s been a pleasure. I’ve survived. 7 months I’ve lived here now and considered myself very much an objective observer of the culture of cheese, cheese fondue and chocolate.

Things I won’t miss about Switzerland…

Fashion: what fashion?

The Prices (especially food): A single zucchini costs 4CHF. Enough said. Or 12.- CHF (about £9) for the equivalent of a tesco value chicken. I’d rather pay less for Findus lasagne and know I was getting horsemeat…

Shop opening times: Sundays are dead to the world. The Swiss officially go into hibernation. You have no food? Not even biscuits? Tough. Sunday is a day of rest. The same goes for aaaaall Bank Holidays / New Years Eve/ New Years Day / random ‘national feast days’ – you get the idea. For instance Zurich; one of the significant business cities on the globe. But Wednesday 1^st August 2012 (National Swiss Day) it is Dead. To. The. World.

Smileys: I’m somewhat of a grammatical snob. I very much associate smileys in texts with my 14-year-old self texting.. (‘wot u up 2?’ Cringe.) BUT I was emailing the Head of HR at a very prestigious publishing house in Zurich, negotiating a formal job interview… Imagine my absolute perplexity when an email contained “no problem :)” Smilies are absolutely 100% acceptable in Switzerland.

Things that I think are rather nice:

Actual ‘lunches’ at lunchtime: You’d be in the definite minority if you stay at your desk devouring your delights during lunch rather than head out to a restaurant. Lunchtime for the Swiss is a big deal. I must say I rather like the idea of actually sitting down for a meal with the colleagues rather than dropping bits of sandwich on my laptop.

Language aspect: Ah yes the Brits abroad… There still seems to be the assumption that everyone else should speak English. But in Switzerland I feel a fool being only able to speak 2 languages!

Noteworthy but bizarre Swiss Observations

Crossing the road: A big deal for me as I am a self professed ‘car hurler’ – over the years, when crossing the road, I have amassed the great skill of assessing the distance between a passing car and myself so that I can begin crossing when it hasn’t entirely passed. Swiss drivers simply do not comprehend this. They will perform a full emergency stop and let you cross. But wag their fingers at you… Thank you kindly but it’s fine! I’ve judged the space and speed between you and the car heading in the opposite direction and I’m more than happy to cross after you’ve passed me!

Shopping: There I am at the till, ready to collect my plastic bags that I will obviously then recycle as bin liners. But everyone else is whacking out their own ‘eco friendly’ tote bags! Of course this is also an option in the UK, but here I’m not offered a single plastic bag! So what happens if I need to do my food-shopping straight from work? Do I have to take my shopping bags to work?

Oscars 2k13

Sunday 24th February 2013:
*Jennifer Lawrence (aged 22 and a bit) won an Oscar for best actress and celebrated deep into the night. Wearing Dior.
*Lisa Neiss (aged 21 and a bit) watched a bit of TV and went to bed. Wearing spotty pyjamas.

At least Quavenzhane Wallis (aged 9 and a bit) didn't win. Go and play in the sandpit.

But no, I am no cynic.

The gowns were gorgeous and the dancing delightful. Charlize and Channing, I didn't know you had it in you! And Adele winning her little Oscar.. very much deserved! Oh and Jennifer Anniston in her Valentino. Valentino you god. Despite being the 85th ceremony, the 2013 Oscars were like every year.. fun to watch for the glitz, the glamour and the grandeur.

topshop.com

The beguiling fashion weeks: one of those happenings that the world watches with awe. At least I do. Or used to. There has been such a shift recently! Now the notorious fashion blogger sits alongside the powerful players… ‘frow’ A/W 12? “Bryan Boy” and Largerfeld side by side… Jealous, moi? (Perhaps a weeny little bit…) Fashion weeks are becoming accessible to the lay(wo)man. Even better than that? The lay(wo)man at home. Even in bed if (s)he so fancies.

In 2011 Burberry set the trend by sharing its looks via Twitter before the clothes even hit the runway! Then for the S/S 13 Diane von Furstenberg show, Sergey Brin (top dog at Google) was in the frow... Quoi? Somehow the line between expressing creativity and a marketing window at Fashion Week blurred a long time ago – Mercedez Benz Fashion Week, sponsored by Vodafone and sponsored a little bit more by MasterCard anyone?! Brin and DvF were wearing some terrifically techy ‘Glass by Google’ frames – glasses with a little camera and a monitor in the frame, just incase the world through your smartphone doesn’t look rosy enough. Some of the models were even sent down the runway in them (although DvF didn’t design them..). The footage from the cameras has been turned into a short film that myself and Joe Bloggs can watch from the comfort of our pyjama bottoms in bed. #streetstyle #bedstyle

But this season it’s trusty Topshop that’s going all dot com. (Anybody else remember when Topshop was in a league with New Look, Dorothy Perkins et al??) Their A/W 12 show is going to be projected across topshop.com, YouTube and Google+. Not only that, but supermodel supreme du jour Cara Delevingne (as well as model Jourdan Dunn) will be wearing HD micro-cameras fitted into their outfits, giving lucky me and Joe Bloggs a model’s-eye view of everything show related... right from the first step onto the runway, to the manic outfit change backstage. Now if those fashion horror stories are true, (think periods and no pants. EW) then I’m not particularly positive that I want to see that..!

 Justin Cook, Topshop’s chief marketing officer, (emphasis here on marketing officer…) has gushed that “consumers will...be able to buy the nail polish the models are wearing and click on the clothes to re-colour them and pre-order them. This has the potential for digital wildfire.” Digital wildfire it may well be Justin, but for me it also somewhat ruins fashion week. Shouldn’t the clothes be the central factor? Isn’t part of the appeal and the attraction of the shows that we as the lay observer DON’T have unlimited access? For me the shows are all about DvF’s impressive creations, or Jil Sander’s clean cut lines. I’m not too bothered about how many iPad Minis Cara can count on the frow and frankly I don’t wish to know whether the no pants backstage horror stories are true!

To be honest I’m not really sure where I’m going with this argument, but that’s ok... I don’t think fashion week quite knows where it’s heading either.

(Duh, I'm obviously still going to watch the whole thing... hashtagging away to my hearts desire with the rest of them!)

and Other Stories of late..

I think that it's time to get excited. 

Since I was about 14, H&M has been a trusty shop in which to venture should I need some form of clothing. England, Germany, UK, they all have it. With its cheap prices (and therefore, alas, slightly cheap quality) it's always has the basics and, like any other shop, invest a few $$ more, and you can come away with a pretty good purchase!

On the other hand, although still very much high street, Cos (H&M's other line), is somewhat more 'sophisticated' and 'of higher quality'. If I had a bigger budget, slash unlimited funds, I would like an express delivery of their entire S/S 13 Look Book please. Thanks.

But helloooo young friend.. there's a new member of the family on the scene! Obviously while I was still pottering around in my pyjamas and chewing bubble gum, Vogue, Elle et al have already casually raised the subject of the newbie fashion line: & Other Stories will be opening some shops this spring in various cities, including London (natch). Sadly not in my current base of Switzerland. But paha.. I'm moving from Switzerland back to London this spring.

Collections will be "diverse, ranging from masculine tailoring to feminine chic", and aimed to be "lasting wardrobe treasures within a wide price range", a statement from the firm read. The line will be  created by ateliers in Paris and Stockholm, with high quality at affordable prices as a focus. 

You're so scrunchaaaayyy

A fair while ago I blew my own trumpet and proclaimed that I was in fact very much ahead of the ‘arm candy’ fashion trend du moment. I am very pretentiously going to tootle on the same trumpet again..

About 2 years ago, in the summer of 2010, my dear friend @anna_bee20 and myself were enjoying a shopping spree. We waltzed into H&M and whilst paying, I fell into the intended consumer trap of H&M: strategically place some products at the till which the customer will innocently glance at while paying… and hopefully buy. Scrunchies. Simply thrown into a little box, for a mere £1.99 for two. I fell into the trap and purchased said scrunchies.

I’ve always been one to shove all of my hair ontop of my head as opposed to elegantly style it, therefore the scrunchies were a godsend for me. Obviously I did have to endure a wee bit of teasing… “ahaha you’re actually wearing a scrunchie?! Are you 5?”

Fast forward to the fashion weeks of S/S 13 and the catwalks are going wild for the scrunchie! Not only Ashish paraded them down their runway, but Vivienne Westwood even commissioned bespoke styles from MCS (My Crazy Scrunchie – Cara Delevingne and Suki Suki Waterhouse are fans). Elle, Cosmopolitan and Company magazines have all commented on them as have, of course, fashion bloggers en masse.

I cannot have been more ahead of the trend. Hells maybe Ashish’s designers even saw me rocking my scrunchies. Naturally I won’t mention the fact that my number one reason for buying those trend babies back in 2010 was to try and prevent further split ends and sheer laziness as opposed to fashion. 

Surfin' & Spendin'

One of my new year's resolutions has already gone out the window - to spend less time surfing, babe. Before you see me before you, all wind swept beach hair and hot bikini bod, I must disappoint you. I mean surfing the world wide web. 

I can easily waste hours reading blogs, online articles & features.. Having said that, if it weren't for this banal activity, I wouldn't have discovered gems such as the new British brand deetz. Their Lola top is YUM. A little pricey for my graduate self, it is made of silk though..!!

I may do a little overhaul of my 2013 resolutions. 

It's a clear thing

As I was indulging in a small spot of blog browsing the other day, I stumbled upon a post that, I’m not quite sure why, really got me thinking. May I present the see through Hermès Kelly bag – Plastic Edition 1996.

Obviously no way near as wonderfully manufactured and fetching as the real mccoy, I still thought that this was so funny!

But let me quickly introduce the ‘real’ Kelly bag.. Hermès launched it in 1935 as the Sac à dépêches, but it didn’t become famous until 1956, when Grace Kelly (then Princess of Monaco) used one to hide her pregnancy from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. It was promptly renamed ‘The Kelly’ in honour of Princess Grace. The bag comes in a variety of sizes, with prices starting at $7,000 and easily trumping $50,000! It takes a single craftsman about 18 hours to make a Kelly bag, which can be customized to the buyer’s specifications.

Now a Hermès Kelly (or a Birkin for that matter – one much closer to my heart) is one of those über fashion classics that I’ve always dreamt of having. You invest a sum of money in an amazing bag ONCE, that will accompany you for the rest of your life and will never date. (Any Hermès bag in any condition can be brought into their ateliers, where it will be restored to pristine condition free of charge!) Bliss. It’s one of those pieces where I’m a firm believer that either you invest the money in the real deal, or you buy a completely different bag.

Nevertheless this plastic number really tickled my fancy. I must admit I don’t know the actual price that it was sold for, but I definitely would consider a purchase! I simply think it’s super fun!

But... Let’s think about this more seriously. Who’s more stupid – the consumer (Me!) or the producer (Mr Hermès)? The consumer is 99.9% certainly paying a LOT of money for, yarrr, some plastic in an iconic shape. Namely, the producer is a genius. They’ve managed to convince us that this shape is SO iconic and SO desirable that we’re quite willing to ignore the fact that we’re not really getting the quality, but paying the quantity.

Or is the producer stupid? Surely they’re ripping themselves off? They’re downgrading from the finest quality leather (if the cow has so much as a bee sting, the leather isn’t used) to, yarrr,, some plastic. It’s allowing the likes of Emma from next door to own a Kelly. Then again this is probably amazing publicity for a bag? Emma owning the budget bag, an ideal indication that the bona fide bag is for the beguiling and beautiful bag lady. I’ve lost the plot.

However the bottom line remains - I’d love this bag and I think it’s great!

Why I like a good Christmas Jumper

Earlier I read this article on the Sabotage Times (a personal procrastination pleasure) - 'Christmas Jumpers Are For Wankers' and immediately felt I had to fight my ground. Firstly, and somewhat beside the point, 'Wankers' is a wee bit aggressive and derogatory kind sir! Personally my stance with journalism is that one shouldn't spew profanities (I enunciate them clearly, like a fucking lady).

However more to the point, I myself am the proud owner of a fine Christmas jumper, very much akin to this little number on the right, and I really am rather fond of it. Made of 100% wool, it is one of the few seasonal items in my wardrobe that will actually give me some warmth. Considering that in super snowy Switzerland the peak temperature today was -4 degrees celsius, I am very grateful for this. But on a less pragmatic note, I do rather like it. Like anything fashion, it's a little statement - this one seasonal.

Mr. George Springthorpe's grudge with these seasonal sweeties is the apparent 'where's your Christmas Spirit?' attitude towards the non-wearers. Well George, I'd like to take this moment to say that, like most of my fashion choices, I wear this jumper to please myself - whether for warmth, comfort or that innate inner 'tee hee, I'm wearing a Christmas jumper!' feeling to perk up a cold and gloomy December. I'm not inflicting any forced Christmas Spirit on you and I'm certainly no W****r thank you. Remember, I'm a fucking lady.

LBJ

I am currently silently weeping into my laptop at the fact that I'm not in London. If there's one thing I'd love to see, it's the Little Black Jacket exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. Lagerfeld and Roitfeld, you've worked wonders.

My arm party was about 7 years ago!!

Following on from my earlier fashion related post, I'd like to take this moment to congratulate myself. And my fashion savvy friends. The fashion craze de jour on fashion blogs covering all corners of the world wide web is, without a shadow of a doubtarm party. 

Let me explain: this is simply the fash-term of choice for stacking various bracelets and watches on your wrists, the more the merrier. Brownie points go to fashionistas with 'mixed textures' e.g. preferably a DIY bracelet made from biological twig (i.e. your back garden) and rope, coupled with a classic rose-gold plated Rolex Datejust II.


So here come my congratulations. My friends and I have been doing this / have done so for the best part of the last 7 years! I distinctly remember receiving my first Tiffany & Co. bracelet and my mother's subsequent horror when I promptly whacked  it onto my wrist and proudly displayed it next to the 2 year-old friendship bracelet handcrafted from bits of string!


Fashion bloggers 2k12..you're so Autumn / Winter 2004!

Del Rey ready to play

So today, for the first time, I saw the Lana del Rey for H&M Autumn/Winter '12 campaign photos.
Classic Lana: a bit bored, a bit retro.
I do like the peplum top though!

Living in a Daydream

Having recently read a great article that discussed all different forms of reality, it brought forward a little developing thought in my mind: what reality are we living in? Can we still actually distinguish between fact and fiction? This may sounds slightly odd and I know that Google haven’t actually yet launched their ‘augmented reality glasses’ but let me explain…

Take Facebook; the epitome of a ‘virtual’ Internet reality. Although the idea behind it is a personalized profile to communicate with ‘friends,’ this medium allows us to completely construct a (partially) fictional persona. Don’t lie, some of your photos will be edited (and those that aren’t, untagged!). I’m pretty sure that subconsciously we are fully aware that the comments we post on each others walls will be seen by at least 25 others besides the originally intended, and so the pressure to appear witty/effortless/interesting is on. You don’t agree? Come on, everyone knows if a comment really is only intended for the other person’s eyes it does so in the form of a private inbox…

 

Then there’s the very obvious and ever-present (constructed) reality show. Yes Big Brother was brainless, but at least what we saw was actually occurring in the Big Brother House! As much as I love the likes of Made in Chelsea I put money on the fact that although it’s marketed to us as ‘reality’ the scenes are about as real as my dream last night, in which I finally gave in to Ryan Goslings über persistent begging to go out with me. Shows like the X Factor are no doubt worse and are almost certainly more planned and scammed than anything else!

These shows then provide the opportunity for the rise of the notorious celebrity…in itself an immense facade of planned PR stunts. We think we know Lady Gaga? What’s her real name? And does she really like meat/Kermit dresses or does she know that by wearing them she’ll get press coverage? And you tell me that the delightful Kim Kardashian’s wedding wasn’t a publicity manoeuvre…a fictional fairytale.

Lastly, as much fun as it is to follow, fashion sometimes seems to be one big fictional visual. Most people by now know that pretty much all photographs that we’re presented with of models and celebrities are photoshopped. But what probably most people don’t know is that an H&M scandal was recently uncovered revealing their photo ‘models’ were in fact computer generated bodies with facial images attached. Very real. And let’s not even get started on cosmetic surgery…

In hindsight this article is probably very cynical and I sound like I’m generally very displeased with culture. Far from it! I love Made In Chelsea just as much as the girl next door (if not shamefully more), I think that the H&M models are super sexy and I obviously watch X Factor. (although only at uni. With a big group of people) All in all I just feel that it’s important that our impressionable and naïve juvenile generation with our unquenching thirst for knowledge and culture, remain aware of the broader picture! Even if our access to reality is based on fiction as Deborah Kests says, as long as we’re aware of that it’s all chilled!

The only fashion advice you'll ever need...

The other day I went to Sainsbury's across the road wearing my pyjamas. Now I know full well that in the wider world, socially this is just not ok. However, I'm in my last semester of university (yes, scary) and so I simply HAD to do it. Students can get away with wearing pretty much anything...'this old thing? Yeah, it was my Grandad's jumper..' and sometimes I do just love to spend the day in my pyjamas. Nonetheless, university has provided me (obviously amongst other things!) with me a few valuable dressing tips...

1) The sales are there because the shops want to get rid of their leftover stock. Face it, that leather corset with the edgy zip detail is there because it's gross and no-one wants it. Those £10 would be better spent on a cinema ticket/dinner out/ANYTHING else...

2) If you want comfort, embrace comfort. Just like when you're craving chocolate, surprise surprise, your body is telling you you need a pick-me-up, when you want comfy clothing, that is literally all that will suffice! Be it for a journey, a library session, a hang-over day or a mooch around town.

3) Leggings are only socially acceptable if you're a girl, are under 25, your derriere is covered and they're OPAQUE ie a THICK black material where we CANNOT see you under garments. 

4)You'll be drawn to particular clothing styles probably because you feel comfortable in them and they suit you, so embrace that! Buy things because you like them and they make you feel good not because Kate Moss looked good in it. Then again, K-dog obviously has the exact same fashion style and taste as me... 

5) If in doubt, wear black; it's smart, it's casual, it's smart-casual. Oh and it's slimming.