Floral

As it was Mother's Day today, we went out to see Life of Pi at the cinema. I have to say, after assuming I was never going to like it, I was actually seriously impressed by it. It's definitely one of those films you need to see at least once in your life.

Sorry for my incredible lack of photos today but the quality of them weren't great (no offence Mum!). If you've been following my blog for a while, you may recognise both the shirt and skirt from previous outfit posts (here and here). I've tried to post different items each time but I had to show this outfit since I just loved the contrast between the bright skirt and black and white shirt. I really like wearing this outfit. It makes me think of summer.

How has your weekend been?

Shirt - Topshop

skirt - Birmingham Clothes Show

Shoes - ebay

Giveaway!

Hi there! I have the pleasure of hosting a wonderful giveaway to all of you lovely readers. The sponsor is Firmoo, an online optical store. All the frames of Firmoo designer glasses come in the most popular and fashionable styles and each pair of F-designer glasses that cost $68 on Firmoo equals one pair of designer glasses priced over $300 at local stores in quality. So why not enter!

What can you win?:
1st prize: a pair of fashionable eyeglasses including shipping, any pair http://www.firmoo.com/all-products.html from both prescription and non-prescription are available. (Please note: Designer glasses and sunglasses are not available to choose.)

2nd prize: 5 readers will win a $30 E-Voucher each which could be used on designer glasses (found on this website: http://www.firmoo.com/designer-eyeglasses.html)

How to enter?:
1. Post a comment with the glasses which you would choose from the Firmoo site.
2. Follow the other instructions to access more entries



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Just a few outfits to inspire you...

Shirt - H&M, Skirt - Topshop, Necklace - gojane.com, Shoes - Pierre Hardy

Shirt - Marni, Shoes - Asos, Shorts - Topshop

Shirt - modaoperandi.com, Necklace - Kenneth Jay Lane, Skirt - J. Crew, shoes - Jil Sander

Shirt - Balmain, Skirt - Topshop, Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

You can follow me on Polyvore here

What have you all been up to recently?

Felicity Brown

This designer I've actually known about for a while (unusual, I know!). Her designs are so inspiring with the use of fabrics and structure. Part of my textiles coursework was to do a critical study response on one of her designs so I really do understand how hard it is to create these amazing dresses! The designer, herself, is based in London and is running the label with her brother. Have a look at the collections...

Autumn/Winter 10

The stunning photography in this collection really draws out the overall feeling and mood of these designs. I love the simplicity they have and the movement the fabric gives to the pieces. All of Felicity Brown's collections are quite small and she tends to only have around about 15 looks (sometimes less or more) for each season but I think this really makes each design incredibly well-made and amazing quality. 

Spring/Summer 11

Who could not love that texture? This was the collection from which I attempted to do a critical study - it's a lot harder than it looks!

 Autumn/Winter 11

Incredible collection. The actual discovery of this designer for me dates back to when I went to the Ballgown Exhibition at the V&A museum. The dress at the top right was one of the pieces there and it was incredible to see it in real-life. It really gives you the chance to see the amount of time and effort that goes into creating a dress like that.

Spring/Summer 12

A bit more toned down here but I love the the string-like pieces in these designs. I was reminded of this collection when I went to the Valentino exhibition. One of his main techniques was to use strings of fabrics, just like above, to create wonderful dresses. Perhaps Felicity Brown took inspiration from him, who knows?

Autumn/Winter 13

 I was rather disappointed to see this collection. The one thing that I loved about this designer was her unique take on the fabric that she used and the unusual structures she created. Although these designs are still great, compared to here previous designs I feel they are rather lacking. Sorry to end on a rather low note! Anyway, it's not just my opinion - what do you think of Felicity Brown's collections?

P.S. Giveaway coming soon!

Pink

I received this vintage dress from a family member and I decided to modify it a bit. It originally had no top button so I added this in (so lucky I had one the right colour at the time), and I also added the studs in. It's a very lightweight dress and I can definitely see myself wearing it a lot in the summer. The jacket thing (what should I call it?...vest?) was originally my Mum's. I used to wear it a lot but it shrunk in the wash and I'd completely forgotten I had it. It's definitely a great piece for sprucing up an outfit and the beading is so wonderful. I've been experimenting a bit with my photos lately and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do them - what do you think of this selection?

 dress - vintage

vest/jacket - vintage

shoes - New Look

What have you been wearing lately?

Velvet

I'm here with an outfit post as promised even if it does have very few photos (my younger brother took them as quickly as he possibly could!).I bought this dress last week for £16 from a vintage shop. I've been wanting a velvet dress for ages and I'm happy with the one I've finally chosen. The dress was originally very long so I cut it and I'm going to use the extra fabric to make a skirt (watch this space!). I am aware I've been wearing this necklace a lot in my outfit posts but it goes with so so much and I don't actually have many necklaces (this length at least). I kept this look quite simple but I think this works well, especially since the velvet fabric stands out so much. I never really thought about silver velvet (I was planning on the typical red or blue) but I love how this looks. It has a really cool effect to it too.

 dress - vintage

necklace - River Island

Shoes - Office (see here)

What I've been liking at the moment...

I was going to do an outfit post for you today but then I looked outside and decided against it. Next time I will trek outside even if there's wind and hail, I promise! I thought I'd show you some things that I've really been liking at the moment . Here are mine...

 (checkered crop top - Yayer, green crop top - Roksanda Illincic, shorts - River Island, belt - John Lewis, shoes - Topshop)

1. Crop tops

The chances are I'll only have about 3 days this summer to actually wear a crop top since the weather's so rubbish here in England. Who knows, maybe this summer will be hot and sunny - I'll report back in a few months time. I really love this trend though at the moment. I keep seeing crop tops on other people's blogs and it's given me loads of inspiration.

 (black top - Yayer, purple top - Topshop, Shoes - Topshop, necklace - Oscar de la Renta, skirt - Helmut Lang)
2. Off- the - shoulder tops and dresses
I don't know why but I really love this style. I guess it sort of makes an outfit a lot more elegant and can be mixed with something completely not elegant such as the boots above and look amazing.


(top - Givenchy, shoes - Jeffrey Campbell, skirt - Temperley London, belt - Oscar de la Renta)
3. Sheer fabrics
You can never fail with a plain sheer top. I'm pretty sure this trend will never go out of fashion due to it's wonderful versatility and ability to glamourise any outfit (if worn right that is!).



(dungarees - Boohoo, shirt - Todd Lynn, shoes - Jeffrey Campbell, bangle - Kate Spade)
4. Dungarees
Partially inspired by my friend's recent purchase of a very lovely pinafore dress. I really really want some dungarees now!

What items do you really like at the moment? What are you looking forward to wearing?