Daily Wear: Va-va-voluminous layers for a day at the zoo!

Hi guys,
Well I think the title probably explains where I've been today: we took a family trip to the zoo! In typical British fashion, excuse me for a minute whilst I talk about the weather! Although it's sunny the day started really coldly, which goes some way to explaining all my layers: I decided it was the best way to keep warm in the zoo during the early morning, without having to carry a jacket or bulky cardigan around with me all day. All that volume doesn't make for the sleekest or most streamlined look but nonetheless, here's how I wore it:
 Although they're only from George at Asda these are my new favourite jeans: I love the dark indigo colour and they have enough stretch to be insanely comfortable whilst still holding their shape. On top I am wearing a chiffon embroidered blouse with a peplum from Zara, a cotton kimono jacket from Primark and my new favourite scarf from Topshop: it has an incredible insect pattern all over it.  Finally, these Georgia Rose metallic sandals from Sarenza have been on my feet nearly constantly this summer. They're stupidly comfortable, and their bronzy metallic shade goes with absolutely everything.

This is the perfect jacket for this transitional weather, as when the temperature heated up a little I just removed the kimono and the scarf, and they both folded neatly into my bag: Simple!

What have you been doing with your Saturday? And what are you wearing today? Any tips for transitioning smoothly from your summer to your autumn wardrobe? I'd love to hear them!

Love Tor x

Prada v Zara: Highstreet copy alert!

Hi guys,
Spot the trend?! As soon as I saw this display in Zara I immediately thought of Prada S/S11. So I took a snap, logged on to Style.com, and it looks like I was right! This is one serious highstreet homage!

Left is Zara, Bond Street. Right is Prada, SS11.

I'm never really offended by a good high street copy: I loved the S/S11 Prada collection and have had stripes on the brain for this season. Of course, I can't afford Prada, but I can afford Zara. If I could, believe me i'd be buying the real thing! But I think the point i'm making is that when the highstreet copies designers trends, it isn't losing the designer any revenue from poor folks like me! It's just making them lust after your brand all the more, and when the money comes in, they'll know where to turn!

As you're reading this, i'm in Norwich visiting our vicar. We're meeting all the other couples that are getting married this summer, discussing our musical options with the organist, and having the vicar approve our readings. As I write this, I have no idea which readings we'll choose: but i'm sure a three hour car drive talking about in nonstop will help us make our minds up. Lucky old Mike!

Love, Tor xx

What's in the window: Winter has gone!

Hi guys,
Well, winter has officially gone! Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and I am honouring it by wearing floral trousers and pumps: yes, my boots have gone back into my wardrobe, and hopefully that's where they'll stay! I know March is too early for flip flops, but I really can't wait until I can wear sandals again: I love feeling the breeze around my feet and the absolute comfort you get with sandals that I don't get with any other shoes.

I'm not the only one feeling summery. On my wanderings around town yesterday I didn't see a single shop that was still promoting its late winter finery: Spring was everywhere, and in full bloom:

Mulberry:

Reiss:

Zara:


Stella McCartney:


I love the Mulberry and Stella McCartney windows best, although this isn't the finest Stella window I have seen. I walk past both of them on a daily basis, and always slow down a fraction to admire the window displays (and the delicious clothes of course!) Working smack bang in the middle of hundreds of beautiful shop makes me want to spree, but I am very very restrained.

I'm going to try and make do with my summer clothes this year. I've bought some new holiday clothes during the sales in the winter, and I will be combining those with whatever else I have in my wardrobe that looks summery. I will be being innovative, and already have a couple of dresses I am going to alter to make more on trend: shopping spending is officially halted. But I still love looking in shop windows and indulging in a little virtual shopping to get an idea of the styles i'd like to recreate. And to create virtual shopping lists, of course!

Love, Tor xx

My Vogue's Fashion Night Out

Hi Guys,
It was Vogue's fashion night out last night, and shops all over London were holding events for the occasion. I met with Jenny from The Style PA, and we started from Oxford Circus and worked our way around the shops; it was quite a mission! We started on the high street (Oxford Street) before heading to Bond Street, where they really know how to throw a party!

Most of the high street stores were hosting instore events; Oasis were holding a night of a thousand prizes, Warehouse were giving customers the opportunity to style models and win the outfits they picked, and River Island (shown above) had make up stands, a photo booth, and nail bar.

Pull and Bear embraced social media in a popular window display in which two bloggers were pitched against each other to style an outfit on models in the window, whilst the public looked on. The crowd were then given X stickers to put on the window of the bloggers outfit that they preferred. Of all the shops of Oxford Street I think this drew the biggest crowd.


In a moment of real surreality, one minute we were wandering along eating the most delicious cake pops I had ever tasted (courtesy of the gorgeous girl in Next, above) the next moment Jedward were running passed us at quite a speed: they were so quick I could only photograph the backs of their head (and I felt like a sad teenage fan doing it!) I have no idea which event they were heading too. After this we heading to Selfridges where we drank mini bottles of Champagne, and had our photos taken in the Chanel photo booth. (Click the link to see the photos!)


Both high street and high end stores opted for "living mannequins" as their window displays, with both Zara and Daks choosing this for their entertainment (shown above). We also went to Burberry (where we lusted after several coats), McQueen (where we lusted after everything), and DKNY, where we reminisced about the terrible DKNY purchases of our youth, and drank the most delicious cocktails; however by this stage I was having too much fun to remember to take photos! It was a great night out, and i'm already looking forward to next year.

What did you guys do for Fashion Night Out? Do you have any fun stories to share?

Love, Tor xx

Scraping up the pennies in Zara!

Hey folks,

It's that time of the year again: the summer sales! And although i'm flat broke, i'm never one to turn down a bargain. So I hit the shops determined only to spend the money I had in my purse: a twenty pound note, one pound thirty six in change and, for some reason, an american dollar. With this princely sum I wanted a dress that I could wear again and again. When the sales start i usually go crazy buying "on trend" stuff that looks great for all of a month then dissapears into my wardrobe never to be seen again. Not this year: once, just once I will listen to the advice of my mother (who I hate to admit is never wrong) and buy something durable and versitile.

For no other reason than that it's the first shop you come to when you enter the mall, I started in Zara. Here are my favourite four dresses in the zara sale, each in store for less than £20:

Apologies for the white dress/green bra combo: I really should think things through! I liked this simple linen dress on the hanger but not really on me: I had to size up so it would fit around the bust but that left it loose everywhere else: particularly note the gaping under the arms: not a good look! But I think on someone less curvy this would make a really versitile practical summertime dress you could do so much with and wear again and again.

I loved this dress!! Love love love! The fit was fantastic, the tulip cut especially flattering, I even liked the little belt they cinched the waist in with (I never normally like the belts that come with dresses) The pattern isn't what my mum would call classic but i think it is subtle enough that you could accessorise it into next year. However if I bring home another strapless tulip cut dress that I rarely wear then I think my boyfriend would hurt me (or at least tut and shake his head in disapointment) And I did buy a less superior but nontheless similar checked strapless dress less than a month ago. This one goes back to the shelf for someone else to enjoy. Sigh!

Sorry to ruin the suprise/not build up the suspense, but this is the dress I bought. I was going to look round all the shops before I decided but it fit so well and it was the only one left in my size so I had it: black is always classic, the cut fit really nicely and the cut outs and embroidered oversized flowers around the necline stopped it from looking boring. hurray!!

What would my mum say?! Ok so its not simple or classic, but I loved the pattern and the casual oversized button up thing: kind of like I borrowed a beach cover up from my nan! It looked great but the cotton was too flimsy for me: I like to feel supported by some sturdy fabric: oh dear, maybe i am my nan!

Happy shopping,

Tor x

Christmas on a Budget: The Quest for a Perfect Dress - Part Two

Hey hey readership,

I think you'll agree by now that Tor, my blogging partner, is as cute as several buttons. Look at her face and hair - she makes Primark look appealing to me.
I am carrying on the Tor(nado)'s coverage of pretty pretty Christmas dresses, except today I'm visiting Zara, so that "Under £30" proviso has (ooh! there! there! in the sky!) flown right out of view. Nope, we're upping the budget to £100, even though my own personal fashion budget figures more generally around the "Under £6" mark. I'm not ashamed to say that thanks to the flimsy curtains at Cancer Research, everyone who frequents the Norwich branch has seen most of my pale naked flesh. The benevolent, elderly and poor have seen my nipples and this, readership is my gift to them.

I am expensif
Here are my 5 Picks from the Zara, Norwich store. These decisions were made 'on the hanger' and represent particular trends of which I am fond. I recall from reading an article in the Saturday Times a few months back that Zara is unique in that each store manager acts as a 'buyer,' ordering in designs from a vast selection, tailoring their picks to trends that are proving popular in their region. This is why the garments in Zara, Bluewater which I frequent when I'm visiting my mother is so much more 'high fashion' than the Norwich-y stock. There's a lot of money to be made around Essex-way and those girls know their designers. What I'm trying to put across is that the Norwich Zara is a little short on floaty and heavy on the tweedy. Just sayin.'

And with that:

#1Block colour - £39

I enjoy block colour. It makes me feel all Jonathan Saunders (A/W 07) and Mark Rothko (above, Untitled 1968). Unfortunately, this dress was also cut like a Rothko, that is to say straight up and down with no waist definition, no complimetary bosom display and hard 'n chunk in the hips.

I was a very angry caterpillar.

#2 - Pleat and Sparkle - £79

I love a fabric that can hold its shape. I am young woman with quite the curve and I need a garment that will compliment this arrangement. I find high street embellishment bling quite tacky and I usually avoid it like the sartorial plague that it is.

But look at that big pleat and my blushes. I'm so happy! Compare and contrast this dress and the despicable former:

Coo!


Ew!

Why it's like I have two different bums, so it is. Tailoring is a beautiful thing, friends. I love it when it when a garment has a fidelity with the body. Which brings me to.....

#3 - Body Con. £29

Yuh. This is from Zara's TRL section (y'know! for teens!) and this dress was deemed a Large. I am a Size 12-14 and a 34C and this was the extent I could clamber into this dress. And I'm not naive, readership. I know that most girls wearing skintight zip up dresses look more like this:

Christopher Kane S/S06

but I also know that skilled design means that a girl my size can look super fierce (can I pull off saying 'fierce'? I just don't know) in a bodycon outfit:

Christopher Kane for Topshop, February 2007

So shame on you Zara, super shame on you. Last I checked, teenager is not a synonym for 'no tits, no hips.' I just wanted a sexy dress in which to drink White Lighting in the park. Damn you.

#4 Chanel-lo! £79

Mmm, Lagerfeld-y. Can't argue with a monochrome chiffon gown that's 'inspired' by the ultimate in chic fashion brands. I felt awesome - floaty and malevolent.

To spare y'all the horror (the horror!) I have photoshopped out my nipples and photoshopped in a dark murky lighting scheme. It's well elegant, innit?

Me and my modelling partner are ready to sex it up, goth style. What say you, Karl?

Oh, Karl. I knew you would.

Love,
B.

Zara Hates Your Puffy Ankles

Hello friends,

Today I spent an exhausting 90 minutes in Zara trying on Christmas party dresses to display to you in an upcoming post. However, a more pressing matter quickly caught my attention - the anger and insanity that is their t-shirt range for pregnant women.

Now, I love Zara. Its half translated logo t-shirts with their long length and good quality cotton are a godsend for the style conscious nerd. They are also exceptionally generous in the gluteal area with their trouser tailoring and quick to rip-off the best Miu Miu and Balenciaga when it counts. All good things. However, it is clear that their maternity design team is a mad as a bucket of frogs.

The Many Moods of Pregnancy - (according to Zara)

1. Insecurity (re: erotic viability)


"I'm not fat !! I'm eating for two" Hey, me too Zara - and I ain't even with child. The desperation distilled within those two velvet exclamation marks is quite a thing to behold i'nit? I also enjoy the way the cotton mix clings to my own protuberances. You've gotta applaud their commitment to the verisimilitude of a woman's emotional state. They ain't pulling no punches. I know I've always said that pregnancy is no excuse to pile on any pounds at all. Those lactating LARDOS.

2. Pathetic Clinginess.


"STAY WITH ME" - Yup, it's clear that the impregnator in her life has noticed her horrendous physical deficiencies and has calmly decided to move on. Thank goodness Zara has produced a garment that does all your pathetic hormonal mewling for you! Eyes that have seen more sadness than any one person can bear are model's own.

3. Irrational grasping at chic femininity as typified by former single self.

"Kill for high heels" - I'm not sure if this is a nostalgic moment or an exhortation to all women unshackled by a bloating foetus to buy buy buy those Jimmy Choos whilst they still can and revel in the bunions of independence. Either way, it is as delightfully unhinged as any other in the range and I'm so very digging the Valerie Solanis fanzine style typeface.

4. Homicidal Food/Sexual Cravings.

"I'VE GOT A CRAVING (now!!!) - Yikes, right? Quite apart from the fact I don't think I've ever looked lovelier in a photograph, this t-shirt reunites with our old friend the crazed multiple exclamation mark. As if to underscore the horror (the horror!) of a pregnant lady in a state of need we've got a font that speaks of nothing less than Jack Nicolson at his crazytime typewriter in "The Shining"

Yeesh. And it was the crazy identical twins that were the fashion icons in that movie. Pre-chopping of course.























Am I right or am I right?

I'm right.

Love,
Becky.