Tsumori Chisato

I finally managed to get my hands on the latest issue of Indie Magazine last weekend while I was back home in sunny yorkshire. The feature at the back about breakups and heartbreak made me cry on the train back to Edinburgh, however there was something else in the issue that caused me to smile and smile - Tsumori Chisato.

The clothes are so cute! According to Indie, her inspiration is childrens' drawings which is what makes the prints so adorable. Looking through images of her Fall 2008 collection makes me want to be a fashion-dahling-astronaut, or at least buy myself a supercool-superhero cape and run around the cobbled streets of Edinburgh saving lives.

The aesthetics are simple but they are used to perfection. You can see in the shapes of the pieces how the children's drawing aspect has been encorporated, as the shapes do not accentuate the feminine figure but rather are big and flowing like children's clothing.


I can't imagine being able to wear these clothes without smiling, so it seems to me like this collection could be the perfect answer to the current recession - not to mention the deathly cold!

Leggings Love

Whatever I wear, I look like I have just walked out of the eighties. I have now given up on trying to change, as it appears that I am destined to have Molly Ringwald as my style icon. Only I'm shorter and far less ginger (plus I would NEVER ruin a dress as badly as she did in Pretty in Pink).

Now I am resigned to my fate, I feel I am allowed to covet every single pair of leggings I see. I only wish I had the legs to do them justice...

I love how the shoes merge with the leggings in this Viktor & Rolf outfit, and the crazy juxtaposition with the jewel-coloured purse.



Monochrome again at Givenchy gives a really bold statement, personally this outfit evokes images of tacky angel-wing tattoos and seedy biker bars, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Although I'm not too keen on the shoes, I like peep-toe but peep-toes in the plural is a little but too much.



Somehow these leggings remind me of tattoos....just a little bit anyway. I think they'd look really good teamed with something sweet and innocent and probably white. Hm, it seems black and white is my theme of the day without me even realising it.

I am currently experiencing a fashion melt-down. Having being bombarded by too many images of beautiful clothing I now have absolutely no idea which way is up and which is down.

My final lecture of the day finished at 4 o'clock so I have come home to my usual routine of facehunter, stylebubble, stilinberlin, style.com followed generally by a mish-mash of other websites of note (at the moment my new favourite is the cool hunter) which fills my daily quota of fashiony stuff. Today there was far too much for my brain to deal with and it has gone into overdrive. Do I want to blog about Susie Bubble's adorable outfit that was captured by facehunter (with added motorcycle, which I like to think is actually Susie's)? Or do I want to blog about how I agree with her post about Fendi? I saw the photos of the new collection on style.com last night and I totally fell in love, which is suprising since I am in no way a Fendi-fan.




Also, style.com today is very exciting and I feel somewhat compelled to tell you how in love I am with Gareth Pugh's new collection and how innovative I think it is to be mixing the medieval aspect of ruffs with some very futuristic outfits - even futuristic ruffs. The whole thing is slightly reminiscent of Victor&Rolf's violin ruffs, which I also adored...I am slightly tempted to go out and invest in some pretty neck-adornment. Still, my head also wants to share with you all my delight at seeing someone wearing my dream shoes on stilinberlin - I have wanted these Miu Miu wedges since the first time I saw them and I really don't care that they aren't 'this season' because they are quite simply beautiful.


So you see my predicament - what on earth should I be blogging about today?

Excuse me while I rant

I would like to rant, please. Just a short rant, nothing too major. The topic is very similar to another recent post - the one about wearing cur-ray-zee clothes out and about in everyday life.

Last night I went to a society social at my university. It isn't the most social of socials as most people stick to their cliques, but that isn't my rant. Not today anyway. What I would like to complain about right now is the fact that nobody seems to take fashion seriously. As a serious interest, I mean, like classical music or modern art.


I mentioned something about wanting a pair of sequinned black skinny jeans from Topshop and this elicited a laugh. I wasn't joking, obviously as these jeans are amazing. Then I said that I'd rather like a (fake) fur hat - like the Russian ones. Once again, people laughed. I would really like it if people could take my comments on what clothes I am currently lusting after seriously, because I don't laugh at them for their interests.


Sticking with this rant, I would also like to know why people prosume that if one is interested in fashion one must also be vapid, insubstancial and a little bit dim. I will admit that I can be somewhat superficial, but I also am a culture snob - I like to make sure I have read/seen/heard the things that are expected of a well-rounded and cultured person. Plus, I like University Challenge (although, granted, that is partly to laugh at the students with beards. Especially the women.)

I am well aware that not everyone can share my interest in fashion, and that some will be bemused by my passion for Paris Vogue or StyleBubble, but I don't think that it is necessary to belittle my interest/hobby (there must be a less trainspotter-esque word for it, sadly it eludes me at the current moment).


Rant over.

Take a Bow

You, my dear devoted reader, may recall my post about the delights of fascinators and simply headwear in general. I am now very happy to inform you that I appear to have pre-empted a new fashion trend. Note the very exciting hair decorations being worn by the models in Luella's Spring 2009 show, for example.


I mention Luella first because, and I do intend to boast here, just weeks before she unveiled the veils, so to speak, I invested in a UFO hairpiece and veiling. I like to think that this means that I am so cool that I am ahead of fashion, it is far more likely, however, that by pure chance my ecclectic taste has coincided with what is considered on trend. Either way I am very excited about wearing my new UFO out and about in Edinburgh.

This brings me to my question of the moment: is it possible to wear crazy headwear without looking like a prat? I ask this in all seriousness because here in Edinburgh a lot of folk do tend to be rather conservative about their atire (I use conservative with a small c but as many of the men do sport outfits somewhat similar to that of David Cameron I believe that a Conservative dress sense would be an equally apt description) When all around you are wearing bland, drab and "normal" clothing, putting something on your head and proclaiming it fashion would, on the whole, be considered mad, be it a watermelon or an oversized bow that you are balancing on your bonce.

Now, I am never one to be ashamed of my fashion, but neither do I appreciate the looks of "what on earth is that girl wearing?" so I have been trying to create low key outifts which can be given that extra punch by way of one of my headbands or scarves or the UFO. This sort of outfit is along the same sort of lines as wearing a prom dress for everyday atire - another feat which I am hoping to pull off this semester without looking totally OTT. I love fashion, but I have no wish to look like a fashion victim.


Perhaps one day I will go all out and dress Harajuku-esque...I do have a hair bow bought from that very Tokyo district...

Clash! Part 2

I am well aware that I have just minutes ago posted about a clashing collection, but still I feel that I need to tell you about another. This time the look is oriental rather than tribal but still the clashing aesthetique is prevalent. I'm talking about Basso & Brooke's Spring 2009 collection shown in London Fashion Week.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, loud colours appear to be imminently becoming in vogue, and this particular collection encompasses all the hues you may wish to don this coming season, the twist being that they all appear together in burst of crazy colour.

Many of the pieces in this collection do seem to be rather shapeless - the dresses especially - and accentuate the waiflike structure of the models. I don't think that this is a fashion than should be copied by those of us who eat enough to be visible from a sideways view. In terms of fashion as an art form, however, it does not detract from the beauty of the fabric and cut of each dress.


For some of the more extravagant outfits I feel that someone with a bit more flesh would give a bit more (for want of a less ridiculous term) va-va-voom to the overall look.

The items I am coveting most fervently from this collection are the belts. I can just imagine how they could bring a bland outfit up to being (once again I am failing to think of a non-ridiculous term to convey my feelings) super-wicked-brilliant. The quirky shape and mix of colours and shapes reminds me of the stereotypical image of modern art, which makes me want to wear the belt with an ironic red beret (and perhaps a curly, pensive moustache).


All in all I'd say that clashing couture is a style from the catwalks that definitely needs to be brought into my everyday live...all I have to do is channel some of the sophistication to prevent the colours from giving me a kids-television-presenter look.

Clash!

I used to be a big fan of clashing prints. I still do like to dabble in a bit of mix and match but I am more afraid of looking like an explosion in a paint factory than I was a couple of years ago. The Spring 2009 collection by Duro Olowu has the wow factor of clashing, yet at a closer look does not clash at all.


The patterns are loud, as are the colours, but instead of a crazy juxtaposition Duro Olowu manages to make the outfits look both co-ordinated and somewhat debonair.

Overall the look is more tribal than I tend to go for, but I feel that the pieces could easily be worn without being accompanied by clunky wooden jewellery and conversations about elephants and giraffes.


Although it may not always be evident by the way I dress, I am a big fan of simplicity. In this collection the fabric speaks for itself by way of the fantastic swirling patterns so the clothing does not have to be outrageous, but instead is subdued and sophisticated.