Friday 7 December 2012

Rummaging through your Mother's old clothes again encase there's something you missed the first time

And I found this thick, long, white fluffy dream...

Perhaps this fur wrap is too fanciful and outrageous for everyday wear in the street but I feel like a Marilyn Monroe-type goddess when it's draped around me. These photos don't really do 'extravagent' any justice, especially with the Persil and the dog bowl stand, but take my word for it. This is the kind of mink shawl that fanciful ladies would wear with a long cigarette holder or to an elegant society ball about 50, 60, or 70 years ago. So, not quite a twentieth century accessory.  Ahh fluffy thing, I love you and I wish I was born 70 years ago.

Saturday 1 December 2012

This or That?

Does it seem to you  (and here I speak for London although this might also be true elsewhere), that fashion has diverged into two major scenes? I don't want to generalise but on one end of the spectrum we have the clean-cut city it-girl look. This means skinny jeans and trousers, leather jackets, designer T-shirts slightly tucked in, small-heeled pumps, black heeled boots, expensive looking arm candy and overall your clothes look expensive even if they're just H&M (something I particularly noticed with a friend of mine). To show you an example, @Songofstyle on Instagram:
 On the other end of the spectrum is grungy glam. I'm talking denim on denim, outrageous dressing up, thick gold chains, studs, animal prints and awesomely inventive jewellery. An example of this is donned by one of my favourite artists (potential girl crush alert!), Delilah:
If you're particularly interested in either, then here's a link to Aimee Song's blog (SongofStyle) and a quick SB.TV video on Delilah's fashion thoughts.

Maybe there isn't a divide in the world of fashion and maybe this is just a conflict of my own desires. I can never choose which look I'm going for 'cos I love both. Ultimately it seems that my style has developed from a mixture of the two, though I'm not quite sure if or how that works...
But there is definitely a spectrum. You just have to look at Tumblr or Instagram to see these two trends being drooled and gushed over. After that you can turn to the high street and compare Urban Outfitters (quirky and dramatic, left) to Cos (chic minimalism, right). Urban Outfitters currently have a collection called Oxblood, need I say more?
Please note that these are not my personal choices, I found these already made collages through google images and the Urban Outfitters Blog. These are only here to exemplify my idea but I don't think that these clothes are that great. I wouldn't say no to those buckled black boots though...

What do you think of this idea then? Am I right or is it just me? Do you know of any instagrammers or bloggers who particularly and beautifully represent these two different trends? 
To finish off this post, I want to mention the clothing line that inspired this topic. I found Black Milk Clothing on Instagram (told you, I'm iPhone obsessed) and I got a little bit excited. Black Milk Clothing is situated in Australia, sadly for me, but they will post stock overseas. They have some very wacky ideas which you would have to be very brave and daring to wear. They have leggings and body-con dresses in almost every print imaginable, but their suspenders and catsuits are especially unusual and brilliant:
From the Black Milk Clothing website. Maybe wear these if you're uberrr cool or on Halloween?
From Black Milk Clothing Instagram
So Black Milk clearly epitomises the grungy/swag kinda girl that I've been talking about. That's me for now, but soon I will write a post on the other trend; the decadent, fresh, city it-girl look which is so so different from Black Milk but which I'm lusting over.