blog + clog

customised dress - topshop, jewellery - vintage, clogs - moheda

my occasional/recurrent love of the cutesy has certainly found a home in these Moheda clogs, as gifted by shoe website Sarenza. Moheda has just one factory in a small village in southern Sweden, has produced shoes for five generations (n'aw) and specialises in wooden clogs such as these babies.

i love how much of the process of making these shoes is done by hand, and (as you can just about see in the picture below) the cute little swedish flag on the inside of the shoe only emphasies the home-made aspect further. and, with a little tucking and (botched) sewing of this white, prairie-style dress, i found the perfect summers day accompaniment to my new wooden friends. i like to think it evokes the better-side of roberto cavalli (obviously) but, for added cutesy- just add sock.

for a 'step-by-step' on the moheda clog-making process and much more, check out Sarenza's blog here.

ps. if you like this outfit (!) check back soon on how you can prove it is better than other bloggers' outfits through the power of the internet...ho ho

pps. two posts in one day, how is you wickkked cerazzy summer??!

(come inside from the sun and look at) TOPSHOP A/W 10

so, as far as i can tell from these images topshop have sent across, they have locked some models in a sparse, brightly-lit underground basement and forced them to wear the latest a/w 10 looks from the high street behemoth in order to showcase their 3 new collections hitting stores in the wintertime. but, their imprisonment is our gain after all - and the clothes seriously do not disappoint.

the three collections are as such: 'the outsiders' showcases 'twisted' british heritage pieces, 'dark nouveau' is medieval-meets-goth-meets-AWESOME, and 'out of the wild' is a sort of the tribe-style 'post-apocalyptic' mish mash of knits and animalistic touches (note this post, in which my fashion radar is clear on it).

what's more, things i am pleased to see include:

1. earmuffs, obvs. also, that my charity shop 'gap kids' sheepskin jacket will be far from redundant...but gilet and cape versions may require a purchase

2. chunky cable-knit socks!

3. fishnet tights and more on that hat later

4. BIG KNICKERS (i'm joking, what i really like about this one my friends is the dangerously placed, albeit super fierce, SPIKES. imagine the thrill of trying to work it without spiking your own body parts...)

5. sheer-osity still reigns, but with art-nouveau patterning and more ferocity

6. THOSE BOOTS

7. interesting and beautiful draping to make you love black lace again

8. flares with tunics. i like (whether on myself would remain to be seen)

9. comedy hats!

10. pleats, please

11. strictly come dancing diamante!

12. the continuance of the 'every day's a denim day!' mantra

13. i don't need to say one sweet ting. goth. aviation.

overall, this lookbook contains the sort of pieces that, perhaps when further stripped back, presents the sort of thought processes behind the very top designer collections. and yes, a lot of these things have been seen before from topshop's winter stock - but isn't a certain amount of repetition, combined with newer innovative touches, exactly what carves a brand identity?

its a lot to ask from a high-street chain, but not for topshop, who i predict will have taken over the world by A/W 2020. besides, from what i've seen from previews on other blogs, a/w on the british high street is looking good across a whole plethora of stores.

but for now, out of the basement and back to SUMMER2K........sorry. summer 2010.

pharWOAH

'Our new range is called DUST and it was inspired by David Bowie's alleged interest in Egyptology and Occultism...We wanted the range to look like it belonged to Egyptian royalty, excavated from a tomb, earthy but also quite luxurious.... So we've used raw crystal stones and motifs like hieroglyphics, eyes and snakes in the beaten metal pieces."

bambi aka. crush de jour

The geniuses that are the mania mania, on the nature of their next collection - which, if the hype surrounding their first collection is anything to go by (bambi+lighting+good styling) will certainly be a blogosphere as well as an increasingly-commercial hit. suffice to say, i love the idea of their Aleister Crowley meets 70s American Indian motifs moving into Ancient times with this next collection.

so, having considered all this, and possibly mused on practicing cleopatra style eye-make-up at a later date, off i popped to the charity shops. and this, without a second thought on the nature of the occult (wouldn't want to scare the locals, you know).

when what should i find but this cerazzzy pendant.

literally 5 minutes afterwards i find this treasure! which, whilst probably not as rugged/expensive-looking/precious as what the mania mania will come up with, is still properly cool.

so, my tale proves my mantra to you all - any fashion item ya want, no matter how cool or unachievable it may seem...will eventually turn up, albeit as a loveable second-rate version, in a seaside charity shop. your job is solely to excavate the gold from the dross. without getting cursed, like.

peace and love

so as the much hyped SUMMER2K10 truly begins, fashion coverage sort of dips into a mixture of sales announcements, earlier-than-ever autumn clothing anticipation and, inevitably, festival-wear.

bloomin' festival-wear. i'm going to a few music festivals this summer myself (reading again, and the always-fun offset) and i already feel submerged in a sea of handy festival tips and hunter wellies.

so, in search of something a little less predictable (i don't want to look like little boots leave me alone) i came across some photos from the original and the best: woodstock 1969.

flickr, life magazine.

haha, hark at me, 'the original and the best', like i was there or something. i guess what i'm trying to say is that, while nowadays we plan our festival outfits down a (ironic) tee , back in the day the nonchalant festival style we all try to emulate was just genuinely laid-back - as opposed to forcibly laid-back 'but i must also look kooky with specific face paints and multiple bracelets and £120 wellies and maybe also some casual feathers hanging from my shorts??' kind of "laid-back." i love the melting pot of styles to be found in vintage photos of the fest, such as the multiple hippy beads, americana napsacks, and of course jimi's fringed jackets.

the clothes were just the clothes they wore, and the clothes they didn't wear were just, well, the clothes they didn't wear (warning: nudity). what's more, it was a movement of freedom as opposed to trying to appear 'free', with your asos pendants and £5 cider in tow.

thats my two cents, anyway. i do love festivals, so here's to the summer (i'll drop the 2K10): we may not be the woodstock generation, but peace, love, and the inevitable grubbiness of the festival season can no doubt transcend the gap.

the row resort 2011

and no, i'm not talking about a butlins style holiday park run by the olsens i'm afraid (sorry, an admittedly misleading title).

instead, a typically understated offering for the resort season from the three year-old design label run by misses MK and A.

the collection is at once slouchy and sharp: with shiny mens loafers, silky draped trouser legs and, of course, circulation defying buttoned-up shirts. i particularly love the tailoring - with the splash of colour provided by the tweed blue suit being a stand-out of the collection (i love blue two-piece suits for women - just me?)

although, if the original purpose of the 'Resort' collection was something to make you want to play, then perhaps MKA have missed the mark. but, of course, the nature of the 'resort' collections are changing fast, and the Row is at the cusp of this change, along with Alexander Wang, 3.1 Philip Lim et al.

and, for me, the combination of the wednesday addams styling, greasy-haired (sorry, 'wet-look') model and general, well, dowdiness, does seem to have struck a note with my revision-ridden, greasy-haired, dowdily attired self.

oh, now i see why i like it so much. come thursday and no more exams, i'll be back to cutesy, flowery, summer fun no doubt...(!)

collage by me, images style.com - please credit.

'soz lol'

i'm sorry i haven't been able to post much. exams mean feudal russia not fashion is on my mind right now.

cos unfortunately for you guys, in exam time...

that's right! (always wanted an excuse to post a slogan tee of the self-affirming variety. oddly people who wear them are, at once, both such a pet peeve...and yet merit a strange admiration on my part).

so yes, 'soz lol', but back to business soon. with bountiful exciting and joyous things, as i usually roll that way.

ps. its from miss selfridge by the way, if you're into that sort of thing. (edit: what are you doing on this blog??)

'born to privilege'

Abbey-Lee Kershaw by Angelo Pennetta, Vogue Nippon, July.

i'm feeling some sort of parisian nouvelle-vague 60s girl...plonked in a 70s british sitcom. ya know, like 'to the manor born', or something. obviously what vogue nippon were going for. can i hear ya say 'BEIGE!'

a special edition of yay or nay

YAY? NAY? OR NEIGH?

hoho. so yeah, i was trying to figure out why this was so weird to me and then i remembered i wasn't fashion toast. word.

if you're feeling it, though, hoof on over to asos, by all means...

so, i was lookin' for something fresh, yo

so to mark a thoroughly rainy 1st june...just letting y'all know the picture that sums up summer inspiration for me right now and which, ergo, should also sum up yours.

yo! just makes you want to say duuuuude, doesn't it? i'm not sure if this model whose name i can't remember (oh, its frida gustavsson) was on a shoot or just chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool, or what...but her ghost print trousers (?), customised denim (?) and most of all her cap which must say 'COOL' (???) are the best fashion thing to hit my screen since, well, the last thing i posted about.

what's more, the look is just so FRESH PRINCE.

and everyone loves the fresh prince. i have found a new level of enjoyment in these promo shots, too. he just does so many things with his hands.

so, er, what do you think? perhaps i am being over-influenced by my recent liberation of the 80's super-woofer boombox from school (holla)

ps. oh guys, let me know if you think this blog has descended into farce, or anything...actually, yo, don't.