LFW 09

Erdem Moralioglu. Loves I. The most EPIC empire line dresses I've seen so far. Those prints and embroideries make you go, oh daaaaannnnnng





Now, can someone tell me what were Rodarte and Dolce & Gabanna thinking?
- Sue

Recent outfits

I've been more active on Wardrobe Remix lately a) partly to motivate myself to dress pretty and b) mostly as a means of procrastination, 'cos I've got exams. I'm too sleepy/stressed to make a post with, like, words in it, so here's a bunch of recent outfits.

Black cardigan - Topshop; slinky taupe dress - Zara; grey tights - Tabio; oxfords - River Island

I really liked this outfit; I've been having a thing for pale neutrals recently. Sadly my wardrobe is dominated by black&white and strong reds/dark blues.

Enamel flower necklace - stall at the Curve; burgundy merino vest - Gap; black patent belt - Far East Plaza; mauve, burgundy and white print skirt - H&M; tights - Topshop; oxfords - River Island

I really liked the shape of this when I saw it in the mirror, but it doesn't look that nice photographed for some reason. I think it might be the shape of the vest -- it's quite rectangular, isn't it? I wore this with my black cardigan over it; maybe that made it look better (or maybe not).

It's actually quite good to take photos of your outfit, if you can be bothered. It allows you to see it as other people will, and it's surprising how different it looks from how it appears in the mirror sometimes.

Blue top worn as dress - G2000; black boyfriend cardigan - H&M; black bead necklace - somewhere in Malaysia; tights - H&M; blue knee socks - Tabio; brown leather knee boots - DUO

I pulled this top out of the closet with the idea of wearing it under my white dress (see below) -- as an experiment, you know -- put the top on, then realised it pretty much worked as a dress. As a short dress, but hey, I was planning to spend most of the day at home trying to work and getting distracted by things on the Internet, so why not?

I get such a kick out of finding new ways to wear old things .... That said, later that day I went to Sainsbury's to pick up some groceries, tripped over a pavement and scraped both my knees. So serve me right for trying to do without trousers. "Gondor has no pants ... Gondor needs no pants!" my foot.

Pink bead necklace - shop at Cineleisure; T-shirt with splash of pink and eldritch stick creature - Zara; belt - Far East Plaza; print skirt - H&M; navy blue tights - Topshop; oxfords - River Island

I bought this T-shirt to wear as a dress but when I tried it my courage failed and I lamely covered up with the long black cardigan featured in the previous outfit. But it is a very nice T-shirt!

I initially wore it as a normal sort of T-shirt, tucking it under the skirt, but that somehow did not look as nice as wearing it over the skirt did. So I went for the slightly weirder look.

Grey and white polka dot cardigan - Marks & Spencer; black bead necklace - somewhere in Malaysia; ivory belted shift dress - Dorothy Perkins; grey tights - Tabio; grey and white heels - Charles & Keith; watch - vintage from my dad

The shoes in this picture are a tiny lie; I wore flats really, and only put the heels on for the photograph. But I was wearing those heels in my soul.

Lilac dress - Zara; navy blue double-breasted blazer - charity shop; black patent belt - Far East Plaza; black tights - Topshop

The dress is new -- I wandered into a Zara right after an exam and picked it up for £7 as a treat to myself. It looks nice with the black belt and all, but really I want to wear it with mint green, dusty rose, the palest of primrose yellows ... but I have none of those colours in my wardrobe.

What I do have is one and half skeins of Rowan Milk Cotton in pale green sitting under my bed, though. Hmm!

- Zen

4/5 ways to rock a skirt

I do apologise for the lack of updates from myself. My final year is partly to be blamed for. If I were to let on that I busy myself 24/7 with the design of a complete refinery plant based in Kingston upon Hull, anyone would reject my credibility of having any sense of fashion. So I would spare you the horrendous details and let you on on something more extraordinary. Skirts.

Ever the versatile but sometimes overwhelming boring, I injected some fun by trying out different ways of wearing a vintage skirt I got from Notting Hill Gate. Of course, you have the normal and 'unoriginal' way of wearing skirts - on your hips.

The looks here are for more formal wear but the skirt can also be worn with a white tank with your Alexander McQueen skull scarf paired with your flip flops ala Olsen twins style. Don't forget the wayfrayers.

Then, I tried them on as a dress. It was slightly harder to so, as you can see from picture #1, the waist band is not elastic, but has a metal clasp to hold the skirt. I was surprised myself, but with a little tightening of the chest, all was well. In fact the tightness was good as that meant the 'skirt dress' would not fall off.Here, I had the ends of the skirt folded in to give a bubble dress look. A tad too simple for me but with accesories, I am sure it would work.

This, I like. I wanted to tie a rose knot but it ended up looking like A Knot =.= Oh wells. The asymmetry look made it edgier and unique.

Here, I have a belt cinched on my chest to give the 'skirt dress' more shape. And the resulting picture looks more to the side of sophistication. It's something I could defintely wear to a tea party, with pearls of course. (:

Who would have thought how much versatality a skirt would have? The right skirts can bring you from a business meeting to the club to lazy summer days to places where ladies lunch.

Unfortunately, I have yet to wear them out as of yet because the skirt is rather thin and looking at the snow last week, I will not brave the cold with that skirt. Plus, don't forget that final year design I have been working on. Time waits for no woman who wants to dress up when it's crunch time.

- Sue

On footwear

New shoes. :)

Aren't they beautiful? They make me exquisitely happy; I wear them with everything. I can honestly say I want no more from life in the matter of footwear -- not that if a pair of knee-high flat black leather boots on sale were to walk into my life, I would spurn it and walk away. But my new shoes have effectively stilled any sense of yearning.

And yet, it's as if buying them has tripped a switch in my brain and turned it back onto gazing obsessively at shoes. I don't really feel the need to buy them; it's just quite nice to speculate what one would do if one did.

And is it just me, or has the shoe section on the Oxfam online second-hand store improved remarkably? If I were not so very well-supplied in the feet region, I would be tempted to buy these:

Gino Ventori black ankle boots, £3.99

I like the buttons, and you've got to admit you can't get much better than £4.

Gant brown leather and suede boots, £65

And if these were my size, instead of being a vile unattainable 6.5, I would buy them right now despite their unOxfam-like price. I'm not 100% sure, but they look exactly like a gorgeous pair of boots a friend of mine owns, which I have been quietly coveting for the past term. The different textures! The shades of brown! The fact that they look a little like riding boots and a little like boots for the style-conscious spaceman!

There are the sensible, pretty Fly London Mary Jane wedges, which one does not perhaps have a passion for, but which one knows would be much worn and would go with everything.

Fly London wedges, £29.99

And an obligatory nod to the always wearable classy black patent heels, vintage --

Vintage Miss Holmes black patent heels, £9.99

or designer --

Salvatore Ferragamo black patent court shoes, £39.99

I've got to say, though, of all the shoes there? I'm most tempted by these hypnotically dreadful purple snakeskin loafers.

Peter Kaiser purple snakeskin effect shoes, £13.99

Yes, they are awful. But are they not also somehow transcendent? Think how well you would have to dress all the time to pull these off. They would add an interesting touch to these spring pastels the shops keep throwing at us, in defiance of the gloomy fact of the weather.

- Zen

Bohemian rhapsody

Excuse the ill-done flower. I ran out of yarn, or I would've made a better one.

- Zen

Adventures in fibre arts

CK told us Lemms off for never updating our blog. I'm sadly uninspired these days -- it is too cold to play dress-up! And the sales are quietly leaving the shops, alas. I did shake a couple of pairs of tights out of them today -- 2 for £4, thank you Topshop.

The lipstick theory of recession: lipstick sales go up in an economic downturn, because they're a small, relatively inexpensive luxury that brightens one's day in a time when the days need brightening. Tights perform this function for me. They're warm, practical, there's no harm in having lots, and if you get the right kind they can make an outfit.

But they are not very interesting to photograph when you have just got basic black and dark blue ones. So really this is not a post about tights, but a post on what I've made recently with the magic of CROCHET. (And some knitting.)



How I have longed for a cowl. And now I have one! With buttons! The yarn is a wool/alpaca blend; the buttons are from my mother's button box.

My cousin 'Lina scoffs at a cowl because she says you might as well make a scarf, and it is just laziness not to, but you see buttons would not look as well on a scarf. And they are quite versatile!

Cowl - made by meeee; cardigan - H&M; dress - Cicada; tights - Urban Outfitters; shoes - Vincci Accessories

You can wear them on your neck all crumpled, or not.

Cowl sweet cowl; white top - New Look; skirt worn as dress - my mother's; tights - Uniqlo; stockings worn over tights for warmth - Japan; shoes - Vincci Accessories

You can fold 'em and wear them. (Granted, this is not a very clear picture of it being worn folded. Also please to ignore the fact that I am wearing exactly the same colour scheme as in the previous picture. My obsession with black&white&dark blue is embarrassing.)


You can wear them as a hat and put a soft toy in the top! Er, probably you'd only do that if you were Sam. But you see, I told you they were versatile!

And then I knitted a scarf out of gorgeous hand-dyed Manos del Uruguay wool. I call this my indulgence scarf, because the yarn was such an indulgence.

I'm absurdly proud of the finished product. A couple of not-very-good photos of me wearing it:



It's a proper scarf -- no cowl this -- but I like to wind it round my neck and tuck the ends in so it looks like a cowl. The advantage of this is that it's super warm.


And the effect is not uncute!

Finally, I crocheted a hat for a friend who has yet to receive it, but fortunately she does not read this blog, so I can post the pictures without spoilering her. I made it according to a pattern for a slouchy beanie that I found on the magical Internet machine, modifying the pattern to make the hat more slouchy and adding a scalloped edge basically 'cos I could.



You can wear it slouchy. (Forgive terrible morning hair; I'd just got up.)


Or you can turn up the bottom and wear it so your head looks like a grape!

That's all for now, folks. The next hill I gotta climb: fingerless gloves!

- Zen