Halloween costume ideas

Hi guys,
With Halloween just a few days away, everyone is talking about what costumes they are going to be wearing. I love Halloween (we will be spending ours at the London Dungeons) and I love dressing up, but I hate unimaginative slut costumes: what exactly does a playboy bunny have to do with Halloween? My thoughts exactly! A costume party is the perfect opportunity to express yourself: do you really want people to think the inner you is a stripper, or worse still, that you have so little imagination you think its OK to dress as a witch? (again!)

So if you still haven't decided what you're going as and you need a costume quick, here are my picks of the best ones to be had:

Of course there was bound to be a Lady Gaga costume or two in the mix. And lets be honest, the Lady is pretty scary! This has all the aspects needed to be a great Halloween look! For around £40 you can buy the two official lady gaga outfits. But lets be honest, the quality is unlikely to be great, and for that money you could buy a dress you might actually wear again! Why not just invest in a couple of cans of coke to wrap in your hair, throw on a pair of fishnet tights with either a black dress or black leotard (depending on how daring you are!) and then add a black studded leather jacket. The one in the picture is from Topshop.

Corpse bride: I have weddings on the brain at the moment, and the corpse bride costume is a nice easy one to do! Tesco's had an amazing corpse bride costume on their website (it's now sold out online) However with a little time this is a costume that can look great on a budget: buy an old wedding dress or long white dress (the older the better!) from your local charity shop. Tear it and add either streaks of dirt or fake blood. White out your face with facepaints and your hair with talc and you're ready to go. Easy as that!
Speaking of my wedding (were we? again?) Alice in Wonderland characters make great costumes (especially if you team up with a group of friends) and are so popular they are no 2 on the list of 100 most popular homemade costumes. From Alice and the Queen of Hearts to the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit, these would be super-easy to buy, and easy to make too (especially the hatter and the rabbit) The Alice dress shown is available from etsy.

Other great ideas for fashion lovers include: Marie Antionette, a 1920's flapper girl, Anna Wintour, and my personal favourite: Karl Lagerfeld.

I can't wait for the start of the witching hour: i'm making jellies with spiders in, and am even attempting orange cake pops (I want to make them look like pumpkins!)How will you be spending your Halloween? What will you be dressing up as this Halloween?

Love, Tor xx

Chanel goes to the ballet

Karl Lagerfeld (Oh, Karl!) has designed special ballet costumes to mark the centenary of the legendary dance group Ballets Russes. English National Ballet's stars Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur will wear the exclusive creations for the performance at Sadler's Wells theatre in London.
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BBC cameras were at Chanel in Paris for the final fitting, where Karl Lagerfeld explained his design, and you can watch the rather interesting video above.
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I especially love that he doesn't seem that interested in the ballet and also his insistence that he wouldn't be doing this if the dancers were "only mediocre". It's everything you expect him to say!
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I enjoy the mix of fashion and ballet; both are full of drama and you could argue that a decent fashion show is like a ballet; you need the right movements, the right music, and to use both of these to connect to your audience. It seems the folks at Chanel agree, as this isn't their first ballet based experience of the past month; prima ballerina Elena Glurdjize performed for Karl Lagerfeld in the Chanel Couture Salon last month. Here you can enjoy her breathtakingly wonderful (and beautiful!) performance.

Enjoy!

Love Tor x

Who will sell you if you don't sell yourself?

Flicking through the street chic at the Chelsea flower show section of vogue.com, I came across 2 pictures that started a curious train of thought:

Daniella Issa Helayel says "I'm wearing Issa, a Philip Treacy hat, a Chanel bag and a clutch by Corto Moltedo."

Meanwhile, Julien Macdonald says "Today I'm wearing Dior Homme, American Apparel and Gucci."

Now, whilst I am aware that Macdonald doesn't design menswear, this got me thinking about what designers do wear. Is it OK that Issa is wearing Issa? Should/do we expect designers to wear their own collections or does it seem too self promotional and, well, naff?

Yup, i'm thinking about you, Donatella Versace!

I think this is a tricky area. Issa is wearing her own collection, but she isn't wearing it head to toe and the overall look is very chic. To me this is self promotion that works. Donatella on the other hand seems to wear Versace head to toe, day in and day out, and therefore we stop admiring the gowns/resort wear and see the clothes instead as a stereotypical extension of her persona.

Karl Lagerfeld always wears his own sunglasses, whilst Marc Jacobs is also famed for wearing his own collections. However MJ also drew the attention of the world press to the Commes de Garcons kilt for men by wearing it onto the stage at the fashion show showcasing his own collection back in 2008. I wonder what people found more shocking; that he was a chap wearing a skirt, or that he was drawing attention to another designers garment which seemed set to overshadow his own collection?

I am all for shameless self promotion (have you read about http://www.yourlondonstylist.co.uk/ yet, by the way?) but I also respect designers who wear other designers clothes; they must love fashion (or they wouldnt be in the business!) so it seems natural to me that they would want to wear beautiful things, as well as have variety in their wardrobes. However I think a designer would have to be very stupid (or too famous for it to matter perhaps!) not to wear their own clothes occassionally, simply for that priceless red carpet moment when someone asks what you're wearing, and you can say yourself. I bet Daniella Issa thought all her birthdays had come at once!

What says you Karl?

An interesting point well made!

Love, Tor xx

Tag, you're it!

Today is rather a lazy post i'm afraid: The lovely Kate of Make do Style tagged me to reveal the fourth picture in the fourth folder of my computer. As I am blogging on my work PC (in my own time though! Honest!) gorgeous pictures are a little thin on the ground here, and my fourth folder is actually a stack of pictures of civil engineering projects for work. The fourth picture is this one of the 3 gorges dam:

In case you're interested, The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei, China. According to the Chinese Government, the dam will provide electricity for its booming economy and help control flooding on the Yangtze River. When completed, the Three Gorges Dam will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. Isn't the stuff I write for my job great!?

However that doesn't leave me feeling at all satisfied. My daily fashion fix is yet to be sated. So instead I shall show you the fourth picture in my "personal" folder:

Meet Karl LagerFELT: a serious fashion icon in felt form. Which is how i've decided all fashion icons should now be displayed; I demand it! I stole him from Danny Daily's blog and hid him away in my personal folder because I loved him and because I thought it might be a fun thing to copy in my quest for perfect DIY. Speaking of which, i'm sure you'll all be disapointed to know that i'm yet to make anything sucessful on my sewing machine. But I really am working on it!

.With fingers crossed (and because I have the week off work next week) I promise that there will be some DIY to show and tell by next weekend.

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I hearby tag (because if you don't pass these things on you're damned forever, or so i'm told):

Danny Daily

KD of Style Child

Wendy Brandes

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Go forth, raid the folders of your computer, and share with us all!

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Lots of love,

Tor x

Don't worry, it will be all white!

Now, I know this is a comparison that only means something to me, but as soon as I saw the S/S09 collection by Chanel in Paris yesterday (not in person of course, alas I don't have a jet set lifestyle) I immediately thought about how the bf and I decided last weekend we are going to decorate the new bedroom.

Everything in shades of white, simple and elegant yet not at all plain. Fabulous lines, prints, and patterns to keep it interesting. And lace. I cannot wait to put my new lace canopy over my bed. Chanel have reflected this perfectly in their collection for S/S09, (they can only have been ispired by me!) so obviously I love it:

The collection had a 60's inspired feel; i'm thinking twiggy style ladies with assymetric haircuts wearing white mini skirts and white leather boots, crossed with the early sixties women (who wore replicas of their mothers couture, before the new teen uniform and sepatration was even invented) in neat jackets and matching skirts.

The dresses over the white trousers is the only touch i'm a little unsure about, but the headpieces are truly truly stunning. Half of me thought the collection was a little bit safe, targeted more at my mum than me, but all of me found something inspirational that I will apply to my look for SS09 (obviously not the white trousers on my thighs, but something) and isn't that what the catwalk shows are for?

Oh yeah, and netting the designers some moolah, but that doesn't really affect me!

Lots of love,

Tor