Sarenza shoes mega sale!

Hi guys,
There's no better way to fight the post-wedding/honeymoon blues than coming home to find a parcel full of lovely shoes. Which is exactly what I did yesterday afternoon! I ordered my Sarenza shoes before I left then promptly forgot all about it, making them a lovely surprise to come home to.

This month I managed to get not one but three pairs of shoes with my beloved Sarenza voucher: I took full advantage of their sale, which is still running on the site until the 24th August, so get in there quick! There are further mark downs on the sale section of the site, with up to 60% off on some lines.

Mustang cowboy boots (£24, reduced from £60)

I wore my short cowboy boots nearly every day last winter: they're the perfect casual, slouchy winter shoe. The problem is, I wore them so often that the soles wore down and now the hobnail punctures my foot whenever I put them on: ouch! These are the perfect replacement. They look almost black but they are actually denim blue, meaning they will look wonderful with black tights and black jeans, without blending into my outfit. And check out that discount: these boots were a serious steal!

Melissa by Vivienne Westwood pumps (£79.20, reduced from £99)

I have wanted a pair of the Vivienne Westwood Melissa pumps since the first time I saw them: I actually ordered a pair from another site, only to be emailed and told they were out of stock. Now I have them, I couldn't be more delighted. They feel amazing, they look beautiful and (bizarre but true) they smell great: like a mix of flowers, fruit, and teenage perfume! Worn with tights and little frocks these will be the perfect autumn pumps.

Sevilla clog sandals (£45, reduced from £50)

Yes, I know, another pair of clogs! I have become addicted to my clog sandals this summer: they're so comfy, they go with everything, and they can be dressed up or down: what's not to love? This black pair is very similar to my tan Moheda pair, but black goes with everything, meaning these will look great with summer dresses when I just want to grab a black bag and go (because heaven forbid my shoes don't match my bag - i'm just not that kind of girl!)

Love, Tor x

Vivienne Westwood designs Comic Relief tees!

Hi guys,
This morning I was up super-early to head to the TKMaxx store at Charing Cross. Why was I up so early, I hear you cry? Well to see the new Comic Relief Tshirts, which have been designed by Vivienne Westwood, of course! There's not a lot that will get me out of bed before 8am, but Vivienne Westwood and doing my bit for charity saw me in Central London earlier than I have ever been before. Luckily I was greeted with juice and fruit which had me perked up and ready to admire the tees in no time:

I might be biased because am a massive Blackadder fan (Like the big geeks we are, Mike and I have the box set and know half the episodes off by heart) but I think the designs are awesome. They look cool, eyecatching, wearable: with jeans and sandals one of these could because my lazy Sunday afternoon go-to.

Here are just a couple of the designs:



As well as the Vivienne Westwoods tees, TKMaxx are also selling Comic Relief bags and scarfs by Liberty. Look really closely and you'll see the noses in the print! I really loved these because, more so than the tees, you'll be able to use them long after red nose day:

So why not use your shopping powers for good, not evil? At least £5 from the sale of each £9.99 Tshirt goes to Comic Relief: that's a massive proportion in comparison to other charity ranges. And if you don't really give a damn about charity? Well, they're really lovely looking Tshirts, and less than a tenner for something designed by Vivienne Westwood is a steal!

Love, Tor xx

PS - I will be announcing the winner of the BrandAlley competition tonight - watch this space to see if it's you!

Fabfrocks reviews: Vivienne Westwood Naughty Alice perfume

Hi guys,

I mentioned a while ago that I wanted to buy a new fragrance for my wedding, so every time I smelt it i'd always be reminded of the big day: As soon as I saw "Naughty Alice" by Vivienne Westwood I knew I would have to buy it as my wedding perfume. It was love at first sight, closely followed by love at first sniff. The packaging is beautiful, it has massive Alice in Wonderland overtones, and and it smells wonderful. The scent settles on your skin and lasts all day.

Here's the blurb: "Naughty Alice transports you to a sensual dream world where anything is possible and your curiosities can be unleashed thanks to 'floriental' notes including black roses, carnal violets and ylang ylang." It's a really feminine fragrance, sweet and girly at first, but with a muskier base note that gives it an intensity that will last all day: I find fragrances that are too feminine and sweet wear off pretty quickly, but I can still smell this on my skin 5 hours on.

The 50ml bottle costs £50, but this gift set I bought (containing a 50ml bottle and 150ml body lotion) was £51.50: that means you got the body lotion that is selling for £26 for just £1.50 by buying the set. I always like to have the body lotion with a perfume, as it increases the intensity of the scent, and makes it last much longer too. Oh and the charm around the neck of the perfume bottle? It is a very cute Vivienne Westwood bracelet in a gorgeous, vibrant "Alicey" shade of blue. In my slightly biased opinion, this is a brilliant homage to the genius of Lewis Caroll!

It is going to take all the willpower I have to pop this in my big "stuff i'm saving for the wedding" box, and not put it on straight away, but I know it will be worth it in the end!

Love, Tor xx

100 days of Active Resistance

I had to write about this new project I was emailed about this afternoon, as it is brought to us by Vivienne Westwood, and she has never failed to make it into my top three list of favourite designers: as far as i'm concerned, she can do no wrong! If I could afford to, i'd wear her dresses (and jackets) every day.

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania + Lee are launching an online installation called ‘100 Days of Active Resistance’ on the 8th of September. They asking the public to participate by submitting an artwork or photograph that best represents Vivienne’s principle idea of Active Resistance and everyday one artwork will be featured on the website for the next 100 days, finishing with an exhibition displaying the best selection of artworks they've received.

Here's what Active Resistance is about from the main lady herself: “The principle idea of Active Resistance is that you get out of life what you put in and that real experience of the world involves thinking. It is not enough to follow world politics, see films and read the prize-winning best seller. This is superficial, you need to go deep in order to understand who you are, what the world is and how things could be better. This involves culture which can only be acquired by self-education: human beings should mirror the world.”

I have no talent for this kind of thing (the quality of the photography on this blog is testament to this!) but if you do, then take a photo, create an image, and use your creativity to show your active resistance! Visit www.ar100days.com from the 8th September to make a submission and get involved, and for more info, and to get some all-important ideas, visit www.activeresistance.co.uk now!

Love, Tor xxx

Image from FTape.com

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania: Paris, Spring 2010/11

I have a massive soft spot for Vivienne Westwood: her draping and penchant for a nipped in waist is a dream for a girl with a body like mine. Her Spring/Summer 2011 Anglomania collection, which was shown in Paris today, certainly didn't disappoint! As is my tradition, here is a montage - review to follow!

The punky double denim looks great and nods to the wild Westwood past. (insert a wild west-wood joke here!) The return of waspies as outerwear (surely the next step in the underwear as outerwear affair we're having) Oh my! I love the femininity of it, the curves it creates, the dramatic effect and contrast when teamed with the full skirts. Elbow length gloves, normally reserved for weddings and teenage proms, are given a dramatically more rock-chick edge.

I'm a massive gingham fan, and I couldn't be more delighted to see it back on the catwalk. The second paisley dress, complete with straw hat, is a modern version of the 80s: think Julia Roberts at the races in Pretty Woman!

The prints in this collection are fabulous and simultaneously very wearable. The colours are bold and bright and everything has a touch of country and western: denim, waist coats, and check out those peep-toe cowboy boots! I only with this collection could hit the shops tomorrow: it's almost worth breaking into the wedding fund for!

Love, Tor xx

The world went crazy for Vivienne Westwood

At the Vivienne Westwood show the crowds were so crazy that I couldn't get in to see the show, but the crowds were so vast and exciting and fashionable that I felt glad just to be standing outside for ten minutes. As always, all the celebrities turned up for the Westwood, including Alexa Chung, Peaches Geldof, and Gerri Helliwell (?)



The funniest moment I saw was when the lady above in the purple arrived. As you can see, the photographers went crazy and then half of them started shouting "Rihanna! Rihanna!" I turned to look, and even I could see it wasn't Rihanna; how embarrassing! They then started calling her Michelle and barking at her to turn left, right, over her shoulder: it must be so scary! I still don't know who it was! Any ideas?



Everyone walking past stopped to see what was going on, and all the arrivals stopped traffic: it was insane but I couldn't stop to watch any longer because I had more shows to get to. Reviews coming up!!
.
Love Tor xx

Liberty, Liberty: Liberated

You know the next best thing to a sale? Why, it's an online sale of course! Liberty is my favourite London department store. It is a eclectic mix of fashions and it has such an amazing atmosphere; whenever I have an hour to kill in central London it is the first place I think to go (after my beloved Topshop of course!) So imagine my delight on browsing their website this evening and finding their online sale? It's like all the fun of shopping in Liberty but without the commute and with the added bonus of being curled up on my sofa wearing my Pjs (pink ones with unicorns on if you're interested!!)

When released from my prison of poverty, I intend to shop... so that this time next month I find myself locked inside another prison of poverty! Ah well, three out of four wonderful weeks a month ain't bad! And if left alone in Liberty for an hour or two, I suspect I will be coming out with a massive credit card bill and one of these:

Vivienne Westwood red iris crepe full dress, £178.50 (was £255)
Red Batik Silk Satin T Dress, Peter Pilotto £311.50 was £445
Coral bow front dress, See by Chloe. £238, was £340

Grey Duchamp Silky Tea Dress, Acne £136.50 was £195

.

It's always dresses with me isn't it? I didn't even take the time to look at the seperates! I love the shape of the VW dress which would be really flattering on my figure, I can't get enough of the pattern on the Peter Pilotto dress despite it's awkward length. It's like waves crashing against a wall of asian spices. But the dress that sends my pulse racing (and which I will be running down to Liberty to try on tomorrow) is the beautiful dove grey Acne dress. The beautiful layering, the ruffle details and the cutout shoulder; perfect (sigh of delight!)

.

Dear lord, I love the summer sales!
.

Love, Tor

.
PS- Vivienne Westwood fans might be interested to note that it seemed there was a lot of the grand dames garments scattered throughout the sale. Probably worth a look!

Lest he forgets.....

Without sounding like a spokesperson for Hallmark, I thought i'd better mention that Valentines day is fast approaching. Now i'm not normally one for commercial holidays. And I know that Valentines day is the most meaningless and commercial holiday of them all. And I am aware that Valentine's day is mostly disapointing for us mere mortals, pocket filling for the companies that sell us our trinkets, and pretty miserable for anyone without a significant other. But I also think that any holiday that means my boyfriend will make me a homemade card (it's a longrunning tradition) and buy me a thoughtful gift, usually fashion related, is not a bad thing.

This year I am making Mr Man his valentines gift, and as it is a fine example of crafty fashion (fingers crossed) I will upload some photo's of it when it's finished. In the meantime, I've been thinking about what I would like to recieve this year from that ideal world where money grows on trees and everyone can have what they want. My top 5 vaguely romantic and meaningful lust-have items are:

Anatomica heart necklace from Paraphernalia, $20 (approx £10).

By far the most affordable item on my fanatasy list, I love this necklace. Becky introduced me to the amazing jewellery at Paraphernalia last week, and i've become slightly addicted to looking at it. The obvious heart association covers the valentine's angle of the gift, without being overly cutesy and obvious (ala the angled heart shaped necklaces everyone from the Bridget Jones generation coveted) Its a statement piece I would wear again and again (and again, actually!) Miu Miu floral carved sandals, £275

OK, so I know it's a bit of a push on the 'traditional Valentine's gift' front, but as people often gift flowers as tokens of love, and then main feature of these shoes is the floral detail, I figured it would be OK. Besides, its my list of imaginary gifts, and I will imaginarily wear them if I want to!

I have a minor (ok, major) addiction to tan leather: bags, belts, shoes, jackets- if you can name it I can own it in tan. I love these shoes because on the surface they seem so simple but the detail on them is so bold and intricate. These would make a perfect addition to my summer 'staple' wardrobe.

I don't normally wear delicate or fine jewellery, preferring to opt for its chunkier (and cheaper) relation. However, for Tiffanys, i'm prepared to make an exception:

There are many beautiful things on the Tiffany site. However, this is not one of them. I don't know what pleases me more: how delightfully tacky it looks, or how they've managed to make something so expensive look so cheap. This diamond and pink sapphire charm set in platinum would set you back £1,450. I am always attracted to the tackiest possible thing in every store I go into, but I didn't realise that the rule of tack also applied to jewellery that costs the equivilent of 3 months rent!

The next gift idea is perhaps my favourite. Teddybears are cute, and if you're a 15 year old girl, a romantic valentines day gift. My nickname to my family and friends is (I really don't know why) Bear. And Vivienne Westwood is, as i'm sure you've gathered by now as I mention her in almost every post, my favourite designer. What's not to love about Vivienne Westwood teddybear keyrings? And even better, they're on sale for £35 at her magic online store.

Anna Sui top, £156

This is by far the biggest leap from Valentine's romance to fashion, but for this top it's a leap worth making. This Anna Sui top is called a 'Kissing leaves bow top'. Including the word kissing makes it romantic enough for me. And besides, whats more romantic than being taken out for the day wearing this beautiful shirt teams with a pleated mini and brown opaque tights? Exactly.

My boyfriend claims to show a passing interest in mine and Becky's labours and read our little blog from time to time. (Despite his all-consuming lack of interest in anything remotely fashion, God bless him) Of course, our stats show that he hasn't visited the site since November: oh yes, we have eyes and ears everywhere! Despite myself, and knowing that this means I won't get any of the things on my finely constructed list, i'm really looking forward to Valentines this year. Because (and I can;t quite believe i'm saying this) Love is about more than awesome jewellery and gorgeous couture. Only 11 more days to go......

Lots of Valentines love and wishes of finest fashion gifts for you all (you deserve them),

Tor

I want Cloth and I want Culture: Now Now Now

Believe it or not, dear reader, as well as scruffy student and blogger extrordinaire I also have a day job or two. Sometimes this means editing 'How to' guides, and sometimes it means writing trashy celebrity gossip. But sometimes, just sometimes, I get to do something pretty cool. Monday night was one of those times.

Monday was the opening of the Cloth and Culture Now exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre Gallery (UEA, Norwich) and feeling particularly underdressed I toddled along, invite in hand, to write a review of the exhibition for the Educational Centres Association. (Day Job #2) Cloth & Culture NOW investigates the links between contemporary textile practice, strong traditional practice and overlapping global influences. In effect, it bridges the gap between fashion and art, with textiles becoming both beautiful and unwearable.

Now, for all my hidden online bravado, this 'exciting' night was actually a pretty scary one for me. You see, i'm not especially good at conversing with large groups of people I don't know (but don't tell anyone, this will do my potential career as a journalist no good at all!) And the thought of walking into a room full of highbrow artsy people, who all seemed to be arriving in groups, terrified me. In fact I had to stand outside texting fellow blogger Becky who gave me an uplifting pep talk (come on Tor, you can do it!) for a good 5 minutes before I could enter the building.


Once inside, I applied my stern "serious reporter" business face and hiding behind my press pack (which contained £25 worth of free book, thank you very much) I meandered around the groups of people, notebook in hand, scribbling nothing in particular to make myself feel vaguely purposeful.

I soon settled into the crowd though, smiling at everyone with a name badge (they must be important, right?) and chatting to anyone who broke off from the crowd: it's easier to talk to one or two people than 20! Once I had found my groove, I was lucky enough to drink 4 glasses of champagne, eat an entire table full of chip'n'dip, and interview one of the artists exhibiting at the show. Freddie Robins works with knitted textiles as her primary medium, and she kindly let me ask her about her textile influences, and, more crucially, what she was wearing, all for your reading pleasure!

My grainy camera work and the stark Sainsbury Centre lighting does Freddie no favours (Honest!)

Why do you work in the medium you work in? Why do you knit?

Well I studied knitted textiles at university. In the late 70s, knitting was very popular, it was a popular way of making fabrics. I was drawn to it because it was big and because my Godmother, who was like a second mother to me, worked amazingly with textiles. Other kids would get knitted sweaters that they hated but she would always create the most fashionable things for me.

Knitting has a bad reputation. Although 'young and trendy' people are beginning to see knitting as 'cool' again, most peoples perceptions aren't that way, and they still see knitting as an outdated old-fashioned skill. I saw an article in the Guardian which was talking about old age and brain cells dying, and the image they had chosen to illustrate this was someone knitting. To me this uncool low status attached to knitting just makes it ripe for subversion.



In the work you are displaying "The perfects" (Pictured below) why do some of the creations have faces and some not?

In fact, all of the perfects have faces, we just chose to display some of them face downwards rather than upwards. The focus of the work is their niformity: they are all exactly the same. Using a machine that can knit these 'people' in one piece meant there was no wastage.Using hand knitting i can replica the technique of the machine: modifying their faces until i'm happy with them and they are perfect.

Is the idea of avoiding waste, of therefore protecting the Environment something that is important in your work?Of course its something I consider personally and politically, but it's not something I explore in my work. It isn't important to what I do.

So what is important to your work?

I think my work is about conformity. It's about the constant persuit of perfection and the repetition of this. This probably has more to do with me than the work- because i'm a real perfectionist.



Finally, I like your sweater, where is it from?

My sweater and my trousers are both from an amazing boutique in Islington called Labour of Love. The clothes are all chosen by the owner Fran Forcolina, and each piece is individual.

Robin is wearing checked cropped trousers teamed with a knitted black sweater with white bow detail. She accessorises this with black and red stripey socks, a yellow over the body bag, and black ankle shoe boots. With her individual styling and bright red assymetric hair cut it occurs to me that if she ever gave up the knitting, perhaps she could give Vivienne Westwood a run for her money.

Ok, so its not 100% relevant, but I love this picture of Vivienne Westwood soo much I had to put it in!

Certainly, standing next to her I wish I'd worn something more exciting than my oldest jeans and oversized navy blue jacket. But still; for someone that was standing outside the building scared to even go in an hour before, I was pretty pleased with myself for interviewing the best artist exhibiting at the event: scruffy trousers or not! And i'm pleased to say that I am in the group of the enlightened that knows knitting was always cool....

......Handmade sweaters coming your way!

Love Tor x