Seeing stars, Wearing spots...

Hello reader(s)!


Firstly an apology: our blog posting has been very lax of late. Whilst Becky has an excuse what with all of her course work and illness, I have nothing to validly excuse myself of my laziness. I am healthy(ish) and rather light on the uni work load at the mo. However, instead of immerging myself in fashion, my reading, and trying to dress generally fabulous, I've spent the past week languishing in bed watching Diagnosis Murder (which I love) and Loose Women (which I hate) and generally feeling lethargic and sorry for myself for no good reason at all. Which is very unlike me and I don't know where it came from!


On the bright side, I also discovered a most amazing TV show (OK, technically a kids TV show) which I have fallen slightly in love with. It's called Bear Behaving Badly, and is about a cute little blue bear called Nev and his friend Barney- Pure. Genius. Made me glad I get to be at home at 3.30 every afternoon.
Then to compound my misery the BBC stole it away and replaced it with Shaun the Sheep (Which I can confirm is truly rubbish!) Thank God for Youtube.

Anyway all this is pretty irrelevant actually, and it's time to snap out of all of the self induced sorrow and return to my usual daily routine. And that, dear friends, means reading, shopping, socialising (yes, its time to return to the pub!) and writing my daily fashion related love letters to you!

So, Becky and I went shopping this afternoon (it's the only thing to do when you've had days as rubbish as ours) and I know Fashion Editors have been writing about it for months, but today I had my first encounter with star print that left me genuinely excited.



I love the bold pattern and the cute puff sleeves of this long line top, and I just know the fit would be divine! £32 seems a little on the expensive side for something that's 100% viscose and therefore wouldn't wash too well, but hey, that's Topshop!


This got me to thinking about the whole star print concept: I always associate star print with young slightly miserably looking emo kids, or early teenage girls.

(All the pictures taken from ebay.)

See? It's not a look I want to 'rock!' (I think that's what these emo kids do with their clothes) But this season the high street have been doing their level best to change my mind. Because of course, all highstreet colelctions are designed with me in mind.
Star print tunic. £18. Asos.com


Star drop waist tunic. ASOS.com. £28.

Star print belted top. New Look. £25.

The cut and fit of all of these clothes i'm sure would be really lovely. But the use of the star print......Do I love it? Do I hate it? I just don't know!

Overall then, my feelings towards star print is confusing: far too confusing to invest in (although I haven't stopped thinking about that Topshop top since I got home) So instead of choosing a star smothered shopping trip treat (or two) I opted for polka dots instead.


Polka dot dress, Primark £10. Belt, Primark (I love primark) Tights, H&M. Bracelet, Beijing street market. Shoes, Oxfam. (And I am really really sorry for my bad camera quality!)



Ok, so it makes me look a little top heavy, but I love the fresh colours teamed with the cute frills and the ability to accessorise. And polka dots are like the grown up version of stars minus a couple of pointy triangles, right? Right!


Lots of love,

Tor xx

Sorry for oneself

Hello blogosphere,

Three days is a lifetime on the internet. I know that. Trouble is that I'm ill. I travelled from Norwich to my grandparent's house by train and during the latter leg of my journey some bastard bastarding yuppie chose to sat next to me with his off-the-peg suit, Daily Telegraph and generalised aura of evil. He then proceeded to cough his yuppy lurgy all over me without covering his mouth with the inevitable result: I'm a sick and snotty young woman.

Don't cry for me, for I have Lemsip. Still, it's a pain in the arse and with your permission I'll wait a few days before getting down to Topshop Adventures Part Deux. I want a clear head and a full grasp of basic grammar to properly do justice to the subject.

Bloody yuppies. I feel so yicky. At least Patrick Bateman had follow-through.

Love,
Becky.

Becky's Fashion Fieldtrip - Part I

Hello blogosphere,

Apologies for my long absence. I'm currently doing a Masters degree and apparently they require work or something. I don't know - it's certainly not the reason I signed up to artschool. You wouldn't have liked me anyway - I had dissertation hair.

At this present moment I am holed up in my grandparents' house in Ashford, Kent (home of L'Eurostar to Paris super-station-of-the-future and not much else). This would be by-the-by were it not for the fact that to get to Ashford from Norwich, you have to detour through London.

Oxford Street Topshop during London Fashion Week? Oh, I think I will.

I was especially keen to brave the sweaty scary flagship because the blogosphere has shown such interest in the Topshop diffusion ranges by Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab, Richard Nichol et al. I was determined to go in and actually physically try on their ranges - after all, http://www.topshop.com/ is all very well but it doesn't give you anything close the visceral pleasure (or not) of donning the gament. I took 46,000 pictures and all at horrible angles. These I present to you in the spirit of sartorial honesty.

NOTE: I am a Size 12-14 (that's a US 8-10) so all dresses are in that range. Additionally, though the online store is currently out of stock, the flagship is chock full of chiffony diffusion goodness, so don't worry about your particualr darling selling out. Everything'll be re-stocked online soon and don't let unscrupulous e-bay sellers tell you different.

Christopher Kane #1 (£120)

God, Christopher Kane, as if your A/W 08 collection wasn't aces enough, you have to go and make me look like a medieval sex wench of infinite power and leather-bodiced wisdom. I adored this dress for it's flattering cut at the waist, the acknowledgement that women have boobs and oh! sweet jesus-may! the swathes of material on the arms and hips. I felt so glorious that for a second I ready to star in one of those sexed-up historical novels. You know the ones you read secretly as a teenager? The ones with heroes called Thor and a bunch of cracks in the spine that designate the special passages?

"Take me, Thor," she husked

Christopher Kane #2 (£120)

Sarah Silverman's comedy, right, is ace. One of my favourite lines of hers goes something like: "I don't care if you think I'm racist, I just want you to think I'm thin." Same kind of deal here. You can judge me all you like for my stupid pouty model face (I swear to God, I can't control it - it moves over my features like a disease) I just want you to notice how slender this dress makes me appear. Again, I love the wench-y corsetry working against the denim of the bodice. The skirt is suitable whoosy and flowing and I adores the waistcoat detailing at the back. The Christopher Kane dresses both get an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the Wigmore. I wish I could have tried on the entire Kane range but there was no time - my sister was calling me up and getting pissy "When are you getting on the train? Are you still in Topshop?" and those changing rooms are so oppressively hot and the female hormones so palpably high that it felt like all the world like I was standing in post-menstral 'Nam. I wanted to acheive breadth, not so much depth so I moved on to the Jonathan Saunders collection.

Jonathan Saunders Dress (£75)

Now, initially this looks like a bosoms ahoy! dress and I am all for that kind of garment, especially ones with nice slim-cut arms. However, the jersey used is shockingly, indecently thin and the casual observer better be ready not only for my jelly but also eyefulls of undies and each individual buttock.

This dress is suitable only for the very skinny as it lovingly display every inch of excess flesh. It is also an ideal dress in which to show your public the exact nature of your arse crack. If you dare enlarge the picture below you'll be treated to the sight of my trmebling white heiney shining like a beacon through the fabric. Can you imagine what would show through in a flash photograph?

Sorry. Cripes. And sorry again. I decided not to try on any more Saunders dresses what with them being made of the same fabric and what with dignity being at a premium. I comfort myself that no at least the online shopper knows the nature of the beast and can proceed with caution. I really needed cheering up however, and so I looked to Peter Jensen, who's always good for a shot of whimsy.

Peter Jensen dress (£75)

It's amazing. Completely unflattering on my arse with all the ruffles but an absolute tonic to wear. I felt like a 1930s circus performer and I pranced and jiggled and had a lovely time. I thoroughly recommend wearing something unflattering if it makes you feel this good. Karl would disapprove but that Belgian's got issues with blubber up the yin-yang. Embrace it all, I say! Perform your juggling act! Jiggle away!

COMING NEXT POST:

Becky samples: Louise Goldin, Marios Schwab, Todd Lynn and Richard Nichols.

Prepare for neon and tailoring issues.

Love,

Becky.