Dorothy

Hey guys! I'm posting again in under a month, let the celebrations ensue!

I bought these shoes for £2.99 in a charity shop quite near where I live in Sheffield. They are so cute and glittery! I literally couldn't believe my luck when I saw that they were my size, for a couple of weeks before buying these I was looking for some plain red shoes to do a glittery DIY with, but now I don't have to.

(This is me tapping my feet together in a "There's no place like home!" manner)

I wore them with my green tights to channel the Wicked Witch of the East, and the schoolgirl socks (that I actually wore as knee high socks when I was five?!) to channel Dorothy herself. I really want to put together a whole Wizard of Oz inspired outfit, perhaps with a blue gingham dress and my Glinda necklace from this post (and almost every other post ever).

They don't seem like they've ever been worn, they are pretty unscuffed and new looking. I'm going to try an wear them in around the house to stretch them a bit as they are a little stiff and uncomfortable. Very Christmassy though, so I might wear them to trot around the house in a glamourous (and annoying) way.

Happy Christmas!

Candyfloss and sorrys.

Hello guys! It has been almost a month to the day since I last posted on here, and I am SORRY! I AM A TERRIBLE HUMAN PERSON WITH A BLOG. There is no real reason why I haven't, I have just been in a completely different, I don't know, mindset or something since being in Sheffield. But I'm back home now, and will be posting a lot more often!

I bought this skirt a few days before I left for Sheffield in September in Topshop, and I am so in love with it. It feels like wearing a skirt made from pillowy layers of marshmallow or candyfloss, so floaty and ethereal. I LOVE IT. Pastel feminist actualities of wearing pink fluffy things and biting people's heads off. Anyway, yeah, I just really love this skirt! Equally beautiful is the fact that it was £15 reduced from like £38.

The reasons I haven't been blogging that much (or at all, really) while I've been at Sheffield are quite hard to pinpoint. It's a completely different way of living, I cook for myself, take up a lot of time washing, cleaning and shopping for food, and then I have work on top of that so I don't have as much spare time as I used to. Also, it just hasn't really been at the forefront of my mind as I've been trying to, you know, be ~sociable~ and everything with my flatmates and other people. I really do like university, but it is an odd experience. It kind of tiptoes the line between real life, adolescent life and adult life. (If there can even be a line between three things? Whatever). I am taking my camera back with me when I go home in January, so that when I do want to post (and I will), I can. Sorry, must try harder!

Perfect skirt of perfect chiffon perfectness.

I kind of love how long my roots are, I think it's really funny. I'm hoping they make me look a bit like Madonna, or Marina & the Diamonds (she says hopefully). My hair has miraculously gone a white/platinum blonde colour instead of its usual yellow nightmare, which I love. Despite saying how much I love my roots and my hair right now, I'm getting it cut, bleached & dyed this week, so it's goodbye again to this hair for a while.

Blue frilly socks to sort of match the pink frilly skirt. My necklace had flowers on in these exact shades (as well as cream), but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them as I was in a bit of a hurry. I wore this outfit to meet up with my two best friends from home, which was lovely as we had a really great night. I hadn't seen them both in aeons, so it was brilliant to catch up again. It's wonderful to have people that you can fall right back into step with after such a long time.

Tshirt - VV Brown concert, skirt - Topshop, tights - Topshop, socks - Topshop, brogues - New Look, Necklace - gift.

Home

Hello! Today I was planning on doing an outfit post with some things I've bought since I've been in Sheffield, but the light faded quicker than I thought today so I will take those pictures tomorrow, and in the mean time I thought I could show you a little what my room looks like here! I feel strange calling it home, because it is but it isn't. When I went home last month I had the same kind of in between feeling, a weird stasis. Like I belonged but didn't belong. It took a while for my body to get used to being here, feeling the mattress fit to the contours of my body, waking up to see these walls. So, for now I won't call it a  home, but rather my base camp.

My bookshelf, with some books for the course (on the left), some favourites (Slaughterhouse Five, Middlesex, A Clockwork Orange) as well as ones I've bought here & others that I haven't read yet but thought would come in useful. I also have the clock my Granny sent me, as well as a disposable camera (which I am being extra careful with seeing as the last one I got developed came out so dreadfully) and my PG Tips Monkey, which remind me of home and in jokes.

Files, cookbooks (from which I have made soups, curries and other things), my hard drive, films to make me happy if I ever feel down (including Gregory's Girl which reminds me of my Dad) and a piggy bank which my Dad gave me several years ago.

Scarf corner. I also keep my hairbands here, and my stack of inspirational magazines. I bought the print version of Rookie, and I brought Pigeons & Peacocks as well as some issues of Oh Comely with me to flick through when I feel like I need something visual and beautiful to look through. Since being here, I have also bought my first ever copy of Lula magazine, which I'd been looking forward to buying for ages, but never seemed to find it or justify the cost. I am reading it a few pages at a time, rationing it.

Ikea boxes which I've had for years to keep my make up and jewellery in. Also some photos of friends and some favourite postcards from the National Portrait Gallery.

Heart shaped dish from a charity shop which I'm keeping my sunglasses in, as well as fake flowers from a charity shop, Marlena's Pastel Puke zine and some necklaces I made. I like to keep little pockets of creativity here, as I haven't really had much of a chance to do any work in my sketchbook since I've been here. I did life drawing the other week, which was amazing and it felt really good to hold a pencil again, in a capacity other than to annotate a book.

Bus tickets, clothing labels, tickets and wristbands from fresher's week & other things, photographs from home and a key ring of me and my friend Alix.

Strawberry Switchblade, Madonna and Kate Bush vinyl singles. I brought these here for the sole purpose of using them to decorate my room, and I really like having them here. My desk is for work, but it is nice to have a colourful and vibrant backdrop behind it, reminding me of other forms of creativity and of other things that I like. There are also two passport photographs of me at the side, in all honesty I'm not sure why I keep them here. Possibly narcissism as self care, but also because I find it fascinating to look at myself as I was then. These were taken a few days before I started college last year, and I find it so amazing but so odd at the same time to look back at myself then. In so many ways, I am the same person but completely different.

More photographs from home and flyers from some of the societies I've joined since being here. The only one I've been to regularly is the Burlesque Society, I've only been to Stitch Society once despite paying membership! I did life drawing with the Art Society but they normally clash with Burlesque, which is a shame. The Burly Q poster is for a burlesque variety performance in March, I went to the November one last weekend and it was wonderful. I'm also thinking of joining the Fashion Society, I met some of the members the other day when they caught me coming out of the library and took a picture of my outfit for their street style album, which was really cool! The photo is quite funny, I found it on Facebook and I have the most awkward arms ever.

A dachshund pen which my mum gave me for my last birthday, as well as a ridiculous vintage brooch she gave me when I was home. I don't know how well you can see it, but it is of two cats (that look like owls!) with googly eyes in a basket with two balls of wool. It is so awful and ugly, I love it. Beside it is my Burlesque Society membership card.

Two flyers for a vintage fair that's here in December, I went to the one in October and bought some things which I am yet to show you! I put this card beside it because I thought the colours matched perfectly; it's a textile piece made by one of my favourite local artists back home, Mandy Pattullo.

More photos from home, as well as my Feminist Killjoy banner and postcards from my mum and sister.

My shoes. I only really wear like three pairs of these, but I do have some new ones to show you soon!

And finally, my bedcovers and a cushion me & my mum made when I was about twelve. I hope you enjoyed this little mini tour of my world at university.

Vomit pink

Hello! I'm trying to get back into blogging again, and now I'm on reading week I have a little more time than usual to fit it in, which is good! I also have quite a few deadlines flying about, and lots of things to do, but here we are! I bought a jumper from H&M last week, and I thought I would show you my favourite outfit I've put it with so far;

(Sorry for the slightly poor image quality! My good camera, tripod & remote are all at home.)

This, strangely, is a very H&M-centric outfit, the jumper, skirt & blouse are all from there, although I did get the blouse in a charity shop!

The jumper is so cute! It's a pale pink with blue, green, yellow and darker pink glittery threads running through it, and it is the perfect accompaniment to my Glinda necklace!

H&M skirt, buttons changed by me.

My hair is such a funny colour now, I think the shampoo I washed it with yesterday washed some of the colour out & made it go a bit yellowy, which kind of sucks as I was hoping the purple would last until December. It does go very well with my pom pom headband though!

Embroidery DIY detail.

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1. I have joined the uni women's magazine, which sounds really amazing! I've had to send off a 500 word piece for them about "switching seasons" for fashion, and the entertainment team want a little paragraph about what my favourite song says about me. The fashion piece was a bit tricky as I basically just wear the same things all year round with slightly thicker tights on, but I think it went alright. The editor is so lovely & she seems to really like me, which is brilliant! She writes for a music magazine & I was talking to her about bands & happened to mention my favourite band (Slow Club) were from Sheffield, and she seemed really interested, I think we might even be doing a piece with them, and maybe AN INTERVIEW which would be so cool, except I'm not sure if I would be getting that, but fingers crossed! Woops, long sentence is long.

2. I'm hopefully going to be re-opening my shop in a couple of weeks for the Christmas trade, I will let you all know when that happens! I'm really looking forward to it as I miss my little trips to the Post Office.

3. I'm going to a vintage hair & make up tutorial session tomorrow with the Burlesque Society, which will hopefully be amazing! I'm really hoping to learn how to roll my fringe under (a la Betty bangs), I'm so excited! Two of my friends are coming up this weekend & we're going to a big burlesque show, which will be really cool! I might try & take some pictures (:

See you soon.

Sheffield hair diary

HELLO! I HAVE BEEN AWAY ALMOST A MONTH! SORRY! Also, sorry for the capitals, it has been a long time, I've almost forgotten how to do this! I really didn't want to be one of those people who goes off to university and never ever posts any more because they are FAR too busy living their FABULOUS NEW LIFE to blog, but um, I kind of have been. Sorry! It's not that I don't want to, but it's just a completely different way of life here and a completely different routine to fall into. I am having a lovely, wonderful, amazing time & I've met some really cool people. Sheffield is really cool, and my course is amazing. I was really tense for a few days because I really, really didn't want to not like it, but I do! Yaaaaay! I've had quite a bit of work to do, overwhelmingly so in some respects, so blogging topics are a little thin on the ground, BUT here is a little photo diary from Sheffield of how I've been wearing my hair recently! Terrible quality webcam selfies only I'm afraid (I left my big camera, remote & tripod at home for the first term)

Huge, amazing, pouffy (what I call) pin up hair. I love and miss this. It really made me feel like a classic blonde bombshell! Oh vanity, thy name is Charlotte. At this point, the pink was fading out and it was back to that weird, washed out blonde.

I am very proud of this! I put my hair into a victory roll on one side, and kind of twisted my fringe away to the side in a slightly different, more forties style than I usually do.

From more angles.

Aaaand a pretty big change! I went home last weekend & got my mum to dye my hair back to purple. I really loved the pink & I think it was my favourite colour that I've been, but it just fades so quickly & costwise I just can't really justify that right now. Anyway, this was the day after I was kind of ganged up on by two guys I hardly knew in an "feminists r manhaterz!1" argument thing, so I wanted to, I don't know. Sort of fight back against that in my own way. Basically dress like a feminist alien princess, so I could prove to myself that it doesn't really matter what people (boys!) like that say, because I know that I am right. And that's something that can't ever really be taken away. Yeah. So, bad bitch cat eyeliner, feminist violent violet hair, and my cross stitch feminist necklace.

(I also went to my first Women's Committee meeting that night, which was a bit mixed. It was a bit ~white feminismy~ which I can't really be bothered to get into now, but I wrote about it on my tumblr here. But everyone really liked my necklace, and I think they said they might want me to run a workshop making them! Then I went to burlesque class, which I LOVE and was the perfect feminist cherry on my day cake. That analogy doesn't really work, but let's go with it!

Also, another vain selfie commemorating my excellent headscarf/quiff/earring/entirely purple outfit game.

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I do have quite a few things to blog about (including some exciting new purchases!!1!), but I'm not sure how much time I will realistically have to devote to blog posts over the next few weeks as I have three consecutive assessments due, eek! I'm probably going to be on tumblr more than I will be on here, just because it's much easier and quicker to use blah laziness blah. Also, I just want to say thank you as I have noticed my follower count creep past the 200 mark, and I just want to say that is so cool! So, thank you.

Shrine

Before I left for Sheffield, I made a little Meadham Kirchhoff shrine in my room, which I have actually been very sad to leave. The whole thing is a collection of things that remind me of either their Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter collection, because those are the two I love the most. Here are a few pictures I took before I went away;

A fluffy pig pen, a tinsel bird pen and a rainbow headband I used to wear ALL THE TIME when I was about 15 until it snapped, I haven't been able to bring myself to throw it away ever since so I'm glad it finally has a purpose here. The googly eyes, tinsel and stars in the bird pen remind me of their A/W collection, while the pink fluffy cuteness is very obviously an homage to their S/S collection. The pig pen I bought while I was on holiday a few years ago, and the other one was a gift. 

Two bow hairslides and a skein of wool on top of my feather collar, which I have worn in this post. The gold sequin hairslide is from Asos, I actually have one in blue as well but I can't find it, and the pink is one I have had since I was about five I think. The wool is left over from some collars I made for my shop.

Butterfly brooch on top of a pastel pom pom. The blue, green and purple feathers in the foreground are from a box of craft supplies.

Clockwise from centre; milk character purse (gift from a friend), empty packet of Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop nail wraps, ball of pom pom wool my mum has had since I was little, dried up turquoise heart glitter nail varnish, bleached out candle (it used to be pink) given to me as a gift from someone I disliked who also disliked me.

Pink teddy bear trim around the base of the candle, and some more pastel wool. I bought these trims to stitch onto one of my plain cardigans, but then I decided I actually preferred it plain. Or chickened out, you decide.

Tea cup cupcake mould with feathers and yellow teddy bears around the base.

Vintage (pretty expensive) brooch and a plastic ring I had when I was a child.

Pom pom I made in school when I was six. It's actually kind of bizarre how exactly it matches the colour palette and textures of Meadham Kirchhoff's A/W collection.

Another pom pom I made with spare pieces of wool I had lying around. You can't really see it that well, but it's made with red, cream, pink, lilac, green and blue wool.

Marlena's Pastel Puke zine, which is kind of the centrepiece of my shrine and which I love so much I'm taking it with me to uni to pin on my wall.

Sequins and the ribbon from my feather collar.

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Don't tell me to smile.

On one of my recent outfit posts, someone left me a comment saying I should "smile more". Now, I'm sure, whoever you are, that you meant well and that you were probably just trying to be nice, you probably didn't even mean anything by it. But that comment made me feel quite uncomfortable, very uncomfortable in fact.
You see, I really, really do not like it when someone tells me what to do. Especially when that something involves my appearance, or directly relates to societal standard on how women in general "should" look. I was going over and over this comment in my mind while looking through Tumblr, and I came across this post, and it seemed to encapsulate exactly how I was feeling - and how I am still feeling now. Why is it that you want me to smile? To make sure I'm happy, or so that I look presentable to you? I shouldn't have to think about that, or even acknowledge it, when I am simply showing you the outfit I wore one day.
I don't choose my outfit pictures based on whether I'm smiling or not (I choose them based on how good the clothes look/how good the overall shot is), and I don't make a conscious effort to smile when I'm taking them. This is because I am perfectly content with how my face looks, with or without smiling. It has taken a while for me to get to this place, so you can understand how frustrating it is to have my face and the way I present myself undermined like this when I have come so far. From the age of 11 (when I first started middle school) up until I was about 16, possibly 17, I really cared what other people - more specifically, people my age - thought of me. So I sat quietly at the backs of classrooms, smiling meekly, and wearing the same things that everyone else was wearing. Because I was not comfortable or happy with being myself. But I am now. I discovered blogging, and people like Arabelle who were really cool and wore whatever they wanted and were completely, unashamedly confident and comfortable with themselves. And that was fucking amazing! Because I'd never experienced or seen anything like that before. I have learnt from them, and I too am now very happy and confident about the way I look and dress.
That is not to be said that I feel confident everyday, and with every outfit picture I take. Sometimes I don't feel comfortable looking at the camera or smiling, but that's my business and I'm dealing with it. On most days, I like the way I look so I'm not bothered if I'm smiling or not. I like my face, get over it. I am perfectly comfortable and happy and, let's face it, fucking proud of the way I look and the way I dress. I do not need anyone to tell me what I "should" be doing to look better or more attractive. Because I don't care about anyone else's opinions on the way I look, I only care about the way I feel about it. So, please. Do not tell me to smile. I don't need to smile in my outfit pictures because I am comfortable with the way my face looks when I'm not. If that makes you uncomfortable, then I'm sorry but I'm not sorry.

Reasons to be beautiful.

Way back in February, my sister sent me the Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop nail wraps. I didn't want to use them all at once because I thought it would be a bit of a waste, and instead of posting about the way I used each one individually I thought I would do a compilation post! I also tried to picture the nails with the outfits I was wearing when I painted them, or ones that matched the colours I chose. There are actually a lot with the same two dresses, woops! Guess that shows you how lazy my dressing actually is.

The very cute nail wrap packet.

Doll face. The one on the left is Collection 2000 in Button Moon, and the one on the right is Model's Own in Emerald City and Bluebelle. I actually did write a post specifically about the first one, which is here.

Kitten.

Left: NYC in i108A (good name!). Right: Model's Own in Pink Fizz. I wasn't really very good at applying this actually as wraps, so a lot of the time I just cut them out and used them as nail stickers.

Hearts.

Left: Collection 2000 in Button Moon - I used a lot of the same polishes a few times, mainly because I like the colours but also because I don't really have that many. Left: Rimmel in Misty Jade with (very bad!) eyes drawn on with a Model's Own nail art pen.

Teddy bears.

Left: I can't remember the name of this one, but it's by Collection 2000. Right: This is actual craft glitter, and it was the WORST. It was so annoying and scratchy and kept snagging on my tights. And it was an absolute bitch to remove.

Red horse.

Collection 2000 in Button Moon. There were two little horses, I put the other one on my right thumbnail.

Teddy.

Left: Free crappy polish from when I had my nails done when I was around 12. Right: Oil of Olay in Midnight Red. I couldn't be bothered to paint both hands for this one, so I got a few funny looks, but the check out lady in Boots said they were lovely.

Teddy face, the large cropped version of the one above and my second favourite.

Left: the same red polish. Right: Button Moon, Misty Jade, Midnight Red, the lilac one I can't remember the name of.

Vagina, also known as my favourite one! And my favourite nails by far. In my last post I said I was going to address the ~vagina question~, and I am going to now;

Basically, I keep seeing various bloggers* making (what I would call) a fuss over this particular nail wrap. Calling it disgusting; an unnecessary addition to this otherwise cutesy selection of images. Or just asking "why a vagina?!"

These are often the same people who I have seen fawn and rave over Meadham Kirchhoff's Spring/Summer '12 collection - the same one for which this image of a vagina was used as research and inspiration. Now, there's nothing wrong with fawning and raving, with just a cursory glance at my own blog you could see that I do plenty of that myself. But, I personally feel that you cannot love or be truly fanatical about the MK boys and the clothes they design without understanding their motives or reasons for making these clothes. Because it isn't just about pretty pastel clothes and exquisitely made garments. Sometimes, fashion is just pretty clothes - which is perfectly fine, and, of course, there is nothing wrong with that! But Meadham Kirchhoff always go much deeper. And in this case, deeper means clothing with a feminist edge. This collection is about all representations of classic female beauty. Sex symbols, beauty queens, dolls, The Virgin Mary, Hollywood glamour, little girls, etc etc. It is also about taking this apart and examining what beauty is, what it means to be beautiful - and who we are being beautiful for. All of that is encapsulated perfectly in this one image. A pretty, pastel vagina with a crown of natural, black hair. Feminine and also challenging societal ideals of femininity.

If you don't understand why they have chosen to use and celebrate this (frankly, quite beautiful) image of an unwaxed, unshaved vagina, then you don't understand the Riot or Diet slogans, or why they had this image by/of Arvida Bystrom on their wall while making this collection. Or the reason why they so often reference Hole and Courtney Love in their collections - and created an army of Courtneys for their catwalk show. It's that Riot Grrrl spirit; that powerful, feminist cry to be able to dress exactly how we want, without being defined by it. Meadham Kirchhoff girls can wear pink and be powerful, wear frills and be assertive, dress like a prom queen or a ballerina or a show girl and still be smart and tough and strong. It is about celebrating everything to do with being female and feminine, as well as confronting and deconstructing the impossibly high "ideal" female beauty standards in this society, and yes, sometimes that means hairy vaginas.

(Edit: Yeah, so it turns out all of those links I put in go to the same page, the Rookie editorial of their studio/show taken by Eleanor Hardwick. I can't link to the ones I meant individually, but the numbers are; 4, 3, 6, 4, 34, 29. It's quite easy to scroll along to the right ones, and there are nice explanations from Edward Meadham himself under most of them)

*This is in no way directed at anyone in particular, I'm just voicing my own personal opinions and frustrations. I am also not referring to all bloggers who talk about Meadham Kirchhoff.

Vaginas again! Button Moon & squiggles (wink wink) with the Model's Own pen. I find these hilarious.

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I am starting to pack and sort things out for uni, which is getting a bit manic! I have lots of kitchen things to wash, pre-registration & financey things to sort out before I go, and I have never seen all of my clothes together at the same time which is quite a daunting prospect. I have two, potentially three, ideas for posts which I will write and queue over the next few weeks or so, I think I'll be a bit too busy/lacking in inspiration to do any for the first month while I'm down there. After that, I'm not really sure what my posting frequency will be, so apologies if it's a little sparse over here for a few weeks!