last night i dreamt that somebody loved me

I've been meaning to post about this recent purchase for a while, but just never really had the chance/was busy/had other things to blog about! A some of you may know, Topshop have been celebrating 10 years of their NEWGEN scheme by collaborating with previous winners of the sponsorship on a range of tshirts! I was originally going to get either the Mary Katrantzou or Meadham Kirchhoff one, but to be honest I wasn't too keen on the colours or the print of Mary's shirt (dare I say it, a little boring?) and while I did quite like the Meadham Kirchhoff one, I tend to wear a lot of high waisted things so the main part of the design would be completely covered up!

In the end, I decided to go for the Erdem piece as it was slightly different to the other tshirts in shape, and it had a beautiful lace collar I just fell in love with! I love toile de jouy prints so much, and this one is in such a lovely cornflower blue. (Although one thing I will say is that the print on the back is significantly darker than on the front, I'm pretty sure they must be from different dye lots!)

My arms looks so awkward here but this is the only shot where you could (vaguely!) see the pattern on the top! Today I was actually wearing a different shirt, so came home & very quickly changed into this one so that I could post today, therefore the outfit is a little bit boring I'm afraid! However I do like the mix of blues and greens with the turquoise trousers & my trustworthy headscarf. I wanted to cover my hair up today because - as you may have noticed! - I have dyed my hair a deep purple colour & I'm still waiting the obligatory 48 hours to wash it, and as the hairdresser blow dried it straight it feels very limp & flat, not really my usual preferred Jewfro of choice! The hair is a little lot darker than I actually wanted, but hopefully this means it will take longer to fade out to that weird goldy colour I had before! I've decided I'm going to dye ti myself next time because it is so much cheaper so I've been googling and searching for every hair dye tutorial going!

I ordered the tshirt from the Topshop website & they also sent me a little newspaper about the NEWGEN scheme with photos of all the tshirt styled up. I quite liked the little lace gloves & the tutu put with the Erdem shirt, but I think I'll probably give the bra worn on the outside a miss! Also, the collar here is totally different to the one on the actual shirt!

Today I popped into Topshop (this is getting very Topshop-centric all of a sudden!) to spend a gift card i got for my birthday, and I bought some very pretty frilly ankle socks in aqua, cream and pale pink. I can't wait to wear them in the summer! I also bought some mascara as I  needed a new one, and I'm pretty excited to try it out! I like the Topshop lipsticks & nail varnishes so I'm hoping this will not disappoint. Ordinarily I wouldn't pay £10 for a mascara because I'm a massive cheapskate but as it was with a gift card I thought I might as well!

Top - Erdem for Topshop, Trousers - H&M, Headscarf - Vintage.

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There is still a little time left for you to enter my giveaway for a pretty knitted collar made by my own fair hands! It ends on Wednesday & I have tickets to see the RSC production of The Taming of the Shrew that night (ahhhh so excited!) so hopefully I will post the next day with who has won!

intergalactic disco

Don't forget there is still time for you to enter my giveaway, where you could win a pretty little knitted collar handmade by yours truly!

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This post is going to be a little bit different! I decided I'd like to do a little runway review of two of my favourite collections from London Fashion Week; Mary Katrantzou and Meadham Kirchhoff! These two also happen to be my favourite designers, and I actually sat on the edge of my seat to watch their shows live on the Topshop website! I apologise to those of you who are bored to death of LFW round-ups, but I had so many things to say on this collection I just had to write something! I promise it will be brief and not too full of hyperbole and ~fashun speak.

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Mary Katrantzou

These dresses to me were the absolute highlight of the show! When I saw the first one come down the catwalk, I actually gasped because it was so pretty! The layers of beautiful, floaty chiffon are like something from a dream, and perfectly compliment the pretty fairytale colours and the ethereal prints (like the unicorn on the dress on the right, my favourite piece from the collection!). To me, these dresses seem like something a futuristic Marie Antoinette would wear!

The subtle, slightly neutral shades look absolutely stunning on these romantic, flowing swing dresses, and I love the splashes of richer colours such as jade, amber and flamingo pink.

I love the use of simple graphic prints in this collection. Mary is known for her beautiful, elaborate and almost couture-worthy surface designs, but I think simplifying them has allowed for more experimentation with shape & an exaggerated silhouette. (There were more exaggerated, almost robotic shapes int he whole collection, it just so happens that I have chosen the softer shapes!) Some of the print details include spoons, coathangers and 2HB yellow pencils! I also like the fact that she has explored print using one stand-out colour, and using softer textures such as the knitted dress above.

I loved the sumptuous grass green colour of these dresses, and the lovely flash of pool water blue on the dress on the left. As for the other one, I think it's just a-maze-ing! Hahaha, sorry, I couldn't resist a little pun there!

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Meadham Kirchoff

Words can't express my love for Edward Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff's collections, they really are something else! Pretty disco lights were livening up the catwalk (which I believe was the same one as the Mary Katrantzou show, and it couldn't have looked more different!) and the models looked like they were having so much fun dancing to the disco tunes (including a wonderfully bizarre remix of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You!), swinging their fur stoles around and throwing glitter at the crowd! And who wouldn't be having fun wearing those clothes?

This collection has been described as clothing for an intergalactic disco, and Ben Kirchhoff said that their inspiration came from an exclusive club they wanted to go to, which doesn't actually exist. Personally, this collection reminds me so much of Helena Bonham Carter - especially the long dresses, fur stoles & coats! It's like something an incredibly glamourous bag lady would wear. The purple dress is almost like a nightie (more borrowing from their beloved slip wearing Courtney Love perhaps?), and the tinsel dress is like the Christmas decorations I always wanted to wear.

There are so many wearable pieces from this collection too, like these cute collared shirts and pleated mini skirts. I love that they are still keeping the pastel hues of their fantastical S/S collection, but also mixing it with darker, harsher black & gold tiger-esque stripes and eye-wateringly bright rainbow colours. They have also kept their heart shaped motifs from the previous collection, but given them an edge with a spaced out expression and bared teeth. (These motifs are also seen in a very 1990s, DIY iron on patch feel in some of their other pieces). The outfit on the right is probably my favourite from the collection, I can so see myself wearing that blouse and skirt combination!

The last few looks from the collection were very alien-like, and almost conceptual! The wigs and the full face make up was incredible, and I loved the Dr Seuss-esque tights! I also gasped and squealed when I saw this model wearing a bat necklace, as it reminded me so much of the one I made in October for the shop!

Meadham Kirchhoff's collections are always beautifully executed, and generally just so incredible! (I also wrote about how much I loved their Spring/Summer collection here)

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Hope you enjoyed this post, normal blogging will resume shortly!

and the world will live as one

hello sweethearts! two outfit posts in one month, i really am spoiling you! or getting increasingly vain.

sorry for what my arms are doing in all of these photos, i swear they just move by themselves!

i've actually had these trousers for a really long time (i think i possibly bought them last june?), but for some reason it's taken a really long time for me to post about them. i bought them in the dorothy perkins sale, and i actually ended up having to get them taken in as i had to get the size 10 as the 8 was sold out. i also discovered a really good, cheap alterations place at the same time!

i never really wear trousers, i probably only wear them once every three months or so - and even then only if i don't have any clean tights or leggings! i felt like i needed a light pair to wear on sunny days when i want to be a bit more relaxed, and these are perfect! the fabric falls in such a lovely way, and i think the cut is quite unusual.

the only thing is the fabric does stretch when you wear them so they get baggier and baggier throughout the day! for this reason they can look a little unflattering, but you can kind of get around that by wearing a belt with them. i've kind of improvised and used a lovely pastel striped scarf, i like the extra colour this brings as i always feel a little bit boring when i wear trousers!

i haven't worn my john & yoko shirt in ages! i bought it on a bit of a whim in matalan when i was in my kind of omg-must-buy-every-john-lennon-tshirt-ever-made stage, haha.

i also made the necklace i'm wearing, ages ago! it was when i was studying for my art gcse so i would have just turned sixteen (and i actually blogged about it way back when, oh god!). the little jigsaw piece is from a yoko ono art exhibition at the baltic in newcastle, an exhibition which i really loved and which really stayed with me (despite my kind of indifferent feelings towards yoko).

i haven't worn it in ages, but i always feel the need to wear it when i have this shirt on, mainly because of the yoko connection!

*little piece of trivia: i wore this tshirt & necklace combination when i visited john lennon & paul mccartney's childhood homes in liverpool. one of my favourite things that i have ever done.

trousers - dorothy perkins, tshirt - matalan, scarf (worn as belt) - gift, necklace - made by me.

also, how freaking yellow is my hair looking?! lisa simpson alert. i'm going to the hairdressers tomorrow to hopefully see if they can sort it out, i want to be lilac goddammit!

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please enter my little giveaway! i've only received a few entries, so go to this post if you'd like to win one of the pieces. just a thank you for reaching over 100 followers and to give a little something back (:

oh, wow. lovely lovely lovely. (giveaway)

hello lovelies! here is the giveaway i've decided to do to say thank you for reaching over 100 followers!

firstly, i'd just like to say thank you to all of you who do follow me, as much as this blog is just a place for me to collect my thoughts it really means a lot that people care about the things i write and the pictures i take. it's really lovely, and you are all lovely lovely lovely! (i've been watching skins series 1 & 2 back to back, a little obvious isn't it?)

i have been making some little knitted collars recently to put in my shop, and i thought one of these would be the perfect thing to give away! they are quite sweet, and i'm really pretty proud of them.

they are kind of marie antoinette/meadham kirchhoff inspired, and are basically a result of some experimenting i did for my last textiles project (which i will blog about soon!).

the collars are quite delicate and girly looking. they could add a lovely detail to a plain tshirt or a bit of quirkyness to a simple dress, or could even be worn just in place of a necklace.

the colours i have here are grey, lilac and a gorgeous peachy pink. i found these in a local wool shop, they are for making cute little baby clothes & therefore come in lots of lovely pastel shades. the wool is very soft and has a pretty ivory coloured silk line running through it. when i put these up in my shop i will probably do them in a few more colours, but for now you can choose between these three! (:

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okay, so. here are the giveaway ~rules (so to speak)!

- you must be a follower of this blog to enter

- if you would like to enter, please leave a comment on this post with your email address so that i can contact you if you win, and please also say which colour wool you would like your collar to be made from; pink, lilac or grey.

- you can have an extra entry if you tweet about the giveaway, or mention it in a blog post! remember to tweet me (@vintagedaarling) if you do, or leave a link in your comment.

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the giveaway will end on the 29th of february (because i love leap years) at 6pm (GMT). i will then pick a name out of a hat & contact the winner to ask for their address. good luck guys! (:

all that glitters

hello again! this is only a little post i'm afraid, i just thought i'd show you how i did my nails the other day! come people commented saying they liked the ladybird nails i did in my last post, so i thought you wouldn't mind seeing what else i've been doing with my nails lately (:

glitter! glitter is the best thing ever and i love it. thank you rookie for helping me rediscover my adoration for all things sparkly! (what did i tell you, i'm a closet drag queen)

model's own pink fizz, utopia and bluebelle.

utopia seems to be the blogger ~shade of the moment, and it is lovely! it looks quite pink in the photo (bad lighting, sorrry!), but it goes on a very pretty lilac grey - much like my hair at the moment actually! the glitters are beautiful, this is the first time i've worn the blue since buying it in october and it looks so nice over the lighter colour.

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i've spoken a bit before about doing a giveaway for reaching 100 followers (yay!), and i have finally thought of something! i will hopefully do a giveaway post some time this week, so look out for that! i hope you all like what i have decided to give away, goodbye for now (:

be my baby

a few photographs from the past couple of days!

eating pina colada macarons (made by my mum for my birthday, instead of a birthday cake!) & watching marie antoinette. i think this is just my favourite film ever, it's so beautiful! every time i watch it i just fall more and more in love. i can't wait to show you my marie antoinette-esque vintage dress! it's so pretty, it just needs a little bit of altering first.

i painted my nails like ladybirds! kind of, haha, they're a bit rubbish. this hand is not too bad, but my right hand is a disaster! i can't be the only one who can only do decent nail art on one hand, right? anyway, like i said i got a model's own nail art pen for my birthday so i thought i'd give it a try! it's actually really easy to use, and i love that there are two ways to use it.

my hair has faded to this really cool pale grey colour! it's still a faint lilac at my temples and roots, and in some lights it has a weird honey blonde tint. it's so hard to capture in photographs though! i love the colour so much, i can't believe it's taken me this long to dye my hair! i bought some old lady touch of silver shampoo so that it will hopefully stay grey a little longer!

presents from my friend alix! some really cute swallow & dove hairclips, a double swallow brooch and two lovely pastel coloured scarves! i love them, thank you alix if you're reading!

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just thought i'd do a little summary/snapshot of my week! i really like seeing other people's posts like this, so i thought i'd try one for myself (:

sequinned

the other night to celebrate my birthday, i went out to a burlesque-meets-broadway drag bar with a few friends for the evening show. it was so amazing, the acts were so good and there were so many numbers - including a little mermaid & rock horror number! i love drag queens so much, i just think they are so amazing. i love the whole over the top, glitzy look (surprise surprise!). in fact, if i had been born a man i would love to be a drag queen! seriously. it's scary how many things in my wardrobe would be perfectly at home on a drag queen's shoulders.

anyway, this is what i wore for the show. as you can see, i kind of adapted my outfit to suit the drag bar aesthetic! hence the sequinned jacket. and the dame edna everage hair (which has already faded loads, waah!) i really love themed outfits! they just make me happy, haha. lame, i know. but then, isn't that what clothing is all about? fashion to me just isn't any fun if you can't have a bit of a laugh & enjoy yourself, instead of being too busy caring what other people think.

jacket - dorothy perkins, top - ebay, skirt/petticoat - charity shop, tights - topshop, shoes - peacocks (ribbon added by me)

this is kind of a blurry shot of the full outfit. i was a bit rushed for time & didn't really have enough patience to set up my tripod, but i wanted to get a picture with my shoes in (for once). also working a little bit of underwear-as-outerwear with this peachy pink petticoat.

and finally a shot of my feminist necklace! this is the biggest seller in my shop, and i am so pleased. i really love making these so it's lovely to know that other people appreciate them and the idea as much as i do.

utopia

hello guys! it's my 19th birthday today, waah i'm getting old. i opened some presents from my mum's side of the family & i thought i'd show you what i got! i didn't really ask for anything big, just bits & bobs which i kind of prefer because it's just nicer having lots of little things to coo over.

some paperchase stickers & a silly sausage dog pen from my mum. i love stickers so much, seriously they are just so cute & i don't think you can ever have enough. the dachshund pen is because mother & i love them, and the pen is hilarious.

i also got this little brogue necklace from my mum, which i asked for from jewellery by jaymie. it is so dinky & cute! beautifully drawn too, and the chain is a perfect length and so delicate.

my aunt, uncle & cousin bought me an eyelash curler and some model's own nail varnish in mystic mauve & utopia and the nail art pen in black. i love model's own nail varnish, i'm generally not that into ~brand names but i really love their polishes. they have so many different colours, and i adore the names!

here are my nails in mystic mauve! unfortunately just after taking this i ruined my manicure because i didn't wait a long enough time before washing my hair (which has faded loaaads by the way!) so i had to redo them! it's a gorgeous colour though, a lovely shimmery metallic purple with a slightly greeny blue sheen.

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i'm going out tonight with a few friends to a burlesque/drag bar which I CANNOT WAIT FOR! if i had been born a man, i think i would have to be a drag queen. seriously, i think they are so amazing. if i'm allowed to take photos i will do! also hopefully i will have a few more things to blog about over the next few weeks as i won't have that much textiles work to do.