Rookie.

So, as I mentioned on here a few times, when I was on holiday in London with my friends I went to the London meet-up for Rookie readers! It was such a beautiful, amazing experience and I had a really weird epiphany about how cool it is to find people in real life who care about the same things you care about.

(I had been waiting to post about the meet-up until I got my photos developed, but they all came out terribly so I have used other people's photographs. I will credit them of course, but I can't remember where I got them all from so if there is credit missing and you know who took the picture, please let me know!)

Lilly

Us pausing on the way to the Serpentine Gallery, mainly to decide which direction it was in and to check we hadn't lost anyone. I look a little bit spaced out (and also strangely authoritative?) here, but that's nothing new. The weather was (typically) crappy and cold and drizzly, so instead of having a picnic in Hyde Park which I think was the original plan, we decided to go to an undercover bit of the gallery instead. This was all news to me as I had barely been to London before, let alone walked through Hyde Park, and all I can say is BLOODY HELL IT'S BIG, and I'm pretty sure you could fit all of Newcastle town centre inside it.

Unknown.

The group at base camp! I am on the left, perching on a cork bench. I took so many photos under here but stupidly forgot to use flash because my eyes had adjusted to the gloom, so all of my photos came out utterly dark and terrible. I think I was the token Northerner, and I have to say it was pretty hilarious when I would ask people where they were from and they would answer with a really specific part of London and there would follow an awkward pause where I was like, "So, that's in London then?" making a tit of myself in the process.

Unknown.

Our really cool ~teen cult~ sign! I was one of the first people to get to the meet-up, I walked up the steps of Marble Arch tube station literally on the dot of 11am & saw a group of four very cool looking girls standing underneath the arch. Just as I was working out how best to subtly approach them, one of them unfurled this sign and I knew that these were my people.

Unknown.

The big piece of paper where we all wrote our names to document who came. I think someone is sending this into Rookie, along with a photo diary of our day!  You can just about see my name left of the pot of yellow glitter. I had one of those weird panics about how best to write my name creatively (Seriously, the things I worry about), so went for my 2009-era trademark heart balloon doodle.

Unknown.

Making flower crowns was my favourite part of the day! Everyone brought fake flowers (well done to those people because I couldn't find any!) & crafty things, and some very clever people brought glue to make our own Rookie crown with. Mine fell apart a little bit in my suitcase on the way home, but I shall patch it up and post about it later in the week! I brought pom poms, ribbon, feathers, a small paper parasol, weird plasticy animal things, some charms & a few pieces of broken jewellery. It was so lovely to see all the different things people made.

Ophelia (and there's more on her blog here!).

A (sort of) outfit shot! My skirt & tights are from Topshop, the cardigan is from a charity shop, the blouse is vintage/customised by me and I made the necklace and flower crown myself. Also, that blob beside my eye is a glittery heart sticker!

Ophelia (although quite a few people took a photo of my necklace, so it could be from someone else!)

I wore my feminist necklace, of course, and I got so many compliments I was a little bit overwhelmed! I took another necklace with me to swap (I shall show you what I swapped it for in yet another post!), and a girl I met bought one from my shop a few days later! I have never felt so, I don't know, comfortable and amazed to be in the company of people who were so interested in the same things that I am, not just feminism but the fight for equality as a whole, as well as things like clothes and hair dye and jewellery. For a long time now I have been thinking of submitting a little jewellery DIY to Rookie, but I wasn't really confident enough to actually put pen to paper (or open a document on Word), but now I am going to set aside some time to actually do it.

Unknown.

The whole group at the end! I had such a wonderful time at the meet-up, and I wish I could have stayed all day as I think everyone went on to the Natural History Museum, which sounds amazing! I would love love love to go to another meet-up, and I think there is another one planned for September. I was so lucky this time that I happened to be in London on the meet-up date, otherwise I don't think I could have gone! I am so glad that I did as the whole experience was just so brilliant. I met up with my friends shortly after this photo was taken, and we went to the Yoko Ono exhibition at the Serpentine - which I loved because Yoko is so funny and astute and underrated and misunderstood - and then the Ballgowns exhibition at the V&A - which was so beautiful and made me want to cry because Alexander McQueen. A very cultured, very Londony, Rookie day.

I made it through the wilderness

Hello! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted, I went on holiday, then my computer packed up, then when it was fixed I had to go away again, oh gosh there is just a never ending list of obstacles! I'm going to do a post or two about the Rookie meet-up I went to when I was down in London, but first I have an outfit post for you all!

Whenever my roots start to show and my hair fades out to this weird blonde colour I always get the strangest urge to dress up as Madonna and start dancing around like she does in the Holiday video. Hence the headscarf and assertive pose. This outfit kind of feels like what 1985 Madonna would have worn if she had had a brief Land Army Girl phase. I do feel like she would have added some beaded necklaces though, and perhaps a lace glove or two.

I saw this blouse looking sad and lonely on the £1 clearance rail in one of my local charity shops, and bought it because, well, because I was feeling impulsive. And also I think it looks kind of cute tied up like this.

Blouse - charity shop, trousers - Dorothy Perkins, headscarf - vintage.

Cute embroidery detail on the collar!

Rosie the Riveter pose is my new favourite.

Dammit Janet

So, the other night I went to see a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at my favourite cinema, and this is what I wore!

I, obviously, went as Janet! Purely because I think she is great, and also because I own zero items of black clothing so it would have made coming as any other character rather tricky and expensive.

Pink & blue are the two colours Janet wears in her first appearance outfit (she then wears lingerie for pretty much the rest of the film). Swallows brooch worn as a cardigan clip to make it a bit more interesting, gift.

Heart belt to add more than two colours, vintage.

Swishy, cutesy Courtney Love style night dress, charity shop.

I decided to wear heels, otherwise this is kind of an ordinary outfit! My brother and my dad didn't notice I was wearing a costume -.-

Pale white innocent tights, Dorothy Perkins. Cutesy frilly 1950s socks, Topshop. Nude, kind of dirty shoes (ohoho) with pale blue ribbons added by me, Peacocks.

I felt like my outfit needed a little something else, so I put a little picture of Brad in my locket! Oh Brad, I'm mad, for you too.

This is me doing my best worst meerkat face, trying to show the pink gingham hairslide in my hair. I tried to make my hair as Janety as possible, but I have neither red, blonde or long hair so it was always going to be a bit tricky. I basically just tamed certain sections & tried to ignore the overriding purpleness of it.

The actual experience was amazing, people were dancing & singing & shouting things out & shining torches! I would really really love to see an actual stage production as I'm sure it would be even funnier. Next time I go I think I'll be Columbia, I wanted to this time but she requires a lot more buying of things! I do have a sequin jacket, but it's silver and the inaccuracy would have bothered me.

1. This is a scheduled post because I'm away in London at the moment! I meant to schedule a few more posts but I've been really lazy busy lately so I guess the next time will just have to be when I get back.

2. I sent Laura a few pieces of jewellery to try out, and she wrote a post featuring them which you can see here! You can also get 10% off in my shop by using the discount code "DAISYCHAIN" at checkout!

It's been a hard day's night.

Do you ever have those moments where you pull something out of the depths of your wardrobe, put it on and suddenly see it in a whole new light? That happened to me recently with almost this entire outfit!

I bought the Beatles tshirt about three years ago on a trip to Liverpool after I sat my GCSEs (oh God, that makes me feel old!), and wore it quite a lot in my tshirt-and-trousers stage. The cardigan too was lurking in the back of my cupboards, I bought it from ebay a year two years some time ago, but haven't worn it recently. I came across these two pieces as I was sorting out my drawers, and decided to put them on, and soon a whole outfit had fallen into place, along with these white fishnet/herringbone tights I have had for ages!

Favourite necklace ever. I really do regret not buying every single one in the (Wizard of Oz) collection at the time.

I have worn this skirt on here before, I think, and it is a total BITCH to iron, which is why it still looks pretty creased as I gave up quite quickly. It had some round, dark blue, plasticy-looking buttons on it which I really wasn't too keen on, so the other day on a whim I changed them for these white, pearly ones which I think are much nicer!

Cardigan - ebay, tshirt - The Beatles Store, skirt - H&M (I changed the buttons), tights - Primark, lace shorts - ebay, necklace - Affleck's Palace, badge - Etsy.

No make-up face, as per. Also my roots look bigger & darker here than they do in real life, I have no idea why that would be!

1. I have decided I'm going to post a little less on this blog. Not that I'm stopping, not at all! I just want to focus on posting more clothes/fashiony things, rather than posting something, anything, just because I feel I have to. Also, this will give me a bit more time to post about things that I really want to, so don't despair!

2. I am going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight! Sadly it's just a screening of the film, not a theatre production but I am so excited! I am going as Janet (of course) and my friend Alix is going as Magenta. Hopefully I will take some pictures of my outfit for you guys (:

3. I am going to London for five days on Thursday, which is going to be so good! I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I know I've got quite a long list of places I want to go and galleries I want to visit. Also, I really want to go to the Rookie meet up at Hyde Park! Let me know if you're going!

4. My mind has been on a few other things lately. Sometimes it is very difficult to stand up to someone and make them see that something they have said or done has hurt, upset or angered you. It is especially difficult when you tell them that, and they throw it back in your face without listening, or really taking any of it in. Standing up for my rights as a woman is something I feel incredibly strongly about, especially my rights over my own body, and hearing someone close to me express a sexist, misogynistic view has hit me like a freight train. I would not take that from my father, or from a stranger on the streets, so why should I lie down and take it from someone who I chose to be in my life? This has definitely left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and a panic attack-inducing Twitter timeline. But, rest assured, I am currently bouncing back.

The clouds will be a daisy chain, so let me see you smile again.

Hello!

Today I have been procrastinating like crazy, but somehow I also managed to get an awful lot of things done! Very strange.

Top - ebay, shorts - vintage, necklace - car boot sale, flower headband - DIY.

I have been meaning to post about these shorts for quite some time now, I did wear them in this post, but I wanted to show them properly. My mum bought these for me as a little present for getting a Distinction in my Textiles final major project! (She also bought me a weird tablecloth thing that she thought was a headscarf which I am going to try to make into shorts, but more on that as it develops.) They are made from vintage furnishing fabric, and are so cute! I have worn them an awful lot recently, in a pretty defiant attempt to ignore the terrible weather. Floods, what floods?!

There are lots of pretty daisies in my garden at the moment, so I thought I would make a little crown from them before my dad cuts the grass and they are all decapitated. I used to love making daisy chains when I was little, I still think there is no better way to spend a lazy summer afternoon than sat on the grass endlessly linking daisies together.

(Also, I redyed my hair and it came out much darker, but now that I've washed it a few times it seems almost exactly the same colour as it was last time you saw it on here! Pointless me saying anything really!)

Somewhat askew necklace.

The pattern on the shorts is so lovely! It seems very French to me, what with all the pictures of fruit baskets and wine and pretty tea sets. The beige/tan colour isn't something I would normally wear, but the yellow tones in the pattern are such a perfect match for the tropicals flowers in this top.

I hope you are all having a lovely summer - or winter, depending on which hemisphere you currently reside in!

1. It is coming up to almost a year since I started up my little jewellery shop! I can't quite believe it's been a year as the time seems to have positively flown by, I am so grateful to everyone who has purchased something from me, it really does mean such an awful lot! Without a doubt I would never have had the confidence to set up the shop if I didn't have this blog, so I will be doing a few special things as a thank you. I think I may give away free gifts with each order made in the "birthday week", what do you think?

2. Today I got a huge stack of papers through the post from Sheffield, all about registration etc & university life, it is honestly ridiculous how much there is! I have started reading through it but it's so difficult to actually remember what I'm reading, I may even have to make flashcards! (I'm definitely joking) I wish I knew where I'll be living though, I've started to buy a few things but I'm struggling to get excited when I don't know what my accommodation is.

3. I went charity shopping this weekend in a small village with a few friends, and I found the most amazing stack of vinyl punk singles! I mean, you have no idea how amazed I was, normally you have to rifle through endless Cliff Richard, Englebert Humperdinck & Elaine Page albums before you get to anything good, but almost everything was a genuine punk classic. I really wish I could have bought them all (I mean, come on, £5.99 for a single is a bit much Oxfam), instead I went for two Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Buzzcocks and  Xray Spex. Xray Spex! I am still so happy and stunned and telling everyone I know all about it.