Cherry Blossom

These photos are super old now, but I thought I would show you all what I bought from the Meadham Kirchhoff collaboration with Topshop!

I set my alarm to make sure I was up in time for all the pieces to be released online, even though I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted I didn't want anything to sell out! I deliberated over the eye print dresses for a while, but decided my bank balance would not have been very pretty afterwards so I bought this pastel pink rainbow skirt! I'm so pleased with it, the pattern is so subtle and pretty, the lace at the bottom is a really lovely touch too.

(I actually wrote some things about the collaboration for the student magazine, the news piece is here & the little review is here)

The label from my skirt! When I was searching through pictures of the collection I was so sure I would be a Cherry Blossom as the (obviously, pastel) pieces seemed the most suited to my wardrobe. I've kept this label & put it on my bedroom wall, just taking my MK love that extra step further <3 p="">

Goofy/terrible poses forever. I wore this outfit to go hand an essay in & then sit in the library. I really like dressing up to go to the library, feeling like I'm dressed super cute always helps me work I think. Or, at least makes me get distracted by my own reflection in my laptop screen (sadly not really joking here!).

Blouse - vintage/DIY, cardigan - charity shop, skirt - Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop, tights - Topshop, hairband - DIY.

I've gone off this hair colour recently (I'm going back to pink soon!), but I really like it here.

This skirt fits so perfectly with my wardrobe, I'm so excited to try it out with different pieces! I bought it in a size down because Topshop skirts always seem to sit on the hips and I much prefer being able to wear high waisted pieces.

I also bought the glittery stripey tights, cherry socks & this eye print tshirt, although I did send up sending the tshirt back because the shape didn't quite feel right to me.

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I know I said I would be back to posting more regularly, but then... didn't, but I have a new laptop now (my other one tragically, finally bit the dust a few weeks before Christmas) so I will hopefully be able to post more often! See you soon xx

All that glitters.

In my last post I said I was going to do a details piece on a dress I bought recently. As you might know about me, I am a huge Meadham Kirchhoff groupie and a few months ago I managed to pick up one of the pieces from their Topshop collection (relatively) cheap on ebay.

Here it is! I love the shape of it, and how it really hasn't got a shape at all. I like that it isn't trying desperately to be flattering, I have such a growing dislike for all the (mainly male, mainly high end) designers who talk about wanting to fit a woman's shape in a flattering way. It just feels so, I don't know, such a boring and restrictive way to look at dressing. It's much more fun to not care about that at all (not to mention it's so male gaze-y for designers to think that way!).

The layered, jagged skirt.

Sleeve detail with beading and sequins.

I love these little glitter discs! They remind me of those white chocolate sweets with sprinkles you get in pick & mix places.

I like the layers here, and how you can see the glitter peeking through the thinner parts of the lace.

I love the really excessive portions of sequins there are, they look almost like fish scales or like, a cool skin disease or something. I like how they're matte instead of shiny, it's a bit more unusual. A wry nod to decadence, to be shiny would be too much, but there's so many of them that it's kind of too much anyway. (A good kind of too much)

A sleeve.

I love all the unfinished edges and how it looks almost ragged. The mix of the opulence and the ripped, jagged edges is really interesting I think.

The back of the bodice. I like how it almost looks like a contour map.

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I'm moving back to Sheffield for my second year on Monday so I'm not sure how often I'll be posting, I will try though. I want to write something about Meadham Kirchoff's SS14 collection because I have a lot of thoughts about it (like, why only white models?) and I want to put them all somewhere.

See you all soon!

Princess of pink.

Happy April! I have been in a very productive mood today, and I have got enough done that I don't really feel guilty taking a little break to write this post. I feel like it might be the only time I get before work and writing things start to pile up again, so here we go!

When I was back in Newcastle, I went with my mum to the most beautiful vintage fair I have ever been to! It was in the Theatre Royal in the centre of town, which is a really lovely building in the centre of town. They don't normally do events like this (but since the council cut all arts funding in Newcastle BY A HUNDRED PER CENT they've had to look at new ways to get money to keep from going under), but I'm so glad they did because it was amazing! They had like, six floors of really good quality vintage and retro stalls, we didn't even get a chance to look through them all as it was so busy. I've signed up to have a stall with them in August, and if I were you I'd really recommend going to one of the events if they have one near you - this one was called Newcastle Does Vintage, and they do lots in other cities (their Twitter is here!). I also met four people who I'd worked at fairs with in the past, which was surreal but nice. I also saw a woman who I'd kind of had a weird falling-out with and who I was a bit worried about seeing, but she was actually really friendly and it was a total relief.

...Anyway, I bought some pretty things that I want to show you! You know sometimes when you buy things from fairs, and you're happy with them, but they're not amazing? And sometimes they are just too incredible and you can't believe your luck? Well, the latter is what happened to me at this fair! Below is my first purchase, which is so fucking cute I can't even deal with it. (Above is the little box it came in)

It's a strawberry plant, in a strawberry plantpot! So so cute! It is just absolutely adorable, I have worn it almost every day since I bought it.

The woman whose stall I bought it from was absolutely lovely! She had so many cute things It was really difficult to decide what I wanted, but when she said this one was a complete one-off I knew I had to get it. She buys mystery Japanese dolls house tea sets (basically, there are no options on the website & what you get is a complete surprise) and this piece came from a little gardening set! I love it so much.

Here are a bunch of links for her shop by the way: Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, Two Penny Lane website.

Here is the necklace in close up.

Now to my second purchase! It might seem familiar to some of you, and that's because this little lamb featured in Meadham Kirchhoff's SS12 collection! Also known as, my favourite collection of all time!

I remember reading about the lamb and some of the other motifs in this collection being taken from Edward Meadham's personal collection of vintage decals;

We worked on this jacket for a long time. It’s appliquéd with a sequined lamb motif that is from an old crib decal that I have on my computer. He is the lamb that is on the invitation to the show under the collection title, “A Wolf in Lamb’s Clothing.” - Edward Meadham, at Rookie.

I'm sure I've read more about him having a collection of these, but I can't find it anywhere! If I do, I'll link it here.

I can't believe I actually own this! This is a very weird, fan-girly moment for me. It just feels cool to own something behind the idea behind the collection. Like, it makes it feel really personal somehow? I know I will probably never own anything from that collection, or be able to afford to even, but I still have a connection to it in some way. I think I am feeling really sentimental about fashion and material things today, a friend from my course is starting a new alternative magazine and I've just finished writing a piece for her on fashion and feminism, which has made me think about these things in depth a lot more.

The inside (which unfortunately isn't velvet but is some weird kind of velour?)

Here it is on my desk in my little room in Sheffield, with all my jewellery. I love seeing all my jewellery together like this, it's a pretty good collection I think. One of my friends told me I am the Princess of Pink, and seeing all of this together I think I have to agree with her!

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Sorry that so many of my posts now are basically like ~hey, here's some stuff I bought! I'm going to try and work on some outfit posts soon, as I do have a few new pieces of clothing I want to show you, and I do want them to be in outfits, not just lying on my bed. 

A cautionary tale

So, I have a new purchase to show you! After seeing a certain jumper in Marlena's wishlist post, I put it straight onto my Christmas list (well, when my dad asked what I'd like, I said this!), and I was incredibly lucky as I did indeed get it as a present!

Even if you hadn't peeked ahead to the picture, I'm sure if you've been following me for a while you must have guessed it probably had something to do with Meadham Kirchhoff (aka my Valentines <3 a="" although="" am="" amp="" around="" as="" at="" been="" bit="" but="" categorisations="" colour="" constantly="" cooking="" curries="" enjoying="" foods="" for="" have="" i="" in="" is="" its="" jumper="" kind="" love="" m="" me="" more="" mother="" my="" of="" other="" p="" pure="" queen="" room="" says="" scarily="" staining="" sweatshirt="" swishing="" textile="" think="" this.="" this="" to="" tricky="" uni="" wear="" which="" white="" with="">

Jumper - Meadham Kirchhoff at Amazon, skirt - Topshop sale (aeons ago), necklace - gift (Accessorize), headscarf - vintage fair, tights - Topshop.

AAAAHHHHH. I love it too much! It's so warm too, which is amazing because I am so not a jumper person normally. I haven't really experimented with outfits to go with it yet, mainly because I think this one really works as the colours in my (somewhat trademark now, I guess) headscarf seems to match with the pretty unicorn design.

Too happy by far.

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PS. I am scheduling a post for after this one, so hopefully there will be more regular updates on here!

PPS. I have dyed my hair pink again, yay! It did it myself too, and it actually came out alright. It is definitely my favourite colour, I will be saying goodbye to lilac for a while now I think!

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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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!