Objects Of Lust

Topshop Just posted some awesome new winter looks on the website and I am lusting after everything! I may have just purchased the bralet in the top picture. I particularly love all the 'fetish' inspired clothing this winter- leather belts, mesh and corsets yes please.

Today is my last full day before our London weekend. I have tomorrow afternoon to spend packing, hair dying, helping Jay finish his outfit and printing out ticket information. Cannot wait! If I have time I might also take some pictures of my planned outfits to share on my blog.

Colour Evening Flyer

I designed this flyer for my Mum's Colour and fashion evening in a few weeks time on the 14th of November in Indulgence a cafe/bar in Bramhall (Cheshire). If you are interested in finding out what colours best suit your skin and hair tones and live nearby you should come. A full two course meal and glass of wine are included in the evening as well as a free goody bag.

Día de los Muertos

These shots are from a shoot I did a couple of weeks back with Jade J Gerrard with a day of the dead/punk theme with a feminine and soft aesthetic. Not only were these stills produced but we also shot moving scenes as part of a fashion video. Having never had to move around on film before I was quite nervous not really knowing what to expect. However it ended up being quite fun, the weather was pretty perfect with a mild temperature and flashes of sunshine between the clouds. I'm probably going to be going back in a couple of weeks to shoot some more for the film. Quite excited and a bit nervous to see how it turns out.

Born Dead

Today me and Jay helped my sister Charlotte with her media project. She has to create her own magazine with different stories, a contents page and a front cover. The hardest part is that she has to create everything herself including all the pictures. So me and Jay agreed to model for the cover. 

Her magazine is going to be very alternative- a change she says from all the girls in her class creating indie magazines. So she wanted us to look really punk. Jay just wore a load of things he already generally wears (including his customized leather jacket and patched up jeans) and I spent a large amount of time sifting through my wardrobe trying to put an outfit together that looked punk and not goth. I eventually decided on a pair of ridiculously ripped jeans that I was about to throw away (but now I'm considering keeping), a knitted no:wear top from Camden, Jay's 'Born dead' t-shirt' tied into a cropped top, a leatherette bra, a patched up belt Jay made for me a few months back and an assortment of mine and Charlie's accessories. 

We did the shoot in Soph's bedroom after moving all the furniture around to create a free white wall. We were originally going to use my 35mm camera but unfortunately I messed up loading the film after watching another incorrect video on Youtube and ended up rewinding the loose end of the film back into the film case rendering it useless. It took us a while to get into it but in the end we got some really cool pictures, we also took a few outside against a brick wall. After the shoot Charlie went through and picked out all her favourites and I edited them for her. I really like the pictures, I think our personalities come across quite well. It ended up taking up all day but I think the results are worth it. If I was the teacher I'd give her a A for effort alone.

The Wardrobe Audit

A couple of nights ago I had my wardrobe audited by a stylist who also happens to be my mother. She has trained as a colour consultant and stylist for Colour Me Beautiful. Fashion has always been a massive part of her life and I suppose in many ways has had an influence on my career choice.

I suppose wardrobe audit is a fancy way of saying a sort out and the handy thing about having a stylists help is that they can help organize things together in a way that items that are worn together so that outfits are easily accessible. Granted I probably don't need too much help with that, however my Mum was able to offer plenty of tips and advice on the whole process which saw me chunking out and moving round my wardrobe far more than I had expected.

My wardrobe pre-sort

 

I'm going to go through a few pointers to help tidy and organise your wardrobe to make it easier to find things.


De-clutter
We began by going through each item in my wardrobe and placing it into one of the following piles.

• Keeping
• Throwing
• Selling
• Amending
• Uncertain 
• Items you don't wear because they don't match anything

Be as ruthless as you can in this stage. If like me space is an issue and fitting in new clothes requires getting rid of old ones, make sure you throw out everything you know your not going to wear. Anything you sell you can use as a clothing fund to buy new clothes with that you actually like and wear. That way you'll feel less bad about getting rid of things.

• If you haven't worn something for 5 years and it's falling apart don't hang onto it just in case
• If something doesn't fit, alter it or sell it
• Get rid of anything that has holes or is ripped 
• Throw or sell anything that is way out of fashion
• Throw or sell anything that you dislike
• Sell anything that you're unsure of and haven't worn
• Anything that is old and worn but has an interesting zip, lace or embellishment that you like remove it and keep to add to something else

A lot of the time I am reluctant to sell things that I know cost a lot of money knowing that I won't get it back. The best thing to do in this case is think more about the total of money you'll make by selling more things together. The more things you can put up for sale the more your likely to sell and the better profit you'll make. Ultimately no matter what it cost it's serving no purpose sitting in your wardrobe it's only going to remind you of the money you shouldn't have spent. So it may as well go towards a new item of clothing.

I found that having another persons opinion in this stage was really helpful because where I was getting sentimental about things my Mum was able to persuade me to chunk things that had probably seen better days.


What's missing?
I discovered a few things that I had believed to be lost and a lot of things that I completely forgot I even owned. As you sort through your wardrobe think about what you are missing.

• Why is it that you never wear a certain item you love, is it because it doesn't match with anything else?
• Are you buying more of one item than an other? Lots of tops but not enough bottoms to match things with?
• Do you feel like your continually buying similar things?
• Are you buying too many basics and not enough statement pieces? or many it's the other way around are there too many statement pieces and not enough basic items to match them with? 
• Try to match new outfits together out of the items you already own, is it flexible enough or too restricting?
• Do you keep buying dressy things but nothing you can wear to work?

Make a note of things in your wardrobe that don't match anything. Then next time you go shopping think about what things you have and what new items would go with those things. Try and stear away from buying more of the same things if it's only slightly different. You're not really creating a new outfit just a different version of one you already own. Look around at fashion not just in the shops but online and in magazines and be inspired by fashion. Think outside the box, what items of clothing do you like but never wear? how can you incorporated them into your style. Make sure that you have clothing to suit all your requirements, leisurewear, work wear, party wear. If all of your wardrobe is similar colours but you'd rather wear new colours, think about you can match new colours into what you already have. Think carefully be for you buy anything about what it's going to match with.


 Reorganize 
Finally think about how it is going to be easiest for you to find things in your wardrobe.

• Maybe with different items of clothing in sections such as vests, t-shirts, shirts, jumpers, skirts, trousers, dresses etc
• It could just be in tops, bottoms and long hanging
• Perhaps organising into colours
• Or even just work wear, leisure wear, party wear, formal

However you feel it's going to be most easy to find things and match outfits together.


Where to take things

• Before taking anything to a charity shop make sure that is it still wearable, nothing that is ripped, damaged or incredibly worn because it creates so much extra work for them to have to sort through peoples clothes only to find that a bag of clothes is all unsellable.
•  Anything that needs to be thrown can be recycled.
• There are many clothing sites that you can use to sell things, I often put mine up for sale in a facebook album and anything that doesn't sell goes on Ebay. Any vintage clothing you want to get rid of can be sold on Etsy and a more recent place is Asos Marketplace 
• Anything that you're planning on altering make sure you set time apart to do it and don't just leave it in a pile somewhere like me!

I hope you found this interesting and helpful. It has certainly made me think more about the restrictions of my wardrobe and how I can improve it to make it more flexible. It doesn't feel a whole lot emptier but hopefully I will sell somethings soon to make some more space. Expect to see load of things from my wardrobe up for sale soon.

I think this has gone to be the longest written post I've ever made!

What I wore #3

 This is what I wore to work yesterday. I don't think softer colours like pink & brown suit me quite as much as black but I still give it a go every now and then.

 

Lace blazer- Miss Selfridge, deer vest- All Saints, bow vest- Topshop, pink net skirt- Afflecks, heart tights- Ebay, flower & pearl necklace- gift, Bow headband- Topshop

 I think I might be naughty and buy some shoes today even though I'm suppose to be saving for London in a few weeks. I've wanted to get these boot wedges for ages and ages so I'm just going to go for them and then I'll have new shoes to prance around London in.

What's in my bag

Since I have a lovely new bag and it has not yet become overfilled with crap. I thought this would be the perfect time for a 'What's in my bag' post so here it is.

1. My IPod- I couldn't leave the house without this, although I'm forever forgetting to charge it. I think I'm getting a bit bored of everything on my IPod recently and desperately need to update it with some new artists. I'm struggling at the moment to find the time to search for new music.

2. My camera- I recenetly purchased a spare battery for this so it is never out of charge. I have thousands of pictures on my computer. I love that I can take a picture of the sky whenever the moment takes me (you wouldn't believe how many picture of the sky I do actually have).

3. My leather Topshop purse- This was a Christmas present from my younger sister Gaby.

4. My external hard drive- I've only recently got over my fear of taking this out of the house for fear it might spontaneously combust (or actually just corrupt). This stores all my films, artwork and photographs. 

5. My car keys- It is attached to a Radley keyring which was a 21st present from my Mum's friend and I've stuck with it because it has a distinctive feel and so is easy to find in the depths of my bag.

6. My phone- It is a HTC Desire that is on it's last legs. I've had it since April 2010 and my contract doesn't end till April 2012 so I'm just putting up with it for now. I cracked the screen on Christmas day getting out of the car trying to carry too many things.

7. Chip & Pin- This is the chip and pin device that I got from my bank in order to do online transfers.

8. My house keys- Since my Mum has gone through too many upsetting burglaries our house is pretty difficult to get into and if no one was in the house I would actually need all those keys to get in. The keyring is a very old new rock one because so it is easy for me to tell my keys from anyone elses in the house.

9. Hair grips- I tend to have my hair in a messy up do which requires lots of spare pins.

Restyle Review

I ordered a few things last week from Restyle, the Polish online shop that I recently blogged about. I couldn't believe how fast they arrived. I order a bag, some gloves and some cute bone hair clips (that everybody seems to have but I couldn't locate anywhere). On the website it states shipping within Europe takes 5 working days, they actually took 4, I was well prepared for it to be up to 7.

Everything was really reasonably priced. The bag which you would have though to cost £30 + only cost £20 and was nice enough quality. The hair clips which I expect to be plastic were actually metal and the gloves were also really nicely made, although I'm not sure when exactly I'm going to wear them.

The only drawback was the fact that postage was quite a lot. I think this reflects the fact that they are not a UK based company but also insures that the package gets to you a reasonable amount of time. If you order a few things at a time I think it makes it more than worthwhile. Overall I would completely recommend ordering from them.

I just wanted to write this because I know a lot of people are wanting to order stuff from them and I wanted to confirm their reliability. I will certainly be ordering more things from them in the future.

The Birds Yard Party

The Birds Yard is situated in the city center in Leeds conveniently (or inconveniently for us) right behind the mega bus stop at 83 Kirkgate, Leeds. It is three floors of design, vintage, and independent boutiques. It has a feel similar to Afflecks Palace in Manchester. There were flyers, photographs and jewelry hung on every wall along with shabby chic lamps and vintage chairs with pretty cushions in every corner.

There was free crisps, snacks and drinks and when a big pile of Dominos pizza arrived the four of us (Stacey, Rik, Jay and I) tucked in it disappeared pretty fast.

On the ground floor there was the vintage section with rack after rack of long vintage dresses varying from different time periods everything in this section was 50% off and I came close to buying a few things.

One of my favourite shops was Lisa Jayne Dann a designer on the top floor. She recently won "Leeds Independent Retail Awards" designer of the year. I was disappointed that my film had run out by this point as the boutique was beautifully decorated with decadent furniture and black horses heads on the wall. I tried a few things on, an oversized pink lace dress and peach vintage style flared cami. Both were beautiful but just not quite me. She also stocked a number of steampunk style coats with large puffed sleeves in brown and black velvet fabric which were gorgeous.

 

My outfit- My favourite dress- All Saints, striped blazer- H&M, pink lace body- Ebay, panel leggings- Lip service, bag- Restyle, fetish necklace- Eustratia.

Even the shop outside had a vintage feel, painted in a lovely pale green colour contrasting with the brickwork.

Vintage nik-naks

Lilly and her 'slag' necklace

 

There was the most lush black lace dress in the window with soft grey ruffles at the hem

The vintage section. There was a few gorgeous sequin bags, I might have got one if there had been one in white. There was also lovely box hats and multi-coloured head scarfs.

Toria Browsing vintage treasures.

 

Pastel coloured hair and Lilly.

 

I Finally got my Vintage Train Case and got it for an amazing price. I just can't wait to take it to  London I don't care how impractical it is.

I'm still getting to grips with my camera. I think with film I'm trying to make every shot look stylish as with my digital camera, I tend to take pictures in quantity and then pick out the best ones, but this isn't so good with film with limited exposures on a film and the cost of processing. I think my expectations are always too high and I have to accept that sometimes not every shot is going to come out, at least not until I get the hang of aperture and shutter speed. I also still keep a certain amount of control over digital pictures, a lot of the pictures I take are heavily edited to change colours and backgrounds where as this is less possible with film. My pictures of Jay are usually the ones that come out the best oddly enough, maybe that is just because he's so pretty <3.

Behind the scenes for Alt Fashion

On Sunday morning we got up at an ungodly hour in the morning to set off for a very eventful day in Leeds. Along with some Spinnerette tunes and some moody boyfriends we headed up the motorway and arrived at Toria's at 9.30am to be greeted with tea and coffee. Time was tight as Toria was also throwing a party at the Bird's Yard shop in Leeds later on in the day. So we started on hair and make up the second we got through the door. Styling and clothing for the shoot was provided by Eustratia and you can read more about the preparations for the shoot on Stacey's blog here.

Me and Victoria had customized black wigs while Stacey and Betty had backcombed quiffs with long extensions. The clothing for the shoot was dark latex with hints of wire mesh and chainmail this was contrasted with feminine details like latex bows and flowers and delicate necklaces.

The shoot was influenced by Ellen Rogers a phototgrapher that creates absolutely breathtaking dark imagery which is entirely analogue and completely unedited. I've seen her images floating round the internet and if you haven't checked out her work you really should do.

The unpredictable British weather was drizzly and miserable which meant the original location had to be changed so we ended up shooting in the courtyard at the Birds Yard Shop. We did still get a little bit rained on but we shoot half under cover, which meant we also got varying amounts of light in the pictures too. There was a gorgeous chesterfield sofa which was quite 'weathered' and was elegantly ripped here and there and lended itself well to the style of the shoot.

I really can't wait to see the result of the shoot which will be published in Alternative Fashion Magazine in December. Here is a few shoots from my film camera to give you an idea of the location and the outfits.

 

My look for the shoot

 

Miss Stacey Black (Biomechanina)

Photographer Toria Brightside

Betty La Wren was called in at last minute due to poor Helen being unwell and did an amazing job filling in. Particularly as it was her very first shoot, she was a complete natural.

 

Beautiful Victoria-B 

 

A peek of the chesterfield sofa in the background

Rain and latex and the odd wind made it a bit of a chilly morning.

After the shoot was done (in record breaking time as usual) we had a quick change at Toria's before heading back over to the Bird's yard shop for the student party with a whopping 50% discount. This I will continue onto in a separate post.