October Wishlist

Hi!

It's pretty much been a month since my September wishlist and, as I'm doing one a month, now it's time for my October wishlist! So, here are some items I'm looking to get/wish I could get for next month...

Topshop New Big Felt Floppy Hat (Black), £28- Unfortunately this is the kind of item that will never leave the wishlist and make it to my wardrobe, but I'm featuring it anyway because it is just so lovely. I really love these hats and always think anyone wearing one looks 10x cooler, but I just can't pull these hats off. Also I have no idea where I would wear this, other than the occasional trip to London, so I can't quite justify getting one.

Topshop Crepe Shift Dress in Burgundy, £45- I love this dress because it's the kind of item that looks like it can be dressed up, but also really dressed down. The colour is lovely, especially for A/W when I'm always on the look out for burgundy clothes to buy. It is quite expensive but it looks good quality and it's the kind of thing I would wear a lot because there are so many ways you can style it.

Brandy Melville UK Kolfinna Top, £25- I've been looking for something exactly like this for so long!!!!!!!!! I'm so into t-shirt dresses and I've been trying to look for the perfect one and here it is! The fact it's dark grey makes it look a little more casual looking than totally black and also makes it easier to transition into spring. However as it is meant to be a t-shirt you can see from the photos it's a little short so I would consider getting a size up.

Urban Outfitters Light Before Dark Crop Turtle-Neck Tee in Grey, £18- For what it is this top is amazing value, especially as it's also from UO. I think this is a really nice basic top that's really sophisticated and, despite looking a little tricky to style, will look really good when you get the outfit right. I think I would style this with a black American Apparel skater skirt, black shoes, lots of thin silver necklaces and my tartan scarf.

Vagabond Grace Padded Ankle Boots in Black (through Urban Outfitters), £80- If I wasn't so self conscience about my height I'd do anything to make sure these shoes were mine by tomorrow, but unfortunately I am and with a heel height of around 3 inches these boots wouldn't help. However I'm kind of considering putting them on my Christmas wishlist (yes, I am already thinking that far ahead) because they really are beautiful... I love chunky shoes like these and I think they look amazing with jeans and skirts, and I can imagine them looking really good with the Brandy Melville t-shirt dress mentioned earlier, lots of jewellery and the Topshop coat I styled in a previous blog post.

Topshop Faux Fox Fur Stole, £25- Every autumn/winter I develop a love for anything fur, and this year is no exception. Fur stoles I think are most useful as you can add them to most outfits rather than being confined to having only one item of clothing with fur on it. Personally I don't believe in killing animals for their fur so I would definitely get a faux fur stole like this Topshop one opposed to a real fur one. I think this would look really cool over my grey coat for winter, or my denim jacket.

Hope you enjoyed my picks for the coming month, and as always let me know if there's a specific blog post/type of post you want me to do. 

❀Have a lovely day❀

P.S. Sorry for having no post last Friday! Getting back into the routine of school etc. got me a little busy but from now on I will (try) to be on time!

Perfection/Pressure from the Media

Hi! 

BEFORE YOU READ note that I my opinion on this topic may be seen as controversial so please don't get angry with me! I'm obviously open to constructive and coherent responses but don't comment anything super aggressive or whatever, I just want to voice an opinion on a topic that interests me, thank you! 

Magazines and companies are constantly being bombarded with complaints about the choice of models for their issues/campaigns and how it puts pressure on people to be perfect and that the images used are unrealistic. Most people would agree with that, but my view is slightly different. 

For this though, I'm not necessarily referencing arguments about the need to use more plus sized models as that's almost a totally different debate - but I may touch on it. Generally, my opinion can be summarised by a quote from Alexandra Schulman (editor-in-chief, Vogue UK) on the topic: 

‘I think Vogue is a magazine that’s all about fantasy to some extent and dreams, and an escape from real life. ... People don’t want to buy a magazine like Vogue to see what they see when they look in the mirror. They can do that for free.’

For some people this quote may be hard to accept but, personally, I can see total sense in it! Realistically, do you buy high end magazines such as Vogue to look at potential purchases for next season? Unless you're unbelievably rich or in denial the answer will be no, you look at it for either inspiration from designer brands that you can incorporate into your high street wardrobe or to admire the almost unrealistically perfect models and the laughably expensive accessories (we can all dream, right?). Vogue is a fantasy magazine and I read it to imagine my ideal life and ideal face, but I don't let the images get to me. I know that's easier said than done but it takes getting comfortable with yourself and the way you look and learning to know that you look good to be able to accept the unattainable 'perfection' in Vogue or clothing campaigns. 

Furthermore, the industries of fashion and media are all about aesthetics so why would they not want the most aesthetically pleasing models selling their products for them? Now that I've learned to accept my flaws and good qualities, I enjoy looking at beautiful people just to appreciate it (creepy sounding but I mean well). 

Advertising is another area that is criticised for it's use of 'perfect' models that make the general public feel bad about themselves, but I think: why would they not use the people everyone wants to be to sell their clothes? That's one of the biggest tricks of fashion advertising their is - creating appeal by giving the impression of the perfect life that comes with their products. It's about marketing and business, not evoking self-loathing. 

So overall, even if you don't agree with me hopefully you can get one thing out of this post and that is if you learn to love yourself and become totally comfortable with all you are, the so called 'pressure of perfection' from the media doesn't affect you as much by a long stretch.

That's all I'm going to leave you with, food for thought hopefully? I know this isn't my most concise or coherent post I just had a lot of ideas I wanted to get out at once. 

❀Have a lovely day❀

Outfit of the Day

Hi! 

Sorry that this post is on a Saturday not a Friday! Anyone coming back to the blog may have noticed that I've got into the habit of posting on Fridays so apologies if you were expecting a post yesterday - as I'm back at school now and had a meal out with friends after I didn't have time to do a post. 

This is the outfit I wore today, it's nothing super special as I got ready in a rush and was only having breakfast out with some family and then doing some food shopping. I also tried a new eye make up look today (which, for anyone who knows me, is a massive shock as I always do gel liner flicks) using black pencil liner and black eyeshadow. I'm not going to go into detail on my make up as I will most likely do a post specifically on my everyday make up very soon. 

THE OUTFIT

Top- Topshop, £12

Skirt- American Apparel, £46

Jacket- Topshop, £55

Belt- Topshop, £22

Choker- Charms U Cherish, £3

❀Have a lovely day❀