A Big Fat Fashion Blogging Apology

Ok, so it may be three months late and I may currently be considered a poor excuse for a blogger; but a summer ran-sacked with galavanting from tokyo to home to spain to home to uni; I feel I'm only just able to catch my breath. Following on from that, I can pretty much say I had an awesome summer. However, summer is over and I am straight back into uni to embark on second year and simultaneously, I am straight back into blogging; I PROMISE.
Don't get me wrong with my absence in posting, as I can assure you I have been doing my research and you will see this in posts to come!! I am currently infatuated with some particular designers and I'm digging deeper into the world of vintage treasures to settle my inner vintage child; so watch this space, I am ready to bring it on!
I hope you can accept my apology and we can move on and be happy fashion lovers together forever.
Love, apologies and kimonos. (I love them just now)

Harajuku Girl

Sun shining, temperature hitting 30 degrees and what do I decide to do?; saunter round the stores of Harajuku. I visited Harajuku last year when I came to Tokyo and decided to go on a Saturday, and let me paint you a picture; Harajuku on a Saturday is like a buffalo stampede on acid. I would say it's all part of the atmosphere and experience and something you have to participate in, however, I would advise this in a cooler season of time in Tokyo, definitely not summer when you literally cannot see for sweat dripping in your eyes. So I opted for a Sunday shopping sesh this year instead and whilst it was still ludicrously busy, it was most definitely the smarter choice. When stepping out the station at Harajuku you are immediately faced with Takeshita street; one of the busiest streets I have ever walked down in my life. This street has everything Japanese street style has to offer, it is literally the pick and mix sweet selection of street style. You can walk past one shop on Takeshita street overflowing with girly chiffons and an array of pastel paradise and then right next door sits a dark, sinister shop which looks like it eats its neighbouring shop for breakfast. 

After reaching the end of the street style, sub-culture, yellow brick road you are faced with all your usual high street stores; Topshop, Mango, H&M and to my disappointment, Forever 21 (spew). However, crossing over the road you will come to designer heaven. It goes without saying a stapler really would have came in handy today to staple my mouth shut because as I walked down this street my jaw was dragging along the ground as I gazed into all the fabulous window displays. And I repeat, FAB-U-LOUS.

So being in Tokyo and everything, I decided to treat myself to a stunning Ted Baker number. This particular Ted Baker dress is part of the Ted Baker 25th anniversary collection so it kinda gives it that extra pazaz ya know. I cannot begin to give enough appraisal to the shop assistants in the Ted Baker store, they were actually amazing and I actually found myself chatting to one of the girls for quite some time. It definitely makes the difference when the staff are top notch. Furthermore, the interior of the store, woweeeee, but I shall get to that another time. So aside from my amazing purchase, I was then walking back to the train station when I stumbled across a wee store called 'John Bull Private Labo'. I almost walked past this store due to my growing fantasy of lying in an air-conditioned room, however, out the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a Black Score t-shirt hanging in all its glory. Yes, that is right, Black Score. So with all my excitement I bustled into the store and there they all were; nearly the entire range of Black Score's t-shirts all exploiting their pure amazingness. This just topped off my day as if you haven't heard me go on about them before, Black Score are my favourite t-shirt brand EVER. 

Finally, aside from street style pick and mix, high street haven, and designer divineness, Harajuku also possesses many tremendous wee side streets all blossoming with cutesie, little boutiques and independant stores where you are guaranteed to pick up some awesome buys. Also, they have some really yummy cafes and they are definitely worth adventuring in to if you are a cake fiend like myself. So, the moral of the story, if you ever find yourself in Japan, you simply must visit Harajuku. And well, if not, seeing as it's not your average holiday to France, maybe have a wee research into it, it's a rather fascinating place. 
Click here to visit the Ted Baker website.
Click here to visit the Black Score website.

A photo I snapped of Takeshita Street, April 2012

My new baby

Nula - City Print Dress, Ted Baker - £129

Asian Antics

Konnichiwa. So after an unnecessarily long, hot and cramped flight and a week of fighting jetlag, I'm finally settling in to life in Tokyo. Humidity and thunderstorms aside I'm already beginning to sport a slightly orange Tokyo tan and it's inevitable what goes perfectly with a tan; perfect clothes. So, I've already started on my Asian adventure of gathering info on new designers and brands that I wasn't aware of before and I'm going to be blogging away about them as well as other well known and relative Asian designers over the next two weeks.  From designer to street style, the women out here love their fashion so I'm beyond excited to start writing about it all. So keep your eyes peeled and chopsticks at the ready and watch this space for upcoming posts. Peace out. 

Mango Shakin' Party Frocks

Every gal needs at least 5 (million) fancy frocks to get their groove on in, and well Mango is here to fulfill your glad rag needs girls! Mango isn't normally my place of excess retail expenditure, however, their forever alluring window displays always seem to have me questioning why it isn't. Whilst all is good and well with the endless amount of summer clothing currently available on the high street, Mango have still kept our partying needs in mind and have produced a fabulous selection of disco diva dresses. These dresses are perfect for when you're in need of trading in your flowing summer maxi for something a little more 'take the town by storm'; so let the party invites roll in and steal a beauty at mango and I promise you girls, all eyes will be on you! 
I've lined up my personal favourites, and it's fair to say there is definitely a lil something out there for everyone. So sit back, relax, but mainly glue your eyes to the screen and check out what mango has in store for you.

1. Introducing my personal favourite, 'Chiffon Beaded Dress' - £109.99

2. For all the serious party girls, I bring you 'Coral Motifs Sequined Dress' - £89.99

3. Love a bit of classic, slightly vintagey looking style? Look no further than the 'Crochet       Cotton Dress' - £54.99

4. Consider yourself the dark, mysterious woman of the night? Go get yourself the 'Brocade Dress', how can you say no for a sale steal of £49.99?

5. And finally for those girls that just love anything with that little bit of sparkle, go chasing Mango's 'Sequined dress'. Act fast and grab it for its fabulous sale price of £27.99!

So ladies, whatever your style, I will be completely and utterly gobsmacked if you can tell me Mango has nothing in store for you. Click here to check out their full range of cocktail and party dresses. And whatever the occasion,  I hope it is one to remember. Happy shopping and partying! :)

Oh Dougie, Dress Me in Saint Kidd and Tell Me I'm Pretty

So aside from Dougie Poynter being the ultimate hunnie and just everything I dream of in a man and more, so much so I'm starting to drool as I think of him... Kidding, kinda; he also has this cheeky wee clothing line which is pretty freakin' awesome. Introducing, Saint Kidd. I've been aware of Saint Kidd since it was first born due to my unhealthy infatuation with Mr. Poynter, so I'm actually surprised with myself I haven't yet blogged about it. But seeing as they've just brought out some new funky looking tee's I suppose it's better now than never. Described as the 'brain child' of Dougie himself, Saint Kidd exposes some rather eccentric tee's all boasting weird but wonderful designs. Let's face it, the t-shirt is one of the ultimate pieces in any person's wardrobe and aside from Black Score, Saint Kidd is up there with my fave's. And if you don't mind me saying, I do believe that a wee Saint Kidd number would look absolutely fabulous teamed with a pair of basic reformed Levi shorts this summer.. Don't agree? You clearly have no taste. Anyway, aside from their t-shirts, Saint Kidd also have their 'Trinkets' and 'Curiosities' which are built upon a selection of bracelets, necklaces, bags etc; you get the idea. Well out of this lot, I am dying for the 'Saint Kidd Skull Bracelet' to definitely bring out my darker side, gotta love a bit of fashion personality contrast! So yea, check 'em out for yourself, their blog's pretty cool too! And Dougie, I know you're just shy, so don't you worry I'll just keep waiting patiently till you're ready for me. Love you always. xo
Click here to visit the Saint Kidd website. Happy shopping! :)

Dougie himself in the 'Freedom or Death' tee - £32

*cough* Marry me?

'Saint Kidd Skull Bracelet' - £25

Festival Chic at Rockness

Again apologies. I have been such a busy bumble bee and this clearly is shown on here. But I PROMISE, I am back and ready to blog. Ok, so last weekend I attended the music festival Rockness. Being a skint student and whatnot I worked with Festaff which turned out I only had to work fourteen hours doing wristbanding and then I had the rest of the weekend to get a little tiddly and dance my troubles away, all for the cost of a tenner; sounds like a fair deal eh? Anyway, seeing as it was held in the Highlands, I had my doubts as to what to expect with the weather and packed a selection of outfits. However, I was completely flabbergasted when Inverness started hitting out with rays of sunshines as hot as 23 degrees.. Ooh la la, c'est tres chaud! So yea, I got my festival chic on to rock the weekend away, which even resulted in me getting snapped for the cover of one of the local newspapers.. No biggie, just your ordinary highland style icon (I JOKE), but no seriously, I enjoyed my five minutes of fame, even if it wouldn't quite reach down to Glasgow! So I had my friend snap some shots of me in my festival gear and just to warn you I'm not really that vain it was just a bit of fun and just to give all you future festivalers a few ideas! F.Y.I, all of you who are going to T in the Park this year, I am insanely jealous and I may need to hunt you down and cry in your face! Anyway, here goes, my day by day festival looks.

Day 1: Thursday, staff training and camp set up

I decided as this wasn't a day of major importance I would take advantage of my skint student factors and do some fashion recycling. My dress is from Topshop last year and was a little favourite of mine last year at TITP. I teamed this with a gold chain necklace from Topshop which I purchased this year and burgundy knee high socks I got in Tokyo last year. The wellies are of course Hunters, the essential festival accessory. and my headband which I stole for the entire weekend off my friend is from Accessorize. My sunglasses are a pair of Primark cheapies, I didn't want to be destroying any nicey nice pairs and finally my leather scrunchy on my wrist is from Urban Renewal.

Day 2: Friday, Vintage and Thrift Shop themed day

Being a lover of anything and everything vintage, you can only imagine how excited I was by the chosen theme for the Friday of Rockness. However, due to the fact I was working 8-6 I decided to keep it simple yet still undoubtedly fabulous. This dress is from Urban Renewal and it's one of my favourites! The fabric like everything vintage is just outta this world and the dress in itself is actually one of the only shirt dresses that sits so perfectly without awkward bunching or that little bit too short for a glimpse of a bum cheek to give a guest appearance! Following the colour theme, yes my hair matches too, I added my burgundy socks, again from Tokyo. The daisy headband remained on my head for the duration of the festival as did my gold chain necklace. I loved this wee ensemble, however it was definitely not one for getting down and dirty in, so thank god for the glorious sunshine!

Day 3: Saturday, Example raving with flowers in my hair

I only worked 4 hours on the Saturday so got to enjoy basically the whole day, however sadly missed Steve Aoki due to a last minute act swap; sad times! Anyway, Saturday's outfit consisted of one of my favourite wee summer garments at the moment; my little denim, lace-up back dress from Topshop. I teamed this with a simple white tee from Topshop underneath and of course the gold chain necklace and daisy headband. I topped it off with my hunters and a pair of grey knee high socks. However, and I'm not pleased to admit this, I furthered this with a pair of peace earrings from...... Primark. Yes, Primark. I'm poor ok, the shop makes me feel physically sick. But desperate times called for desperate measures! Wow, looking at this now though I look like Topshop threw up on me, so lets pretend that you don't know exactly where everything came from, agreed?

Day 4: Sunday, not showered since Thursday but hey ho, I'ma rock it

So Sunday I had the whole day to enjoy the sunshine and dehydrate myself with excessive amounts of vodka, but aside from that I also had the whole day to strut about in the last of my festival looks. Please excuse the ugly face pose I'm not quite sure what's going down, maybe I was already slightly worse for wear. So following the Topshop spewy look I teamed my denim Topshop skirt and grey cropped top from Topshop together to give a rather neutral festival look in contrast to the vintage day. Following this I added the usual gold chain necklace and daisy headband and furthermore the excessively oversized peace earrings. To top this off however, I ditched the Hunters and traded them in for Vans. Whilst on this topic, I know I am not graced with the skinniest of pins but please, just humor me on this one! Anyway, Sunday's weather was absolutely fabulous and I have the sunburn to prove it! However, as it got colder I changed my ankle socks for grey knee highs and added a vintage jumper on top in a variation of red's etc (previously blogged about the jumper its a beauty from ASOS marketplace) to complete my look whilst stay warm. Unfortunately due to the patheticness of an iPhone battery I couldn't snap this look, so if you would like to see it you're going to need to let your imagination run wild! 

For all of you lucky enough to be festivaling it up this summer, have an amazing time and hope you have as much fun planning your wardrobe as I did! Happy summer! 

Back with a Zara Retract

I know I have been a very unfaithful blogger with a serious lack of commitment and posting, however I have had a billion trillion things of coursework and exams and other yucky uni stuff like that to complete and hand in. But it's officially the beginning of my summer and I am back and ready to post! I have been collecting a various selection of things to post about, however I'm going to start simple and plain and kick off with a retract on my previous post about Zara; 'Bag a Beauty at Zara'. This post showered appraisal for Zara's beautiful bags, however, fell short in compliments with regard to the fit and look of Zara's clothing when put on. Well, last weekend I went into Zara and as usual everything looked pristine and perfect and the newest line of their summer collection was stunning and full of life. Feeling wary about how the garments I picked up would look on, I proceeded anyway. I'm not one for admitting I'm wrong but at this moment, I feel it necessary. I left Zara with a patterned shirt and an absolutely gorgeous white maxi dress with a thin band running the width of the front of the dress at the waist in aztec print. - This is my ultimate piece for Tokyo, its a beauty! Anyway, I'm also ordering a pair of cream shorts online as they didn't have them in my size. (officially a small, thankyou fast diet) Aside from the clothes being absolutely gorgeous, they all don't bare a ridiculously big price tag, which definitely won me over due to my non-existent job at present. So yea, what I'm trying to say is, I've definitely changed my opinion on the clothes in Zara and I can now with confidence say, the beauty goes beyond the bags. So I advise you get yourself down to Zara and pick up some summer snazzies, cos with their rate of fast fashion, you don't want to be missing out! Click here to go to the Zara website. Happy shopping! :)

'Long Grecian Dress'- £29.99

My Tokyo dream this summer, so in love!