Cath Kidston

So I thought I would write a wee post on Cath Kidston seeing as they have ever so kindly given me a wee christmas temp job. I've always been familiar with Cath Kidston and I think everyone who is aware of the brand will most popularly familiarise it with their beautiful rose prints. However, I want to more focus on the rapid expansion of this company as it is excessively impressive to say the least. 

Cath Kidston established her company in a small store in Holland Park, London in 1994 selling mainly home goods such as cushion covers, ironing board covers and whatnot, all in her renowned 'rose bouquet' print. Simultaneously she also stocked second hand furniture and home goods which she made her own with her comforting, country style prints. Kidston initially used vintage fabrics to create her products, further making her nostalgic brand infamous for its vintage-meet-modern interpretation. Cath Kidston has always strived to portray English heritage and a sense of country life through her patterns and products and this has been emphasised indefinitely with patterns such as 'Classic Rose' and a variety of patterns stemming from inspiration of her dog, Stanley. 
As the brand image grew so did the products; and today Cath Kidston sell from wallpapers to dresses to handbags and everything in between. In the past twenty years of the brands continuing lifespan, Cath Kidston has grown from the one single store in Holland Park to stores worldwide with a mass situation in Asia. Japan alone has over thirty stores and Japan being such a fashion orientated country, Cath babes, take a seat and pop the bubbly; it's time for you to celebrate! 
So if you are a complete vintage-meet-modern gal like myself and love those cosy, country, home essentials you need to get yourself involved with some Cath Kidston goodies. Whether it be some 'Antique Rose Bouquet' duvet covers or even just some ditsy, floral accessories, Cath Kidston will provide you with some beauties. What's even better? Santa Clause is already stocking his sleigh and Cath Kidston makes perfect gifts for christmas. So come on you country gals take a wander down to Cath Kidston and find some home comforts in life's little necessities.
Love and Roses. 

Feelin' this as my Xmas jumper this year

Cath Kidston - Father Christmas Jumper - £70

Click here to view all the Cath Kidston goodies!

Lie Sang Bong

Lie Sang Bong; even his name is fabulous. I became infatuated with this Korean designer when I gained a deeper knowledge into his work during my stay in Tokyo this summer. His expressive, rich designs are completely mesmerising and I simply just had to find out more about the man behind the seams.
Lie Sang Bong is a prime example of the reason for my obsession with the fashion industry. He emerged into the industry back in 1993 with his first collection 'The Reincarnation' which was presented at Seoul Fashion Week. After recognition and admiration for his bold, flawless talent,  Lie Sang Bong continued on to make his debut in Paris in 2002 with his collection 'The Lost Memoir'. The success of this collection was remarkable, leaving Lie Sang Bong situated in Paris, where he has remained ever since.
I am going to take you through some of Lie Sang Bong's past collections to fully express his raw talent. Firstly, let us go back to S/S11 as Lie Sang Bong's S/S11 collection was utterly and profoundly, stunning.
The collection opens with a model possessing legs so perfect you never even want to smell chocolate fudge cake again, exploiting an exquisite, off-white, one-piece bodice. Attention to detail is critical here as Lie Sang Bong demonstrates perfect fabric overlay in organic, smooth shapes, making the garment simply magnificent. The collection then carries on with it's gentle aesthetics, bragging neutral tones in cut away dresses, however, this is contrasted with geometric shapes with straight cuts and lines of the garments; a perfectly understated contrast. The collection then moves into a more masculine-meet-feminine approach with fitted suit trousers, skirts and blazers. The blazers feature plummeting necklines and belted at the waist to enhance the female form and play against the masculinity perfectly. In contrast to the harshness of the strong shouldered blazers, Lie Sang Bong also shows fabulous flouncy skirts and dresses which are mesmerising to watch in movement. He moves onto bring forth an oriental interpretation with a select few garments demonstrating beautiful, intricate patterns and oriental style necklines. However, he brings this aspect to the collection minimally at a time, as if to keep the audience enticed. 
Undoubtedly Lie Sang Bong is a genius when it comes to movement. His designs are literally a vision to watch as they move so elegantly down the runway with feathered, fabric overlay and extensive, protruding fabric to the sides of the garment; it is simply mesmerising to watch. Lie Sang Bong brings further contrast to this collection with a dark and alluring mood as black, bold garments come to play in this collection. My favourite look of this collection, view it at 9 mins 35 secs on video below, demonstrates raw, dark, beauty with a ballerina-esque black, net overlay skirt teamed with an undeniably stunning jacket. The jacket is literally perfect; held shut with a thin belt to enhance the waist and give a dangerously low neckline exposing the female form. The jacket possesses a gentle feathered pattern in white and grey creating the most fabulous finish to the garment. The collection continues on with the colour theme of contrasting black and white and the renowned feather pattern creates stunning intricacy on many of the garments. Finally, the collection comes to a finish with a colour splash of crimsons, corals, purples and creams, detailed with blacks, to tie together the masterpieces that have been presented before us. A stunning silk red, black and white dress emerges, 12 mins, 34 secs on youtube video, reintegrating the oriental aspects to the collection. Ending the collection is a beautiful floating maxi dress, fully embracing the burst of colours and demonstrating an elegant black neck cuff, it itself is a work of art and a perfect end to the collection. The collection on a whole is beyond beautiful and underpinned with an understated sex appeal, all together creating something magnificent.
Anyway, what I have just babbled on about for half your life is literally only half the collection and some of my favourite aspects. Please have a wee looksie at the video below to fully understand and appreciate the beauty of this collection.

Lie Sang Bong S/S11 Collection 

Ok, I will try keep this short and sweet as I know I pretty much just wrote you a short story there, but it is undeniable, when I fall in love with a designer, I find it rather difficult to shut my big mouth. However, I feel it is a necessity I give credit to Lie Sang Bong's F/W02 collection. This collection SCREAMS sex appeal. Literally. The runway is red, the background is red, the curtains are red. And on that runway stride models dressed in black, seductive yet stunning garments. I LOVE IT. This collection is so gorgeous yet swimming with promiscuity you literally can't take your eyes off it. Cut, shape, fabric, you name it, Lie Sang Bong has mastered it. With only a few garments swaying from the colour black, Lie Sang Bong creates such a fluidity, yet keeping you embraced and eager as to what will be presented next. 2002 was Lie Sang Bong's year, it established him as a designer in Paris and it's no wonder it did. His bold and risky designs are why I love the fashion industry; it is unpredictable and captivating. 

I'll stop babbling and let you do the rest yourself. Click here to go to Lie Sang Bong's website and check out all his collections and even find out more about him. I hope you love him as much as I do. If you don't well I just don't know. Over and out. x

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