How To Be Fashion-ival

It’s that time of year again. If you listen hard enough you can practically hear the swill of cider coming from paper cups and screaming fans. You can feel the ground vibrating from the numerous amps and smell the burger vans…. Festival season is upon us people.

With Glastonbury now getting underway, it’s the fashion worlds time to move focus from the red carpets and glamorous parties to an keep eye on who and what is trudging through the fields and puddles; as the trendsetters don their wellies and mandatory glitter paint to keep in trend this festival season.

Glastonbury is only the beginning, followed by an array of festivals this summer some of you may be wondering what to stuff into your back pack along with your tent. Well, here is a quick guide to what you can find amongst the crowds and in the tents this summer…

1)      If I Were a Boy: Denim Knee Skimmers.

Throw aside the obligatory denim short shorts, and slip on these for a fresh spin on the hot pant look. Being slightly above the knee they give a boyish casual twist to the festival scene this season. They are cool, as well as being gloriously comfortable and have zero risk of exposing any bum cheek whilst you are sat on someone’s shoulders singing your heart out.

2)      We Love the 90s: Button Through Dress

Whizz back to the 90s with this piece, either by pairing it with some trainers (or ‘kicks’, as some of your may refer to them as, I just can't), or doing a cheeky layered number by unbuttoning the dress to the waist and adding some shorts underneath (PLEASE remember the shorts – I don't want to be related to anything untoward).

 

    

3)      Pastel Peepers: Colour Pop Dessert Boots

Brown gladiator sandals or black biker boots? Pah, keep up. This seasons footwear has evolved to the cheerful and sweet, with ice cream palettes taking over. A nice addition to any of the outfits mentioned, and makes the ground looks like it’s being trampled over by an army of Smarties.

4)      Hawaii Five 0: Tropical Co-ords

It’s time to bury the Boho and say aloha to Hawaii; as pineapples, palm trees and wigged out hibiscus prints come into play. Not only looking like a more fabulous Ace Ventura, but the Hawaiian vibe helps bring the sunshine when the English weather doesn’t. Top marks if you don the dolphin short co-ord, you don’t get more tropical than that.

                   

5)      5-a-side: Sporty Tee Dresses

Beyoncé loves them, Rhianna lives in them, so now the nation is wearing them. Potentially the most trending dress shape at the moment, you can pick up one of these sporty numbers in most high street retailers going. Not only is this in fashion, but it’s also extremely practical. Predominantly just being an oversized t-shirt, you can easily chuck some leggings on underneath should the weather take a nasty turn and decide to try and ruin your effortlessly fabulously festival look.

 

 

6)      Singing In the Rain: The Rain Mac

No word of a lie, the rain mac is making a huge comeback this festival season (about time). Coming in transparent fabrics and sporty shapes, you can put this over anything you put on that day and still be on trend; here’s praying to the return of the mack in a sack!

So whether it’s at Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading or V; slip on your willies or 'kicks' (just can't take that word seriously, as you skip through the fields of glory this festival season; looking like Ace Ventura in smartie boots, who is WELL protected from the rain.
 

Time Warp

The 90s provided us with us with many amenities we still include in our day to day business. Gel pens, scrunchies, mood rings, slinkies... all help to keep the cognitive motions that helps this earth spin today. I don't know how many times I've thought "god, I really don't know how to feel today... HANG ON, let me just refer to my index finger", or needed a pen that was both luminous pink and smelt overwhelmingly of ripened strawberries. The 90s really brought the 21st century to what it is today.

An area that is always questioned about the 90s however is it's trending fashions. Living in the shadows of the extrovert 80s, it has always been slightly overlooked. Let's just have a quick whizz over what the 90s brought to us in terms of livery....

Double pleated back to front trousers; for when you forgot how to dress yourself.



The beauty of Hawaiian print, because nothing is more flattering than neon colours and massive palm trees. 
 

Space suits which actually looked like they were formed from duc tape

White and gold. SASSY.

 Jackie Chan, just owning the 90s (and that pose).



 

However, there is one decade connoisseur that would disagree about the nineties. Someone that would go as far as to say that the decade as an era left no mark on the fashion world. Hadley Freeman (writer for the Guardian) wrote a pretty scathing article on the subject, which you can find here. So I countered this, and you can read my response to her ill-researched and nonsensical article here.

Have a look back and form your own thoughts on the 90s trends. All I can say is....

The Ethical Calculator: How Much Does It Really Cost?

Capitalism and consumerism are by their very nature, exploitive. The majority of us are both subject to and guilty of it, from purchasing a multi pack of socks from Primark or bulk buys online. They may not be costing us much, but this in turn means that somewhere down the line it is costing someone.

Without meaning to urinate over anyones chips, when we succumb (and I have done, I hold up my hands) to these oh-my-god-that's-such-a-great-deal-i'm-buying-one-in-every-colour moments, someone else that has played their part in creating this wondrous garment for you is ultimately paying the price.

It may not be the first thing that pops into our minds when we find a good bargain, but how can it possible for a t-shirt or dress to cost less than a cup of coffee? When you really take into consideration the amount of people that are actually involved in it's production; from the cotton growers to the shipping workers.

Having there been a multi-billion year deal just agreed in the export of uzbek cotton, it is now more than ever that some attempt to change the mind frame we hold as consumers needs to be made. Uzbeck cotton is to be exported from Bangladesh and produced using forced adult and child labour. The cotton industry is massive, valued at $32 billion every year, and the production of it should ideally be improving people lives. However, this material (also known as 'white gold') often brings misery to those who have no other choice but to work in an area that exploits their basic human rights, all so we can get more bang for our buck.

There are some canaries down the mine; such as the EJF (Enviromental Justice Foundation) who are trying to raise awareness through their cotton campaign (I urge you all to submit into 'asking your retailer to action', come ON TopShop), and the work of eco troopers such as Lily Cole helps to remind us all that the battle is not lost yet. Having returned earlier in the year from India, where Cole followed a supply of a sustainably produced t-shirt, from the hand cultivation of organic cotton right through to the factory built out of recycled materials. It's encouraging to read comments from an international model such as "why should we buy 20 items, and pay them next to nothing, when we could buy one or two and pay them fairly?" which she so delicately quoted to the Guardian in a recent interview. Lily's optimism is endearing yet sadly lost in a society that is more willing to spend £20 on a round of jeagerbombs, than paying the fair price for a pair of jeans.

Cole is not the only one, you can read more on the ethical diamonds of the fashion sector here, informing you of those who are carrying us through this long, slow but worthy slog.

For years fashion has been an extrovert and outlandish realm, it’s always been about turning those heated bulbs of the spotlights and making sure they focus on you. If you look back to my very first blog post, I mention that at my first fashion week I witnessed one girl standing in the middle of the entrance to Somerset House, in the most ridiculous outfit she could clearly pull from designers whilst wearing shoes with platforms so big you could start building the foundations to a small house with them... but all eyes were on her. It was a battle of the bloggers to get her picture, with brawls and riots taking place to get to her. So I just stood back and merged into the background, in my charity shop bought shirt and wax jacket, kind of hoping that if I tried hard enough I’d eventually merge with the bricks behind me. Having never been one for show (I used to make my mum park round the corner from my school when she dropped me off, as our car was a red that was so vibrant animals actually ran away from it) yet having always been interested in fashion, I have often wondered where I can buy this jarred self-confidence from.  However, little did I know then when I was trying to become half girl, half wall that I could soon count myself as part of a new fashion movement slowly taking over known as ‘normcore’. 

I’ve googled extensively where the name ‘normcore’ actually came from for this emerging trend. Is it a combination of normal and encore? Or a way of expressing being normal from your very core? Nobody actually knows, and It’s a pretty shit word. I find it hard to take a motion seriously when the name sounds like it’s been put together by people just shouting words at each other and hoping for the best. However, the idea of ‘normcore’ is the idea of blending in. It’s about the rejection of the exhibition that fashion can lead us to and becoming a ‘blank canvas’..... It’s so uncool, it’s cool. It’s function over fashion, it’s choosing to not make a statement so much so that you are making one…. make any sense? 

What is it that makes ‘normcore’ what it is then? Think your Dad dressed for doing house jobs on a Saturday. It’s about the non descript, the completely ordinary, the un obvious and the practical. For example of this idea slowly seeping it’s way into fashion; heels are a out this season, and there is nothing more fashionable than keeping your foot horizontal. As Stella McCartney delicately puts “there is something about having the confidence to wear a shoe that is not 10 inches tall that sends a message” and that sums up normcore, it’s having the confidence to not have to be extravagant and far out in an industry that relies on being so, and it’s that that proves just how fashionable you actually are. 

With fashion being a pretty fickle industry, where majority it’s not what you know it’s who you know and what you wear, it’s somewhat refreshing for a movement to be going forward that focuses on substance over style rather than the other way round. In an age where the idea of ‘fashion’ has become overwhelmingly popular, where we are drowning in celebrity endorsements and trends, style has become what I like to call ‘photocopy fashion'... we just reproduce it rather than discover it.

However the movement of normcore opposes this. It’s the same as how minimalism came about as a reaction to abstract expressionism, just because you don’t paint the most intricate picture doesn’t mean you appreciate the subject any less. It’s more than a fashion trend, it’s a remark on the idea of fashion itself, and sewing the seeds that perhaps you don’t need to be obviously fashionable to actually appreciate it.

Birkenstock is footwear brand of the year, Veronika Heilbrunner regularly wears running tops and nike socks, and Steve Jobs is a normcore icon. It may have a uninspiring title, but the concept itself is the total opposite, and turns the idea of fashion on top of itself. Making me wonder not am I fashionable enough to be in this industry.... but am I normal enough to prove my worth?

So move over Lady Gaga in your carcass adorned dress and shift aside that peachy bum Kimmy K and your Louboutin dressed feet; and hello Adidas socks, hello black polo necks, hello comfortable footwear.... and welcome to fashion. 

The Little Market.

Saturday morning, and my 9 am alarm goes off. Alarm set on a Saturday? This can only mean one thing… either my mother is visiting and she's decided to catch a train before the sun rises again, or free food is on the horizon.

Thanks to my thrifty housemate we had bagged free tickets to 'The Little Market', a free food festival. Where we would enjoy a free meal, free drink, and free tasters amongst browsing the food you could actually purchase. Now, I am having trouble affording to wash my face at the moment, so immediately hopped on this opportunity to fill my scrimping boots and see what The Little Market had to offer.

The oracle of all things cheese.

This wonder emporium of costless delights could be found in the midst of East London, just off Brick Lane. Upon arriving at the market, soggy on exterior but not dampened in spirit thanks to the prospect of a free breakfast, we were greeted by individual stalls specialising in chocolates and cheeses, reims of fairy lights and the area peppered with hay stacks that yummy mummies could allow their toddlers to clamber all over. Making our way to the chocolate stall first, we went to get our nibble on. After a short speech about the amazing quality, intense flavour and pocket pleasing price of the chocolate, I realised that the chocolate was actually the same as what was sold in a popular european supermarket.

Look at those cleverly placed butternuts. 

Still, we moved on, and what is the best way to follow chocolate? With cheese. Hang on though, the same cheese and oatcakes that are from the same supermarket as the chocolate? Suspicious. After closer investigation, everything in the market was indeed from the supermarket we had recognised the chocolate from. The baker selling muffins and croissants at steal prices of 59p, the butcher selling cuts of beef, the delicatessen selling olives and sun-dried tomatoes, all from the same place. We decided to target one of the stalls providing us with our free meal, 'Sandy and Sals', and decided to grill them. After thinking on my feet and asking them an extremely intense series of questions, consisting of 'do you specialise in salads?' and 'is this organic?' I got to the real nitty gritty. Slyly asking where they buy their produce from, they skirted round the question and answered 'everyone in the market gets there produce from the same place', BINGO. 'So you mean (insert name of supermarket)?' I asked, feeling like me my friend were the modern female equivalent to Starsky and Hutch; all we needed were flares. They repeated the same answer as they gave before. I tried once more, same response.

Starsky and Hutch

How does any of this relate to the above definition of 'perception' I put at the beginning I hear you ask? Upon leaving the market, unsure whether to be outraged or impressed by this whole facade, we learnt that they were actually filming for a TV advert, trying to change certain perceptions that have been hanging over the supermarket. We came to realise that this was indeed, genius. When you looked at the clientele walking around, it was extremely different to whom you would stereotypically expect to see walking around the supermarket itself. The one in question is actually known as a 'deep discount' supermarket chain, meaning it's aimed at low income groups. This however sadly means that a lot of people preconceive an image of the quality of goods you would buy from there, thus having a chain reaction on who buys. The reactions of people in the market when they realised that their goods were not from the bakery of the kind faced man passing over their paper carrier bag, but the store behind the logo that was sneakily placed upon it, were of both shock and amazement.

From the reactions of those purchasing, clearly there is a typical view held. It certainly highlights how presumptions can hold us back from trying outside of what we are accustom to. It's a good way to prompt your thinking on how certain presumptions you've made about things have prevented you in some way. However, the store trying to beat this is actually one of the fastest expanding retail companies in Europe. In the 12 weeks to 25th May of this year they saw their highest ever achievement in growth, going up from 3% to 3.6% year on year. Today they have stores that can be found in nearly every country in Europe and there are plans to take this outside of  Europe and build in locations such as Canada, Australia and Mexico. However, does continuous success mean that the perception of it really needs to be changed at all? Was  The Little Market really 'challenging perceptions', or being used as another way for this multi-billion pound company to keep climbing the profit ladder….?

 As for the store itself…. have you guessed it yet?

When In Doubt, Read a Knitted Quote

CAN BE FOUND AT THE SAACHI GALLERY, TOP FLOOR. 

Over The Hills and Far Away...

“How do you doing fancy the London 2 Brighton challenge with me for charity? All we have to do is walk it” said my friend.

“How far is it?” said I.

“A mere 100km” said she.

“Just walk it?” said I.

“Just walk it!” said she.

“LET’S WALK IT” said us both.

How young, foolish, and slightly drunk we both were.

On the 24th and 25th of May, me and a pal decided to take on the challenge of walking from London to Brighton, that’s from Richmond Park to Brighton Race Course. That’s 100km. That’s 62.5 miles. That’s a long, long old way. 

#wildduck

As delightful as walking the distance may sound, conjuring images of us sauntering along the british countryside, pointing at the hills and cooing at the sheep. You don’t get to sleep, (something I really didn’t consider when agreeing), there is a lot of up hill, therefore a lot of downhill, and it rained... a lot.

I’d love to be able to do a breakdown of how we felt at each 10km, but as a result of either exhaustion or misery, I really can’t remember. It will have been one of those two things though. I’d love to tell you that the experience was life changing; having completed some soul searching and put the worlds to right, whilst taking in the glorious british countryside, with the fresh air having filled our lungs and filtered the smog that London has infected us with out. Perhaps even leaving the challenge thinking ‘I shall never take transport again! I shall only need my walking boots from now on!’... and then maybe even joining a rambling society. 

JUST LOOK AT THAT VIEW

Alas, no. Instead we were left feeling broken, damp and numb. Shells of our former selves. We in fact wouldn’t be using anything but walking boots again, as our feet had swollen inside them so they were now fused to our ankles.I’d forgotten a time when I wasn’t walking, If such a thing had even existed.

However, the one positive we could muster from the experience (bar the sensational variety of free snacks, at no other time in my life will a snickers bar, packet of mini cheddars and hunk of red Leicester seem acceptable at 3 am in the morning whilst being completely sober), but it was the money and awareness we had each raised for our chosen charities.

So whilst we were ambling away; at 4 am in the morning, knee deep in mud and me clinging onto a branch I’d adopted on route (because it made me feel like Gandalf when he does that “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” in the first Lord of the Ring film) I went through the slightly delirious thought process of other reasons we were doing this to ourselves. 

We all on some level like to be challenged. Whether it is in the gym, in our work, or personal life, we like to see how far we can push ourselves. The sense of achievement and pride from obtaining goals we didn’t think we could hit is a feeling that is hard to replicate. I can whole heartedly say that completing this challenge was one of the biggest achievements of my life, having very nearly thrown down my Gandalf stick and ordered a taxi a dozen times. It wasn’t only the physical aspect that was challenging, but it was mainly the mental; which felt quite in keeping with the charity I was walking for. Alzheimer's Society is a fantastic charity, that is not only very close to my heart, but it provides support and helps those whom suffer from the mental challenge of Alzheimer's and dementia everyday. The charity had recently tweeted prior to the walk, which had really hit home with me, stating “it’s not forgetting your keys - it’s forgetting what your keys are for”.. and this, somehow, kept my feet moving.

I NEED YOU

Yes, YOU.

Not clever enough to super impose my face on it, imagine me looking really stern. 

Not a desperate plea for attention (although it's my next step from Tinder), I'm after female writers to contribute weekly to a page on this blog. Like the weather, the topic will change weekly and range from opinion on hard hitting news stories to your thoughts on what Rihanna wasn't wearing last night. Apply here, don't be shy.

Let Me Take A Selfie

 

 

To get the ball rolling on this brand spanking new blog of mine, I'm going be really lazy and recycle an old post about selfies. 





Me and a pal keeping it real in Barce



Let's set the scene, it's a week day night, we'll say around 9pm. You're tired, grumpy, and let's face it, look a little bit like shit. You've been working all day, your make up is half wiped off your face, your mascara has done that thing where it looks like it's decaying under your eyes, and your hair is tied up in what a friend of mine likes to call a 'donkey bollock' on top of your head. If you're anything like me you're wearing baggy grey tracksuit bottoms, a baggy t-shirt (one that could substitute as a tent for a family of 4) and slippers my Grandmother would turn her nose up at.

Which is why, it BAFFLES me, that when I log into my Facebook or swipe through my Instagram feed at this time, that at least one person will have uploaded a selfie of themselves; make up in tact, pout perfected, cleavage out and stating  how 'rough' they look, likely followed by a 'haha' to just highlight how utterly hilarious the situation is

You don't look rough. You know you don't look rough. You also know you don't look rough because of the groupies that will then continue to comment and condone this behavior by making remarks such as 'no you don't babe <3' or 'gorgeous as ever'. If I tried to do something similar on a Wednesday night, donkey bollock standing tall, I can imagine comments would be more along the lines of 'WHY GOD WHY?!?!' or 'Who's the old woman?'.

Now I'm not bitter (I am, I clearly am) that some girls can maintain a high standard of care for themselves throughout the day without a hair moving out of place or a slight nipple slip from their strategically low cut top, however my question is where does this relentless energy to look sexy all the time come from?? And to be quite honest.... why?!

Now I joke about my coming in from work and morphing into something that should be living under a bridge guarding it from goats, but it's honestly as if the moment I step in the front door my clothes suddenly morph into some form of skin irritant and I just have to quickly be in my tent top. It's my happy place.

Maybe it's a different mind set, or maybe I am just bloody lazy. However some peoples constant perseverance for perfection and appreciation really makes me ask and wonder their motives behind it. It's the girl who has taken a selfie from her bed about to 'doze off', still with fake eyelashes on. It's the girl in the gym sweating it out on the tread mill, but also sweating out her just applied foundation and eyeliner. It's the girl dressed to the nines, taking a selfie of herself looking 'sad' at a FUNERAL. WHO ACTUALLY DOES THAT AT A FUNERAL?! (There is genuinely a tumblr page dedicated to these people).

You guys.

There could be many reasons for this, it could be because of that slight high we get when we try with our appearance, knowing we look good and get that glorious inebriated feeling, and this could just be how they want to feel all the time (it is nice to feel nice after all). It could be something more deep rooted and a signifier of the pressure we can feel from the media, being constantly surrounded by air brushed celebrities who look flawless on the mail online being 'caught' going to the shops. I mean, I hate it when I'm caught going to Lidl in a full face of make-up, having just got a spray tan and my hair done, so bloody awkward when I just look so dam good.

If it is because of external pressures that some girls feel the need to flaunt themselves as this constantly sexier than Jessica Rabbit persona, then IT is a sad fact of today that females feel under pressure to prove their worth by seeking for these social media highs. There is no harm in looking good and wanting to share it with the world, you aren't hurting anybody. However, if you do do it just for the simple fact that you know you look good, maybe you have an ex boyfriend that you want to show what he's missing (imagine that in a sassy voice please), or maybe you're just quite vain, then if you're going to do it STOP lying to everyone. The fact you've posted the picture shows that  you don't think you look as rough as you've stated. You're clearly a confident person, so why not just go the whole hog and say 'it's 9 pm and I've still made the effort to look as good as I did when I woke up this morning". If not then please stop inundating my time line with your lies.

If you are one of these culprits, this genuinely was not meant to offend you. It was just an attempt to clarify why some people feel the need to do this, and to maybe reinstate that you don't need to. Without risk of sounding like a life coach, girls do not not need to be sexy ALL the time, but if you feel the need to do so and also promote it, then perhaps ask yourself why?