While I'm sure 2009 has been lovely for some people, this year hasn't been the greatest for me, which if I'm honest is entirely my fault. I don't think I've appreciated the wonderful friends I have or the opportunities that have presented themselves to me enough yet. That being said, this year I have met some amazing new people (shout to fitzwilliam xx) and realised how much I love my friends here in london. It's been a good year for getting back in contact with cousins, old friends and family, but because of that, I realised how much time I have wasted without these people in my life.
All I can say is next year will be amazing. Mostly because I've just realised how bad I was at being a nice person this year. Get ready, as of tomorrow I'm going to be the most amazing human.. EVER.
Other than jesus *crosses self, hopes for salvation*
Larry just told me something amazing. She found out that the kid Jethro from Southfields who used to throw chairs at teachers and call them bitches is a model now. And according to Vogue Homme Japan, and i-D he's now an "It Boy".
WHAT?!
Mind=Blown.
Like Larry said:
Straight up, I guess that's karma for you. Then again, Jethro didn't do much to earn karma from my vague and distant memories of him... But having a rockstar dad and cool hair can work miracles in this world...
Mad. But at least now I can say, I USED TO BARELY KNOW SOMEONE LIKE A DECADE AGO WHO IS NOW ON JAK&JIL. And to be fair, even though I just did not know the boy, I'm glad for him. He used to help Jamila collect dead bees from around the trees at the edge of the playground for burial, perhaps that's where the good karma came from...
To anyone who believes themselves capable...
I present a challenge/request/plea.
Who can make me a little bustier much like this one from Claire Incorruptible, complete with the lovely leather-like tassles hanging down? I'll pay. Promise. Perhaps a quarter of the payment will be made in muffins or fudge, but still...
After falling in love with Claire Inc's vintage pieces featured on Style Bubble I had to have a sneak peek for myself. MMMM 90's goodness. After a very successful christmas where I got a whole load of late 80's-90's inspired pieces, I'm looking to expand my collection of 80's/90's clothing paraphernalia.. So, if anyone feels they may know of a pattern/system whereby one could make such a piece of beauty, let me know. I'd be up for trading, paying, cooking, begging for it.
Finally, after being robbed of true internet for the past 5 days, I've managed to hunt down some decent resolution photos of wunderkind Christopher Kane's S/S10 Resort collection. After seeing a teeny tiny jpeg on my blackberry, I was like 'HOLYCRAP WHY AM I SO LATE ON THIS?!'
But, Sweet Lord it was worth waiting for. It's like beautiful candy for the eyes. Kane returns again to his standard unisex shapes in classically cut square tees and strangely flattering calf length vest dresses, all cut beautifully and printed with soon-to-be-iconic images. I'm in love with both the pureline collection, and the sweet collab with Opening Ceremony on the atomic bomb print tee. I'd happily fork out shipping charges just to get my hands on that.
Unfortunately the only photos I could get of the O.C collab tees are horrible... A disgustingly attractive yet not attractive at all couple have way too much fake fun in front of a white screen.. ugh.
Still, that t-shirt is beautiful.
Anyway, after being infected with the need to hunt down more photos of stuff people have probably been spying on for half the year already, I found some yummy photos of THAT biker jacket, cut in some impossibly soft looking sheer fabric. Sheer, check. Awesome Print, check. Badass in everyway? Checkcheckcheckcheckcheck*spazzes*.
NUMNUMNUM.
Also, is it just me, or are these the most lovely trousers made on earth? They're such a lovely length. Everyone would be able to see your amazing kicks/heels depending on the occasion.. Plus, I'm guessing they'd be soft as helllll.
The Michael Hoppen Gallery is currently hosting the C O L O U R Group Show Exhibition. A group of art photographers who feel that their work is defined by their use of colour show their wonderful work for the next eleven days. I'm on it..
One of my cousins (Elliot, 12) said to me at dinner last night
"Why are you wearing that bra outside of your top?"
I said "because I like how it looks" And to be fair, it was my Sonia Rykiel one, not even a bra that looks particularly like a bra, more just like a big lacy crop top.
He replied with "Oh. I thought it was because the sexual urges had driven you crazy."
The video for JayZ and Mr Hudson's AMAZING Forever Young. When I got the blueprint album I had that song on repeat for like 4 days. Lovee it.
The video is even better, such lovely black and whites, "tasty blacks" as larry would say.
I'm loving the joy that Mr Hudson is clearly taking in singing the last chorus at Alexandra Palace.
Saw Faisal last night for the first time in like 8WEEKS. Ridiculous, he has longer hair that isn't red anymore. STRANGE.
We went out to Zoo, it was okay, we started off the night in a really ridiculous way, cocktail races... Like 4 Long Island Iced Teas and 4 Sex on the Beaches.. downed in races against each other.
I feel ill just thinking about it.
It was good to see friends again though, and dancing to really bad pop music (except the Bad Romance appearance at the end of the night; i bust a nut) and trying to fend off scary Russians was actually pretty fun. Kaishia had many admirers, and got molested at least twice. After typing that I'm realising that shouldn't be funny, but it is.
Some bad photos of shortly after me and faisal won the long island iced tea races (by like 7 seconds, which doesnt sound like much, but go ahead and count 1elephant2elephant etc up to 7. It's a long time.) We won by SO MUCH.
I can't quite figure out what I've done to my poor blog.
This is what happens when you say to your mad "friend"; 'yo, can you funkify my blog please?'
They end up on a flight to spain, leaving you with a fudged up blog and no knowledge of how to fix it. The past two days I've been the definition of a hot mess running around trying to fix this blog and mend my heart. I think I've managed one, at least now you can comment on my posts.
I'm off to bed now, but tomorrow will be MARIEL IS GETTING OVER EX BY DRESSING UP day.
Cue either outfit post and me bragging about my new kicks.
Really, everybody in the world should hate Jamie Cullum. I might be mistaken, but I thought to be famous in music you had to be a) good looking b) edgy and c) be having sex all the time with someone equally attractive. Talent isn't always necessary, not with autotune anyways.
But Jamie Cullum seems to be sneaking back around, and this is unacceptable. I could deal with his live lounge cover of Pharrell's Frontin' because it was sweet in a dorky way, and it's okay for unattractive people to sing sweet dorky songs.
But Jamie Cullum has gone and covered Rih-rih's Dont Stop The Music.
That song is not sweet, or dorky. I had to think about this, is Jamie Cullum allowed to do this?
After much deliberation, no. He is not. No matter how amazing a cover it is. And it is pretty awesome.
A) He is not good looking. He looks a bit like a crap Frodo in an okayish suit. Yes, he seems like a genuinley lovely person, but you can't deny he does look like frodo.
B) He's not edgy. He's always in that same damn suit.
and C) He's dating Sophie Dahl. She's way hotter than him, and like double his size, so even if he was having sex with her ALL the time, nobody wants to imagine that. His face would be like, on par with her belly all the time, and if it was the other way around, she'd probably squash him, or be so high up that she couldn't see him. She'd have to squint.
But despite my raging on him, this is a pretty sweet cover.
And he is trying super hard to be edgy, what with the piano explosions and stuff. Ooo, a famous musician smashing up his instrument during a performance, if that's not new, original and edgy, I don't know what is.
Got tagged for a quiz by Em and Liv from JointJumble , I'm not going to pretend I wasn't super excited.
What is your current obsession?
UGH LADY GAGA. I'm having a full on reaching-dangerious-levels-obsession at the moment. My morning exercise is samba and argentinian tango practice to Bad Romance, So Happy I Could Die and Summerboy.
Evening is running up and down the stairs to Love Game. That super tune is still in my top 3 Gaga songs.
What’s your horoscope and do you relate?
Scorpio. Uh.. I dunno? According to wikipedia, scorpios should be introverted feminine people. And according to some other site I'm meant to be profound, powerful and intense.
I'm cool with that. I reckon I can be profound, intense and feminine at times. Although I don't think I'm introverted...
What are you wearing today?
Ew, don't ask. I'm doing kanji practise, so no effort went in. It was literally, find something on the floor, sniff it, shrug, throw it on;
My rainbow trackies I made for a concert then never wore because they're so badly made with my age old nike sports bra. MMM, it'd be sexy if either garments were clean or fit properly. Baggy trousers and tight crop top, it creates lovely mixture between a like, underboob roll and buttcrack.
Oh and my blanket to keep my tummy warm and hide said roll and buttcrack from the postman.
Just realised how vulgar that was. Please don't judge me.
What is the last thing you bought?
Uhhh... well I got some money from my aunt for my birthday, so I splurged it on some kicks. Yummy for new Nikes, I'm posting some photos next..
What do you think about the person/s who tagged you?
OOOH, I haven't seen emma and livvy since yonks ago at the 237 bus stop, well actually about 2 and a half months ago. Both are really sweet girls who I regret not spending more time with. Once I'm done kanji-ing and mourning my lack of free time I'm on for a chiswick reunion at all star lanes student nights x
What’s for dinner?
Fried chicken, what else? Parents are out and I've learned to deep fry things in a wok. Hell.to.the.Yeah.
What’s your favourite decade, fashion wise?
Uh... Now? It's ridiculous how much fashion has changed since early noughties. So, for this decade, anything goes. What are your must-haves for summer and winter?
Winter = A fan heater from Argos, that £11.99 badboy kept my tootsies warm all term. That and black leather or lace in leggings. For summer, it's got to be a pair of sweet fabric kicks. Leather is too much on your feet in 30 degrees, I know from experience. Also, some really cool friends that won't mind taking a 7 hour journey to a random bit of coast for a week with you.
What would you love to be able to afford? Ah sheesh. So much. My rent, first of all. Then any of the Luella stuff that's cropping up on ebay at the moment. Or a vintage moschino belt. Been perving over all the people who have them on beautiful tumblrs. What is your favourite piece of clothing from your wardrobe?
Ummm... I reckon it's my sequinned, lurex oversized jacket I got from the ADCTheatre stall at the vintage sale in cambridge. Larry nicknamed it The Theatre Jacket. APT, it has so much drama in it's cape like swooshyness. Describe your personal style?
An attempt to mix the gothic layering from Kingdom of Style's Queen Michelle the ghetto that Lil Kim brings and anything that'll suck in my waist. This style is currently failing miserably and coming pretty close to a colourful but cheap hooker who doesn't want to be a hooker for much longer. Which Beatle is your favourite?
Dude, course it's Macca. That brah wrote some dope beats. What are you proud of? Not to sound arrogant, but a lot. Being my own person, getting fit and healthy again (got my africa abs back), learning how to use heated eyelash curlers without blinding myself, learning to open up to new people and new friendships without losing my roots in laandaan town, getting higher than 10% in my end of term exam and finally accepting that I don't look like Zoe Saldana and probably won't ever.
Oh and begging my way into uni. SO proud of that.
Even though Larry hasn't blogged in TIME I'm gonna name her as the gal to do this quiz next. If she can be arsed. x
okay,
as my advent calendar, I was planning on posting shots I found beautiful on this blog, representing the number of days into december we were.
I failed and forgot.
But unlucky thirteen, seems to be a good place to start? ish.
ooh bobby.
I just won these leather badboys from ebay. I kind of bid on them as a joke at first, but then the red mist took over when I got that e-mail saying "you have been out-bidded!"
So, I went in with a max bid of £15
Mostly because I only have £15 left of my overdraft. I won them for £12.50, which for some super soft high waisted leather lovelies seems pretty good. I hope they're real leather, otherwise I'm going to be super pissed off.
Can't wait to rock these with some sheer tights and a velvet body (roll on christmas).
mmm velvet and leather. It's like if Santa's chief elf had a lovechild with that biker dude out of the Village People.
Wow I can't even begin to comprehend the awesome that such a partnership would beget. I'm hoping the shorts come close.
Bored sitting in traffic so figured I'd turn up the radio. Guess who's on? Nelly furtado, old school style, when she was a hippy.
Here's my new ring that larry aided me in acquiring. I rather like how the wings are bent just so that the bird seems to be floating above the gold band.
I made a skirt out of a sheer grey, fuzzy and glittery fabric (sounds oh-so-wrong, looks oh-so-right), I'm imagining wearing it over my grey sequined panties over THESE FANTASTIC TIGHTS:
I think I missed the bandwagon when everyone was spazzing over HH's tights collection, but I'm ready to jump right on it now.
Ready for SRB/BDD this weekend. mmmmmm.
Because of the amazing amount of free time I have had since lectures finished, it seems that I have developed an obsessive personality.
Instead of just liking a particular style, tv show or food, I have become full on OBSESSED with it. I can't seem to find the fine line between liking something enough to appreciate it, and appreciating something so much that I change my homepage.
The past week all I have eaten is lasagne and vanilla lattes from the cafe.
I've also got a new found love for Audrey Tautou. I'm sure the over-aired Chanel No.5 Advert starring her and some fine young parisian has had something to do with it.
It's so ridiculously good. When I'm watching Come Dine With Me on 4OD I pause to make sure I catch screen shots.
That's slightly creepy. I'm sure this is how stalkers are born.
mmm audrey tautou and whoever that fine parisian is.
+ that projection of the chanel bottle on the carriage wall is ridunkoulously sexy.
Perhaps it's my religious reading of the staple style blogs, but I have a new found love for black lace and sheer fabrics layered over one another. It makes me yearn for attractive bras, less-grannyish pants and abs. Oh and a warmer climate. Cambridge is ridiculous. Not even in a funny way, the extreme cold here actually makes me a little angry at geography.
With Christmas just around the corner I'm putting together a list of things that I'll chase down in the January sales with my Christmas holiday paycheck. Unfortunately, most of the things that I want come from somewhere hideous, somewhere horrific, somewhere I HATE WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL. But (sorry larry) despite my best attempts to shun Topshop and declare it as "you know.. just so over-rated" I've fallen into the trap. The trap of falling in love with those damned overpriced and over-worn averagely constructed garments that always frigging require a cold wash/dry clean. I swear half my clothes from that damned shop have just had Febreeze washes.
That's a bit gross.
Anyway, the first website I hit on my building a list of stuff to buy mission (basically a distraction from verb conjugation), was that bastard of a well-designed website, topshop.com.
ugh.
I feel so guilty, like I'm betraying myself, originality in general, and my promise to my bank manager to not end up in "one of those situations again".
My excuse is I need a formal outfit for Lent and Easter terms, and I actually do.
I have a magical formal "Wow, these kids actually passed their A-Levels, one even got into Cambridge, let's celebrate with a slide show and booze" ceremony at my old sixth form, and then I bought a ticket for the Absurdism Spring Ball at Girton college. So really, I do need this outfit.
Ish.
Here's my pick of what I'll be elbowing Sloanes out of the way for in January at the flagship topshit store.
click for (a little) higher resolution Lace Shirt Dress £45, Leatherette Bra in Rose Gold £25, Paisley Lace Body £18, Topshop Boutique Lace Pencil Skirt £35, ANYA2 Chain Wrap Peep Toe Boot £95, Topshop Boutique PENDULUM Boot £130, All from Topshop(shit)
In my imagination, wearing this outfit I look like a mix between Rihanna, a Spider and some sort of Biba/Goth lovechild. So ridiculously excited.
Not sure which boot is better though. The peeptoe is more flattering, less S&M and cheaper but wow I'm so up for an overly expensive S&M shoeboot right now. Especially with a name like Pendulum. I could make a skank JUST for my foot, so that in the unlikely event that a club in Cambridge played a Pendulum track I could point at my foot and just freak.the.hell.out.
Anyway, has anybody got a spare £253 laying about?
If so, hit me up.
ME: I like lots of things but its shit to list that here. Read my blog, you'll get me eventually. I don't even know why this part of the blog exists, just cos its a template, and I dont know how to get rid of it. Might as well fill it with something
I don't update this blog as much as I should, apologies. I'm a 20 year old student living in London/Cambridge depending on the dates. I've just finished a difficult two years studying Japanese, and while I loved my culture/essay subjects, the grammar got to me, and I'm starting my final two years in History of Art in October! VERY exciting. This blog is both a diary for me and a collection of things within art, fashion and music that I find interesting.
