Celebrate HOH!

 Whilst perusing the lingerie Dept of Debenhams in Birmingham, I came across a stand full of these little beauties. 

As a pretty big House of Holland fan I just HAD to get a pair. The had all sorts of different designs with the little house motif and loads of bright colours n stuff. But I just loved this Over The Knee style. The black was a bit classic and I fully intend to wear tehm with coloured or white opaques undernieth for that added edge.

How fabby do they look! Everyone go out and buy a pair! Right now goddamnit!

Luff and kisses,

MerrieGirl

coming soon, my adventures in Wales and what to wear to a strip club....

Wagamama is amazing! Agree?

Wagamama are holding a t-shirt design competition where the winner will receive £1000 and also see their design turned into the new Wagamama uniform for all the restaurants across the UK. 

Find out more here www.viceland.com/wagamama

I will totally be entering! I think you should to! And if you do win don't forget to bring me along to your celebratory meal at Wagamamas! Mine's a Chicken Katsu Curry with rice and a juice :)

I <3 Borders

On a rainy day there's nothing I like better than going into the city and wandering around the bullring. 

While I love a good mooch around Selfridges or Debenhams (I know it's a bit sad but I love department stores) today I thought I would go see 

what the new magazine releases were. I was not disappointed. I picked up the new edition of French Vogue (about 1,000,000 times better than British one, even if I cant read it that well, hey i don't read the british one!)

This is the October issue that's causing a bit of controversy due to a photoshoot by Steven Klein and French Vogue editor herself Carine Roitfeld, featuring hot-as-you-like model Lara Stone. While this sort of thing is typical of Vogue, this particular shoot is more risqué than usual because Miss Stone has been painted. Her skin has been covered in make up to make her look black. 

Yay or Nay? I personally find it a bit tasteless. Stone is stunning in her own right, for her own colouring and features. There are also so many beautiful dark skinned models out there - Naomi Campbell, Jordan Dunn, Alek Wek? If they wanted a black girl they could've used these women. It seems a bit strange to have done what they did. But you can't dispute the boldness of the shoot and the quality of the shoot. Kudos Steven Klein, as always.

I also picked up Lula, a fairly new magazine, with a really hyper feminine feel to it, it's all girly type-faces and soft colours and female icons (articles on Grace Coddington, Mercedes Helnwein and Emmylou Harris) it's a nice antidote to the increasingly androgynous focus in a lot of magazines. I like it anyway, definitely something to get again in the future.

I also looked at, but didn't buy, Notion magazine. Which is a very 'nu rave' style magazine. Very edgy, androgynous and just a bit fierce.

I just had a quick flick through while I was in Borders and found an advert for the fabulous Vivienne Of Holloway, a favourite of my flatmates. I'd never seen VoH ad so though i just had to stick it on the end here. 

So that's my most recent overspend in Borders. I'm sure it shall happen again soon.

Love and kisses, MerrieGirl

xxx

Red Bull, bags, hair and SERIOUS boot envy

It's a bit belated, but what with moving back to B'ham and getting back into the swing of uni I have neglected to report on the experience that was the Red Bull Fashion Factory for London Fashion Week. It was really lucky that I got to go. The illustrator Miss Led, whom I follow on facebook, posted as her status that she had 15 guest list places for the first people to email her. So I did and then me and my sister were on the guest list to a LFW party! So we got the train to good old London, got lost finding the venue but eventually ended up at the right place and has a really excellent day - even if I was the fattest person in the room.

 It really was an OH MY GOD moment when I saw this particular lady. A great big, black, patent MULBERRY ROXANNE nonetheless!!! I am quite the devotee to Mulberry, their bags are the absolute sex. This madame rocked a VERY expensive and chic look, despite being in hareem pants, Topshop shirt and oversized cardie (on paper it's a dress down look, no?)

But, she brought it to a whole new level with such an amazing bag. I want to be her in the future. Totally.

I was seriously impressed with the print on this girls frock. Between tribal and floral - but with a surprisingly winter twist. It really doesn't look like a summer look somehow. The blunt fringe makes it bold though, and NOTE! NO BARE LEGS!!!!!

Another killer outfit with a HUUUUGE Vivienne Westwood bag. I actually love the check on this, and it was a nice nod to the fact VW had shown her red collection at the Fashion Factory venue on Old Oxford Street the previous night. I did actually have guestlist places to go to that night but, due to lack of transport and money, just couldn't make it. Apparently there were problems with the guest lists and I probably wouldn't have been able to get in anyway, as a mere student! Though I did blag my way into the Felder Felder show on the Monday night, lots of attitude-y studding, black and more than a touch of biker.

 The girl with the pink hair, my pink hair twin for the evening. I dyed my hair pink in true fashion student style - statement hair, without the cost of a decent hair cut! It was crazy to have this girl rocking pretty much the same shade of magenta pink, we were both at the Old Sorting Office all day, guest list-ers of course. And she had great shoes!

And lastly, these boots.

Basically the sexiest little things I saw the whole time we were there, even beating the SUPER high wedges in the graduate shows. They summed up the kinda thing people were wearing - fierce, buckled, super high and BLACK. But basically they were amazing. Kudos to the wearer.

Vice-y Goodness

The all new ViceUK student guide is now ONLINE folks!

So get viewing, get laughing, get LOVING IT, fo sho mo fos!

http://www.viceland.com/blogs/student/

I know it's a shortie and I haven't posted in a while but I will write a proper post soon. Cross my heat and what-not.

Much Luff,

MG

xxx

Chocolate Biscuit Wonderland

I met a guy today in town, a friend of a friend. He bounds over and proclaims 'I'm a chocolate biscuit!' 

...

That's the title explanation half done so now onto the main feature. It's the advent of London Fashion Week (LFW). It starts tomorrow and it will be one hell of an event. As I mentioned before La Wintour is going to be there along with all the great editors - great snippet in the Observer food monthly about how Wintour and Carine Roitfeld of French Vogue would go to the great eateries of London and not eat and want to smoke there tres tongue in cheek of course. The Times is doing a massive style section this Saturday as a reflection on the events in London. I'm sure they won't be alone. 

So while the international glossies will be doing the 'best of fashion week overview in their next issues, the weeklies will be doing the who-wore-what and so on and so forth...

The magazines who's comments I'd most like to read however, are unlikely to do anything remotely in depth regarding fashion week. Which is a shame. Wonderland is my personal bible. When the current issue was released, after a summer hiatus and re-style, I was so excited to see the white typeface glowing from the shelves in WHSmiths I actually squealed and RAN (yes RAN) across the store to go and grab a copy. Which I bought and read in Cafe Nero within half an hour of setting eyes on it.

So basically I'm a fangirl.

I've seen the last 2 rebrands, am familliar with the fashion team - Lauren Blane was my tutor for a module at uni and Way Perry follows me on facebook - and am constantly inspired by the shoots. It just rocks.

------Sorry for the delay on this, I never got around to publishing it so it's a bit old school but a bit abut the new issue of Wonderland was too good to skip over------

Luff and smoochies, 

MG

Did Anna say that?

It's all about Anna right now. 

Which Anna? Well should you even be asking this question. It's THE Anna, Anna Wintour, the devil (in Prada).

In last Sunday's Observer Magazine - truly crucial reading as ever - Anna Wintour was the topic of the regular 'Did I Say That?' feature.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/06/anna-wintour-american-vogue

I like this:

"I read in the New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen, I'm the sun king, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix. So I reckon that makes me a lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space. Whattaya think?" (2009)

  She's probably more than a bit right. 

  No fashion figure generates so much awe and animosity as La Wintour and it doesn't look like it will end any time soon. The highly anticipated 'September Issue' docu-film is due to be released in days and from the look of trailers and previews the public perception of Anna will remain unchanged. 

  In all the coverage of the film she comes across as a hard woman, business driven, bold and successful. She's scary, out of touch and cold. She's skinny, groomed to within an inch of her life and draped in the most successful and au fait of designers around. I mean, if La Wintour wears your designs then you're in, no questions asked it's pretty much the ultimate kudos to a collection if she even turns up to your show. 

  London fashion week starts on the 18th of September, it's the 25th anniversary of the shows, loads of brands that had moved their shows to Paris or NYC are returning (Christopher Bailey at Burberry, eeeee!) all in all it's setting out to be the highlight of the fashion weeks - upstaging Paris? Now I'm not sure about that but wouldn't it be something. Of course there is one extra thing that never usually happens - La Wintour will be in attendance. Yup, Anna Wintour is going to be sitting (her bum on a seat and all that) in the London shows. 

  Imagine what it would be like to be a CSM graduate right now. What if you were the hot young thing from the best fashion school in the world who had scored a place somewhere in LFW (with a designer or something) and you knew Anna Wintour was in town? This year will bring some very very memorable moments from LFW. 

  So despite her 'Nuclear Wintour' image and the near constant bad press that follows her name, but never seems to affect her success, Anna continues to be a force to be reckoned with, maybe even a force for good?

  I wanted to end this post with a picture (google-stolen of course, it's not my picture sadly) of La Wintour in her full glory. I wanted the fur wearing, glossy, groomed lady with the serious face - the one that we all think we know. But then I found this image and maybe, just maybe this is Anna. She smiles, she looks comfortable, relaxed and just a little bit... normal? But of course, she's not normal she's Anna Wintour.

"Coffee, please."