I got the doodlebug...

playtime...

leila, 23. leila is inpired by india, the maharaja and vogue. i love the playful attitude to the way she dresses. i love her clashing of textures, and mostly i love the chunky orange knit thrown over dungarees. adore her!

have you any more sir?

collette, 27. her outfit is vintage, apart from the snood. that is from river island! this outfit was inspired by audrey hepburn in the delectable film funny face. recently her style has been muchly influenced by oliver twist!

a lesson in monochrome

Zora, 23. her staple colours are black, white and navy. she plans on breaking into colour next season. she is inflenced by Jil Sander, Chloe, Chanel and Emanuelle Alt. i love her use of layering and her simplicity which is just effortlessly chic.

the girl with no face...

meet stephanie JW, 18. she asked me not to shoot her face, i love this. influences... whatever, the 60s, edie sedgwick. that kind of thing.

check her out...stephaniejw.blogspot.com

quick, right now, you'll love it!i do...

i scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

i have taken one of my all time favourite foods (that i rarely eat because anything naughty makes me fat just looking at it!) as inspiration for my the new season. i was beyond excited waaaaay back in september when i perused the new season collections, because lo and behold, pastels are one of the biggest trends for s/s 12. the reason for my sheer excitement was because i usually HATE this season aesthetically. for too many years the same boring trends have been on and off the catwalks and filtered down onto the high street. now i'm no sheep, but since the fashion month inspires our great british high street (where i shop due to a lack of an a-lister bank balance) it is pretty hard to not wear what the retailers sell. so, when i saw all the fondant fancies, pale ice cream pastels, macaroon shades and flippy flouncy fripperies that my favourite designers offered i was overjoyed. of course i'm gonna take a leaf out of mrs prada's book and add some tough girl leather, as well as lashings of print clashing a la mary katrantzou and peter pilotto to give my new season look a bit of edge, but pastels are the name of the game in terms of colour palette... so make mine a scoop of pistachio, lemon and blueberry to go!

diary of a lady...

One of my new years resolutions, and for me the most important, is to be more ladylike. For me this is a really big thing... Now I'm no Waynetta Slob or Vicky Pollard but I wouldn't qualify to be in the Debretts guide either. First off is grooming... I'm never seen without a full face of (Chanel) make up and shower daily but I could be better at doing a few things. So my biggest thing is to start getting my eyebrows done regularly (every 3 weeks as opposed to every 6!) I get them threaded, and my chosen brow bar is Blink. Now living in Manchester I could easily get them done for less than a fiver somewhere local to me but the girls at Blink get it PERFECT! I do recommend. Secondly I will be getting regular gels on my nails...my hands are a personal bone of contention due to developing dermatitis a couple of years ago and a lifetime of picking around my nails... So pretty hands are a personal goal! I have also surprised myself and been commuting to regular haircuts and spending a small fortune on swanky hair products.

Now the second part of my "transformation" is my style. I have slowly developed from very eclectic and so mismatched I could give Anna dello Russo a run for her money to a mixture of minimalism with a dash of eclecticism. However since I'm not a huge fan of my Caribbean curves, I have admittedly over the years favoured deconstructed oversized silhouettes, with an androgynous twist. Thus resulting in my brother asking recently "do you shop anywhere other than old men's shops?" so I have decided to polish up my look. Therefore a shopping extravaganza ensued. I indulged in pencil skirts, short flippy a-line dresses and lots of things accentuating my waist. I did throw in some new brogues, leather and 60s style shift dresses for old times' sake. It is safe to say I also embraced the peplum with vigour? I was extremely proud of myself, and the boy looked thrilled!

A little lady inspired shoot will be coming VERY soon...