All Shapes, All Sizes, For Always - Assymmetric Dresses

The SHORT One Shouldered/ Asymmetric Dresses –

These dresses are perfect for showing off shoulders and the décolletage, revealing parts of the body which hold the least fat (quote Gok Wang), which in turn has a slimming effect on the body in general. I love one shouldered dresses, however would be more likely to invest less in such dresses. Although the one shouldered, asymmetric thing continues to return every so often I’m not sure if it’s a dress I would spend much money on, but would still head down to Zara or Miss Selfridge and get a catwalk lookalikey for £35.
On the other hand... The Strapless Dress – This is my all time favourite...(cont'd in All Shapes, All Sizes, For Always - The Strapless Dress)

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Shop for Now, Wear Forever

Spring/Summer 2009 - Vogue, Fashion TV, http://www.vogue.com/

The most exciting Vogue issues without a doubt has to be the last of the season (as it gives a slight insight into what to expect for the next season) and of course the ultimate – the turn of the new season! Here we are, 2009 with Spring/Summer trends in full swing. I know we haven’t quite got out of winter yet, but I stop my autumn/winter buying by the end of January and take a moment to prepare my spring/summer wardrobe. Vogue sits next to me, awaiting my study - I haven’t even managed to get past the 13th page of the Catwalk Report without being so overwhelmed that I had to scribe immediately.
The trend that I am leaning towards, which seems particularly prevalent this s/s 09 would be the nude colour pallet in shades such as beige, white, pale greys, light caramels, pale oranges and butter milk yellows – complimented with gold’s and bronzes on catwalks such as Ermanno Scervino (whose s/s 09 is one of my favourites so far, baring in mind I’ve only just started scouting trends). With my coming of age, my distinct love for and frequent travels to Sicily and my respect for the Italian classic, elegant style of dress; I have decided that this colour pallet is ideal for making a true investment in a woman’s collection of quality, ‘forever’ garments. Colours such as these are paramount to any summer wardrobe. Of course getting the style, dress shape and cut right also plays a major factor when buying key wardrobe pieces – particularly if spending a fair amount on the garments.

Let’s talk ‘forever’ dresses – Shapes and styles that I have noted on catwalks such as Bottega Veneta, Ermanno Scervino, BCBG Max Azaria, Alberta Ferretti and Vogue’s ‘Ultimate Catwalk Report’...Cont’d in– All Shapes, All Sizes, For Always x x

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Bags of Attitude..............A Sicilian Winter Visit

I once wrote a poem in a poetry class at University about an evening out with my girlfriends, I wrote about the drinks we drank, the men issues we discussed and the Gucci bags we carried. My teacher asked me, ‘What do these Gucci bags symbolise?’ Typical poetry teacher question, I thought to myself and explained to her that they symbolise nothing, ‘They are just bags.’ She then said to me, ‘If they are just bags, there is no need to state that they are Gucci bags. Let’s be honest...,’ She continued, ‘these are little tokens of status.’
Five years ago when she made this statement I would have agreed – ninety nine percent of the reason I bought the bag was because it was Gucci and I definitely would not have purchased it had it been the exact same bag not designed by Gucci or another high end designer. Prior to my visit to Sicily I had proudly developed the attitude that high end designer bags were no longer of such importance, the key factor was the design of the bag. I very rarely carried a designer bag and when I did it wasn’t because it was Gucci or Dior, it was because I simply liked the design of the bag, it complimented my outfit and most importantly, it was already in my wardrobe. I happily carried beautiful leather bags from TK Maxx and never felt less stylish or fashionable because it wasn’t designed by a high end designer.
In Italy high fashion designer bags are in abundance - it’s almost a sin not to have one. Women swing their designer hand bags like a brownie sticks their badges to a sash. The bag is really that serious in Italy and bottom line is - it must be designer. Many of the times I have visited ninety nine point nine percent of the time I would not have been carrying a high fashion designer bag. I hoped that people would think I was dressed so impeccably well they’d naturally assume that my bag was designed by a high fashion designer or they’d just think that I was alternative and too cool to carry a designer bag. However it would seem that if you want to qualify as the fashion concerned, stylish woman in Italy there are a few things you have to get on board with –and carrying a designer bag is definitely one of them. As they say, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!’ I suppose fashion is not a race that I’m prepared to lose and the Italians are way way up there with the true tasteful sense of dress – so adopting their style can’t be so much of a backwards move... or can it? Part of me can’t help thinking that it is!
In Sicily it’s not just about carrying a nice high fashion designer hand bag - the Chloe Padlock bag or the YSL down town bag, huge in London – wouldn’t have survived a second in the places I frequented in Sicily. These are up to the minute, beautiful, sexy bags, far more beautiful than a Louis Vuitton Monogram printed canvas speedy bag or a Burberry Check mini messenger bag. However, drinking on a Thursday night in Central Catania Sicily in a club that is essentially a designer bathroom show room by day and a club by night I stand with my partner and take in the Sicilian fashion trend. Now, this club is hosted by one of the top hosts in Catania, he also owns Studio 54 (which is a club I frequented during my summer in Catania) – he is the host of parties, wine bars and clubs to a relatively selective crowd – The London equivalent would be China Whites on a members night. China Whites on a members night would be inhabited by two kinds of women; the modestly dressed after work woman and the woman out for a night out, spruced up and sparkling. The difference between the two, aside from those that I have just mentioned, aside from the suit, strappy shoes and alcohol consumption would be, of course The Handbag. A woman out for a night out in London does not carry a hand bag – she clutches a clutch, the tiniest, most impractical of bags for any woman; some may be embellished with jewels, some may be expensive, others may not, some are vintage, some are satin, some are bright others are black, very few are covered in a Logo’d designer print and almost always they are worn to compliment an outfit. Studio 54, The Bathroom Show room – a designer bag hung from every woman’s body – whether it be held by handles in their hand or slung over their shoulder. These were not the tiny, impractical China White occupants’ bags – No. What were these bags? They were ‘Status Tokens’, Louis Vuitton Monogram and Burberry Check everywhere, almost mimicking the attitude of a chav (of course the style of a Sicilian woman ‘logo or no logo’ is far from anything remotely close to resembling that of a chav). And if the bag wasn’t plastered with a Logo all over it, you could assure it had such a huge featured logo that Stevie Wonder could identify the designer! These are not the bags that you see carried down the Catwalk, these are not the bags that a Londoner would particularly boast about. In London we go crazy over ‘IT’ bags; a snake skin Hermes Birkin, a Croc Kelly bag, a Fendi Spy bag, a Gucci Tassel bag or the Miu Miu Matelasse bag– I couldn’t help thinking that in Sicily bags were desired just because they were a designer bag with a logo. Let’s put it into context, the bags I have just listed are high fashion bags, you know these bags not because you like to look nice and like to go shopping, but because you have an interest in fashion. The bags I have listed are almost double the price of a Louis Vuitton Speedy bag (which was the most prevalent of all the bags carried) – so, is it worthwhile to invest in a high end designer bag that you want everyone to know is a high end designer bag without the obvious Logo print?
Probably not.
I was in a bar called Tinkite (Sicilian for ‘everything’) in Siracusa, with my partner, his friends the manager of Papini and a girl who we had met in the bar. She told me a story about her visit to a high end fashion retail store. She said she walked in the shop carrying a Pollini (logo’d) bag – she told me that in Sicily it is very normal that when you shop you are fussed over by sales assistant’s, Papini’s manager agrees, filling in; this is the way Italian’s like to shop. The girl carries on to say that she couldn’t have got an assistant’s attention if she’d of whistled. She goes on to say that she returns to the shop a few days later carrying a Channel bag, the sales assistants, she says, flocked to her like sheep to a shepherd. She believed it was due to the bag she was carrying. Can bags have this much impact? Part of me, ashamedly understands that they can.
I have tried to analyse the attitude of the Sicilian Logo bag carrying woman – surely she does not go into Burberry and buy a Burberry check bag because it’s the nicest in the shop. And then I realise – there is no Burberry in Sicily, there’s also no Emporio Armani, Fendi, Louis Vuitton or any other high end designer store. What they do have in Sicily are shops that have the mandate to sell designers in certain regions of the island, so it is probably almost never that you would walk into a shop in Sicily and see a designer’s full season, instead what you get is a selection of goods that the buyer for the shop knows will sell well. Secondly – it would appear that the majority of Sicilian’s, both men and women are concerned with elegance and class. They are not worried about frills, golden buckles, jewels or tassels – my senses tell me they prefer a simplicity; a classy and sophisticated look. They are never dressed overtly sexy, but nevertheless always carry themselves with a sexy, rich, elegant style. Point being, with a look that is almost timeless and definitely classic they needn’t worry about purchasing an up to the minute ‘high fashion’ bag. The bags they carry are the bags that Louis Vuitton and Burberry will stock season through season – the staple bag which never goes in or out of fashion. If it is for this reason that the Logo Bag Carrying is the trend, then it’s a technique I like and definitely a trend I would recommend to any fashion loving, ordinary waged person. I don’t necessarily like the fact that it ‘needs’ to be logo printed – but definitely agree it should be classic.
I enter Papini, a high end fashion retailer, with the mandate to sell Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Miu Miu, Balenciaga and many others I may not have noticed. I was undecided between two bags – one with a logo print and the other with a statement huge gold buckle (I am a sucker for gold trimmings). ‘I prefer the logo bag,’ the shop assistant says, she says something to my boyfriend in Italian, he translates, ‘She says if you’re only buying one bag then go for the logo one. You can grow tired of the buckles on the other bag. This one (points to the logo’d bag) is timeless.’
In the end I bought myself the bag the sales assistant had suggested (a plain black logo’d Fendi bag) and a Balenciaga wallet, ‘You can use these for life,’ my boyfriend said to me and to be quite frank that was exactly what I wanted to hear. I’m an average girl on an average wage – I can’t afford to spend the money I’m spending on a bag that’s only going to last me a season – Logo or no logo!

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Shopping With Emotion x x

I was in Zara with an incredibly artless shopper recently. She picked up a few garments in the shop without even looking around the rest of the store – we didn’t make it downstairs before she selected what she wanted and told me she was off to queue.
Already I thought to myself. I’d barely made it through the casual section before she’d selected, queued and purchased.
What is this about? Is this somebody who knows what they want? Somebody who can’t shop? Or is this simply somebody with more money than sense? Let’s be honest those of us who have wads of money don’t need to apply strategy to purchasing technique; they simply need to see, like and buy.
‘Right, let’s go downstairs,’ She says.
I realize at this moment, that I am meant to shop alone, no friend, no foe – just me. In my bag I have magazine clippings, 20% off vouchers, lists of clothes that will add to my autumn/winter wardrobe – I have my whole strategy planned on paper and here is this artless shopper pulling me out of the shop before I’ve even made it to the Catwalk inspired section.
‘You just buy things without thinking about it, don’t you?’ I say.
‘Yes, not like you. You need time to think about it – I don’t know why.’
She doesn’t know why, I don’t know why. Who am I?
I am the Pre –Purchase Rationaliser. I am the least fun person to go shopping with, I can assure you. I don’t particularly enjoy shopping with anybody else anyhow, so I don’t actually know how I ever end up on shopping trips with friends.
I am the person who has lists and lists of purchases that I am going to make over the new autumn winter season. My list doesn’t consist of jumpers, long sleeved t-shirts, black jeans. My list is more like, Jumper – Miss Selfridge, Warehouse – Folkloric trend, Gucci Inspired. Brown Tassel bag, Miss Selfridge, Gucci/ Vintage inspired, worn by Lily Donaldson on Gucci Catwalk. Tassel Boots, Vintage inspired, buy later in winter – trust me the list goes on and gets more descriptive the more anal I become. Anything that I consider buying that isn’t on my list turns into a full on mental discussion of rationalisiation and reasoning as to why I shouldn’t buy that item and why I should!
The Pre Purchase Rationaliser is the person who stands in the queue and panics as they anticipate making their purchase, why? Because they are trying to talk themselves into either wanting or needing the item or of course, talk themselves out of wanting or needing it. The benefits of being a Pre Purchase Rationaliser is that you avoid being a remorseful buyer, everything you buy you want and because you’ve had a board meeting with want, need and conscience you are often happy with your purchase. The negative of being this kind of shopper is that you can end up mentally exhausting yourself over things that ultimately are not life changing.
I, personally will see something I like, place a mental note in my head and visit every other shop that I know sells garments similar to the garment I have mentally noted – if I don’t find a nicer one or a cheaper one then I’ll buy the initial one. The problem with this shopping technique is – feet seriously begin to hurt, regardless of whether you shop in heels, pumps or Uggs – shop this way and your feet will hurt! Friday in Bluewater, me and my friend, the Artless Shopper struggled back to her car with bags upon bags walking on our tip toes because the heels of our feet were battered.
The problem with keeping mental notes and seeking out better quality or cheaper prices is of course – that you can end up missing out on the garment full stop, however all is not lost as you still have the cash in your pocket and the buying power to purchase the much wanted garment another day.
The Remorseful Buyer, on the other hand, is the consumer who feels particularly guilty after making a purchase. It can often be because the person can’t actually afford their purchase. However, the word afford isn’t to be taken literally, at the end of the day if the person couldn’t afford their purchase, they wouldn’t be able to make the purchase in the first place. As long as you can pay for your purchase you can afford it. The remorse comes because our purchase decreases our current buying power, it lowers our current funds, could possibly affect how we live till the next pay day, may incur credit card fines or put us in a compromising situation. This is the Remorseful Buyer – the shopper who feels guilty for their purchase. When I got my first student loan I went out and bought a pair of Gucci sandals for two hundred and forty nine pounds – I’d seen them on the website, I knew I wanted them but had tried to push them to the back of my mind.
My friend and I were in Gucci, she was buying a pair of shoes. I sat quietly and made no attempt to look for the sandals I wanted. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the shoes my friend was looking for so we headed to Selfridges. As we walked into the Gucci department the shoes sat right there in front of me, calling me, increasing my heart beat and making my palms sweaty.
If a shoe can do this to you then you have to buy them, right?
So, completely gone is the pre purchase rationalisation and to me the beautiful sandals cometh. The whole way home I felt terrible, a quarter of my loan gone in one purchase, but hey I got over it and they turned out to be a completely worth while purchase. It’s hard to see the benefit of being a Remorseful Buyer; I suppose the Remorseful Buyer is decisive, if they want that purchase they’ll make the purchase, minus the stress that the Pre Purchase Rationliser goes through. The down fall of being this kind of a shopper is they could possibly be purchasing items regardless of their price, their need for them and the affect that the lack of money may have on their lives.
Retail Therapy – I’m guessing is a therapy that we’ve all been familiar with at some point in our lives, using the power of distraction to help us forget about the real issue at hand. Of course, Retail Therapy like being over emotional doesn’t allow for control or strategy, but it does allow for stress free shopping. You buy and you buy and really and truly you’re only buying to feel better and the point is that it works. Often you may not end up with key trend pieces, or Gucci inspired boots or Karl Largerfield cuts. In fact no doubt you’ll end up with things that you need, things that you don’t, things that you like and things that you can’t even understand why you bought. But once you come out of the retail therapy trance and back to thinking about the issue you were trying to forget about at least you have all those beautiful purchases that almost make being depressed worth it!
Regardless of which shopper you are or which one you think is the best, the key is if you have a Love Affair with Fashion then you simply must apply an art to your buying.

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A Fashion Love Affair

I feel like I’ve just woken from a coma and the flame that used to burn so fiercely within me has just been rekindled. I woke up one morning by the chattering of a voice reading off a list over and over and over again. Where the hell is this voice coming from and most importantly who on earth does it belong to? Low and behold it was my voice, my voice in my head listing – Skinny jeans from Zara, Jeweled bag from Accessorize, save one hundred pounds towards designer funds, one hundred pounds towards shopping in Sicily, buy wedges to wear on grass for film festival … trust me the list goes on and the list repeats itself most days and can go on for the majority of the day and night if I allow it.
What is this voice? – My shopping voice, planning out my pay cheque before it has even landed into my bank account.
I say I feel like I’ve woken from a coma, as I only have recently come into funds that have allowed me to even have a voice that considers buying hundreds and hundreds of pounds of clothes week upon week. I have always been concerned with fashion, I’ve always taken pride in my appearance and have always enjoyed dressing up and trying out new looks. However being a recent university graduate means that I haven’t had thousands of pounds hitting my bank account each month until recently. I had to become the connoisseur of reviving and remixing garments – pulling out old shoes and jeans and wearing them in a way that made them seem different than they did in their first life – instead of buying tops and jeans I’d buy belts and bags – things that could change and reshape a whole outfit without necessarily having to buy a whole new outfit.
Then the job with the pay cheque came and suddenly I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t check my emails without logging onto Gucci’s website and starring in awe at the bags or getting on ASOS and building a huge basket of clothes and shoes and belts and bags – and that was after a careful selection and elimination process. I realised – this is a true Love Affair that I have going on with fashion right now and it continues to come back to me, find me and make me fall in love with it all over again. How?
Well – I loved fashion from a young age anyway, I’ve always been a bit of an exhibitionist if you’d like to call it that. I’m an ex – dancer, expression is an essential outlet in my life and fashion is one of those many ways that I can creatively express myself. I made an application to the London College of Fashion to study a degree in Fashion Buying and Merchandising and was sadly turned down due to my disability to draw – and I would definitely refer to it as a disability! So I decided that my affair with fashion would simply have to remain a retail and consumer relationship. Then I met my partner, a Sicilian from a family made in the fashion business in Italy and an ex UK fashion agent for Italy. He gave me a writing opportunity within his business and once I finished, he turned round and said to me, ‘You need to be in fashion.’
A problem arises when you earn money, love fashion and all your money is disposable income – you can spend and spend and spend till your heart is content and worries about having funds to make it to the next month are completely non existent because you have no overheads. You may be questioning what exactly is the problem with having disposable income and no overheads? Well, the problem is you can end up buying any and everything just because you can – and well, that’s not fashion, is it? No, that is simply having a consumerist nature and great purchasing power. Fashion is about learning and knowing the trends, sourcing and finding them and then deciding which of the trends suits you best. I personally pick up on the trends and then decide which trend is going to inspire my look or wardrobe for that season - then I begin to accumulate key garments bit by bit. This means any garments that don’t make the trend list I don’t need to buy. This works for me because anything concerned with image I’m pretty much a sucker for – Hair, Clothes, Make up, Hair and Nail pills, Nail Varnish, Waxing - ultimately I can find almost anything to spend my money on, which means I have to approach my fashion consumption strategically.
After great thought I have decided that I want to share my strategic fashion, shopping consumption techniques with the World Wide Web. Initially I was dubious about this as everyone’s image is unique and personal to them, I can’t preach fashion and I can’t expect everyone in the world to dress the way that I do (nor do I want them too), however this site will only give you ideas, tips and act as an index to your own shopping, it’s not a shopping bible – it’s about shopping technique. You’ll find product reviews on key garments of current trends, reviews on key shops for the current trends, trend overviews prior to their entry into the shop or the season and much, much more. When you become passionate about something it becomes very hard to be logical about it and when you’re just an ordinary girl on an ordinary wage – Sloane Street and personal shoppers are not always so readily at hand - But I can be!
I am a Fashion TV watching, internet shopping, price comparison, sales watching, quality rating fashion index and I’m going to share my knowledge and shopping techniques with you so I can clear my head of it’s voices and you can clear your head if you happen to be suffering from SHOPAPHRENIA too!

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The Conscious Beginning

I remember it like it was yesterday – that Tuesday night many years ago in one of London’s Salsa clubs, a man’s hand stuck out in front of me, waiting for me to accept his offer and take to the dance floor with him. The dismay must have shown on my face as another man intercepted and swung me onto the dance space amongst the sweating, dancing bodies. He had a mound of curly ringleted hair bouncing around his back and was dressed impeccably in a white embellished shirt, ripped jeans and a pair of those long toed brown shoes that you could imagine David Beckham wearing. In hindsight the Latin dance was very fitting; he would put his hands on my hips to steady my movement, I would frown inwardly at his nerve to try and control me, he didn’t know I was a dancer and knew exactly what I was doing. I simply continued to move in the exact way I wanted – eventually he accepted my dance style. He whispered in my ear in an accent that didn’t quite sound Italian, he told me he liked my shoes – they were a brown Gucci sandal with a gold horse bit buckle on the side, I treasured them like gold dust so his compliment settled very nicely. He explained that he was a fashion agent from Sicily, he seemed particularly proud to be Sicilian, not so proud to be a fashion agent. I told him that his job sounded very glamorous – he didn’t agree, but we both agreed that he’d cook for me some day...

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