On the 6th Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...six party dresses...

...five gold rings!..

...four paper worlds...

...three shiny gems...

...two texting whales...

...and a pendant that I made.

Part two of party season is about to strike, good old New Years Eve...a time where lots of people will be braving the cold and the crowds for the festivities of Hogmanay and I will yet again be being boring and sitting watching Cowboys and Aliens with a glass of something bubbly.

(Yeah, still a hermit! Come you, it's only been a year, you can't be that surprised!)

...this doesn't however mean I don't like looking at party dresses!

1) Embellished silk-chiffon bustier gown by Robert Cavalli, from Net-a-Porter - £5,290

2) Shimmering Star Dress, from Modcloth - $124.99

3) Alberta Ferretti Sequin and Bead Embellished Dress, via Pinterest - £1,667.75

4) Ozlem Sequins Dress, from French Connection - €198.00

5) Red Peplum Ponte Dress, from Dorothy Perkins - £30.00

6) Silk Faille Embroidered Dress by Oscar de la Renta, from Net-a-Porter - $4,990

Surprised by my choices? I am! I can't believe I picked such expensive dresses! Let's all just be glad this is an imaginary list and not a shopping list! Though give me the money and make me choose...I'd wear 1, 2 and 5 in a heartbeat. And I could afford 5, so all hope is not lost!

Hope you're all kitted up for the festivities, if not...shoes tomorrow!

Merry Christmas. Part seven tomorrow...

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Listening: Here Comes Your Man - Pixies

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

...my blog gave to thee...

...six party dresses...

...five gold rings!...

...four collared hangers...

...three Mad Men...

...two hedgehog gloves...

...and a house to dunk into your tea.

So it's New Years Eve Eve and I'm guessing those of you who are going out have decided on what you're wearing for tomorrow night already...personally I'm having a night in with the family watching Inception, which we've been hoarding since well before Christmas. Okay, so nothing new, but that's what comes from being a hermit.

Anyway, to satisfy my own need to dress up, here are 6 beautiful dresses I would love to wear but probably never will. Oh to be thin and leggy! Two things I am not.

1. Vintage 1950's Hollywood Legend Formal Dress from Adore Vintage - $245

2. Admission Party Dress from ModCloth - $164.99

3. Deep Cerise Shantung Prom Dress from Oasis - £40

4. See What Develops Dress from ModCloth - $119.99

5. Adam | Folded-sequin Silk-organza Dress from Net-a-porter - £1,305

6. Multi Print Full Skirted Dress from Oasis - £65

Kinda obvious what shape & style I look for in dresses isn't it? Or at least what I would look for if I was as I said above, thin & leggy. Not trying to seem self-deprecating...just honest. I'm not ideal, but there are a million worst things than not being able to wear pretty dresses easily.

Merry Christmas! Part seven tomorrow...

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Listening: Sufjan Stevens - Star of Wonder

Ban.dō

Here is the first of the random things I've pinned to my Chrome window this week intening to blog. Nothing particularly deep, given it's Election day I've had enough of party political broadcasts and trying to make up my mind which out of "Mr. Grumpy and the Smoothy Brothers," (Times Online) or indeed the various other parties I should vote for. Let's face it, most people are going to come out of the voting booth feeling ever so slightly grubby today.

Therefore to get past the grubby feeling let me start these posts with something very pretty from Ban.dō.

"Making fun for our heads," Ban.dō specialise in exotic and extravagantly decorated headbands and if you have beautiful hair like Alison Sudol (from A Fine Frenzy) they are the perfect accessory for making a bold statement. Designed by Jen and Jamie the three headband lines focus on delicate florals, feathery 1920's inspired exotica and contemporary pop culture designs which focus on sequined hearts, bows and colourful and even come with their own hiaku:

"Ban.dō love's fashion,

Dare to be adorable,

Candy for your hair."

Fascinators & hair accessories are something I've considered starting to try and design, this is thanks to a few pieces I've been making which could be adapted into such items and my little sisters continuous nagging for me to make her a hair band/slide/clip because she doesn't wear jewellery. Unfortunately, I have a fascination with fascinators but I'm too chicken to wear them!

via and my friends Fe & Cicely

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Listening: A Fine Frenzy - Whisper

If Found...

This guy has it figured out. I keep seeing people on Facebook adding pages in order to reunite cameras with their owners via their random collection of pictures. This joining the entire populous in a massive game of Six Degrees of Separation in order to reunite the pair. However, you've got to admit, if you found this pre-emptive 'if lost' guide you'd end up with a huge grin on your face and email him straight away...unless you were the one who stole it. In that case you're probably feeling pretty pleased with yourself and the grin is more likely to be mocking smugness...

Andrew McDonald - the genius behind this series of photos - is an author from Melbourne and this is his "Pictorial Guide to Avoiding Camera Loss" which he blogged about at the end of last year. My sister sent me a link to these photos this morning, and it made me instantly smile and search out his blog and it's witty and insightful and I particularly like his recent post titled "How to Kiss" based on the bizarre outcomes of predictive Google searching. Who knew the world was so concerned with kissing technique?

Only one problem now with adding a pictorial guide to my camera...I hate having my photo taken! Time to get creative!

Via

Rebranding...

One of our first projects in uni as part of the Masters of Design was to brand ourselves. My friend almost took this literally and asked me if I would be willing to brand her body - I said I'd be willing to make the tool, but not to do it. I'm not embarrassed to say that I totally wimped out.

It's so important the brand we put across to define how we're seen. My jewellery has always been about being clean and simple, I like to keep things elegant. Something, though I only started this blog a few weeks ago, I don't feel it quite has. It feel clunky and rather than feeling quite mature and thought about, I feel childish and I think it's because of the nme and design I've put with it.

Therefore I'm contemplating a redesign, a rebranding if you will. There are many examples of rebranding you can see every day, for example the Shell Petrol logo, running from a very traditional and faithful depiction of a clam shell to the modern, simplified design we see today. Another example is Coca-Cola, who's product is recognisable simply many aspects from the vivid red and white colouring, the swirling logo and the shape of the bottle.

Branding and rebranding is everywhere and the evolution of the Coke bottle just shows how effective it is, as from 1915 onwards you can already, very clearly see the contour or hobble skirt, bottle shape which has become synonymous with the brand. It was designed by Earl R. Dean as part of a competition to design "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.(1)" Dean based the bottle on one of the main ingredients, coca, so used the pod form of the cocoa pod to inform his design. Nearly a hundred years later, the form's still there.

Sometimes rebranding is needed to improve a brand, sometimes just to make you feel more comfortable. It's no different than changing the way you dress, the content stays the same, just the outer layers change.

That's what may happen to this blog, I'm thinking about something a little bit different for the look, even a possible name/URL change - though I don't know how that works exactly - but the content will be the same...my inane whitterings and usual idiosyncrasies.

I need to think about...

You've Got Red On You...

Unlike this statement from Shaun of the Dead (2004) these items of clothing rely on the accidental stains left when a pen leaks in your pocket.

Usually seen as a disastrous moment, which ruins a piece of clothing Fernando Brízio has adapted it to create renewable, recyclable clothing. By placing coloured felt tip pens into regularly placed pockets, these simple white dresses are transformed into colourfully patterned garments which, when you're bored with the design or need a new frock for an event, you simple wash it and start again.

It's a clever design, especially for it's simplicity. So often sustainability revolves around the introduction new materials, or technology whereas these garments uses a simple problem and turns it into a design feature, then uses an every day process (washing your clothes) to create an alternative, transformable garment which is open to individuality and personalisation.

In contemporary society we are often dictated to over fashion. We're given the impression that individualism is all important, whilst contradictorily being told exactly what to wear and how to wear it. Brízio's customisable clothing strives to let the wearer regain a little of their individualism, and the fact that no two stains will ever be identical does aid this. Perhaps individualism, peoples ability to revive and adapt old items and create their old style out-with current trends holds the key to sustainability. Or at least fewer clones on the street.

Found via.