My Springtime Style

I am loving the sunshine and hoping that it lasts, but it seems too early in the year for summer dresses, hot pants and flip-flops if you ask me - but maybe I’m just getting old because judging from the fashion on show on a recent shopping trip, it seems that I’m out-of-touch. However if, like me, you’re not quite ready to bare all just yet...here are my 

Top Tips for dressing at the moment!

• Get a hot new Hairstyle: It’s time to ditch the winter hats, and as we can no longer hide our hair under one, it’s a great time to have a hair makeover. Check out this article for some inspiration  http://www.ivillage.co.uk/celebrity-hair-trends-get-the-look/146452  If you’re thinking of dyeing your hair remember this might affect the colours that flatter you in terms of clothes and make-up.
• Do a Make-up audit: Talking of make-up, it’s also worth checking your make-up bag now too - I’m moving from my deep plum lippy to red. Also don’t forget you should get rid of anything that is out-of-date and up the SPF.  
• Up top and over: The daytimes are lovely and warm, but as the sun goes down and the evening cools you will need a lightweight cover up. Also, out of the sun or in open areas there can be a breeze. For me it’s time to get out my cropped denim jacket and an array of bright cardi’s.
• Lower level: Like I said, I’m not ready to expose my legs just yet... after a winter of tights, they need some TLC first! But it’s never too early for my linen trousers and coloured jeans are also very now. When I do ditch the trousers, Spring sees the outing of my denim skirt and coloured pencil skirts make an appearance.
• Dress-up: Maxi dresses are a great way to look girly and remain a bit covered-up.  I like them layered – maybe a t-shirt underneath and my denim jacket/cardigan on top (which also works with a summer dress). I also avoid all over black and shift to navy/grey/beige which look less harsh and are just as smart and versatile.
• Fetching feet: OK, so I have to get out of my boots but rather than go straight to sandals and flip-flops, I’m going with peep toe shoes. Coloured pumps also make for great Spring-time footwear.

Finally, this Spring is a great time for sherbet colours, floral prints and lace.

The main thing though, is to make sure you’re wearing the right colours and styles for you and have a closet of clothes that makes you feel as warm and bright as the Spring sunshine... so feel free to ignore me and wear your bikini now if you want to!

Me wearing a printed maxi dress, bright cardi' and peep toe shoes.

Happy birthday Barbie!

Today in 1959 the Barbie doll made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York, and she’s been going strong ever since.  

Some say she’s good, some have major issues but she should at least be recognised (especially so close to International Women's Day) for her staying power!

OK so she’s too skinny - even with her wider waist in later years - but Barbie, in other ways, demonstrates some great examples of ‘Girl Power’.  The same people who highlight that she is a bad role model for young girls with regards to her weight might also recognise that she sets a great example in other ways.

Here are seven reasons why? She's...

1.     A go-getter… is there a job (male-dominated included) that she hasn’t tried out?

2.     Independent: after all, she’s not conformed to marriage and leaves Ken in her shadow

3.     Re-invented herself to keep up with the times - that show's openness to growth, right?

4.     Resilient and bounces back from disaster (fairly often!)

5.     Appears to be a great friend to humans and animals

6.     Embracing of different cultures (appropriation?)

7.     Makes films that have a positive message

On a personal note, I’d quite like to have her influence, resources, an extensive wardrobe, and designers providing me with outfits for a 50^th birthday catwalk show.

In a week where the question has been raised as to whether we girls are too hard on each other, I say ‘Go Barbie’!

The Prince of Colour & Style

I’ve been doing a number of ‘developing confidence through colour’ and ‘defining your style’ events recently and was planning on using one of these ‘themes’ as the basis of a blog.  But it seems as if I’m meant to write about Prince instead (or is he still the Artist formally known as?!), because I find myself listening to “The most beautiful girl in the World” and finding out that there’s going to be a sing-a-long version of Purple Rain shown at a local cinema. So here goes:

“The most beautiful girl in the World” is on an album called “The Gold Experience” and suddenly I’m thinking about all the Prince songs featuring colours.  Personally, I can’t think of another artist who has done so many. I know of 11 Prince songs (I may have missed some?) that have a colour in the title, and these are:

“Purple rain”
“Little red corvette”
“Raspberry beret”
“Gold” (from “The Gold experience”)  
“Cream”
“So blue”
“Peach”
“Blue light”
“Computer blue”
“3 chains o gold”
“Starfish and coffee”

Hence why Prince is my ‘Prince of Colour’.

But it’s not just that I find many of his songs cool, and that he writes about colour - I actually do admire his style as he’s as ‘colourful’ with HIS style choices as his song titles.

Prince has been around longer than Madonna and changed image at least as often, you just have to look at his album covers to know that he is into how he looks. His suits are razor sharp, and he is not afraid to wear them in colour (often in unusual combinations). The man knows how to accessorise (from his guitar to pearls and elaborate rings) better than many women. With pattern & print, ruffles and polka dots, (not to mention his footwear!) he could come across as 'girly' (no bad thing) but somehow he just doesn’t - he just looks like a man who is confident enough to do his own style thing... And that style is pretty unique from the waistlines to heels (in which he looks comfortable and cool). 

He is one of my many style icon because he is fearless, creative, ‘fierce, colourful and individual (not really my style personality).

So here’s the thing, he actually captures the essence of colour confidence and defining your own style (which is where I started this blog)... Ladies – take note, Gents – don’t be shy if you need heels! but remember whilst imitation is the highest form of flattering for someone else, when it comes to you...BE AUTHENTIC.

 

The colour of romance

If you know me or have read my previous blogs, and have hopefully remembered that it’s Valentine’s Day today! you may be surprised that my colour of the moment is not red. Whilst as I’ve said before, red will be one of the hot colours of the season, I think the real colour of the moment is actually PINK. For me seeing pink blossoms are a sign that Spring is coming, and in terms of fashion that’s the season we’re in.

As with all colours it’s meaning and associations vary, but in the West, pink is often associated with femininity and romance, particularly in its pale form.  However that image doesn’t do it justice as it’s a colour with a huge range (raspberry, fuschia, blush, bubblegum and rose to name a few), which works well on men (yes it does) and women – in fact there is a ‘pink’ for every dominant colouring. It’s a colour that is often linked to health and wellbeing… physical (“in the pink”) and emotional (“tickled pink = happy).  It is a colour that makes me look and feel healthy (in the right shade) and is great with neutrals grey/black.

Though I’m not a huge fan of wearing pink, drink-wise I love it… glass of rose, chambord-based cocktail or pink champagne anyone?! It’s also the Colour of Breast Cancer Care – a charity for both women AND men, which Avon supports, so I see it as a charitable and inspiring colour….  

On second thoughts – I love pink (but only if it’s deep!)

Happy Valentines Day everyone xXx

What would you sacrifice for style?

This week I sacrificed my usually sane approach to clothes for the sake of style. Despite the chilling temperature and the risk of snow I went out in four inch, yes four inch, heels!

I was attending a CMB conference and the thought of not looking my best in a venue full of stylists was enough to make me compromise my ‘natural style personality’ and put it firmly behind my love of the dramatic! I hate being cold, and as I’m often running fashionably late I also like footwear I am mobile in. Wearing my leopard print heels instead of boots meant I risked cold legs (despite the thick tights), and there was no way in could run in these babies. Worse still I couldn’t tell if the people (women mainly) staring at me/my feet on the journey were admiring my outfit or thinking I’d lost my mind, as everyone else en route to South Kensington was in boots or trainers. However, on this occasion, the sacrifice was worth it because a number of my colleagues complimented my bravery and my look. 

Don’t be fooled though, it’s not as bad as it sounds – I didn’t abandon my senses completely... the shoes have rubber soles and I did carry leggings and socks for the journey home!

For me it was the right call, after all it didn’t actually snow whilst I was out on Saturday and my outfit gave me a confidence boost. 

But do you get it, or do you think I’m mad?

My next sacrifice will be comfort as I think I’m going to need a corset for my bridesmaid dress later this year (and I’m not prepared to give up food)!

So, back to my original question... what would you sacrifice for style?  

The shoes in question... Personally, I love 'em!

Colour, clothes and culture

It's not just our personal identities that are reflected in our clothes - our clothes can also give an insight into our background or culture. Wolfendale and Kennett* state that “Fashion is not just how we self-identify, but also how we identify ourselves in our community…”  

Last week reminded me just how closely we associate a country or culture with our clothes and in some cases a colour, in much the same way we do it with food.  After all if I said ‘sari’ you’d almost immediately and quite righty associate it with India, and with colour we often associate the colour Green with Ireland (in the UK at least).

There are alot of writers who’ve done a better job of writing about this in details, so in this blog I’m just going to comment on the two specific events of last week that made me think about this - Chinese New Year and Burns Night. These two events provide perfect evidence about the link between culture and colour (Chinese New Year) and associating countries with clothes (Burns Night).

Chinese New Year:   

        

Colour associations with China include the colours red, white and gold. At Chinese New Year, it is tradition that new clothes are worn, often in red. As well as clothes, money envelopes, decorations such as lanterns, and food is served on red platters.  You may know (HSBC ad’s anyone?!) that for the Chinese the colour red signifies happiness and good fortune, but did you know that it is also believed that on Chinese New Year a demon comes to earth to eat people. It was then discovered that the demon did not like red, so they hung up red things and wore red on Chinese new year!

Burns night is...         

...Celebrated in Scotland, a country that is associated with the kilt/tartan. Given that kilts are also worn in Ireland and evidence suggests tartan may have originated in China or Austria isn’t it interesting that these items are now so wholly associated with Scotland? In the 1970’s tartan also became associated with another group – punks, who used tartan as a symbol of anti-establishment. And did you know, Canada, America and Australasia have celebrated ‘Tartan Day’?

Lorraine Kelly at the NTA's

Unfortunately it's not usually appropriate or practical to dress in the clothes most associated with my background... Skimpy Carnival wear in the (often) chilly UK - no thanks *wink*!!!

So… what’s your countries associated colour and fashion heritage?

*Quoted in Psychologies magazine, February 2012.

Sell, Sew or Swish?

At this time of the year, many of us go about weeding out the old from our wardrobe(s!) and getting ready for the new season as it’s a great physical manifestation of our need for a fresh start. The trend for a while has been to sell unwanted items on sites like Ebay but along with the charity shop drop there are alternatives.  If like me, some items survive the cull because you simply need to see a well stocked wardrobe – then swishing might be for you.

What's it all about Deni?!

I’d heard the term ‘swishing’ before but had never taken much notice as any items I’d convinced myself to discard always went to charity. Also, the swishing I’d heard about just involved friends swapping clothes and I felt there were too many opportunities for drama in that scenario. However, at a Ladies Who Latte meeting a few weeks ago I met the lovely Lauren who explained how a proper swishing event worked. I wanted to actually see how it worked in practice so last Sunday I travelled to Crystal Palace to experience my first swish... and it was an experience – a very pleasant one!

First I was struck by how organised everything was, then as I wandered around I became impressed by the quality of things people had brought, and also it was nice to talk and hear stories about why people were there and their experiences of swishing. Finally I was struck but how much fun everyone seemed to be having – probably because everyone knew they weren’t having to part with cash to get something, when all they’d done was hand in things they no longer wanted/needed/fit into anyway. When the time came for everyone to ‘swish’ the atmosphere was buzzing and it was funny to see people hover and then almost dive towards items they wanted - yet at the same time people were more polite than the supermarket fights over turkeys at Christmas (I’m serious I used to work for a food retailer and it was madness)!

At the end of it all, people were proudly walking out with their ‘purchases’ (I’m sure there’s a proper term!), goody-bags (not a usual occurrence but “Swish in the City” were celebrating their first birthday) and eating cupcakes.

So, why swish rather than sell etc? My view on why swishing will work for me:

·         Swishing is better than the charity-shop run because according to Lauren “Whilst giving to charity is great, not all items can be displayed – as such, items out of season are often sent abroad (some to be cut-up) which has environmental implications”

·         Swishing is better than ‘Save it now and sew/sort it later’ because I never do the ‘sew/sort it’ bit! (Well, who does really?!)

·         Swishing is better than selling (eg on Ebay) because it’s so much more personal and social, and I love a natter!

·         Swishing is better than shopping because you don’t get cupcakes when shopping and have to part with cash!

Personally, I had a great time and I plan on doing it again. Now I’ve just got to work out what I’m going hand over!

Thanks to Lauren for organising Swish in the City: http://www.backtothefuschia.org and http://www.the-chic-cupcake-company.co.uk who provided the yummy cupcakes. 

Lauren Wisdon of 'Back to the Fuschia'

Yum yum!