FASHION WEEKEND: MARGAUX @THEGIRLWHOWOREEVERYTHING

After a rather long delay, here comes my next installent of FASHION WEEKEND, where fellow fashion bloggers talk in detail about the shapes, colours and patterns of their weekend garments. Today you'll here from Margaux, an eccentrically-dressed blogger based at 'The Girl Who Wore Everything'. Read on to get a glimpse of her enviably stylish weekend. 

1 - It’s Friday night after a long week at work, where are you heading to unwind and what are you wearing on your feet?

On Fridays I am always doing two things: hiding in my bed while planning my weekend! My ‘lazy’ outfit is my Black Juicy Couture sweatpants- I have had them since eighth grade and they are perfectly broken in! I like to tell myself that outfit is still semi-cute. . .  even though it really isn’t. 

2 - You’ve headed to the newest club in your town and the dress code is over-the-top and as-much-glitz-as-poss, ideally, what striking dress do you choose to wear?

I am a big- HUGE- fan of leopard print. When worn correctly it definitely makes a statement. I also love maxi dresses. My ideal ‘over the top’ outfit would be a Grecian style leopard print maxi dress with gold heels and lots of gold jewellery.

3 - The morning after: the temperature’s dropped yet you have an oh-so-important shopping trip to attend to, what accessories do you throw on to keep warm, comfy but chic? 

I’ve been facing the cold-weather clothing dilemma recently since it’s already snowed here in Memphis! Today to combat the cold I’ve got on jeans, a vintage fur cardigan, leopard print ¾ length coat and Vera Wang jewel encrusted motorcycle boots. I am warm and comfy! This outfit is perfect for studying in the library OR an important shopping trip. 

4 - Drinks with the girls/boys Saturday afternoon in a trendy retro-like bar and your dressing to make an impression, what vintage themed items do you choose without looking to much like a confused time-traveller?

I would keep my outfit simple, like a little black dress, and add my grandmother’s gorgeous turquoise and gold collar necklace. People give me compliments on it every time I wear it!

5 - Saturday night ends you up at home with a partner or friend with DVD’s and nachos a-plenty. How do you stay comfy without looking like a walking bed sheet?

My hang out outfit is typically skinny jeans, wedges and a top that makes a statement. And polished makeup and hair! It really makes all the difference. 

6 - Lunch with the parents is on the agenda for Sunday and its time to tone down your sometimes arguably outrageous fashion (that lands you plenty of odd glances from the elder generation). How do you keep your style footprint on a much more subtle and parent-pleasing outfit?

Although I do typically tone it down, my parents are definitely used to my outrageous outfits. Color blocking is a great way to look trendy and agreeable to the older generation. I am obsessed with my red jeans from Zara and it looks great with a simple black top and cheetah cardigan!

Don't forget to check out Margaux's blog - here.

FAYE XOXO

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OOTD: FLORAL & HIGH-WAISTED

Top - Republic

Shorts - Primark

Cardigan - Debenhams

Scarf - thrifted

Necklace - Primark

Tights - Primark

Cheeky outfit on a Sunday afternoon!

Look out for a few DIY projects this week and the return of FASHION WEEKEND on Friday - much love.

FAYE XOXO

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DIY: HAIR CHAIN - CHEAP AS CHIPS HAIR ACCESSORY

photo from - FASHION TOAST

I've always been a bit of a hair-fanatic, and that obsession stretched as far as eccentric hair accessories. Forget pretty bows and girly ribbons, I'm talking chains of feathers and even putting my jewellery in my hair - despite the occasionnel odd look from a passer-by. These types of accessories are perfect for when your hair is looking as limp and lifeless (as Cheryl would tell you!) as your outfit and you need something easy and cheap to suddenly and successfully spruce things up a bit. Hence why, I've decided to share with you one of my go-to jewellery statements that isn't sitting on my neck, wrist or finger but proudly draped across my head - the hair chain.

YOU'LL BE NEEDING:

+2x bobby pins

+2 (or more) x necklace chains (with clip fastening de-tatched)

First up, you need to remove the rounded rubber ends of the bobby-pins (show on the right pin in this picture) so as to allow to necklace chain to pass over the pin. If you have a chain with big enough links, then this step can obviously be missed out. 

Pass the amount of chains you've chosen to use over one bobby pin. 

Then, taking the other end of each chain, pass them over the other bobby pin, like so. Pin into place on your old head and your good to go!

The finished, subtle yet very different, hair chain!

FAYE XOXO

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OOTD: AZTEC HOTPANTS ft. SPRING KNIT

Jumper - Wild Heart

Hotpants - New Look 

Fur Waistcoat - Topshop

Necklace - Vintage (costume jewellery)

Bracelets - DIY (leopard) & H&M (leather)

Ring - Primark

I've always had a thing for knitted jumpers, chunky, alpine-print ones especially for those freezing cold British evenings or those brightly coloured sports-esque ones perfect with shorts for spring/autumn. 

So, as spring is fast-approaching I've had my eyes open for a neutral coloured jumper - warm enough to keep off that sometimes sharp spring wind but cool enough to allow me to soak in as much sunshine as possible. 

Conveniently, on a trip to a local small boutique, Wild Heart I came across this gorgeous beige number which drapes of the shoulders and has an interesting assymetric hem - easy to wear & flattering.

I've had these hotpants for well over a year now, but I can never resist wearing them. With their brightly coloured, busy print and vintage shape they're a statement piece and are easy to dress up or down. 

Also, in case you were wondering, the unsightly purple abundance on my foot is my cast - had an operation on my toes a few weeks ago, makes dressing SO difficult and skinny jeans a big NO NO for me haha :(

FAYE XOXO

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FASHION ILLUSTRATION: ANJA KROENCKE

Whilst browsing the internet recently, I've come across a fair amount of fashion illustrators/artists and I wanted to share with you one of my favourite's Anja Kroencke. 

Her work is beautifully abstract, but still manages to capture subtle facial and body angles perfectly and create gorgeous silhouettes and portraits. Anja's pieces vary from basic black and white line studies to much more abstract, brightly coloured-blocked, detailed scenarios. 

Anja works mainly digitally, but still experiments with different textures with some of her fashion illustrations featuring 2D versions of real fabrics. 

From her website, http://www.anjakroencke.com/

"Born and raised in Vienna, Austria, Anja spent the majority of her childhood drawing on walls and on any blank paper that came her way. Early influenzes were the danish and bulgarian culture in her family as well as the deep rooted history of Vienna, especially the "Wiener Werkstaette" and Egon Schiele.

After graduating from the College for Textile & Design with a degree in Fashion Design & Illustration in Vienna, Anja pursued a career in graphic design and art direction. In 1994 she moved to New York and inspired by the energy of the city she rekindled her passion for drawing. While working as a design director in an agency she started working as an illustrator. Her work was so well received that she devoted herself full time to her illustration career in 1997. She still lives and works in New York.

Anja has won numerous awards and her work has appeared in American Illustration, The Art Directors ClubAnnuals, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Print Magazine, Luerzer’s Archive and The Society of Publication Designers. In 2001 Communication Arts featured a 10 page cover story of her and her work."

Here's a few of my favourite pieces, taken from Anja's website.

I hope you feel as inspired as I do, to pick up my pencil and sketch away whatever comes to mind. 

FAYE XOXO

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OOTD: RASPBERRY SKATER DRESS ft. HEELED BROGUES

(watch in HD for best quality please!)

Had a go at some video-ing for my OOTD having got some inspiration from IFB's article 'How Not To Be  A Blah-ger'. However the footage is limited to close-ups rather than full-length shots because I'm actually on crutches at the moment (plus a huge purple plaster on my foot - hence the lack of right foot in my 'footwear' shot) and didn't fancy hopping about the screen like some sort of demented bird. 

Let me know what you think via & if you'd like to see more video OOTD's in the future, or prefer classic still photographs.

CLASSIC PHOTOS OR A SHORT VIDEO?
	photographs
	videos
pollcode.com free polls

FAYE XOXO

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OSCARS EVERYDAY - RED CARPET TRENDS @ HOME

The best of the best dressed, at the 84th Oscar's ceremony, have been made pretty clear on endless amounts of blogs and even in the glossy pages of our favourite magazines. After the excitement of the glitter and glamour has settled and the realisation that most of us will probably never be at the Oscar's, I've pinned down some of my favourite gowns and carefully extracted some simple trends you can wear yourself - minus the red carpet event.

 Jessica Chastain - Black & Gold

Jessica stepped out in a floor-length, black and gold Alexander McQueen gown. The black and gold colour scheme is undoubtedly regal and evening-wear based, but pairing a glamourous top with black jeans and simple shoes can prepare you for daytime with Jessica's outstanding dress-sense still in tow.

                                    Lace gold top - $47/£30   Black tassel pumps £22  High waisted black jeans - £20

OSCAR'S OUTFIT TOTAL - £72.00

Kate Mara - Pastel Pink

Kate Mara boasts angelic innocence in this floral embellished number by Jack Guisso Couture. Pastel Pink is a classic spring-time shade but doesn't have to be painfully girly. Linked up with contrasting brown brogues and boy-ish ankle socks and the girly over-kill is balanced out.

Pastel dress £12   Brogues £30  Ankle Socks - £24

OSCAR'S OUTFIT TOTAL - £66.00

Kristen Wiig - Ballerina-Esque

Kristen graced the carpet in layers upon layers of indulgent beige tulle fabric topped off with a flattering sweetheart, strapless neckline all put together by J. Mendel. This look can be transformed to daytime through this almost exact replica skirt and then toughened up with a studded bandeau for a punk/ballerina feel. Finish off with a loose-fitting boyfriend cardigan turning a party outfit into a daytime casual look.

Knit cardi £38   Studded bra-let £24  Tulle skirt £60

OSCAR'S OUTFIT TOTAL - £122.00

THANK YOU for reading, hopefully you've picked up a few outfit ideas and you can feel Oscar worthy when just popping out to the shops (warning: you may still look a bit over-dressed).

FAYE XOXO

Photo Credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

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DIY: VELVET BANDEAU - DRESS TO TOP

 About a month ago, I added another pretty dress to my overly-grown LBD collection. You name it I have it, lacey, bodycon, leather, floaty and in this case pleated & velvet. 


During a 'mad one' to try and find something to wear last night, I jumped to my last resort - the scissors - and cut up this gorgeous H&M number. You're probably thinking, "Gosh, she really is crazy!", but I think it turned out pretty well and I've ended up with a rather modern, versatile black bandeau and what's better - the skirt part is still intact! 


To take the dress apart, I simply turned it inside-out, found the stitching keeping the skirt and top together and unpicked it with a tiny pair of scissors. It takes a while, but the results are neat and, in my case, the velvet didn't need hemming. 


I'm pleased with the result and I know I'll definitely get a lot more wear out of this mini top rather than the slightly 'too young' looking dress.

FAYE XOXO
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FAKIN' IT: TATTOOS THE EASY WAY

A grubby, significantly overweight biker sat outside a Little Chef on the M6, or a gorgeous off-duty model sipping politely on her low-calorie Starbucks. Tattoo’s have changed a lot over the past 30 years, the people that have them even more so. With the amount of people opting for the clever designs increasing and the average age of tattoo-fanatics getting incredibly low the pressure to jump into the chair is growing. But, if you don’t quite fancy the needle and like me, your constantly in need of change and can’t stand being stuck in a rut then the emerging population of false tattoo’s is right up your street.

And no, I don’t mean those tattoos you got free with bubblegum with cringey slogans such as ‘LOL’, ‘COOL and ‘BFF’ to name a few, or maybe you preferred those tacky tribal inspired tattoos that after a few days left a mark that pretty much resembled plain dirt. I mean that, after a few small businesses bringing back the tattoo’s, complete with some of the most popular permanent tattoo designs, clothing shops have taken it upon them to spread the guilty-pleasure/convenience of fakin’ it. 

Taking inspiration from a fair few celebrities in the British spotlight, http://www.faketattoos.se/ has a large stock of popular designs. These designs are becoming prettier and prettier and the ideas for locations for tattoos offers subtlety and class - something that seems impossible when looking at those all-in-leather, mohican-wearing bikers. What's even better is that http://www.faketattoos.se/ are offering free worldwide delivery throughout February.

Check out some of my favourites.

"viva la vida"

dreamcatcher

skull

anchor

FAYE XOXO

READ: LAUREN CONRAD TELLS IT IN BLACK & WHITE

 Fashion stripped down to it's beautiful foundations. Pages after pages of impeccably put-together outfits, covering even the hardest-to-dress-for occasions, against a clean and crisp white background, start to make this life-long challenge of 'What-the-hell-am-I-going-to-wear-today?' a little bit easier.

Lauren begins with the cliche but truthful origins of her partnership with fashion, she describes scenes at her Grandma's house where she was found far to often covered in lipstick, drowned in way-too-big vintage dresses and costume jewelry piled onto every inch of her neck and arms she could find. Lauren's introduction to her intense filming life and the necessity of a constant stream of different outfits sets us up for the rest of her book; which talks about budgets, customization and building a wardrobe that works for you.

The 'key-pieces' section, which is found conveniently at the start of the book,  is the start of showing Lauren's simple but enviously effective method of dressing up. Following after the real basics-of-the-basics are covered, Lauren starts tackling tricky trends such as sheer fabrics, 70's flares and maxi dresses which are then all beautifully displayed against that winning, and not forgetting 'accidentally' very promotional white background. (I have my doubts. I want to buy EVERYTHING shown in this bloody book!)

Flipping through the motivational chapter names (‘mastering your wardrobe’ led me to envision a deleted ‘Defense Against the Dark Arts’ scene from Harry Potter), we begin to battle mixing patterns, wearing vintage, tailoring and almost pin-down some of our body issues, all with Lauren stuck by our side with her coveted blonde waves and impossibly perfect winged-liner still intact.

In all seriousness though, STYLE  takes off that thick, mysterious mask fashion styling seems to mischievously hide behind on the internet and glamourized magazines and dishes out the facts to make getting up in the morning and trying to find something respectable a much less daunting task. Lauren sets out the basic 'what-goes-with-what' and 'how-to-make-that-look-good' guidance without hammering the 'no-no's' and 'what's hot' into our brains leaving us with so little self-styling confidence that we'd much rather go out in our pink dressing gown than even try and look decent in that big bad fashion world.

Fancy it? Get it here for around £7.00.

FAYE XOXO

p.s. check out the backstage video, actually a pretty nice video.

DIY: make your own music video

Something a little bit out of place on my blog, but none the less fits in with my proud display of DIY projects. Although this isn't technically a tutorial, I wanted to share with you something me and a close friend put together for her first single 'Names'. 

We spent the day wandering about our pretty rural town (her dressed in a tiny 20's sequin number) putting together this montage-style music video for the up and coming release of her album 'Firsts'.

I'd love it if you could check the video out, the song is absolutely beautiful too. This means a lot to her so I'm trying to share it as much as possible.

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On another note, yes, I'm sorry posting is extremely sparse still, I've just finished performing as Nancy in Oliver Twist the musical and I'm going into hospital tomorrow for minor surgery and will be ending up on crutches for six weeks. Fingers crossed that I can still manage to look good with a giant plaster on my leg haha!

FAYE XOXO

OOTD: S/S 2012 PASTELS - THRIFTED

Shirt - thrifted

Shorts - vintage

Boots - Factory Shop/DIY

Braclets - Primark

Indulging myself in the pretty-pretty pastel pages of Vogue's 'The Collections' during my lunchtime and then stumbling across this oversized shirt in a local charity shop seemed like a fate and coincidence too good to be true. But yes, I did manage to get my hands on a £2.75 satin-like pastel-ised teal button up shirt and then pair it with my favourite vintage Levi's. 

My initial rush of excitement then led on to a manic creative spark, as ideas of collar and cuff embellishments and button swapping bounced about my head. Though a little thin, I'll still be wearing this with my leather or fur jacket throughout the next few months. 

Look out for some customisation on this thing in the next few weeks. 

MUCH LOVE

FAYE XOXO

DIY: SEQUIN CROP TOP

A big party's coming up and you've got nothing to wear, any normal person would just dart off to the shops and grab something from Toppers and dig out their favourite heels, but no - I spent my Thursday night clumsily putting together a sequin crop top, working on it til at least 12am (with 5 hours of lessons the next day - yay) 

Anyway, the method I used turned out pretty well with a few sizing and fastening tweaks so I thought I'd share with you what I did.

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You'll be needing:

+sequin fabric (in my case I used an old sequin top)

+a small zip (approximately the length of your chest to belly button)

+a sewing machine (or if you're fab at hand-sewing that'll do)

+and some newspaper or tracing paper

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To make my pattern, I used an Elizabethan corset pattern found here: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/custompat/index.html the link provides you with a generator which step-by-step shows you how to draw out your corset pattern with the correct measurements according to your body shape. 

One adjustment I made to the pattern was changing the diagonal joining between point D and B (step 9 of tutorial) to a straight line (therefore extending point D by a few inches). This was so I could use a zip fastening rather than a complicated corset style fastening. 

Placing my newspaper cut (green points) pattern onto my goooorgeous floral sequin fabric with my colour co-ordinating pins!

Pattern cut out, turned at the edges and then hemmed ready for zip-age.

Zip in place and paired up with its perfect mate - some vintage Levi's.

Thank you for reading & I would absolutely love to hear about any similar projects you've carried out yourself.

FAYE XOXO