Edinburgh Style

My first discovery at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was that people are very into their Daniel Day Lewis-esque method acting. If they are appearing in a period drama, they will approach you in the street as if you are part of said drama, which is kind of sweet but a little unnerving. Some of the costumes were pretty fantastic, though, such as the woman in yellow, above (only shattering the image by talking furiously into her mobile phone about meeting her friends). The attention to detail is admirable, down to her bag and hat, but the dress does remind me of those strange crinoline lady dolls or the equally bizarre loo roll cosies featuring women with generously-bustled dresses. Maybe that would explain why I saw her, an hour later, still trying to meet up with her friends. They obviously didn't want to be seen with her...



The second image here was taken right in the middle of the festivities, truly demonstrating the determination of a drag queen. I will never understand how anyone can wear heels when walking on cobbled streets, but here the feat (excuse the pun) looks like a small one. Drag queen style is particularly fascinating because it ignores most conventional boundaries and then sticks two fingers up to them. Here we can witness the combination of fake fur and disco leggings in August, without batting an eyelid.


The third image is a piece of performance art on the Royal Mile. Nope, I have no idea what it was about, either. I saw the simplicity of the basic white dress as a kind of blank canvas for what would follow, allowing you to perceive events for yourself. In a festival full of gaudiness and shouting and some very worrying dancing, it was great to see something gentler take shape.

Corporeality

Above is a photo of me (taken by my friend, without me realising!) the day after I had an operation on my toe. Yeah, that's me cleaning up my shoe after things got a bit bloody. Somewhat logically, after all the toe stuff, I decided to wear my skeleton jumper - you could say I was feeling a little more aware of the ins and outs of my body after watching it get stitched up and constantly re-bandaged! And the leopard print dress underneath (seen as a skirt) is one of my favourites. The scary thing is that leopard print is 'in' for this Autumn/Winter, and I just hope it doesn't put me off because scarcely a day goes by when I don't have something on that features it. But I hate wearing what everyone else does - where's the originality in it? I take elements of the high street and photoshoots from magazines and work them into my existing wardrobe and hope for the best, but I would never want to look like a clone. It's nice to express your personality in your dress sense, and not someone else's.

Break the Rules at Festivals

This man has the right idea. In the middle of a park filled with people in 'sensible' or 'casual' outfits, he has decided to wear his braces with pride. I didn't want to interrupt his evening to ask for a photo because I only spotted him half way through the headlining act, and he seemed quite into them. But I wish more people would make bolder choices like this, especially in summer when clothing becomes more practical and geared towards the beach or the art of keeping cool. By applying braces, this man is saying that he doesn't care what season it's meant to be, or indeed what the weather is doing. He is his own person. Equally, the girl to the right of him was pretty well-dressed herself, with a partially shaven head, short denim ra-ra skirt, old blazer and studded ankle boots; not trying too hard, but still having fun.


And, in other sartorial news, here's my favourite new fancy dress outfit: a walking bunch of bananas. He also danced and gave out muesli. This really is how fancy dress should be done, with no compromise on effort in order to look sexy or nonchalant. It's all about embracing the masquerade and the carnivalesque elements of the whole thing, and pushing your idea as far as it can go. In this case, stitching fabric over the top of the original yellow base layer works very well and means that he doesn't look like a giant yellow blob, but clearly demonstrates his banana persona.

Maison Martin Margiela @ Somerset House

As you can see, I took a few sneaky photos at this exhibition, even though photography was technically banned. But I couldn't resist - Margiela's emulsion-covered t-shirts, brogues and jackets jumped out at me, as did his trompe l'oeil work. The whole exhibition had loads of elements which I'd put into my Art Degree Show and I wish that my tutors had been interested in fashion and taken the time to understand why I referenced so many designers in my project. Using materials like emulsion will always look fantastic and unusual when not on a wall. Adding something so purposeful yet out of context to a piece of wearable fabric is, in my opinion, a stroke of genius (excuse the painterly pun).

The middle photo shows the part where we explore the ideas behind a Margiela store, and a room was covered in mannequins, shredded paper and boxes (all, of course, in white). Everything felt clean yet disorganised, and wonderfully fresh.

The bottom photo shows one of his amazingly structural dresses. This is design not for commercial gain as the primary motive, but for a genuine love of creating new things and pushing the boundaries.

Why I Hate Summer...

[Image above is taken from http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?beginIndex=0&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=220538&parent_category_rn=175985&langId=-1&top=Y&cmpid=201047_621&_$ja=tsid:19907]

As you can see from the picture, Autumn/Winter fashion will soon be upon us in the high street, and I can't wait. The thing about these colder seasons is that designers (and the general public) have more layers to play around with and I find this generally leads to more fun. From heavy coats to boots and knitwear, there's so much more to be gained here than the increasingly uniformed look of sweaty vest top and skirt that I plod around in during the summer. This hot weather does nobody any favours, unless you look like you've just stepped out of a perfume ad. In contrast, the Mark Fast diffusion collection for Topshop (seen above) is all about peeping at the body rather than revealing it in the harsh British light. It's feminine, but not in a cloying way, and is celebrating the figure - remember, this is the man who controversially dared to send models down the catwalk who didn't work the horrific Heroin Chic appearance. You couldn't see their ribs, but why would you want to when you could see these knitted dresses? I just wish they were a bit more affordable, but then it is Topshop, so they aren't going to be giving anything away. These dresses would look perfect with a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath in the winter, or with some wet look leggings (yeah, I don't care how much of a fad they are, because I have loved mine for years and don't intend on chucking them out) to mix up different textures. If you're going for this season's de rigeur look, then combine a chunky knit like Fast's with a very thin, mannish belt at the waist. Oh, and belt your coat up too. If you wanted to take the belted thing to extremes, combine with a satchel similar to the Mulberry Alexa, and perhaps the look will become more 'heritage bondage', if there ever was such a style. Naturally this should all be teamed with Topshop's recent make-up collection, particularly their dark berry lipstick, though I prefer a nuder shade at the moment for something more subtle.

Now could you ever get so excited over deciding which sarong to wear with your swimsuit? Nope. That's why I prefer Autumn/Winter clothes. And there are no pesky wasps, either.

Old Photos, New Inspiration

Discussing the importance of old photographs in a recent post made me realise that I had a wealth of inspiration sitting under my nose (not literally), in the form of old family photos. The past can inform us about the styles that used to be worn, and which basics have survived the test of time after fifty years. So, to start with, I discovered this photo, from 1960, featuring what most girls would give their right arm for this season - rolled up shorts. It's just a shame he was a little early with the trendsetting. Personally I'm living in my shorts at the moment, because they're just about the only comfortable things that you can wear without feeling too girly all the time. Don't get me wrong, I have more than enough skirts and dresses, but they just don't have enough pockets for all the rubbish I carry around with me (phone, keys, etc). And no, I don't care how fashionable they're meant to be, I'd rather die than wear a bumbag.

Another family photo, this time taken in Paris in 1966. I'm not sure this look would be street style blogger material, but you can't fault the sense of this photo being natural. Also, if you're going to be a tourist, at least be an inconspicuous one, as seen here. There is no sign of the obligatory souvenir hoodie (or, indeed, one of the aforementioned bumbags) which make today's tourists seem like clones. Handbag, pencil skirt (featuring the kind of chequered pattern seen frequently in Christopher Kane's clothing for this summer), cardigan, sunnies - simple but effective and giving a nod to the always co-ordinated chic of French ladies.


This is another 1960s photo, or possibly late 50s. The headscarf is something that I would love to emulate, but I have a feeling that my interpretation would be as successful as Bridget Jones'; in the first of her films, she wears a headscarf for a dirty weekend and it flies off within minutes, leaving her hair resembling a bird's nest. Anyway, back to this outfit - with bows on her shoes and a simple chequered shirt dress, everything ties in nicely together, but you can tell that she has made an effort to look this good. I swear if I ever went caravanning then I would not be able to pull this one off, but somehow it works.

What To Wear For Falling Down A Hill

This was my outfit yesterday, during a hectic day of hitting the Job Centre, picnicking and sitting on the beach. The photograph was taken just after I had fallen down a hill - it was very picturesque and I sort of lost my balance running down to get a better look at scenery. I guess those brogues weren't made for hill walking! Anyway, my clothing choices yesterday were accidentally geared towards H&M - vest top from their collection last year, striped skirt from this year and the hat is from their male department. The brogues are from Warehouse and are really comfy, but not fantastic for grip, so I'm not sure they'll be much use in bad weather but I shall look forward to crunching through autumn leaves with them in a few months.

The Job Centre went ok; I was a bit worried that people would dress up to go to their first meeting, but a lot of people looked like they had rolled out if bed, just like me, so I was in good company. My interviewer didn't know a lot about fashion, so when I said I was looking for fashion retail work and we did a job search then she didn't understand why I wasn't up for working in Country Casuals. Then she attempted to nudge me towards a 4am shift at Fat Face; who knew they worked such odd hours? Finding a job in fashion is proving to be a big learning curve, but hopefully there's something out there which could potentially be juggled with the journalism course (if I get in, fingers crossed).