MAGIC RAINBOW BEAR

A psychedelic mixture of vibrant fur, and a trippy description: Do yourself a favor and answer the call. Sink your teeth in and watch the colors shoot out your finger tips transforming everything you see and touch into Magic. There was no way I could resist this rainbow bear when offered to join in a competition with SpiritHoods UK.. as well as gifting me this amazing hood I'm in for the chance of winning a trip to Alton Towers Live 2013, and you guys KNOW how I feel about Olly Murs. I don't know much about the other artists but it would still be an awesome day out and I would go on the rides and eat loads of sweets and run around like crazy and AAAAAAAAAHHHH. I get a plus one too and I pledge to take one of my blogger besties, so you can imagine the super shiny hyper rainbow blog posts that would come from that ;)

So excited to wear this in the winter to keep my head warm, but also on a trip to Madrid this summer: we're travelling mega-cheap and staying in hostels so this will be my best friend, ideal for making journeys comfy and also covering my face to say leave me alone, I'm in rainbow bear land.

Of course, boyfriend had to try on the magical bear. It's totally not his spirit animal (he's more like a rabbit, or maybe a tortoise) but I'm cross that it seems to sit back happily on his head rather than slipping forward like it does on mine. Maybe just because his head's gargantuan..

You can vote for my look at the SpiritHoods UK Facebook page until Friday 7th June. Go go go, vote for me, and cute lil' Magic Bear!!!

I'm wearing:

Magic Bear c/o SpiritHoods

Neon knit c/o Glamorous

Vintage skirt

Topshop socks

Jeffrey Campbell Pointe shoes

(in green or burgundy at Solestruck, black at Miss KL)

By the way, do you guys know the M83 song Raconte-Moi Une Histoire? The Magic Bear & its description reminded me of this...
The biggest group of friends the world has ever seen, jumping & laughing forever. It would be great, right?

It's very funny to be a frog!

BIENVENIDO A SOUTH BEACH

Around April time, just when the sun is supposed to be coming out - and usually just as I've booked my holiday - I suddenly catch Swimsuit Fever. Just check my Tumblr for the evidence. I obsessively check all the websites I know looking for The One: the swimsuit that will instantly make me look like Candice Swanepoel and will ensure my fun lasts aaaall summer long.

Nah.. I know that doesn't exist, especially not when I live in England and summer isn't quite so summery anyway, but it still doesn't stop me from being a swimwear lover. There's been a recent crop of new swimwear websites which feed my obsession perfectly, including South Beach Swim, who held an event last week at Spinningfield's Frurt frozen yoghurt store. My pick was the Lauren swimsuit - a pink, fringed one-piece, all of my favourite things rolled into one. The rest of the collection is mega-bright and mega-fun, ideal for standing out by the beach or the pool - plus, the team are expanding into loungewear for next season: think super fluffy dressing gowns and comfy all-in-one pyjamas you're unlikely to want to get out of when morning comes.

Delicious swimwear and fro-yo aside, the brand name is fairly genius: there's something about it that really makes me desperate to go Spring Break in Miami and live it up like V-Hudge (sidenote: have you guys seen that movie? James Franco somehow makes himself incredibly ugly, and the Britney-on-piano scene makes me extremely uncomfortable and full of joy at the same time). My mum and I once had a five-hour stopover in Miami but did nothing more than sit around the airport, not leaving the front doors for fear of immediately getting lost... plus the air con was infinitely more comfortable than the August humidity. I'd like to go again though, and at least see some of the sights Miami has to offer, South Beach and Will Smith dancing on a rooftop included.

Anyway.. talk about a tangent. Kinda looks like I was just hanging around on my own on these pictures, but I'm not quite that antisocial (yet). You can see South Beach Katie above (who is also blogger extraordinaire The Quick Red Fox) plus there were a million and one other Manchester bloggers present. We seem to be growing exponentially as a species, which can only be a good thing for the future of Manchester fashion.

And who knew I suited a snap back hat? Little bit too reminiscent of the days of wearing a sideways-cum-backwards flex fit to look cool like Tom Delonge (I'm sure I could find a photo of that hanging around somewhere) so it's been donated to my boyfriend to stop his bonny bonce getting burnt on holiday. Still, it's good to have headwear options other than the usual beanie or fedora!

I'm wearing:

Wildfox tee

Vintage skirt

Waiste Starry Nirvana jacket

Jeffrey Campbell Lonestar shoes

Minkpink bag

South Beach Brooke snapback

SPRING BREAK FOREVER!!!!!

BEYOND AVERAGE

Exam season is well and truly upon us. If you can't hear the sound of students tearing their hair out then you can definitely tell from the quiet of the blogosphere.. everyone's got their heads down revising, or rather trying to learn an entire year's worth of work in one week. Me.. well, I actually quite like exams; the pressure makes me work harder and ultimately gets me a better mark than most of my coursework. I am still feeling the effects though, I've been wearing the same Sugar High jumper and ripped jeans for the past week, sweating my way through Financial Management, International Business and Fashion Marketing revision.

Part of my Product Development final mark is a presentation, which I did with my partner Zabrina to a room of tutors and industry professionals last week. Weirdly enough I enjoy doing presentations too, and doing this one about our own fantasy store was the best yet. We put together everything for our shop Beyond from the target market, business plan and marketing objectives, to the in-store layout and window display. Our USP was that we were a plus-size store, but aimed at women aged 18-25, with seriously fashion forward stuff. Think Nasty Gal for size 14 and up. It was so much fun and we really loved our brand, so much so that we almost wanted to launch it. Almost. Not sure I am quite ready for the plunge into business yet.

Business dress was the requirement for the presentation so that got me out of my jumper and jeans, but I couldn't resist putting a twist on it and looking on-brand for the shop. This is my favourite outfit ever so don't be surprised if you see me outfit-repeat in the future. It's actually a Christmas dress and I think it originally cost about £150 ish full price, so I couldn't resist when I saw it in the sale for fifty squid. Of course I'll wear it at Crimbo but I don't think it' too festive to wear the rest of the year as well. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself!

I'm wearing:

Emma Cook at Topshop dress

Oasis blouse

Jeffrey Campbell Pointe shoes

(there's some on eBay right now)

I've got a giveaway live for a neon orange Glamorous cropped knit! Go go go.

DAZED AND CONFUSED

Movies inspire my style more than anything, and since I often sit with a favourite film playing while I work or browse the internet they influence me subliminally. This is definitely the case with Clueless, Mean Girls, ad Heathers, one of which is constantly playing when I'm in the house on my own, and I do believe this shows in my style!

Last Saturday I watched Dazed & Confused and since then I've had the 70s on my brain. Filmed in 1993, it's set in 1976 and features slogan tees with pastel denim, cute hairstyles, distressed dungarees, a faded, sun-drenched quality about everything, Parker Posey being a complete bitch.. and it all came to a head in this outfit which incorporated the flares and the high-school pride, plus the totally retro zig-zag blouse, as seen on Posey in her final drunken scene. This is a charity shop special lacking any form of store label but it is exactly the same as something I would've worn circa 1997: the Seventies was my era even then and I loved the white flares and burnout zigzag tops my mum got me from random cheap shops in town. Maybe even the market. But I wouldn't have told my friends that.

I can't believe I don't currently own a pair of pale denim flares but it's not through lack of trying; I picked these MiH jeans up for mega cheap intending to bleach them to acid wash. I've bleached them three times now and they seem to be almost resistant to it! Really happy with this faded lilac now though.. I'll just be on the lookout for some 70s-style high waist flares in vintage stores.

And the film.. well, if you haven't seen it already then I'm sure you can pick it up for cheap from pretty much anywhere. If, like me, you're into American high school films where nothing really happens apart from beer bongs, bong bongs and teenage romances then it's a classic.

I'm wearing:

Wildfox jumper c/o Zalando

Charity shop blouse

MiH Marrakesh jeans

Jeffrey Campbell x Wildfox Lonestar shoes

Vintage bag

PINK TO MAKE THE BOYS THINK

What a coincidence that the first outfit on mine I've liked for ages was worn on the first day it was really, really nice weather. Sun really does make everything better and it was great to cast off the confines of my leopard coat, although I did start to get chilly towards the evening, I coped with it easily enough. First iced coffee of the year, too!

This was also the first day I'd worn my Pointes since I broke my toe in them. Nervous at first, I took it slowly, but actually found that they're a lot easier to walk in without socks or tights in as your feet grip on more. Another win for spring.

Oh yeah! And I dyed my hair pink. In true ongoing saga of my hair style it was meant to be pastel (thanks for providing the Crazy Colour, Sara!) but it went neon. Pretty OK with that though. At least it worked this time, right?

I'm wearing:

Topshop jacket

Evil Twin tank c/o the Easter Bunny :)

Vintage/DIY waistcoat

Forever 21 skirt & bag

Jeffrey Campbell Pointe shoes

Wildfox Twiggy sunglasses c/o Self Service

By the ways, the new WAISTE collection is online now! I basically want everything but am 99.9% certain I will be getting Starry Nirvana come loan day.

LET'S GET WAISTED

Good times on an Easter Bank Holiday Monday involving my favourite Manchester vintage store Thriftette and blogger buddy Sara, launching denim brand Waiste into the Northern Quarter boutique. I've gotta admit, I did get properly Waisted, both in my custom Waiste dungarees - hearts, stars, and a cloudy bleach pattern - and on the plentiful booze supplied by the Thrifty girls.

It was so good to get together with like-minded ladies: those into the 90s, tie-dye and Leonardo DiCaprio.. though personally I'm mainly into pre-Beach LDC you have to allow for different tastes, right? If everyone was obsessed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt life would be pretty boring. And I'd get pretty jealous.

Polished off with a pint in Dry Bar, it was the perfect way to end the Easter weekend, with cupcakes, rainbows and denim.. what I wish every day was about.

I'm wearing:
Lazy Oaf shirt

Waiste dungarees

Jeffrey Campbell Suebee shoes

Pamela Mann tights

Shop WAISTE here!

Ran out of letters to spell "WAISTE".. had to get creative.