ALIENS EXIST

Although I may be in the minority here, I'm pretty glad the weather has taken a turn for the chillier today. It means that it's time to wear fluffy knits, tartan, and velvet.. which I have already been doing for the past few weeks, albeit with a brow full of sweat; but today it was definitely cold enough to wear my sicko new alien jumper dress for the first time.

It would have been too easy to style it with my silver David Bowie-esque boots and space buns - totally going to do that soon - but for a casual day at uni I just threw on my Nikes and a cosy carpet coat (never thought I'd see the day I wore sports trainers out of the gym.. how times change). And, how could I resist - little lilac antennae buns. I've been struggling with yellow roots the past few days so I've been toning and purple shampoo-ing hard, and now I look at these pictures I see my hair has actually started to go purple! I'm sat with the new Bleach white toner on my head as I type so hopefully I will have platinum locks by the time you read this.

I definitely forecast the sci-fi trend last year (although I would say that, being really modest and all) and my number one dudes Evil Twin are running with it this season: the I Want To Believe collection is full of dreamy galaxies, otherworldly intarsia knits, metallics, shredded knits, and their signature apocalyptic slogans. It's just what I'm feeling right now - kinda scruffy, kinda tomboy, but totally badass.

I'm wearing:

Evil Twin Invasion tunic c/o Out+About

Minkpink coat & bag

Nike Free Run trainers

Bohemian Collective necklace

PS. If you started singing this when you read the title, then you and I would have been best friends aged fifteen. And now, too..!

NIGHTLIFE

So, did you guys hear that Fashion's Night Out is coming to Manchester this year? I'm so chuffed that not only does fashion exist outside of the capital, but Vogue chose my very own city to host it in this year. I had a pretty fashionable night out in Manchester with lovely ladies Robyn and Stephanie this week, so wht better way to accompany the FNO info than with these images? It was Robyn's first time in Manchester, so we showed her the nighttime delights of the Northern Quarter, including art gallery-cum-bar Common and Matt & Phred's jazz club. We're gonna be in a band, and these will totally be our promo shots.. Just gotta (re)learn to play music; we all confessed to play instruments in school but let it lapse in adulthood. Wah.

There really is so, so much happening on October 10th - so much so I couldn't feature everything - but you can view a map on the Vogue FNO mini-site. The main hub will be around Exchange Square, with Selfridges handing out gift cards to every visitor ranging from £1-£500 (I KNOW) and nail artist extraordinaire Sophy Robson is going to be in the Chanel boutique giving manicures. I still think about her dalmatian nails from Topshop Unique so that might just be my request.

Speaking of Topshop, their creative director Kate Phelan will be around for the evening to give a talk. I adore Kate's work, from Vogue to Topshop, and this is going to be one of the highlights for me; I'd love to know the ins and outs of her current position as it's a job title I dream of having myself one day.

Manchester-born designer Matthew Williamson will be in Flannels for a meet 'n greet, House of Fraser are running the infamous Vogue cover shoot experience, Vogue Eats pop-up food stalls on King Street.. plus loads more, much of which hasn't even been confirmed yet. I'll be your correspondent for the live music and DJs (bands will be playing in LK Bennett and Mulberry. Maybe it'll be mine, Robyn & Steph's band!.. Not), and you can also check out Lily Kitten for information regarding Manchester designers on the evening; This Fashion is Mine for anything student-related; and Tweet for exclusive content in the run-up to the event.

I already feel this is slight information overload, so I'll let you digest this for now and I'll provide more information as and when I get it. One thing you can be sure of is that there will be plenty of free booze.. so see you there, glass in hand!

I'm wearing:

Vintage denim jacket (stolen off dad)

Love Label jumper c/o Very

Vintage tartan skirt

Miista May boots

Minkpink bag
Hair scrunchie made by Shannon!

Robyn is wearing a Topshop playsuit & Steph is wearing Dr Martens boots

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

A POWER GIRL IN A NINETIES WORLD

There were only three of us in my primary school friend group, so although it was difficult to play Spice Girls we managed to find a way: learning the lyrics of the first album off by heart and copying the dance moves taped from videos. A particular favourite was Say You'll Be There - still probably my favourite Spicey song - five strong women wearing badass clothes kicking ass.. in the middle of the desert. As you do.

All this took place whilst simultaneously arguing over who was which Spice. The girl closest to my heart was always Baby but I was doomed to be Sporty throughout my Spice impersonation career. To be fair, at the time I had very straight brown hair and lived in trackies and trainers (and arguably had the best singing voice, har har); I just didn't possess the confidence to wear Baby's short, shiny outfits. I hated even wearing fitted t-shirts, while all around me the other girls wore short skirts and played with make-up, thinking that they had to dress to attract boys.

It's only upon reflection now do I realise how different the Spice Girls really were to anyone else around at the time. They dressed for themselves, and for each other, not men - the original man repellers, if you like. I used to like the idea of "girl power" but I didn't really get it; now I do I'm behind it even more than I was then!

I guess now I'm making up for lost time, living out my inner Baby Spice dream: I'm totally obsessed with white platforms and anything rainbow, shiny, holographic or fluffy. If in doubt, think WWBSD: What Would Baby Spice Do.

Wildfox knit

Delilah Dust yin yang necklace

Stephanie Hamer "Dotty" necklace

Jeffrey Campbell Suebee shoes

Thriftette socks

Whilst I'm not sure I'd actually go out with hair like this now - it cuts a little close to the "desperately clinging onto youth" bone - one of the main reasons I love blogging is because I get to do dumb stuff, record it, and people seem to LIKE IT. I do hope you're laughing along with me and not at me.

PS. whilst creating this collage I discovered three things..

1. Comic Sans MS does have its uses in ironic 1990s graphics. NOWHERE ELSE.
2. Baby's white Buffalo shoes are available to buy on Schuh. OMG.
3. This collection of Spice Girls memorabilia is astounding.

HITTIN' THE CHAZZAS

Yesterday my dad had an operation, so in-between visiting times my mum and I went to Crewe centre, the town where the hospital is, to keep ourselves (and our minds, particularly) occupied. Honestly, there's really not much in Crewe. It's one of the high streets hit particularly by the recession, and is now mainly full of pound shops and empty spaces.

However it does have a plethora of charity shops. I find charity shopping nowadays you will mainly find bobbled, mis-shapen Primark, as thanks to Trinny & Susannah and then Gok so many people did huge wardrobe clearouts, meaning all the really good vintage and retro stuff went years ago. People now just get rid of naff stuff that was bought for one wear then disposed of. For some reason the people of Crewe were never a part of this, and are still trickle-donating their 1990s cast-offs. Thanks to my questionable taste this is great for me, and I always get a good run here; yesterday was about quality not quantity and I got three pieces I can see myself getting good use out of in spring!

I love this weird stretchy blouse thing - it reminds me of autumn/winter 2012 Prada - and sadly enough I can remember these tops being in places like New Look the first time round. Or rather second, as they are 1970s throwbacks. Same goes for the stripey cardigan.. does anyone remember The Sweater Shop? I had a variety of their jumpers I mainly wore for best, for dinners with aunties and friends' birthday parties. Seriously.. who has kept these things for so long? Feasibly I can only imagine fashion people wearing these ironically. The velvet burnout shirt is an enormous Laura Ashley number, but I thought it would look great as a kimono worn over tees and shorts in the summer.

If you're thinking of a trip to Crewe then my favourite charity shops are the PDSA, Oxfam and Arthritis Research UK! Henning is particularly pleased by the PDSA, as you can see. As I type my dad is sat waiting in the discharge room, and everything went okay yesterday. He does have another procedure next week mind, so I may well be hitting these chazzas again soon enough...

I HOPE NOT SPORADICALLY

Aaahh, you guys.. NEW WILDFOX LOOKBOOK ALERT. And this one is straight out of my dreams.

It's like totally based on my most ragin' film ever (if you don't know which by now, then I'm not sure we can be friends) and is a total tribute to the way it changed teen fashion in the mid-nineties. Pre-Clueless, kids were into flannels - in a nod to the crispy Seattle weather, obviously - ripped jeans, and greasy hair, à la Nirvana. Then the bright, shiny Bronson Alcott gang hauled ass onto our screens, and changed the way teen girls felt about a thigh-high sock forever. I mean, who had even heard of Alaïa before a mugger ruined Cher's dress, right?

That was all like so twenty years ago, I know. But if you hadn't noticed, fashion - especially street fashion - works in twenty-year cycles: all of us who grew up being influenced by this film are now the ones making the new stuff for teenagers to wear. Soon we'll all either be as grungy as Tai's original incarnation (already happening - you've just got to look at the bulk of style blogs to realise this) or as sugar-prep as Cher in her barely-there Calvin Klein dress and Mary Janes. I know which one I'm leaning toward.

"So, what did you do in school today?" 

"Well... I broke in my purple clogs." 

Analysis aside, I am just so glad that a film which changed my life forever has been honoured by a brand who have changed my life in a similar way. Yeah, you could say Wildfox just make t-shirts, and I guess you're right. But the ethos behind the brand has really taught me to appreciate my every moment on the earth, that I have the potential to be the best I can be... and like that Polonius guy said, to thine own self be true.