mister thirty-four, temptation temptation....

Image from Net-a-Porter

... comes in the shape above. Seen here... I've found one for £350. ponder ponder ponder. Answer will most likely be no.

mister thirty-three, bite me.

Lovely dress the one above, huh? Really pretty... but think twice, once you get hooked... it will bring out the worst in you. It got me to the point of dress-stalking... a chapter I'd like to forget...

Topshop decided to play the misterious card with it, what with random prices (ranging from modest £30 to appaling £100) appearing in different magazines and an unknown sale date (a topshop girl actually suggested it would be out in 2 months...!).

With my birthday creeping up on me, matters had to be taken into my own hands. A browse in London's Beyond Retro last last Wednesday provided the floral dress, unfortunately there's no before picture since I went chopping as soon as I could. Trust me though, old lady floral dress it was! Some chop-chopping and amateur stitching later:


I know, it's practically a copy of the Topshop one but I really liked the design. What I did was chop off half the skirt part of the dress and then make a mini-skirt out of it with elastic. So basically I've got a dress/top, a skirt and well, there's no tutu... it really is just tulle fabric attached with safety pins.
Was an amazing party dress though, I felt like one of those wedding cakes with loads of sugar flowers on them.


So yeah! who needs topshop anyway?? huuuuuuuuuuh??!!!

mister thirty-two, say bye to Cathy!

Oh wallets wallets wallets, it's a love hate relationship between me and them. Love them because the alternative is a pandemonium of receipts/pictures/coins/cards/candy in my bag. Hate them when they dissappear and leave me vulnerable to this mean mean world. Still, it's more love than hate and my love tends to be too rough on them.

Meet Cathy, she has been with me the last year and a bit... she is one special lady and even though I've made her gain some serious pounds (no puns intended) with all the crap she carries, she still holds up... but I think she's begging to retire...

Now meet her brief alternative ... she is gorgeous, soft to touch and svelte. Don't let her good looks fool you cause the lady has some serious organising techniques inside there. Unfortunately, knowing my history with wallets... she won't be able to take the abuse. She is to be returned soon, I don't deserve her.


And we arrive to the one I see some serious future with:

Image from Dollydagger

Not only is she blessed with looks but she seems to be made for people like me who feel some ridiculous need to store as much crap as they can in their wallets. She is to arrive in the next week or so...

ps: just realized I made that last wallet sound like a mail-order bride...

mister thirty-one.

two guggenheims, two architects. two shoes, two designers. one broke girl surviving on toast.

Chloe s/s 08, Solomon Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright

Prada a/w 08, Guggenheim Bilbao by Frank O. Gehry

mister thirty, it's my birthday...

... even though I don't look like it / the day doesn't seem like it, it is still a happy one. More details once I'm de-stressed out.

mister twenty-nine, oh the woe you give me.

Image by FaceHunter

The woe, the woe. Where are those striped tights from??

mister twenty-eight.

This past Wednesday, I did some day-tripping to London. Of course, the main purpose was researching at the amazing RIBA library but I couldn't stop taking a peek at Topshop on my way there.
After much wandering, I stumbled upon the VV Rouleaux stall. All those feathers, birds, flowers and colours lured me in. I hovered round and round the stall not deciding how to approach so much colour. Eventually I made my way to one of the lovely girls attending the stall and she helped me make a little headpiece. The colour scheme I meant to keep to was blue... but like a kid in a candyshop fills his bag with loads of mismatching candy, so did I fill my headpiece with as much colour as I could. The result was the following:

The best thing of this whole deal? It was free! I couldn't believe my ears since most of the headpieces on sale where above the £30 tag. I attached the comb to my hair, a big smile to my face and skipped my way to the RIBA.
Once I got there, it was fun to see the guard's shocked face to see this massive feather/flower ornament on my head.
I was quite sad that once I got back to Topshop to buy one of the headpieces for sale, my card couldn't be used and the ATM wasn't working and the VV Rouleaux girls where leaving and I had to go back home. So I had to leave the most precious bird headdress... well, the guy at the cashier disagreed since he actually stared at the headpiece I was going to buy and exclaimed "£39!!!!!!!! ... damn, I could make this myself!"

Anyway, ebay has a lot of millinery materials for me to browse and make my own headpieces. If not, Etsy has some precious ready-mae headpieces as well.
To start, this Marie Antoinette one which I would definitely wear, even if it was meant for a doll. Then, one for our inner mermaid. And even though it was not meant as a headdress; my favourite is Pinky Finch.

I definitely recommend getting down to Topshop Oxford Circus today since it's the last day the VV Rouleaux stand will be there. I would if I didn't live in the Midlands... and didn't have a project hand-in, magazine design and birthday planning to do today.

Ugh.

senhor vinte sete, tá na hora de brincar

When I was little, me and my mother would go to Brazil all the time. I loved (and still do) love that place, specially Sao Paulo. Back in those days, Xuxa was the biggest thing ever for children my age.


I remember getting my first pair of jelly shoes from her children's footwear line and never wearing anything else. They were perfect for rainy Sao Paulo but of course, by the end of the day my feet would smell really bad, which wasn't a good thing considering the hotel me and my mum stayed in had no air con!

Fastforwarding to today, a little trip to Peacocks provided me with some cheap jelly shoes!

When I put them on, I am instantly reminded of the Antarctica soft drinks, the coconuts I would drink, the endless amounts of Turma da Monica comics and the trips to their theme park. The hot dogs boiled in onion, day trips to Campos do Jordao, the Simba Safari Park and of course, the beloved Praca da Republica.

ilari lari lari e
o o o

mister twenty-six, let's dance to vanilla ice.

I love food. I love smelling it, looking at it, cooking it, obviously EATING it and now... I like wearing it! (almost...)

RECIPE:
* 1x Screw Eye
* 1x Food Eraser of your choice
* 1x Small chain to attach the charm to.

PROCEDURE:

mister twenty-five.

As mentioned before, my bike and I went on a date today. Oh the good times we had.


As for what I was wearing... well, just an old sweatshirt and some ugly trousers.

mister twenty-four, let's get wasted...

(Image from Lauren Conrad's clothes collection online store)

...high-wasted that is!

mister twenty-three, it's the elusive dress, the pretty shoes and the eye candy

I went on a little day trip to darling lovely London today, mainly to see this little exhibition at the National Theatre and to do some library researching. Of course, once the geekiness was over it was off to the shops! First I headed to Topshop, to hunt for this dress which I want to wear on my birthday:

I had already looked for it in my local Topshop, but they knew nothing about it so I figured my woes would be solutioned by the Oxford Circus one but alas, they don't stock it yet... and don't know when. So I guess I shall just stalk the online shop and click like a mad woman when it does pop up, hopefully before the end of next week! Saw the Christopher Kane collection, but didn't really like the pieces that much... which avoided frustration since by the time I got there my size had run out. I did however, get a top and a bracelet thing.

Anyway, the day was still young and I went to get the other thing I wanted from London... my birthday present!
I know, nothing edgy... just plain classic Chanel flats. I've already got a pair of expensive extravagant shoes and never really get to wear them because well, they are just tooooo beautiful. These on the other hand are asking for some heavy wearing! In fact, they are asking to come along with my bike on the little day trip we plan on taking tomorrow. Of course, they are talking utter nonsense since there will be a lot of mud and grass!
After that, I was obviously skint and it was back to the lovely south bank, for a little stroll before heading off to St. Pancras. Oh the good times London gives.

mister twenty-two, I feel like dancing.

After pretty much still being in love with the Miu Miu SS08 collection and seeing other bloggers' version of the skirts, I went ahead and did mine today. I thought that instead of doing the whole thing from scratch, I'd just get a big, loooong, full skirt from a charity shop and adjust it.

I found the following skirt at the Extra Care store and even though I was looking for a more harlequin-ish print, I thought that the light stonewashed denim would look quite nice in a shorter version.


The below skirt is the result. It is very 80s, which is something I didnt really expect but definitely something I can work with. I also got the top half of the skirt and wear it underneath so as not to expose myself more than I need/want to.

mister twenty-one, i. am. not. burlesque.

I wonder if this is the solution to my feather skirt obsession ... I'm not loving the feathers since ideally I wanted maribou feathers, as seen in the below pic by The Sartorialist.

Also, it says that there's only feathers in the back.... so might end up with that memorable skirt worn by Carrie Bradshaw... hmmm.... Well, I've got 2 days for thinking and even though all signs point to "NO!", desperation might get the best of me.

mister twenty, you must be my lucky star.

Since lectures finished early today, me and my beloved bike went out on a date to a lovely town 3 miles from where I live. We are just beginning to know each other so we are taking things slowly. I left him well locked up so he could rest and decided to have a walk around to see what the town had to offer. After much pondering about I came across the high street and the oh so glorious ammount of charity shops to be explored/ravaged!! And boy did the ravaging lead to good finds! I haven't had such a good thrifting day in aaaages.

First there was Mind (for better mental health) and it was overflowing with designer things.

1) Red vintage Versace coat. 2) Vintage Escada blouse. 3) Aquascutum coat.

I left quite a share of designer items behind since I felt evil by getting all the goods. Then I found a sari which I intend to wear in two different ways.


First will be the skirt part, which is INCREDIBLY long and considering I'm only 5 feet tall then yep, I think it can be used as a long flowy dress resembling the one in Lanvin.

Then for the actual body part, I'm chopping the puffy sleeves off and using it as a sort of overcoat to lift up simple outfits. But before I do all this, I shall dress up in the whole sari and surprise my indian flatmate when she comes back from wherever she went to.

Of course, there were many other finds. But I think I've been selfish enough by giving a long narration of my shopping day.

Mister Nineteen, you think you know someone...

...but then they say the following:
"I love the clothes at Jane Norman, they are so pretty... me and my mother always shop there together"

Mister Eighteen.

Just came back from a meal with friends and then some house-hopping. They had to hear all my gushing about my new bike.

Faux-fur hat: Charity shop
Poncho (worn as scarf): Moschino
Leather blazer: Zara
Cardigan dress: Yumi
Wool tights: H&M
Lace-up heels: Peacocks

Mister Seventeen, I want some Lizzie Dukes

There's a little charity shop I regularly go to. It always stocks the most amazing ammounts of cheap jewelry. I mean nothing negative by the word cheap since I've found most of my treasured jewellery there. However, there's always loads of chains that definitely fall on the tacky range. Being as cheap as they are and considering my love for ugly things, I can never leave them behind. But as they say, there's always room for improvement and the following are the two simplest ways I've found to do so.

BIG FAT RIBBON
This is a classic mock gold chain. As favoured by many kids who hang out at my local Mc. Donald's.
I just attached a big fat ribbon on the bottom and ta-da! I would definitely opt for dark colours since what I'm trying to do is tune down the shiny-ness. I normally wear this necklace when I wear the whole shirt and blazer masculine thing, giving a hint towards a bow-tie.

HANDKERCHIEF

You'll need a hankie or small scarf, the colour/print of your choice! For mine I picked a hankie with a pretty chestnut print that I don't really use that much.
1.- Wrap the handkerchief around your wrist, making a cuff that you can remove.
2.- Wrap the chain around the cuff you made, clasp it and then wear it! :)

So next time you see a tacky gold chain for 10p, go on and give it some sweet luving bruuv. BRAPAGE.

On a side note

I'm off to pick up my lovely new bicycle! Am really excited since I've been wanting to start cycling for ageees but never really got to it. This is the most expensive bike I've bought in my life since back home the most they could ever cost is £40.
I'm no expert in bikes but after looking at many bikes that didn't quite feel right, I felt so at ease with the above bike that I had to have it. It's a Diamondback Maravista and you can read more about it here. Weeeee!!! off I go !!!! <3>

EDIT: I just got back :) Can't explain how HAPPYYYYY I feel :D!!!! I've never cycled in the UK before and back home they let us ride on the pavement so you can imagine how scared I was to cycle next to cars!!! brrrr!!! It was all worth it though! I plan to take it out to lectures tomorrow and then some random places. Can't stay out too late though since my lights and neon monster jacket haven't arrived yet.

mister sixteen, everything's good under the sea.

You know how most disney princesses are surrounded by pretty furry animals who dress them and accesorize them. One example is Cinderella and of course, Snow White and Aurora.

Ariel on the other hand never had her share of slave furry animals to dress her up. Instead, she had a singing crab and a painfully cute fish. Well, she did have a seagull who gave her endless ammounts of "treasure" but still, nothing like singing mice to make you a pretty pink dress.

Unlike the other princesses though, Ariel had a (living) rich daddy. If I were Ariel , I'd get papa Triton to ring up Jean Paul Gaultier ASAP and make me every single dress in his couture collection. Specially the following dress.


Cinderella, eat your heart out.

mister fifteen, this is how broke I intend to be this summer.

yep.

mister fourteen, frankenstein's coming!

Last year I got tricked into buying a job-lot of "vintage" clothing off ebay... of course, all the clothing ended up being mouldy, stretched second hand clothing... I actually felt ashamed to donate it to my local charity shops... but being the compulsive hoarder that I am... I didn't throw most things away... one of those is this gem:


I know, it's ugly as fuck. But you know, I think it's got some future. I'm thinking of turning it into some sort of tuxedo shaped blazer/sweater hybrid thing. I know I might be fighting a lost cause BUT I've got a long weekend ahead and I'm a sucker for lost causes.