Score!

This was posted a few days ago, but I only just noticed it.

Take that, vampires!

Vampires? Always with the vampires.

True to form, vampires are stealing the limelight again.

I'm tired of vampires.

Okay so I understand that most people find this:

A lot more glamorous than this:

And maybe rotting isn't exactly the fashionista's dream, but on the other hand, vampires are hardly the most original undead fashion inspiration. I mean, come on, Interview with a Vampire came out in what, 1994?

People! This fad has had its day!

Let's have something new. Maybe not Tar-Man himself, but I reckon zombie movies have more to offer than people think. Anyway, I suppose I'm preaching to the converted here. What I really need is a film director with a love of fashion, a very hot cast and Tom Savini...

Zombie chic

Without a doubt, the first thing anyone notices about me is my piercings.

Like most people I got my ears done first, but from a pretty early age I knew I wanted to have my lip pierced. It was seeing this that first made me think of having it done:

(Gothic and Lolita Bible, Vol 1, 2001.)

I was still in school at the time though, so there wasn't much chance of it happening then.

I first saw Return of the Living Dead 3 probably a year later. This sounds like a tangent but it's not, I promise. Just look:

I totally wanted to be this chick. After seeing that film (spinal columns and everything) all I wanted was to have loads of metal sticking out of me. At that time I already had 5 or 6 earrings, but that movie really got the ball rolling. As it stands today I have 14 or so in my ears, one in my nose, my tongue, and 3 in my lip. I also had 2 bars through my eyebrow at one point. They've left scars, but I think they're cool too.

But anyway, there you have it: perhaps there is such a thing as zombie chic after all. Actually, I think Guro Lolitas do it much better than me...but I'm saving that post for another day.


End note:

Speaking of spinal columns, I was out on my lunch break the other day and the dude walking in front of me was carrying one :O

Miley hits back

Go check it out on Blabbermouth.

"any chance she likes dying fetus?"

"In related news The Jonus Brothers are big fans of the Hellhammer"

"Guys and girls - before posting 21384 comments saying the exact same thing we're all thinking, stop and think before you do. We all know she's annoying. We all know she's sucking her father's teets. We all know she's a poser. We all know she'll be in Playboy the day she turns 18. We all know she'll have 2 kids before she's 30. We all know she'll be sleep with every member of Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold in an attempt to prove she's a "rock star." We all know she'll be snorting crack after her career ends when she's 31. Finally, we all know she'll be married in June, divorced in July, be found passed out in a motel room with a bottle of gin in one hand and the remnants of an 8-ball in the other, and will blame her "dysfunctional family" and bitch and moan about how stardom has taken a toll on her life and once contemplated committing suicide in an effort to solve all her problems.There. Its all done. Close the thread."

OMG LOL celebrities suck.

I heart your dress

I want this dress so much. I don't know if I'm handy enough to make one myself. More petitioning for commissions? Either that or I'm going to have to go buy a dress suitable for chopping up...

Ultimate papecraft Mk. II

As a sequal to this, here I present to you Nancy Judd's 'Fan Mail' dress.

Made from old junk mail, the paper pieces were folded into fans and sewn onto the skirt - the shoes are decorated with old postage stamps.

I know this isn't really a sequel, as this dress was made way back in 2000...but I only saw it recently. So there.

100% proof

...adding a 'rock' t-shirt does not make you cool, or even look cool.

Even if it is a t-shirt for one of the greatest bands ever and the best live album ever...

But no, Miley. Not even the power that is Iron Maiden can make you look cool.

Edepol!

Ancient History is super cool: Selfridges has gone all British Museum on us with its new Greek and Roman inspired windows. No really! (Check out Susie Bubble's pictures).

"Selfridges Plc, founded in 1909 by the U.S. entrepreneur Gordon Selfridge and owned since 2003 by Canadian billionaire Galen Weston, says it’s starting “an exclusive collaboration” with the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert to put “fashion on a pedestal, while celebrating the timeless beauty of the great classical Grecian and Roman styles."

Some of the replicas are life-sized photographs that are made to look three-dimensional by glass distortion. Others are real-scale plaster maquettes that will allow window shoppers to imagine, if only momentarily, that they are studying the glories of human civilization before the attached price tag returns them to reality."

So, fashion week at the Natural History Museum? It should so be the British Museum! (fingers crossed: I take evening classes in Bloomsbury).

(Article source).

Me Tarzan, You...have cheese?

I love reading Jane's blog, Sea of Shoes, but I couldn't help but notice when catching up on my feeds today - how much does that stool look like a giant round of cheese?

I would like to add that the furniture is usually quite normal; if not slightly more expensive looking than the gear you'll find in my house. But it really is a great blog - however I think most of you will already know that, as I'm pretty sure it's one of the most popular fashion blogs around.

One day...

...someone needs to make a zombie film that looks like this.

(Vogue Paris Feb 09, Lara Stone, Travis by Steven Klein, style by Marie Amelie Sauve)

The raven's eye

I adore Emily Sullivan's jewellery. A little lolita, a little victoriana, a lot of goth - these are some of my favourite jewellery pieces around at the moment.

On the accessory front, I especially want one of her cuffs - although the headdresses are worth a look too.

Raven Eye Jewellery

Go go gummi lamp

Can you believe this is made from gummi bears? As Geekologie says: delicious and functional.

Made by artist YaYa Chou, the gummi series (which includes a gummi bearskin rug) explores the relationship between food consumption and class.

"By rearranging the embellished snacks in the forms of luxury commodity, I wish to pose the questions: Who consume these foods? Who has the choice to choose?"

It's those girls again

I just can't get away from them. The thought made me tie bits of lace and ribbon in my hair the other day. It ruled, I'll have to remember to take a picture next time.

My next step: buy a crimping iron...

(Photo: Jak & Jil blog)

Black on black

This is a bustle skirt which looks awesome from the back: didn't get any good pictures today but hopefully some other time.

3/4 sleeve jacket from H&M, long sleeve t-shirt from H&M, bustle skirt from random Japanese internet shop, jewellery - mixture of Ebay, H&M and ancient stolen goods.

Stolen from friends, not shops or strangers.

Dirty Librarian - Tr00 and kvlt

Dirty Librarian Chains have released a new series of pieces based on Peter Beste's True Norweigan Black Metal photography series. It's massively limited edition so may be all sold out now...

My thoughts? I'm not so inspired by it. The ring and bracelet above are my favourite pieces, but they're not so unusual you'd never find them anywhere else, or be able to make yourself.

I'm struggling with the whole black-metal-inspired idea and I can't quite work out if I think it's cool or totally lame. It's not exactly the sort of jewellery that black metal musicians wear (although some might, I don't know them all) and most musicians of that genre would probably be less than pleased to have their work inspire something so trivial as rings or bracelets. The concern is more with being grim and frostbitten, not with matching accessories.

Those who are both tr00 and kvlt will be concerned that black metal is about to be jumped upon by 16 year olds and hipsters searching for the latest unheard of thing. At the end of the day...get over it. A diamond encrusted dollar ring doesn't make you Diddy, a Jamaican flag and dreads won't make you Marley and black chains certainly won't make you Varg Vikernes, but that's not to say that anyone couldn't wear their Eternal Winter necklace with pride. You're cooler if you like what you like and you don't care about what anyone else thinks, be that Varg or the 16 year old girls. Hey, black metal sucks anyways.

I just think that they could have done something a bit more exciting. As one Blabbermouth reader said:

"They should all have exploding blood packets imbedded inside. That would be kvlt."

The long walk

I decided to walk to work today - it's about 6 miles, but I'm very lucky in that it's pretty interesting route through town. So I thought I'd take some pictures...

I live south ("saaaaf") of the river, not far from the famous Battersea Power Station.

The first time I walked this route, it was between half 4 and 6 on Christmas morning (long story) - pitch black and no-one around. Walking over Chelsea Bridge messed me up that time...but it was nice this morning. That's the Albert Bridge you can see further away.

You can see the pagoda in Battersea Park.

Welcome to the posh side of the river!

This is a new one - there's just a crossing on the other side of the road. I am so glad I didn't come across this the time I walked this way in the dark...

I got to do the touristy thing outside Buckingham Palace...

St. James' park is pretty and the views over to Westminster are dreamy. I like this one, it looks like you're staring off through the trees into a fairytale land of castles and magic...

Don't let the sunshine fool you - the weather is (literally) freezing at the moment.

I'm not sure who this column is for - it's along the Mall. This had me pretty creeped out in the dark too - everything makes you feel so tiny!

The fountains in Trafalgar Square are frozen too.

From there it's up to Leicester Square, through the West End and finally landing up in NW1. I would have taken more pictures of all the cool things I walk past, but I didn't want to keep having to take my hands out of my pockets!

An attempt at an outift post

I'm pretty sure no-one reads this blog, so I'm not feeling too concerned about posting these. Thank you to Jon, my reluctant photographer.

The faux fur bolero was from some random stall at The Clothes Show, top and skirt from H&M, belt from Primark, gloves from H&M and the necklace was a present from my mum. The flowers in my hair come from the children's section in Accessorize and were 70% off in the sale, which pleased me greatly. My earrings are knock off Chanel from Ebay.

If I can ever convince Jon to take any more pictures, perhaps in future we'll be able to try for more exotic locations than the landing. Don't bet on it though...

Architectural designs

Elena Manferdini is a graduate in civil engineering with a Masters in architecture, who teaches...and also designs.

Her clothes are pretty awesome but its definitely worth checking out the grander structures too - she's the brains behind the US West Coast pavilion design at the 2006 Beijing Biennale exhibition and her firm, Atelier Manferdini, is currently working on 'The Fabric Tower' in China.

The product design blew my mind too - who could have guessed a pasta strainer could become such a work of art?

Robot style

These sunglasses are rad.

That's right. I said rad.

Source: Your Boyhood

What a waist!

I'm don't usually write about designer fashion, but people went crazy over the last Balmain collection, so I checked out the SS09 as well. Out of curiosity, of course.

I'm not so keen on the pointy shoulders or the band jackets (which I'm concerned everyone will be wearing before long) (not that there's anything wrong with them, but groups of teens may get mistaken for the Salvation Army etc etc) but the goth look this time has evolved, from a punky leather and fringed teenager, to very expensive, possibly immortal (note the ankh) power dressing. For teenagers. Or the very thin.

Anyways, I do like the belts, which are by far the most awesome thing I've seen from the 09 catwalks so far. (I said I didn't write about it often, not that I don't pay any attention).

Waists of wonder and joy:

Note: another ankh!. There's definitely some 80's goth going on here. And then a lot more 80's, considering the bleached out denims...

So anyone who was worried studs were on the way out can relax. Except don't relax, because this Balmain needs you to look all pointy and rich.

The shoes also ruled:

Or sandals, whatever. Except I'd want these to be flat. And probably a few hundred pounds cheaper.

I'm starting to see a pattern here - one of great expensiveness. Okay so this is why I don't write about designer fashion...

Island wear

It's not in the sale, but it is very nice.

Bead embellished shrug, £34.24 at River Island

Morning

These were all taken with the camera on my phone, from a train window, so not bad all in all. This time last year I was commuting about 70 miles a day for work and it gave me a lot of time to practise.