Motel Rocks Savannah dress

Savannah Sheer Polka Dot Dress in Teal - c/o Motel
Necklace - Wired Jewellery
Tights, belt - Primark

It's been very cold recently up north in Sheffield, and I'm trying to resist the winter urge to wear all black. I found this dress in its deep teal green to be a good antidote. Its colour is a bit lighter than appears in the photos and it's fully lined. It's a good everyday dress due to the long sleeves and the lining which help to keep you warm. I do feel very covered up in it but when you're outside in the cold that can often be a good thing.

Motel are currently doing an advent calendar of giveaways on their website for the 12 days of Christmas. I love it when brands get into the festive spirit, especially if you're like me and sometimes need a helping hand to make you feel festive. I can't believe Christmas is so close now! One week to go! :)

Weekend Web 12

little doodles

Weekend Web is a weekend series where I list my favourite links from that week. This week I've been loving:

♥ Hair Maths by Cherry Healey - a quick, easy and cute way to wear your hair when you have little time.
♥ The Sun: Toni's Celebrity Style Challenge - The Sun's fashion editor dresses up as a different celeb every day. Surprisingly inspirational.
♥ http://nancystraughan.blogspot.com a talented fashion student; I love her illustrations and the different textiles she posts on her blog.
♥ Little Doodles - I genuinely can't get enough of Kate's little doodles. She's been featured in the Guardian, the New York Times and Topman, but I what I love is Kate's use of mixed media.
♥ Society6 iphone cases - Having just got an iphone, I'm looking for inspiring iphone cases. Society6 has over 800 cases to choose from, from animals to art to cartoons to typography, there really is something for everyone.
♥ Bookhou - Bookhou is a handmade textile company; the name a combination of the two designer's surnames. I really adore their simple prints and their canvas bags.

bookhou ipad cases

I love discovering new blogs, art and illustrations, so if you'd like to submit a link, leave it in the comments or tweet me. :)

BINTM Live

This weekend was Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model Live. I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets from RachelPhipps.com but was unable to attend myself as I had food poisoning(!) so I sent my sister off to report back. She attended BINTM last year and really enjoyed it. I'm sad I couldn't make it myself!

Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model Live is a fashion, beauty and shopping event held every year to celebrate the winners of the TV show Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model where the judges and all the contestants, including the winners, will be in attendance. The event was hosted in London's Excel centre, which is a huge conference centre with its own train stop.

BINTM Live also hosts daily catwalk shows with live music and dancers, exhibitions and demonstrations from womens magazines and fashion and beauty retailers. Also in attendance was Amy Childs of TOWIE fame, who was debuting her first clothing range 'The Amy Childs' Collection'.

At the same time as BINTM Live the Excel centre was also hosting ComicCon. For those of you who aren't a big geek like me, think The Big Bang Theory. I've been to a few conventions in my time so secretly I might have enjoyed ComicCon as much as BINTM Live but sh! don't tell anyone.

Did you go to Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model? If so, what did you think of the event? For more BINTM Live news follow the hashtag on twitter or follow BINTMLive.

London Fashion Week: PPQ

I'm really excited to be attending London Fashion Week tomorrow. I won a pair of tickets to the PPQ show from InStyle magazine. InStyle were a pleasure to communicate with! I've had some experiences of dealing with other brands that haven't been so friendly and it really makes such a difference!

I will be in London tomorrow, live tweeting and blogging my thoughts. I'm also hoping to cover some Fashion Mavericks shows; N'Damus London and/or Anna Grzegorczyk.

I also definitely want to pop into Selfridges to see their Monki concession, time permitting (and while I'm there I may or may not be pretending I'm in Ab Fab).

I also found out today that I won tickets to the Look Show with Miss Selfridge (again, a pleasure to communicate with!) so I'll be really excited to attend that since I went last season (which you can read about in my two part post). I'm also looking forward to seeing all the bloggers I know who are going that I was too shy to say hi to at the last show. I'm quite apprehensive about Westfield Stratford City though, by the looks of things it seems huge and I think I'll be attending the Look Show on my own so I'm bound to get lost! So if you see me wandering around don't be afraid to say hi/point me in the right direction!

p.s. The new site WIWT launches today, my name is evemariadust on there if you want to check out my outfits! I think I might become addicted to the site once I get my iphone. Poppy who runs the site has a great sense of humour if you need another reason to visit!

p.p.s. Fingers crossed everything goes to plan!

Weekend Web 10

Weekend Web is my fortnightly round-up post on new websites I've discovered that inspire me during the week. I like to feature brands, lookbooks, illustrations, events, and generally anything that makes life easier for designers, customers or inspires people in their fashion and design. :)


The Scribbler

♥ http://blog.bettymagazine.co.uk - Betty Magazine has just released its second issue, which you can read online here. It is beautiful and whimsical, with great photography in the vein of Lula.
♥ http://cherryhumbug.net/2010/09/27/clowning-around/ - I love this photoshoot posted on Katie's blog, feat. Coco Rocha.
♥ http://yiunamleung.blogspot.com - Really interesting and creative fashion illustration with an edge.
♥ http://candicelake.com - Some of you may recognize Candice as a former model. Now she shoots for Vogue and Glamour magazine, amongst others, which is where I discovered her. She has an amazing eye for portrait photography.
♥ http://vicriches.blogspot.com/ - The Scribbler draws beautiful and creative fashion illustration, including illustrating the lovely book pictured above.
♥ http://pneumoniawhite.blogspot.com - pneumonia white is an enigmatic fashion and photography blog. She seems to be creating a buzz at the moment due to her anonymous identity and beautiful photos.



Yiunam Leung

I'm sorry for not updating Weekend Web on the blog for a while. Life has been extremely busy with my dissertation, moving house and a boating holiday!
I love discovering new illustration, fashion blogs and magazines, so if you have a site you would like me to consider for this feature, plz leave a link in the comments! :)

Dress Your Best 2011

The lovely ladies over at academichic are hosting another great project this year. Dress your best is a way of owning and celebrating your favourite body parts. As has been pointed out, discussing your worst body parts has sadly become a part of female bonding (as seen in Mean Girls). Celebrating your favourite parts seems to have become limited to your bum (Beyonce, Rihanna) or your boobs (Katy Perry, Niki Minaj). It's much harder to think of other body parts that we love that aren't sold to us as valid because they are sexual, whether they be our height, back, legs, eyes, hair, nose, ankles or wrists. If you want to check out more on Dress Your Best, you can do so here.



Skirt: Gap
Vest: H&M
Necklace: Next
Sports bra: Peacocks

This is one of my favourite casual outfits for studying in in the summer. The staying power of this skirt is pretty amazing, it's lined, and I bought it from Gap 10 years ago (seriously!) I have poleroids of me at 12 years old wearing this in Italy with a denim jacket and my hair in 'the Rachel'. I dressed pretty differently to most 12 year olds then.

This vest is also one of my recommendations, the girls in my family have a lot of vests from H&M. This one is lined at the top so I can wear it with my sports bra and still have good support and shape. In this outfit I'm dressing my best for my curves and arms.



1.
Shirt, skirt: New Look
Tights: Primark
Necklace: Next

2.
Jumper: Primark
Dress: my987wardrobe
Tights: Peacocks
Lipstick: Victoria Jackson

In this first outfit I'm dressing my best for my height and features. I'm petite, and for me that's not just about height. I'm about 5'4 so I'm at the top end of petite and I can buy pretty much everything from heigh street stores apart from trousers occasionally. But my features are very petite, so most of the style 'rules' for petites work for me, one of them being to tuck shirts in. I used to think this emphasised my hips, but I think this can be avoided by the cut of the skirt/pants.

The second outfit I built around the tights. It was also a cold day and I wanted layers without being too boring. The dress is one I won from a blogger giveaway with my987wardrobe (although I lost the link to the blog as it was so long ago, sorry!). It's really comfy and work appropriate. I love the neckline. The only downside is that it's hand wash only. This outfit is something I can imagine Phoebe from Friends wearing. I also want to apologise for the mess; I took these photos mid-move, can you tell? :p

Weekend Web 9

Ayten Gasson lingerie

♥ http://www.aytengasson.com - This vintage-style lace lingerie is so beautiful. The lace used is sourced from Nottingham from the lace makers to Diana, Princess of Wales. Their autumn range is on sale atm for a really reasonable price.
♥ http://www.missmoss.co.za/2011/06/10/modcloth-miss-moss/ - This post really inspired me, it takes classical paintings and creates outfits inspired by them. You can see more on the Modcloth blog here.
♥ http://www.francescawaddell.com - beautiful and creative fashion illustrations, as featured in Stylist magazine.
♥ http://www.guiltfreefashion.co.uk - I love this site! It features DIY fashion which is easy and cheap to do which everyone can enjoy.
♥ http://www.lavishalice.com - I spotted this cute new brand over at Lara's blog and I wanted to feature them in this post because their shoes in particular are so cute.


Miss Moss & Modcloth

Hope you enjoy the links! This weekend we've been spending a lot of time in IKEA and visiting our parents to get furniture for our new place! I will be sure to post 'before' and 'after pictures when we've decorated. :)

Weekend Web 8

  

♥ http://www.etsy.com/people/jkldesign - Leigh makes amazing illustrations (above) and has had her designs signed by none other than Lady Gaga herself, which are being sold on Etsy to raise money for the Save the Music foundations for musical education in schools.
♥ http://www.buddug.com - If you live in London, check out the shop owned by two friends that sells beautiful vintage style accessories, stationary and enamel jewellery. (below)
♥ http://www.lauralaura.net - I love lauralaura's knitwear- her slogan jumpers look so cosy and cute.
♥ http://tahti.tumblr.com - I'm linking here because I think it is a great tumblr, and I love her style but, as Tahti has said herself, some of her photos have been used as thinspiration which she does not condone, and neither do I.
♥ http://www.neetmagazine.com - If you haven't heard of this magazine, where have you been? In my opinion its the definitive online blog magazine, and it's fantastic quality. In this issue lots of my favourite bloggers are featured, including Dirty Hems.



I hope you enjoyed these links, and have a great weekend everybody! ♥

Coventry Cathedral: The City of Peace and Reconciliation

Velvet blazer: vintage
Playsuit and necklace: Camden market
Tights and brogues: Primark

Last week I did a little sightseeing in Coventry, UK, the town I've lived near for over 10 years. I thought as well as doing an outfit post I would write a bit about the history of Coventry, as it has a tragic but powerful history.





Coventry is a really important town in the UK's history of World War II. It was devastatingly bombed in 1940 and most of the city centre was destroyed, notably the Cathedral.

The cathedral was rebuilt after the war with the help from ordinary German people who came to Coventry as part of the city twinning with Dresden, a city in Germany that got equally devestated in the war. Part of the old cathedral is still left, but the only part intact is the tower, which has its original extremely thin spiral staircase.


^The reflection of my mum & I in the stained glass, the old cathedral behind us, the new in front of us.

The new cathedral was built directly next to the old one, so the history of the town will always be a permanent feature. The new cathedral is beautiful, with a huge stainglass window and a magnificent sculpture by Jacob Epstein (below).



I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you ever visit Coventry, don't miss out on visiting the cathedral. :)

Weekend Web 7

Weekend Web is my fortnightly round-up post on new websites I've discovered that inspire me during the week. I like to feature brands, lookbooks, art events, and generally anything that makes life easier for designers, customers or inspires people in their fashion and design. :)



♥ http://shop.megannielsen.com - When I saw the shots for this lookbook I instantly recognized the model as Tieka from one of my favourite blogs, Selective Potential. The lookbook and the clothes featured have a great fresh feel to it.
♥ Stella McCarney has designed a great new sports kit for our Olympic team for London 2012. You can buy from here, and the prices are really reasonable. I've got my eye on the tank tops with the logo on (pictured).
♥ http://www.helenjarrett.com - Helen designs cute denim accessories- I'm loving the flower badges she has, starting from just £6!
♥ http://www.googleartproject.com - A really useful resource for art historians, or just those who want to experience high-definition art but cannot travel to view the originals. You can sign in with your Google account and save your favourite pieces in your favourites. :)
♥ http://fashionary.org - Fashionary sells sketchbooks made for fashion designers. They look incredibly useful, and the templates are very finely visible.



Speaking of the Olympics, has anyone won tickets for London 2012 yet? We ordered some for the Swimming and Gymnastics a few weeks ago but haven't been charged for any yet. :(

Outfit of the day: Flying a kite

It's been really windy recently so I went out with the boyfriend for some kite flying. To be honest, he did much of the flying and I took photos played with the new camera.


Rings: Primark, Topshop





Shirt, tights: Primark, Shorts: Topshop, Shoes: Tesco
I think this outfit might be better with a belt? Although I'm not sure what colour or whether it should be wide or skinny. I'm thinking of one that clasps in the centre.

I should say that at the moment I'm still getting used to our new (SLR!) camera and so obviously my shots aren't brilliant yet. But they're getting better, and I have some beautiful ones from London and more from Sheffield to show you soon. :)

Inspiration

Lula magazine











I'm not sure what theme to put these under. I think 'summer'. The last photo could be a summer evening. I can picture that hand catching a raindrop in its palm.

I also want to say a massive thank you to everyone who follows me. I think followers is a strange word, I don't want you to 'follow' me, (be your own person! have independence!) I'd prefer 'readers', if you like. So thank you to anyone who reads or comments, I love your comments and I read every single one.

Cow Vintage, Sheffield

Some of you may know that at the beginning of next month I am moving with my boyfriend to Sheffield. We took a little trip up there to have a look at properties, and I couldn't resist going into Cow vintage again.

Cow is a store you can hardly miss. Bright yellow, it is a beacon for affordable and reconstructed vintage. I love the decor and the design of the changing room doors, aren't they cute! Note: they weren't actually 77 changing room cubicles, the numbers on the door are random. There were about 4 on the ground floor for ladies and more upstairs for men I believe.



This is the sign for upstairs, where the menswear and sale items were.



The downstairs. Love the bunting and the patchwork ceiling! In this dress rail in the forefront I found an amazing bright red shirtdress for £7 that fit perfectly! It was reconstructed vintage by Cow, but the only sights I could find of altering was the hemline.







Dress: vintage. Belt: Primark. Shoes: Tesco. Necklace: Camden market.

Cow also have stores in Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham. Have you ever been to Cow? What did you think of the items? Also if you have any recommendations for affordable vintage in Sheffield, plz post in the comments. :)