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My New Favourite Suit

Ok last night was brilliant. This is what I wore to chair my session, and to get a bit rowdy. As you might know, I've been dying to get my hands on a printed suit – a proper jacket and trousers combo – and here I am. I bloody love it as a suit. I've never had a good relationship with trousers, but even these light coloured printed ones, are cut to a flattering fit. I got a size 12 to be on the safe side, and I'm glad. In the end I wore orange tights, and purple lips. It looked ace.

Wearing a suit, is always seen as, "look I'm here for business, take me seriously" and since I'd done very little public speaking, or addressing an audience whilst sounding coherent, maybe at the back of my mind, I didn't want to wear a dress. You all know I'm small, and I do make a bigger deal out of it than I should, but that's mainly because if I don't say something first, then usually an ignorant bystander/bully has done in the past – I must say I wasn't worried about abuse last night, as it's such a safe space for alternative thinking/discussion – hence this little chip on my shoulder about my height, has created a complex about people not taking me seriously (evidence in my heel addiction). I have to say donning this suit, I felt more excited to wear a matching print than anything else, and I really loved the outfit, and I think it's that, that gives you confidence. No matter what you're wearing, if you feel great about your outfit, and know that it doesn't need fiddling, and you feel comfortable, then that's going to be a massive boost to helping you stay assertive, and just generally confident in your knowledge to cope with what's being thrown at you. I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed in an outfit in a long while, even whilst challenging the limits of what I thought I could do! 

Elephant printed suit, cropped tapered trousers in a loose fit, with a light pyjama jacket, both from Topshop, worn with a navy blue silky shirt from Zara, and my trusty Office platforms.

 

Do I think that by dressing in clothes that have male undertones, this then creates the thinking that to be taken seriously you need to wear a suit? The answer is no, I would say this suit felt more fun than anything, and the heels added stature and were really comfy (wore them all night) and maybe there was an element of power dressing, but this isn't about my femininity, as I think it's quite a girly outfit, but I definitely believe it was about putting on a costume, putting a brave face on, and knowing the suit would somehow egg me on! 

But yeah not watching wedding, couldn't think of anything worse. It's two people I don't know getting married, and I'm not invited...? Yeah... and? BUT I am going to enjoy the day off with some lovely people, hopefully in their garden if it stops raining! 

Some Kills for you...

 

Bondage Up Yours

Landed in London with a thump, an armful too many bags to carry, (as a result of not using a proper suitcase and lots of little bags/backpacks/totes instead) straight off the train, to a meeting, and then scrambling back into the flat at around quarter to ten in the evening. Arms weary, curry that was lovingly packed in my bags from my mother, was eaten, and to bed I went. I forgot to see that the package from Topshop with stuff I'd ordered a while back, was waiting by my desk. In it was this waftingly chiffon 70's print top, plus the exciting suit I'm wearing to chair the debate on Thursday night. You'll get to see that later.

So I've paired it with my old pleated silky midi, and as a result, feel quite 1930's in this ensemble. The sun's out, but I've got shit load of work to hurry up with today, not to mention tying up all those loose ends for tomorrow night. I have had the most relaxing, indulgent weekend in Manchester. I have to say, I spent most of it either eating, or drinking... care of beer garden drinking, eating out and the culinary delights J cooks up for me.

Our bank holiday number one consisted of a lot of this, shown below, and not much else! On Saturday my boyfriend laid out a fantastic feast of oysters and prosecco, dressed crab, and a glorious moules marinières, made with a stock from the left over crab legs. Which was beyond delicious, and shamefully when we nipped out for drinks after, I had some pudding, in the form of a pecan and white chocolate brownie. Happy stuffed pigeon of girl I was indeed! And even though we have cans of Magners out on Chorlton green, we've enjoyed a lot of lovely real ale, and cask ciders & perry. No wonder I left feeling about 5lbs heavier. 

Wearing my lovely vintage 60's dress with sandals on the green, and look at the little (HUGE) fellow who joined us. Ah to be relaxing in the sunshine with nothing more to do than meander down to the pub, was so indulgent I can't think of any other words to describe it. 

 

Ok back to sewing words on to Niqabs. Reality hits.

Just a video to commemorate Poly-Styrene, who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer.

R.I.P Poly

 

In London again, but Back to Manchester Today

Again, today is the day I'm going back to Manchester for the bank holiday weekend. Tonight my boyfriend and I are going out for dinner... and I've decided to get ready now, so no faffing once I get back to the homeland. Feeling very chirpy, as I have an excuse to wear heels tonight (I'm wearing flats on the train) and this dress looks super good with dainty heels, as it's a slightly trapeze style fit — good for eating large quantities food! 

I've done my hair up, and sprayed it to death with hairspray, talc powder, etc as I couldn't be bothered to wash it today, but it needed sorting out. I spent all day yesterday walking around London, doing bits and pieces, in the sun, swanning around in my leopard print chiffon skirt and an array of silk scarves, needless to say, my hair was a bit of a mess at the end of the day. Though I have to say, you cannot beat summer in London... it is simply just the most exciting/vibrant place to be when the weather's out. 

I've found out, that the work I'm doing about the veil, is going to be possibly shown on the Islam channel, which I'm very excited about, and should probably be working on it right now instead of blogging or luxuriously spending the weekend in Manchester again! Not sure how I feel about being interviewed on camera, but I felt really reassured that the work I was doing was engaging the Muslim community and they thought it was a great idea too, and wanted to know more about the concept. So that news has given me a new drive, to keep up my own work, and to keep getting involved with stuff around London outside of uni. I'm finding that the more work I do that interests me, the happier I feel, and the easier it gets when you get a bland brief about gardens and furnishing fabrics.

Futuristic garden inspired textiles, in theory it all sounds like it should be a great starting point, but I'm really quite stubborn, and prefer to do my own thing, and absolutely hate being told what to do. I'll find a way to make it exciting, that's the role of a designer, no? You have to see a brief and make it your own, using experimentation and processes, etc and other industry speak. 

Plus side, I'm so happy to be wearing this dress, the colours are wonderful, and I've painted my nails again in a pale green, and matched my eyeshadow. 

Multicoloured loose fitting 60's psychedelic dress, with a round neck line, worn with Zara blue suede heels.

 

HAVE A GREAT BANK HOLIDAY!

Meditation

Just a little mini post today... Still up in Manchester, cooking, and getting cooked for, pubbing around chorlton, and sleeping in the sun soaked rooms at my parents house.  Bliss before the descent down to the back log of work, reading, research, and stitching to be done in London town. From the age of fourteen, I've been waiting to wear this dress, it was my mother's during the 70's, but the confidence to wear a full on, floor length dress, has finally caught up with my long standing love of hippy drippy dressing.

Beautiful silk indian printed dress with balloon sleeves, worn with snake skin print wedges, and a gold and bronze necklace. Feeling very floaty and romantic today indeed..even though, I'm full of a cold... and taking it very easy....

  

I don't have a tripod here, so I've used a very (low) coffee table, hence the reason the photos were landscape, and I look tiny, whilst the chairs look huge!! 

Break Time

Ok so the week after I posted last, was a flurry of panic and sewing and leather, and models, and hair and brixton and ultimate craziness.... You're not going to see a photo of the fan shaped collared lizard skin jacket I made, because it's frankly far too studenty. Then I hop footed on a train to Manchester and have just had the most relaxing week, of drinking in the sunshine, driving to Tatton and Lyme park, cooking in my mother's new house, and spending time with generally great people. Its been a big sigh of relief to not think about anything too much for a week and really enjoy myself. So posting or blogging hasn't been top of list for a couple of weeks, but I've been back in London for a couple days for uni/organising stuff.

I wore a variation of this outfit the day I landed back in Manchester the Friday before last. I haven't worn this jacket for coming up to a year now... It's a nice summer jacket, and unfussy. I've also dug out my blue velvet swing coat, which is perfect for not so warm but glorious spring days. Ahh summer finally. Brightened everyone's spirits no? Bit unusual to see me in pale neutrals, but it feels refreshing. I feel like I've balanced it out with colour in my make up, and painted nails....which is also unusual for me. 

I'm feeling so enamoured by this blast of summer in the air... it's prompted me to wear nail varnish for the first time EVER. This is big news, as I just don't do hands/nails, I work quite heavily with my hands, handling fabrics and threads, dyeing, e.t.c which means they go to shit mostly.... But I have to say, I'm enjoying the splashes of colour, if you think about it, it seems rather bizarre as to why I haven't tried this out before, although if I keep on having a play with polish, I'm definitely sticking to the 60second stuff... I had a paint disaster with some Barry M stuff, no more said. 

And another new experimentation, is going back to my love of bright eye makeup. I was always into big eye make up/strong lips when I was a teenager, but slowly morphed into an eyeliner, blusher, soft lips girl (I started working in an office) by the time I was 18. Recently I've returned to wearing strong lips, my signature purple, and the only one red I own. So it was quite fun delving into my make up bag full of the exciting liners, and shadows... I'm planning on wearing this stuff in the day time, like today, and I don't think it looks like too much to be honest.

(told you my hands take a beating - they're always falling apart!)

I want to have a play, and be creative with make up again. This is how I feel about clothes too...that sense of more playfulness and a real joy of dressing up needs to be injected back into the way I dress. I think I'm getting there.

Things that are taking up my time at the moment, but in a good way:

I've got an essay to write about the Hijab/covering, and deconstructing this garment to suggest dissolving the idea of it being a political statement, and the stigma that so many people attach to this piece of clothing. So I've spent the few days that I'm back in London in the libraries...But I'm going back up to Manchester today...

I'm also getting heavily involved with organising Violence on Trial and it's been a hell of lot of fun. It's pushed me out of my comfort zones, and made me work a part of myself that was languishing, since I moved to London. So making the most of being in London and getting involved with stuff outside of uni, has certainly made me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. 

In regards to the blog, I see it as a little outlet to talk about stuff in my head, and chatting about what I'm wearing, and maybe what that means to me. I reckon I'm only going to post once a week or so, and with a bit more writing, as I'll have something to catch up on too.