Spotted a celeb so here commith the classic copy cat advice

Met BBC Radio one DJ Edith Bowman last night, and I’m not ashamed to say that I was slightly; (or massively), star-struck; so much in fact, that in a desperate attempt to get closer to the DJ booth where she was at- I managed to burn my foot quite badly on the smoke machine. 

To the right you will see from left: Me, Sarah (housemate) and the Bowman. 

Anyways brushing my awkward celeb pursuit aside, one thing that I did note was the fact that she managed to harbour a refreshing air of normality, despite the fact that she was being mobbed by hundreds of sweaty alcopop fuelled students. 

She seemed lovely and regularly halted her manic dancing to hug and greet anyone who stopped by to say hi... no entourage, no fuss.  

Her outfit very much suited the venue and company... no try hard designer gear as you very often get from the people who sign up for a DJ guest spot. 

The petite blonde opted for the ever-fashionable ‘casual nautical’ look. A simple black and white striped top teamed nicely with a pair of good quality leggings: completely effortless yet absolutely stylish. 

Edith's simple outfit can be recreated the right way for just £26. 

                  

Top: £10 (Dorothy Perkins)

Black leggings with popper detail: £16 (Next)

Match up with some comfy pumps or delicate heels and a neck-full of long beaded jewellery.

Barbie goes 'geek chic'

Don’t worry kids, you can look ridiculous and still get a job in IT!

At last parents everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief as the makers of Barbie have come up with a 'completely new look’ for the fashionable doll which they hope will help to assure young girls that they can overcome a ‘nerdy’ trade stereotype and embrace the life of an IT consultant...

... as long as they dress in vomit inducing outfits, suffer from partial blindness and maintain an unrealistic body shape- well done Mattel (Barbie masterminds).

In an interview with the BBC, a female web designer says:

"It's very much a young man's industry... Women find the need to become quite laddish. You try and become very geeky and not particularly feminine."

...Do they really?

I know several girls who work in IT departments and I have never noticed any of them scratching their crotches and belching for enjoyment.

The outfit donned by the plastic role model is questionable within the realms of taste to say the least but aside from a pair of pink, thick rimmed glasses- presumably an unoriginal attempt to make Barbie look more intelligent, there is no difference to her appearance.

I must however applaud Barbie, acquiring the talent to balance her fabulous pink laptop on her own forearm is a truly remarkable skill.

Unfortunately, the assumption that women who currently work in IT are 'unfashionable', is bold yet insulting, and feeds the very stereotype that they are allegedly striving to overturn.

Ah well, it’s just a toy... right?

A News of the World story, not fact.

This is the general gist of one of yesterdays 'top' stories:

Jordan/ Katie Price/ Mrs Reid/ the biggest disgrace to womanhood since the night Margaret Thatcher’s Mother decided against contraception; has decided that as her life isn’t quite false enough, she would like to have her husband’s face altered to her liking via plastic surgery. 

How romantic.

The bigger-boob-than-brain-bimbo has decided that although she loves hubby Alex Reid ‘with all her heart’, she doesn’t love his nose or ears after all the trauma that they have suffered due to years of cage-fighting abuse. 

I am inclined to agree with the bimbo actually, perhaps her hubby does need surgery- brain surgery. 

Clearly there is something wrong with the orange dim-wit and not just because he married this woman, but also because he allegedly doesn’t even agree with plastic surgery- (other than when done on women’s breasts’), and that he is just to scared to say NO!!

How absolutely ridiculous! An unoriginal response to the story would be: “your partner should love you for who you are and not what you look like...” but then again superficial is as superficial does. 

Just one word of advice Alex; I wouldn’t rely on Jordan as your main image consultant if I were you, or pretty soon you will have more modification’s than a ‘boy racer’s’ badly painted Vauxhall Corsa.

All in one shop!!!

Ever had one of those days when dignity and poise just goes completely out of the window?

Now I'm not the most dignified person to begin with, I do try to conduct myself with a commendable air of grace and elegance I really do... however those who witnessed me falling backwards out of a four foot high hot tub after an unsavoury amount of Jack Daniels and champagne on my 20th birthday last year would agree that it doesn't always go to plan. 

My regular shopping trip to Boots yesterday was unfortunately no exception...

I entered the shop with the aim to buy a powder compact and some conditioner and for most normal people this mundane choir would not normally result in an embarrassing catastrophe.

First stop: the powder compact in the make-up aisle. 

I picked up said powder compact and in order to determine that it was my regular shade of washed out British paleness; I opened it- not unusual to do whilst purchasing make-up. 

However what was unusual was that upon opening the spherical container, it shattered into three pieces in my clumsy hands. 

The first piece, (thankfully), remained in my hands. 

The second piece clattered noisily to the floor by my feet and attracted the attention of the nearest shop assistant as well as the attention of six or seven fellow shoppers around me- one of whom deemed it necessary to start an ironic slow clap. 

The third piece, not only dropped noisily to the floor but it also managed to land on it's side and therefore began rolling along the ground- (attracting further attention) but it did not stop there! It continued rolling to the end of the short aisle, across the width of the small perfume aisle and began a journey down the stairs to the photo processing and digital camera department. I would blame sub-standard craftsmanship on behalf of L'Oreal as opposed to my own clumsy nature but after years of mastering the ability to embarrass myself publicly, it would be pretty pointless. 

Second stop: Aussie hair conditioner.

This was perhaps the most unbelievably embarrassing moment that anyone has ever had whilst purchasing hair conditioner.

After spending the last couple of days stealing my housemate's hair products, I decided that it was about time that I re-stocked my own supply.

I did not however want to purchase my usual brand, I had in actual fact got used to Claire's favourite brand of hair conditioner and also thought that if I bought the same stuff, she would be able to take back a proportion of the bottle which was rightfully hers. 

As I couldn't remember which specific variety of Aussie hair conditioner was for me, I opened the first bottle and gently squeezed it near my face in order to determine that the smell was familiar enough to warrant it's purchase.  

It was. 

Happy with my decision, I toddled of to the queue with my sneakily replaced compact powder and bottle of Aussie hair conditioner. 

Whilst in the queue, I decided to double check that the conditioner was in fact the correct variety and gently squeezed the bottle as I had done before.

However, instead of receiving a gently wafted scent; I actually ended up with the contents of the bottle, exploding all over my face- up my nose and into my mouth- wonderful.

Needless to say, I hurriedly left the queue and replaced the partially empty bottle with another. 

What surprised me, and will surprise me until the day that I die, was that my loving Mother- who was crying with laughter; neglected to inform my that I had a blob conditioner positioned on the end of my nose- until after I had made my purchases and left the shop. 

Shopping can be extremely hazardous folks! 

Tribute to a British legend

Rest in peace Alexander McQueen, the fashion world won't be the same without it's rebel.

The most brilliant minds are often the most troubled. 

3D Burberry may need bigger models...

British fashion giants Burberry are to set to change catwalk history by being the first to screen their latest show in 3D.

The special effects for the 2010 autumn/winter show; which are believed to be inspired by three dimensional films such as Avatar, will be streamed simultaneously to Fashion hot spots all over the world- such as Paris, New York, Tokyo, Dubai and LA. 

The idea is that show goers will get a better view of the fabrics and colours, as well as being able to hear the music and sounds which compliment the displays, so that they will ultimately feel as though they are actually at the premier... though it might be less hassle to just go to London in the first place...

I am not certain what to make of this, it’s not exactly the ‘coolest’ of moves but it would be quite interesting to see rich and famous fashion icons trying to pout in the most dignified manner whilst viewing the show with a pair of ugly of 3D glasses stuck to their heads- although I suspect that unfortunately the budget for the specs will be a little higher than that of the plastic deformities that we mere ‘civilians’ are all used too!

However one thing's for sure, I would definitely prefer to watch the Burberry show rather than the three hour long Avatar film which is; as far as I can tell, simply a spin-off from the epic cartoon show- ‘The Smurfs.’ 

I guess we will just have to wait and see exactly how the special effects will benefit the fashion world, whether it’ll catch on and more importantly whether ‘3D’ effects actually make much difference with the two dimensional models... 

Never judge the Boyle by her cover... she could surprise twice!

Rapper Jay Z thinks Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has the talent to make it as a fashion designer if she so wished.

In an interview with the News of the World, he said: ‘Everybody wants a piece of her and the market for her is huge’, he also said that the UK singing sensation would succeed based on the grounds that she would ‘appeal’ to women of a certain age.

Predictably most of my fellow bloggers have met the idea with a certain degree of negativity, with many speculating that the 'Hairy Angel' doesn't stand a chance.

Granted Su Bo does not maintain the boring airbrushed and Barbie doll image that we are all used to having rammed in our faces, but why the hell should that stop her?!

She was laughed at when she first jumped gleefully across the Britain’s got talent stage but when she opened that mouth of hers she certainly wiped the smirks off of the narrow minded faces in the crowd and the public warmed to just how... well... ‘human’ she is. 

Can I just bring your attention to Emma Watson... If I recall correctly, her public debut wasn’t met with roaring reviews as she squeaked her way through the first Harry Potter film as ‘Hermione Granger’ but now not only is she one of Hollywood’s most highest paid actresses’, she is also launching her own fashion range with PeopleTree, now who could honestly say that they saw that coming all those years ago? 

Ok, Watson may have the whole slim pretty girl thing working for her but why should that mean that she’s possesses anymore fashion knowledge than the rest of us? 

If there is one thing the fashion industry needs, it’s a human touch... less of this ‘trying to make a statement’ thing- there are only so many pairs of metallic spandex leggings and massively egotistical shoulder pads one can bear to look at before fighting the urge to be sick becomes the main priority... the essence of what I would suspect would be ‘normality’ would actually make for quite a refreshing change. 

If Susan Boyle was to start her own fashion range, I’m not saying I’d be there to snap it up (not at my age anyway) but I would at least stop to give it a chance before I passed any shallow judgement on it... learn from your mistakes people!

The great debate; fashion and fur... though not exactly how you might think

This is a rather odd post to begin my blogging career with, but considering domestic pets are often seen as a fashion commodity- (referring to those who carry the small yapper type dogs in ridiculously expensive handbags), then I feel it’s presence to be valid none the less. 

In recent news, a ‘crazy goth girl’ in America has been charged with ‘Animal cruelty’ after piercing her cats ears and other parts of their little furry bodies.

The Daily Mail described the kittens as 'maimed and disfigured' after some of the animals were pierced up to ten times because the owner decided the resulting appearance was ‘neat’, (although scrutiny for the word ‘neat’ could very well be in order; that is an issue that will have to wait on the sidelines for now). 

As you can probably guess, most people with a certain level of intelligence and moral coding were outraged by this, and I imagine that there is already a Facebook group set up, to demonstrate such anger with numerous angry smilies dotted all over the wall. 

However, it got me thinking, why is this actually wrong? Because the animal is defenseless right? 

So why is it that it is not deemed cruel to pierce the ears of human babies? They are defenseless too are they not? 

You see it all the time, Mum’s with numerous cigarettes sticking out of their faces, whilst juggling their pride and joy (bottle of White Lightning), as well as a naive new born in their arms, their little ears glistening with the latest Argos tat... and all in the name of ‘fashion'. 

Why are these women not charged with something? Is a baby of five months actually capable of communicating a desire to be shot in the side of the head with a piercing gun? 

No.

Thinking about this particular variety of parent has lead me on to thinking about cows; we pierce the farm animals with pretty yellow tags as a method of identification, which although could be argued as a practical necessity, is still a vague form or animal cruelty.

So I think the main idea that I have concluded from this ‘topical’ discussion is simply this; if there is a rule in place protecting one animal, then surely it should protect them all- regardless of the cute factor, or not be in place at all. 

Elements of fashion such as ‘piercing’ should only be allowed to be practiced upon someone of sound mind and who can verbally confirm that it is a personal desire for the foreign object to be stapled to their body and not simply a decision made by someone who thinks it’s ‘neat’ (feel free to swap this word for another positive adjective).