Home
Archive for
2015
Tiger Chill

Top - Asos
Trousers - Asos reclaimed vintage
Tiger bracket - Stella and Dot
Necklace - Tatty Devine
Ankle Boots - Asos
Alice + Olivia
Alice + Olivia is a contemporary clothing company based in New York. It actually caught my eye when I was catching up on NYFW. The brand launched in 2002 at Barneys. Founded by Stacey Bendet, she launched her 20-piece collection with a desire to make sexy trousers after being unable to find the perfect ones for herself. She introduced her iconic Staceypants, which are low-rise slim-fit pants, which were known for creating the illusion of elongated legs.
Since the start of the brand over a decade ago, Alice + Olivia has grown to a full sized clothing brand, showcasing everything from glamorous ready-to-wear party dresses to the retro accessories.
Stace Face Be Clutch

SS 2016 collection pieces
A few of my Alice + Olivia Loves
Okay, more than a few loves ...
***Image Sources***
www.aliceandolivia.com
www.fashionisers.com
www.metro.us
www.vogue.com
www.doll-memories.com
www.selfridges.com
www.harveynichols.com
www.theoutnet.com
Let's School Ourselves
Antonio Berardi, Alice + Olivia, Isabel Marant and Delpozo
In case it's a surprise to you, I heart fashion. <3 <3 <3 Along with art, it has been my passion and joy for as long as I can remember. It's what I want my life to be based on for goodness sake!
However, ever since I've stopped studying fashion, I've stopped learning about fashion history and designers, and that is something that I am not okay with. As with any art, the subject is never ending, there's always something new to learn or someone new to watch. So, it's time to take some initiative and build my style file. I'm planning to do a brief style file on a number of designers, some may be well known, some may not be. But it's a way for me to keep up with fashion education, despite not being in fashion education. So I hope you enjoy learning with me on my journey to better my fashion knowledge.
What gives me the right to be Sarah Husain?
What right do any of us have to be who we are, and to be from where we are from. I love London, with all my heart and I will always love London, forever feeling it is where I belong. But I don’t understand when some people say phrases such as, “I’m proud to be a Londoner” or “I’m proud to be British.” What exactly have you done for London? What have you achieved to feel this pride?
The answer for most people is nothing.
You have no choice in deciding who you are or where you are from. You did not choose to be born into your family or to be born in whatever country you are from. Absolutely none. It was chance that you are who you are. So nationalism and patriotism is a load of crap to me. It’s not justifiable to be proud of something you have no control over.
This is something that’s always irritated me, but it’s been irritating me even more in light of recent events. There is clearly a media bias for which current tragedies are reported about, which can particularly be seen with social media, and this is very wrong to me. Are the tragedies of the western world more important than the tragedies of the rest of the world? My frustration is directed at a lot of people within the Western world who, when incidents such as the Paris attack, extensively mourn and show “solidarity”, however, when a similar incident in Beirut occurs, no one bats an eyelid. When a tragedy in Mali occurs, no one changes their Facebook profile pictures.
When I ask "why do you care for Paris more than Beirut?" the answer is commonly “Because I’m from the Western World, and Paris is close to me.” To me, this doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t matter where a tragedy has occurred, or whether it is in a warzone or not. If any human life is attacked or lost, it is a tragedy. It’s immoral to me to care for one group over another for such a trivial reason. It doesn’t matter where I am from, I will always care for people in London and Paris just as much as people in Japan Palestine or Syria.
All lives matter, all death is tragic.
Why Everyone Should Own a Leather Jacket
If you’ve had a look at my OOTDs, you’ll notice there are a few things I seem to wear again and again… Tatty Devine jewellery, Nike shoes, my lace black shorts… But there’s one thing in particular that I want to talk about, my Leather jacket.
I love Love LOVE my leather jacket. It is literally the bae in my life that I cannot live without. It’s so easy to wear and it’s a great piece that lifts up my outfit from day to day. It’s so effortlessly easy to wear. You can wear it with anything, shirts, jeans, dresses, ANYTHING! One of my favourite things to do with my leather jacket is to wear it with a really girly outfit, so that it toughens up the look and gives it a bit of an edge.
I also think people of all sexes should wear it because EVERYONE can pull it off and it instantly makes you look 500 times cooler, so don’t think I’m just directing this to girls.
There are enough styles out there for everyone, so there’s really no excuse for not finding one. I know they can be a bit pricey, but think about it, it’s something you are going to get a lot of use on, and something people will probably notice and compliment you on. I’ve had mine for 3 years now, and there is barely a sign of any wear and tear issue. They literally last for years! You don’t even need to do anything to look after them.
Anyways, do your research and get your hands on one!
Azalea

Bralet - Asos
Sheer top - Oh My Love
Denim skirt - Asos
Bomber Jacket - Oh My Love
Trainers -Nike
Necklace - Fallen Saint
My Tatty Devine Collection So Far
White Tiger necklace, Lemon Citrus necklace, Orange Citrus necklace, Classic Tiger necklace
The first ever Tatty Devine jewellery piece I got was the classic Tiger necklace for Christmas right before I turned 18. I got two more Tatty Devine jewellery pieces a week later for my 18th birthday, the Mirrored Teardrop ring and a personalised name necklace. They were all given to me as gifts from my sister, and I really do love them all. What was an even greater gift was actually being introduced to one of my jewellery favourite brands ever. I always love what they create, the pieces always stand out, and when I see someone wearing something of theirs, it's so recognisable and distinctly a Tatty Devine piece. I also love that you can get a lot of the necklaces in different sizes, so you could get it small and be casual with it, or get it large and make it a statement piece.
Over the past four years, I've gradually been building up my collection, here is everything from Tatty Devine that I currently own.
Aarrghhhh necklace, Sarah necklace (personlised), Unagi necklace (personalised), crown necklace (personlaised at a workshop)
personalised Speech Bubble necklace, Kite necklace, Shoreditch necklace, personalised Speech Bubble necklace
Mirrored Teardrop ring, Four of a Kind earrings
So that's everything I have, but there's still a lot more I want. If only it'd rain with money once in while...
Here are a few pieces I've got my eye on
Okay, that's more than a few... I really like the shop okay!
It's cold, but it's not cold
Slightly cold in the morning, not so cold in the afternoon, especially after a little walk about. This is one reason I am not a fan of the in-between seasons, I never know how to dress. Layers are key for days like these.
Jumper - Topshop
Camisole (unseen) - H&M
Shorts - Urban outfitters
Shorts - Urban outfitters
Scarf - Urban outfitters
Leather Jacket - Urban outfitters
Shoes - The White Pepper
9 Things I learnt from attempting to buy something from the H&M Balmain Collaboration

So here's how my day panned out.

6:45 - We get there and see that the queue is not so outrageously long, definitely within the first 100 people. Really not that busy, I expected a lot worse.
7:00 - We start seeing H&M workers arrive into the store... with suitcases. Yes that's right, with suitcases. Are they allowed priority shopping as much as they want?! I don't know, priority shopping seems fair enough, they're working early and for a more chaotic shift, but if they get to load their suitcases with everything, that seems slightly unfair, especially for a limited collection. If they get a staff discount on top of that, I may rip my hair out.
Too many privileges here.

8:20 - We get our time slot for 10:05-1015. Yes that's right, 10 minutes. Ten minutes to shop for it all. We also get told that we cannot buy more than one size, which was a problem, as there a couple of things that both my sister and I wanted. The simple solution was to get my friend to buy those and reimburse him.
8:30 - We go get breakfast from Boston Tea Party, and head back around 9:30ish
10:05 - CHAOS. Remember in Friends, when Monica and the girls go on a mission to get her wedding dress from a sale? (S07E17: The One with the Cheap Wedding Dress... Yes I'm that much of a Friends addict that I remember the title of the episodes.) It was just like that, with the whistle blowing, everyone rushing in, stampeding in, except more chaotic than that because there was ONE RAIL OF CLOTHES and one little accessories stand. There was hardly anything left, a few stuff that I thought looked alright, but nothing that we wanted. I decided, to leave them, they weren't worth getting. I asked about if we could go straight up to the men's section, as there was no queueing system for that, but it turns out that got pretty much sold out too.
I leave, sad and depressed, ready to do some major retail therapy to make up for it. My purse says "ouch".
It was quadruply frustrating to see all the pieces being sold on ebay at outrageously hiked up prices. I hate people. So unethical. The purpose of these collaborations is so that the average person, who cannot afford to buy designer clothes is able to feel special and fashionable from being able to attain one of these gorgeous pieces at high street prices. It's sad to see this gesture exploited.
So the few things I learnt from this experience:
1. Going the night before isn't a bad idea.
2. Company is definitely a good idea.
3. Have a tactic of getting through the manic crowd.
4. Try the mobile website. My sister was struggling with the desktop website, but one of my friends said he managed to get a T-shirt by using his phone.
5. If you don't get anything, and are sad about it, get as FAR away from the store as possible. There is nothing more depressing than seeing people with their massive shopping bags or getting out the dress that you wanted, and seeing it look even better than you imagined it to be.
6. Be prepared for retail therapy if you don't get anything from the collection.
7. Don't be too upset. There will be a way to get them eventually, somewhere online, some sort of fashion outlet, someone will be selling them once they've worn it a few times. If you really want it, you will one day be able to get it. One day...
8. If you don't get anything, you're with the majority of the people in the world, so really, it's not that bad.
9. There's always the next year to attempt.
That's all I can think of for now.

Until next year...
Tatty Tatty Tatty
Tatty Devine is one of my favourite jewellery brands. Over summer, they had lots of super cool designs, but I became totally obsessed with these citrus necklaces. They had lime, lemon and orange. By the time I got around to buying them, they were selling out, and the shop assistant told me they only had the last few necklaces. I have total FOMO, so naturally, I panicked for about half an hour, with the dilemma that the orange one looks good with a white top, whilst the lemon one looked good on black, but I prefered having an orange, and well, yeah. It was a mess, and I just got both. But I'm happy. They're so cute.
Cafe Day OOTD
Home for the weekend!

Jumper - Urban outfitters
Floral Skirt - Oh My Love
Jelly Sandals - Truffle Shuffle
Leather Jacket - Urban outfitters

Happiness is New Hair
So, I died my hair... (: well I dip-dyed it, because I am too low maintanence, or lazy, to dye all of it.
Top: Oh My Love
Skirt: Topshop
Glasses: Dolce and Gabbana
Rose Fringe Poncho
I absolutely love love love this poncho, but let me tell you, it is NOT easy to wear. After a day of walking around London in it, I came to find the fringing all tangled up.
Sad face.
Poncho: Asos
Crop Top: Asos
Lace Shorts: Pins and Needles (Urban Outfitters)
Brogues: New Look/ Asos
Slutty vs Scary Debate
We are halfway into October, and the presence of Halloween is looming in the air. So many things to consider for this holiday, but the one I always think of first is "What will I be this year?" After bouncing ideas about costumes with some friends at university, it becomes very clear to me that there is a divide between those that want to look hot on Halloween, and those that want to celebrate the holiday in all its horrifying glory.
I am on the scary side of the debate. Come on! All Hallows' Eve is all about confronting death. Death is scary. As humans we have 364 other days to look hot, can you seriously not let that go for one night to enjoy yourselfs and commit to a theme?
I'm not sure when it became popular to ditch the traditional traditions (ha ha) and dress in skimpy outfits, or not even that, to dress as a mouse... like, why?!
I read something about it recently, it was a psychology analysis that basically acknowledged that women (and girls) get called a "slut" when they dress sexy in skin tight or revealing clothing. What this does is separate them into the "good girls" and "bad girls" categories. Halloween for the "good girls" is a time when they can be dressed in a sexualised outfit, and switch groups for a night. I don't think this is untrue at all, but I think the problem here is that girls in general are pressurised to dress sexy. There is a pressure to be in one of those categories, which is ridiculous, because the definition of a "good girl" or a "bad girl" is set by patriarchy here. But by dressing up in a slutty outfit, and giving yourself to the patriarch's expectation of you, you're losing your ability to truly enjoy yourself. In a scary outfit, you can't look bad or ugly, because that's the point of your outfit!
Anyways, I'm not trying to be a hater and I hope this doesn't sound like a rant, it's just my point of view. You are all free to dress as whatever you wish on Halloween, I just don't understand why more people can't take advantage of having fun in a scary costume. You can have so many fancy dress parties to look amazing or hot in, Halloween is when you can mess around and make yourself look horrifying.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A Few Fashion Week Loves
Fashion week has just ended, so for anyone following the runway, chill, you can now breath.
Here are 9 pieces from 3 designers I am loving this year.
Simone Rocha - London Fashion Week
Etro - New York Fashion Week
Philosophy - Milan Fashion Week
One thing you'll come to learn about me is that I'm a sucker for lace and sheer materials!
***Image Sources***
http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/243/516/5/S2435165/slug/l/470060627-1.jpg
http://simonerocha.com/6003/look-38-2/
http://www.philosophyofficial.com/en/collections/2016/spring-summer/collection/
http://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/runway-report/the-shows/ready-to-wear/2015/9/etro-ss16-rtw/
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)