My favourite celebrity wardrobe

I love Kimora Lee Simmon's wardrobe.

I remember being much younger and watching an episode of MTV Cribs and Kimora's first house was shown. I was in complete awe of how extensive her wardrobe was. I loved her Louis Vuitton suitcases and original Versace furniture.

From a young age I have always thought that Kimora is so beautiful. There is something about the proportions of her face that is magical. I also appreciate how she is not stick-thin. She reinforces this into her catwalk shows as she refuses to hire size 0 models for her runway. I think this communicates a wonderful message to young girls.

I've been watching lots of 'Kimora - Life In The Fab Lane' recently. Through watching his my love of her has grown and grown. She is so down to earth and hilarious, her daughters Ming and Aoki are little divas too!

Her brand 'Baby Phat' is not my style, although I love the 'Baby Phat' logo earrings as I love cats! I can see why 'Baby Phat' is so successful as it appeals to women who want to look and feel fabulous.

I think Kimora has come a long way since her days of walking the runway...

As a child she was made fun of for her appearance and height. Soon after she was spotted by Karl Lagerfield and became the face of Chanel. That's what I like to call "karma's bitch".

She is a dear friend of Tyra Banks as they modelled together as teenagers. I think Kimora and Tyra are perfect examples of models who set such good examples for young girls, don't you think?

Well... Most of the time.

xoxo



Turquoise Hair??

I've experimented with a few hair colours in my time...

Pink...

Purple...

Black...

Yet I've not experimented with turquoise!

After seeing Lady Gaga's recent peacock-esque hair, it's made me wonder... Could this be the next colour I dye my hair? I'm currently sitting at my "natural" colour - bleach blond (I actually have naturally dark brown hair)

I personally love the colour, I might try it out once I'm home from my week holiday in Turkey... What do you think?

I love her custom-made Hello Kitty doll!

xoxo

It isn't hell if everybody knows my name

I'M ON THE EDGE OF GLORY.

I constantly find myself blogging about Lady Gaga. I think she is not only one of the most influential women in the music industry, but a Fashion icon across the world. I have not come across a singer with such power to change the industry and bend all of the rules - certainly not in my generation anyway.

The "Edge Of Glory" music video left me feeling slightly dumbstruck when I first watched it. Dare I say, I almost felt a sense of anxiety for Gaga as this I found this music video quite subdued and safe in comparison to the likes of "Born This Way" - a Nick Knight VS Gaga infused orgasm and who could forget the controversial Madonna-esque "JUDAS" music video? I suppose that if you compare these two music videos in particular to "The Edge Of Glory", of course, her latest music video isn't quite as exciting, shall we say?

But then it hit me.

Lady Gaga is a musical genius. I believe that every choice she makes and word that comes from her mouth is carefully executed. I watched the video back again and tried to absorb the finer details. It was then, that the beauty of the clothes she wears in this video communicated to me in a way that I thought was pure genius.

As Gaga struts along a New York street with dry ice following her, you can't help but admire the clothing that pops against the dreamy backdrop. She appears almost Amazonian with that studded leather corset - one of Gianni Versace's vintage archive pieces.

Supposedly, this is the first time Versace has opened their archive for a music video. Gaga should feel honoured.

Donatella Versace had this to say about "The Edge Of Glory",

'I am greatly honored that Lady Gaga chose to wear a Versace Vintage look throughout her “Edge of Glory” video,’ Donatella said in a release. ‘I am a great fan of hers and I believe that my brother Gianni would have appreciated her talent. Like him, Lady Gaga is unafraid to push boundaries and she has created an original vocabulary by merging fashion, music, theatre and art. For me, this video represents a wonderful tribute to anyone who is unafraid to take chances.’

I think that this is such a beautiful quote from Donatella, who is obviously a Gaga fan.

In retrospective, I feel foolish to have once believed that this video was not exciting. I feel as though I am being sucked into the expectancy that surrounds Gaga - everything always must be over the top. She proved me wrong in this video and if it was even possible, I've gained more admiration for her as she has made such a bold and beautiful fashion statement in this video.

The clothing is so strong and dominating, I like how this contrasts with the soft melody Gaga has produced. The lyrics - as always, give hope to fans. I feel that the lyrics combined with the Versace vintage is so perfect...

xoxo

P.S. *Warning* more Gaga posts coming soon, I can't stop talking about this lady!

MY FAVOURITE MODEL...

Is Sasha Pivovarova!

I think she is so beautiful - INSANELY beautiful. She has one of those cosmopolitan faces that keeps people wondering who is she and where did she come from?

I first came across Sasha in her early Burberry days, H&M ads and I also remember seeing her modelling for a John Galliano show. I thought she was so striking and alien-esque - there was also something about her eyes that I found captivating. That heart shaped face, down turned mouth and doe eyes - WOW.

There is something about her that screams maturity and couture. I remember feeling shocked when I saw her H&M ad campaigns as she appeared to be so soft and natural looking. She is one of the most versatile models I have come across.

There is something about her that reminds me of Lily Donaldson too.

SHE'S SO FIERCE!

Speaking of H&M, I am very excited to see the Versace range - available 19th January. I tend to find H&M a bit of a hit or miss at times but since my birthday is on 29th January, I will be looking no further for potential 20th Birthday outfits!

I also love the archive Versace pieces Lady Gaga wears in her "Edge Of Glory" video - Will blog about this tomorrow!

xoxo

My favourite vintage

In this blog I aim to rate some of the vintage stores I visited whilst I was living in London.

I also wish to share with you some of my favourite items of clothing - the majority being vintage finds from London too!

One weekend whilst my boyfriend was down visiting me in London, we decided to make a day out of visiting as many vintage shops/boutiques/stalls as we possibly could. I managed to visit some of the vintage shops on my list, but not all of them as some were closed as it was a bank holiday Monday.

I have divided my list into locations.

COVENT GARDEN

Mint Vintage - Yes.

Blackout 2 - Yes

POP - No

WOW Retro - Yes*

Rokit - Yes*

NOTTINGHILL

Portobello Market - Yes

CAMDEN

Lost N Found - Closed every time I walked past!

What Goes Around Comes Around - Could not find

Rokit - Yes*

Thea - Yes

Retro World - Yes

Modern Age - Yes

St Cyr Vintage - YES*

In my opinion, many of these vintage shops were rather same-ish, yet three stood out to me.

All of the vintage shops sold similar items of clothing, some more expensive than others.

I was told when I was in London for 2 months that I had to visit Camden and Portobello Market. These were the two vintage locations I found first.

I went to Camden and looked in all the wrong places. I jumped off the train at Camden town (not far away from where I used to live in Old St) and walked directly across the road to a market simply labelled "Camden Market". I spend about 10 minutes in here and decided that enough was enough. In this market there was a great deal of clothing being sold with tacky London motif's on them - but no vintage clothes! I remember taking a moment to absorb my surroundings and seeing many trendy cool looking students with bags of what seemed to be vintage items - but I had no idea where they'd come from. I quickly gave up on Camden and tried Portobello Market.

Portobello Market is great - if you have the money. Many genuine Louis Vuitton briefcases, Mulberry and Chanel bags and Dior silk scarves that were 100% genuine vintage items. The items had the receipts pinned to them. I did not wish to buy anything from here as I did not want to blow all my money on one piece, but it was well worth the journey. If anyone collects fur there were plenty of real fur jackets - predominantly mink. My boyfriend also liked looking at the vintage Barbour jackets.

Right next to the top end of Portobello Market (left out of the station) there was a very strange vintage shop that was literally like Aladin's cave... I did not catch the name of the shop but it was fascinating. There was clothes EVERYWHERE, you could not see the walls. Shoes covered the floor so it was difficult to maneuver at times. Incense burned that was so pungent and I loved it! Again, plenty of genuine vintage items such as Dior mules, but very very expensive.

I then went back to research where I had gone wrong in Camden and discovered that I needed to be in the Camden Stables Market. I decided to journey there with my boyfriend and WOW, where we amazed.

Camden Stables Market had some of the best vintage shops I'd seen in London. You could literally spend days in there. The atmosphere was electric with the smell of incense, cigarette smoke and Moroccan food in the air. I couldn't believe that this place was tucked away so neatly in the heart of Camden.

The vintage shops were grand and spectacular - no longer was I squashed between rails and feeling very claustrophobic. The prices were excellent - one even devoting a rail to only original Burberry Macs - all 70% off ranging from £70-£200. All the vintage stores offered similar things and seemed to blend beautifully into one another - except one.

My favourite vintage store in Camden Stables Market was St Cyr Vintage. It blew everything else I had seen out of the water.

The store was quaint, quiet and perfect for me. With a range of clothes divided into styles and era's I found it so easy to get lost amongst the garments. Shelves neatly tucked away the most beautiful bags which were categorised into style and colour. Belts were hung from the ends of rails, cabinets contained sparkling accessories, fur shawls hid in pigeon holes and in a corner vintage books and records were stacked. All of the items had tiny tag attached which contained a brief item description followed by the price and origin of the item. Some items were expensive, others were a steal. I highly recommend this store to everyone as this vintage store is not one I found on the Internet but one I stumbled across accidentally.

Covent Garden also contained another one of my favourite vintage stores - Rokit.

I had previously visited Rokit in Camden and although this store was good too, I found the one in Covent Garden had a much better selection.

Rokit is big, has plenty of room to rummage for the best of the best garments and had such a diverse selection. St Cyr Vintage had more 50's-60's style clothing, whilst Rokit had more of an 80's - early 90's feel. Rokit's shoe selection in particular was astounding. I looked no further for footwear than here whilst I was in London. I also admired Rokit's selection of playsuits and jumpsuits. Their collection of graphic printed shirts and silk blouses was exquisite too.

WOW Retro was impressive too - although not as good as Rokit. The staff were helpful and if you are a collector of fur coats this place is great. I also found some vintage Burberry macs being sold for £100. Again, like Portobello, plenty of Barbour items too. I found this place a bit too crammed, but this also added to the appeal as there was such a selection to choose from.

LETS BREAK IT DOWN...

Best place for newcomers? - Camden Stables Market. There is so much to see here. Please go see Cyberdog too, although this store is not vintage, it is certainly interesting... ^_^

Best place for vintage brands if you have plenty of money? - Portobello Market - Gucci, Louis V, Dior, Mulberry, Chloe... And that selection was from a Monday market. Apparently its even better on a Saturday.

Best place for vintage (cheap)? - Rokit

Best place for 50's inspired items? - St Cyr Vintage

Best place for GENUINE items - St Cry Vintage

Best place for shoes/bags? - Rokit

Best place for fur? - WOW Retro

FINALLY...

Here are some images of my favourite London looks - courtesy of the vintage stores I have mentioned - excluding the Westwood bag and necklace - I wear these with everything. I have also shown my Philip Treacy bag as I recieved my hat when I was down in London - therefore the hat will always remind me of my time there!

Black jumpsuits - Rokit (covent garden)

Emerald jumpsuit - StCyr Vintage

All Shoes - Rokit

Vivienne Westwood bag - www.triads.co.co.uk

Vivienne Westwood necklace - Vivienne Westwood website

Cat - Bloggers own

http://www.stcyrvintage.co.uk/index.php - Please check this place out. It truely is amazing.

xoxo



HOW MANY KIDS CAN SAY THEY'VE MODELLED PHILIP TREACY?

Well, my niece Rebecca has!

Just some quick amateur shots of my niece wearing my Philip Treacy beret. I think I might attempt this again outside when it is a nicer day to produce some more dynamic shots.

She is DIVA - I hope she grows up to be just like me :))

xoxo

BARBIES ON THE BARBECUE

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS VIDEO.

I have just been browsing some other blogs through the IFB Network and noticed one Fashion blogger wrote a feature on Katy Perry's latest single, 'Last Friday Night' (TGIF) and I wondered to myself, 'Huh, I wonder why I haven't done the same already?'

This video is so so sentimental to me for so many reasons. Lets make it clear why.

1. It reminds me of the house parties I used to have in 6th year at school - 6th year being my last year at High School for those of you who don't know. I don't know how many people know this, but I was never always popular. Don't get me wrong, I believe that once I found my niche at school, started dating older boys and became happy with my body (AKA, becoming happy with my petite breasts and what seemed like a strange taste in fashion at the time), I was finally on the road to acceptance. I was always one of those people who grew up caring what other people thought. I didn't pathetically cling to people for attention, but I always wanted to be "cool"... But I was rebellious too. Always having a quirky sense of style that many people did not seem to grasp at a young age. So this video kind of reminds me of how I used to dress in a kind of, "so wrong its right" manor. I've not lost that element of myself, just tweaked it ever so slightly as I have quickly learned through being a Fashion student what works, and what doesn't. More to the point however, this video really reminds me of the house parties I used to have at school. All the girls would gather together and get rat arsed before the party, but EVERYONE wanted to look fashionable doing it. No matter how small the get together was, or who was going to be there, a significant amount of carefully executed time was taken getting ready for each individual party. I think this is because we never knew what pictures would end up on Facebook.
2. In a way, this video also makes me sad as I no longer have the luxury of house parties anymore. It reminds me of the past - times that I have tried to forget. I have not tried to forget them because of the fact the house party itself was bad, it's just that I don't hang around with the people I did then, at all. This is not a bad thing. How this came to happen is regardless - it was ALWAYS going to happen. People grow apart and move on, this is part of growing up. The music video reminds me of just that - "growing up". It reminds me of all the times I would sit alone in Primary School and High School and wished I had a boyfriend and I wished so, so hard that someone would accept me for who I was. I did not want to change, but some people are so cruel, I felt like I had no option to. Growing up I was a goth, then I transitioned into a NED - these were some of the happier days believe it or not, and THEN I became who I am today very slowly. It certainly wasn't a fast process... But slowly but surely, I began to feel accepted. And in my final year at school, my year was made by all of the house parties... I guess that 6th year the first and last year of crazy house parties.
3. THE CLOTHES, THE FUCKING CLOTHES!! It's sooooooooooo 80's!! Of course I was not born in the 80's so how on earth can it be nostalgic to me you ask?? Well, for those who don't know anything about Ashleigh Kate Duncan, I recently returned from a stint in London Town. I worked for the Mad Hatter Philip Treacy ( no biggie! ^_^ ) and while I was there, I made it my sub-mission to track down the best Vintage stores in London. I made sure that when I bought the clothes, I found out when the clothes originated. Most of the vintage finds I have are from the 80's (so I am told...) so the video reminds me of vintage shopping in Camden Market - Chalk Farm to be exact - and some of my favourite outfits I would wear to work such as high waisted retro denim Levi's shorts with a filthy denim vintage jacket from Urban Outfitters. I rocked the double denim look many times and I am so proud! I love the neon, the clashing contrasting colours that are so powerful, they would give you a migraine if you look at them for too long.
4. I love how Katy Perry's geeky alter ego "Kathy Beth Terry" kind of finds true love at the end as her super cute geeky admirer slays the jock to captivate her heart. Maybe I'm looking into the video too much, but I kind of see me and James there! It's so ironic how lots of guys ignored me when I didn't dress slutty. When I began to dress the way I thought would attract men I would exude a fake sense of confidence and arrogance which was in retrospective, just to compensate for my insecurities. But only then did I feel that the opposite sex would pay attention to me. Although this method was a somewhat success as I did manage to get boyfriends, they turned out not to be so much "friends" but just "boys". Very confused and very strange boys... Throughout all of this, there was always one boy however, that had a crush on the girl - that boy was James and that girl was me! :) so when things got real bad and other boys came and gone, James was always standing by to pick up the pieces. So ultimately, I get a small sense of myself and James' journey to where we are today. He too has rescued me when I have become so wasted, I have passed out. I believe that is true love right there people!
5. I love all of the lyrics to this song. They essentially sum up how I would feel after some of the wildest house parties. The lyrics seem to provide me with new flashbacks every time I listen to the song. My favourite lyrics are as follows,

"There's a stranger in my bed

There's a pounding in my head

Glitter all over the room

Pink flamingos in the pool

I smell like a minibar

DJ's passed out in the yard

Barbies on the barbecue

Is this a hickey or a bruise?"

I would go as far to say that this is one of my favourite music videos of the year so far. I by no means feel that Katy Perry's lyrics are genius, nor do I think she is the most talented singer in the business at this moment in time, but it is her unpredictability and hilarious sense of humour that keeps me and I'm sure many others on their toes.

xoxo

Westwood

I just made a promise to myself that I will take a photograph on my NIKON every single day.

That camera was bought for me months ago, and other than its use in Fashion Communication, I have to admit this camera has not seen much life.

It saddens me that I do not make the most of its potential.

Today I decided to take some close up shots of my favourite necklace. It's beginning to get grubby, but I like the worn in look.

Fuck Yeah Charlotte Free

When I was living in London, I came across a link to model portfolio's on the IMG website.

I browsed IMG's portfolio's to find the model Charlotte Free.

I was instantly drawn to her with her candyfloss pink hair and dark roots. To most people, her hairstyle would seem a bit of a faux pas, but I absolutely love it.

Everyone knows I have experimented with coloured hair in the past, and seeing Charlotte Free's grungy faded pale pink hair inspires me to colour mine pink once more.

I would advise everyone to visit the IMG website and check out the new faces on there. I could spend hours looking at these models portfolio's as some of the girls are nothing short of exquisite.

I predict Charlotte Free has a bright career ahead of her after already opening for Topshop Unique and Westwood summoning her for runway shows due to her quirky style.

http://www.imgmodels.com/details.aspx?navbtn=1&cityID=1&modelid=518461&pic=025.jpg&subid=5569&mainsubid=5569&catID=2&indx=2

I think she is excellent.

xoxo

Parting is such bitter sweet sorrow...

This blog is so overdue. I have put off writing it as it makes me sad to think that these are only memories now - no longer a reality.


It had to happen sometime. I am home.

I feel really sad to have left my flat in London.

I feel even sadder to have left Philip Treacy. Working in their PR department was a dream come true. Words could never come close to how grateful I am to have been rewarded such a prestigious internship there. I feel so lucky and grateful that I can say that I worked for the Mad Hatter himself, Philip Treacy during the Royal Wedding and Ascot... I was there for his birthday too!

One of the main highlights for me was attending a Fashion show at the Haymarket Hotel - a charity event Philip and Zandra Rhodes participated in. It was here I worked backstage dressing and styling new face models from IMG.

Working for the most renowned couture hat designer in the world has really been an invaluable opportunity. I do not think Philip will ever know how much being a part of the studio in Battersea meant to me.

As a young, freshly graduated first year Fashion student, I don't think I could have been provided with a more quintessentially perfect opportunity. I will always be eternally grateful to Philip Treacy's P.A for providing me with the internship. I think that my time in London working for Philip Treacy contained some of the most stressful and nerve wracking moments of my life, however, these emotions are overcome by the fact that I also feel that I had some of the best moments of my life there too. Moments I will always cherish!

I met so many wonderful and interesting people. People I want to work around and work for some day.


No matter what opportunities come my way, and I have no doubt that many doors will open due to the experience Philip Treacy provided me in the two months I worked there, I will always remember how lucky I was to recieve this amazing internship so young and how much I learned whilst working there.

I feel that my strengths are working within PR. Lucky for me, I further my skills in PR through my degree in Fashion Communication. I would never have realised this if I had not been appointed to work in the PR office at Philip Treacy's studio.


Thank you for the experience.

xoxo

Me and my favourite Philip Treacy hat. The best gift I've ever had!