SHOEGASM

For two weeks at work I was asked to be in the section that we all dread. THE FITTING ROOMS. So being the polite and understanding person I am NOT I did what I was asked.  By the way it was HELL, I hated every minute of it, apart from having a nice chinwag with the girlies of course.  Customers seem to just not understand anything you say to them? It makes me question human kind, ARE YOU GUYS THAT THICK?!

Any ways moving on, yesterday was my last day there and I'm back on VM from Monday. THANK THE LORD.  And as I was standing at the front of the fitting rooms I had noticed a couple girls walk passed with the most amazing chunky platform heels, they were to die for. All I thought to myself was damnnnn I gots to pay rent though!  Then the best thing ever happened! The mannequin in front of me was wearing these bad boys!

 

They really were just calling me. Only 40 quid! :)

Girls get rid of those silly little ballet pumps and set your feet in these babies, you will never regret it. This seasons chunky platform heels are in and look good with almost anything, whether your going out shopping or hitting a party. They are defo day and night heels, in my books anyway :)

HOLY MOTHER OF CHUNKY PLATFORMS.

Need I say anymore? 

Jeffrey Campbell why are you doing this to me?!

price....$240 -__-

Ok these need to be in my life like asap.

And then there were these.... *sigh*

So this is Jade taking over from Mitra because her laptop kinda died on her lol. So I'm just wrapping things up and saying that if you are going to buy a pair of heels for the Christmas party season and into 2012 then this style is the one. Brighten up a pair of jeans or make a glitzy party dress contemporary. Knock yourselves out!

Love and kisses

Mitra (and Jade for one paragraph :p)

xXx

High Street, Je T'aime?

Most of us shop on the high street, because really we don't have any other choice.

Personally, my age, size and lack of money in my purse dictates that I shop in River Island, New Look, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, H&M, Zara, Primark? I'm 21 and therefore want an aesthetic that reflects my age, so no, I won't be shopping at M&S for cashmere cardies and bootcut jeans. I'm a size 14 and it is mainly high street shops that cater for the 'larger sizes', especially for my big boobs. I've tried looking at Vintage clothing and Asos Marketplace, and trust me, the nicest things come in a size 8. And lets be honest, the main reason is simply because I can only wear what either my parents or my wages will afford me. Which is basically nothing at all.

I actually love the high street, but in some ways its just become a bit 'tired' now. I'm sick of seeing Topshop being ripped off by River Island. River Island being ripped off by New Look. And New Look being ripped off by Primark.

So I'm just going to analyse a few of the 'main players' and analyse some of their pros and cons. I'll tell you what my favourite high street shop is, but ultimately I'm going to leave it up to you to tell me what yours is.

First up: River Island

Ok so everyone who knows me, knows that I'm a River Island whore. They may have also noticed that in the two years that I worked there my 30% discount meant that I basically only wore River Island. Before I worked there, I wasn't really a big fan of their clothes, I saw them more as experts in expensive demin and bags that every Hornsey Girl craved. HOWEVER, once I started working there I actually began to fall in love with their clothes. Okay, so they're just a tad  a lot expensive, but I can vouch for them when I say that their clothes last FOR AGES. They've also become more fashion forward, moving away from satin party dresses, and more into this territory:

I HAVE TO HAVE THIS!!! CLOTHING ORGASM!

Next up: Topshop

Where do I start with Topshop. They're sometimes seen at the 'couture' of the high street. They're cutting edge, pretty and attention grabbing. Its for the boys and girls with a bit of money and a lot of personality. You almost feel special when someone asks you where you got your dress from...and you can smugly answer "Topshop" LOL Also, the Flagship store on Oxford St is a tiny bit of shopping heaven. And even if you can't afford their clothing, you may be able to buy a piece of jewellery...to own a little part of the Topshop dream. My favourite piece from there at the moment is:

This winter is going to be all about Mustard Yellows, get to know LOL

New Look

A couple of things to say about New Look. Its a place I go when I have a little bit less money to spend. You can get something similar to other stores for sometimes even half the price. The one thing I have to rave about New Look is their shoe department. So basically you can get a variety of heels, some which are actually pretty great...all for under £30. Because lets be honest, I can't afford Office shoes, let alone KG. Another thing is that although New Look has often been seen as pretty basic, they're coming more to the forefront of fashion with pieces that are a little bit more risky. And their bags are actually grabbing my attention:

Image is a bit small, blame the website folks.

Finally: H&M

All I'm going to say is that I'm absolutely done with H&M. Its like they're not even trying anymore. And collaborations with every designer under the sun is not really enough to save them in my eyes. Sorry.

So you can pretty much tell that River Island is what I've voted as my favourite High Street Store. 

Erm yeah. So what do you guys think? Do you agree? And what's your favourite high street store?

Jadeybaby xXx

Mummy I want to be a Visual Merchandiser!!!

So today at Head Office, me, Mitra and a couple of other interns had to merchandise the Showroom.

So to explain: The showroom is a room which displays all the clothes for the upcoming season. So right now the showroom holds Autumn/Winter ladieswear, menswear, shoes and accessories. Its function is that its basically a big party room where magazines, newspapers and stylists can come to chill, check out the clothes for next season and even kinda party (the room includes a sound system, gold sofa's and a bar lol). Therefore the room has to be looking good at all times and the displays always have to be kept fresh and interesting.

So today, somehow they decided to trust us interns as Visual Merchandisers, which meant we had to update the Autumn/Winter stock on display. Yes a dream but could also be a nightmare if I was absolutely shit and the asked me to change everything. Yes I did Art A Level, but I've also spent the last three years writing about slaves and dead American Presidents...hardly creative.

Below are a few pics of what we did. Some were created from scratch and some we just updated. Each 'window' or 'box' had to embody a certain trend or 'look' or represent a colour scheme. There was also a large table which can only be described as compilation of accessory imaginable. From chunky knitted scarves in autumnal colours, antique styled gold jewellery to thick heeled boots and spiked heeled platforms.

Also this is an exclusive for you since all of this stuff are samples and none of it is out in shops yet. You lucky things! lol

Styled by Mitra - faux leather bags, belts and shoes with feather earrings in blue jewelled tones.

Scarlet reds. My favourite are the shoes on the bottom left; patent heeled brogues with gold buckle.

Styled by me. Tried to utilise one of my favourite colour combinations; pink and dark grey - with a flash of orange just to be that little bit extra lol. 

Very autumn. The necklace is amazing in the flesh, like an antique orange. The smaller stones are a deep purple.

Something simple.  Love the Satchel and the embossed leather on the purse.

More jewel tones.

Love clashing colours.

My personal favourite designed by Krystle.

Hope you enjoyed and feel free to comment on your favourite looks! :) 

Jadeybaby x

The Joys of Interning.

So, since the whole world and her goldfish have been asking me about my new internship, I’ve decided to write an exposé about the shocking world of fashion and its terrible treatment of its interns. Except I won’t be, since there’s nothing slightly shocking about the world of interning. However, I am learning that it is definitely more than ‘just getting the coffee’s in.

I’ll start from the beginning. For those that don’t know, my name is Jade. Also known as Jadeybaby along with a host of other nicknames which are infinitely more interesting that ‘Jade’. And since Wednesday I’ve been interning at the New Look Press Office just off Oxford St. The night before, a host of thoughts began stamping their way through my already overly crowded brain. The most overbearing being the fear of not being pretty or skinny enough to work in fashion; especially when I was certain to be surrounded by those ‘types’.  Not to sound cliché, but I was actually surprised to walk in and see smiles, not fake, bitchy smiles but genuine ones.

I don’t want to really go into too much detail about the day to day jobs handed to me such as leafing through newspapers for New Look press coverage or finding image requests for magazines to possibly use, because I would probably bore you with the mundane nature of it all. As an intern your mind is not important, but your body certainly is. Your ability to type, run to Costa, pack boxes, rip open plastic bags and answer the most complicated phone ever invented become the most important things about you. On my first day, I was sure my brain would simply melt from lack of use and leak through my overly pierced ears.

(yes I spent my day ripping open plastic bags from THE Vogue. Made it a little less boring I guess)

However, on Thursday something miraculous was about to take place. The Holy Grail of shopping: The Sample Sale. This particular sample sale was a collection of all the samples the buying department had acquired during the fashion year, and it was their time to unload. So we, the interns – the lucky fashion bitches – had to set up the sample sale, and therefore had first dibs on the clothes. For every girl in the room it could only have been described as a fashion orgasm. So after a long and bloody hard day, I left work at 18:00 laden with three bags of free garments. They don’t pay us in money but they certainly pay us in clothes. Yeah a dream, but also hard to navigate a packed 73 bus on the way home; where you’ve been left standing next to a tramp who smells bad like a piss and sweat cocktail.

For those of you who are thinking about doing an internship in Press/PR I would say go for it. Especially if you are confused about the career path you want to follow. I’ve always been confused about whether fashion was the right path for me; teaching also dominates my passion. And while this internship has shown me that free clothes are nothing to be turned down, it has also proved to me that if I’m going to work in fashion, I need to be my own boss. I need to tell myself what to do. I need to decide my day. After being in university for three years I’ve learnt to be fiercely independent, and it’s not something I can easily turn my back on.

However, keep the free clothes coming and I may just change my mind.

P.S. photographs of my sample sale clothing coming soon. Haven’t decided whether to take photographs of them on my bed or model them for you...watch this space! Lol

Jade x