Under African Skies

It's lovely to have pennies in my pocket but why is it that when you have got some dollar, you can't see anything to spend your money on. I turn into such a frugal little creature and can never seem to find anything I like and when I do, I have to question myself up to 10 times for a couple of days as it gathers dust in the online shop's basket. 

This weekend I have my boyfriend's uncle's 40th birthday to attend after work so I wanted to treat myself to something new. Feeling vibrant colours and through my appreciation of lady-like lengths and shapes I discovered this beautiful skirt on ASOS.

It is a part of their ASOS Africa range and I am just so damn excited for it to arrive. Always inspired by Natalie Joos, I know I needed to branch out and be a bit more adventurous with clashing prints and colours so I am still on the search for a suitable top half of the outfit. Any ideas?

I fear that I will end up with a simple, plain t-shirt up top but I don't feel discouraged by that having been inspired by this image from Lucy Laucht I discovered via Pinterest.

Pretty, pretty. 

Venice.

Hello stranger. It's been sometime, I have been so busy, caught between working a day job, interning of an evening and freelance writing on top of that. I'm exhausted the majority of the time these days and it doesn't take long for my eyelids to flutter and shut up shop for the day, when I get in from work. 

Whilst I have been busying myself, my parents decided to fly to Venice last week for a few days and get away from this terrible weather. They had a fabulous time and took some beautiful photos which I edited for them on their return. They are so lovely and colourful I had to share them. 

Getting super inspired by colours and nature at the moment so these photographs were a warm welcome into my life, I am so excited to share them with you. They have embellished my wanderlust. 

As I have been so busy, you can always keep up with me via Pinterest, Tumblr or Instagram. 

 

Spoilt for choice.

So a while back I wrote a post about wanting to make my own clothes. I got a lot of responses that agreed with me on how hard it was and how everybody wishes they could do the same. Still wanting to give it a go though, I plan on sewing myself a shift dress and have therefore been searching around for a nice bit of material to use. 

I am very much into patterns at the moment and I always like something a bit whimsical. I spent Sunday morning searching through Spoon Flower, an excellent site which allows people to put their own patterns, art, prints up to allow them to be sold as fabric.

I came across beautiful ikat prints, little foxes, sketched knickers and green chevron's. 

There were so many to choose from, I don't know where to start. I am thinking that I should initially buy a cheap piece of cotton to test I am able to do it before I invest in some of this lovely fabric and ruin it. 

There's more below to show you just how much wonderful choice I have found myself facing.

Little tomatoes, harlequin diamonds, paintbrush strokes and watercolour eyes. 

Icon Inspiration: Natalie Loos

Yet again, more colourful inspiration but this time from Natalie Loos from Terms of Endearment. I've been pinning photos of her outfits like crazy today. A clear fan of a feminine skirt length like me and boy does she clash prints brilliantly. 

Sometimes, when I choose to dress quite ladylike I always find myself looking quite conservative with a mix of muted, neutral tones but I think Natalie Loos has definitely shown me I need to be bolder with colour. It goes to show the shapes of clothes mould the look and the rest is just beautiful detail.

Wishlisting in a new direction.

It's taken me from Saturday to Monday to go from basics to full on vibrant colours. A few bits I collected from around the web today were peacefully sitting on my desktop, not enough to make a fulfilling post but they sat their patiently. 

I was very good today and despite Wednesday being my submission deadline for my freelance writing I work on each week, I got it all completed and submitted by lunchtime (Go me!). I finished up a few other pieces on my to-do list and I then found myself with nothing to do. What do you do when you've checked off everything on your check list? You go window shopping online in anticipation of payday. This is what led me to have a few items laying around on my home screen, that was until I decided to have a browse on Anthropologie. Always so refreshing, shying away from fashion's current trends the site left my computer completely cluttered and a wishlist exploding with colour. Basics are definitely absent in this post. 

My favourite prints this season are definitely lush green leaves and ferns, strangely insects - something I have never paid an interest in but now I just can't get enough and finally, graphic checks. Besides from the last, it's all very nature focused and quite often in a repetitive form. 

So without further ado, from top left:

1. Botanical pencil skirt, the perfect camouflage for Spring's new life. 

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2. Thinking about socks and sandalled shoes, slithering through the seasons in these python capped beauties.

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3. A long lost Monki discovery which I stumbled on via Pinterest and is no longer in existence. Neutrals and neon, always enjoyable. 

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4. Another appearance from the fluorescent, in the form of sheer baroque lace. I'm thinking a simple white t-shirt with a bright pink heel?

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5. Anthology magazine because you can't get more inspirational than interior design. Especially when it looks like tidy clutter.

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6. Mirrored Monki Bag. 

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7. Introduced to Brian Vanden Brink's photography through Liebemarlene and her beautifully chronicled memories of Illinois. Influenced by the deserted and decaying and natures relationship with architecture when it is free to roam. When possible, I enjoy collecting photography books to lose myself in and this book makes me wonder how people could possibly leave these charming structures behind.

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8. This Beetle book which I discovered via Anthropologie (of course), has left me even more head over heels for the little mites and I found my searching on Etsy for brooches and framed creatures. 

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9. More inspiring interiors, this time from modern California circa 1930-65.

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10. Powder pink and snakeskin heels. 

Moodboard: Light & Nature

Images via (from left to right): The Epitome of Quiet, Lepor Lepos, Wet Paint, And The Moon Appears, Wet Paint, Obessee, Rosettes

The bleak chill fades, evenings become lighter and the future seems brighter in my mind. 

I always find it intriguing to observe the subconscious parallels created when I decide to make a moodboard and select photos. In retrospect, light I think is the theme here, for this one. 

Pastel mints, yellows & pinks, pure whites with a nod towards nature. Overgrown plants wildly creeping through the cracks in the pavement & potted plants basking by the windows. The same windows that flood the rooms with a natural light.

On a side note, I added Clemence & Astrid's image in at the top because of my love for the detail in both of their outfits; a delicate, jewelled indulgence. 

A befitting word of the day: 

Effulgent (adj.) shining brightly; radiant

Back to the Future.

Images all via style.com 

(1. Vena Cava/2. Miu Miu/3. Chanel/4. Giambattista Valli/5. Stella McCartney/6. Stella McCartney/7. The Row/8. Stella McCartney/9. Chanel/10. Halston/11. Valentino/12. The Row)

It's started filling magazines, sneakily appearing in the shops and now slowly but surely seeping into my mind, Autumn/Winter! Eek but it's only July I hear you cry yet I still found myself on style.com this evening looking through all the collections collecting the outfits I admired the most, after putting them together on photoshop I started to see some patterns, particularly in the colour palette region.

(I apologise about the quality and because of this I decided to upload this picture via blogger rather than uploading it to flickr first so you can just click on the image to get a closer look at the details.)

Holly Hobbie.

'Creativity takes courage' so said Matisse, and I am going to follow in the shadow of his words and be courageous with my creativity, alongside my mother, for a little business venture. As I mentioned in a previous post, my mum and I are thinking of opening an Etsy shop something I have wanted to do for a while now. I won't reveal what we have planned yet as I wouldn't want to curse it for it is only a seed we have sown within the last week. It is so exciting, I have been spending my lost days planning, the creativity in my veins pumps quicker by the day. 

I find the aspect of planning all very exciting but when you have sat there all morning flirting with future plans and you know nothing can progress that day, it can get a bit tedious and I found myself caught in a daze. Quick to close down my laptop before I turned into a zombie I dug out some watercolours, a pad and a pencil and began to draw. It had been a longtime since I had been creative through this kind of medium, I had forgotten how enjoyable and relaxing it is. A lost day became less lonely once I welded a paintbrush to my hand and was transfixed by colours flooding the paper. 

I hope this is something I keep on pursuing as a hobby, as I have a habit of going through 'phases'. To make sure it is something I keep on with, I have found the perfect little watercolour travel set, if only my birthday or Christmas was near as it would be top of my list + a nice shiny new sketchbook, both to pop into my bag wherever I go, like Picasso once said, 'painting is just another way of keeping a diary'.

Practice makes perfect.

Orange.

An organic sculpture, peaks and cavities,  

craggy shadows moving across the dusty terrain as daylight melts away.

Contorting the kaleidoscope landscape, orange is a canyon.

A dripping nectar refreshing your senses,

fingers sticky with lust as the delectable juice dribbles down your chin.

Infusing the air with zest, orange is citrus. 

A rising heat distorting the vista,

skin prickling with intensity as the cooling droplets of moisture trickle down.

Throbbing down on the world, orange is the sun.

Images via sunlightshining, weareglitter, jak&jil, style.com [Max Azaria, Proenza Schouler,
Christopher Kane, Jil Sander & Stella McCartney], google images & tumblr

a wrist list

Images via jak&jil and live.love.fashion

I have never been a fan of wearing anything around my wrists, it is quite peculiar in that it makes me feel quite anxious.

However, I can't help but pick up on this trend pictured above which makes me want to banish this farcical angst of mine and place an array of coloured strings, lustrous circlets and a few sizeable, manly timepieces onto my arm.

Celebrations and helium inhalations.

Last night saw the celebration of my brother's best friend's birthday.

The celebration in question was a meal which I took as the perfect opportunity to experiment with my new ardor for colour.

I dug deep into my wardrobe, through all my clothes, waiting at any moment to feel a slight chill run across my skin, rattle my bones and find myself alone next to a lamp post in Narnia.

I discovered an old Topshop bandage skirt in a vibrant orange which I had never previously worn. Ruminating over the skirt for a couple of minutes I decided to dress it down a bit with a plain white American Apparel tee inspired by Raf Simons SS11 collection for Jil Sander, adding a simple turquoise beaded necklace, a touch of Topshop's Brighton Rock lipstick and my classic black pointed heel.

With boyfriend in tow, we headed off to make merry!

Birthstone

Images via live.love.fashion

All white everything.

Images via live.love.fashion, rainbowwildfox, tumblr

White.

Never have been much of a fan before but my heart and my wardrobe slowly begins to pine for it.

Colour me orange.

Clothing via Topshop, Zara, ASOS, boohoo, weekday, Fjallraven

Every now and again I pull up Photoshop and collate all my wants and needs. This is my latest wishlist which leads on from a previous post, Jump in the water, stay drunk all the time and the desire for colour in my life.

Jump in the water, stay drunk all the time.

Images via rainbowwildfox, viciously/cyd, ...look closer, thewakeupcall, dirtyblonde,
kicks and threads, honestlyWTF  

Peeping rays in May warm my heart and leave me dreaming of faraway places where the heat kisses your skin so tenderly and the foaming sea runs between your toes.

I wouldn't say I am very adventurous with colour when it comes to dressing but I have succumbed to it's beauty as of late. As holidays approach I can't switch off from picturing everything against sunkissed, tanned skin. Turquoise and sea blues, orange/reds with pinky corals cloud my mind as I dream of evenings abroad, watching the sun go down, swathed in silk & tie dye.