How do I crave thee?

How do I crave thee? Let me count the ways.

Warehouse Festival Floral Wrap Back Top: £25.00

I crave thee completely with all my might

ASOS Ames Suede Ankle Boots: £35.00

My soul can reach, when money is tight

Oasis Asymmetric Frill Tunic: £35.00

For being a student is my budget and my face.

Me & Zena 'I See You' Hexagon Eye Ring: £21.00

I crave thee to the level of complete craze-

Warehouse Butterfly Printed Blouse: £45.00

Obsession by sun and bedside light.

Oasis Fleur Embroidered 60s Dress: £60.00

I crave thee madly, as dreams in flight,

Topshop Green Maxi Skirt: £40.00

I crave thee deeply, in an addicts haze

ASOS Rose Gold Effect Retro Style Oversized Watch: £20.00

I crave thee with a passion free to use

Warehouse Charm Print Blouse: £45.00

In my old clothes, and with my longing faith.

ASOS Shimmy Pointed Court Shoes: £35.00

I crave thee with a crave I can’t abuse

Me & Zena Bright Eyes Rabbit Ring: £25.00

With the lost trends --- I crave thee with the breath,

Warehouse Plisse Maxi Skirt:£35.00

Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and if money choose

French Connection Scott Strip Top: £32.00

I shall but turn crave to love until death.

Marks and Spencer: Has it lost the spark?

Have you heard the news? Myleene Klass, Ana Beatriz Barros (a Victoria's Secret model), VV Brown and Dannii Minogue have all been dropped by M&S. This has been met with cheers of approval from the apparently ‘forgotten’ over sixties. Their belief is that Marks and Spencer’s has been ignoring the older market in favour of attracting a younger one through celebrity endorsement; a younger generation who apparently don’t even shop at Marks and Spencer. What rubbish.

I hate it when older people get like this; as if they are somehow done wrong by the inclusion of ‘youth’. It makes me want to age 41 years just so I can prove them wrong: ‘Hey look at me! I’m sixty and I appreciate that I’m not the only consumer of M&S!’ After all what are they expecting? For Marks and Sparks to morph into another Edinburgh Woollen Mill- A store where unless being a dutiful granddaughter the youngest person in there is sixty?

At this point I’m probably sounding like the ungrateful teenagers that these over sixties read about in the daily mail, but just to clear the air, no I don’t have an asbo or cause you cancer. In fact the only danger that I pose to the over sixties generation is that I appear to be the exception to their theory that the younger generation- that’s me- do not shop at Marks and Spencer’s because, well, I actually do. And its not just me. I have friends who also shop there (we all have a particular love for the Limited Collection shoe range) and not to mention my mum who is in her forties. Notice something? None of us are sixty. I can’t help feel that the argument of the over sixties is slightly ageist. Surely they should be thankful that instead of this ‘younger generation’ dressing like they should be working the streets, we are choosing to buy respectable clothing from a respectable British Institution?

I therefore decided to have a browse through the Marks and Spencer’s website and see if I could prove the media (Daily Mail I’m looking at you…) and the over sixties wrong. 

Obviously as only a 19 year old I'm not completely aware with all the issues that over sixties are faced with when dressing. All I know is that knitted tunic tops are stylishly unfussy and simple to wear with jean or smart trousers without feeling like mutton dressed as lamb. Similarly a classic trench-coat is great for going out and about without resorting to a frumpy regatta waterproof. The dresses meanwhile provide knee coverage and are not too low cut. 

I think its timeless pieces like this that can be quite easily adapted across varied generations that Marks and Spencer's does well and should therefore not be so easily found guilty of neglecting the over sixties as in my opinion it would seem that the over sixties have been neglecting Marks and Spencer's through their failure to be open minded. If they want to shop in a purely over sixties catering retail environment then I'd be quite happy to take them on a trip to the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. In exchange for some shortbread of course.

Rated PG.

I’ve decided that I don't have quite enough angst to be a serious blogging/fashion influence. I mean I’ve just been flicking through blogs and they all seem so gritty; essentially sex, drugs and rock and roll. I just don’t have it in me to be like that. I grew up on Disney films and took them at face value, fairy tales and nothing more (sexual connotations? Why?!). Obviously this means that instead of finding a twisted interest in disturbing topics (oh woe is me, slit wrists etc…) I have no idea what these topics are on about and prefer to censor them rather  than find out. 

Yes, that’s right, I mentally censor things that aren’t pg suitable. I’m a walking corporation; a walking corporation here to share the 'not sexual in anyway' love … 

His right arm is in no way doing anything remotely un-pg, ok?

The reading means that she is a good role model for women everywhere.

Totally not an unrealistic representation of men.

That's going to stain...

Ariel: she'll help Cinderella get rid of that difficult stain.

Ps.
I have all the songs too. Combined with my mainstream music taste (if it weren't for Rhianna S&M would have never got through my censorship barriers) I think you'll find that this makes me one very happily naive girl.

Meet my pleats

I've decided that blogging would be a lot easier to stick to if there was a day of the week beginning with the letter  ‘b’ that way I could have ‘blogging Buesday ‘ or ‘blogging Briday’. This way I could stick to my blogging as easily as I stuck to my college’s curly fries Friday all thanks to alliteration. As it is however the days of the week are somewhat ‘b’-less placing me in an unfortunate situation whereby I cannot amuse my childish ways with a delightful literary device. It’s a hard life, is it not?

Anyway back to fashion and the biggest news of the year (so far at least): I have a pleated skirt! Hallelujah!

Given how long I’ve gone on about wanting one of these skirts it was about blooming time. ‘Blooming’ being seemingly appropriate given the lush green of my skirt, all its really missing is a spattering of fresh flowers and I’d be a walking meadow. I decided though that for my skirts first outing (a walk to the highly fashionable B&Q, naturally) I’d go for a simpler look by keeping the colours simple with a black body and my go-with-everything Topshop yellow sandals; after all the delicate pleats of the skirt speak for themselves.

However I couldn't help but plant florals alongside this pleated skirt the next time I wore it and so came up with this colourful ensemble…

The ‘top’ is actually an H&M dress that I got a while back and immediately puts me in a summery mood given the tropical print that wouldn’t look out of place on a garish Hawaiian souvenir shirt. This outfit was ultimately my attempt at utilising my wardrobe better, the dress as a top being something I hadn’t really tried before and solving the problem I had with the ridiculously short underskirt that the skirt has (I’m pretty sure the first time I wore the skirt I flashed to the majority of B&Q’s customers as a result of this…). I also secretly wanted to steal the style of Josephine De La Baume from when she wore Jonathon Saunders. She looked so fresh and feminine that who wouldn't want to? She is certainly someone that knows how to dress her curves.

I feel that at this point having covered the ‘fashion’ aspects of this post that I should probably apologise profusely for my outfit pictures where I resorted to the shameful camera-mirror combination. I am well aware that this is the lowest of lows and should therefore be only done by chavvy, pouty, underwear clad teenage girls but desperate times called for desperate measures. How else was I meant to show off my pleated skirt?