MIDNIGHT BLUE

The bank holiday blues seem to have melted into a blue wardrobe choice for today. As you can see I am getting a bit too into my dark acid wash cropped jeans as I am with my lighter Cheap Monday pair. More acid love to follow (I am sorry). I got these boots on a recent late night shopping trip with my sister on which we both ended up getting them in addition to more black things for winter. They are a bit of an Acne rip but I actually prefer the shape. I am also loving the comfort of little stacked heels.

Waffle Navy Jumper - Topshop, Tourist Necklace - HG, Acid Jeans - Cheap Monday, 

Scarf - Athena Procopiou, Boots - Topshop

FC

MIAOW

Long Cardigan - PPQ, T-Shirt - Acne, Shorts - Vintage Levi's, Necklace - ceramic keys from The Future Perfect (NYC), Bag - Ebayed, Cat Mask - fancy dress shop

CW

READING TIMES: DREAMS COME TRUE

On Saturday we spent the most epic day at Reading festival. After vowing never to attend again we were both lured to return by the promise of free beer and the chance to see Big Deal play in a big tent. They were absolutely incredible and played a live session for the BBC later that day which you can watch here on iPlayer. The crowd went wild for them as did Fearne and Reggie (apparently).  We spent a lot of the day in a red tent backstage with dodgy wipe-down white leather sofas chatting to the bar man and waiting for glimpses of the headliners. As some of you may know The Strokes and Pulp were headlining Reading and Leeds this year but our excitement for the last show of the day was actually for the band headlining the Festival Republic Stage not the main one. We have been massive fans of The Midnight Beast since a friend introduced us to them on Youtube. We love their low-budget vibe and can't help but laugh and dance along to their jokes musical renditions of Keisha covers and original material about Pizza in Ibiza. We even decided to ditch the Strokes and managed to get on stage and watch them perform. It was such an amazing gig and meeting the band earlier was another dream come true. We got merched up and purchased T-shirts emblazoned with one of the band's best lyrics Ninja of the Dance Floor which we intend never to take off again. Biggest Fans for life!

CW & FC

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HELEN GLORY

A year ago today Claudia Helen and Frances Glory joined forces to co-create this blog. Today we set up shop again in Notting Hill to sell garlands and to face paint at Carnival. Our first post here at Carnival 2010 was the first example of our joint venture. This year Katherine (our make-up artist and friend) joined us to help with the painting fun. It has been an amazing year and we are very grateful to all of you that follow this blog. To follow on bloglovin' just click the button on the side. 

Happy Anniversary!

FC & CW

PENGUIN

Suede Smith Jacket - Acne, T-Shirt - Acne, Headband - Urban Outfitters, Aztec Cuff - Michelle Lowe-Holder at Darkroom, Shorts - AA

Katie Gallagher Jacket from Seven New York

CW

DIY NECKLACE

I have a huge bag full of scraps of material and leather samples from work which I really want to make more of. I had a go at making this geometric necklace out of grey snakeskin, black and navy suede and black velvet ribbon but I don't have a sewing machine and it didn't turn out quite as pro as I would have liked. But I like wearing it with this suede Surface To Ait top all the same.

CW

CLUELESS: FASHION 101

This video is a great insight into the creative stylings of Mona May who was the Costume Designer on Clueless. In addition to this brilliance she also created the look for Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Wedding Singer, and Never Been Kissed. Thinking back to Romy and Michele it is clear that there are lots of similarities between there plastic, pvc and fury combinations and the clothes worn by Dion and Cher in Clueless. Although Romy and Michele's clothes were home-made creations both girls' looks are unabashed and full of colour and crazy textures.

FC

LIQUID GOLD

Jumper - American Vintage, Jeans - Cheap Monday, Armour Ring - Vivienne Westwood, Shell Ring - Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Necklace - Antique, Shirt - Acne, Nail Varnish - Chanel and Barry M.

CW

JUST CLUELESS

I absolutely love the film Clueless as it represents all that I can remember about the 90s in addition to the Spice Girls. The costumes are so great, especially Cher's preppy style which was picked out by her computer. Checked skirt and matching jackets were a yes yes, complimented with a sleeveless jumper vest over a pressed shirt. The costume designer for the film, Mona May, actually constructed the style for the film based on her imagined reality of 90s high school life. She wanted to create a look that contrasted to the more grungy trend prevalent at the time. However the film became a style piece in itself and spurred many copycat trends. 

Above is my interpretation of Cher's look in the tennis scene in the movie. I always thought it was so great that they all dressed in such inappropriate clothes for sport.

T-shirt - Jigsaw, Spaghetti Strap Dress - Topshop Slip, Cycling Shorts - AA, 

Fishnets - Muji, Trainers - Converse

FC

TIP OF THE WEEK: GO TWO-TONE

Inspired by a post I saw on Love Aesthetics I decided to make my own two-tone shirts.

All you need is two shirts (I chose two men's shirts from Uni Qlo), a pair of scissors, some needle and thread and a bit of patience. Pretty self explanatory really, just cut the shirts down the middle at the back (it's best if you fold them in half to get a more accurate line or even better if they have a central seam) and then sew the two halves together with the other colour halves.

I teamed my shirt with a Topshop jumper, antique necklace, AA shorts and Armani Sunglasses.

CW

I LOVE SCANDILAND

I recently discovered Cheap Monday's sister brand MTWTFSS Weekday which has such a good collection of basics mixed up with Scandinavian style. Unfortunately, it is not available in the UK yet so I don't know how I can get my hands on all the items above. I love the snakeskin shoes the most and am very surprised that they are only 50 euros. Most of the collection sits in the H&M price bracket and looks very well designed. I am also really in love with the lilac sheer shirt which I did some experiments on to see how it would look in differing shades and tones of heather. Claudia and I have also recently got into the blog Love Aesthetics which is about the style of this incredibly beautiful woman from the Netherlands who does great DIY clothing and interiors projects. This is her below and a photo of a window I liked from her blog.

FC

TWO WAYS TIMES TWO: ACNE SAMPLE SALE FINDS

Outfit 1;

Claudia: Jacket - Vintage, Shirt - Vintage, Sunglasses - Armani, Shorts - AA, Shoes - French Supermarket

Frances: Shirt - Topshop, Jeans - Cheap Monday, Shoes - Russell & Bromley, Sunglasses- ASOS

Outfit 2 - Acne Red Dress:

Claudia: T-Shirt - Hussein Chalayan, Boots - Vintage, Sunglasses - Armani

Frances - Shoes - Russell & Bromley

Outfit 3: Acne Men's Mustard T-Shirt: 

Frances: Jeans - Cheap Monday, Shoes - Primark

Claudia: Sheer Trousers - Urban Outfitters, Necklace - Darkroom, Bag - Louis Vuitton, Boots - Acne

CW and FC

MOD-ERN TIMES

Claudia oufit 1: Jumper - Whistles, Dress - Herion, Tights - Hue, Shoes - Repetto, Sunglasses - Vintage, Bag - Vintage

Frances outfit 1: Dress - Primark, Tights - M&S, Shoes - Topshop

Claudia outfit 2: Jacket - Vintage, Skirt - Topshop, Shoes - Dior

Frances oufit 2: Dress - French Connection, Shoes - Russell and Bromley, Sunglasses - Asos

Thanks again to our lovely talented friend and make-up artist Katherine.

CW and FC

60S NORTHERN KNEES UP INSPIRATION

On Saturday we became Trish (Frances) and Ginnie (Claudia), our two Northern Sixties alter egos. We were inspired by the film East is East, especially the main character's girlfriend Stella and her amazing blonde locks. The sounds of Petula Clark and the song Down Town was the sound track to our day and our inspiration for a walk to the high-street. Lastly, although we imagined ourselves to be shop girls with complicated love lives we also thought it would be fun to emulate Gina from Heartbeat and even took turns behind the bar at the local pub The Harlequin.

 

FC and CW