London Barbie At Selfridges

If the past few years are any indication, Barbie has a thing for young London designers, that is. Louise Gray, Roksanda Ilincic, and Gareth Pugh have all made a special little something for the blonde and her boyfriend, whether it be Dalston-appropriate duds or, in Ilincic’s case, a London dream house. Now, in celebration of Selfridges’ new fourth floor toy shop, emerging Brit-based brands Sister by Sibling, Fred Butler, and Nasir Mazhar have each dressed five one-off dolls. Sibling’s Cozette McCreery, Sid Bryan, and Joe Bates designed a gaggle of knit looks, while Butler turned out a series of quirky, sculptural ensembles. Mazhar created some hard-edged street wear styles. All fifteen dolls are displayed and for sale in the toy shop’s Barbie department.

Fred Butler

Nasir Mazhar

Sister by Sibling

Leather Jacket Painting

I have an unhealthy obsession with leather jackets. I must have them in all colours and styles. Its my go to piece whatever the London weather. So I couldn't help noticing that lately I have been seeing a lot of celebs sporting some one of a kind painted leather jackets. They reminisce the punk days of custom motorcycle jackets but with a more modern light hearted twist. Artist like Claire Barrow have found a niche in the fashion world for luxury custom pieces. Though her work is not something we could afford, its worth checking out some amazing talent! Here are some painted jackets I've found online to get your creative ideas running. There are also Youtube links for how to paint your own leather!

 Topshop Biker Animal Jacket

 ceciliabooth.com

 Claire Barrow Painted Leather Jacket

 ironskin.tumblr.com

 julianalazzaro.com

 sokimak.blogspot.co.uk

 themilkofdanzig.tumblr.com

 gdblogs.shu.ac.uk

tokyofashion.com

YAGO HORTAL

His paintings blew my mind! Almost as much fun to look at, as I’m assuming they were to paint, is the work of Yago Hortal. A Berlin resident, painter of happy mess. The colours are so bright I'm sure you can see them from space. The neon abstract that I want in my bedroom and what I want to see waking up every morning. The abstract blobs of paint he moves around his canvases are fluid and chaotic at the same time. I can look at it for hours and puts me in a good mood. Check out this site for work over the years you can really see the progress and true love of abstract paintings.

Style Lust: True Romance

Hi guys! So this post is inspired by one of my favourite movie True Romance (1993). Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. Its a gangster movie driven by a wild romantic love story, think Bonnie and Clyde. This film takes you to Quentin Tarentino's world, with sharp dialogue, dark humour and a lot of blood and guns.

 The charactors absolutely captures American 90's fashion of what I can only sum up as trailer trash: bright colours, crazy printed leggings, Hawaiian shirts, candy coloured sunglasses, crop tops. If Barbie and Ken were to live in a trailor park and listen to a lot of Elvis, that would be their wardrobe. The leading actress Patricia Arquette played Alabama, a call girl with lustful wardrobe.

DIY: Lace Transparent Clutch

 As people may have figured out that I have a thing for transparent things...like perspex, resin, pvc shoes etc. So this clutch idea was the inevitable next step. My idea came from Simone Rocha's collection that I have blogged about in the past here. Through research I found two blogs that gave great tutorial on how to DIY their transparent clutch. The first is Monoxious, this one is fast, easy and effortless. There is absolutely NO sewing required. The second one is a pair & a spare, you will need more tools for this but they have template which is handy.

Samira Boon “Furoshiki Shiki” Clutch

pinterest.com/dpluskharisma/

apair-andaspare.blogspot.co.uk

And now my version of the transparent clutch. I decide to do a lace trap to make it a bit more unique. You can use any type of colour or patten you like to make it your own. Where you place the lace is also up to you. 

You will need:

Scalpel knife
Ruler
Cutting mat
Clear PVC
Lace trim
Press studs buttons
Sewing machine
Glue or spray mount

First wipe the PVC clean of dust as this will make it easier to work with. Measure out the desired size of your clutch. I use an existing one to model, measure four folds of the length of the clutch like the image above. Leave an inch or two on the sides for sewing. Cut the PVC with scalpel and ruler on the cutting mat.

Then cut 1/4 of the PVC length and keep separate. The separate piece will be the front flap of the clutch. Cut the lace and place exactly how you want on the clutch and stick them in place with spray mount. Then to the sewing machine we go! Sew the separate piece to 1/3 of the rest of the material. Then lace trap inside sew up all four sides and you front flap is done.

Flip the clutch over (so the previously seperate piece is facing down) and fold the other end to meet in the middle, the fold will be bottom of the clutch. Sew the two sides and you have a clutch! I finish off with press studs button that I tried to glue but it wasn't secure enough so I sew it on instead. Bamm!

Total White-Out

It's like a fashion detox. From all the clashing prints, the bold graphics and saturated colours of winter. Come spring things are fading to white. Total clinical, pure and brightly white, this will be a trend that carries onto summer I guarantee. This summer's biggest colour is a non-colour. On spring runway its done in both romantically on pretty frilly fabrics like Valentino, Simone Rocha or Stella McCartney. Or clean, precise and origami folded seen at Prada, celine and Victoria Beckham. Whatever your fancy prepare to hang up your LBD away for awhile and swap for the LWD! Wear all white errthang and have fun…but be prepare to do a lot of whites washing.

THE PRETTY

 Valentino Haute Couture Spring 12

 Elie Saab Spring 13

 Givenchy Haute Couture 11

 Moncler Gamme Rouge Spring 13

 Simone Rocha Spring 13

 Balmain Spring 13

THE POLISHED

 biassupply.com

 Chado Ralph Rucci Spring 12

 Victoria Beckham Spring 13

 Alexander Wang Spring 13

Rochas Spring 13

Lacoste Spring 13

Hats Over Heels

I saw Jessie J's 'Domino' video and really taken with her custom cap with gold studs by Liz Mendez Vintage. After that it jolted my memory of Rihanna's 'so hard' video with Jeremy Scott 's Mickey helmet. Then I was on the search for more crazy caps and beanies. There are two names that stood out, Bernstock Speirs and Deryck Todd, both kept the integrity of casual accessories while looking through with fresh pair of eyes. They exudes wearability but also humor and quirk. Not the Philip Tracy of hat makers but is definitely more versatile and affordable..not taking itself too seriously. I might have to get myself one of Bernstock's bunny ears...they have so many colours! Where's Wolly stripy beanie is also one of my favourite ♡♡♡

 Bernstock Speirs

Cap by Dominika Lipniewska

 andamasha.blogspot.co.uk

 Bernstock Speirs

CANDY O. DARLING derycktodd.com

 Jessie J in Liz Mendez Vintage

dfamestore.com

Jeremy Scott Mickey helmet

 shop.thebohemiansociety.com

 WHITE WEDDING derycktodd.com

www.cutoutandkeep.net