10 Day Photo Challenge Day 4 – Outfit

Fellow Londoners, wasn't our weather unusually fantastic today? Fantastic for a field trip day, anyway. I had a Geography trip to the Docklands, the Thames Barrier and the London 2012 Olympic Park today, which blew my expectations, said expectations being based on being stuck with a droning teacher on a Monday morning learning about settlements. But this was actually to interesting places and about an interesting subject (how East London is changing and rejuvenating, that sort of thing) and I actually loved wandering around the different places and debating with my friends whether a dirty patch on the Excel Centre building counted as vandalism. And, of course, the weather was perfect :).

So yep, good day so far. But it got better when I got to be in a vintage fashion shot for 10 Day Photo Challenge Day 4!


“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” 

Shoes ~ Schuh

Cardigan ~ Theory

Dress ~ Handmade

Necklace + Sunglasses ~ vintage so don't really have a brand :)


I chose this quote, from Yves Saint Laurent, to sum up in this photo's title how although a trend can be out of style, not be paraded on this season's catwalks and never be worn on the street, it may have disappeared, but the people who truly love it as a trend will keep on wearing it in their personal style. And the trends that I think that's most true for are those of the 1950s, and vintage trends in general. Although they were most popular nearly 60 years ago, there are people today who keep the trends alive in their personal style, apart from the current fashions.

I got this outfit about a year ago now (Really? Time seriously flies) when we had a day in my last year of primary school when our whole class had to come in costumes from the 50s and 60s. I hadn't been very interested in the dress or the whole outfit (when I was a dumb eleven-year-old, I thought it was the kind of thing old ladies wear), until I got inspired to be more into vintage clothes. I hate to say this because it sounds so shallow, but I became more interested when I saw pictures of Taylor Swift wearing her various vintage outfits in the liner notes of Red. Then, I went on lots of fashion blogs and shopping sites, and researched different vintage styles, and I'm trying to make it a more and more serious interest. So naturally, I was thrilled when it was announced that the theme of our Scout camp disco would be 1950s. Another excuse to wear my vintage outfit (you can't really see on the picture, but it has cute little bows on it :) )!

This is the only vintage dress I own (because frankly I don't go to many occasions where that'd be appropriate), but I have a ton of pictures of more on my iPad, and I'm starting to post a few on my Instagram page (it's meant to be Taylor Swift-themed, but hey, Taylor – vintage, there's kind of a link…). Maybe when I'm older!
-DP :)

Living Colour Fully In NYC

Hello everyone, I'm back! And I was glad to leave in some ways, to get back to my home, my friends and a proper computer for blogging, but Texas and New York were a welcome break and I really enjoyed the trip. But I am not going to ramble on forever about the sentimental values of holidays, I am going to talk about the advert above. I found this Kate Spade perfume ad on a wall in the arty Chelsea district of NYC, and it really caught my eye with its neon colours, and the checkerboard design between the hashtags (they look a bit too much like Keep Calm And Carry On posters, but hey, they're neon!!!) and the neon-dressed models. 

However, it was the hashtag slogan that really got me hooked and made me make my latest fashion post, "Live Colour Fully". Too many people wear just grey, black and white these days and claim they look "minimalist", but the real stars of the fashion of the streets are those who go all out and really attract positive attention from passersby. The ones who wear a bright-coloured gem among regular, "minimalist" clothes. The ones who "Live Colour Fully". And here is my photo collection of the LCF population of New York City (good, bad and ugly!). (N.B. These are discreet photos of actual people on the street. If you happen to see this and you don't want your picture here, please comment and I'll take it down).

This is one of the more subtle takes on LCF. Not sure about the matchy-matchy theme going on here, but the blacks and navies of their trousers are a good, tasteful contrast to the lemon yellow t-shirt/camisole.

Another yellow (it seems to be a popular LCF colour!) piece, and this woman has chosen well. The yellow jeans are engulfed in the beige of her cardigan and shoes in an eye-catching way, and they bring a good sort of attention to an otherwise boring outfit.

I like mint green, but only when it's worn with the right accompaniments. Which I think it is here. Mint green works not with black and other dark colours (ugh!), but with pastels and paler colours, like these floral trousers. They balance with the light green colour to make a milky, airy feel.

Blue and yellow requires guts, but sometimes it can work. Like red and blue, it's a clash that isn't shocking but a pleasant surprise, the clash you're starting to see more and more often. I also like the sleeveless-jacket-over-hoodie look, which is a versatile one that can be worn by anyone with pretty much any style. Oh, and like everyone else in the "good" section of this post, this guy has paired his look brilliantly with plain trousers and jacket-matching hi-tops.

Ah, now for the first of the bads. I don't know what it is, but pink doesn't work with greys and browns like yellow and blue do. There is a repulsive clash here, and I say, if you wear neon pink, either wear all pink if you're brave enough, or pair it with a fitting colour such as white. Just not grey. Or brown.

This woman went all out on colourful patterns, and I don't think she pulled it off. She's the first on the list to wear entirely LCF, and she has every neon colour under the sun on that dress (plus the fluorescent backpack). And it's a bit too much. If there was a dress with just one of those patterns on it would be fine (my favourite is the red optical illusion on her top), but all of them in one? With enough clashes to fill a catwalk? You look like a clown with an unqualified stylist. 

Thank you for reading, and take inspiration from the photos (maybe not the bad ones :))!

-DP :)

PS Last day of Easter holidays today :(. Had three school friends round today, made a short movie which is still in the editing process, but I hope to post it soon!

I Finally Have Some Cowboy Boots. Oh Yeah.

Yup, the title says it all really. But the ironic thing is, we go to New York and Texas, and you'd expect them to be bought in Texas, and sure, we did see a lot of cowboy boots there. But they were all too enormously big or they were really cute little ones meant for little kids. No size 5s. So where did we eventually find them? A New York thrift shop.

I guess I should feel pretty lucky that my mum found a street full of thrift shops last night when we were walking home from dinner (I was initially gloomy; despite them being the subject of one of the best songs currently in the charts, I never really find anything worth having in thrift shops). But you're all screaming right now, why did you ever want cowboy boots in the first place? For several reasons:

1) How can you ever leave Texas without owning cowboy boots? It's cowboy country, come on. I was in despair when we got on the domestic New York flight. Now, even if I never wear them, they'll still go nicely in my room as a memory of this trip.

2) Forget Converse, cowboy boots are the best type of footwear to go with jeans. I mean, they're what jeans were invented to go with! Literally, Levi Strauss (who designed clothes for cowboys) wouldn't have invented jeans had it not been for cowboy boots. So to justify owning jeans, logically you should need cowboy boots. And I have some dark blue jeans I need to be more inspired wearing.

3) Taylor Swift wears them. Bit of a shallow one that, but it's one step further in my everlasting quest to be the new Taylor. Actually, the real reason for number 3 is the whole country singer association. When you wear them, you feel like you stepped right out of your banjo-playing slot in the barn in Nashville (even if you don't play the banjo in the first place). If you prefer, you can imagine yourself in a Chevy truck, that has a tendency of getting stuck (if you think I've gone absolutely crazy, that last bit's a lyric from Taylor Swift's "Tim McGraw"). All because of the amazing cowboy boots you're wearing.

4) They will go down an absolute storm at school mufti day! After my entirely red (I mean entirely, even my socks were red) outfit at Red Nose Day, it would be a good next instalment in the Over The Top series, as my classmates call it. Watch out 7T!

5) They are awesome, to be frank. What other boots have an interesting hem, pretty embroidery, a small but walkable heel and many a legend behind them? That cannot be said of another boring ol' pair of trainers.

Those are my five reasons behind buying these (they were $25, a relative bargain for real leather). I hope you see them as justifying the purchase. If you don't, I'll cheer you up by leaving you with a picture of Taylor Swift in some amazing blue cowboy boots I wish I had (but hey, you can't have everything) – they used to be her trademark back in her country days, but they've now been mercilessly replaced by downgrading to pop (much as I love her pop songs, they just aren't as good as her early country ones) and Louboutins. And, of course, I'll also share a picture of my own new boots!
-DP :)

A Pretty Respectable Clothes Haul

Hello! Since this is my first post in the second year of The DP, I thought I'd post about something I've never broached before on this site: fashion. I do like looking at clothes on the Internet, in magazines and shops but I'm not somebody who will specifically go somewhere just to buy clothes. Usually, it'll be to buy or do other things as well. And I'm also not somebody who remembers the exact label of all the outfits they own or who buys clothes just for their brand. I mostly rely on simply how nice they look.

But I try to be as versatile as I can when I write this blog, and that means blogging about a variety of topics and not just sticking to one isolated theme or to my prime circle of interests.  And my latest show of blog versatility is me writing about my small but though-I-say-so-myself impressive haul of a V-neck jumper and a summer dress/tunicy thing. I got them on Thursday at a little second-hand sale selling pretty much anything from short shorts and Abercrombie & Fitch hoodies to label-less and in my opinion nicer-looking pieces (me buying the latter). You're probably dying to see the photographs of said items that I bought, so I won't hestitate to show them to you.

I love the colour of this thin little tunic! It's lilac but still dark enough to avoid wimpy light purples, and purple but still light enough to not be synonymous with black. I also love the summery feel, and I think it'll be great to wear over maybe black or dark-coloured leggings when the weather gets warmer. It's from American Apparel, which I'd heard of but didn't know much about, so I Googled them and came up with this image (NB: this picture isn't mine), which I thought was just as cool as the purple dress. My favourite outfit is the pale green dress with the gold leggings. I think those two colours work really well together, especially in this context.

This one's more for warmth than fashion, as it's just a simple v-neck. But - and this is a big but - it's CASHMERE!!! It's so warm, thick and fluffy, and I'm sure it will serve me well in future winter nights. It's also a very pretty colour, which is what attracted me to it, a bit darker than the picture because the flash was being funny, more of a turquoise. And it's also from a hilariously named label called - wait for it - CUSS! I can't find it anywhere on the Internet, but my Mum says it's Italian. But despite the unfortunate name, it's a fantastic jumper.

I am pretty impressed with these new purchases, and I hope all of you guys are with yours, if you've made any. Happy shopping!

-DP :)

PS School broke up yesterday for half term, so I hope to be able to post LOADS!!