Tis The Season To Be Festiv…al Attending?!

The line-up’s have been announced, the portable BBQ’s are primed, and your trusty wellies are waiting with breath that is baited… oh yes…. festival season is finally upon us my children!!

Radio One’s ‘Big Weekend’ kicked things off in Swindon early May, and if you missed out on that, fear not there are plenty more festivals you can attend this summer!!

Now festivals aren’t just about camping in a miserable field & spending the entire time looking for a plug socket to plug your hair dryer into, it is an experience and one that will change you… me thinks.

I’m naturally quite bohemian, but I got a little high maintenance in my late teens early 20’s, I seemed to constiantly have a can of hair spray attached to my left hand, and I avoided the rain for fear of melting…just like a witch! So when attending Glastonbury last year, you can imagine there was slight apprehension. I didn’t get of to the best of starts either… myself, the boyf and some friends were all meant to be heading down to Worthy Farm on the Wednesday. However I had to finish up filming ‘Secret Diary’s (and the dreaded sex scene!) So when I finally arrived to Glastonbury on the Friday morning, having been plucked, preened, spay tanned, waxed and starved for the last month in preparation for the worst sex scene ever, you can imagine I didn’t exactly fit in amongst all the laid back farmer types roaming around worthy farm! I was greeted by a slightly exasperated boyf – image Woody Harrelson in ‘Indecent Proposal’ but without rubbing off the lipstick part… due to his raging frustration I’d spent the last few days in some compromising positions with another bloke! 

However all my worries quickly disappeared as the vibe simply swept me up and before I knew it I was pissing into a water bottle in our tent and experiencing quiet an insane moment in which some random hippy man washed my hair for me? However before leaving for Glastonbury I had fully prepared, I planned my outfits well in advance, made sure the ensemble suited all weather conditions, I didn’t comprise my style by buying a wet weather coat, instead I invested in a wax jacket which really made all the difference, plus a decent pair of wellies are essential.

Now you have the basics sorted its time to focus on looking stylish! This year I have decided I want to go feminine and a little cleaner, last year I was quite grungy and thrown together. 

So I have scoured the Moonspark website and found some stunning outfits that are going to make my Festival season all the more fabulous.

This stunning Peoples Market Owl Shift Dress is one of the best dresses I have seen in some time! Animal motifs are huge this year and this satin appliqué owl design is no exception. I also love the block colour around the neck and high and cut away shoulder. White for a festival is probably a no-go but I don’t care I’ll be wearing this with my lovely green wellies and woolly socks or if the sun decides to shine ill team it with gladiator sandals or biker boots!

The Sugarhill Leopard Print Pocket Dress is so effortless and easy going…perfect for a festival. It doesn’t matter if it gets creased in you bag you can simply accessorise that to your look. I’d wear this with a long brown leather belt rapped around my waist a few times. Heavy biker boots and lots of long necklaces.

The Max C Silk Baby Doll Dress is to die for! Again another outfit that wont hold creases and doesn’t weight anything so perfect when your slugging up a hill to find a place to pitch your tent. If the sun is out I think this would work with little flat shoe boots, and if the weather isn’t great team this beautiful dress with skinny jeans or thick black tights and your wellies and finish with a trusty wax jacket

All items and more can be found on the Moonspark website and claim your 10% off simply by typing “SUMMER” into the discount tab at the checkout

Happy camping!!

For more festival information follow the links below;

Glastonbury 

Benicassim

Bestival

Isle of White Festival

The Second Coming

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise again. 

- 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

Erm…. not quiet as dramatic as the above quotation but almost… well for me anyway! Kate Moss’s second collection of the year has now risen and is on sale in a Topshop near you, and its good guys its really really good…. So good in fact I am currently on the phone to my bank in an attempt to extend my overdraft!!

This collection is based on her long summers spent in Ibiza, festivals, and the intermit finds she has acquired during her long and fruitful life in the fashion industry.

The high summer collection is a lovely mix of animal print, tie-dye, summer sequins and some beautiful limited addition pieces!  Its release is in accordance with payday so nothing (apart from dreaded rent) should be holding you back in your quest for the perfect summer wardrobe. Sharpen your elbows head into town and peruse this exquisite collection…or, sit on your arse, like me, and order from the comfort of your own home!

My personal favourites!!

The Tie-Dye blouse

A stunning multi coloured shirt costing £40.00, is perfect for festival season. I would tuck this into denim hot pants and team with gladiator sandals or my green festival wellies and a chunky brown leather belt. Accessorize with lots of dangling jewellery and a homemade daisy chain headband and festival hair!

 

The Macramé Waistcoat

This would work wonderfully with the above look or, teamed over a little floral dress. It holds quite an expensive price tag £60.00, however it is a statement piece and one that would last…. at least that’s what I keep telling my boyfriend and myself!

 

All over Sequin Cardigan

Perfect for high glamour festivals like Bestival or the Isle of White festival.

 

Weave halter Mini

Another statement piece and perfect for the long legged amongst us, it is simply divine, perfect for any summer holiday. On this occasion I would let the dress do the talking, and team it with my last seasons, black, gladiator sandals.

 

Kaftan Liberty print Dress

One of the many stunning dresses to choose from within the range! Simple hair, simple accessories and simple shoes are all you will need to accompany this outfit. Of an evening a clash colour clutch and skin coloured heels would work a treat.

 

I could seriously go on all day! I will stop there and let you go to the Topshop website and pick some favourites of your own!

Keep a particular eye out for the stunning vests and scarf’s that will be essential to your wardrobe if you are attending festivals this year!

Happy shopping

Fashion Disaster

Picture the scene, a few weeks ago I’m in Urban Outfitters whilst the boyf is trying on jeans. Lingering outside the changing room I have a quick peruse through the leaflets and flyers that Urban Outfitters display. (Bare with me this story is going somewhere!) I notice a flyer for an exciting evening for fashion networking held at the Fact and ideal if you have your own fashion label, if you’re a fashion editor or fashion blogger and just looking to mix and mingle with the right people. Perfect, I thought!! The opportunity I have been waiting for, a chance to promote my blog and hopefully, possibly, lead to me blogging for some independent fashion labels, designers and online fashion magazines as well as the two I already blog for Moonspark and Lookingglass. So I go online, I book my ticket and I get to work getting some business cards made so I can appear all professional whilst I’m there.

So yesterday in preparation I pop into the printers to see if my business cards are ready “not till Wednesday love”… fooking fabulous (the meeting is Tuesday evening)!! Now normally I’d stand and argue with the bloke until one of us was reduced to tears or submission, but on this occasion there was no time, I was now faced with the prospect of hand making…yes hand making 50 business cards! My printer is broke, so we are talking writing them out with my neatest gammy left-hander handwriting! I quickly reverted back to Sian of old, the Sian that did textiles A-level, the Sian that thought she could make anything ANYTHING!!! Inspired, I quickly scurried off to ‘paper chase’, to see if they had something remotely business looking…they didn’t. Instead they had tiny cards with little matching envelopes, lots of ribbons and heart stickers…I purchased the lot!  Like Mr. Wolf from pulp fiction I was home 9 minutes 37 seconds later and before I knew it my evening was suddenly devoted to hand writing my blog address and personal details onto the smallest cards I have ever seen and sticking tacky little coloured hearts all over them for decoration! The whole process took a pain staking 4 hours… the result, 50, not remotely professional looking, ‘business cards’.

So tonight was indeed the big fashionable mingling event, I got all dolled up and with my tacky business cards in toe headed off to the event. However when I got to the main desk, I was asked what enterprise I owned? Erm…. non? I looked around, no one looked remotely fashionable, it was then I was informed that the ‘fashion thing’ was a miss print and this was a business evening of mingling for business owners, market developers and web designers…which means me, a struggling actress who’s trying desperately to leave behind the depressing days of ‘Promo’ (see ‘the return of the chino’ blog for more information on my day job) and trying to turn my blogging passion into a full time career, ever so slightly out of my depth. So that was it… no apologies, no grovelling for the fact they never thought to send an email informing me of the misprint. ‘I made 50 business cards last night’ I explained to the slightly obtuse receptionist ‘by hand’. She was not the slightest bit bothered that I had several paper cuts on my fingers and multi coloured hearts stuck to places one should never get a multi coloured heart stuck! As the devastation engulfed, I turned on my heel, tale between my legs I headed for the exit leaving a heart shaped sticker trail behind me…. but then I thought, hang on…maybe I should go in, ‘mingle’ and just hope to god some other budding fashionista hadn’t been informed of the miss print either! No such luck…

1 person out of the 30 people in attendance has the pleasure of opening my glitter filled, tacky as hell, business card when they arrive home tonight….

So, if you are looking for any information on marketing, business or web design do get in touch… after the two hour seminar I have just sat through, I am quite confidant I can fully inform you on the ins and out’s of customer care, relations within the market place, marking solutions and rejecting business professionally. Information on my future in fashion blogging?... I’ll have to get back to you on that one!

Bloody gutted...

Anyone want a business card?

Two 80's Legends

Last Sunday I was filming a part for a feature film called ‘Reuniting the Rubin’s’. I had originally auditioned for the part of a PR girl, however I ended up being cast as ‘Gill Davis’ a newsreader for TV news. Now, I didn’t have a big part, however it was still a very exciting yet slightly strange experience for me, as it was the first part I had played on TV/film, that didn’t involve me playing the sex object, the bimbo, a sexy receptionist, or, and most frequent of all… a prostitute! So to my complete glee, when on set, I didn’t have to strip down to my bare essentials, with nothing but a teeny tiny triangle shaped plaster to cover my modesty, in front of a 30 strong male cast and crew. There wasn’t one single suggestion of me shoving my face into my co starts groin, and amazingly no one asked me if I wanted daisy shaped stickers to cover my nipples?  Taking nothing away from my part in 'Secret Diary’s of a Call Girl', of course… it was just a nice refreshing change to not have that pressure…

So instead, on this occasion, I got to wear a power suit, however at the time I didn’t think it was…

I had been home the week previous to see if my mum had anything remotely business like for my character ‘Gill Davis’ to wear. Diane instantly looked enthused…darted up from were she was sat and led me straight up to my sisters old bedroom and straight over to the big sliding glass wardrobes…which seemed like a real novel purchase back in 1983, however they are now nothing but a complete death trap, as both wardrobe doors have lost their wheels and have become derailed and dismantled from their original tracks and are now two rather dangerous walls of glass that we have placed rather precariously over the hanging clothes, where in former glory days, they once stood. Once we’d moved the glass doors, mum began to pull out a succession of 80’s, shoulder pad clad, power suits all different shapes and colours and all carefully bagged up and protected. To be completely honest I’d normally of took one look, felt they weren’t right for the budding and ambitious journalist that ‘Gill Davis’ was fast becoming, and just hit the high street to purchase an Audrey Hepburn style, black Dress with a fitted yet quirky jacket. However due to my complete exhaustion, lack of time, and the black whole that is fast becoming my bank account, on this occasion, I had no choice but to let Diane win. So I swept up the dusty suits and headed off to London town.

My pick up time for 'Rubin's' was a painful 6 am, meaning I arrived on set ever so slightly dazed and confused. Avoiding the cooked breakfast BBQ that was taking place near the catering van, I headed to straight over to the costumer department to show them what I had brought and if indeed they thought it would work for “Gill”. To my slight shock the chap in the costume department seem quite pleased with Diane’s selection of power suits, that had not seen the light of day since 1990 when mum worked for Mars confectionery. He went with my mum’s cream, suit skirt and jacket ensemble, with shoulder pads quite reminiscent of Jessica Fletcher’s murder she wrote wardrobe, and paired it with a silk black shirt underneath. Feeling a little vintage…but in the bad sense I headed onto set to film my scene. It wasn’t until I arrived onto the set that I witnessed the true power of the 80’s power suit!

People began to ask me things…important things…. questions! Where to stand? What scene is this? What festivals was this film going to? When was the release date? The time…someone actually asked me for the time! A trivial thing to you maybe but a thing I am never asked. I think people see in my eyes that the time is something, normally I would never know so they never bother asking, but on this occasion I was asked the time!! Of course I didn’t know it, but hell…I was asked and that’s what’s important!

I felt the 80's power suit put me in a good mind frame for the entire day, I wasn't beaten down by the tubes on the way home, I didn't stand in dog muck, I didn't get into a fight or argument with an innocent by stander.... so I say bring back the 80’s power suit, bring it back and wear it proud! Or, if the fashion forward amongst you disagree, then I urge you to wear one in your personal time, every now and then, maybe when your tiding the house, or cooking even? It will enable you to assert importance in to your very essence…and I can grantee you wont regret it!

The other 80’s legend working on this film was Timothy Spall, a hero of mine, that first hit our screens in the early 80’s, and indeed never looked back. 

Bring back the 80's power suit and make Timothy Spall a 'knight' and I think the world may just be a better place...

 

 

 

Wedding bells, Butterfly's and the Perineum

My old friend Wikipedia speciously states that – People marry for many reasons but usually one of legal and economic stability. Well this wasn't the case at the wedding I attended this beautiful bank holiday weekend just gone. The marriage of my close friend Cal and her lovely husband Rob came about for one reason and one reason only and that was because they are so deeply in love. 

The wedding took place on a glorious summers day in a beautiful church setting in Heswall and then resided to the very posh and very grand Thornton Manor, (far to posh and far to grand for the likes of me).

I was up, as usual, with the birds to begin the long gruelling process of getting myself ready. As a collector of all things vintage, when attending weddings I always go full out in the vintage department and this wedding was no exception. I wore a beautiful, vivid, emerald green, vintage dress, that I found in a thrift store a good few years ago.

The embroidered silk and the clean 1950’s cut makes the dress a real joy to wear. I added a tutu to the underneath of this dress to enable the skirt to kick out a little, plus when the evening drew near and the party begins, I was more suitably attired! I accessorized my look with the most feminine hot red, bow, suede shoes, vintage lace gloves and a beautiful 1950’s side hat complete with veil and pheasant feathers and of course, no outing would be complete without the source of all my powers…. my crocodile skin handbag!

My fabulous friend Russell also dressed to impress, with a blue velvet blazer, blue shirt, bright orange dickey bow, sky blue shoes. However when we pulled into the church both Russell and I had slight regrets about our outfits of choice! There were a lot of pastel colours, a lot of elegance, and a lot of class. I suddenly realised I looked like an extra from Bugsy Malone and Russell looked like a balloon making magician. 

Service to say we stuck like glue together all day, praying to god know one mistook us for the evenings entertainment! Before the church service, everyone gathered outside the church, in anticipation of the bridle party, and they didn’t let us down! The bridesmaids wore beautiful vintage inspired ivory lace, dresses with an ivory silk sash that tied under the bust, stunning yet simple jewellery and bouquets filled with pink lily’s and roses. The mother of the bride wore a beautiful mauve fitted dress and jacket with a show-stopping hat in matching colour. The bride herself looked breathtaking, timeless and classic, very reminiscent of Charlotte’s (sex and the city) first wedding. She wore a two tier, silk, ivory gown with the most beautiful embroidered detailing to the front and back, carrying a larger version of the bridesmaids flowers, she looked every inch the perfect bride…. a far cry form the girl that I used eat raw fray bento pie’s with at university. Her hair was elegantly swept off her face and held together by a floor length veil and the other half was perfectly curled. Her look was accessorised with pearl earrings and a stunning pearl bracelet.

After the photos, speeches and food, the festivities really began. Lots of dancing, too much drinking, and the strange moment, in which, I was handed a small cone of fish and chips and a cottage pie (still not 100% sure as to whom gave it to me and why?) As the evening rolled into the early hours and my liver got better acquainted it with its old companion Jack Daniels the conversation took an interesting turn, a particular conversation about the ‘perineum’ sticks in mind…. and I think the less said about that the better! 

Like all good things, the wedding had to end, and as I still try to cure my prolonged hangover the new Mr & Mrs embark on what I hope to be a long and very happy life together.

For someone that, before 2004 had never attended a wedding, I feel I have now made up for that, this wedding being the second of many I am attending this year. The more I attend however, the more I realize that, for me, a wedding is definitely something I am not ready to enter into as yet and wont be, I don't think, for many years to come. However, if I am anything as in love as what Cal and Rob looked on their big day then it will be a momentous and joyful occasion.

 

 

 

 

The return of the Chino?!

I am not addressing all of you when I say this, but some of us have a shitty day job, myself, I am no exception to the rules. When not Acting and Blogging I have to earn a crust, so I do promotions…yup…I’m the person that pesters you in the street to ‘sign up to the gym’, or the gal in the baseball cap in Piccadilly Train Station offering you coke zero at 7am. As well as sampling, sales and leafleting sometimes in promotions we have to don a ridiculous outfit in attempt to promote a product. You name it i’ve worn it. A Gorilla costume quickly springs to mind. I’ve worn an all-in-one, grass green, Lycia body suit, complete with roller blades, kneepads and a helmet, all in aid of promoting Nivea deodorant, yet I think my camel toe was the only thing promoted that day! The promotion that most sticks in my mind, was the Aero, ‘lovely bubbly’, hot chocolate campaign I did a few years back.

Work started at Piccadilly train station at 7am, which meant I would need to leave the house at 6am to get there on time. Now, I have naturally curly hair, which takes extensive blow-drying, normally I’d never wash it night before and go to bed on it wet, but for some reason this particular night I did just that, thinking to myself that I could re-wet it and blow it at 5am in the morning and it would all be fine. So I set my alarm for 5am, only to wakeup at 6.40am!! I darted up out of bed, got dressed and literally just left the house…. not even shutting the front door (my sister actually had to drive round to the house to shut it!). I managed to make it to Piccadilly by the skin of my teeth arriving at 7.05. When I arrived I noticed I got a few funny looks from the other staff members, one guy actually asking if I was ok because, “I looked a little insane”? I excused myself and headed to the toilet and I couldn’t quite believe what was staring me back in the mirror. I looked like Aileen Wuornos from ‘Monster’. My hair was in this crazy, matted ‘crusty the clown’ style, I didn’t have a scrap of make up on my face, and trust me, I need make-up. However things took a slight turn for the worst when handed my work outfit for the day. A mans shirt, brown in colour, and CHINOS! Men’s size 40 waist, chinos, because I was late (by 5 minutes) there were no women’s chinos available, so I was left with the dregs. Matters were made worse by having to ask a particular celebrity, (whom I have a slight school girl crush on), who just so happened to be walking through Piccadilly, if he’d like a “lovely bubbly hot chocolate?” He looked me up and down with slight looked of disgust and fear; he seemed ever so concerned by the crazy, outback, murder look, I was channelling and politely declined!

Service to say chinos and I didn’t really get of to the best of starts. So you can imagine the dread that engulfed my loins when reading this week, in one of my favourite weekly glossary’s, that Chinos are indeed making a come back!

Chinos, the trouser made famous by Bill Gates, your dad, your doctor and your slightly pervy neighbor, are now being worn by fashion icons like Kylie, Selma Blair and Carla Bruni!

So if you are tempted to follow the footsteps of Kylie and Selma, please, please, please follow these simple guidelines: 

·          Buy chinos that suit your shape, don’t just buy them because they are a new trend. If you are a little heaver in the leg and bum department go for a looser fit chino.

·          If you are a skinny mini, you can be brave and experiment with different colours and more of a slim-fit with a higher waist.

·          When wearing your chinos keep to the theme, a floral top just won’t work, so keep it simple yet masculine.

·          Wear a boyfriend cardigan or a sky blue shirt tucked into the chino, white tees and navy tees will complement the khaki colour.

·          Roll your chinos up to expose your ankle

·          Team the look with gladiator sandals in the day and a chunky brown leather heel in the evening.

·          And if you ever get asked to work for Areo ‘lovely bubbly’ simply say NO!

      Chinos are available at;

       Topshop

       gap

       jCrew