Risen from the dead...

Hello hello,
I've taken a little 2 week blogging break (through no fault of my own) as I didn't have internet for the first week I was living in my house AND my laptop had a mental breakdown which resulted in me losing all my files :( It's not been a great week for me and technology. Anyway I'm back now so I've decided to do my resurrection post on my favourite looks from New York and London fashion week, I've picked these two because I'm going to do another post on Milan and Paris when it's all rounded up. For a person who loves fashion I've never really been a massive fan of designer clothes, I know that sounds ridiculous I mean of course I love their clothes and I take inspiration from them, but I can't afford any of the pieces and it's unrealistic for me to think I ever could at this age, unless my daddy was a millionaire, which he is not. I've always shopped on the high street and mostly in vintage and charity shops but recently I've discovered the power of eBay and I've been nabbing myself all sorts of amazing designer lookalike jumpers, shoes etc (post coming up soon when they finally arrive from China!) I suppose I can't deny that if I had the money I'd be kitting myself out in some amazing designer pieces and maybe one day I will be, but for now I can only spend my days drooling over fashion week shows and dreaming..

New York fashion week brings in an array of designers that I love, Phillip Lim being one of them. His collection for this years fashion week was inspired by "all things elemental" which explains his rock formation looking prints on silk bombers and leggings. I've always had an inner battle with myself where my natural inclination to turn to androgynous looks over rides my strong desire to be feminine and dress,look and act like a girl. The great thing about this collection for me is that while the clothes are more androgynous looking than most on the runway, he uses fine silk, pastel colours and beautifully tailored trousers to create that feminine look that makes his clothes so wearable for women, casual and feminine! Here's some of my favourite looks from the 3.1 Phillip Lim show -

London up next, where I find myself spending more time looking at the LFW street style than what's on the catwalk. I don't think I'm being biased when I say that London has it nailed when it comes to street style, it has been said British girls are the most fashionable in the world* and I think I'd have to agree.
I don't think I'd have any room on this post for street style because there were so many fellow bloggers that looked amazing and I couldn't possibly fit them all in, so onto the catwalk..

I found it almost impossible to narrow down my favourite because I fell in love with so many shows, Ostwald Helgason's flower prints could easily turn me into the girliest girl but Richard Nicoll's monochrome goodness was a clear winner for me. Not a designer I'd usually follow that much but with this sporty androgynous collection I was dying over the sheer panel dresses, knitwear, silk bombers and biker jackets. I have so many favourite items from this show that I have to put up this many pictures.

So there you have it, my absolute favourite looks from New York and London, oh my god you have no idea how hard it was for me to make those decisions! I hope you enjoyed this little insight into fashion week if you don't usually look into it and are a high street lover like myself. Now all we can do is wait for someone to copy these and make us a cheaper version!
Love ya's
Katie.

*based on opinion, this is not a fact and is of course debatable for all my non British readers haha.

I'm back in Liverpool...

Everyone sing now "I'm back in Liverpool and everything feels the same!"
I hope you got the wombats reference, if not you probably have bad music taste, kidding. I am however back in Liverpool and everything does feel the same. Oh how I love to be in the city where the brows are big and the tan is mahogany. Liverpool has always felt like a second home to me, well it is my second home but I feel like everything here is just like a bigger version of Belfast, with less craic of course. I'm actually just writing this post to inform you all that I won't be posting until next Monday because I've moved into my new house and my internet won't be installed until then. Lets all just have a moments silence for me here because this is HORRIFYING news. I honestly don't think i'll be able to live if my house doesn't have decent 3G signal until the WiFi is installed! Anyway I won't bore you with any more details except that as soon as my internet is up and running I will be doing a post on my new room and I'm going to start my new feature "Scouse Street Style". I am so excited to get on the streets and take pictures of the lovely ladies and men of Liverpool and cannot wait to show you what they have to offer. Until then I will weep into my pillow and maybe read some of the books that I should be reading for Uni, this no internet thing could be a blessing in disguise. Until then my friends..
Lots of love and kisses,
Katie.

Karl does Kim..

Kim Kardashian is a bit like marmite, you either love her or loathe her. I have a lot of friends who absolutely adore her and her family and regularly indulge in the Kardashian lifestyle through the medium of TV. I've tried to watch "Keeping up with the Kardashians" or "KUWTK" for short and I just can't get into it. Maybe it's their whiney American accents or maybe it's the fact that their mother (Kris Jenner) is slowly but surely invading and exposing every inch of their lives so that she can make lots of money from it, not really my thing.

It was to my great amusement that I heard Kim and Kanye were having a baby because in my mind that relationship was never going to last. I just think they're two completely different people from different worlds, yes they're both rich but it was a struggle for Kanye, Kim... not so much. She's privileged to the point where I didn't think she could ever be normal, but then look at Kanye now, all that money has gone to his head. When I heard that Anna Wintour had banned Kim from the Met Ball I laughed and laughed because lets be honest, Kim isn't exactly a style icon. She's not someone that the "fash pack" would want around, Kanye on the other hand definitely sees himself as a member of the fashion world. He is particularly friendly with Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci, so this simply couldn't stand with Kanye. He seemed to make it his mission to transform her and have Kim dressing to his standards, with Riccardo's help of course.

After all Kanye's hard work, Kim finally got her Met Ball invite and no one could believe it. Anna Wintour allowing Kim on the red carpet, this should be interesting. The theme was announced as Punk and no one could really put the two together but we waited with bated breath to see what she came up with. When the day finally arrived we learned that Kanye's good friend Riccardo Tisci would  be dressing her. I was excited to see what he would put a heavily pregnant Kardashian in for the met ball, and I can only describe myself as being distraught at what I witnessed. She arrived in a finger to floor floral monstrosity that looked like it has been taken from the house of a pensioner and placed on to her body. My first problem was that flowers are not punk, who failed to notice this? I wanted a black Givenchy number with some studs and lace! My second problem was why Riccardo, being a man of fashion and knowing the rules decided to dress a heavily pregnant woman in a floral dress complete with gloves, she looked like a swollen sofa.

WHY?!

I think both Kanye and Riccardo had a vision that went slightly wrong for their woman, that they started to doubt their ability to guide Kim on her high fashion transformation and question their methods. Then out of the blue the fairy god father of fashion came along and did what we never thought possible. Karl Lagerfeld transformed Kim Kardashian into a classy, high fashion and very pregnant beauty.

The photo shoot was arranged and photographed by Karl for Carine Roitfeld's CR Magazine's Autumn/Winter  issue. He called it "Kardashian by Karl Lagerfeld", talk about putting your stamp on something. Apparently it was Kims good friend *cough* PR manager *cough* Riccardo Tisci who suggested Roitfeld use Kim as the cover girl. What happened when Karl and Riccardo got together was some sort of fashion miracle because I honestly cannot fault anything about the spread. She looks flawless, she's obviously heavily pregnant but seeing her so stripped down and raw like that is a real contrast to the image we're always fed of the Kardashians. She was dressed in haute couture for the shoot which featured pieces from Celine, Chanel and Comme des Garcons, I bet Kanye was crying with joy now that his lady had conquered the world of high fashion.

To be honest I am a total Kardashian hater and I really should give the girl a chance, she doesn't seem at all as bad as the media portray her and from here on in I'm going to give her a fresh start. Is this just because I've seen her in a photo shoot that I actually like? probably. Asides from this I can never deny how beautiful she is and I would probably trade a limb to have her looks, she may have the looks but style don't come that easy honey! So here she is stripped down and looking every bit as amazing as Kanye could ever dream she could.

Images taken from http://thecitizensoffashion.com/2013/09/04/kim-kardashian-by-karl-lagerfeld-for-cr-fahsion-book-fallwinter-2013-14/kim-kardashian-by-karl-lagerfeld-for-cr-fahsion-book-fallwinter-2013-14/

Autumn wish list...

Hiyaaaa,

Sorry I've been so bold these past few days but every time I've gone to write a blog post I've just eaten sweets and watched films instead. I think I'm trying to lap up the last of my home comforts before I head back to uni and live in squalor and poverty for another year. Although this time of year gets me SO EXCITED for two reasons, one is that it's almost autumn and I can finally wear all the jumpers,boots,coats and furs my heart so desires. I think I mentioned before I'm not a summer kind of gal. The second reason is that it's almost time to move into my new house and decorate it. The only thing I love as much as clothes shopping is bedroom designing. Oh how I love it. Seriously I could spend hours and hours on Tumblr looking at bedrooms and dreaming of my room and how I'm going to design it, does this mean I'm getting old because I'm having serious joy times over pillows and rugs? I'll actually probably do a post on my new house and room when I get back to show you all what I've bought. Anyway I'm digressing, so I decided to do something with my time and stop eating sweets and seeing as it's almost loan time (yay!) I'm going to do an Autumn wishlist. I think I've spent the whole summer adding things I couldn't afford to my favourites so that I would remember to buy them with my loan, this is a very bad thing to do so please don't do it. I could honestly be here forever telling you about everything that I want so I'm going to try and whittle it down as much as I possibly can by just putting together a virtual outfit.

D&G Green Lipstick (stolen from Azealia Banks' Instagram)

Urban Outfitters Printed Band Panama Hat £28 

Topshop AGE Chelsea Boots £62

Primark AW13 Collection Oversized shirt £12

Topshop MOTO Ripped High Waisted Mom Jeans £42

Zara Faux Leather Jacket £69.99

You actually can't begin to understand how long it took me to decide which items made the cut and which didn't. I think as a full outfit this would be so nice though so decided to go for these items, although I wish the chelsea boots came in black! I think the chocolate would be a nice alternative though, plus I own about a million pairs of black boots already. Sorry this post isn't as long as usual but I'm actually holding off watching Breaking Bad to do this and I cannot hold off any longer. FYI you NEED to watch Breaking Bad if you aren't already watching, it's unbelievably good TV.

Lots of love and kisses,

Katie.