Don't believe the hype

Everyone I know knows about my love for Arctic Monkeys and especially for Alex Turner!. This is the 3rd time I've seen the beauties and they definitely didn't disappoint! 

Granted these photos aren't the greatest quality but I didn't want to risk getting my camera out when I was squashed up against the barrier! The last two pictures are from their poster book that I splashed out on (as well as a T-Shirt!) Definitely need to start remembering I'm a student...

I just love their style and I don't just mean their clothes either! Alex is quite obviously inspired by the 'Rock' era with his quiff and leather 'grunge' jacket and his persona on stage and in interviews is really cool as well! He reminds me of a young Elvis! Especially those snake hips of his. 

Going back home to Manchester for a night to see them made it even better. I cant explain how nice it was to sleep in a bed that doesn't feel like you're lying on bricks. 

Inspiration at last

Flicking through a selection of magazines in my seminar magically gave me so much inspiration. I don't really know why but I was instantly drawn to them, especially the bottom image! The fact the woman's body is non existent on this photo really interests me as it's not a very conventional fashion image but I love how it makes the clothes stands out and especially the tailoring and pattern of the garments. 

What's on my mind?

This idea of 'free writing' really got me thinking! It's an idea that when you're feeling particularly stuck on a piece of work or have got a serious case of writers block you do this! 3 minutes of non stop writing. No thinking, no nothing! Just writing!

I admit I did find it pretty difficult at times and, as you can see, my handwriting looks like a 4 year old has attacked my note pad! I struggled to constantly be writing something that didn't sound like absolute rubbish but the more we did it the more I got into it and I began to realise that maybe all that is in my mind is absolute rubbish!!

The topics we were asked to write about were all of interest to me which is why I find it strange I struggled to write a lot. I've always been someone who has to plan and structure their work a hell of a lot before any one can read it so maybe I need quite a few attempts at this before I let my thoughts go and I'm able to write them all down. 

The topics we were asked to write about were:

-Who am I?

-The death of the high street

-The death of magazines

- Write in the style of any magazine (Vogue)

The eye has to travel

I have to admit I didn't know much about Diana Vreeland and her career before starting uni but this has all changed! 

After watching 'The Eye Has To Travel' I thought of Diana to be a strong, independent woman and her views and opinions were not to be messed with. Her wonderful career as fashion editor at Harpers Bazaar with her column 'Why Don't You...'  which let her share her extravagant and thought provoking ideas with the readers. She then moved up the ladder and became editor-in-chief at Vogue. This showed how passionate she was towards fashion and that it wasn't just a job to her, far from it, it was her whole entire life.

This was extremely prominent when Diana lost her job and her career. She came across as  heartbroken and lost without her job whereas when  she spoke about the death of her husband it was clear to see how unemotional and unattached she was towards his death. This did make Diana come across heartless and a bit of an 'ice queen' although I don't fully believe this is her true personality. After watching this film I wondered whether her lack of emotional towards her husband and personal life was  because she wasn't willing to bare her soul for the cameras and allow people to get close to her. 

I obviously learnt so much about Diana's life and her career within the fashion industry but I also learnt so much about other iconic people within fashion as well as the history of fashion and the changes women faced such as gaining more respect and power, as Vreeland showed when she landed editor-in-chief at Vogue. 

Watching this after watching Bill Cunningham's documentary made me realise how massively different the two are even though they both work within the same industry! Bill is a sweet man who doesn't believe in being paid for his work as he sees it as a passion and his whole life whereas Diana is quite the opposite where money is concerned although its so much more than just a job to her as well.

It was stated many times throughout the film that Diana was not the most beautiful of people and she often said that she knew that. The constant comparison between her and her 'beautiful' sister by her mother reinforced this idea within her mind and from then on it was a constant thought. Even though many people thought this about her they all loved her beautiful style and elegance as well as her then outlandish views. Her calm, relaxing tone of voice definitely made this film a lot more enjoyable and the way she spoke really made you feel like you were having a one on one chat with a friend.  

I  am definitely going to be asking for her memos as a Christmas present this year! 

We all get dressed for Bill!

During our induction week we were given the 'street style' task as I was talking about earlier. I LOVED this because I felt like I could really get stuck into it but I enjoyed it even more after being inspired by Bill Cunningham! 

Some would say Bill is nothing like the stereotypical fashion lover, and I guess they would be right! Most people probably don't even look twice at Bill cycling around Manhattan with his trademark battered blue jacket but that doesn't matter to Bill, all he wants is photographs of real people with real style.

Bill Cunningham is definitely one of the most well respected and most famous fashion photographers within the industry. His ideas and views are so different to any other photographers. He believes movement and odd angles are much more interesting than standing at the end of the runway and getting straight on photographs, and i have to say i agree! His work has started a street style phenomenon on blogs and social network sites and being stopped in the street to be asked to have a photo taken for someones blog is almost seen as the norm nowadays.  

Bill started his career as a journalist and then progressed onto fashion photography in an attempt to make his life-long passion his career. His love for fashion is clear in his images. Bill tries to capture the movement in the clothes when the wind blow or the way a skirt falls when a woman is walking down the street. All of this gave fashion photography a new lease of life and allowed people to see a different side which, by some people, is considered a lot more fun and interesting. Especially by me! 

His column in 'The Times' allows all fashionistas to see the most popular trends on the New York streets according to Bill and the best bit is that he doesn't photograph stereotypical fashionable people and instead focuses more on individual style and even those that are considered VERY wacky!

When we went to see 'Bill Cunningham New York' I honestly did expect it to be a bit dull and boring but I was pleasantly surprised! The documentary shows very intimate and personal details of Bill's life and his thoughts towards fashion. I was extremely inspired by Bill's images and how passionate he is towards fashion, so much so that he refuses to be paid for his work, which is extremely different to many other materialistic people within the same industry. The dedication he puts into his job, the passion he has for fashion and the amount of motivation he has really encouraged me to see this project in a different light. 

Me and my group started off taking images where the people were quite posed and almost looking a a bit awkward at times but after watching this film we decided to take a different angle on the task. We began to take photos of people just walking down the street not aware that we were taking photographs and this surprisingly gave us some of the best images! This allowed us to get images which showed the movement within the clothes or how the colour and pattern within the outfits looked different as they walked down the street. One of my favourite images from the whole task was the black and white one where only the couple are in colour. I loved this as it shows them being natural and just them selves which I think overall gives a much better photo and has a lot more depth to it! It also shows me how certain 'tribes' do stick together which is something I've never really thought about but now the more I'm wandering around the city centre the more I see it. 

Moodboard galore

My first week of actual lectures...

I surprisingly really enjoy them! Although I kinda already knew this from being at Uni of Manchester but it was nice to have a completely different style of lecturing at NTU. 

Tim's lecture on pinterest really inspired me to create my own and to start gathering images which I am particularly drawn to so in the future I will have something to reference back to when I'm in need of inspiration!

The seminar we had on Thursday with Angi was fun although I was struggling with ideas for my mood board. I originally was going to do it on Chanel but I then changed it to Elie Saab because I love the intimate detail she includes and the pastel colours she commonly uses within her collections. Once I got back to halls I was able to concentrate more and managed to gather images and patterns which I could use on my mood board which I'll post a picture of...

I chose to make my mood board quite structured and 'clean' rather than my usual style which is includes overlapping and can look a bit cluttered

Although I'd enjoyed the creative side of this course so far I was strangely really glad when Si and Chris gave the lecture and seminar on Fashion Marketing! I've always enjoyed Business Studies through college and I was excited when I was able to use the information I'd learnt back then (weird I know!) 

Velvet Crush

Soo last night was definitely one of the best nights of freshers! Can't believe that freshers week is now over and its back to the reality of hard work. 

I was pondering the high-street for ever and  religiously browsing online for something to wear as I am definitely one of those girls who can't wear the same outfit more than once for a special occasion! During my trawl through the shops I managed to spot these little bargains hiding behind a pile of clothes in Topshop.

I have to admit I am a massive softy for anything Topshop and even though I've only been here a couple of weeks my student loan is tempting me even more to purchase their new beauties!

I'd had my eyes on the 'Midnight Crushed Velvet Shorts' for a while now but couldn't bring my self to part with my limited money for them until the student lock in which gave me 20% off! A pretty good reason to spend my cash if I do say so myself! I had also wanted a black cami for SO long and the freshers ball seemed like the perfect opportunity! 

I paired this outfit with my trusty Primark wedges which never fail to impress me! I can't believe they were only £16 pound! SUCH  a steal! I got these quite a while back but I'm pretty sure they're still in store so I suggest you all run out to buy them as soon as possible!

I normally have wavy or curly hair on nights out so I thought I'd go for a different look for once! I never used to like having my hair straight when I had my hair cut short (NEVER again!) but since it's grown out I'm embracing my straight locks! 

I hope you like this look as much as I do! I've been shopping quite a bit lately with all the student sales being on so I'll post more pictures soon showing you what I've been buying! 

My outfit!

Shorts - Topshop £32.00

Cami - Topshop £18.00

Wedges - Primark £16.00

Lucy's oufit!

Dress - ASOS 

Shoes - Nine West (Bargain charity shop find!)

Nottinghams Catwalk

I absolutely LOVED my induction week task! I found it so incredibly exciting to hunt around the streets of Nottingham looking for people with their own individual and edgy styles. My team found so many unique styles that really inspired me to be more daring when picking my outfits (although I find that hard to do just before my 9am lectures!). 

This task has also really got me into blogging and pinterest! I already had a flickr but that was more for my own work so I’m really looking forward to creating my own pinterest and blog based on things I find really interesting and inspiring! 

These are a few of my favourite images from the street style task. I particularly love the 'couples' image as I find it interesting how certain 'tribes' stick together which is something we discovered more and more throughout the week. We chose not to stick to a certain trend and instead decided to capture as many different styles as possible, which I preferred. These three images show very different people with different styles which is why we chose to use them. This task encouraged me to understand and realise even more that style isn't necessarily about following trends but being unique and adventurous!!