Dream Come True

Last month one of my university lecturers gave me the opportunity to help out styling a photo shoot for the Aberdeen Press & Journal newspaper. I was so excited and thankful for this opportunity as it is something I am interested in doing in the future!
The shoot took place in the Bon Accord Shopping centre and we were given the privilege to pick outfits from any of the stores within the centre and style our model. I was given the occasion ‘Christmas day’ to choose outfits for. The photo shoot was published in the newspaper last weekend however I forgot to buy a copy! Silly me! However, not to worry I have the original copies and would like to share a few with you guys. Hope you like them :)

HLW x

Tis The Season To Wear Tartan!

After seeing Rihanna the other week on the xFactor wearing Alexander McQueen’s puffball dress I thought to myself, ‘Is tartan making a comeback in fashion?!’  I love tartan, it’s such a bold and unique design that us Scots can be proud of. Now that the Christmas season is upon us I assumed that we would all be wearing the usual metallic and sequin pieces however I’m more than pleased to take a step out of the box and get to grips with a few good old tartan pieces for my Christmas nights out!



Emma Watson, Rihanna and Chloe Moretz all wearing McQ's Tartan dress

If you’d like to get into the tartan spirit here are some affordable pieces!

MotelRocks Tartan Chiffon Shirt: £38

MotelRocks Tartan Short: £28.50

Converse: £51

Marshmallow Welly: £15

Pieces Hwo Scarf: £12.50

And last of them all, if you would like a dress like McQueen's but for a smaller price here is what you're looking for!

Apricot Tartan Dress: £25

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Accessorize Accessorize Accessorize!

No matter what you are wearing accessories can always transform an outfit. Whether you’re just going into town or to work/uni or getting ready for a night out the right accessories can make a difference! Having a good few staple pieces can give your wardrobe multiple looks and save you money.

Here are a few of my affordable favourites at the moment...

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Swap Shop

At university today, on the way to lab for another depressing 3 hours of my life I passed the student notice board and actually spotted a poster that made me stop, the Uni Swap event. I remember being told about the Uni Swap event last year but didn’t manage to go as I was so crammed with uni work which I yet again find myself this year. It’s such a good event put together by the fashion society and gives everyone the opportunity to bring along any unwanted clothes and to swap with others.

The Robert Gordon University Swap Shop is to be held in the Union on the 12^th December. It opens at 7pm for drop offs, but swapping begins at 8pm.

Entry is only £2 and this will gain you a raffle ticket as well. However, if you drop of any items before Monday 12^th you will have free entry and a raffle ticket on the night. 

For every item swapped you will get £1 (+5 items =£2)

The raffle prizes are Gift card amounts for the St Nicholas & Bon Accord shopping centres:

1^st= £30

2^nd=£20

3^rd=£10

The Swap Shop is a great event, especially at this time of year to get rid of those clothes that you no longer want and make space for you new Christmas presents! I definitely urge everyone to take something along.

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Charity Gems

I love a good charity shop! What’s a better feeling than buying yourself a bargain and knowing that your money is going towards a good cause?

I haven’t been able to recently (because I’ve been so busy with coursework), but if you’re prepared to have a good old rummage in a charity shop you can find some real gems, sometimes if you’re lucky even a vintage treasure.

Fashion often repeats itself so you will find old designs of current high street styles in your local charity shop at a reasonable, affordable price. Saying this you will also find good old retro pieces.

My favourite charity shops are The British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Cancer Research really just because they ar emy local charity shops at home(Perth).

As all my charity shop  finds are at home my friends gave me a few of theirs to show you.

This is Ailsa’s £4 New Look embellished shawl which was originally £24 in the retail store.



This is Toni's absolute bargain of a clutch at 20p!

As I am a Fashion Management student, last year as part of my graded coursework my group and I were allocated a specific charity shop, given the task to complete an outfit with £10 that we were given and present it to the university. Our group was given the British Heart Foundation and this is how it turned out...

We chose to do a 60's theme and found this amazing dress for £4. As we were allowed to alter/tailor our outfits we bought blue lace and stiched this onto the dress. We also made an underskirt to puff out the dress and stiched the hem up to make it a little shorter. In the end we even had £2 change left over, incredible!

Its amazing what you can find in a charity shop!

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Gossip...

Just thought I’d add a little gossip I found out today. You might already know but I didn’t...

Singer Kesha was dropped by her record label because of low ticket sales and lack of interest from fans for another album. This made me smile, I can’t stand Kesha!

Also Kelly Rowland is going to leave UK Xfactor to go join Simon on the US version as he has specially requested her. This didn’t make me smile :(. Kelly is the only decent thing about the Xfactor, amazing us weekend after weekend with her stunning outfits.

Here are a few of Kelly's dresses.

My favourite! Dress by Sass & Bide

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eBay Love!

I’m a bit of an eBay geek. I spent most of my summer selling some of my old clothes and shoes on eBay and made around £140. Pretty chuffed with myself to be honest! While selling I also purchased a few bargains during the summer on eBay. One of them was the blue John Zack one shoulder shimmer dress that I spotted on Chloe Sims from TOWIE. It was £45 on New Look’s website but I got it for £21 on eBay, bargain! EBay’s a great way to make money as well as save it.

It’s coming up to Christmas and I can’t stand the busy shops at this time of year with the last minute, panicked shoppers I prefer to shop online for presents. So far, eBay is where I have bought most of them. Although it sounds really cheap and tacky of me everything I have bought is a well known label brand, genuine and up to date just at a lower price.  So another word of advice check out eBay before you go ahead and buy something in this shops for full price.

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Invisible Hand

Just thought I’d let you all into a great wee application that I came across today while on my break at work reading my monthly fix of Glamour. It’s called Invisible Hand and it is an application that automatically notifies you of a cheaper deal and the potential saving you could be making when shopping online. All you have to do is click on the item that you are interested on and a yellow bar will appear at the top of the page telling you, for example, ‘This is £15 cheaper at very.com’.

Absolute genius! Our own little online personal shopper?...well kind of. An application that will make us stop and think before we go off the rails and buy something we can actually be buying cheaper somewhere else.

So get visiting www.getinvisiblehand.com and install!

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Versace for H&M

So Versaces collection for H&M launched yesterday and everybody’s going nuts for it! It was reported that shoppers camped overnight so they could be one of the few firsts to purchase the collection also that stores stocking the collection were sold out within the first 30 minutes of sale! Sadly neither of Aberdeen’s stores is stocking the collection (booooo!). You may not think this post is so ‘penny pinching’ however for all of us fashionistas a designer collection at affordable prices is an absolute miracle! I will let you have a look at some of my favourite pieces and decide for yourself what you think!?

Figure-fit Silk Dress with Crochet Lace Inserts £79.99

Draped Dress £49.99

Patterned Leggings £24.99

Faux Fur Waistcoat £39.99

Silk Scarf £24.99

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Stylist Pick!

I haven’t posted in a while as I’ve been so busy with work and coursework! But I thought it was time to let you into my new secret, Stylist Pick! I’m a bit of a shoeaholic and often find myself in debt for buying shoes. So this website was a god send.

Basically you sign up to the website and complete the online style quiz so the team of A-list stylists can choose the latest shoes and accessories that suit you.

Here is Stylist Pick’s promise...

•  Get a FREE style profile with no obligation to buy
• Everything at Stylistpick is just £39.95 per item
• FREE Delivery & Returns on every order
• We'll email you a new showroom every month with a
• personalised accessory selection based on your style profile

You enter our subscription service and become a

VIP member with your first purchase

Choose to skip any month before midnight on the 5th,

as many times as you like, at no charge

Cancel your membership at any time

Not only that you get 25% off your first purchase as well!

I thought this website was too good to be true, until it arrived, I realised it was even better than what id expected!

The shoes arrived next day in a big cardboard box, inside was a bag and inside the bag was another box that was neatly tied with a black ribbon. The box contained my new shoes aswell as a thank you note and a small black velvet bag that contained a complementary Pandora look-a-like bracelet!

I advise everyone to sign up to Stylist Pick its great!

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AW11 Masculine Trends: Brogues

Autumn saw the return of the brogue on the Catwalk. Designers such as Paul Smith, Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana brought the masculine element to their collection with the boyish shoe.



Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2011

Olivia Palermo 09

Emma Watson 09

Office brogues with rolled up chinos

How to wear them: Without taking the masculine look too far many prefer to wear brogues with a pretty dress and tanned, bare legs, even add a pair of socks rolled down to give it even more of an edgy look. Brogues can also be worn with a pair of skinny jeans or tailored shorts and if you’re feeling the cold add a pair of fashion tights. 

Tesco £18

Where to buy them:  Brogues can be found in nearly all shops! I bought myself my first pair the other day which I absolutely love and they were a bargain, £18 from Tesco! However if you can afford to splash out why not treat yourself to a pair from Office at £80.
 

Brogues originated in Scotland and Ireland as a rugged leather country shoe for men. They were embraced in many cities in the early twentieth century however they have existed in Scotland for hundreds of years.

However, this isn’t the first time brogues have made an appearance on the catwalk; they were seen in SS09 and FW09. They were also snapped on celebrities like Emma Watson and Olivia Palermo. 

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