Primark AW13: The first campaign images are here!

Hi guys,
We're finally having our first heat wave of the year, so it seems natural that now would be the perfect time for me to start talking about autumn/winter. Because what everyone wants right now is a new winter coat! Seriously though, the first campaign images from Primark for autumn have been released, and I knew I had to share them as soon as I saw them!

The unwearable crop tops and youth-focus of the spring/summer collection has gone. Instead it's been replaced with a grown up, lady like range that is really wearable and very covetable. There are so many pieces I'm lusting after that it's hard to know where to begin:
Image 1:Leopard print sweater, £10. Ring sets from £3.
Image 2: Nude coat, £32. Nude cropped jumper, £10. Nude trousers, £12.
Image 3: Black and white jumper, £14. Black skirt, £14. Black heels, £16.
Image 4: Leather sleeve coat, £28. Shirt, £12. Trousers, £12. Bag, £10. Trainers, £12.
Image 5: Grey and black dress, £17. Bag, £4.
Image 6: Pink coat, £25.

Where do I even start with my list of items I'm coveting? Obviously, because I'm a coat addict, I'd like the leather sleeved cream coat. The full faux leather skirt is just made for teaming with a vintage-style tee and heeled ankle boots. And that leopard print sweater has my name written all over it!

I really do like this collection. It feels like it's aimed at 20-somethings, rather than the teens and pre-teens of the past couple of seasons. What do you think? Is there anything you really like from Primark autumn/winter so far? Or is it just too early to start thinking about your winter wardrobe?

Love Tor x

June 2013, According to my iPhone

Hi guys,
Wow the months are flying by! I can't believe it's already July - that means my baby is already 7 months old, it's summer holiday season, and we're closer to next Christmas than we are to last Christmas (Is that the earliest I've ever mentioned the dreaded 'C' word?!) So what have I been up to in June? Here's the months photo review...

This month I've been focusing on working on the house! We've painted the kitchen (bubblegum pink!) and this weekend we went to Ikea to buy new door knobs for the kitchen cabinets - we just need to paint those cabinets and replace the floor then the kitchen is finally finished! The best 'me' news of the month? My bunny shoes have arrived!


In a bid to get Mike more interested in eating salad I have made a sausage and egg salad this month- and it was delicious!! I also made homemade burgers with ice cream thick shakes, Cajun salmon with sweet potato wedges and eating out I had a great pizza at Frankie and Bennys and Chicken salad at M&S. I just love to cook! Would you guys be interested if I decided to share some of my recipes?

Wilbur gets cuter by the day (even if I do say so myself!)  This month he has been to the dinosaur park, visited the donkeys at the open farm, played in the ball pool, paddling pool, his brand new swing, and his appetite only gets bigger- I've never known a baby like food so much! Like mother, like son!!

Love Tor  xx

Competition: Fashion Maketh Woman

I'm going to a really interesting debate next week, and the best thing is, I have two tickets to give away so that one of you lovely readers and a friend can come along!

The debate is about the nature of fashion: It's importance to how we feel about and perceive ourselves. Here's the blurb:
Woman is born free but cannot escape the shackles of fashion. Her choices are an illusion, her purchases are dictated. Her self-worth is inextricably linked to her compulsion to look better, be better than everyone else. Happiness is both the conformity and the one-up(wo)manship that owning the latest bondage boots entails. This, at least, is the story told by those who scoff at fashion. But isn’t that just pursed-lipped envy? Isn’t it rather the case that fashion defines our Zeitgeist? That the brilliant designers in the fashion houses bring joy and vigour to an otherwise pedestrian world? And those who somehow think they’re above it all just end up looking drab and dull?
Speakers taking part in the debate include Paula Reed (Style director of Grazia magazine) Madalaine Levy (Editor in Chief of Bon Magazine) and the wonderful Grayson Perry (a man i've always wanted to meet).

To be in with a chance of winning you have to be a Fabfrocks follower (it's a simple click to the box on your right!) and leave a comment letting me know where you stand on the debate: does fashion maketh woman? Tell me something about your relationship with fashion. I often wonder if mine is healthy: I love to surround myself with fashion often at the expense of other aspects of my life (I bought shoes instead on a dining table. We still dont have one!)

The prize is two tickets to the debate which is taking place next Thursday in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. The doors open at 6pm, the debate starts at 6.45pm and is scheduled to finish at 8.30pm. The winner will be picked at random on Sunday.

If you'd like to attend the event anyway, then tickets are £25 each and available here. Good luck with the competition!

Love, Tor xx

More to life than being really really ridiculously good looking?

Hi All,

Advance warning; I am about to go off on a tangent and write a post that isn't about fashion!

Whenever anyone asks me what my favourite film is I always say something like Dangerous Liasons, Short Cuts, or Some like it hot. And whilst it's true that I really do love these films, when I answer the question this way, I am lying. It is my deepest darket secret (that I am sharing with you all, so I really can't have any secrets can I?!) that my favourite film in the world is in fact, Zoolander.

I just can't get enough of it; it's funny, random, pokes fun at the fashion industry, has Ben Stiller in it: what's not to love?! OK, so it isn't intellectually stimulating, but nonetheless, I love it and i'm saying it out loud! In fact, when i'm in "high spirits" I often conduct a "walk off" with my friends and family in Derek's honour!

So imagine my delight when I heard that they are making a sequel...With the working title of "Twolander" (love it!)

I actually can't find out very much about the movie, other than that it is definitely a work in progress. I do wonder what form the sequel would take: the first film was such a nicely rounded package that ended in a clear and definitive way, so it's hard to imagine where they would take the characters next. However as Zoolander script writer John Hamburg said to the MTV movie blog, “I think to catch up with two male models ten years later, there’s a lot of room for comedy.” This seems especiallly valid given that Derek has approached the end of his career in the first film. Speaking at the premiere of Night in the Museum 2 Ben Stiller also confirmed that the second film was definitely in the making, and that he was looking forward to pulling that infamous Blue Steel pose! This is all exciting stuff, now we just need a confirmed release date!

With this news reverbirating around your fashion consciousnesses, I leave you with the following final thoughts from the first movie. I can only hope there will be more of these classics coming from the second:

Derek Zoolander: "Words can only hurt you if you try to read them. Don't play their game."

Mugatu: "Let me show you Derelicte. It is a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique. "

Really, what's not to love.... It's a walk off!



Profound!
Love, Tor x

Baby you can drive my car!

(and maybe I love you...beep beep, beep beep, yeah!)


Sorry I didn't post last night but my mind is far from the fashion of clothes and constantly pondering another fashiony question; to buy or not to buy this beautiful car?

I've wanted one since the first time I saw one, its got low milage, is in beautiful condition, and....did I mention I can't reallly afford it??

However at its low cost (a rare favour from the credit crunch) combined with the fact that I really do need a car, how can I say no? I buy shoes, dresses and bags I shouldn't, why should this be any different?!

.

And yet still I ponder.... I just hope I can stop thinking about it and concentrate on dresses again tonight!!

.

Love Tor xx

It's just the way it works...

DISCLAIMER: Don't read on if you've had a bad day, or for some other reason don't want to read me having a moan. Scroll down, find some awesome pictures instead!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking more and more about my career (or lack thereof). I suppose it's because the bf and I are moving in together, and no longer living in student houses or flat shares is making me feel very much like a grown up.

I like my job. The people are great, I get to write and it's hardly taxing. But i've never hidden the fact that although its what I keep falling into, online corporate writing about, if i'm honest, things I know nothing about, is definitely not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing.

For as far back as I can remember i've wanted to be a journalist when I grew up (this of course depends on my ever growing up); at first I wanted to do hard hitting front line correspondence - a modern day Kate Adie, but for the past 5-6 years, i've known that what I really want to write about is fashion. And not just because I love clothes, but because proper fashion is so fast paced and innovative and exciting. WHo can see Hussein Chalayan's crazy interdisciplinary dresses, and not realise that fashion is about so much more than what looks pretty.

What i'm moaning about here then isn't the fashion industry. From my squinty view way over here outside the circle of power, I love it, despite all it's flaws which I love reading on the bloggosphere everyday. What i'm moaning about is how I find a tiny little hole in. See, I think i've done everything right; work on the student paper? Check. Take fashion related units at uni? Check. I've worked for OSOYOU and styleshake writing their blogs (short term contracts), I'm a member of the NUJ, and I love love love fashion!

But apparently, this isn't enough to get me an interview anywhere even vaguely fashion related. Unless I want to take 6 months out and work for no salary whatsoever (which in my case would mean eating gruel and living in a box to be affordable; definitely not an option!) then the answer is thank you, but no cigar!

I'd love to meet an ordinary girl like me who can afford to have no income for 6 months; how to people do it? Surely this can't be the only way in, or only girls called Miffy and Bunty would ever make it! I've been told a million times "that if you want to get into the industry you need grit, persistence, and determination". All those things I have. But £10 grand in the bank or better still, the capacity for starvation and homelessness? Well, the lines got to be drawn somewhere!

So what can I do? Well, keep knocking on those doors with my fingers crossed I suppose. I'm forsaking my summer holiday this year and spending my time off on a work experience placement instead. I've signed up to start a fashion course at night school in March (although mostly if i'm honest this is more for fun than career purposes)

And I guess I can stop feeling sorry for myself! Stop writing this little rant and toughen up. Oh, and try to block out the sound of all those doors slamming shut before they've even opened.

Lots of Love,

Tor (Who promises to be in a much more optimistic mood tomorrow!)

Going GaGa

Last week Lady GaGa said in the Independent: "Fashion is everything to me. Its just as important as the music." And whilst there are hundreds of artists spouting the same generic rubbish all the time, in this instance, I actually believe her!

I'm not normally one to follow music industry hype (I love music, but I know what I like!) but I am genuinely interested in Lady GaGa (apparently just Gaga to her friends) and her progress: with her metallic breastplate and crazy stage gyrating, how can you not compare her to the conical bra wearing uber performer that was Madonna in the 80s? The girl has the potential to become an icon.

Apologies for the stolen photo from Mr Paparazzi.com, and I still get goose bumps when I see madonna in that Jean Paul Gaultier set up!

Like Madonna, she obviously loves the "underwear as outerwear" trend, and she's quite the expert: she made the nude bra for her love game video herself!

However, it's not her underwear that interests me: Any outfit that leaves you at risk of arrest for over exposure is definitely not for me! No, what I am loving, nay, slightly obsessed with, are her stage costumes; they're elaborate, have real attitude and yet like most things you see on the catwalk, you can imagine a toned down version that would really work on you:

The feathered eyelashes GaGa is so fond of (i'm guessing, as she wears them all the time!) are by Shu Uemra. They also do lace ones, which are immediately on my wish list!

OK so its a bland outfit with a little too much leg and a Star Trek vibe until....wow! Check out those shoulder pads!!

I've looked everywhere, and i have no idea who made those wonderful spikey dresses: if you know tell me! I am however, in love with the idea of using your own hair as a hair ornament and tying it in a bow: if i've got time tonight, i'm going to give it a go!

Lady Gaga leaves London at the end of the week and this makes me a little bit sad: I love reading about her antics of the night before on my way home in thelondonpaper every day. And if, after seeing all the wonderful pictures you still need another reason to fall a little bit in love with Lady Gaga, then don't worry because I have one for you. I've got it all! Christian Siriano, winner of Project Runway season 4, is responsible for some of her outfits, including the massive black patent bow she wore on MTV. Which sadly I cant find a picture of, but still...

Isn't that fierce?!

Love Tor x

Bananas for the BAFTA's

We all have our guilty pleasures; some people drink or smoke to excess. Others overspend every time they hit the shops. Some like the occassional crafty toke on their crack pipe. Me? I care a little to much about the goings on in celeb land, and have an unhealthy interest in what those crazy celebs like to wear.

This means that last nights BAFTAs sent me into a whirl of delight as I oohed and aahed at big hair, big dresses, and make up applied so much more expertly than it ever looks when I have a go! I hate reading cheesy 'who wore what to where' posts, and I promise this won't be an everyday occurance, so if you indulge me with my fancy frock moment it won't happen again (until the Oscars of course!)

Kiera Knightly and Sienna Miller were on the front page of all the London and most of the National papers this morning, and granted they both looked stunning, but it was all a little repetitive and obvious for my liking (a floor length Dior jersey black dress, Sienna? You trendsetter you!)

Keira DID look amazing in this Valentino couture gown, but it's hard to get excited about a dress so similar to hundreds of dresses Ms Knightly has worn before.

It was to lesser well known household names that I turned for my fancy dress inspiration. Now you should all know by now the overwhelming bias I have for all things leopard print, but I think Diablo Cody (The screenplay writer who won the BAFTA for Juno: which I am desperate to see!) looked stunning. Not only did the dress look fabulous and cling to all of her curves, I love her attitude: not anyone can pull of a head to toe leopard print look (unfortunately!)

Other celebs on my 'yes list' are: Naomie Harris in floor length turquiose Escada, Kate Hudson in figure hugging gold metallic, and Marion Cotillard in what I can only describe as a floating, swan-like dress: my absolute favourite!

For some reason alot of the press i've read really hated this dress (It was a miss, not a hit) But I don't care: It just really is too beautiful! SIGH. When I get invited to fancy parties by couture houses, this is the dress i'd wear.

Lots of Love,

Tor

Dresses, Books, and Books about Dresses.......

I’ve always hated the phrase ‘Chick lit’. Originally I think it was intended to make reading women authors the new ‘rock n roll’ but to me all it does is tie up women into a ball off fluffy confused unintelligent material that conforms to the cliché of what women read and write. And anyway, there’s nothing wrong with the old rock n roll. To be engulfed in a genre which is dominated by your gender and not your material (it’s always Chick before Lit) is scary and overbearing. Women are pigeon-holed in a way that just doesn’t happen to men: how often do you hear anyone use the phrase ‘Dick Lit’? As a female writer you don’t just represent yourself: you represent everyone who doesn’t have a penis.



Similarly condemned as an awkward subsector of ‘Chick Lit’ (kind of like Chick Lit’s uncomfortable socially unaware cousins) are books about fashion. They are rarely reviewed; treated like Prince Phillips indiscretions and never discussed in polite company; dismissed as frivolous, picture heavy tomes of insignificance for vapid girls. What makes things even worse is that sometimes, more than sometimes, it’s true. That extra half inch by Victoria Beckham anyone? Perhaps if she actually lost that extra half inch she’d disappear, leaving only a pair of Louboutin stilettos and a cloud of make up. Maybe she could take everyone that bought the book with her. We can only hope.



Fashion is my passion (I’m a poet and I know it) but that doesn’t mean I want to read about how Trinny and Susannah would dress my body. (And no, I don’t want to be called pear shaped!) Those two creatures are constantly on the bestsellers list with their hardbacks full of insults and bad advice, and it gives fashion publications a bad name. Scouring through my local Waterstone’s (or any other reputable book store,of course!) for something fashion related and yet not mind-numbing to read, I was beginning to despair that fashion had finally forsaken me. And then I discovered Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber.



Don’t worry, this isn’t about to turn into a condescending book review (It was supposed to be another of my famous rants) but this book does represent everything a good fashion tome should be. Intelligent, historically grounded, interesting and beautiful! The book focuses on what the Queen wore from the day she left Austria to the day she put her head on the block. The attention to detail is a wonderful surprise with fabric, texture and pattern described in almost reconstructable detail. Her love of fashion and dressing up and dressing down and, well, dressing, is opulently documented and lusciously illustrated- Masked balls, high hair, faux country girl clothes: enough unintentional style tips to ‘do’ regency glam for a month!



Weber demonstrates that Marie Antoinette’s fashion obsession was for the sake of self assertion, and her unique point of view on the rise and fall of an original style icon is intelligent, well researched and exciting to read. She also asks some pretty key questions: Was Marie Antoinette more than elaborate dresses and very white powder? (The answer by the way is Yes) and do clothes make a woman? (I know the answer is no but secretly want it to be yes!). Maybe ask me next week once by brocade coat has arrived and I’ve perfected the high hair and powder look!

Alicia Silverstone looks wild!

David Beckhams first game for LA Galaxy was a star studded affair, but for me the star of the show wasn't Mrs Beckham aka "The Posh one" (who wore black and pouted alot, so nothing new there!) but the very casual Alicia Silverstone.

Sporting jeans, a turquoise t shirt with tiger logo, and with her hair hanging in casual curls around her shoulders she looked dressed down but glamourous; a movie star on her day off! (And it's a good job really, as thats what she is!)

*SIGH* If only I could pull off looking so effortlessly gorgeous in nothing more than a t shirt and jeans.......

Land Ahoy!!

More rain this weekend led to more towns flooded and more people's lives thrown into disarray.

With this selection of wet weather goodies however, at least your wardrobe will stand by you when the weather lets you down!

1) Jella Welly Parrot Print Boot. Office £20.

2) Metallic Blue Parka. Topshop. £55

3) Purple Gingham Umbrella. Topshop. £12

It's never to early to think about Christmas.....

With todays torrential downpours leaving me feeling very unsummery (and more than a little wet!) in my inappropriate ballet pumps, it started me thinking about more appropriate footwear that would see me looking stylish (and dry) all the way through til Christmas.



Now this is a sentence I never thought I would say, but theseUGG boots are perfect for winter everyday wear. When Kate Moss started the trend in the UK, I didn't like the UGG look. Comfy, yes. Stylish, no. This new version however, seem different. They are leather so they look great, whilst still having the warm and comforting fur inside. The leather straps, dark fur trim, and extra height all give the boots a biker feel . These boots are understated, great quality......

....And for £200 from Office, they could be yours right now. Hmm, I wonder whether Primark will be bringing out a nice cheap version instead!