ME, KEN?

I realise I've never actually posted a picture of myself on here, not for any reason other than I'm fairly camera-shy and suffer from a very low cringe-factor threshold for things like oufit posts etc - though I do enjoy them on other folks' blogs.

Anyway, for those curious (ha!) this is me.

(The hot blonde is my friend Kirsten who lives in Edinburgh. Miss you pal, see you soon like.)

Please excuse the wacky camera angles and shinyness of skin. Taken on a very hot summer evening during the Edinburgh festival.

SHOE PORN

I missed halloween this weekend because of my STUPID broken toe. Grrr. Spent Saturday night in bed with Xfactor instead, lamenting Treyc's outfit shoice (Oh Grace Woodward, what were you thinking?!) and appluading Cher and Katie Weasel. NEVER thought I'd hear myself say those words, but I loved the eyelashes!

Anyway, it sucks because I had the David Bowie outfit all planned out - it was going to be all kinds of awesome and amazing. Alas, it'll just have to wait till next year...

As a result of what I'm now referring to as The Toe Saga I've been kind of obsessed with finding shoes that I can fit my deformed foot into this week, and only one pair of Toppers boots would really suffice.

THAT IS until I ventured into Primark for the first time in literally forever and came away with some pretty little black chelsea boots which, dare I say it, are none too shabby.

Here follows some other hot black shoes and boots I've been lusting after/purchasing recently. Deep breaths people:
Topshop. NEED. Topshop. GOT.

Topshop NEED RIGHT NOW!

Urban Outiftters. NEED.

Urban Outfitters. ARRIVED YESTERDAY :)

Melissa for Vivienne Westwood. NEED.

Sam Edelman - ASOS. NEED.

Kurt Geiger. NEED.

BROKEN TOES AND JAMES FRANCO - DUHHH

So today I broke my toe getting out of bed. Only me...

At the hospital I was kept waiting for over 2 hours in total and after my xray (which clearly no one looked at) they said I was fine and to go home and take some paracetamol. THEN they phone me an hour later, like, "Oh, shit, sorry - actually you have fractured your toe, so, like, we probably should have bandaged it or something?" Great going guys.

Aaaanyway I had other more exciting things to blog about tonight but frankly all the codeine I downed earlier has made it hard to concentrate for long on doing anything productive SO instead I'll leave you with the revelation that James Franco makes a very handsome woman. NO, REALLY:

Defo still would, you saucy minx.

(by Terry Richardson )

ONE NIGHT ONLY

Last night I went to see Plan B at the O2 Academy in Glasgow, who by the way was AMAZING, especially when it looked at one point like he was going to nut his drummer for missing the cue for The Recluse...

HOWEVER the highlight of the night for me was meeting George Craig from One Night Only in ABC!

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't because I fancy the guy or anything... *cough* butheistotallycutethough *cough* ahem...

No, it was the highlight of the night because he was wearing this £2,995 Burberry shearling aviator jacket!!

And I (almost) TOUCHED IT!

Literally giddy for a good ten mins after being in such close proximity to this jacket. Is there something wrong with me? In fact, don't answer that...

YOU SAVED ME FROM THE KOOK

This achieves the impossible and makes me hate Courtney Love a bit less. I'm sure you've all seen it already, but please, I invite you to enjoy again...

(The bit with Michael Stipe is proper hilarity!)





In other news, despite only having a handful of followers (*WAVES FRANTICALLY* Hi guys!!!) FORTY FOUR SUNSETS has now been viewed over 2,500 times. Which gives me the warm n fuzzies big time.

If you're reading it and you like it, please follow me :)

Shameless plug done, video watched. Back to effin work yet again...

NOW OUR LIVES ARE CHANGING FAST

On repeat at the moment.

(Not literally of course, as I am in work AGAIN - I mean when I'm not here, or at uni, or sleeping. Which doesn't leave much time.)

I used to write,
I used to write letters I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain

But by the time we met
By the time we met the times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was left standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive

We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walking around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Sometimes it never came
Still moving through the pain


I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I wanna walk again gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

we used to wait
we used to wait
we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Sometimes it never came
Still moving through the pain

We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming sing the chorus again
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming sing the chorus again

I used to wait for it
I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming sing the chorus again

Wait for it

KATERINA LAMBROU COLLECTION REVIEW

CLOWNING AROUND - SS 2011. Finally!

Pictures first, words after.

Stunning, I think we'd all agree. Not just the pieces themselves, but when you consider how much effort has gone into this, it's quite amazing. This is Glasgow-born designer Katerina Lambrou's graduate collection - inspired by "early 1980's carnivals and a free-spirited attitude towards capturing the world and surroundings."

Fun, free-spirited, playful... these are all vibes I can get on board with. I've said time and time again that this is what I want to see from spring/summer collections, and this is why I so often don't like this season, as it tends to be predictable and safe. Boring almost. I think Katerina has got it totally right here.

The pieces are bright, and printed with this gorgeous colour-splash print - the likes of which is tipped to be everywhere come next summer - but daring and edgy at the same time. Like the purple jumpsuit with the printed panels on the torso... that's pretty out there. You'd have to be really confident to pull that piece off! And ankle socks - she certainly has her finger on the pulse of what's going to be hot next season. But ultimately though it makes an impact, it's still totally wearable.

My favourite pieces are the pink cardigan with the puffy printed sections on the sleeves and the last asymmetrical dress with the ruffled neckline. I'm a sucker for volume and texture - basically anything to stop things looking too safe and pedestrian - and this collection has ruffles, prints, pleats, you name it!

What makes me really love this though is that it so completely comes from the heart. Katerina has designed a collection embodying fun, youth, playfulness, and as a result the whole collection has a kind of party atmosphere about it - and if you knew Katerina this would make so much sense!

Rarely have I seen someones bubbly, infectious personality so well-expressed through design. Helped perhaps by the fact that the stunning model is Katerina's double!

I challenge you to wear something from this collection and be in a bad mood. I'd bet it was just about impossible. This is EXACTLY the vibe I what for summer 2011.

Two thumbs up from me, but what do you all think?

* Katerina is currently looking to start stocking pieces from this collection in boutiques, so if you like what you see, drop me an email and I can pass it on to her.

**Katerina Lambrou is an accquaintance of mine, however I have chosen to review her collection because I genuinely like it and have done so honestly. Anything I am ever asked to review will always be done so objectively.**

MY XMAS WILL BE

..Sponsored by Urban Outfitters.





Hopefully! Got to have that headband though. Just GOT to. Also, just purchased this:



Think I'm going to have to admit it... I love animal print!!

Aaaaand, just found out that Plan B is playing in Glasgow on Sat night. Unfortunately it's sold out but I'm going to see if I can get in with my press pass from the NUJ and then it means I can write a review of the gig as well. Killing two birds and all that.

NIGHT TIME

You mean that much to me
And it's hard to show
Gets hectic inside of me
When you go
Can I confess these things to you?
Well I don't know
Embedded in my chest
And it hurts to hold

I couldn't spill my heart
My eyes gleam looking in from the dark
I walk out in stormy weather
Hold my words, keep us together
Steady walking but bound to trip
Should release but just tighten my grip

Night time, sympathize
I've been working on white lies
So I'll tell the truth
I'll give it up to you
And when the day comes
It will have all been fun
We'll talk about it soon

And I couldn't spill my heart
My eyes gleam looking in from the dark
I walk out in stormy weather
Hope my words keep us together
Steady walking but bound to trip
Should release but just tighten my grip

Night time, sympathize
I've been working on white lies
So I'll tell the truth
I'll give it up to you
And when the day comes
It will have all been fun
We'll talk about it soon


I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound,
like the snapping of a flower’s stem.

PRAYIN

Am I the only one who has a HUGE style crush on Strickland Banks? (Not so much Plan B as his alter-ego.)

Three-piece suits, short back and sides, gold chains etc. should be SO wrong, but somehow the whole look is so right?



Ordered the album on the strength of this tune alone.

Groupie alert!

UNPLUG THE JUKEBOX

Halloween idea take three?



Oh how I wish I had more free time to devote to costume ideas this year! For example, this is my 6th day out of 15 in a row where I was up before half 6.

Can you spell zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...! Pretty spaced out at the moment. All this working and studying is great - being busy is exactly what I wanted, but it doesn't mean I don't miss my sleep :(

Tomorrow I'm working 8-1 and then Grandma-ing it up down in Ayrshire for my lunch. I've got to take photos to put together a slideshow as part of the online journalism section of my course and I thought I could take pics of my Grandma and I on our day out...but then I woke up to myself and realised that might be the dullest thing alive.

So instead I might take pics of my Clothes Mountain that is currently preventing me from getting all the way inside my spare room, and call it "Clothes That Don't Fit/I Don't Like/That I Bought in the Sale/That Came Out Weird in the Wash - That I Really Have to Chuck Out, But I Can't Because I've Got a Serious Hoarding Problem."

Catchy.

Also, I've now got a Twitter. Tweet me!*

*(I have no idea what this means. Can you actually communicate with people via Twitter? Is it not just about telling folk what you're doing? #technologyhatesme)

GHOST STORY

Now that the nights are drawing in and there's a definite chill in the air, my thoughts are turning more and more to Halloween. But not just the excitement of thinking up a suitably awesome costume for Club Noir, but also to the spooky side.

I love nothing more than a good scare, but usually in the form of a gory slasher film/tense supernatural thriller at the cinema. When it comes to scary books I'm a relative novice, though there have been one or two that have stuck in my mind as pretty chilling reads - The Turn of the Screw and Frankenstein in particular I remember being freaked out by!

Anyway, on the high recommendation of a friend, tonight I bought this spine-tingling yarn from the constantly efficient and reliable Amazon:

The Woman in Black is seemingly a popular choice on the curriculum at GCSE and Standard Grade level, but I'd never even heard of it before. Turns out it's now being made into a film with Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter (and Dazed) fame.

Not convinced by the creepy cover? Here's a little extract:


"In the greyness of the fading light, it had the sheen and pallor not of flesh so much as of bone itself. Earlier, when I had looked at her, although admittedly it had been scarcely more than a swift glance each time, I had not noticed any particular expression on her ravaged face, but then I had, after all, been entirely taken with the look of extreme illness. Now, however, as I stared at her, stared until my eyes ached in the sockets, stared in surprise and bewilderment at her presence, now I saw that her face did wear an expression. It was one of what I can only describe - and the words seem hopelessly inadequate to express what I saw - as a desperate, yearning malevolence; it was as though she were searching for something she wanted, needed - must have, more than life itself, and which had been taken from her. And, towards whoever had taken it she directed the purest evil and hatred and loathing, with all the force that was available to her."

EEEEK! I'm excited already. I'll be getting the gas fire on and snuggling up with my cat to read this one. Anyone read it before? Thoughts?

BACK IN BLACK

back in black

kirsty44SUNSETS featuring black boots

So, never really knew how to use Polyvore before - I confess I was more than a little scared of it, but who knew it could be so fun!

Here's my first ever effort. I have to say I went for a similar look today myself, except I had on lovely faux-leather shorts and a black velvet Tshirt from toppers and my trusty western shoes from urban, but it's all in the same vein. Those quilted shorts are the stuff of dreams, and I'm probably going to buy that Tshirt from Your Eyes Lie when I get paid.

Rock on!

COMING SOON...

Katerina Lambrou collection review:

Teaser pic - wowaweewa!

I want to take my time with this and not just bash a quick one out in between classes (WOW sounds so wrong!) so it might take me a couple of days till I can find a spare hour or two to sit down and go over it properly, but be prepared to be impressed by what you see!

RULE BRITANIA

By now pretty much EVERYONE knows Daniel-Harry Potter-Radcliffe graces the cover of this month's Dazed and Confused magazine.

I really can't decide what I think of the weird slathered-in-paint look they've gone for with him. Guess I'll have to actually see it to make up my mind, so I'm going to try and pop along to GmbH in Glasgow to pick up a copy as soon as I have some time... Absolutely swamped with uni work at the moment!

Anyway, in the meantime here's a look from Dazed that I do understand...

What I wouldn't give for a buckled bra (that I would never ever wear outside, but just strut around my room in thinking fierce thoughts. But still, what I wouldn't give...)

A WEIGHTY ISSUE

So, it was only a matter of weeks ago I pure blabbed on and on about how refreshing it was to see normal-sized models on the catwalk... About how real women (the phrase has become a cliche already) with boobs and bums and all sorts strutting down the catwalk like nobody's business with full on swagger and confidence.

How disappointing then to see these recent pictures of The Lake and the Stars newest collection of lingerie. I actually first saw this over at Kingdom of Style where Queen Michelle was pointing out how lovely the lingerie was.

To be honest, although she is right - the pieces themselves are lovely - I was far too distracted by the emaciated state of the models to even notice. So completely put off by the images it took me a while to remember what I was meant to be looking at - the clothing. In the business of fashion I'd say that was a bad thing.

This last one is the worst - and how about that caption. Ironic much?

I'm not trying to wade into a debate about weight in general, or go about bashing skinny folk. It takes all kinds as the saying goes and who the hell am I to judge a person for their appearance?

But when it comes to modelling - when I am actively being sold a product - I do feel entitled to an opinion.

Make no mistake, I'm not a fan of super-plus-sized models on the runway as I think it can often be as distracting as super-skinny models and it can have the same effect - no one remembers the clothes.

Neither extreme should be glamorised or accepted. Surely the clothes should look the best they can in order to sell as many as possible, and I happen to be of the mind that lingerie looks the best on slender, curvy, sexy women. I mean, this last girl looks like she is literally wasting away!

It's distracting. I'm not looking at the product. I'm not thinking, OH MAN those knickers would look so hot on me. I'm thinking, jeeze, I wonder when that girl last had a burger and chips, or if she even still has her period.

But what I think I'm most shocked at is that no one spotted this. No one at The Lake and the Stars thought, hey, she looks a little skinny, I feel a bit unsettled by this. People are accepting of mega skinny models and it troubles me. It really truly does. Self-esteem comes easy to a small minority of girls, and the last thing we need are pictures like this making skinny seem cool and alluring and desirable.

Looking at this I basically feel like I've been under-estimated as a female consumer.

What do you think?

TROIS

Three of the best rings from Vivienne Westwood...

These are my three favourites of all, but I'm totally torn trying to decide which one is my ultimate favourite - maybe the last one? The stone in the middle is called Labradorite, isn't that brilliant?

VW jewellery is the way to my heart.

(All are availabele to buy from Hervia)