ladies day!

So last Friday I went to Ladies Day at the Royal Bath and West Show because I was a finalist in a shoe design competition for clarks. I wore a beautiful skirt from Topshop that I bought ages ago, but it was the first time I had worn it. I had to rush around the shops on Thursday in order to find something to go with it though, I found a feather fascinator for a fiver from the British Heat Foundation charity shop, a lovely sheer sleeveless shirt in H&M for £7, underneath that I wore a lace vest thing that used to belong to my mum and on my feet some dusty pink pointy stilettos from primark for a tenner - I had the idea of spraying the toes gold in a Louis Vuitton style, as featured on my shoe design, but I never got round to it... might do it soon though, there's an amazing tutorial here if you have no idea what I'm talking about :) Unfortunately the pictures from the day aren't great... I couldn't make my face behave, ha ha.

 So yeah, here's the big news!!! I won second prize!! I'm not entirely sure how, any of the finalists, and even the entrants who didn't finalise could've won in my opinion but I fluked it! Also second prize was what I actually wanted :) A weeks work experience with Bristol based fashion magazine Tres Chic. I haven't emailed them yet but I'll keep you updated when I do, lovely Stephy won first prize work experience with Clarks and a Mulberry handbag!

The Exeter College girls with Gill Cockwell, Bristol based fashion designer with Gilly Woo, who was judging the 'Best Dressed' contest and wearing a crazy dress made out of ties!

 My design fell down :(

After that we had a lovely afternoon tea, scrummy :)

In other news my post about the queen as a style muse was chosen to be in the top fifteen posts of the IFB Project #50! So here's a picture of a portrait of the queen at the show; made from cheese.

Also yesterday I reached 3000 pageviews! Thank you everyone :) x

Queen Elizabeth II - A Style Muse

This blog post celebrates two anniversaries, the 60th anniversary of the Queens Coronation and the 50th IFB project! So I thought I could bring the two together, to show you my style muse... Queen Elizabeth II. As you can probably tell by some of the details on my shoe design from the other week, I've got a bit of a thing for the queen. All eyes may be on Kate recently after her outings in stunning Alexander Mqueen and Philip Treacy creations, but the Queen herself has got to be my royal style muse. I'm loving the patriotic jubilee celebrations and the vintage vibe everywhere recently, I was lucky enough to see the queen as she came through Exeter a few weeks ago as well.

Your first stop for all jubilee news as it unfolds is the queens un-official twitter which narrates the 'Queen's' royal thoughts on all her public outings and private life... Gin O'Clock!

Queen Liz has never been quoted to have been interested in fashion but she is always immaculate; a spreadsheet is said to be kept at Buckingham Palace which insures she never meets the same person in the same outfit more than once. This jubilee not only celebrates her wonderful reign as queen but also her continuing reign as an amazing example of sophisticated dressing. Yesterday was the pinnacle of her jubillee celebrations, a 1100 strong flotilla of boats of the thames and she looked wonderfully happy in a white coat and hat designed by Angela Kelly, chosen to stand out against the red boat accesorised with a diamond brooch and her trademark white gloves.

From left to right - In white in 1954 looking fantastically elegant in white lace. The queen yesterday, 3rd June 2012, enjoying her diamond jubilee celebrations. As illustrated by Karl Largerfeld yesterday.

The queens coat for the occasion was embellished all over with silver and gold embroidered spots, as you can see below. To get the look yourself, with a bit of typical British punk style thrown in wear gold and silver studs on white as seen in this Lipsy dress from Asos, these elegant court shoes from Zara and this Topshop purse.

Spring Summer 2012 Trends as Worn by the Queen...

1. Mint Green - One of the queens favoured tones, she has been spotted several times in it lately, including a rare appearance in a trouser suit. My favourite picture has to be this one from the 1962 Epsom derby. Get the look yourself with this minty green dip hem skirt from Topshop.

2. Floral Head wear - She is also a fan of florals as can be seen in the above picture, she visits the Chelsea Flower Show every year and this year sported a black floral encrusted hairnet. For the Lana Del Ray look she was wearing in the sixties, visit Crown and Glory for beautiful handmade head dresses such as  their 'Whole Lotta Rosie' headband, below.

3.  Pastels - As you can see below the queen is a lover of pastels, she's been spotted in everything; pink, peach, lilac, lavender, lemon, powder blue etc. Pastels are obviously huge this summer, my favourite picks are these mega Coral coloured wedges by Koi Couture which can be bought at Boohoo as well as this 40s style lemon dress from Topshop and 'Lilac Dream' nail polish from Models Own. Wear the whole lot together for a sugary sweet Summer look.

4. Bling - Obviously Queen Elizabeth, as she is the queen, has a lot of jewellery at her fingertips... as well as brooches, necklaces and other striking pieces there are of course the crown jewels! To help you channel that regal style here is a selection of crown inspired jewellery; crown ring and medieval inspired hair accessory both Topshop, necklace from River Island.

I hope you enjoyed this post and keep checking in to see me in some Queen inspired style at Ladies Day last week - exciting updates on the Shoe Design Competition too!!!