Interning at a fashion brand

After an initial couple of weeks of pinching-self-excitement that came with assisting at a LFW event, sitting front row at a fashion show (yeah, still can't believe that actually happened) and getting to assist during the filming of a new TV show, the hectic first impressions of London settled down and I started an internship at a fashion company. A good two months later and I've slowly picked up a routine of living and working in London, with the odd weekend trip to Brighton or abroad. Coming to London has somehow thrown me into the world of fashion magazines, show room events and volumes of clothes that leave me dizzy, and even though I've started to get accustomed to my role as an intern, some things still feel slightly crazy and perfectly normal at the same time... So here goes an attempt at giving you a glimpse what it's like to intern at a fashion company.

• Someone at Jimmy Choo was charming enough to send a thank you note for sending over clothes samples. Yes, people working at Jimmy Choo are regular people as well, but I smell "frame-and-hang-on-bedroom-wall" potential for this one.
• These jeans are not "destroyed", they are super loved destroy with a let our hem, mind you. Did you see the signature shirt in fatigue? No, not my current state - the colour, obviously. And what do you mean this t-shirt is black? It's caviar and the one over there is washed black oh and this one is true black. Got it?
• Dumbbell bicep raises are overrated. Just steam a couple of hundred shirts and you'll be on your way to arms made of steel!
• No need to pull an Andy and appear at work in a jumper too large and your grandma's skirt but when it comes to dress code, chances are that more people will be wearing jeans and trainers at the office than heels and lipstick.
• Not-so-vegan-fact: steaming cotton shirts is an absolute pain. Silk ones, however...
• Knowing what Ellie Goulding's perfume smelled like at last week's performance isn't unusual, sitting at your desk sniffing the shirt she wore, however... Serious question: does touching clothes Anna Kendrick wore bring you closer to immortality? Thought so.
• Saving cash has never been easier than when reading magazines isn't an option but compulsory as part of your job description.
• Instead of wearing a wrinkly coat that you can't be bothered to iron or get professionally treated, you can make the de-wrinkling-process a DIY project and steam it at the office once you're done with every other piece of clothing in the show room. Give it three to four hours.

Fall Must-Haves

The new season is officially underway, bringing with it the promise of cooler weather, rainy days, and, of course, jumpers - can I get a "yay!"?. While autumn is well-known for having its tried and true staples (aka skinny jeans and riding boots), it also provides the perfect opportunity to switch things up a bit. I've personally been loving these eye-catching pieces this season with their unexpected colours, flattering silhouettes, and modern design details - all of which I spotted when clicking through ELLE and VOGUE's NYFW street style photo album.

A Summer Romance: Espadrilles

Those of you that have been following me on here for about a year now, have probably noticed how my love for espadrilles has grown. Ever since I found them in all kinds of colours for less than 4€ (at a shop called Pronti for those of you who are interested and in Luxembourg), they've been my go to shoes to wear in Summer (well, and Spring and Autumn, haha). Lately, the Chanel espadrilles have been getting a lot of attention too, and while I'm not exactly looking to buy some myself, I have been on the lookout for espadrilles with thicker soles, or even a slight plateau. Especially the bi-coloured espadrilles with a differently coloured "nose" are the ones I've been liking most. So far I haven't found any I really like - do you have any recommendations on where I should look to find Chanel lookalike espadrilles? Do you have a specific kind of shoe that you see as the ultimate Summer shoe?

This is not a Michael Kors bag

I've never been the kind of person to buy clothes, shoes, bags, etc. from specific brands. Even today, I will still happily spend less money on single items from ZARA or H&M than save up for a more expensive piece from a known designer label. 

Topshop A/W 2015

picture source

Whilst I find high fashion interesting and great to look at, I often find myself having a hard time getting particularly involved in it, as being able to see myself in the clothes presented plays a big role for me when it comes to whether I like something or not, and that doesn't work particularly well with a) clothes that are more art than actual wearable items and b) clothes that are wayyy out of my price league - so most of the time, I'll just pull some inspiration here and there but that's where about it ends. 

However, what I do enjoy, is getting to look at previews of upcoming collections I do see myself wearing and being able to purchase on my student budget. That's why I had a scroll through the pictures of the Topshop A/W 2015 show that took place in London a few days ago and I must admit, I liked what I saw! Even though I enjoyed the Clueless-esqued pieces (coats, dungaree dresses, etc.) with the typical chequered pattern, what stuck with me most was the use of different beige tones, the cuts of the pants, and the combination of light pieces with floral patterns and heavy fur coats. 

Is it weird that I'm kind of excited for Autumn again even though Spring is just around the corner? 

NYFW Street Style

picture source

Who would I be not to scroll through hundreds and hundreds of Street Style pictures from last week's New York Fashion Week? As I've already mentioned before, (here) Street Style is quite certainly one of my biggest sources of inspiration on what to wear or what I wish I had in my closet. Yes, yes and yes to trench coats, camel, all grey outfits and massive, heavy coats! Maybe I'm not actually that ready for winter to be over yet? Or it's just my love/obsession for coats getting out of hand, who knows... I'll let the pictures do the talking now because to me, these kind of pictures are the exact definition of eye candy.

Adding some flare to my wardrobe

... pun intended. 

For a little while now, I've been observing flared jeans or flares in general coming back in the fashion world and whilst I was always a bit unsure about this style of pants/jeans on myself, I loved how they made me think of my childhood when your coolness level was measured on how long and funky your flared jeans were. Apart from the more hippie inspired flares here and there, the main focus has been on jeans or suit-pants kind of pants in the flare cut. I love the more colourful, patterned pants for summer, but I think I should start investing in a simple pair of flared jeans in a lighter blue shade before moving on to the more colourful styles. I even tried on a pair at Topshop last week but hadn't made up my mind about them yet, but I can definitely see myself going back to have a peek and hopefully purchase a pair for myself when my bank account is being refilled again *cough* birthday in two days *cough*. Do you have any favourite(s) amongst the different flare styles?

Golden Globes 2015: Best Dressed

FANATICS - My take at combining MLB Hats with classic everyday wear

hat | jeans | sweater | coat | backpack | shoes

Whilst I personally enjoy different types of exercise and sports, I have admittedly absolutely no clue when it comes to different sports teams, be it in basketball, football or even baseball. A couple of days ago, I found out about a challenge by an online shop called Fanatics, asking you to choose a hat from the MLB baseball hats section and styling it up to an outfit I would wear myself. My initial thoughts went something like "Oh, that sounds like a fun idea! But wait, what do I  know about baseball and the different teams?" Luckily, I found out that the challenge would still very much be based on my personal style and how I would combine the hat of my choice.

After I finding this out, I decided to take the plunge and just give it a try! Since I obviously couldn't get much out of the different teams' names, I decided to simply choose a design and colour(s) that caught my eye and style my way around the hat using items from different shops I would usually shop at as well. When it came to choosing the type of hat I would use, I very quickly decided on a cosy winter hat with a cute pompon, as it is not only the perfect hat to wear with the current cold winter temperatures but it would also give a twist to how I would style the rest of the outfit. Even though I at first wanted to go with a grey/black coloured hat, I stumbled upon this cute yellow coloured hat representing the Pittsburgh Pirates and came to the conclusion that I should use a more exciting colour than the typical wintery grey and black. We've already got enough dark colours in our winter wardrobes, so let's spice it up a bit!

When it comes to sports wear in fashion, I especially love a combination of sporty and elegant items to make the whole outfit look more original and interesting. Keeping this in mind, most of the items I picked are rather elegant basics, like a pair of black skinny jeans, a cosy grey knitted turtle neck sweater to keep you warm and a classic camel coat. To add a bit more to the sporty and casual vibe of the hat, I picked a pair of white sneakers and a practical black backpack. As you can see, the colour scheme of the whole outfit is quite simple, making the hat stand out more but also making it easy to pair with a lot of other hats I found in the online shop, like this or this one. I find myself to like this outfit so much that I could easily imagine myself wearing this on a daily basis or even to a game of my favourite baseball team (if I had one that is, haha)

Want to find more MLB Hats in different styles and colours? Just click here!

Style Inspiration: Chiara Ferragni

It's no secret that blogger Chiara Ferragni has been receiving more and more attention in 2014. Even though I used to not be her biggest fan, checking her blog every now and then but that was it, I've been more and more inspired by her fashion sense since I started following her on Instagram. I love how she plays with fashion, wearing wild combinations of cuts, colours and shapes and always looking cool and chic at the same time. I'm not one to make a lot of New Year's resolutions, but maybe you could count this one as one: I want to become more free when experimenting with fashion, buy more statement pieces and get out of my comfort zone every now and then. Enough blabbering about my goal now, here are some of my favourite looks of her - all pictures were taken from her blog The Blonde Salad.

Over the knee

Even though I'd been looking for over the knee boots for over a year now, I properly got hooked on them this Autumn when I discovered these absolute beauties on Asos through another blogger. I loved everything about them - the suede look, the chunky heel and the fact that they would probably even fit my legs (believe me - finding fitting high raising boots is one big pain in the ass for me) I saw them on more and more bloggers but was either too broke to afford them myself or they were out of stock in my size. When I recently found out that Asos still had a 20% deal going on and the boots were back in stock in my size... well, we all know what happened. They arrived yesterday and fit like a gloooove and I can't wait to wear them! I'm currently looking for some inspiration on how to style them - do you have a favourite way to wear over the knee boots?

Shoe lustings

my polyvore

Given that I'm a huge shoe lover, I've had a couple of shoes (or types of shoes) catching my eye lately and saw a pattern in what I've been loving most recently: over the knee boots, loafers, white stans and sparkly boots! Almost all of these can be purchased on Asos, putting my wallet in a risky situation, haha! As a matter of fact, I've already ordered one of the pairs you can see above - can you guess which one? Do you have any shoe favourites at the moment?

ALEXANDER WANG X H&M

Even though I'm a little bit late to the party (as usual), I finally took some time to really look at the collection Alexander Wang released for H&M a few days ago. I've personally never bought anything from a designer collaboration with H&M (shock of the year), simply because the prices still put me off to do so or I never really bothered to really look at what the designers had created. I'd been seeing little sneak peaks of Wang's collection on other blogs, so I kind of had an idea what was coming our way this year. Some pieces I really like, some I find absolutely hideous but in general, I love Wang's concept of sporty day-wear. One of my favourite things about the collection is probably the amount of neoprene used and the boxiness of a lot of the pieces, giving off a little bit of a masculine vibe at times, while there's still plenty of body-con dresses to be found. If I were to spend some money on the Alexander Wang x H&M collection, I'd probably buy some of the things I put together in the picture above. (even though I wouldn't actually get the backpack - it's real leather :( ) What do you think about this year's collaboration? Have you gotten yourself anything?

3 Oufits I'd like to wear

link to my polyvore

Alongside the usual black and grey palette that always comes back around this time of the year, I've been loving the combination of black and navy more and more. The skirt and cropped sweater outfit was actually inspired by my own clothes, as I'd been planning to wear something similar for a while now but never got around wearing it and taking good pictures. I'm currently too broke to afford anything new, so I got myself dreaming a little bit on Polyvore and put these 3 outfits together. I can't decide which one's my favourite though... what do you think?

PS: If you want to help out my empty wallet (or just have a sneaky look at my clothes), then go on and head over to my DEPOP! I've been adding a few items recently and more will probably be added over the next couple of days/weeks.

October Wishlist

my polyvore

Turtleneck sweaters - clearly, these have been back around since last Autumn/Winter and I own one or two turtleneck sweaters myself, but I currently can't stop looking at them online! To me, the perfect sweater would have a quite wide turtleneck and fit rather loosely than be super tight. Knitted versions (non-scratchy, please!) are the ones I'm loving the most at the moment, especially if they come in pretty colours (e.g. this camel sweater - the perfect basic!) or even with some print.

Boots with chain detail are something I've in particular seen on I Dress Myselff's blog and Instagram and even though I wasn't so keen on them at first, I really started liking them and now I find myself looking for a cheaper alternative online. The feel very classic-with-a-twist to me, which is always great because they can become a staple piece without being too classic. These shoes look simply fabulous with black skinnies!

Sweater dress - this is probably part of my yearly sweater obsession around this time of the year, but sweater dresses have an extra bonus: they're an entire outfit! A comfy sweater dress with boots or even trainers screams Autumn in my opinion and getting one in black or grey makes it the perfect, versatile piece to combine with all shorts of shoes, coats and accessories.

Ponchos are something I remember wearing when I was 8, either loving or hating them. I'm back on the loving-wagon and can't get over the 'Oh I just threw this on'-vibe you immediately get when someone's wearing a poncho. I'm particularly loving tribe-patterned ponchos or anything brown/beige to switch it up from the usual black and grey which is around a lot this time of the year.

Classic black watch - this was kind of an impulse decision to add to the list, because it's more of an all-time-wishlist-item, but I feel like a classic watch with a black wristband is very Autumn-y. (yes, it might just be me thinking this way) It adds an interesting and elegant detail to an outfit and is of course also sooo practical if you have to keep an eye on the time and don't want to search for your phone in your maaaaassive bag every time you need to check the time. (*pointing finger at self*)

What's currently on your wishlist?

4 Blogger Outfits

 I dress myselff

 Style Hurricane

 Xen's Imagination 

Pages by Megan

If you asked me what my main sources of inspiration are in fashion, chances are high that 'other bloggers' would be my answer. Therefore, I decided to share some blogger-love and chose 4 outfits I liked the most recently while scrolling through updates and updates of blogs I follow. Do leave me your current favourite blogger look (or one of your own recent looks!) in the comments section, as I'm always on the look out for new inspiration and of course, blogs.

CHLOÉ S/S 2015 - Ready To Wear

Being the kind of person who doesn't pull a lot of inspiration from runway looks and collections other than picking up colours or patterns I like from certain designers, I surprised myself when scrolling through my tumblr feed and stopping to look at some pictures from the Chloé Ready to Wear S/S 2015 collection more closely. I personally tend to find runway looks over the top, even when it comes to ready-to-wear collections, the different pieces often look too much and too arty for me to picture anyone - or particularly myself - wearing them. However, in this case I found myself drawn to the colours and cuts used in the Chloé collection and went on to look for a website that could provide me with more pictures from their newest collection. 

What caught my eye first was the use of the colour yellow, mustard yellow in particular. I am a big fan of brightening up outfits and even though this collection is a Spring/Summer one, it still inspired me not to ditch colour in my outfits in the upcoming months. 

To remind us that this is, indeed a collection for the warmer days, there are several looks containing crochet elements, light cut outs and thin spaghetti straps. Other light colours like mint green and of course white also make an appearance and my favourite pieces are definitely the most simplistic, often uni-colour ones. Weirdly, the first thing that came into my mind when seeing this mustard coloured dress with crochet detail, was how pretty it would look combined with a chunky (cropped) sweater or a heavy coat and oversized navy scarf to make it wearable during the colder months.

Other than the various light colours used in many looks, navy can be spotted a few times as well, catching my attention as I'm currently loving all things navy and I'm liking the way this colour has been incorporated into the collection in different styles, as seen on the three looks above.

When it comes to the denim pieces, I'm always torn between hating and loving them, as I'm a big fan of the classic pair of blue jeans but always a tad scared to risk looking too country in a denim dress or even denim on denim look (unless said look consists of skinny jeans and a denim shirt), so about these particular looks from the collection I'm still unsure.

Lastly, other than the great colours and details making this collection so appealing to me, the many different styles found here make it even more interesting to me. The runway looks go from summery mini dress to denim overall, flowy maxi dresses and tailored jackets and shirts, which makes the whole collection look incredibly diverse.

All pictures used in this post can be found here, as well as the rest of the collection.

Do you have any favourites? Let me know if you enjoyed my little amateur opinion and if you'd like to see more designer collection/runway fashion related posts.

Angela & Roi A/W '14

A couple of days ago, Angela from the handbag brand Angela & Roi emailed me about their new fall/winter handbag collection. Now, I am not usually the kind of person who would write a post about online shops contacting me, just to display their brand and designs, but this particular brand has two twists which made me decide to share it with you! First of all, their new collection is completely made out of vegan leather - or faux leather if that sounds more familiar. Even though I am mainly vegan regarding my food choices, I still like to avoid wearing real leather or fur. (but yes, I do own some leather shoes which I will keep on wearing, simply because I think it would be a waste to stop wearing them, especially as I got them before I went vegan) Secondly, the handbags from Angela & Roi support cancer and disease fighters, making a beautiful handbag you've just purchased even better by leaving you that good feeling of knowing that you've helped someone fighting a serious illness. All those great points aside, their bags are gorgeous! The handbags are all on the slightly pricier side, but they're the perfect pick when it comes to investing in a beautiful - and ethical! handbag. I chose my favourite bag - the 'minimal bucket bag' from the new collection to show you but go have a look for yourself! Here's the link to their website.

LFW Street Style / Inspiration

favourite bits: pointy ballet flats | poncho

favourite bits: tartan print skirt / camel coat | combination of chic style with black chucks

 favourite bits: powder pink coloured everything

 favourite bits: men in suits and big hats - no comments needed

 favourite bits: cut and pattern of pants / different shades of grey

favourite bits: combination of casual tracksuit and Chanel (lookalike?) bag

Being the kind of person who gets way more inspired by streetstyle than by runway looks, (or anything else really - can anything beat good streetstyle?) I once again googled my way through the net and chose some outfits that I liked the most. Some of the bits I like the most are returning/still 'here' trends like tartan and denim tracksuits, others are more new but just as exciting, such as ponchos or shoes so pointy, you could stab someone with them.
(pictures can be found here, here, here and here)

ADVANCED STYLE

When I was reading through June issue of InStyle (British edition), I came across an article about this blog called AdvancedStyle. It's basically a street style blog but instead of mainly young or middle-aged people who are sporting great outfits, it is filled with pictures of eldery people from New York. Having gotten curious after reading about the blog a little bit, I went on to look it up and I couldn't resist sharing some pictures on here! I find it so inspirational how much effort these ladies (and some gentlemen!) put into their outfits. Don't they look kick-ass?