"When the working day is done, girls just want to have fun..."

Bonjour mes amies, hope you are all awesome. Life is still crazy so another outfit post is just about all I can manage today. Taking a quick break from revision, I had an opportunity to wear my gorgeous new cropped Chanel-esque jacket that I got on sale in January in H&M (prior to the ban), my lovely new patent round-toe bow heels (also pre ban), my floral and pearl necklace and pearl and diamanté ring.

In addition to the new clothes, I also decided my outfit post pictures could do with a change of scenery so I took photos of my outfit around my fabulous bedroom which I love. Today I was channelling my inner Coco Chanel and her wise advice, which is one of my ultimate style philosophies that "a girl should be two things; classy and fabulous". I hope I managed to pull it off, and I hope you like the photos (and my room):

What are all of your plans for the weekend? It's a long weekend bank holiday here in the UK and whilst i'll be spending most of it indoors with my textbooks for company (can you hear the violins darlings?) I will be taking a break to go and see Sex and the City 2 (i literally could not care less that it has been absolutely murdered by the critics and "may quite possibly be the worst movie of the year". Who cares about the non-existent plot, the weak script, the horrendous acting or how its 'sold out' on its original feminist principles? Not me!

It is fabulous, there is fashion ($11 million worth which they got to keep!), and more importantly there are shoes. Lots of them. Those seem like pretty sufficient reasons to me. I think my style is most like, or at least will be most like when I am older, Charlotte's; classy, girly, classic, preppy 'uptown girl' with a bit of a twist. Blair Waldorf grown up. Are any of you planning on seeing the movie? Which SATC girl are you and what are your fabulous plans for the weekend? Whatever you're doing have a good'un =]

 Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Rose x

"Nothing seems as pretty as the past though..."

Bonjour mes amies, not the post I was planning on writing today but mon amie Barbara got the photos she took from our adventure in Battersea Park developed so I thought i'd just do a quick in-betweener post and share some of them with you guys because I love them, i'm fairly fond of her too =P:

Hope you are all having an immense week,

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Rose x

Photographer: Barbara F. Ryan

"Your daddy's rich, and your momma's good looking..."

Bonjour mes amies, the weather in London this week has been absolutely gorgeous. Like not even English hot, internationally hot. This weekend temperatures haven't dropped below 28 ºC (82.4 ºF), and are hotter than several places in Southern Europe like France, Spain and Greece; far too lovely to be stuck inside revising for anyone, especially for a sun-worshipping, summer loving girl like me.

We all need breaks from time to time, and I was losing the few precious social skills I have with every hour of revision so I jumped at the chance to spend some time soaking up the sun around London Town with my amigo Barbara. We had such a great adventure, walking around the gorgeous Battersea Park (below) taking pictures for our photoshoot  (if the pictures turn out nicely i'll show them to you soon). It also gave me a chance to wear my brand new gorgeous navy wedges. A good wedge is SO hard to find, and i'd been desperately looking, so I snapped these up the moment I saw them (shoes have never counted in my shopping ban btw)

The only problem was, they were brand new. As in not-broken-in-brand-new. I should have known better, I live in heels, shoes are my raison d'être (reason for being), I know what happens but still stupidly ignored the voice in my head that told me to bring flats. I thought i'd be okay. I wasn't. By the end of the day I was covered in blisters and plasters, unable to walk, and had to call my mum to pick me up...and bring my (broken in) flats. I am officially a fashion martyr, suffering in the name of my art. But je ne regrette rien, they were bloody beautiful shoes:

Your long post is a-coming but this is about all I can manage for today darlings.  I hope you are all immense and I will respond to your lovely comments and check out your blogs very soon. Right, back to the books.

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Ro

Publish Post

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"You're giving me a run for my money, honey..."

Bonjour mes amies, hope you are all having a supercallifragilsticexpiallidocious week (i'm looking for new adjectives as I think I use 'immense' far too much). I'm one month into my two month self-imposed shopping ban so, with officially one month left to go, I figured it was about time I gave you all an update on my progress.

You'd be SO proud of me darlings, I've done well. Like really, really well. I've surprised even myself. The withdrawl symptoms are all but gone and I want a lot less. I realise now that you can appreciate the beauty and awesomeness of something on the hanger in the shop and leave it at that, it doesn't make it any more beautiful once it's on a hanger in your wardrobe. It's made me be more creative with the combination of the lovely clothes I already have, forcing me to come up with new outfits.

That's not to say I don't still get cravings. Case in point, a few weeks ago when I (stupidly) went into H&M thinking that I could handle it. I wasn't prepared for how many pretty things I would see (and want). Here are just a few:

You all know j'adore wearing men's clothes and regularly buy and wear them and OMG.I.Want.That.Guy's.Blazer.SO.Badly!! (or a hot, stylish boyfriend who has it so I can steal it off him, either one is fine by me). They are all truly fabulous and I know where I'm headed once my ban is lifted!

Anyways darlings I probably should go and revise for my crucial A Level exams I have this summer (which will explain my erratic posting over the next month or so, i'm apologising in advance, bear with me). Hope you are all immense (I just can't help it, but I guess every good icon needs a catchphrase right? =P)

Stay safe and chic mes cheries,

English Rose x

"Oh dream maker, you heart breaker...."

Bonjour mes amies, what's that you say? Outfit post s'il-tu plaît? Anything for my beloved bloggers - this one's taken from a few weeks ago when I went to see Les Misérables at the theatre for my 18th Birthday avec ma mere. It was an amazing night, not only because it was my birthday, the play was incroyable and I saw supermodel Twiggy, but I felt really pretty too, like an old hollywood movie starlet on a day off.

As you all know my wardrobe is far more awesome than my reality so the celebration finally gave me a chance to wear my lovely black polka dot lace skirt, with a ballerina-pink jumper, monochrome patent heels and a feather clip in my hair. The photos don't really do it justice - it was one of those times when the camera doesn't really capture the magic but trust me darlings, I couldn't think of a better outfit to see in adulthood:

Hope you are all awesome

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Rose x

"Teenage kicks, so hard to beat..."

Bonjour mes amies, hope you all had an amazing weekend. On Thursday I was lucky enough to attend the Teen Vogue Handbook UK Launch party, held at the Marc Jacobs store in London, with my two friends Barbara and Maya. To say it was 'interesting' would be an understatement.

I have never in my life been surrounded by so many giraffe tall, skeleton thin, stunningly beautiful, bitchy, conceited, arrogant, and though I hate to admit it, impeccably well dressed people. I have a strange sense of humour, I laugh at inappropriate moments and find things funny that most people really don't. Some bits were comical beyond belief; rail-thin models stuffing their faces with cupcakes (hmmm, that's all i'm going to say on that matter), people in sunglasses posing for the cameras like they were god's greatest gift to mankind...even after the cameras went down, and my personal favourite funny moment of the night, when designer Henry Holland, Teen Vogue editor Amy Astley and Pixie Geldof got sectioned off with chairs from the rest of the party in their important 'VIP' area for..3 people.

I'm the person least likely to be starstruck or impressed by 'celebrity' which just made it even funnier that they were separated from the rest of us 'commoners'. And if anyone has ever been to the London Marc by Marc Jacobs store (you should go it is incredibly cheap...seriously, like Topshop cheap) you will know that there is LITERALLY not enough room to swing a cat. People were packed like sardines into the narrow space, you could barely breathe (we had to leave several times just to get oxygen) so whatever bright spark thought a VIP area was a good idea deserves some sort of comedy award.

I'm sure it wasn't Pixie, Amy and Henry's idea (though who knows? it might have been...) and that they are probably really nice people, it just really made me laugh. So did all the people butt-kissing (I have a BS detector like you would not believe) Amy and Henry (once they were out of the VIP area). It seemed like people were only interested in talking to you if you could help them and if you couldn't you weren't worth their time. Don't get me wrong, I was incredibly grateful for the invite and did have a really good time; in many ways it didn't live up to some of my expectations, and in many ways it lived exactly up to all my expectations. Plus we got goody bags, so it wasn't all bad (copy of the latest Teen Vogue issue, sweets, finger puppet, nail polish, Marc Jacobs Umbrella).

I'm not at all surprised, don't get me wrong darlings. I'm not naive, I knew the fashion industry was like that but hearing about something and experiencing it first hand are two very different things. As I have been doing a lot recently, it made me question once again as an aspiring fashion magazine editor, whether this is the industry for me. Or whether I should just stick to normal print journalism. In the Teen Vogue Handbook (which is AMAZING for anyone who wants to break into the industry - I 100% recommend it) the wise legend that is Karl Lagerfeld made a point that has stuck with me for quite some time now and I keep asking myself, "Are you sure this world is for you? And are you sure you are the right person to survive in the world of fashion - a world with no rules, no laws? Answer that question honestly for yourself. Are you ready to accept injustice?".

Am I?

My morals and principles are incredibly important to me and I absolutely hate injustice, and cannot bear to sit back and say nothing. Whilst I still have a little while to think about it, it is something I definitely have to bear in mind. I love this industry with all my heart, it's what I think about from the second I wake to the moment I sleep, but there is a down side to it that I really, really do not like. But then again, I'm fully aware that it's the same with whatever industry you go into. There is pretention, injustice, and a whole lot of nepotism (doors opening just because of your family name) amongst writers, artists, musicians, business people, actors...; you just have to pick what you see as the lesser of the evils. If I have to put up with all of that, at least if I go into fashion i''ll put up with it whilst wearing gorgeous clothes.

I do know that I'm not a defeatist. I'm stubborn, ambitious and driven; I don't give up and I don't care what anyone thinks.If I don't go into fashion it's because it's not for me, not because other people have intimidated me into giving up my dream. In many ways, people's snobbish attitudes at the party only make me want to succeed more, prove them wrong and make them want to know me. I always remember Tom Ford went from barely noticeable assistant to fashion God without losing himself, or forgetting how rude the people who now worship him were, and I want to do the same. In many ways i'm determined to make the same people who looked down their noses at me be begging to be my best friend in a few years time.

On second thoughts darlings, maybe I am strong enough to survive in this industry after all.

Whatever industry you work in, what are your work horror stories darlings? Have any of you had encounters with scary 'fashion types'? I'm particularly interested to hear from those who currently work in the fashion industry - is it as bad as it seems or does the good outweigh it?

Have an immense week mes chéries,

English Rose x