Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Behind-The-Scenes @ Fashion Union Lookbook Shoot.


When the lovely Emily from etailPR got in touch with me asking if I would like to tag along to Liverpool with Fashion Union on Monday to have a nosy behind the scenes during their new Lookbook shoot, I didn't hesitate to say yes. Despite the fact that my outfit posts require me to throw myself in front of the camera a lot of the time, being a media graduate means I am naturally intrigued about learning more about what goes on behind the camera too.

With the shoot being based around a mixture of A/W glam and grunge with a patriotic theme, the Camp & Furnace warehouse location in Liverpool was the perfect location. A huge exhibition/events warehouse slash bar/cafe with multiple areas including a stage with amplifiers, a country farm-esque hall complete with cute vintage caravans and a dungeon with old, rusty chains, meant the possibilities were endless for capturing the essence of the collections.
 
I was greeted by the loveliest girls, Laura and Daisy from Fashion Union and introduced to the whole team who were already well on their way to getting everything set up; steaming the garments and unloading the boxes of props. Considering there was a lot of prepping to do for a six-hour long shoot, everybody was super lovely and chatty, and after being pointed towards the tea and and coffee dispensers I felt right at home.
 
Of course, I was given the chance to roam through the rails of clothes between outfit changes, and I ended up falling for this faux fur coat and these Jeffrey Campbell Coltrane look-a-likes (which are a fraction of the price at £35, might I add). Part of me also wishes I could pull off those mega chunky platform boots in the seventh photograph above (coming to Fashion Union soon!) but I don't think I could wear them quite as well as the gorgeous model, Ieva, did- after a day of watching her effortlessly pose for some stunning photographs, I came to the devastating realisation that awkwardly posing in the middle of the street for my blog photos is as far as I am ever going to get to a modelling career.
 
Everybody worked so well together, from the stylist and hair and makeup artist who made sure each look was put together to perfection, to the photographer and assistant who worked their magic at capturing the most beautiful photos of Ieva, who to be fair, probably couldn't take a bad photograph if she tried, even when she had to squeeze her feet in to a pair of heels that were a size or two too small for her- Ouch! The day ran a lot more smoothly than I thought it would, as well. I had imagined everybody running around like headless chickens trying to get everything in order and bits of equipment getting lost, but it ended up being so chilled out and a great laugh.
 
A huge thank you goes to Fashion Union for having me and for making it such a fun and interesting day- I can't wait to see the finished Lookbook! Fashion Union are also getting some lovely pieces in stock ready for A/W13, so if you would like to check out what they have in store, you can visit their website here.
 
Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind the scenes?
 
 

Giveaway: Win an item of your choice from Little Mistress!


Hi beauts!

The other day the lovely people over at Little Mistress and etail PR kindly offered me the chance to hold a giveaway for one of my readers to win an item of their choice from Little Mistress. Little Mistress is one of my favourite websites to browse for pretty dresses, and not one to say no to to the opportunity for one of you lovely girls to win a gorgeous piece of clothing to add to your wardrobe, of course I said yes! As usual, entries will be made by Rafflecopter and the rules are simple and listed below :)


Rules
-This giveaway is open internationally, yay!
-Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. To enter, you must be a follower of my blog via GFC or Bloglovin', "like" the Little Mistress Facebook page and leave me a comment telling me which item you would choose from the Little Mistress website, excluding the Gold Collecion (the two dresses in the above image are a couple of my personal favourites!). There are plenty of optional entries too!
-Please note that I run these giveaways to say thank you to my loyal followers. Entries will be checked and accounts created solely for the purpose of entering giveaways will be disregarded.
- The giveaway will run for one week, and will end at 11:59PM BST on Wednesday, October 2, 2013.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! :) <3
*DISCLOSURE: Sponsored giveaway. Little Mistress are kindly providing the prize for this giveaway :)

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Outfit: Double Denim (Festival Number 6)

Shirt: C/O Diesel* | T-Shirt: FN6 Merch | Shorts: Topshop via Charity Shop | Floral Headband: Primark | Wellies: George @ ASDA | Necklaces: Both Topman
 
Of course, with the news that I was off to Festival Number 6 came the excitement of turning myself in to the typical festival archetype and I raided my wardrobe for things that screamed out "festival fashion". With my floral crown, spotty wellies and denim overload, I think it's safe to say I was successful. This was actually my first endeavour in to that ever-so-risky 90s come-back trend of double denim, but I decided that if there was one place that I was going to be able to pull it off, a festival was it, and with Diesel's reputation for throwing amazing parties and their festival fever (they worked on some awesome campaigns in the run-up to Festival Number 6- you can read about their FN6 capsule collection launch party here), I felt I couldn't go wrong with this over-sized denim shirt. Of course, I also had to pick up a t-shirt from the Festival Number 6 merch desk to take home with me so that I can reminisce over the amazing weekend for years to come!
 
 
Double Denim? Yay or nay?
*DISCLOSURE: Starred items are PR samples.


Festival Number 6, 2013.


Oh, life. August was such a good month for me; I managed to blog pretty much every single day and now here I am on September 24 and it's my first post of the month. I'm pretty annoyed with myself to say the least.

However, sometimes we can't help when problems arise and we need to take a little time to ourselves, so I was over the moon when I heard that I had won the Pearl and Butler competition for two camping tickets to Festival Number 6 (thank you, thank you, thank you!), and last Friday I found myself equipped with a tent and my sleeping bag, on the road to the gorgeous Portmeireon village in Wales

It must have been at least four or five years since I last visited Portmeireon and I definitely felt that I appreciated the scenery more now that I am a little older. It's truly stunning, like a fairytale village with it's winding cobbled paths, pastel-painted buildings and water-side cliff location, and it was certainly a nice change from the usual Bramham and Donington Park festival backdrops. The weather wasn't on our side when my friend and I arrived, and we were feeling rather soggy as we walked down towards the main arena in our wellies and stylish plastic cagoules, after finally winning the battle against our tent and the pouring rain. This hardly hindered our spirits though; one thing I love most about festivals is that the atmosphere seems amazing whatever the weather, getting muddy is all part of the experience and we were still looking forward to seeing Everything Everything perform that evening (who, might I add, absolutely blew me away; they are AMAZING live). Admittedly, I hadn't heard of a lot of the bands on the line up prior to the festival and after seeing that Manic Street Preachers and My Bloody Valentine were headlining I was half expecting the festival to be something geared more towards the older generation. Which, in some ways, it was; there were definitely a lot more dad-dancing 40-odd-year-olds than you would come across at Leeds/Reading or Creamfields, but I think Festival Number 6 has that magic touch of catering for all ages and genres. I was pleasantly surprised by the talent and definitely discovered some new music which I have not stopped listening to since, some of the highlights being the angelic vocals from London Grammar, the heavier trip-hop vibe from Tricky, and being transported back to those cheesy family wedding do's in my childhood 90s days with Chic and Nile Rodgers, who brought a party to the Number 6 main stage with popular 70s hits such as Everybody Dance and We Are Family.

I also have to take a bit of time to talk about the food. Oh my. I had totally intended on being as healthy as possible over the weekend, packing myself some cereal bars, cupasoups and a bunch of bananas before I left my house. I was defeated within an hour of my arrival, however, when I was faced with the smell of hot waffles, churros and chocolate, pizza dough and the ultimate rainy-day-comfort-food, paella (chicken and chorizo and vegetarian half-and-half; ah-mazing), wafting over from the on-site food vendors. Not to mention the produce market which sold freshly-baked bread and the most amazing chocolate brownies and cupcakes from One Sweet Day. Needless to say, I'm glad we arrived quite late on the Friday afternoon as this meant that we had to walk quite a distance to find a camping spot, and I am convinced that walking back and to between our tent and the arena three or four times a day is the only thing that saved me from gaining a few extra inches on my waistline.

Overall, I had an amazing weekend, and Festival Number 6 is definitely one that I would return to again and I would recommend it to anybody who is up for a different, more relaxed festival experience that is full of culture. There was so much to see and do that it was impossible to experience everything, such as the morning yoga sessions, the aerial dance performance, the 60-strong Brythoiaid male choir and even the showing of Shane Meadow's film Made of Stone which was being screened in the No.6 cinema, all of which I regretably missed. For the people who are more into the clubbing scene they also held multiple woodland raves with DJs like Horse Meat Disco, Audio Farm and Drunk At Vogue, so people could dance away in to the early hours of 2-3AM.
 
It was also a much-needed break away and I returned home feeling refreshed and motivated, ready to get back in to blogging. Expect lots of posts coming your way! :)

Have you ever been to Portmeireon or experienced Festival Number 6?
*DISCLOSURE: A huge thank you to Pearl and Butler and Mission PR for providing me with weekend camping tickets for this wonderful festival!