COS.

Cos has slowly become one of my favourite stores. Compared to the rest of the high street, Cos has a sense of originality and oozes chic, simplistic style. I don't know any other high street brand who would use architecture as one of their inspiration sources, which is clearly shown through sharp cuts and structured dresses. For someone who is not big on too much colour or pattern Cos is heaven. Colour is minimal, with the main bulk of their clothing being white/grey/black/blue with the occasional splash of soft gold and greens. There is a small area dedicated to the more colour and pattern brave, but i've never lingered long there. My recent purchases have been a short sleeved white shirt, which is elasticated giving it some added comfort, and a sports jacket in soft gold. For a size 8 it is still quite over sized and the colouring and cut of the colour prevents it from looking like something out of Nike. My only criticsm is, Cos is not a friend of the big breasted. The small cut European sizing doesn't cater for much above a B, seeing as I managed to make a shirt gape for the first time in my life. Being smaller/taller than average is useful for their longer styles, as being an run of the mill 5,5 most of their midi styles sat awkwardly on me. However, despite these MILD criticsms, I would happily spend my life dresses head to toe in Cos.


http://www.cosstores.com/

 

All images courtesy of Cosstores.com

Chadwick Tyler.

I've been obsessed with Chadwick Tyler ever since I bought Grey Magazine Issue 5 back at London Fashion Week in September. Tyler did a editorial spread with Mercedes Benz, which was both beautiful and eerie. That however is a consistent theme within his work and takes fashion to that uncomfortable edge which not many photographers can do. 

www.chadwicktyler.com/

All photographs courtesy of Chadwick Tyler's 'Tabernacle' series.

 

 

London A-Z

For our Typography class we were asked to create a visual A-Z of London, this could be anything from lettering to a recurring idea or image within the city. I chose to do mine on lights, a city is nothing without the lights and is a global theme in any capital. New York would be nothing without Times Square and its skyline and the same applies to London, from the tacky luminous lights in the windows to the well lit courtyards of Covent Garden. I did them all on my film camera - riskaay - but majority came out well. It also applies to my actual Typography work on Anna Wintour but I won't go into that because it's deep.

 Here's a taster.

This made me constantly hum in my head 'All of the Lights' by Kanye West & Rihanna, Enjoy.

London Fashion Week AW12 Street Style.

BACK IN GALA = DEPRESSION.

Best fashion week by far, already planning that next season I am AIMING to get a Press pass so manic blogging until September and I'm coordinating all my outfits with my boyfriend Chris. Taking him means I can tackle the Somerset House cobbles without risking breaking my neck/ankles/dignity.

Everything about AW12 was amazing, Somerset was packed to the brim; even on the saturday when it was pissing it down. This gave a numerous street style oppertunities so prepare for photograph overload, so chuffed I managed to photograph Matthew Zorpas (2nd Best Dressed Man in Britain), Susie Lau (Susie Buble) & Stella Kattermann of Stella's Wardrobe.

More photographs on my Tumblr:
http://bekzforan.tumblr.com/

Obscure Couture - LFW AW12

Over the past three weeks I have typed 'Obscure Couture LFW AW12' a ridiculous amount of times since I was doing all their invitations, so this will be the last!

The ladies' show was on the Friday of LFW at the RSA Vaults, and it is safe to safe they owned it. Opening the show, their couture pieces were beautiful, with millinery by Jenivieve Berlin. The show was titled the 'Lithium Party' and portrays the various emotions felt with drugs, including love and sadness. There are so many pieces I want from the collection too, my absolute favourites being the studded blue fur jacket, the love heart muffs, the leather studded playsuit and sheer blouse with sequinned love heart detailing. The designers Lyndsay & Jenn deserve every single bit of praise they get, I saw the preparations beforehand and sweat & love went into the creation of these garments and it shows. WELL DONE LOVEYS!!!!

Unfortunately my photos from the show aren't very good, so here's something I took earlier!

OBSESSIONS.

I go through stages with clothes. I'll be obsessed with a few things at a time, right now it's the 90s + shirts and trying to resist the temptation of getting  my nose pierced. Seeing as LFW starts tomorrow i've already started making a mental list of all the clothes I plan on looking out for in the vintage shops + all the little boutiques.

My first obsession is Bolo Neck ties, originally seen on Cowboys + Line Dancers. I need one, my shirts feel naked and cowboyless without it. This kid was too cool for his decade.

Everytime I go to London I go on the vintage leather jacket hunt. I'm not going to fail this time because if i can't get a cheap vintage one, i'm going to get this UO Renewal babe. I bought tons of spike studs intending to do up my Topshop jacketm, but the leather's so fake & shitty I don't want to waste them.

TIE DYE. It might be my seriously summer lusting/nostalgia i've got going on right now, but I need it in my life, I can sense a serious comeback over summer if all this 90s revival contines.

I never bought into the creeper thing at the end of last year and it's the biggest regret of my life. Instead I'm going to go one up and start hunting for some platformed shoes. These Underground ones are actually ideal, UO also have similar ones. NEW LIFE AIM = BE 6FT.

All images courtesy of Urban Outfitters/Tumblr.

Obscure Couture.

For the past three weeks I've spent my weekends in the cosy studio of Obscure Couture in the Barras. I want to keep getting a bit of work at LFW every season, and this time i've been helping out the girls with their numerous emails, pulling out clothes for clients, being a little helper and even PATTERN CUTTING. Let's just say it came rushing back to me, especially after stabbing my hands four or five times.

I'm helping out with their show on the 17th February at A La Mode in the RSA Vaults. It's hosted by LGN Events and is the girls biggest show to date, and after seeing the clothes come together it's going to be one of their best too. I won't give anything away but expect lots of photos after London because it will be epic. Lyndsay & Jenn never fail with creativity for their couture collections and i'm SO excited to see it finally go down the catwalk, and just as excited by the promise of some after show events. 

Here's their past collections for you to awe over in the meantime...

 

Contact the beautiful ladies here:

 https://marketplace.asos.com/boutique/obscure-couture

http://www.obscure-couture.com/

www.facebook.com/obscurecouture

www.twitter.com/obscurecouture
www.youtube.com/obscurecouture

All images courtesy of the Obscure Couture Facebook Page.