My Personal Style Resolutions #14: Glamrocks Luna

Firstly big thank you to Sarah for letting us be guest bloggers on The Licentiate! It is a privilege to be asked. We are two fashion bloggers / stylists/ very excited to say vintage online shop owners!! You can check out our blog here. Follow us on facebook and on twitter. If anyone fancies a little New Year's vintage shopping here is a link to our shop tabitha!

Now all the shameless plugging over let's get down to business! The pair of us sat down and discussed our style resolutions for the New Year. The only thing we can conclude after a long chat is that we are getting old! 2011 is going to see us taking more time and thinking about what we are buying. Gone are the days of walking into a shop and buying an item because you love it. It is time to start thinking more about picking clothes, accessories and shoes that will tie into our existing wardrobes. It may sound a little sad but its true.
In fact, a certain half of this blogging duo was a fiend for spotting something shiny or floral or aztec printed and just buying because they "reaallly needed it"..which has resulted in an awkward situation of every time they open their wardrobe they have a pattern induced seizure.

So, what we're trying to say is there is no point having tons of items in your wardrobe and not being able to create an outfit with them. What is needed is some staple items and a little creativity.

It's also a good idea to stick to a colour palette that suits you. This needn't be boring, like oh I can only wear grey or green is my colour. It could be as simple as picking frosty or warm tones depending on your skin tone / hair colour etc.

We have also mastered the art of male shopping. "Ehhh what?" you ask...

Well men have an amazing ability to wake up and say "Oh i really need a white tshirt". They then go to a store, pick out a top in their size then bam, approx. 56 seconds later they are walking out the door t-shirt in hand.

So a good way of doing this (plus it completely cuts down on impulse shopping ) is to decide what stores you're going to hit ,scour their website and have a wish list ready to just pounce on the items and leave before you decide to "just take a look at the shoes for a second... Oohhh they are amazing... and reduced, ohh......." etc etc.

At the same time there are vintage shops offering amazing one off clothes that are wacky and bright and sequined and tattered ,totally bananas but completely deadly.
When things like this come along and you must have them, just make sure you have a good staple in your wardrobe to pair them with..for example denim shorts / skinnies / plain blouse .

So, these are our resolutions for 2011... Obviously, we're going to fall off the wagon now and then with a pit stop in Penney's resulting in 40 euro of pointless nonsense being bought, but we're ok with that . It's inevitable. Just like my heathy eating resolution will probably come to a crashing end with me ordering everything in Eddie Rockets one day after work because I cant cope with another lettuce leaf.

But we'll have tried, and that's all that matters right?

We hope you have a healthy and happy New Year!!

Lou and Una

Pic via weheartit

My Personal Style Resolutions #11: Blink and You'll Miss

Hello! Kellebelle here from Blink and You’ll Miss. My blog is a mixture of personal style blog posts, general musings about fashion and some little rants thrown in for good measure! X

My Personal Style New Years Resolutions

Sometimes I feel I can get stuck in a bit of a fashion rut this time of year. You know the way it gets – picking the cosy, snugly, shapeless jumper over anything that resembles ‘chic’.

I get up for work at 5.30am to be in for 6am and I find it hard sometimes to throw on blazers or any non-cardigan shaped item! Plus at that hour of the morning it takes all my will-power not go into work in my pjs and hoodie!



I’ll do anything really to get a few extra minutes in bed, breakfast in work equals an extra three minutes in my leaba so I lay out my clothes the night before. But again, the blazer that looked so nice the previous night now feels like cold cardboard against my skin so it’s flung into a far corner in favour of some woolly knits!

When I used to work on the later shifts I was always a bit dressier in work; heels, blazers etc. So my resolution is to look like I didn’t get dressed in the dark wearing whatever was nearest the radiator. Toasty!



This year, 2011, I’ve decided is going to be different! Well, the days will eventually get brighter and the snow (I hope!) is well and truly gone. I think my work wardrobe is in need of a bit of a revamp - of course I don’t want to banish the knits altogether and they can make a nice faux-duvet on my desk!

Photos: Topshop

My Personal Style Resolutions #9: What Will I Wear Today

Jennie here from What Will I Wear Today. WWIWT is a collection of sisters and friends who have created an outpouring of rantings, musings and observations in the form of a fashion blog. There is much wry humour, some personal styling, a fair bit of cheeky filming and some pretty cool illustrations – all the ladies like to throw their hat in the ring by utilising their own skillsets.

Come one, come all; tis a place of sartorial safety, fashion community and stylish distraction.


As I sit here and write this, I'm already doubtful as to how realistic my resolution is. I should give it up. I could give it up. But I don't actually want to give up my dirty ‘ol habit. It's hugged me in a warm embrace over the years; shielded me from the cold, buffered me from judgement, swaddled me in love.

What is this grubby little fashion faux pas? Why it's the Tracksuit my dear friends - that heinous, arch-nemesis of fashion. That slovenly ying to the well-groomed yang of fashion.

I love every kind of tracksuit; I’m not fussy. Zip ups, hoodies, feiffer pants (fat heiffer - for those ‘dirty chicken baguette and a packet of Monster Munch’ days), oversized tee's etcetc. And I'm not talking gym gear - oh no - I have pristine, aero-dynamic, streamlined gym gear that has a very distinct identity and a separate shelf in the wardrobe. Nope, my dressed-down look is messy, mis-matched and maddening to my fashionable alter-ego. Sometimes I like to perceive it as 'street' and 'hip', but deep down I know I'm closer to the Cat Lady from the Simpsons or Vicky Pollard (my nickname in the office during these periods is 'Spare Change?')

Why do I embrace this seemingly slovenly look? Because I am a woman of two halves, of diverging principal, of competing agendas. Basically I'm an either/ or kinda gal. I'm either in powerhouse, full-frontal fashion mode: replete with my dangerously architectural Finsk wedges, my Marcus Lupfer printed t-shirts, my leather hotpants, my Moshino belt – (no place for practicality in this fashion offensive,) - or I'm lounging around in my striped trackies, flouro t-shirts and men's baseball caps. My heels lift me up (hnar hnar) my hoodies keep me grounded. Sometimes I just need a break from it all. To step away from the maddening crown and the hustle and bustle of the fashion industry… the only way for me to check out is by wearing my joggers. And at the end of the day, if Alexander Wang, Ashish and Stella McCartney all got on board, the trackie look can’t be too much of a bad thing?

Ashish

Alexander Wang

So you know what? I'm going to completely retract my style resolution - or dissolution if you will. I'm quite happy with this Jekyll and Hyde power struggle. What I would like to remedy however, is an increasing budget to fund these two projects and perhaps therein lies my resolution: commit to my mild scratch-card persuasion full-time.

I'm allergic...

... to a few things.  Biological detergent and harsh astringents are the first things I can think of.  But I'm allergic to organising my life.

I'm moving into a new apartment in a few weeks and since I'll be moving in with someone, I have to get rid of all the stuff I haven't worn in forever, including clothing that I have fairly serious emotional attachment to (but that I can no longer fit into).

I'm allergic to eBay.  This isn't an attempt to say that eBay is terrible (it's only bad for my bank account) but I just can't seem to get the hang of it.  It took me three hours just to put up eleven listings.  Towards the end I thought that my eyeballs might actually pop out of my head like Judge Doom at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

My listings are here.  And I've got more items on my Photobucket, so if you see anything you like, drop me a line and I'll give you a quote.  everything is priced to move and anything that doesn't go will be carted off to a car boot sale next week, which will probably suit me right down to the ground.  I just can't hack online selling.

This is me. Jumping.

Two days ago, a funny thing happened.  This blog started getting three times the normal amount of hits and I had no idea why.  That is, until I went on Style Bubble and saw that one of my comments had been re-upped on a post about blogger poses .  This is what I said.


"The old 'mid-air jump' pose is another pose not for the light hearted blogger. Tried it once. Never again. Think I'll just stick to the 'Are those MY shoes?' pose in the future."


So, if anyone out there should click on the link and wonder what the one time I tried the mid-air jump and failed miserably looks like, here it is in all it's anticlimactic glory.  It was taken in a dingy smoking room in an even dingier nightclub and this, believe it or not, is the best of what seemed like twelve million attempts but in reality was probably only five or six.  In my mind, I look like an electrocuted sausage roll.  Hence, sticking to the 'staring at the shoes' pose in the future.

Jacket - Lipsy, Cardigan - Agnes b, Top - Ann-Sofie Back for Topshop,
 Borrowed scarf, Brooch - Sonia Rykiel for H&M, Tights, Primark, Vintage roper boots

PS - As you can see, I've a negligible amount of links at the side of my page.  I'm going to get on that very very soon.  I'd love to trade links, if anyone wants to, do let me know!

Changeable Weather

So, it's spring and the weather goes from sun so bright I wake up with spots dancing in front of my eyes (really should get blackout blinds) to torrential rain in a matter of minutes.  This makes dressing for the day even much more of an arduous process.

But then again, sometimes it's nice just to throw on a few classic basics in uncomplicated colours, like Converse, jeans, a Breton striped top and a nice mac, sit down on a bench, soak in the sun and let the world pass by - until it starts to rain again that is.

Ray Ban Wayfarers, mac - Uniqlo, red cardigan - American Apparel, black cardigan - Agnes b, striped tee - Topshop, jeans - Topshop.

Things are just better when they're symmetrical, aren't they?

I'll never apologise for loving Converse, although there are so many reasons why I should (poor arch support notwithstanding). 

The view from my vista.