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Viewing All "photographer" Posts
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Flipping excited about tomorrow’s #weownthenight @NikeUK 10K run.
The past 6 weeks have been a brand new challenge for me but it’s been a very enjoyable one.
I’ve done approximately 16 runs whilst training for this 10K race which kicks off at Victoria Park, East London tomorrow night.
I started off my training with a few slow and steady 3km runs and then managed 4km, 5km, 6km, 7km and eventually built up to 8km - the farthest I’ve ever ran!
I set myself a goal of running about 2-3 times a week and occasionally slotted in the odd TRX or Kettlebell fast class or Yoga session at my gym. My body has seen some big-ish changes. I feel trim. Healthy. My arms, legs, thighs, bum and stomach have become toned and the muscles more defined. I feel stronger in myself and feel confident that I can do this!
It’s been great setting myself some time aside from my daily work life to train for this 10K. I’ve stepped outside my usual social media-y role of digital participation manager/ photographer and fashion & lifestyle blogger and dived into the unfamiliar world of fitness! I’ve have met some brilliantly inspiring people and made new friends along the way. We even got to run with Ellie Goulding - she was very lovely.
A couple of running tips…
I’ve learnt that if you run with a water battle it’s like running with a weight in your hand and can have a serious impact on your body’s posture! Daddy Dark aka Charlie Dark - founder of rundemcrew.com, says that your body only really needs water after about 45-50 minutes of exercise. If you drink too much before a big race you’ll just end up desperate for a wee! He explained that if you drink water up until about 9pm the night before the race and then reduce your water intake on race day you won’t find yourself with your legs crossed or doing a Paula Radcliffe at the side of the track…
He also said that from about the Wednesday (or 3 days) before the race on Saturday you should be increasing your carbs intake.
Eat PASTA. PASTA. PASTA!!!Angel of runangelrun.co.uk/abslikeangel said that she can’t stress enough the importance of stretching BEFORE and AFTER a run. You shouldn’t rush your stretches.
Aim for 30mins of stretches, even on days when you aren’t running.
The lovely EllesBells of nothingtodisplay.co.uk showed me a few stretches that the pros do to release the tension that I found was building in my hip flexors.
I was also advised that when building up to a big race your last run should be done about 3-4 days before so that your body can repair any damage done by running.
Good luck to all the ladies (and Henry Holland) who are running the We Own The Night - Nike UK 10K run on Saturday night!
You can find more information about the race here.
Let’s do this!!!
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Part two | Portobello People
This post is dedicated to Vintage shop lovers and food fans…
If you’re wondering where to spend your weekend here are a few more of my favourite photos from when I took myself and my DSLR camera to Portobello Road Market on Bank Holiday Monday.
Enjoy.
The first chap pictured in this post is Alexandro, an Italian photographer, who stopped me in my tracks at the top of Portobello Road and asked if he could take my photo. He pulled out his old Nikon film camera and snapped a headshot. I decided to repay him by taking a portrait of him too.
After saying goodbye to Alexandro - my belly still full of Nutella and banana crepes - I passed an iced lemonade stall and felt compelled to ask the man if I could take his photo. He looked so serene amongst summery oranges and lemons and the quaint hand-painted signage.
I went on my way, strolling in the sunshine, spying vintage shop after vintage shop on Pembridge Road – the road that runs up to Notting Hill Gate. Here you will see shop windows piled high with old books, comics, graphic novels, kewpie dolls and retro costume jewellery, as well as trinkets and designer shoes sitting alongside Natwest Wade ceramic money boxes - the piggy bank of many an ’80s child.
The little Vintage shop I went into was called Retro Woman. It can be found at number 20 Pembridge Road. It is a treasure trove of vintage designer shoes, clothes and accessories. The shoes are kept in glass cases that makes the whole shopping experience feel a little like you are selecting museum-worthy collector pieces.
Well, actually, if you’re a real fashion fan with an eye for a designer bargain - you probably are looking at museum-worthy pieces.
If you follow the road from Notting Hill Gate, in the opposite direction of Holland Park, towards the city, you will pass lots of little coffee shops and pizza places. If you look closely you might even spot the two women sitting on the floor of a takeaway restaurant making savoury pancakes for eager customers. I couldn’t resist taking a photographic momento.
If you missed part one of this post you can read it here.
Directions to Portobello Road Markets…
If you fancy a visit to Notting Hill and Portobello Road, check out the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea website for more details.
Check out the TFL website for Tube details on how to get to each of the London Markets.
Photography © Lucie Kerley
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If you love vintage, you’ll love Notting Hill and Portobello.
If you’re thinking about having a wander down *sings* Portobello Road! Portobello Road!
Do it.
Here are a few of my favourites photos from when I took myself and my DSLR camera to Portobello Road Market.
It was Bank Holiday Monday, I was still feeling a little under the weather and needed a pick me up. I decided on some ‘me-time’ (partly because the Tubes were disrupted and I couldn’t get across - easily - to East London to spend the day with my friend Marcos.)
With JMG over 100 miles up north and not available at my disposal, I went for a walk to:
- indulge my senses
- unleash my creativity
- swap my fashion blogger hat for my documentary photographer hat
- satisfy my hunger for a nutella and banana crepe
- be charmed by the many lovely stall holders and folk who greeted me on my journey.
Smiles all round.
If you fancy a visit to Nottinghill and Portobello Road, check out the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea website for more details.
I was quite surprised how quiet the streets were on Bank Holiday Monday. I was expecting Portobello Market and Notting Hill to be heaving with tourists? But no. It wasn’t the usual Euston Station free-for-all I had anticipated. How refreshing.
There are some lovely well-known boutiques like Cath Kidston, along with the likes of All Saints, Kurt Geiger and Religion. However, the beauty of Portobello Market - as it often is with any market - is the joy of the undiscovered. Take a peek at my blog post about my visit to Columbia Road and Broadway Markets - another weekend must-see!
The vintage clothing, 1930s enamelware, old signage, letterpress lettering, old maps, harris tweed, clockmakers, knob shops, art galleries, antique shops, street food and home-made iced lemonade. It’s wonderful.
One of my favourite such shops was Chloe Alberry (pictured above) which featured a vast array of beautiful door furniture, colourful glass bottles, vintage tiles, cabinet hooks and mirrors, and many more curiosities.
To get to Portobello Road, I searched google for directions and quickly realised that my local 295 bus from Hammersmith to Ladbroke Grove would drop me close by, in under 40 minutes.
Check out the TFL website for Tube details on how to get to each of the London Markets.
Photography © Lucie Kerley
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#BLOGGED @RanieriComs Lifestyle Blogger Tech Event @SignalGallery - Part One.
“UK Fashion and Lifestyle Blogger” is a pretty broad term.
I guess you could say that I’m a photographer who predominantly blogs about ‘fashion’ because I choose to document my personal style through photos and tweets. I also write about the beauty products that I think are worth talking about and - as a passionate foodie – I also create blog posts on the places I’ve been to that have served me delicious food that I think other people need to taste too.
I blog about my own health and fitness - the gym classes and my running - which form part of the latest challenge I’m undertaking. I’m training towards Nike UK’s - We Own The Night 10K female only run which takes place at Victoria Park in East London on May 18th.
I also wear my photographer/blogger hat when travelling around on holiday. I like to explore the best of what the place I’m visiting has to offer - you can see my Skiathos holiday review here.
So, as you can probably guess, the kind of invitations I tend to receive usually revolve around: food, fashion or beauty. However, the people at Ranieri Communications got in touch and kindly invited myself and jmgcreative along to a Lifestyle Blogger Tech Event. Nice!
As the girlfriend of one of the biggest self-proclaimed tech
geekslovers I know, we had to pop along and see what it was all about.It was, surprisingly, a rather fun evening, which consisted of being introduced to brand new bits of tech, gadgets and gizmos and being shown how to perfect the art of Mixology*.
Check out JMG’s video below for a closer look at some of the brands that were on show at the event.
We sat down with our Moscow Mule cocktails and watched Chris from Ranieri talk about new Disgo Android Tablets and answe questions from Nigel aka The Red Ferret. We were also shown the MicroPod red bubble style bluetooth speakers by Scandyna - rather fitting for someone with an uber trendy Grand Designs worthy home. Everyone salivated over the Jabra headphones, and I nodded with approval at a rather stylish Mens’ Boa Courier 15 Bag by Booq - as modelled rather nicely by JMG.
Photography by © Lucie Kerley - Filmed & Edited by jmgcreative
(*That’s cocktail making for those of you who have not heard of this wonderful thing before.)
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It’s a Mad Mad World but here’s how to create the perfect vibrant-smokey eye with a little help from Benoit Dumont at NARS.
When we think about our spring/summer wardrobe it is easy to overlook a wintry looking make-up bag. Give it an overhaul to ensure that it’s not just your wardrobe that is brimming with SS13 colour.
When it was my turn to have my make-up done by the lovely NARS Make-up Artist, Benoit Dumont, I decided to be a bit adventurous and play with the delightful Mad Mad World colour eyeshadow duo, or at least I let Benoit play around with it and show me how it’s done.
I’ve got quite a selection of eyeshadows at home. They range from nude-cream shades up to deeper chocolate-browns, plummy-purples, and some more vibrant hues like yellow and orange.
But…
I rarely venture outside of my taupe-brown-gold comfort zone, so I was excited to see what Benoit could do that wouldn’t make me look like an 80s throwback - all blue eyeliner and pink lips - yes, mum, you know the pics… hehe.
I learnt that to create a *vibrant-smokey eye, (*Sounds like a bit of an oxymoron doesn’t it?) you need to create a base of smudgy black kohl eyeliner and then gently layer your colour of choice on top of it. Benoit used the NARS soft-touch shadow pencil Andy Warhol in Empire black before applying the highly-pigmented and very vivid cyan blue eyeshadow from the Mad Mad World eyeshadow duo.The trick is to ensure that when you apply the eyeshadow, you use a brush with fairly stiff bristles (I think he used the NARS eye shader brush) and then push the brush into the eyeshadow to coat the bristles in pigment, tap gently to remove excess and repeat before gently patting the colour on top of the black base you’ve created on your eyelid.Now open your eyes and look in the mirror at where your eyelid meets your eye-socket - just below your brow bone - add a dusting of shadow so that when you open your eyes the colour gently peeps above the crease to add a little drama!Blend, blend and blend some more to ensure you dont have a harsh line of colour in the socket.Benoit finished the look off by lining my waterline with the NARS Abbey Road blue Larger Than Life eyeliner and a touch of Sex Appeal (yes, honestly, that’s the name of the colour) blush to the apples of my cheeks.Fancy a confidence boost?Read Benoit’s little tip for the ladies:“Don’t spend all your time scrutinising your face for imperfections and making yourself feel bad when doing your make-up. Take a step back, about 50cm - 1 metre away, from your mirror and admire the overall look. See the bigger picture.”It makes sense.After all, how often do we stand nose-to-nose with someone when talking to them? Now that’d be uncomfortable…Photography © Lucie Kerley(with special thanks to Roz Brabner at Urban Retreat and her lovely Assistant for taking extra photos for me when I was having my make-up done) -
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Top 10 tips for starting a blog…
I’ve recently had a few people enquiring as to how they might go about starting their own blog. I decided to give this some serious thought and put together a few of my own tips for starting a blog.
1. Be realistic
Don’t expect to earn any *money or Kardashian-esq *fame overnight.
(*or at all, in fact.)
I do my blog as a hobby - this way I can write about what I want, when I want and not necessarily about what other people want. I do my ‘day job’ to earn my ‘bread and butter’ money and have my blog as a sideline, not because it pays well - although, I admit there are definitely perks to having a blog - but because I love it. But I guess I’ll always be a photographer, first and foremost, and a blogger second.
2. Only start a blog if you are going to be committed to it
A blog is like a relationship. Give it some love and it will flourish. Ignore it and it will die a death. There’s no point in being half-hearted in your blogging efforts - if you don’t care about it, why should anyone else?
3. Do a bit of research - in fact do lots
Think about content, style, tone of voice, audience, etc. Look at the people who already do what you’re planning to do. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How will I stand out from the crowd?
- What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
- What’s my unique selling point?
- Why do I want to do this?
Your USP is what will set your blog apart from the millions of other blogs that are already ticking over rather nicely. After all, what is the point in being a clone of everyone else?
4. Read fashion magazines - Learn from the best
My regular glossy fashion magazine reads are ELLE UK, British Vogue and Company Magazine - I bought a subscription to ELLE UK and British Vogue a couple of months ago and have not looked back - this way you’ll never miss out on new season style inspiration.
Tip: Look at the bloggers these fashion magazines recommend. Follow your favourites on Twitter, share those favourites with your followers and also check out Instagram and Pinterest. Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes.
5. Look at the blogs you read - what do you like about them?
Is it the way they write? Is it the photos? It is the amount of text they put with their photos? Is it how often they update them? Is it the variety of stuff they write about?
Tip: Take your time to plan your posts. Invest in your blog - research different platforms and themes - wordpress, blogger, tumblr, will you use YouTube? and so on. Buy a decent camera. They aren’t cheap so save up if you are serious about buying a good DSLR camera. I use a Canon 5D MKII with a 50mm f1.4 lens. It cost an arm and a leg, but the photos it allows me to produce are sooo very worth it.
6. Write about things that GENUINELY interest you - this way it’s easier to be enthusiastic
Tip: Look at what products/brands you use/wear on a daily basis - review those - give your opinion.
For ideas think about:
- What products do you carry with you at all times - tech, make-up, sentimental stuff, fashion accessories?
- What’s in your make-up bag?
- What do you wear when you go out - clothes, shoes, make-up, hair products, etc?
- What do you wear on a day to day basis - again, think: clothes, shoes, make-up, hair products, etc.
- What new brands would you love to try and what makes them special?
- What events are you going to?
- What musicians do you love listening to?
- What creative people, artists or things inspire you?
7. Make sure you link your social media profiles
Make sure that your Instagram account is linked to Tumblr (in the sharing settings) and that your Tumblr is linked to your Twitter and - if you want to do so - add your blog’s Facebook page. It will help you build a following by directing traffic (readers) to your blog. Make sure you add Google Analytics to your blog too. It’s a great way of seeing what posts are popular and where your visitors are from.
Tip: When writing your posts, make sure you link to relevant products and the brands you are talking about on your blog - use their twitter handles to mention them if you’re sending your post to twitter. (That’s where I get most of the traffic to my blog, via twitter, google - direct traffics - and facebook.)
8. Make sure that you proofread your posts
Good grammar, spelling and punctuation will help your blog to stand out from other (often poorly written) ones and will make people take you more seriously. If in doubt, look for wiggly red lines under words and see what you’ve misspelt. Ask a friend or a relative to cast their eye over your blog post and see if they can help spot any glaring mistakes. There is also a great plug-in for Chrome called Ginger, which is a grammar and spell checker.
The lovely Liv Purvis of What Olivia Did is the queen of please and thank you. Show your followers a little appreciation and it won’t go unnoticed. After all, manners cost nothing.
9. Be professional
Don’t ‘bad mouth’ other brands, bloggers or people. You don’t want something you’ve said to come back and bite you on the a*se one day. Be openminded and willing to collaborate with other creatives. You’ll meet some fantastic and awe-inspiring people.
Love this gal! Amy from Wolfwhistle.org who I met at the Daloo3a event.
The gorgeous Danielle aka @Fashionista Barbie, Reena Rai of Fashion Daydreams and Sherin Malick of the Hi Fashion Site at LFW.
10. Network Network Network
Make friends with other bloggers, go to events, set yourself up a LinkedIn account, a social media version of your CV. A place where you can list all of your skills and build connections with people in the industry(ies) you wish to work.
If you are interested in doing some ‘Blogger Outreach’ type stuff, sign yourself up with agencies like Brands on the Blog, Best British Bloggers or Bloggers required. You can also join an affiliate marketing network such as Linkshare and promote the brands you love that way, you can sometimes earn commission too.
If you’re good and learn how to use Twitter to put yourself ‘out there’ and teach yourself a bit of SEO (search engine optimisation) too, you can sometimes get yourself spotted by some fantastic Creative, Social Media and PR agencies.
I started blogging as a hobby, dabbled around with sending my fashion and lifestyle-based Tumblr posts to Twitter and eventually got approached by a creative agency who offered my the chance to become the Resident Blogger for a local shopping centre. I lived ( yes it was hard work, but very fun) the role for two years - blogging about fashion, reviewing restaurants and beauty reviews and events - before finishing to start my new job down in London.
And guess what?
Being social media-savvy and knowing how to blog, tweet, photograph and write, got me this job too. If you are looking for work, always check out the Guardian Jobs site for any new creative, digital and social media or community manager-type roles that might be on offer. My last two positions were found on there and they were pretty amazing.
Bottom line:
If you work hard and be nice to people, you never know what might happen.
** If you have any more questions - or if you have blogging tips of your own that you’d like to share - feel free to get in touch, post a comment or send me a message. I’m always happy to help. **
Thanks for reading.
Lucie x
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When I unwrapped not one but two of The Sartorialist books on Christmas morning my heart did a small leap of joy (Thank you JMG). My fingers stroked the soft matt laminate cover and took in the little penguin stamp of approval on each spine.
Scott Schuman’s books: self-titled The Sartorialist and his second installment ‘Closer’ are now mine to covet forever more.
Whilst I’ve probably seen (read: swooned over) the majority of these images on his blog over the past couple of years, there is something undoubtedly tactile and almost lust-inducing about the combination of touch, the feel of a beautiful image imprinted upon delightfully good paper stock and the vision of beauty embodied in each of Scott Schuman’s photographs.
I’m a sucker for beautiful things.
Clothes, people, places, objects, design, light, feelings, friendship, food, love and family.
The Sartorialist isn’t just about Fashion.
It isn’t just stylish pornography for bloggers or avid followers of fashion. Although there is a certain yearning ache that you get, filled with awe, over some of his images. It’s a celebration of people wearing things that they love and exuding a sense of style and confidence, which shines through their choice of clothing. Schuman has inspired a generation of up-and-coming bloggers, photographers and fashion folk with his carefully executed style.
Fashion for Schuman isn’t just about capturing a stylish veneer. When you look at the people, young to old, captured, forever, immortalised in his work, you realise that his photographs go deeper than ‘Street Style’ in the “it’s just about fashion” sense. They are a study of a time, a place, an era, a feeling. They are Anthropological. They have dates and titles. They are not a celebration of celebrity or brand. They are untainted by sponsorship or bias.
He captures people of interest, including his beautiful partner Garance Dore.
The worn leather gloves, the stories behind certain pieces of clothing. It makes my heart ache with a sense of nostalgia that I probably have no right to feel. I do not know the people pictured in his books, and yet in a small, and indescribable way, I feel a sense of admiration for the way that people celebrate their uniqueness. I love the people who dare to be different, not in an eccentric ‘you look ridiculous way’ but in a ‘WOW! You look incredible’, in a ‘brave’ way.
One of the things that has stuck with me, that I remember reading a few years ago, probably in the pages of one of my glossy fashion magazines, was a piece encouraging people to be more adventurous with their sense of style and to try the latest trends. It said that you can wear anything you want to as long as you have the confidence to pull it off and even if you don’t have the confidence, fake it, and no one will be any the wiser.
Schuman also mentions, on multiple occasions, that if you fall in love with an item for its beauty alone, not because of brand, status or fad, you may be one of those people who stand out from the crowd. Chic is not effortless.
He explains that it is critical to make good decisions in the changing room, by only buying what you absolutely love and that it is these decisions which will make the chance of you piecing together ‘successful’ or chic outfits from your existing wardrobe, on a daily basis, a lot easier.
Scott Schuman’s personal style, if I remember this correctly, is often influenced by outfits that he has seen other people wearing. Other ‘people’, meaning someone who has the same body shape/ physique/ attributes as he does. He says, this way, you know whether you can pull off certain colours, cuts, patterns, fabrics, etc. It’s like looking at human mannequins for inspiration and taking all the best ideas for yourself.
Take notes people. I am.
Buy the books here
Oh Sartorialist! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
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Poised and ready for @KrystofStrozyna. #lfw wearing @CTaylorLtd @RedByWolves @ybdfashion and using my #SophieHulme tote as a camera carrier. Such a buzz in the air! #fashion #show #fbloggers #todayimwearing #photographer #youngbritishdesigners #igerslondon
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Yum! #TriedandTested #Food @murielskitchen Victoria Sponge Cake to #takeaway #London When it comes to budget living in London. It’s not about compromise… it’s all about prioritise!
So tonight, I opted for a value ‘ready-meal’ in the form of one Tesco Cottage Pie and an assortment of steamed veg (Under £2).
However! The piece de resistance was the delightful wodge of freshly baked Victorian Sponge cake, oozing with jam, slathered in cream and topped with a big fat strawberry, for £4 from Muriel’s Kitchen in South Kensington, all plated up on my Cath Kitson Tea Rose Striped birthday saucer (Thanks Joe!) with a matching pretty cup full of builders tea.
Indulgent? Perhaps… Worth it? HELL YEAH!
I’ll be going back to try their savoury grub too!
Photography © Lucie Kerley
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I’d describe this weekend as “One scrumptious Sunday in London photographing with my heart and mouth.” Yesterday, I spent a rather delightful Sunday with my good friend Marcos. We got up pretty early
for a Sunday,and decided to wander up to Stoke Newington, Hackney to check out a few places where we could have breakfast. I’d never been to Stoke Newington before, so it was quite an adventure! The weather was crisp and bright, perfect for a Sunday stroll.We eventually found ourselves with lots of lovely cafes to choose from and so decided to try out The Blue Legume - Cafe Restaurant and Juice Bar, 101 Stoke Newington Church Street, Stoke Newington N16 0UD. With it’s pretty painted ceilings and bold European flavour this place would be perfect for a Breakfast date.
Marcos and I are pretty big fans of Eggs Benedict/ Florentine, respectively, and so after spotting it on the menu we ordered at the till. I opted for a cafe latte and a freshly squeezed orange juice, whilst Marcos went for a Jasmine tea. Breakfast cost just under £10 per person, and was delicious! We sat in the back in their conservatory bit and tucked into our breakfasts with gusto.
After polishing off our food we headed for a wander around Clissold Park, smiling at the yummy mummy’s and daddy’s walking their children and dogs around this quaint little park and admiring the animals in the animal enclosure. What gorgeous folk the S. Newington people are!
After a good walk eyeing up the beautiful houses and trying to imagine what it’d be like to live there we fantasised our way back to Dalston and had a little rest. It was still only 12pm?!? What a difference getting up and out of the house early makes! What else could we do with our day?? Oh yes! Broadway Markets and Columbia Road’s FAMOUS Flower Markets are just 15 minutes walk away, (in the opposite direction to S. Newington) and so we ventured out again.
We meandered our way in and out of antique and vintage shops, pretty Perfumeries, bookshops and as JMG would say ‘trinklet’ shops full of cute little gifts! We stopped off for a pan-Mediterranean lunch at Solche Cilician, 1 Broadway Market, Dalston, London E8 4PH. We weren’t absolutely starving and so decided to share a platter from their hot starter menu and a couple of other smaller dishes, and a basket of Turkish bread. I had a glass of Ginger Ale and Marcos had a glass of the Homemade Lemonade. Total for two people with tip came to £25. Perfect picky food! I loved their colourful Turkish lamps hanging from the ceiling.
After demolishing the yummy spread infront of us, we made our way down to Columbia Road. The scent of fresh flowers fills your nostrils just as your eyes are assaulted, in a good way, by the blaze of colour and texture lining the little street and the market stall holders yelling out their offers of the day. If you head over there just before they are due to close you can often get yourself a decent bunch of Lilies or a pot plant for a couple of quid.
The Rob Ryan shop, Ryan Town, is also on Columbia Road. I spotted this delicate and rather poignant paper cutout and desperately wanted to part with £85 I dont have so that I could take it home to show JMG. (Yes, I’m a sap!)
It was probably one of THE best Sunday’s I have had in a while! It didn’t half tire me out though, I was in bed and asleep for 8pm! This is what happens when you hit 27! God knows how I’ll cope having a social life when I eventually have children to look after too… for now, I’m quite happy being a little selfish and catching up on some shut-eye.
Photography © Lucie Kerley - Canon 5D MKII 50mm f1.4 lens / iPhone 5.
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Oooh! I’m trying out this @bloglovin lark! As you can see I’m quite new to this… x <a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4105431/?claim=94aqymm3x8w”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
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BLOGGED: My @TightsPlease #NationalStockingsDay Blogger Post in support of #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth ft. @CharnosHosiery
The lovely people at Tightsplease offered me up the chance to take part in another one of their fun Blogger challenges and, OFCOURSE, I said yes! (See my first Tightsplease Blogger Challenge entry here, I won! Yippee!) This time they are celebrating National Stockings Day which is in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness.
I got sent a pair of their very dainty and, I must say, rather sexy Charnos Ultra Sheer Stockings in Natural Tan and was forced to think. “RIIIIIGHT! What shall I wear them with?”
I’d say these are more of a daytime stocking in a very light 10 denier, not the Burlesque-esq black number you usually see, which are also very beautiful but sometimes a little toooo sexy (if there’s such a thing?).
Anyway, I opted to pair my Charnos with my YBDfashion Borne by Elise Berger ‘Euphenio’ Black Silk Maxi Dress, a chunky black and gold Forever21 beaded necklace and my Spike Dr Martens Boots, and my Goldie London Studded faux leather Biker Jacket.
Et voila!
Tightsplease Charnos Ultra Sheer Stockings are priced at £6.25 with free UK delivery!
Photography © Lucie Kerley
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Oh yes! @paulsmithdesign x #Leica #spotted in @stylistmagazine… #alliwantforchristmasisyou #inmydreams #photographer #camera #wishlist #london #instagood #instapic #want #film (Taken with Instagram)
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A must-own for all photographers!
Just doing a licka bitta photo editing on my Apple MacBook Air… I’m loving my new LaCie Rugged external harddrives.
Great for photographers. I bought two of the 1TB size to store all of my photos.
I use one of the 1TB external harddrives as my main storage device and the second as a back-up. I currently have around 43,259 photos saved and am still left with tons of space remaining.
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When I Met @YBDfashion #Fashion Designer @ByYanTo at his studio & played dress-up | Looking back over #SS12 and his gorgeous creations!
When I got offered the chance to go and meet one of Young British Designers fashion designer darlings, Yan To, I jumped at the chance!
Described as ‘an innovative womenswear label’ I was intrigued to see him in action. I trundled over to meet Yan To at his studio and had a fabulous time photographing him as he worked on his SS13 collection and also got chance to try on a few of his SS12 pieces!
Yan To explained that he is all about creating pieces that make the women who wear them feel fantastic.
Here’s a few more of my FAVOURITE SS12 Yan To dresses.
This navy wool dress with multicolour ruffle detail collar is the perfect length dress for my 5ft 6” height - long torso and not so long legs. The colours are awesome too!
Another stunning and rather experimental Yan To piece. The dress features glass, aluminium and Swarovski crystal detailing! I wore this to a friends wedding and it got some fabulous compliments. Figure hugging, and still rather modest. Sexy monochrome at it’s very best.
The Yan To Black Halterneck Dress with Ruffle Trim. Hello LBD! I love the concertina effect of the ruffle detail on this dress. All lovingly stitched into place.
The Yan To Elastic Sunshine Yellow/ Gold Dress has the scoop-de-la-scoop of necklines, and gracefully grazes your shoulders only to plunge down at the back as the elasticated design holds you in around the stomach and also emphasises your curves and (ahem) tiny waist. The peek-a-boo black and electric blue ruffle detail around the bottom half of the garment adds textural interest.
The Yan To Grey Dress with Multicolour Elastic Insert, another of my FAVOURITE pieces from the SS12 collection. I love the clash of red and electric blue against the pale grey body-con dress.
The Yan To Grass Maxi Dress. This dress reminded me of something that you might see the gorgeous Paloma Faith wearing, and with its cute peplum-esq matching tailored green grass-effect jacket, it was actually rather fun to try on! The low-slit back detail was very sexy too I thought!
Who doesn’t love frolicking around and playing dress-up in a designer’s studio? I certainly do!
Interested in seeing what Designer Yan To has got in store for us this AW12 & SS13?
Have a look…
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Young British Designers @YBDFashion
Photography © Lucie Kerley / Yan To.
