Is there an inexpensive way of being fashionable?

A girl’s cry for Louboutins is a prevailing gesture, which loudens as the recession triggers. Of all the Charlotte Olympia’s, Nicole Farhi Booties and Kurt Geiger platforms, Louboutins sit at the top of the shoe style stakes, illuminating a kind of soulful grab in all our hearts.

The red sole, the ere of preen elegance it illuminates, it brings you closer to the sexiness and vigorous beauty of our late ‘Pretty women.’ As they glide on the red carpet, they divulge as a birthmark descending into to all the prominent shoe brands, like Charlotte Olympia and Jeffrey Campbell. But with which credit card do I owe the pleasure of purchasing my lust-after louboutins with? Do I hear a lotto win?

As much as I’d like to sound hopeful in the quest to join the Victoria Beckhams and J.Lo’s of our social exterior, I do not have their diamanté salary. So like all the other trillion girls, we have to settle with black soles. Or do we?

How many times have you sunk in to your wardrobe, only to find a similar top to the one you bought yesterday? And have you ever caught bone of the tag in your top and asked yourself: could I have made this myself? The answer is this: any girl of a similar caliber, who finds herself caught in the pull of the recession, dying to splash out on new seasonal buys, needs to get hold of a sewing machine.

You have no excuse to get caught in a style rut: reinvent your old, dusty costume into some fathomable, modern fresh, fashion clout.

Rather than swipe the credit card, deepening your debts, hold on to the lycra, chiffon; the camisoles lurking in your closet and weep on to the fact these treasured items, buried behind your new wardrobe are in fact, the clothes which ensure you have a fashion moment. They are the vintage that will see you through the hit and fall of the financial slump.  

Visit craft shops, vintage stores; buy your red panels and live in the louboutins you only ever dreamed of looking at. Don’t allow yourself to have a black soul; your red soles are a craft away.

Please comment dolls,

Sakaynah x

For my Fashion and Styling module at university, I had to produce a fashion story of 6 final images, accompanied by a header and stand first. The intention was to aim my story at a publication of my choice. With a Teen Vogue target audience in mind, these were some of the images from my safari themed fashion shoot.

Header

‘A Nubian Princess Swarms on the Safari’

Stand first

This season is a girl’s journey to the coast of Africa. Armed in safari style – think earthy hues, ivory, animal prints, silk and lace. She’s undeniably chic in the wild outdoors. Live your fashion fantasy.

                                   

   

                            

                                                    Photography and styling by me 

The reason for my choice of publication and how I feel the theme and style of fashion story will be right for the readership

Teen Vogue was my choice of publication as I felt it suited a younger vogue audience. My story is aimed at fashionable young girls, or those aspiring to become fashionable. My fashion story is about a young women who journeys to the coast of Africa in search of her ancestral homeland; on the way she finds the princess lying within her and begins to channel this into her chic, soft admirable beauty. Her outfits become a costume of her roots. Her dress is a result of oriental inspiration. I feel her appearance will Influence a young fashionable audience of teenage girls.

Please feel free to comment beauties

Sakaynah x

Gothic Chic

Photography and styling by me

This is a sample of the work I did for my Fashion and Styling module at university.

Would you go under the knife?

As I stand in the mirror, and peer an eye at my assets, I begin to focus on all my body hang-up's. Who doesn't? unless of course, your Beyonce or Kim Kardashian.

They say confidence grows with age, only the vast majority of us girls couldn't disagree more with this supposed statistic.

I woke up yesterday to find a humungous spot in the centre of my forehead. It couldn't have come at a better time - I only had a magazine launch party to attend that afternoon. What a detriment this spot would be to my outfit; everyone staring directly at this large pink circle above my eyes, as it isn't exactly easy to avoid. Even if they were polite and decided to stare from the corner of their eyes, it would be an embarrassment, I thought. 

But I swallowed my pride and attended the shin dig - the reaction to my zit wasn't half bad. But it didn't change the way I felt about it; Maybe a bit of Botox wouldn't go a miss? 

It seems that with age, comes acne, stress spots and cellulite. So I find it obscene than we are meant to count our lucky stars for a whirlwind of middle-aged confidence.

The average women spends countless hours in front of the mirror finding faults with her appearance. Many of us can spot a growth spur of cellulite in a matter of milliseconds. It is for this reason that women had 90% of all cosmetic procedures in 2010, with breast argumentation up by 10.3% 

Women are know longer wanting to spend years loathing their bodies, (and why should they?) instead they are saving up to correct their body mishaps before low-self esteem drags them into serial depression. All due respect to them. These women have guts and a few of us should try growing some. 

In this modern day, we shouldn't be looking down our noses at those who decide to go under the knife. When you come to think of it, those that do are probably doing what we don't have the balls to do. 

So what I ask is this: would you go under the knife if you had the bank account of Angelina Jolie? This is the question I have been asking the majority of my girlfriends lately. 

If buying a boob job was like buying a cube of cheese, would you pay that sum of money to prevent gravity from having it's way with your boobs? I know I sure would. 

The point i'm trying to make is this: Why not do what makes you happy? Instead of worrying about what the world regards as taboo, do what is right for you. If you desire a nip tuck; if you can afford the surgery, and as long as you research the procedure and the risks, Why shouldn't you go under the knife?

Would you go under the knife? 

Sakaynah x

So what if your a wag?

The revolutionary war saw many women enter the workplace. This revolution saw the birth of the career women; the young girls desperately seeking independence and ready to fly the nest which had previously subdued them.

The housewife role was in decline and the female breadwinner epidemic had plummeted fourfold. It took masses of time for us women to gain such respect and responsibility.

From the blissful chants of the suffragists to the inhuman, abusive behaviour of the suffragettes, fighting for women's rights proved a difficult and disastrous time. We were subordinated by the men of our society and probed towards mundane duties i.e. cooking, cleaning and motherhood.

You would have thought that after all the misery and endless yearns for equality women voiced for so many years, we'd be doing anything and everything in our power to highlight our capabilities. Yet it seems, the WAG's of today are making a mockery out of our hard earned respect.

Wags like, Abbey Clancy and Alex Gerrard are teaching girls how to live off their husbands and subordinate themselves in the same way that pre-revolution set out for us to do so many years ago. 

Marrying a footballer and having his babies is idolised by the media as being the best way to step up the career ladder. 

Over the years, we have witnessed the female subordinates who think that their wag status elevates them to a higher realm on the wealth hierarchy, when all it is doing is demolorising them and chipping away at the stepping stones toward female equality, we built over a decade ago. It's ludicrous.

These days, you become a wag and BOOM, your perfume is flying off the shelves of every major retailer, you've created your own fashion line and your now on the campaigns of every major beauty chain in the world. 

It's at this point in life when we have to ask ourselves; is this really what we fought for those many years ago?
By conforming to this way of life, aren't we just allowing ourselves to take back seat and let the men take centrefold?

Where have all our ambitious women gone? Where are our passionate equal right women? where have they gone? Are we going to allow these fame hungry goldiggers to set us back, when we have achieved so much already? 

I for one, am not going to sit back and let my kids be brainwashed by the shallow, peanut-brained women of our society. 

Let us bring back the women who crave the careers. Support each others ambitions and remain the proud professionals that so many of us women are today. In a world which is always due to dominate the men and subordinate the women, us girls really have to stick together!

Fair-well spring/summer 11

Each summer, the world of fashion has a mid-year crisis. Our wardrobes suddenly become less fashionable and the couture shows slightly predictable. 

The colour blocking trend and 70's revival of this spring/summer seems to have been the most repetitive trends on many of the couture shows. 

As I button my belt in the car and tune into vogue TV on my IPad, I expect to see the same thing from every designer. it's either the maxi dress, playsuit, or denim. Don't get me wrong, I love all the clothes listed, but I like to be experimental with fashion and wearing lots of it. Summer is all about wearing less clothes and undeniably, that means less fashion. 


From Gucci, to Diane Von Furtenburg, every couture show had a herd of models dripping in a hue of bright coloured clothing that was more or less the same thing. 

As I rummaged through my wardrobe this summer, my options were either a floor-sweeping maxi or floral playsuit. Is this really exciting? Am i really wearing a statement outfit, or am I wearing the clothes that have been chosen for me?

I am not saying that I don't love a maxi, (who doesn't?) but in a city which is homed some of the most influential designers, (Stella McCartney is a huge fashion muse along with Jimmy Choo, who studied at London College of Fashion), should we really be opting to wear just the one maxi? Is it right that we limit ourselves to this one statement dress? it's not exactly breaking the grounds of fashion. 

I loathe the fact that we are having to conform to a certain way of dress. And each summer, the clothes us girls have to put on our backs is merely a repeat of what another girl wore out the night before.

So i couldn't be happier that we are approaching autumn/winter 11 and waving good bye to the  intolerable maxi and everlasting floral print. The trends for this coming season are beaming with colour, sensuality and thankfully, unpredictability. The late photographer Helmut Newton is somewhat the godfather of this coming season; his photographs which represented the power of sexuality and nudity are having great influence on the couture shows. From Gucci, to Louis Vuitton, designers seem to be channelling the 'sexy' trend. 

Designers are playing with fashion and taking inspiration from wildlife and the orients. Stella McCartney is channelling peak-a-boo type dresses with polka-dot sheer panelling. Her dresses are tight and accentuates the female body. Celine and respected duo Dolce and Gabbana are channelling sexy androgyny; the girls are borrowing from the boys and ditching their trusty body con dresses for tailored trousers and bow ties in an array of neutral  colours. 

So as we kiss goodbye to our summer garments for another year, and greet our autumn/winter gear with open arms, I say fair well to predictability and hello fashion!

Sakaynah x

Kate Moss says "I Do"

Kate Moss and Jamie Hince tied the not in a vintage style 30's celebration earlier on this afternoon.

The newleyweds proceeded with their nuptials at St Peter's Church in Little Faringdon in the Cotwolds where they were joined by 15 bridesmaids, including, eight-year-old daughter Lila Grace. 

Kate Moss wore a dress designed by Haute Couture designer and close pal, John Galliano. Kate's choice of designer came as a reprieve to Galliano who is currently on trial for allegedly making anti-semitic remarks. 

Galliano said one of the key parts of the dress was "a beautiful rosary, which I thought must have been from a fallen angel"

See the latest footage of the wedding and the blushing bride at: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2011/06/13/kate-moss-engaged-getting-married-to-jamie-hince-the-kills

Sakaynah x