Give a little, Live a lot.

Remember Mary's Charity pop-up Shop at Westfield last year? Well she's doing it all again this year in Westbourne Grove - but on a permanent basis. 

The shop will be the first of a series of "Mary's Living and Giving shops for Save the Children" which will officially open its doors to the public in London on Saturday 22nd May at 11am. The first permanent shop for Save the Children opened in Stockbridge, Scotland in December 2009.

The Westbourne Grove shop won't just be focusing on fashion and accessories. It'll be a mix of designer & highstreet fashion and lifestyle with local talent, such as homemade jams and works of art. Yellowdoor PR has also designed a pretty snazzy interior to give the shop a boutique feel.

The shop has already received some amazing donations including a Mulberry 'Alexa' bag, Aquascutum trench, Charlotte Olympia shoes, Agent Provocateur underwear set and a Marc Jacobs dress.

Marc Jacobs dress

AP underwear set

Mulberry 'Alexa' bag

Charlotte Olympia shoes

Donations are of course crucial for this to work, so have a rummage through your wardrobes, bake some cupcakes or paint a pretty picture and bring it with you next time you pop in. You can also volunteer at the shop. You never know you might even get to meet Mary herself!

‘Mary’s Living and Giving Shop for Save the Children’ 177 Westbourne Grove, W11 2SB

The Live Issue Launch

Last night I dragged myself and my friend Kristen to the Live Issue Launch and boy am I glad I did! This wasn't one of those boring fashion parties where there's nothing to do but get pissed on the free booze and see if you can spot any celebs/anyone you know. At this party you could actually interact - like getting your mug drawn by an illustrator and then get interviewed for Sketchbook Magazine or photocopy your face/boobs/feet to go up on the wall. They also had some snazzy displays of Pam Hogg's and Rachel Freire's works.

Some guy at the bar asked me what I thought about the party and I honestly think it's brilliant idea (think the guy was a bit weirded out by the whole event though). I always feel like I should "behave" myself when I go to a fashion party and that just sucks all the fun out of it. Isn't fashion supposed to be fun though? Also unless you're a well known Editor of a magazine, getting to sit front row at a fashion show is highly unlikely. You're usually a few rows back/standing and can't see the details of the garments. The Live Issue let people have a proper look at the clothes and feel the texture.

The goodie bags weren't bad either!

Self Styled London

Im a huge fan (verging on obsession) when it comes to other people's personal style. I check out Streetstyle blogs such as Garance Dore, Jak & Jil and Facehunter on a daily basis, not to mention all the other bloggers that show what they're wearing that day such as Style Bubble, Cherry Blossom Girl and Style Rookie.

So I got just a little bit excited when I came across Self Styled London on Facebook. A site where photographer Anthony Lycett documents some of London's most stylish and daring people. All outfits are of course styled by the person that's being photographed.

I've seen a few familiar faces already, I hear there's more on the way...

Update: LRS=Little Red Shoes

Last week I went along to the MLPR Press Day and came across these beauts. They're by a shoe and accessories label called Emmy.

Emmy Scarterfield worked for big names such as Bottega Veneta and Giorgio Armani in Italy before coming back to the UK to launch accessory lines for French Connection. 

If you read my previous post, then you'll know that I'm determined to find the perfect pair of red Dorothy shoes. These are pretty much perfection  but a little bit pricy - they will set you back £2000. This pair was custom made (like all of Emmy's shoes) with over 3000 Swarovski crystals. Just the detachable red bows themselves took 2 days to make. So once you take all that into consideration, the price doesn't seem that unreasonable.  However I have been told by the lovely PR lady that a more wearable and affordable pair will be available soon.

New Designer Crush: Kalda

Kalda was set up by two sisters Katrin Alda and Rebekka in 2008. Based in Reykjavik, the twosome also own Einvera, "a cencept clothing store that represents individualism, self-expression and originality". The sisters decided to take things further with Kalda after a few designed pieces for their store got a lot of praise. The concept behind the label is "to create unique items without substitudes that are ideal for individuals who find satisfaction in swimming against the mainstream".

All of the pieces are made in their studio in Iceland. Here's a few of my fav:

Im afraid the label is only stocked in Iceland right now but you can buy the collection here.

Grunge It Up

Dazed & Confused is my favourite magazines of all time. I'm always blown away by the amazing photoshoots featured in every issue. Im also a massive fan of the goth/grunge look and have wanted to do a shoot inspired by it for an absolute age. Finally managed to do that a few weeks ago. Really pleased with the results. I'll be organising another shoot soon though (most probably on location this time).

I was really inspired by these images from old issues of Dazed. True to the goth/grunge theme but with a pop of pastels:

And here's what I came up with:

All styling & photography by me.

Computer Wars

Last month my laptop died on me and it took 3 weeks for it to be resurrected. So I haven't been able to post properly and have been way behind with editing photos from my previous shoots. All done now though so enjoy!

For my final project during my evening Fashion Photography course at LCF I decided to go for the Tribal theme.

Here are the images I was inspired by:

And here's the real deal.

All styling and photography by moi!