california dreaming (Pretty zine review & autumn post)

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Hello again guys. I haven't got an outfit or anything for you today but I felt like I needed to post something as I have a pretty hectic few days coming up, so it might be next week before I get the chance to blog again. Anyway, I woke up the other morning to a lovely email from Sophie, sending me her zine Pretty. I had breakfast in bed and had a good read of it, and came to the conclusion that she is a zine queen. Seriously, it rocks. It's really imaginative and covers a range of things such as fashion, film, music, even fiction and recipes! It's like a proper mini-magazine and has kept so well to the 'pretty' theme. It made me think of cosy, fresh autumn mornings, crisp walks, hot drinks...I loved it and recommend you check it out. There are two other things getting me in the mood for autumn at the moment....the first being the fact that it is my birthday on Friday. I'm turning 16 and despite being excited because, who isn't excited for being the centre of attention for a day, I'm kind of petrified because 16 seems somewhat 'big'. It's like, up until now, I've been able to say 'ah, it doesn't matter - I'm only ---teen', whereas all of a sudden, it's like 'damn I'm 16 I'm supposed to be civilized and mature and DOING something with my life.' I don't know. I think it's just nerves. The other is these gorgeous autumn inspo posts from Eryn and Maya...and I loved theirs so much I thought why not make my own?!


 
(from eryn's blog)




 
(from maya's post)





 
(art by eryn and maya)






(ads I picked up from csm last spring)





 
(maya)





 
(my shoes, shirt from Hollie, palm tree top and Fleetwood mac)












 
(collage I made in summer)




 
(journal page from when I saw To Kill a Mockingbird at the regent's park open air theatre)






 
(my school shoes make me insanely happy)





(more pretty zine)




 
(ginger and rosa...I saw the film way back last year in a really old-fashioned movie theatre and loved it)




 
(tumblr)




 
(tumblr)




 
(rookie)





 
(me in Italy last spring)




 
(scans of old books)




 
(my house)






 
(my mum)







































(old family photos)

I hope you're all having a good autumn so far. I'm planning some shoots for Halloween and my birthday so you never know, watch this space!

ellie xo
p.s I apologise for the layout of this post. blogger is being temperamental and I have spent over an hour trying to fix it and can't cope anymore. I'll have better posts up soon!

Treat me like you did the night before

Saturday 26 October 2013

 
Happy Saturday! I apologise for the photo quality of this post...I had planned to take outfit pictures by the southbank today but it decided to rain, leaving me with no choice but boring hallway photos. I'm sorry. Anyway, I broke up from school on Thursday, and have since been crazily productive...a whole new experience for me (I used to be the world's laziest teen and I'm not even exaggerating). I got up really early on Friday and had breakfast in bed whilst finishing some dress designs for textiles; read a huge chunk of To Kill a Mockingbird which I am re-reading for school; made a start on my English exam preparation; made a fantastic sushi salad lunch; hung out with some cool girls and ate chocolate biscuits, and finally stayed over at my friend's house. We had intended to have a comforting movie night with pizza and blankets, but ended up crashing the party across the road and stealing bread and walnuts, running around Sainsbury's with pumpkins (and leaving with only a packet of black cake icing) breaking a glass full of wine and disinfecting the whole kitchen, and of course eating three pizzas between us. 'That escalated quickly' doesn't even begin to describe it. I woke up to a lovely sunny morning and honey-covered maple syrup pancake and yoghurt for breakfast. What a fabulous start to the holiday.
 
 
 
After leaving my friend's house and stumbling home makeup-less and tired, I decided to take a trip down to the Tate Modern to see the Paul Klee exhibition. My parents have been fans of his work for a while and his work is quite relevant to my current project in art, so I thought it would be worth a look just in case I could get some inspiration for my schoolwork. I wore my granny glasses from Camden market as I have finally realised that I can't actually see, so may as well start wearing them more often. My jumper and shoes are from Rokit, my skirt from Beyond Retro, and my socks from Topshop.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Paul Klee exhibition was amazing. I was not expecting to see such huge collection of his work, and was happily surprised to see such a wide range of his various techniques and styles on display. I loved his style and the concept behind his pieces; I can't wait to try some of his ideas out in my schoolwork....on the subject of which, I still have oodles of revision left to do.
 
ellie xo

even artichokes have hearts

Tuesday 22 October 2013
































Hello again...I seem to actually be posting quite often now (compared to my old once-a-month habits) which is kind of crazy considering the amount of work I currently am supposed to be doing.I'm in my final year of compulsory schooling and so have to take a set of exams called GCSEs, that will basically determine what courses I can do at college, and therefore what I do at university. It's pretty full on, and I'm currently preparing for my mock exams in November which will give me my predicted grades, which are used for applying to colleges. I guess I'm lucky as I'm not one of those people that gets phased by exams - if anything, I'm worryingly relaxed about the whole thing. But it's still pretty scary to be actually doing them...I miss the old days when nothing really mattered and school was just a way to pass the time, instead of a ticket to your future career.
I think the worst thing at the moment is the way the government have decided to essentially make it impossible for us to get good grades, just so that they can in turn make the exams easier next year, get great results, and claim that they 'saved the education system', even though it was them that caused it to need saving in the first place. I'm not hugely into politics, but it seems a little unfair to use exams that determine our futures purely as a statistic to make your party's campaign look good at election time.

 



























Anyway, on a slightly less whiney note, I met up with a few fab girls on Saturday evening to plan out some exciting things that we're going to try and do over the next few months. I can't really say exactly what we're going to be doing, but I can say that our plans are sounding incredibly awesome and you guys should watch this space (you'll be the first to know when we begin). We had a lovely time being all sophisticated and creative, and finished the night off with some delicious pizza, which as you probably know, is the best way to end a Saturday night. I wore my Levi shorts from Rokit and white belt from Beyond Retro, combined with this super 70's gem of a shirt that I picked up for £9 from Absolute Vintage in brick lane. It's so silky, and colour-wise matched the Beatles badge that I used to hold the collar in place.
I also watched the film Amelie on Friday, and was so taken with it's whimsical simplicity that I absolutely have to share it with you all. It is a romantic comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Juenet, about the life of the young woman Amelie Poulain. It follows the ups and downs of her struggles to find happiness for herself, whilst also bringing it to everyone that she meets along the way. Not only is the plot so quaint and cheerful, whilst still upholding a gritty, dark undertone, but the cinematography is absolutely to die for. Each frame is drenched in soft, yellowy vignettes, with not a second wasted on pointless scenes or unnecessary characters. Everything has been thought out and planned, producing a complete masterpiece of a film.







































































 
At one point in the movie, Amelie finds the photo album of another whimsical soul, who happens to be a collector of old photo booth pictures. The book is filled with torn and tattered scraps of the images that people had decided weren't good enough, and so had ripped up and discarded on the floor by the booth. I love the concept of this...the idea that he reconstructed these broken images could be interpreted in so many different ways, and has made me want to experiment with similar things in art.
 









































































 
I am particularly understanding of the protagonist's plight at the point where she imagines seeing her death related on the news channel, in the same fashion as Lady Diana's. It is at parts like these, with Amelie clutching a packet of biscuits and sobbing into a cushion, that the film really hits home and becomes a relatable message instead of just a piece of art. Her character is so understated and simple, and it is because of this that the story's moral is so clearly communicated through the screen.









































































It's such a lovely movie...the costumes and characters alone are a work of art, and combined with the fantastic, quirky storyline, it's definitely made it's way onto my top ten list (possibly even top three). I hope you are all having a good week, I should be back as soon as possible with some better photographs.

ellie xo

can I take the time to ask you to speak your mind?

Sunday 20 October 2013













































I had a day off of school on Thursday, and so ran a few errands around the broadway before coming back home for lunch and geography coursework...how exciting. I actually don't mind geography, I love travel journalism and I find it pretty interesting if I'm honest. The coursework is a bit of a downer though, as I have to get it done as soon as possible, on top of revision for my mock exams next month, and my textiles coursework. I don't really think my school planned everything out that well but hey, one more year and I can do just the subjects I actually like. I can't wait. Anyway, I wore my big fluffy jumper from Brighton, which I absolutely adore. It makes me feel like a huge marshmallow...on the topic of which, Sainsbury's make sugar-free marshmallows, which are absolutely amazing and better than the originals. Just saying. I wore my shorts from rokit, belt from beyond retro, and shoes from topshop.



 


I absolutely adored the Pink Lady shoot with Cara Delevingne in the September issue of vogue...there's something so classic about pink, especially in lighter, neutral shades, that comes across as very sophisticated and classy, something not commonly associated with the colour worn by little girls and Barbie dolls. Its resurgence this year in the form of oversized coats and jackets has had me a little nervous though...I don't want it's new-found fame to cause it to become something worn by everyone just because it's 'in'. I hate the thought that people will begin to judge the wearer of a pink item as a wannabe, just wearing it to try and look fashionable, similar to the way the army jacket became something of a status symbol for people wanting to fit into a certain style but not quite getting it right. I'm still going to be wearing my pastel things in my wardrobe but I just hope not everyone else will be, too. I'm not trying to be 'original' or 'indie' (I despise the idea of always trying to be different...mainstream is great sometimes too) but I just want to be able to continue wearing pink in all forms without being judged for it, that's all.
I thought I may as well post a few more photos from the wedding last Saturday - I know I've already shown you some of them, but they look better all together. I can't wait to see the actual pictures from the day...the photographer is so lovely and super talented so I'm excited to see what she's done.













The cake (courtesy of the amazing Coco's Cakes) was amazing. Each tier was a different flavour; the
top was chocolate, the middle vanilla, and the bottom ferrero rocher, all smothered in a green and black's chocolate icing with sugar paste roses. There were also little cookie monster cupcakes...which each had an oreo cookie embedded in the sponge (a bit like a sandwich.) The whole day was absolutely perfect...worth the months of planning I think.

ellie xo