Thoroughly modern millennial

Tag: style guide

Inspired by | The Women of Harry Potter

Considering I’m such a massive Potterhead it was pretty inevitable that I would feature the books in some way on my blog.
Unlike with my last “From the pages of…” post, the Harry Potter series requires no description – unless you’ve been living under a rock for more than 10 years.

I thought I’d look at the personal styles of 3 characters from the Harry Potter book series: Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood.

I’ll try to steer clear of the movie looks for each of the characters and take a queue from their personality and descriptions from the books.

Hermione Granger, the cleverest witch of her age was never one to care much for looks. With her frizzy hair and intellectual manner Hermione’s casual style to me would veer towards the practical but with dentists for parents, I would imagine her life would not be completely void of clothes shopping.

Ginny Weasley as the youngest of 7 siblings, all of whom were boys, would most likely have the hardest time with her style. However, Ginny being Ginny I would imagine she would be a fantastic DIY-er, with many a hand me down from her brothers and her mother being a fabulous seamstress. As a Quidditch player, I could also see her preferring practicality and is very much a tomboy.

Luna Lovegood is definitely the kookiest character in the series. Daughter of the Editor of Quibbler and lover of Crumple-horned Snorlacks, Luna’s wardrobe to me is full of fun. Unafraid of other opinions, I could see her getting away with much more than Hermione and Ginny in terms of colours and patterns (perhaps paying attention to the current mix prints trend at the moment).

Well, I’m off to see Deathly Hallows part 2 for the second time tomorrow with my sister; I saw it already yesterday with a friend of mine and sobbed like a baby. It was full on emotionally exhausting, but a wonderful end to the series…but bring on Pottermore!! ^_^

Ria Xx

July 16, 2011
Inspired by | Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I thought I’d come up with a new feature on my blog which brings together two things I love – reading and fashion – and take style inspiration from the pages of novels. I’m hoping it’ll get me reading more in my first long Summer break from Uni.

The first novel I’ll look at is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I literally finished the book a few days ago and would definitely recommend it. It’s a beautiful novel and felt almost intentionally slow paced as you follow the characters through their lives.

[Disclaimer! there may be a few spoilers in this post in the form of pictures from the film

“In one of the most acclaimed and strange novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now 31, “Never Let Me Go” hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, “Never Let Me Go” is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.”
Waterstones.com

The book infers a timeless setting and the film (starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield) backs this up, though clearly takes inspiration from Britain in the late 70’s and 80’s/early 90’s.

I thought I’d focus on the style of the lead character of Kathy (Carey Mulligan in the film).

Young adult Kathy’s look, in a nutshell, can be described as quintessentially English country girl. The character dresses for comfort with knitted sweaters, scarves and knitted hosiery. Although never coming across as much of a girly-girl, Kathy was always subtly feminine using blouses, the very on trend midi-skirt and preppy flats such as loafers or brogues to keep from looking like a tomboy. Other pieces are country girl essentials such as the quilted coat and wellington boots – currently perfect for the erratic British weather this Summer. The colour palette is also very simple; lots of neutral colours such as beige and cream, mixed with darker shades of green and brown.

As Kathy grows up into a woman, her style progresses the same way. She still retains her typical English country girl look but gets in touch with her feminine side with floral blouses, shirt dresses and fitted trench coats. All the while keeping practical and sensible due to the nature of her job later in the book. The colour palette veers towards feminine pastels, with more pale pinks appearing in her wardrobe.

Hope you enjoyed that ^_^ cos I did. Let me know what you think about this. Should I do more books?

Ria Xx

June 24, 2011
The petite girl’s fashion dilemma | Maxi dresses

It’s become the Summer staple. They come printed and plain, bright or muted and they’re perfect for rocking hippie chic.

The humble maxi dress has earned a place in wardrobes across the world. Except mine.

Standing at 5′ is pretty tough at times, especially when I want a piece of the Summer’s hottest trend, the print maxi. But alot of high street stores here in the UK just don’t seem to realise not every girl is the normal 5’5″-ish or taller height. I know people say “Just wander over to Miss Selfridge or Dorothy Perkins, they do sizes for the vertically challenged”. Yes they do, and for the record this is fab for jeans, but maxis still don’t sit right on me. Maybe it’s my own fault (too little Vitamin D my mum always says) and maybe I should accept that maxi dresses are gonna be the one thing that doesn’t suit a ‘smaller frame’.

But I can’t help but get fashion envy when I see people floating around in their gorgeous print maxi dresses and sigh a woeful sigh.

So my solution?? Improvise.

I recently bought this maxi skirt at New Look – stick with me on this ok?

New Look floral maxi skirt £29.99

Hanging inocently in the store it looked like a midi-dress, but holding it up against me it was pretty much maxi length. Now, I don’t know about you, but it looked alot like a dress to me and it wasn’t until later my work-mate pointed out that it said maxi skirt on the label that I actually saw it for what is was.

So I bought it. Tried it on at home and voila! Yes it’s a skirt. but hitching it up, wearing the waist toggles as a halter and belt it right…well see for yourself…

Sorry about the blurry pic quality!!

I’ll be honest this isn’t the first time I’ve tried this. I had an old gypsy skirt that I wore as a mini dress before it got worn out and ripped, so using the same base I think it works.

Here are some more skirts that could be used as a DIY maxi dress.

from L-R: River Island also comes in brown, Delias, Shop Ruche ‘Library Afternoons’ maxi skirt, H&M skirts 1 and 2, Very ‘South crinkle maxi skirt’ also comes in 7 other colours

I think the trick is to either find skirts with a ruched waistband that you can use as a top half like a normal maxi dress or find a plain maxi skirt and use a wide waist belt to cinch in the waist and give it some shape.

So there we go, a perfect solution for us tiny creatures. We can finally join the maxi dress wearing fashion throng with our heads held…well kinda high.

Just don’t let anyone see the label ;)

Ria Xx

June 10, 2011