I’m a huge fan of The Hunger Games, so when I found out on Twitter that InStyle has gotten top fashion designers to design Katniss Everdeen’s Hunger Games opening ceremony dress I couldn’t resist blogging about it! For those who haven’t read the books the outfit is originally designed by Cinna, Katniss’ own personal make-over guru and mentor who is subtlety pushing the buttons to ignite (no pun intended) a rebellion in this dystopian society. The design brief was pretty simple.
“I am dressed in what will either be the most sensational or the deadliest costume in the opening ceremonies. I’m in a simple black unitard that covers me from ankle to neck. Shiny leather boots lace up to my knees. But it’s the fluttering cape made of streams of orange, yellow, and red and the matching headpiece that define this costume. Cinna plans to light them on fire just before our chariot rolls into the streets.”
The Hunger Games, pp. 67
Katniss’ outfit during this ceremonial procession on a chariot with Peeta is her first real step into becoming a beacon for the rebellion movement. The outfit is powerful, not necessarily sexy, but enough to capture the attention of the ‘Capitol’ in for both the wrong and right reasons.
Christian Siriano
Tommy Hilfiger
Rachel Roy
Tadashi Shoji
Charlotte Ronson
Nicole Miller
Christian Cota
Tibi
Erin Fetherston
The Blonds
BCBGeneration
My favourites are definitely Christian Cota and Charlotte Ronson, both of these designers captured the spirit of Cinna’s vision for Katniss. She’s armed, dangerous and not the little girl from District 12 everyone thinks she is. Close runners up for me are Christian Siriano for his take on her fire cape and Rachel Roy’s nod to the fandom with the Mockingjay pin on her boots. Nicole Miller and The Blond’s take on her outfit are a bit too ‘Capitol’ chic for me, I can’t see Katniss in a Gaga-esque headdress, sorry! As for Tommy Hilfiger, Tadashi Shoji, Tibi and BCBGeneration? I don’t know what book they were reading but standing the designs on their own they look great.
I loved pouring over these and hopefully, the costume designers for the movie will do just as great a job!
Inspirational advice from the world’s hottest fashion bloggers
I don’t know about you, but style books tend to bore me a little. There’s a new celeb one out every other season and I’ve definitely flicked through at least 5 of Gok Wan’s, but none of them has held my attention as much as Style Yourself.
I remember it being mentioned here on the blogosphere, I can’t remember where exactly but I was definitely intrigued. So I ordered it online and it arrived yesterday morning. Because of work, I couldn’t read it straight away, but as soon as I got home and started to read Jane Aldridge’s intro I was hooked.
What separates this style guide from others I’ve seen is that it was first and foremost written by people like you reading this review. After seeing success stories such as Tavi Gevinson and Jane herself go on to become ‘internet famous’ and attention high fashion events to schmooze with the designer, I think we all forget they’re just like any other style blogger out there when it comes to styling themselves. They don’t have the money or luxury of hiring a stylist or shopping in Harrods every weekend, it’s all about experimentation and working with what you’ve got, which to me it what this book really preaches.
This theme of experimenting is a thread that runs through the whole book. Starting off with highlighting the basics, and when I say basic I mean basic. These are items of clothing you should have in your wardrobe, basic t-shirts, work dresses, classic jeans etc. Following this checklist, I own pretty much everything, except “one super fancy” dress but I’ll live without one for now. This immediately caught my attention. Already the book doesn’t encourage you to rush out and buy a new wardrobe but work with what you’ve got already (which I apparently have plenty of :D)
A feature I found particularly useful was the ‘remixes’. Spaced throughout the books, these illustrated and photographic guides give ideas of how to get completely different looks from one item of clothing – from something as simple as a grey cardigan to a pair of ballet flats. They also show remixes for accessories and even prints and colours.
Though this is primarily a style guide I also found the book to be a fantastic educational tool for novices entering into the world of fashion, with illustrated pages deconstructing basic items of clothing such as pants, tops and even underwear. As well as mini-profiles showcasing fellow fashion bloggers from around the world explaining how they come up looks.
Overall I think this guide is wonderful, both informative and fun. If I could fault it only anything, however, it would be to add more remix ideas – you can never have enough inspiration ^_^ One thing I noticed is that it never pushes you to buy more clothes. Unlike a lot of other style guides which try to get you to ‘shop for your shape’ or give you tips on how to dress a certain way, Style Yourself is all about freedom of expression when it comes to how you dress the book itself features so many different types of looks to inspire you to think out of the box. Again the theme of experimentation comes into play here.
I’d recommend it for any budding fashion blogger, novice to Internet famous, this is definitely a must read.
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!! ^_^
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!! ^_^