90s Grunge Girl

It feels like forever since I last blogged!! I've missed it so much, but I've been crazy busy and with my laptop in for repair it was really awkward trying to upload photos etc! I have so much to tell you, so I'll try not to ramble on tooo much! My laptop is now fixed! YAY!

The really big exciting news is - I will be writing for CollegeFashionista this term as the first 'Style Guru' for Manchester Met Uni! My bestest friend Michael suggested I send in my CV a few weeks ago as he knows one of the 'gurus' at his uni, et voila, they wanted me! I will be writing a 'Style Advice of The Week' article every Monday, with a picture of some lucky fashionista/fashionisto from around MMU/Hollings/On their way to lectures etc. If you havn't heard of the site head over there now and check it out. It's all about street style at your campus (but of course you can look at others for inspiration!) and is totally awsome.

These photos were taken on Wednesday and basically I'm wearing my new stuff from shopping on Saturday! I went for a much overdue catch up with my lovely friend Charlotte, had a look round the shops and Nandos for tea, yum yum. I've been desperate for the elusive 'black leather biker jacket' but couldn't find a suitably cheap and beautiful one anywhere, since the aviator took over in Autumn. If found this baby in Miss Selfridge for £47 not bad, even if its only P.U. but as a bonus they have been running a 20% off for students recently, yipeee! I know I'm going to get so much wear out of it, in fact, I've worn it 4 times already. Saturdays in Manchester city centre are mad, now I remember why I never do it normally! They didn't have the jacket in my size in the normal store, so we went to top floor of Selfridges, which was blissful. So quiet and we could really have a look and not feel hot and bothered, ok so the concessions have reduced stock, but the selection was still good.

I bought the black peter-pan collar tunic dress in the sale at Topshop (in Selfridges too), it was down to £10.80 by the time I used my student discount, bargain. I always see you girls in beautiful peter-pan collars and am really jelous that my wardrobe was sadly lacking, so now I've caught up with the game!

I felt like I was wearing too much black already so desperately raided my draws for some bright tights and found these plaid babies. I've had them for a few years now and kept seeing them in my drawer and thought they had a hole or ladder in so havn't worn them in ages, they don't so I'm really happy and will be wearing them more! All of a sudden I was aware that I look pretty grunge and so tried to girly up the outfit with some dangly earrings and my light crochet boots (which my parents got me for Christmas, but maybe you havn't actually seen yet? I've scuffed the toes up so much already, oh dear. I might retire them for a while until there is less rain and mud to contend with). It didn't really work though did it? In fact the jewellery made it more early 90s grunge chick I think.

Anyway, this is what I was wearing for a very bizarre day, in which I met up with one of my oldest family friends Simon. He lives on the Isle of Man at the moment, and I hadn't seen him over 2 years, so it was a real treat, and such a good day catching up - even if he was horribly hungover and we spent 3 hours as the only white people in a cramped waiting room at the Pakistani Embassy! (Yes dressed like this, I got some looks!) Haha, I told you it was a weird day!

After dropping Simon at the train station in town at about 5.30 we made our way to the cinema to see Black Swan - which I thought was really good as a film, and I'm glad I saw it, but I'm not really into ballet AT ALL and don't really think it lived up to the rave reviews of 'visually stunning' bla bla, the dialogue was a bit stale, I giggled my way through every sex scene, and the ending was a bit implausible if you ask me (I don't want to give too much away in case you havn't seen it and don't know what I'm on about). What a review eh?!

You will notice a little outfit change in these pictures - suddenly some huge heavy black biker boots appear out of thin air! I bought these from a Barnardo's charity shop near the station on the way to the cinema for £6.99. They're brand new, never been worn, and still had the paper stuffing in etc. They make my feet look huge I think, but I love them for that price, and they went so well with what I was already wearing I couldn't leave them. So I put them on for a few pics when we got home too. I bought the hat for £4 (down from £15) in the Miss Selfridge sale also on the way to the cinema just as the shops were all closing, so wore it home. I was totally inspired by a similar hat Charlotte bought when we were shopping on Saturday - although hers was a bargain £2 from Claires!

Ok I've talked and talked, so that's definately enough for now, I'll post again soon. Let me know what you think of Grunge Girl Voni?! Did you guys find any bargains this week?

Hat & Leather Jacket - Miss Selfridge, Tunic Dress - Topshop, Tights - H&M, Crochet Boots - ?? (Shoe Shop in Australia), Biker Boots - Charity Shop, Earrings - Marrakesh Souk, Necklace - Vintage (my Grandma's), Bag - Charity Shop (Australia)

Happy Saturday!

VW x

OOTW - Revolution and Revival?

Firstly I must apologise big time for my lack of posting! Well over a week since my last!! Blogging kind of tok a backseat for a while as I had my dissertation synopsis due in, which meant catching up on a lot of reading, and well you know, uni work has to come first. I found the whole thing pretty stressful to be honest, no one said 3rd year would be easy! Speaking of my diss, it's on second-hand/vintage fashion and I have some primary research to conduct, so in the coming weeks I'd very much appreciate your help and feedback. I'll be formulating a quick qestionnaire to email out, so hopefully you could fill it out and pass it on to people etc, I'm sure you all have some great insight considering the subject area!

So, not only did I think you deserved a post, but some pictures were obviously in order to make up for my bad blogger behaviour! Ok so the title is a bit misleading, as denim cut-offs are hardly revolutionary are they? And neither are these rather plain photos against a brick wall! But maybe that’s the point? It’s been getting dark sooo early here, so I seized the moment today when I got in from my 9am lecture, grabbed The Boyf, told him to wrap up warm and marched him outside to make use of the natural light. Never mind what I was wearing, how my hair was sitting today, or the fact that I filled my brows in a bit wonky (not to mention the lurking spot on my chin), you guys were getting some shots!

Jumper - Topman, Scarf - H&M mens (stolen off The Boyf), Levi Cut-offs - Vintage, Belt - Vintage, Brogues - Urban Outfitters, Earings - made by me!! In later photos, Trench - Zara, Gloves - Tu at Sainsburys

I think I must have been the only vintage fashion lover around who didn’t own a pair of denim cut-offs!! I bought this pair of Levi 501’s yesterday for a tenner and am in love. I’m hardly surprised, I had lusted over girlies wondering around in tiny little hand-cut 501s for over a year now, and there really was no excuse for not buying a pair. Although... I have to say maybe a few gals did cause apprehension – larger ladies in a style that really is more knicker than short, not so good. Perhaps I was worried I would look exposed, flabby or larger than life, my thighs are hardly me favourite feature after-all! So in this respect I am however pleasantly surprised, at how comfy and casual they are, yet they make me feel, well, pretty damn sexy. You American girls have been avid lovers of the daisy dukes for years now, why did it take me so long to catch on? Also, I'm so addicted to the fab high-waisted 90’s cut that I’m left gagging for a full length pair!

So why did I bite the bullet and finally nab a pair when its so chilly outside? Well as some of you may have read my parents and little bro recently moved to Australia and I’m going out to visit them for Christmas, I can’t believe I’ll be seeing them in 29 days time! They were visiting family in Sydney (my mum’s Australian) and just arrived in Perth today where they’re hoping to settle down. Earlier I enjoyed a crazy little virtual skype tour around the house they’re renting which is massive and gorgeous and has a swimming pool! It was 39°C there today, and might get hotter by the time I get there, so obviously I needed some super cool summer clothes! To be honest though I don’t think you’re going to see any pictures of me from Oz in much more than my strapless bikini, these cut-offs and the odd vest! I’m not sure if I can be bothered to look fashionable at forty degrees, we’ll see!

And the final 3 pictures? No your eyes are not deceiving you, some of you may recognise these as old brownie culottes! I bought them on ebay last week for 2 quid! Why is it that the Girl Guides were the only ones that could make a good culotte? I mean get it right, you should have seen some of the things people were passing off as the traditional shorts/skirt combo! I myself was a Brownie, and I’m not so sure I fully appreciated the uniform at the time, but I’m fortunate enough to be able to fit into this pair 26” waist, so call it a revival! They arrived in the post this morning and seemed ok with my jumper, so made a quick costume change just to give you a quick peek, I’ll style them differently next week sometime I think! Comfy is not the word for these babies, nice little elasticated waist and oh so roomy, plus the colour is perfect for autumn!

Culottes - Girl Guides Association by way of Ebay!

Anyway I’ll stop jabbering now, turns out when you don’t post for nearly two weeks you have a lot to say! And it is rather nice to finally be able to write something for me rather than uni work!

Hope you’re all ok, in all my procrastination I did manage to keep up with reading a few of your bits and bobs... there’s always time to discover a great new fashion blog and check in on your faves ay?!

Ciao for now, VW x

NB: I tried to post this yesterday when I actually took the photos and wrote the post, but evidently blogger was mad at me for neglecting it and was in a proper mood, haha, sorryyyy, better late than never?!