Senso's vibrant and colourful range of shoes, and in particular wedges, has again been brought to my attention thanks to a helpful little email from Solestruck. They picked eight lucky bloggers from around the world to show off the new Summer/ Spring range for 2012 and see just how they styled them. A few of the names were familiar to me, such as Vintage Virgin and Mode Junkie but the international and Non-English speaking websites were also a delight to look over. It will be a while till I'm in the need for colourful wedges and sandal platforms with the imminent approach of Winter in my neck of the woods, but I always welcome sights of fun and energy-filled photographs. Each of the ladies did a wonderful job and gave me a little more inspiration to push myself towards becoming picked for the chance to style my own photographs and work harder on my own blog.
What I love about this project is that from the same collection there was such variety amongst the tones of the photographs- from the washed out to the vignettes and stark colours. Little Black List was one of my favourite entries for the collaboration opportunity- the combination of statement block heel wedges and a vintage bicycle seems dysfunctional but so much fun. Primary colours dominated the frame from foreground to background and I love the girly lifting of the leg. While I've never seen someone try and ride a bike while wearing heels of any sort, it almost makes me wish that I had, were it not for the fact there's a dangerous breach of common sense as far as safety as occurred. In an ideal world, people would be graceful and coordinated and have no need for helmets but we live in the real world where accidents happen and posing for the camera will have to do.
One of the more distinct designs among the range include Senso's fantastic block heel wedges, showcasing the wooden soles of these bad boys wrapped in pink straps of sheer delight, but what more closely resembles some sort of rubber. While some may be tricked into thinking of entrapment and confining, all I see is the two materials weaving in and out of each other and the elements of designed balanced perfectly together. It's a little strange that I don't feel the pink is strangling the material, but there's something just so wonderful and creative about the heels I can't pinpoint a negative notion about them. On another note, nothing fails to excite me more than a design I haven't yet seen before and that is unique and one of a kind. For that reason I love a blend between vintage and high end fashion labels that achieve runway success with a blend of obscurity but when I find something within my own price range that I adore, that sends a shiver up my spine.
What I like about the shape of wedges is how they force your legs to conform to a certain shape in order to hold yourself up-while the shoes seem sort of ditzy and cute the taught muscles in the legs create this wonderful contrast between something feminine worn by a strong woman. As well as a killer pair of wedges shown here, the skirt is so sweet and the structure of soft pleats is alluring too as well as the stark contrast of colours. Camera flashes I find, can be horribly unpredictable and make skin tones uneven- but maybe that's just all a fantasy that lives in my head or rather it's a nightmare.
It seems almost a crime to leave such a lovely pair of shoes feeling so lonely on an asphalt road- if it were up to me I'd be sure to put them to good use and would relish the challenge of wearing them appropriately. I have a Rodarte X Target leopard dress with tags waiting in my closet and I think with the careful application of some bindis for my forehead and some chain crown headbands and body harnesses, I think I could nicely be an Amazon warrior... If not there's always my Jelly Beans sandals in pink with lacey socks and a prison rosary I could wear with the dress. Senso shoes look nice, but I don't think I'll be getting myself a pair anytime soon- my Jeffrey Campbell Emma Lita Boots will be coming in the mail sometime next week!
Leopard print can be either be just the right amount of daring or a total disaster which causes me to wince with pain- now if someone were to initially pitch to me the combination of fluorescent green and leopard print together, I dare say I'd be cautious at best. I see now that some of the best things in life dance dangerously on that borderline between daringly courageous and tacky. I absolutely love the imagination of these Senso wedges with bright green lace and detail along the wedge- tribal patterns re birthed in modern, Western colour schemes are a cheap thrill I love to spy on when online shopping. The Senso website is no exception to that either- the last time I checked, their banner head was an African American girl with short fuzzy hair in white and bright blue. Needless to say, the sight was one that blew my mind at the time.
Cali Vintage wore a silk printed cat dress from Leah Goren, whom you can find on Etsy. Just an interesting aside to note, the designer also makes chic scarves named Picasso featuring white cats on a pink and navy scarf and screen prints of bears and fungi. The combination of silhouette cats heads and a vintage leopard jacket makes me ache for my own order from Leah Goren to come to life, as well as seek out warm coats to protect myself from another bitter Winter chill. The choice of black and white editing with a palm tree in the background seems like an odd choice, but I like the shy and lonely atmosphere of it all. It reminds me of melancholic Red Hot Chilli Peppers tunes such as 'Under the Bridge' and 'Scar Tissue'.
With my continual stalking of Cambridge Satchel Company satchels on eBay in their many wonderful colours, fluorescent shades have been hard to ignore within the last few months of fashion blogging. If the Agnes Senso shoes from the S/S12 range are anything like their bright and colourful counterparts of carry-ons, then they could look well with even the most neutral of outfits. It would be wonderful to see some companion images of models styled in outfits wearing the shoes and more than just the side profile, but with my reliance on Asos for clothes at the moment I am getting spoilt for choice as far as images and motion is concerned. After all, it's not often many shoe stores will dare to photograph their product on models; not when the customer has yet to try on the shoe and really develop a taste and feel for both colour and design of the piece.
It may surprise you to know that despite an obvious affinity for grey ad muter colours, I also have a soft spot for sparkly pink pieces. Spying these beauties on the Senso website easily made them my favourite shoes of the entire collection and are also conspiratorially named after one of my favourite British models. Agnes may not be the same as Agynes Deyn, but the two are closely related to create vivid pictures of peroxide blond hair and ghostly graceful thin-limbs. The wedges themselves are the perfect party shoe and sure to get anyone's attention on the dance floor; a matching outfit isn't necessary either. In fact for pieces as special as this, I think wearing them with a variety of clothes is a wonderful idea to promote creative growth and imagination as far as getting dressed is concerned. The sparkly rainbow sheen of pink colours reminds me a lot of a certain shade of Sally Hansen nail stickers I bought in America for a long holiday in sunny California; I must have Coachella envy on the brain at the moment (who honestly doesn't?).
Digital prints and printed patterns on silk have been on my mind on and off again for a while- it's not often I take to a pair of sandals in such a way but I think the unusual way in which they wrap around the foot and the security of cloth in footwear is enough to coax me into bearing my skin. Simple black riding pants from American Apparel or faux leather skin-tight pants and a comfy jumper would be my ideal way to wear these shoes. Too bad I'm missing out on the blogging opportunity to show off my own style with Solestruck in collaboration with Senso. It is possible that with more and more outfit posts I will at last gain firm notoriety amongst the fashion online community here in my own country. Till then, I have nothing but praise for the hard work of all six of the wonderful and lucky girls that they do on their websites.
It's still too cold to even contemplate wearing such a chic pair of sandals in my neck of the woods, but I've become fond of wearing hand-made socks in an amazing variety of colours as well as textured tights. Straw-like rope round around the heels of sandal wedges hasn't always been a trend I've easily identified with, but there's something about the combination of cool colours and the thick knots of material that really appeal to me. I love the exploration of the one theme continually throughout this Summer/ Spring collection for Senso- an element of warmer weather is clearly visible but there are versatile shoes that can be worn day or night and will still look great.
I certainly loved the amount of variation on these wedge sandals; wedges I find offer a lot more stability when having to traipse up and down in the city or markets or maybe even festivals. I've been on a recent shopping rampage, I've bought two pairs of shoes within the last two weeks to the tune of $150 in total, but it may be a while before I get my hands on anything from Senso. At the rate I'm going, I'll be behind on the newest shoe releases by some few months and left to try and set my own trends. While that seems to have worked in my favour throughout high school, I have yet to contribute any worthwhile trend to campus life. Maybe sporting seasonal pieces from another region will gain notoriety amongst those commuters on my trains and bus lines.
Paint-splattered vintage designs have had the character of youth and exuberance about them, but never have I seen them be worn with a chic trend aura about them until now. The angular cut of the heel and slope of the wedge, as well as the thick straps of suede and patterned material adds a little flavour to what would be an otherwise boring shoe. Purple is one of my favourite colours and having a small taste of what Senso are capable of when working with the colour has got my yearning for my variety and more shades. While outrageous and nose-bleed inducing heels are always fun to play with and enjoy to wear, for events where I'm not so confident of my own stride and don't need the extra height, I think this sweet little heels are a nice compromise.
Art was never my best subject (despite my love for illustrations and colour), but I can appreciate the clashing colour combinations and vivid contrast that adorn the thick straps of this pair of heels. When worn with a dress in the style of cubism and eye-catching hair, you could easily outdo any other girl at a fashion event, this year's Melbourne fashion week was trumped by a girl with half pink and blue hair and a Deadly Ponies Mr Lure. If I had a spare hundred dollars floating around that is not intended for my future travel fund I'd love to get my hands on either pair of paint splattered heels. The thick, chunky heel has such a sculptural shape about it- for someone who doesn't often wear heels it's a relief to see something functional as well as artistic and creative to wear on one's feet.
It's been a while since I 've even considered tie -dye to be an appealing texture and printed pattern in fashion- but at the same time I've been utterly obsessed with wooden heels and platform boots as of late. A fondness of most things Japanese (excluding the culinary) has lead me to adore kimonos, obi, kokeshi dolls and traditional sandals. This is the perfect marriage of those two loves: my adolescent admiration of tie-dye and the dream-like assurance of seeing clouds in an aeroplane. As an unconscious habit I tend to avoid blue when I can; every single school uniform I have ever worn has been one shade of blue or another. However, I can't say that I have any blue shoes in my wardrobe and that Senso would be a lovely way to break this particular colour drought. They'd certainly be a challenge to wear with any outfit, but I think as I practice the art of layering exuberantly I could comfortably rise to any challenge represented in the form of clothing or accessories.
Congratulations and thank you to Senso and their six chosen bloggers for showing off such a wonderful variety of shoes and every participants own individual style. I love discovering more muses to follow and enrich my own experience when it comes to clothing and fashion and this tidy little email from Solestruck gave me the motivation to finally write about the Summer/ Spring releases for 2012. Their websites have given me a little more inspiration towards the layout of blogs and something to consider as far as updating my own layout and scheme is concerned. I ended up following AlicePoint as well as Little Black List and the last few images are of the banners sent out to the Solestruck subscription list.
The imaginative use of props as well as derelict places as backdrop for their posts has me itching to try and catch up on my own proposed outfits and self-timer photo taking. Hopefully the break from University will mark a change in me to finally see some bands I've admired for years, catch up on my tributes to outfits and blogging and become a little more regular as far as posts are concerned, You can be sure to see more suggested blogs to follow by others and reasons why I admire them as well.
There has been a distinct lack of revered figures of my childhood in which I have feverishly idolised those for celebrity status, talent or looks. In this strange world of materialism I have found solace in the transformations of mere mortals to socialites purely on their appearance, or rather, their choice of dress. Fashion bloggers and those able to master the art of articulation have been the subject of my study outside of actual academic work- and I crave it. I originally wagged my tongue in contempt at those who chose to study artistic subjects, but internally I was crushed at having to decide between science and creative endeavours during high school. If I had taken the easy path of arts with less hours on my hands, I could have easily fitted in more hours of part time work and become a barista- and fund all my dreams of fantastic clothing and footwear. Instead a lot of my time is spent slaving away over a hot textbook trying to keep up with academic content and lighten the load of any last-minute-cramming (something which is still, wretchedly foreseeable in my future). 
It's hard to think that any sort of career could be forged for sitting pretty and smiling for a camera, but it seems that with the explosion of the Internet and sharing thoughts and ideas with people globally, those who stand out visually have a great opportunity to publicise themselves as a product (in the nicest sense of the word). There's such a glamorous appeal about being some sort of fashion insider as well as rubbing shoulders with fashion royalty around the globe, but there would be a certain depth of detail and though for each outfit. Even with a wonderful wardrobe of some of the finest and most outstanding clothes I would imagine that an impressionable outfit isn't as simple as it looks- or perhaps I'm just struggling to excuse my own inability to come up with such beautifully composed outfits myself.
Susanna Lau of the Style Bubble is a icon who I applaud mentally on a monthly basis for excellent outfits as well as being named by the Telegraph as one of Britain's best fashion blogger. There's a certain adherence when it comes to her use of colour in outfits such as this mixtures of blues and browns accompanied by her long black hair. I love that maturity and the certain tones about an outfit that she sets out to create, but also visually weaving in and out of different textures is very youthful and childlike (reminds me of me #1 blogging idol Tavi Gevinson). The jacket pictured above is from an Australian label by the name of Limedrop and is made of silk with a textured appearance of clouds. I love how rich the leather patched knees of her trousers look in comparison to the light blue and white of the jacket.
I do enjoy following the work of stylish bloggers, fashion stores and models alike to keep up with the latest collections and hits with runways as well as longingly staring at all the unearthed vintage gold others before me have been lucky enough to claim for themselves. The craftsmanship, sheen and colour of that skirt would be enough to drive an artist insane with it's vivid patterns of flowers as well as meticulous hexagonal sewn shapes and the Prada brogues are only something I could ever hope to own. Imitation is said to be marked as the highest form of flattery; all I can really say is that I'm thankful for knock-offs of runway brands from China in terms of footwear. 
There have been some stunning professional photographs captured of the fashion blogger, including this dream-like image incorporating jellyfish-like movement and a sultry stare down the barrel of the camera. There's such a stunning transformation from the camera+tripod photographs of Lau at home on her balcony posing shyly with head tilted at the ground to the bombastic young woman we see before us. Her sense of style has remained as imaginative but well maintained and controlled but has flourished into something so special and visually exciting. I'm still too much of a wallflower at heart to show off bright blue, orange and yellow all in the same outfit but I do like the cute laced heels worn by the eccentric British blogger. If there's one thing I'll be properly prepared for when any sort of pace is maintained as far as photographing my own outfits is concerned, I will have plenty of amazing and wonderful shoes to show off and a very empty and sad wallet, at the pace I'm going at lately.
Including the same wonderful skirt (possibly my favourite piece from her wardrobe), Susie Bubble has taken on yet another transformation and a subtle oriental hint to another outfit. There have been a number of Mongolian lamb pieces, including a large satchel bag that I've had my eye on with the same texture as those lovely woolen boots worn above and again a series of different materials are all combined beautifully. I love how bright her lipstick is in contrast with that knitted jumper; I could take a useful and practical leaf from the Style Bubble gospel and invest in a good jumper as well as extravagant skirts to wear to university when I need just a little more spark to my day. There's the small inconvenience of having to wear closed-toe shoes just about everyday that I do attend classes, due to the many science courses I participate in and laboratory exercises run throughout the week. Being a well-dressed student in the faculty of science is going to be a lot harder than I first thought.
A ruffled skirt worn with a bulbous sleeved grey shirt and metallic tights?
My love for this quirky British blogger was reignited upon her coverage on the Frankie Magazine website in which they discuss her appearance and interview at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Australia. I missed her hair neatly pinned in buns as well as those wonderful brand name labels she mixes in with her wardrobes; currently coveting the floral Prada earrings pictured above which look so soft and feminine with the filtered effects of the photograph. I'm not as much an avid reader as I am an avid writer now (and full-time student), but every now and then I will meander to her website and look over her latest musings. It's a little intimidating at times because there's such great length to her articles as well as consistently new material to read through that it feels like a mountain of information pouring over you, wave after wave. There can't really be such thing as too much of a good thing when images and photographs of wonderful, one-of-a-kind outfits are concerned though.
A very chic and European environment suits Susie Bubble well as she shows off another amazing outfit. After seeing this one I was in a frenzy to find a fur skirt as well to sweep around town in and I never did find such an item- although I am currently being lured in by the thought of a vintage faux fur jacket in luxurious tan colour. Despite needing to save money for holidays at the end of the year, as well as study abroad and assurance for the future I remain hopeless as ever when it comes to financial decisions and not buying glorious clothing pieces with large price tags.
A favourite hobby of mine on public transport is picking on stranger's outfits and thinking how they could be improved upon or I simply sit their in awe of them and marvel at them. I could better use my energy to think of what to wear for the next day, or design a clever but humorous iPhone app to determine what clothes look good when worn together. Rather than putting people down nastily or feeling jealous of them and their appearance I repeat my new ceremonial hymn- if they can dress nicely then why can't I? And indeed, why can't I then share that with the online media and try to impress them? I am naturally competitive by nature but I think a positive spin on my primal behaviour is a little more useful then any other means of harnessing it.
Her blog, Style Bubble is six years of cumulative work relating to her outfits, trawl through wondrous boutiques as well as attendance on fashion calender events. It's always hard to trace a fashion blog back to it's roots and where the individual first started and their initial outfits but I would love to one day trawl through and read every single post written by Lau. Time (as usual), is my foe and not friend at the busy end-of-semester trials of assignments to hand in but there will certainly be a little more observation of popular trend setters around the world for style and fashion. As much as I think I have it all together and can put together outfits, it seems I need to break basic habits such as wearing the cosiest jumper and comfortable pair of jeans. Fortunately I am still young, impressionable and reckless and will most-likely fall into the trap of some peer pressure if I perceive daring outfits to be most popular. Watch this space for anymore exciting developments and commentary on cool pieces and clothes.
