Dark and Mysterious

To match mystique looking rings the second best accessory is some amazing tattoos for those who believe in superstition such as the horse shoe and scrolled writing on the wrist of this lucky lass. While they look good now on taut and young skin, I can only imagine the horror of looking at old wrinkly tattoos that have long since lost their meaning and fail to be considered cool anymore. While you only live once, I personally don't believe in making a decision I will regret for the rest of my life. Also I am fairly sure that my mother would kill me were I to get tattoos on my hands or any other visible part of my body. For a while I really did want a peace sign on the top of my foot; sort of like a floral wreath arrangement. That dream has since died.

As I'm still mourning the loss of my old sunglasses, tragically chewed up by a bulldog nearly a year ago I think the melding of skeletons wearing sunglasses seems fitting- I really like the pair in the middle with wire as well, they might be the pair you can flip to see through as normal glasses. If I had a nice and neat little shelf in my room, buying motif skulls or Easter island heads might be a fun way to display sunglasses or glasses... although I must admit that my mother is anti-shelf and that there's no real way of telling when I will properly clean my room next. All I can do is hope that the mood takes me again at some point and sweeps me off my feet.

Normally posing with something between your teeth or lips ends up looking abnormal and uncomfortable (I would know, I've been silly enough to try) but somehow the look of a skeleton's skull between teeth and film grain looks quite becoming. I tip my hat to this girl.

Being left alone with no one in the house isn't necessarily unsettling to me, but still, I think it would be nice if I had a furry little companion by my side. Something to pester me for love and attention and something to feed as well. It's always a nice feeling to be needed and I suppose cats do provide that, up to a point in which they do their own independent activities for the day.

Street style photographs always produce some of the best and most individual styles, and I would dare to say this is the creme de la creme and the epitome of punk and individual style. The ethnic touches such as fringing and the Navajo cuffs over a sweater really updates the look and modernises it. Both boy and girl appear to be dressed with clothes entirely source from second hand shops and 'green-shopping' is going to become increasingly popular with young people as more bloggers such as Tavi Gevinson and Brooke Kao publish photographs of their unique styles and vintage treasure finds. While watching television on an Australia show called 'Collectors' one guest spoke so wisely and said "vintage shopping is like hunting for treasure hunting, recycling and playing dress-ups all into one". The two have the look down pat, with their old chunky trainers and boots in bright colours and nothing matching at all. My mother would wrinkle her face at seeing something like this and still, even at the age of eighteen makes me change clothes when we go out and she doesn't like it because I still don't think she sees it as suppressing my freedom of expression and style. One day she just might realise though.

I was tempted to wear a pair of glasses with zero magnification into work at some stage last week but never had the guts to do it, it makes me feel bad and like I'm making a mockery of those that do need them. Of course wearing vintage looking glasses can be used for either dress ups or also just as a style and personal preference type of thing. I like the use of the thin, golden wried glasses as well as the knitted jumper and black lipstick. I'd like to try wearing black lipstick myself but the look doesn't quite look as well done when you're skin isn't pale and I have a light tan about me so, well, there goes that plan. I don't wear lipstick that often anyway but I can't help but feel that maybe if I did it would be fun.

This paisley/ floral print dress is matched perfectly with the knitted cardigan and black accessories ranging from Doc Martens, black jeans, black nails and a black Channel bag. I look forward to the day when I can walk and stride confidently through the doors of a boutique store and be able to afford the nice things in there. Yesterday I was craning my head to see the gorgeous things in Miu Miu but was grounded and brought back to Earth when my boyfriend politely reminded me that I couldn't afford anything in there.

The subversive touch of a girl dressed in black and listening to a now considered to be, stone-age piece of C grade electronics that is the Walkman among a very sweet and girly

Collars Galore

 

One of my favourite trends of late 2010 and 2011 was the dapper and detached collars which then became glamorous pieces of statement neck pieces when made of silk with fabulous patterned prints or when combined with gold and jewels. I know I wouldn't be able to read these lovely edition of Vogue, being the uncultured slob that I am and having studied an Asian language over European but it would still be nice to pour my eyes over all the gorgeous photographs such as this one. The collar in the middle row on the left is my favourite with the soft-rounded edges- and the candy pink background against the crisp white collars and lemon meringue colour chosen for the title of the magazine is so girly and a bit of a surprise. That's what fashion is about though isn't it? Delivering the new, daring and unexpected in terms of styling and structure to awe-inspire the fashion hungry masses.

Whether they were detached from a garment and worn more as a necklace or part of a blouse itself- collars for the past few seasons have been big in terms of their detail and structure. I've come across a lot of very quirky blouses on Tumblr a lot lately, I;m not sure whether they're from the same brand or not but there's a similar style of printed blouses of pineapples and birds and I really want to know where they come from! You may be able to create this sort of thing yourself if able to find an appropriate and starchy material as well as being able to follow patterns for dress making and shirts. It may be a fun project to try over Summer- I'm also thinking of taking a TAFE course as well as university next year, TAFE would be maybe a language I haven't studied previously or something fun like photography or fashion something. It would save some money if I was able to make my own blouses like this freely and independently in my own styles and patterns.

As well as the structure of the collars and design of material there are added extras that can be thrown in as well such as collar tips, studded spikes on the corner ends or the fantastic classical styled wings shown above. The wing designs go really well with plastic platform sandals from Vivienne Westwood or the Adidas X Jeremy Scott collaboration which both features wings on the sides of their shoes. After reading a fair bit of poetry by John Keates with classical allusions I like the reminiscent and romantic feel of wings in clothing.

 

The design and style of the birds is so like the pineapple shirt shown above but I have an inkling that the depth of the collar and the buttons are different. I can't resist hoarding photographs like this on my hard drive since they're just so modern and really represent the current trends in fashion. Every time I walk past the Miu Miu boutique I can't help but slow down and look at what I can of their gorgeous collared mannequins- but recently they changed they're displays and I think they may have gotten ride of the last of their collared collections. I wish I had disposable income to spend on great clothing with collars and sequins as well as having somewhere to wear them to.

After exploring the Opening Ceremony website for inspiration on brands and pieces to write about I finally discovered the identity of the brand who made this lovely skull necklace with dangling crosses- the culprit is Pamela Love x Opening Ceremony x Lane Crawford. There's so much great collaboration and style oozing from the website and the ranges and pieces are constantly changing; I only wish there was an archive section so I can get a look at all the glorious clothes and jewellery I've missed out on buying and styling like the photograph above. The pink collar shirt is cute with the sassy cross necklaces and cute Aztec styled skulls.

The Witching Hour

Halloween has come and gone and I live in a country where we hardly celebrate the occasion but still I'm in the mood to be dressed in garbs resembling a skeleton. But while I don't own any skeletal clothing myself, I'm making up for it by burning candles and playing with the wax as it dries as well as listening to Deftones 'Knife Party'. I'm in a bit of a purgatorial mood just hanging around waiting for first round offers for university as well as waiting to get called for work and to go out and see my beau. What better way to fill in the time by wrapping Christmas presents, writing in books and writing all over the Internet?

I was examining a middle aged woman's hair on the train and I think as soon as I see hints of grey in my hair I'll dye it all the same colour and save myself some trouble... although I may have strange dark regrowth. Aging seems to be such a problematic process and so does hair as well. At times I'm proud of my long, dark brown hair and wouldn't change it for the world and the next I want to dip dye it purple and pink or dye the whole thing silver and then dye that lilac. It's a complicated time to be a teenager.

I love these modified leggings with skeleton outlines teamed up with a pair of grey creepers. Although the photo quality is quite grainy I like the strange colours from the yellow hints on the wall to the deep burgundy carpet. If there was ever an occasion for me to dress as a skeleton then I may be tempted to try this for myself and make my own pair of bone leggings and buy some creepers. Just to mix things up, maybe curl my hair with a straightening iron and then put it up? To describe my current mood as mad and kooky mood doesn't really quite cover it entirely.

One of the things I'm most excited for now that I'm at the legal age and I can drink is being able to collect pretty bottles of vodka like this once pictured above which is a glass screaming skull. I'm not at all elated with joy at the fact I can destroy my liver and lungs with substance abuse but I have a fetish for glass bottles and small little liquor bottles. I'm not in my right mind and am a poor excuse for a teenager if there ever was one.

To improve upon the DIY Halloween costume maybe I would to better to find an all black jumpsuit or onesie and then cover it in metallic silver bones. I love this photograph, the contrast of the skeleton costumes and the floral curtains and the zombie like pose of the people. It almost makes me feel sad and lonely that Australia doesn't really celebrate Halloween other than parties and dressing up.