** MERRY CHRISTMAS * *

** MERRY CHRISTMAS**

Have a safe and fabulous Christmas!

xXx

Presents for YOU!

I adore buying gifts for loved ones at this time of year, however at times my selfish side kicks in and I just want to buy presents for myself!

Most of my Christmas shopping is now done .. www.monsieursteve.com deserves a cheeky visit to reward FashionHotMess some trashy urban funk t shirts at a ridiculously affordable price!

Dress them up, dress them down .. leave your dignity at home

Student Protests

I love this image from the student protests in London last week. The school girls protecting the police van giving a pacifist feel to the protests. They've given a mature chic look to a school uniform by such a simple peaceful action.

Make love not war!

Picture from The London Standard

The Google of Fashion!

I know I am a week behind on this discovery ..

But check out the new google for fashion!

www.boutiques.com

"Boutiques.com is a personalized shopping experience, brought to you by Google, that lets you find and discover fashion goods through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers -- celebrities, stylists, designers, and fashion bloggers. Boutiques uses visual technology to help fashionistas discover and shop their look and creates the opportunity for designers to showcase their collections and latest inspirations online.

Boutiques.com is built on technology developed by our team of fashion experts who work with engineers to “teach” our computer systems to understand various patterns, pairings, and genre definitions. When signed into your account, Boutiques.com learns about your style and preferences and in turn, provides you better results and recommendations over time. Ultimately, Boutiques.com will provide shoppers with a much richer and interactive shopping experience and help drive traffic to retailers' websites"

1984 = 2010

Check out the 2010 FALL Trends from 1984 Wham! Last Christmas video!

(also a great excuse for getting festive!)

I like to look at the pictures ..

To celebrate 30 years if i-D Magazine this book celebrating the covers of the acclaimed magazine has been released by founder and creative director behind the magic, the incredibly hot fashion messy Terry Jones.

If the pictures aren't enough for you (as if!), there are also the tales behind the images.

Go on, Christmas is too far away .. treat yourself!

I am!

Lanvin for H&M - Fashion Show

Cannot WAIT!!

Maison Moschino Hotel in Milan | Opening Party

Getting my freak on to thank Giles Deacon!

As I have already commented in previous posts the next 300 odd days will include several weddings to attend.

To start with is one of my best friends getting married on the second last day of 2010. Miss organisation over here got my shop on at the beginning of Autumn and came across a fierce yet elegant deep red velvet dress which I snapped up pronto.

How delighted was I then when I saw Giles Deacons Spring 2011 collection for Emanuel Ungaro; one of the dresses in particular ^^^ with an amazingly similar cut and shape to the dress I had purchased!

Early trend alert!

Do you take the style for this winter wedding looking fashion forward to Spring?

I do.

Thanks Deacon for helping me get my fashion freak on ♥ !

KSUBI - Favourite Ad Campaign 2011

New favourite ad campaign?!

The 2011 campaign for Australian brand Ksubi eyewear ..

Check it ...

www.ksubi.com

Time to purposefully fail some eye tests!

HOT

Obscure Couture takes fashion east

Oxford dictionary definitions:

Obscure: adjective (obscurer, obscurest)

Not clearly expressed or easily understood.

Hard to make out or define; vague.

Couture: noun

The design and manufacture of fashionable clothes to a client's specific requirements and measurements.

Fashionable made-to-measure clothes.

Ultimately what the Oxford dictionary is defining for me is that if a fashion label is called Obscure Couture... it is:

not easily understood fashionable made to measure clothes.

Initially when I considered this I thought Oxford dictionary do not be so harsh! However, following that split second (plus several extra) I recognized that this in fact makes perfect sense.

Obscure Couture advocates individuality with their bespoke pieces in a war against the high street faceless fashion. Faceless fashion is for those who don’t have to think about what they are wearing and ‘style’ seems easy to these lemmings who are drawn to recreate what they see on mannequins in the high street stores. Obscure Couture is for those who have a belief in uniquely instinctive, confident fashion and who are not afraid to be that bit different (in a fashion hot mess manner of course!).

The label’s debut collection brought this fearless individual fashion east, to the Barras in Glasgow last weekend.

They had presented a glimpse into their Flesh & Bone collection with pictures in their press release (see previous blog post), but this was nothing compared to the sexy, detailed texture, layered, unique punk fashion that was bestowed upon Glasgow with their show.

Obscure Couture pledge that they “subvert the classic Victorian silhouette and harness punk’s stark harshness to create a brash clash of sex and beauty [sic].”

The pictures speak for this pledge and by and large rebelliously speak for themselves!

If any of the garments have (of course they have!) tickled your punkish senses, you can order one for yourself:

mail@obscure-couture.com

Go on, join in the campaign against faceless fashion and join the welcoming (and moving into) of the house of obscurity!

www.obscure-couture.com

PHOTOS: Jamina Davidson

FTV.com - F.FLOOR KARL LAGERFELD

FALL 2010 RTW

Breast Cancer Awareness RL

Support Breast Cancer Awareness month in style with the Pink Pony campaign by Ralph Lauren

I think of RL and I picture the Polo Shirt with the pony logo, but I am loving that you can purchase a t shirt to customise yourself and all for a fantastic cause!

Bye bye preppy .. hi to fashion hot and messy!

www.ralphlauren.com

Jacob Coupe shot by Giorgio Codazzi for METAL MAGAZINE

Christian Dior vs. Barbie

Okay so it’s not the festive season quite yet and unless you have been in department stores such as Selfridges (which has had its Christmas range in stock since early August) you may not have thought much about the yuletide season.

Yet the mornings and nights darkening have prompted festive musings, the iPhone Christmas countdown app and Christmas themed nostalgia.

I am a huge fan of Christmas; seeing family and friends who are scattered across the globe thanks to careers and travelling, although most importantly for getting presents!

My favourite presents were always the Barbie’s or Barbie accessories that were waiting for me on Christmas morning. Even one year when I was sick, nothing could spoil the day for me as I had a Barbie camper van to amuse myself with.

So even though it was for Spring Summer 2011, Christian Dior’s latest collection took me right back to my Barbie obsessed childhood and Barbie style Christmas presents (thank you Santa Claus!). The flamboyant colours, the matching, the sexy shades, the nautical theme of the Dior catwalk immediately made me think Barbie! Barbie! Barbie!

It brought me back to a perfect childhood of Barbie and Christmas time!

I want it to be Christmas, yet with this gift from Dior I want it to be summer!

Good memories, good times, HOT collection!

❅ Merci Christian Dior, merci ❅

Funeral for a Flower

I love flowers. I love seeing people walking along with a bouquet of flowers. It leads me to picture the lives of these people and let my imagination wander. Who are the flowers for? Do they belong to this person? What is the reason for the flowers? Apology? Celebration? Commiseration? There is a serene disposition to these scenes.

As a student when I lived in Amsterdam I would regularly take myself to the famous bloemenmarkt (flower market) for an afternoon of tranquil escapism. The aromas, the bright colours, the local vendors passionate about their trade would remind me of my fondness for flowers.

So there you have it, I like flowers (I’m female, I have to!). In markets, carried by the stranger on the street, but not printed onto clothing.

I have already blogged my negative opinion on floral print therefore I won’t repeat that rant! In the previous blog post I welcomed winter's arrival solely so we wouldn’t be subjected to the sight of the floral print and would be rewarded with the classics of the Fall 2010 styles.

Then comes along D&G’s Spring Summer 2011 collection at Milan Fashion Week – it had some cute pieces but what failed for me was ..

Floral – fail

Maxi – fail

Cuts that will be unflattering on any female unless they fit the size zero measurements

As a recent opinion noted due to this trend, you can eat more at summer barbecues, however good luck getting out of that floral maxi tent and into your bikini after one too many chargrilled burgers!

I did like this flirty gingham and denim look though ..

Not all negative with Fashion Hot Mess and D&G!

For the love!

Balmain Spring Summer 2011 Video by Karen Kooper

BLEU DE CHANEL - THE FILM directed by Martin Scorsese

Obscure Couture Flesh & Bone Sneak Peak

On Sunday I had the opportunity to call into the workshop studio space of the new hot Glasgow fashion label Obscure Couture!

The bleary eyed designers who had had merely a few hours sleep in 48 hours in the rush for completion were more than willing to chat about Obscure Couture and their vision for the label.

Jenn and Lyndsay, the designers behind Obscure Couture gave me a sneak peak of their debut collection "Flesh & Bone" in anticipation of their launch show on

October 15 2010 @ The Barras Centre in Glasgow.

I love how trashy tranny urban chic these tasters even are!

The sneak peak oozes hot messiness all in the name of fashion!

Roll on the show and let the hot messes walk!

www.obscure-couture.com

www.facebook.com/obscurecouture?ref=ts

/www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157464387605697&ref=mf