RESOLUTIONSREDISCOVERED

Happy February! To kick off the month I'm looking back at the New Year's Resolutions I made on New Years Eve & how I've been getting on... & it's a good excuse to find loads of lovely images from the wonderful internet...here goes.

1. Waste less money on CDs, Clothes & books

Well I don't think I'm 'wasting' as much as I used too. I now make endless lists & don't allow myself to purchase anything that isn't on it. So I guess I'm more focused...

2. Read some classic books

Ok, so I started the year reading Slaughterhouse 5 & then moved onto Valley of the Dolls. Both sort of classics but I've also bought Stendal's, The Red and the Black and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to read after I've finished Paul Dirac's biography. So yeah I'm on track!

3. Sell old clothes I don't wear

Haven't started on this at all. It takes so damn long to sort through everything and photograph it and upload it and hope someone buys it and post it etc etc etc. But half terms not too long away so maybe I'll have some time on my hands then...

4. Stay in love

It was rocky for a little while. But our planet is back in perfect rotation.

5. Party less & sleep more

Between birthdays, band nights I've somehow been connected with and end of exams I've still been out most nights and still don't feel un-tired (if that's even a word) ever.

6. Watch all those films I've bought & never seen

Done. Done. Done. My best mate went through a really hard time with a girl who screwed up his heart so we spent a lot of time smoking and watching beautiful films. Actually finally saw Paris, Texas and fell utterly in love

7. Work harder at college

Sort of. Exams are over so a lot of pressure's off. Coursework in English so that's easier. & quantum in physics so it's more interesting. Plus an extension on my photography deadline. Yeah college is pretty sorted right now.

8. Decide what to do with my life

The biggin' (as we say here in the west country) Well I've realized what to do for at least another year. Going round the open days as all the University of the Arts London, college open days (St Martins, London College of Fashion, Camberwell, LCC etc) & will be moving to London next year after my A levels. The only question is who with...

9. Go to more comedy gigs

Fail. I have been going to a lot of gigs generally though, does that count?

10. Start making clothes again

Fail again. I've started sketching again though which I guess is a start. It's just a time thing. I wish I had that watch from that program I used to watch as a kid, where he pressed the watch and time stopped. Oh the things I would do...

How are yours going?

WEDUGTHOSEHOLESWECRAWLEDINTO

So series 4 of skins starts tonight. I have mixed feelings on the show, mainly because I live in Bristol and a lot of the cast are people who I've known or run into. Taking it at face value though it is a great show. Although, the first cast will always be my skins cast.

I mean look how moodily series 2 was billed:

& they pretty much stuck with the dull grey lighting throughout.

This series is meant to be more upbeat but I don't know. There's something I just don't really like about most of the characters in season 3 & 4. I don't believe it.

Oh well they know I'll still watch it whatever & I guess that's all that matters.

Who do you prefer? Cast 1 or 2?

LIFEISATITSMOSTNAKED

Re-discovered stylelikeu again last night & pretty much fell in love with Chase Cohl & her hippy angst. Pictures are from her line of headdresses littledoe. Here's the video...

Chase Cohl from Stylelieu from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.

WHYYOUAREWRONGTOHATEFASHION

This morning I leisurely made a cup of coffee and started reading G2 over my breakfast. A nice story about sex addiction & then something that made me extremely angry for just 9.30 in the morning.

This article by Tanya Gold basically blames fashion for the death of a 16 year old because she was wearing heels when she tripped and fell into the path of an oncoming train. She goes on to talk about how fashion has continued to blite her life...basically.

I was moved to so much anger that I went on the guardian website and created a profile just so I could comment on her article. This is what I wrote:

Everything about this article made me extremely angry. I am a 17 year old english and physics student who also loves fashion. I do cram myself into a library and I do have an inner life but I also like beautiful clothes. That does not make me shallow. It also doesn't mean that I completely agree with everything the fashion industry stands for.

Forcing girls into a size that's completely unnatural is disgusting, and your right destroying girls as young as 14 because our 'ideal' has now become, supposedly, a pubescent girl, is ridiculous. But fashion is not there to alienate everyone at all. The high street is a depressing place, they force the art of couture through a huge funnel to produce 10-12 'key trends' that they then implant into every single women in the country as being what they need to wear to feel remotely normal.

But places like Topshop are just there to sell clothes, they are not concerned with how they do that, they do not care for the images on the catwalk and in Vogue. Fashion as it used to be was on a different level than anything you could see anywhere else, designers were innovative and created works of art that were more than beautiful. Now however, trends constantly circulate with nothing especially 'new' being brought out, and when it is the highstreet saturates this so much that it doesn't look like it should anymore.

If you are sucked in my advertising campaigns to buy things that do not flatter you then that's your issue not theirs. LIke I say they are there to present you with the facts. Possibly your issue with the fashion industry as you have never made the distinction between what they tell you to buy and what you should actually buy. Ostracizing a whole industry because they are an easy target and something you've never felt a part of is completely unjustified.

In reaction to your tagline though, I no longer get satisfaction from shopping for clothes. Highstreet stores are like supermarkets pumping out the clones that I have to go to college with, try actual markets where buying clothes is fun or fashion fairs where you meet lovely old ladies who've spent their lives in Paris couture houses and floating around Europe. These are the people who epitomize fashion and they are a hell of a lot more appealing that the ones who run the consumerism culture behind modern fashion.

Leading one DrMarcusBrody to comment:

I am staggered by the brilliance of the comment from @JessBunyan at the top of the comments. There is more truth and honesty in her comment than anything Tanya Gold has ever written - and she's only 17 as well (if that is to be believed)!

Someone at the Guardian should give her a job. And, no, I don't know her.

I am extremely flattered and amazed at how many people quoted me and agreed with what I said but I don't think it's right that people like Tanya Gold should be allowed to lead people into thinking that the fashion industry is some kind of monster leading us to buy things that don't flatter us or make us look ugly. If she has her issues that's up to her.

Please comment if the article angers you as much as it did me.

It's important that people like this shouldn't get away with spouted their personal prejudices in a paper that otherwise speaks a lot of a-hem 'middle-class' sense.

Oh & here's some more lovely pictures so it's not one of those posts.

MONEYMONEYCASHCASH

Stumbled across this lovely Swedish online store Modekungen & felt the need to share these awesome jumpers. Although I can only dream of the day I can afford anything on the website...

Have been seeking the perfect boots to act in opposition with my DMs. I've actually found them in Office here but I feel a bit reluctant to pay £95 for shoes that my friend wore once too the beach & basically ruined (although I like the way they are now)

Agh why does it always come down to money?

TODAYWITHCHRISTMASCOLOURS

Today:

i went to Bath with my mother and my jesus

Horror-esque lighting issues

Heart shaped sequins, hell yes. + reindeer (or deer so I can wear it year round) & pencil??

I got a lovely dress from Gap & a HUGE cardigan from Monsoon. That's what's good about going shopping with the mother, so many different shops open up.

Also got a couple of books from 'The List' in Oxfam. 'The List' being the thing that now dictates any music or books that I buy. Sounds ominous but it is rather epic.

How was your day?

(thinking of adding one of these 'word buttons' to the bottom of all my posts from now on, thoughts?)