Y O H J I_Y A M A M O T O : PARIS FASHION WEEK

Since I decided to change the way I blog and what I blog about I have been unable to post quite as much as I would like to. As I am now illustrating, it takes me quite a while to actually create something, therefore is makes it difficult as I work full time and also have to fit time in for my friends and boyfriend. I generally do something with my friends once or twice a week and normally see my boyfriend every other night I don't see them, so it can become quite difficult to actually sit down and complete a sketch. I find that I am currently having to fit little bits in here and there. However, I have never felt so much happier doing this. I am so sooooo happy that I actually started to draw again. I love it and it is such an escape for me from everything. I love nothing more than having a brew by my side, radio on and just sketching away. It always feels like such an accomplishment when I have done something I am proud of. 

As always, I have been keeping up to date with all of my favourite collections from New York, Milan, London and Paris but there was one collection that when I saw made my heart beat a little crazily and sent me mad with excitement. I loveeeeeee Yohji Yamamoto, and as one of my favourite designers I always expect something spectacular and this collection was absolute perfection! 

I feel quite happy with this illustration, I haven't done anything this challenging for a lonnnnnnnnnng time so I sort of wanted to throw myself in the deep end and just really push myself a little more. It is expectationally hard to make the folds of the fabric look realistic and I can see myself problem areas where there isn't enough or there is too much shading. I feel some areas still look a little flat and I haven't got some of the shaping quite right but I am hoping I will get better at that. I used a HB, 2H, 3H and a 5B to do the shading as well as a putty rubber to pick out slightly lighter parts. Where it was more highlighted, I cut the corner off of my rubber so I had a sharp edge to pick out some of the lighter parts within the fabric. 

Yohji Yamamoto Fall Ready-to-Wear 2015.

What do you think to think of Yohji's Fall 2015 collection? What were your favourite collections this season?

Charlotte

Kiss.

Hellooooo Wig Slash!

Today I took the brave step of changing my hair. I have been dying to do something with it for so long but my boyfriend continued to tell me that he liked it how it was, I however, was just never satisfied.

 It was on Valentines Day that we went to see 50 Shades of Grey and I loved it! I have become quite obsessed by it lately but even more so; I have developed a bit of a girl crush on Dakota Johnson! She is just the ultimate babe! Since seeing her in this film I just had it in my head that I wanted to cut my hair. I was toying with it for so long and then I literally woke up this morning and thought sod it, I am just going to go do this. So I drove to town and picked my friend up on the way, walked into the hairdressers and asked if they could fit me in and just did it. 

I took  a photo with me that I had saved on my phone and asked her to cut it similar to the photo. 

I am surprised that I like this hairstyle so much as I HATE ombre. I am so over that look now but I think as the colour is only very slightly different it doesn't feel quite as bold as ombre does. It is mainly the fringe though. I have always been quite a fan of the fringe as I have a real love for Alexa Chung and her hair is always on point. 

 I love how the fringe isn't to thick and parts slightly in places. It just looks so effortless. 

What hairstyles have you guys been taking inspiration from lately? 

Charlotte

Kiss.

Back to Basics!

So if you all saw my last post you will have read that I am starting my blog again.... almost. Originally I was planning to create a whole new blog, however I just have not been able to find the time to redesign and make a new blog right now, so I am going to continue my new ideas on this blog for now and look at recoding the HTML if my brain can tackle all of those codes. I am certainly not gifted with technology skills! 

As I explained before, I needed a niche for my blog; something that would make mine a little different to most other fashion bloggers. Me and my friend sat down and decided to come up with some ideas on how to do that and the one thing we could think of was illustrations. Illustration has always been a love of mine and something I have always wanted to get back into so it  made perfect sense for me to do so by combining it with my blogging. The way in which I will do this is to illustrate my wishlists and favourite designer collections and everything else to do with fashion that I love. I will still incorporate my own photos but mostly it will be illustrations of my favourite fashion looks and picks.

I haven't illustrated in such a long time and I was pretty nervous to do so. I am far from perfect right now and there are a lot of great artists out there so I knew that to do this I was literally going to have to strip everything back to basics and start again for me to rebuild and reteach myself. This blog from now on will not only be a fashion blog, but a diary of my illustration progression.

My first illustration is of a few of the basics which I bought. I have used the leather Zara skirt with a basic long sleeve Primark top combined with a coat that I picked up in H&M a little while ago. As I said, I haven't drawn properly in about a year and a half, perhaps even longer, so to ease myself back into it I have stripped everything back and kept it to a basic pencil drawing with minimal shading.

You will also have to bare with me whilst I figure the best way to photograph or scan these illustrations. So hard so if anyone has any suggestions pleaaaaaase let me know?? 

Back to basics. 

As we are talking about basics, I thought what better to post about than some basics which I picked up from the high street this week. 

Pay day came and it is pretty much going as fast as it came in! I have so many clothes already but as my style has gradually changed and matured, many of the items that I do own are pretty much no longer wearable now. I have tried to get rid of most of it but I still have a lot that I cant part with 'just incase'. However, right now I am trying to build more on my basics; items that I can keep in my wardrobe and combine to make numerous outfits.

The first item which I bought was a basic knitted cami vest top. This top is perfect for many occasions. It is slightly cropped but will look super nice with a pair of black or grey high waisted jeans for a really casual look; but also a high waisted skirt or tailored trousers for an evening occasion.

Primark £5.00

My next basic was a crew neck grey long sleeved top with a small pocket. This is perfect for any wardrobe and can put with so many different outfits as it is just so simple and neutral.

Primark £2.50

Now every wardrobe needs some sort of blazer. It is just a real chic piece that can be used in any season or occasion. I got an absolute steel with this item. What I love about this blazer is the cut of it. It has been cut with a raglan sleeve which makes it quite unusual to many other blazers currently on the high street. I am normally a size 10 but I bought this blazer in a size 14 as it really suited the shape of the blazer to be quite oversized.

Primark £7.00

I picked up this V-Neck jumper from H&M today. I really love V-Neck as I find it quite a flattering shape on me. The thinnest part of my body is my collar bones and chest so I find that this type of neckline makes it quite elegant by softening the shape. This style of jumper is a little grungy which is perfect for my boyish style.

H&M £12.99

My last little treat was this BEAUTIFUL Zara skirt! I have been after a leather skirt for a little while now but never found one I loved, but this is just perfect. I love the A-line cut as it is super on trend. I tried the skirt on in-store but wanted to show my boyfriend before I bought it; however when I went back to buy it they had all sold out so I have ordered this online and have put the link for this below.

Zara £25.99

What basics have you guys picked up lately?

Charlotte.
Kiss.