Happy New Year

Hello all, long time no speak (and by 'speak' I mean me typing things at you),

So it's new year and in case you hadn't guessed, one of my new years resolutions is to blog more. Then again, I say that every week. Then again, I'm now unemployed so I really have no excuse. Well, I say I'm unemployed. Technically I am a freelancer without a business. Not the best start.

I'll give you a quick update. I've spent the last 2 months or so being a christmas elf. It wasn't everything I'd dreamed of. I'm not sure what I expected, but it turned out to be one big hand-sanitiser requiring disappointment. Admittedly, it was an easy job that was made enjoyable by the other elves and (on occasion) a really enthusiastic child, but even for me, being stupidly happy for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week gets difficult. Anyway, that's over now and I'm back to saving my enthusiasm for burlesque, not magical reindeer food.

Anyway, here's me and santa. See what I mean about the enthusiasm?

Speaking of Burlesque, my class and I performed our routine in November. It was amazing. I loved every second. The weird thing is that when people ask 'weren't you really nervous?', I can honestly say no. I don't usually get nervous in advance. It normally kicks in about 30 seconds before the event. But it didn't kick in. Then it was all over. 4 minutes of being blinded by glitter and spotlights and that's it. Here's a little bit of a photo taken by the awesome photographer, Tigz Rice. Thought it best not to show you the whole picture or else you'll never pay to come see me ;P You can like my facebook page though :) http://www.facebook.com/TallulaTaboo

I can't wait to begin my advanced course in a few weeks and start my solo routine (which I have pretty much planned out in my head already). Oh, and to do the masterclass with Beatrix Von Bourbon, the burlesque dancer off Britain's Got Talent.

So now I'm at a point where I really need to assess life. I've not got a proper job, which, although at times can be useful, can get pretty depressing. Ideally I'd remain freelance, as there are a few potential things that might develop into jobs that actually relate to the things I love and got a degree in. Handy. Then again, there's the lure of a 9-5, stable job, guaranteed pay check, with evenings and weekends off. Also tempting. I'm sure it's a dilemma that many arty graduates face. I'm still deciding. I'd like to give fulfilling my dream a shot, but then again, I'm not sure I know what my dream is. I'm sort of in that just woken up' stage where you know you had a dream, but it's a bit of a muddle and you can't work out the details. Most of the time you just get up, move on and forget the dream. But sometimes you just KNOW it was a good dream and you just have to lay there for an hour and remember it.

... a bit like the time I dreamt about winning the olympics by running like a spider and being amazing at javelin. Or the other time when Danny from Mcfly told me he loved me in the toilets of Bluewater shopping centre.

I think that's enough for now. Check back soon to see if I remembered...

Ta Ta!

Vintage Style: the 1940s

Vintage Style: the 1930s

Vintage style: the 1920s

Fashion Changed My Life debut

Hey there you beautiful people! (I'm still feeling loved up from the last post.)

Just thought I'd let you know that I have now begun blogging for Fashion Changed My Life.

It's more fashion and less me... if that's what you're in to.

Here are links to my first 3 posts:

A little bit of Christina lovin'
http://fashionchangedmylife.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/christina-aguilera-your-body/

Femme fatales take a look
http://fashionchangedmylife.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/oxblood-lips/

Geek chic galore
http://fashionchangedmylife.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/what-does-your-bow-tie-say-about-you/

Enjoy!

Striptease!

Breaking news!! I have officially twirled my tassels for the first time (aside from the time some friends and I attempted it with dangly earrings hooked into our t-shirts...you know who you are).
Explaining more fully, this week in my burlesque class, we learnt the basics of striptease. I love the fact that I love in a society where it is both possible, and socially acceptable to be professionally taught to take your clothes off. The Cheek of It! school alone trains over 700 women each year across the UK, Europe and America, so it's obviously quite a popular hobby!

The idea of burlesque is so appealing to so many people for so many reasons (it's just SO good). It's got that certain romance that comes with vintage-inspired things. It's glamorous, feminine and expressive. Sure, some people don't understand the appeal, they may think taking your clothes off in public is crude or demeaning. That's fine, that's your opinion. To me, it's empowering. How can it not be? A room full of people, celebrating the female form in a fun and ironic way. Yeah it's stripping, but it's got a sarcastic charm. After all, the definition of 'burlesque' is 'A parody or comically exaggerated imitation of something'. It's cheeky, and to me, that's all good. 

Anyway, back to me (we all know you love it). I learnt to strip. Gloves, stockings and bra, all removed with some degree of seduction (hopefully...). I'm not going to lie, sure the 'big reveal', the moment where our teacher said "Right, lets just go for it, take your dresses off", was scary. But we're all in the same boat, it's not like one of has a tail or a third leg (...don't be cheeky). I don't know what the big deal is. 

So here's a little moral of the story for you. I like it when a blog post gets all meaningful. Here it is. We're all the same really, love your body, and if you can stick glittery little hearts over your nipples and make tassels swing like there's no tomorrow, even better. 

Peace and love. This is all very emotional. I need to go hug something.

My adventure (so far) into the world of Burlesque

You may have seen a few posts down that I spent my holiday reading Jo Weldon's Burlesque Handbook in preparation for my Cheek Of It Burlesque School 'Showtime' course. So, for the last 2 Tuesday evenings, I have been introducing myself to the art of the tease. Week 1 was spent learning the basics; your standard, bump, grind, shimmy and the rest, along with a short routine as a group. I was loving every second of it, and at the risk of sounding big headed, I have a good shimmy. I felt confident, I felt sexy, and at this stage, I still had all my clothes on.

So, for homework we were given the task of making up a short routine using the moves we had learnt that week. 'Great! I can totally do this!' I thought. I spent every spare minute I could (which at the moment, turns out is quite a lot) picking songs and trying out moves. To cut a very long story slightly shorter, I eventually had a minute-long routine choreographed to Smokey Joe's Cafe by The Robins aka The Coasters. Listen here if you fancy it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1QELlwrvc8

The time comes in class number 2 where I am given to chance to showcase my work, my burlesque debut in front of 8 or so fellow beginners. I was to be magical, an epiphany, the moment where I ask myself 'where have I been doing with my life until now?'....

 I'm pretty sure I blacked out. My legs stopped working, my attempt at a strut looked more like Bambi than Jessica Rabbit, my eyes stopped working and all I could see was darkness, I was shaking like a leaf and my seductively cheeky facial expressions went right out the window. 

Despite the inevitable forgetting of some moves, I just about made it through the routine. Needless to say I was disappointed with my performance. But I think I'm lucky to have come out of it in one piece. I blame the clothes. Burlesque is all about striptease, right? Clearly it was my body's reaction of telling me something wasn't up. Maybe if I'd been in just my knickers it would have been a masterpiece of performance.

What?....You never know....

Reverting back to my 9-year-old self

Yep. I did It. I asked the hairdresser to give me a middle parting. A horrific choice if you analyse the situation in detail. As a bit of fun, lets do just that!

Reasons I shouldn't have a centre parting:

• I have a distinctly round face. Everything I've ever read about hairstyles for round faces warns against middle partings, particularly ones without a fringe. I learnt this at about primary school leaving age and never looked back. It's true, my face looked less round, and a side swept fringe works wonders. 
• I am currently channelling a sort of 1950's style thing with my clothes and hair. I have in fact just mastered the voluminous Marilyn Monroe style quiff fringe thing and love it. I am also assured I am slowly becoming Sandy from Grease, which suits this 50's look. (I'm not getting a perm, don't worry)
• My roots REALLY need doing. 

And do you want to know the reason I decided to take the plunge? Ignore all advice and any better judgement I may have? I woke up and my eye liner had done something in the night and migrated to my lower lash line, making my eyes look a bit darker than normal. It reminded me of a sort of Brigitte Bardot, 60's look, especially because I'd clearly had a restless night and my hair was a bit all over the place. 

Always eager to change the way I look, I googled Bardot and that was it. I'd booked a trim at the hairdressers for that day anyway, but 30 mins before I got in my car to leave, I made the spontaneous decision to print off a photo. Now that's the defining moment. The second a photo is presented to a hairdresser you never know what might happen. They either get really excited and go for it with gusto, or they look at you as if you are insulting them, like 'Why are you showing me a picture? I'm a professional, I know what hair looks like'. Luckily, today my hair stylist was loving it. 

This is the picture I showed her. A bit ambitious perhaps seeing as it was actually of Brigitte Bardot, one of the sexiest women of the 20th century, but oh well, gotta aim high, right? 

I must admit, I've never really got on with hairdressers. With a face as large as mine and hair that is naturally fine and fairly straight, any form of careful blow drying results in flat hair and a face that looks much much larger than it really should. In this case too, the mid-length middle parted fringe also looked a bit like I was channeling Backstreet Boys circa 1996. No matter how much training a person may have, apparently my hair refuses to produce volume for anyone but me. 

Nevertheless, a day later, lots of wonderfully plumping dry shampoo and a bit of back combing and I like it. Thank god. It may not be in keeping with any of my clothes, music taste or general obsession with 40s and 50s pin up girls, but it's something a bit different, eh? 

As I say, I've never been able to stick to one style for long, so it was only a matter of time before my stylistically defiant self did something like this. 

Here's a couple of pictures for you so you can see the results of my little experiment. 

You have gotta love my facial expressions. I apparently have a problem with looking sane when taking photos of myself. 

So, who knows if it was a good idea or not. It could be one of those moments where I look back in 6 months time and think 'Bloody hell what was I thinking?!'... only time will tell. To be fair, the 'rules' also tell me I shouldn't really wear pencil skirts, especially leopard print ones, but that's not going to change any time soon...and at least I don't have to worry about the insanity of heated rollers any more.

And all this happened because I can't be bothered to take my make up off before bed. My mind baffles me sometimes.

Books and Belly-dancers

I have just returned from a gloriously sunny week in Cyprus, and thought I might share a few things with you, just in case you happen to be overly interested in my life (understandable).

General overview:
Duration: 1 week
Company: Parents
Food: Half Board, disappointing, but I did give shark a cheeky nibble...also disappointing.
Activities: Sunbathing, reading, the occasional Aqua Zumba sesh, and appreciating the 'evening entertainment'

I may look happy, but the lack of food on the plate says it all...

Now for the details:

Books
The only time I ever read books is during the one week a year when I am abroad. I blame the lack of internet connection and the fact there really isn't much else to do. Saying that, I like my reading to be productive. I like the odd fiction, but generally I am a self-improver. I want to learn things that might potentially make me sound a bit more interesting in conversation: "I read in a book once that....". Generally that shouldn't be followed by a scenario from Fifty Shades (unless the time is appropriate).

So this year, my current interests revolve around stylist-y things, and burlesque, a new obsession of mine (about which I'm sure I will be posting a lot about in the near future). I chose 'I <3 Your Style: How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style' by Amanda Brooks, and 'The Burlesque Handbook' by Jo Weldon.

I trusted amazon and these books came highly recommended. I was not disappointed. They were both really interesting and informative. I will do a mini-review of each of these books on a separate post in case you really couldn't give a damn about the books I read.

Evening Entertainment
I love evening entertainment in Hotels. It reassures my faith in the performance arts, and I admire the people who have taken the initiative and followed their dreams. I witnessed an array of cabaret shows and there was a distinct theme of either West-End musicals or world dance themes. Loved it though, although I would love to spend a day with each company sprucing up their costumes. They are clearly well-loved, and much appreciated by the crowd, but I couldn't stop my critical eye being cast over each show. But generally, loved it. Totally my thing. Someone let me be a showgirl.

Belly Dancing
I mainly put this in the title because it sounded cool. There was a distinct lack of belly dancing during my holiday, but I did spend a substantial amount of euros on a full-on black and gold belly dancing outfit. I cant resist sparky things that jingle when you shimmy.

So that's it, I doubt you care that much, so I'll leave the rest to your little creative minds to fill in. Maybe I did a spot of scuba diving and swam alongside sharks (unlikely), or perhaps I jumped up on stage and joined in with the Entertainment Teams rendition of 'Oom Pa Pa' from Oliver (you never know...). The possibilities are endless.

ARGHHH MY CLOTHES ARE TALKING

Don't panic, I lied, it's a metaphor, my clothes aren't really talking. I decided to use what little wit I have to have a joke with you. As you may or may not know, I love a bit of outfit analysis, so fasten your seatbelts, here we go.

Not only that, but for all those impatient people out there who just couldn't wait to see what else my 5 wardrobes hold, fear not. This also acts as another 'today i'm wearing' post because 1.I cant think of anything else to write about, my mind has gone a bit blank and 2. I fancy a bit of self-indulgence.

Here's the outfit

"Blimey!" I hear you cry "Genius!". But alas my friends, I cannot take too much credit for this outfit. It is, believe it or not, just a white shirt and jeans. Yep, that's it. Not entirely sure it deserves a whole post, especially considering there's once again no shoes involved, but hey... why not, eh?! YOLO (yep, I said it). 

I actually added a leopard print belt, but 2 pictures of me posing in the mirror may be a bit excessive. 

So here we go, the big question... what does this outfit say about me?? 

Well, I'd like to think it exudes a simplistic class and effortless style. Chic and sophisticated. In reality, I just couldn't work out what I wanted to put on, I literally drew a blank, suffering from the little personality crises that sometimes like to appear, particularly at points of change in ones life. Leaving uni, moving back home, saying goodbye to friends, becoming unemployed and penniless, bored and unmotivated might have that effect on someone. 

Sometimes clothes can be a safety blanket. It could be a big old jumper that makes you feel all cosy, or it could be a pair of amazing high heels to make you feel unstoppable. For me it's leopard print. For some reason, when all else fails, I can count on leopard print to make me feel a little bit more like myself. Hence the last minute addition of the belt. 

Clothes are weird. I always find that I have a tendency to dress, or at least try to dress, as the 'character' I want to embody that day. Most probably explained by my costume degree and my Gemini nature of having many personalities. Clothes can have a huge affect on your mood, and vice versa. I often find clothes shopping a nightmare when I am in a bad mood, as I have a little personality crisis and can't work out what I like. Retail therapy isn't my thing, clearly. Shopping is much more fun when you feel happy and focussed. Then again, most things are. 

So there you go. Neutral outfit for a day when I'm not really sure what to do. 

That was a thoughtful post, eh? Well done for getting to the end of it! It was all a bit bland really. Maybe next time I'll wear a leopard print lycra catsuit. Then you'll know i'm really having a breakdown.

Personal style

I admit it, the inevitable happened and I gave in to temptation while on my style scouting trip the other day. Bad news for my will power. Good news for my wardrobe. And apparent good news for my personal style points!

I thought that I'd jump on the bandwagon and post a #todayi'mwearing picture on my social networking domains. (I would just put it on facebook, but the lure of a hashtag opportunity was just too much). Apparently, it was a good outfit. An ego-boosting amount of 'likes' were achieved. Much appreciated.

For those of you who are shaking in anticipation because the mystery is too much for you, fear not. Here is the picture:

There are many reasons why these 'personal style' posts may be few and far between on my blog. Firstly, my room is rarely tidy enough to present me with a fairly plain backdrop. Secondly, it's quite an awkward thing taking a photo of yourself full length in the mirror. Thirdly, it takes so bloody long for me to take a photo I am satisfied makes me look good enough to be judged by potentially every person with internet access forever more. (You would have thought those several years of emo posing would have paid off... but no). And finally, I rarely look as stylish as this. I can take very little credit here. It's a maxi dress from Topshop. I didn't even match a top and skirt. It's already put together for me. I didn't even bother putting shoes on.

So from a person who is in the know (which now includes you), this deserves a 3/10 for effort at most (I'll give myself a bit of credit for the multiple layers of red lipstick that I layered in hopes it wouldn't end up all over my face as usual).

So yeah, here's a cheeky personal style post. I hope you enjoyed it. Who knows if or when there will be another one...

but lets not lie, there's a 60% chance it'll feature a hat for good measure.

Style Scouting Attempt #1

Wednesday was my very first attempt at ‘Style Scouting’. A scary prospect for someone who is ultimately very shy and self-conscious despite some sort of outgoing vibe that I supposedly give off.

I headed straight to Topshop on Oxford Street, a spot where I have seen countless style scouts lurking in the past, spying out the fashion elite. My other theory is that people who head to the Oxford Street Topshop would have to be fairly dedicated, because that place is imposing, and very scary to those who don’t know how to navigate it. Someone hanging around Topshop on Oxford Street is bound to be confident and seeking style approval, and who will be there to provide just that with a flattering comment and the request of global recognition on my blog? Moi.

It was a slow day, but the weather was gorgeous which always helps, and I soon got into the swing of it and met some really interesting people. Here’s a snippet of my findings:

Name: Charlie

Age: 17

From: Hull

Occupation: X-factor hopeful. Watch this space!

Comment: Loving this look, I met her and her 3 x-factor band mates, all of whom had an awesome and individual sense of style.

Name: Ghamerique

Age: 20

From: Camberwell

Occupation: Artist

Comment: Triple Denim. What else needs to be said?

Name: Rita

Age: 21

From: Portugal

Occupation: Topshop employee

Comment: I love the way the Topshop employees make their uniforms individual by customisation and accessorizing . I love the vintage edge to Rita’s look.

Name: Jesse

Age: 22

From: East London

Occupation: Urban Outfitters employee

Comment: There’s so much going on here. A very difficult look to pull off, but essentially a very eye-catching combination of pastel pink colour blocking, leopard print, and a cheeky black fox fur tail. Love it.

So there you have it, a few of my favourite looks from Oxford Street. I have to say, standing outside Topshop for 5 hours straight is not only torture for a shopaholic such as I, but also really makes you doubt whether you made enough effort when you got dressed that morning. Next time I’m wearing a hat. Everyone looks like they’ve made effort when there’s a hat involved.

Hello there

So you have found your way to my little blog. Hi. My aim for this blog, for now at least, is to fill my abundance of post-grad free time write about the thing that really interests me, mainly the relationship between clothes and personality. Quite a wide topic, you may be thinking, but that's just it. I am fickle with my interests, so it may change sooner or later.

There's probably a few things you should know about me first, and a few other things that I'm going to tell you anyway. 

My name is Emily, I'd quite like to be known as Millie, and I'd really like to be called Lorelei. 

I have just graduated from the Arts University College at Bournemouth with a degree in Costume with Performance Design. 

My dissertation title was What role does clothing play in defining youth identity and what are the effects of the post-subcultural movement? Gives you an idea of my interests.

Ideally I'd like to be a stylist in every sense of the word. Photography, music videos, theatre, film, adverts, personal styling, commercial, avant garde. You name it, I'd quite like to have a go at styling it.

I have a shopping problem. I love the fact there's a career out there that fulfils the needs of people like me.

I'm fickle with my own style. You name a youth style and I probably tried it. I am now in a phase combining some sort of inauthentic 50's with high street casual and anything else that takes my fancy. I don't do well with style confinement. Last year I was a bohemian princess. A few years ago I fancied myself as a bit of a scene kid. And of course, emo did once happen. It was inevitable really.

So. Who knows what this blog may provide. Hopefully it will be vaguely interesting. We'll have to wait and see.

Finally, here's a picture of me frolicking on a bed. You lucky things. This outfit pretty much sums me up right now. My state of mind. Effort in some places, but practicality and ease win out in the end. I'll never be completely polished. And I like that. Make it perfect, then mess it up a bit.