Christmas- The Season Taste Forgot

As Christmas steadily approaches, I thought it would be a perfect time to dissect some of those Christmas fashion traditions that we all either love or hate.

Now, as the majority of you know, I am not one for a Christmas Jumper- I never have been and I never will be seen sporting one. I 'Why?’ I hear you ask in such uproar, well I shall explain. Firstly, the design of the Christmas jumper is not what aggravates me the most; it is the manner we adopt when donning said item. Truthfully, only the keen Xmas-goers start wearing their Xmas jumpers, Xmas leggings, bauble earrings or any other festive paraphernalia, in mid to late November and somehow they manage to prolong that period until March, that is not ok!

Don't get me wrong, a lovely fairisle jumper or a crisp cable-knit cardigan from Jack Wills will always be a winter staple, but the Christmas jumper? What are we thinking? For example, those gorgeous ones we are seeing in Primark epitomize something else, something non-human. I present to you a jumper like none other, emblazoned with a monstrous print of Santa, yet at the same time bringing another dire dimension of pastel pom-poms stuck at random. I mean we’re all about the Christmas cheer but weren't we doing fine with the spirit of Christmas before these jumpers encapsulated us? Yes yes, we were, it was only down to some celebrities (1D) who decided that one year they wanted to resurrect the foremost 70s trend and from then on everyone seemingly had to get their hands on one.

I know some of you may think I'm the ultimate Scrooge, but I'm just telling the truth. It's not like I'm going to suffer alone on Christmas Day because I refused to partake in the Christmas jumper activity. As a matter of fact, there should be no pressure at all to wear these items just because it's Christmas.
I mean what really radiates Christmas is us wearing something made in a Bangladeshi sweatshop by children. That defines Christmas Spirit.

 

British Fashion Awards 2015

DISCLAIMER: I do apologize if you are offended by my thoughts on some of these celebrities, it's just an expert's opinions.

It seems the Brits came out in full-form for the red-carpet of the British Fashion Awards a couple of weeks ago, in some cases worse than we had expected. It was a night to celebrate everything great about our countries' strongly developing fashion industry including the work produced by British designers, and that was definitely achieved.

Now I am aware that you, my darlings, adore a red-carpet critique- so here goes:

Firstly we have Georgia May Jagger wearing this incredible custom Alessandro Michele creation for Gucci. Why is it so incredible, do I hear you ask? Well let me explain. For Michele is currently using these new modern techniques, including the invoking of trompe l'oeil, which was certainly one of the main focus points in last season's collection and now here in his evening-wear. Trompe l'oeil literally means 'deceives the eye', with this in mind Michele simply takes a normal cut transparent piece of fabric and puts this special print or embellishment over the top of it, appearing to us will be an object in three dimensions, however this is just an optical illusion. Quite clever I think. Not only is it a truly beautiful gown, it also had a giant snake emblazoned on the back of it, certainly quirky.

Even Salma Hayek who wore a trompe l'oeil creation by Gucci, looked outstanding.

Moving onto Rita (wh)Ora. Yes, yes I know, shock horror. I actually like what Rita is wearing for once! Perhaps because she looks far more conservative than usual and also her assets aren't exposed which we all know proves to be the major challenge for Rita. 
Love the utilitarian, military nature of this Chanel gown, downplayed by that midnight blue velvet and gold leaf details. Radiating pure Parisian luxury and elegance.

Next we have Cheryl Versini-Fernandez aka Cole. Here she is wearing this very unusual combination consisting a Topshop Unique floral overlay + bralet and Sergio Rossi thigh-high boots. Firstly, why on earth is she wearing this in the winter may I ask? And what are those boots?! Yes we all like to dream that we can splash out on a pair of embellished suede boots costing £2500, don't we? But unfortunately Chezza, we cannot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the hype associated with Topshop at the moment. I think it is quite remarkable that the clothes giant is expanding so rapidly, whilst producing clothing that is so accessible for the masses and yet bringing such a high level of quality without the worry of the price tag.

We have come to the worst dressed of the evening. I present to you Poppy Delevingne wearing this sickly Emilia Wickstead gown. Can we just address the fact that this is wrong on so many levels. Firstly, let us establish that she's wearing flats?! There's a rule against flats on a red-carpet; even Karlie Kloss who stands at 6ft2 was wearing some Manolos. Next we move onto the dress itself which actually resembles a battenburg cake, how unfortunate. Breaking it down I think that the fabric choice was completely incorrect. For we have a rigid satin gown which is totally unflattering for her figure, with the addition of a hefty amount of rouching placed too high up her torso creating what looks like a baby bump alongside a lot of creasing and sagging, not a good look. Lastly, we have that horrendous collar which totally does NOT bring the whole outfit together. This outfit defines tragic.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely shows us what it means to be a celestial vision. She chose this Burberry Prorsum gown complete with a plunging neck-line, simply exquisite in my view.

Can we just establish that Lady Gaga looks NORMAL. Donning this red sequined column Tom Ford with a hexagonal-cut overlay and matching gloves. Totally in love with everything she is doing right now.

 

It's no surprise that Alexa Chung made it onto my best dressed list, she just kills it every time. Here she embodies the Victoriana trend which has been delicately encapsulating the catwalks over the past two seasons. Despite giving off that hessian sac vibe, this dress carries a scruffy classicism that we are all currently craving. I applaud you Alexa.

 

Kate Bosworth was also sporting a pale blue period-inspired Erderm dress. Chiffon, ruffles, pleats, diagonal waterfall layering, buttoned seams, patchwork and a black ribbon- talk about a true romantic.

 

 

 

Next we have Karlie Kloss in this Chanel Couture number. I'm sorry but how flawless is this woman? She epitomizes the All-American supermodel, think Cindy Crawford or Christy Turlington-Burns. I have mixed views about this look- I do admire Lagerfeld's way of transposing 30s Chantilly lace onto tissue-thin laser-cut fabric, but then again I feel like we are prevented from appreciating the full beauty of this dress; simply because of that addition of those heavy embellished rings which sit around her hips and upper torso.

 

 

 

Why is Mollie King here? In my opinion this dress is simply unacceptable. She is wearing a summer gown with a groin-high slit and a severely plunging neck-line, god help us. She is literally baring everything and we all know that no one wants to see that, EVER. Sorry my darlings, but it's a no from me. David Gandy, on the other hand, looks sensational.

 

 

My my, I think Naomi Campbell thinks it's still Halloween. This is positively frightening. Here she wears a Burberry concoction including a baby-doll dress swamped in a lace cape. How very odd, I hear you mumble..

 

I am particularly impressed with everything Victoria Beckham continues to produce for her fashion house. Her aesthetic is minimalist, distinct yet super modern. She makes clothes that are easily wearable for every situation and more importantly she makes clothes that every woman aspires to wear. Here she proves that women can look effortlessly sophisticated yet slightly androgynous in this oversized tuxedo jacket with matching trousers. It's a 10/10 from me.

 

Lastly we have Jourdan Dunn, who won the well-deserved Model Of The Year Award. She concludes my best-dressed list at the number 1 spot. Here she wears a breathtaking Thierry Mugler bi-colour monochrome gown. I literally have nothing bad to say about this look. It's the definition of perfection. 
 

 

 

                                                

 

Please Note: Picture Courtesy of Vogue.co.uk

Whats The Real Problem With Primark?

Firstly, I shall pose this question to you, my dear readership - how many of you at some point in your lives have shopped at Primark or 'Premarché' as one now calls it? The answer: we all have, and that is just a well-known fact. Now let me re-phrase that same question and ask you if you purchase Primark merchandise whilst being fully aware of the conditions in which the clothing was made? Probably not.

One of the main discussion points within the fashion industry concerns its ethics. Last year’s discovery of the supposedly mysterious hand-sewn labels found on brand new Primark garments pointed to the poor conditions that the workers had been subjected to. For example, they were ‘forced to work exhausting hours’ and in ‘degrading sweat shop conditions’. There was something so loud and poignant about the messages. They exposed a real voice, a voice that is never truly heard within the fashion industry. Unfortunately, a few months later the labels were found to be fakes set up by campaigners; whether this was a hoax or not, it certainly got us all questioning our shopping sensibilities.

Prior to that, we also observed the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013. When one of the biggest garment- producing factories in Bangladesh collapsed killing 1133 men, women and children and injuring over 2500. This was the worst tragedy to hit the garment-making industry in history. All due to the poor conditions that the factory was built in, the terribly cramped spaces in which the workers were forced to work in and the generally foul maltreatment they faced from their employers.

 

Yes, we all love Primark for its bargain prices. However, this is just another big problem with fast fashion. With the price tags being incredibly low, we are almost encouraged to buy-in-bulk this seemingly ‘great’ quality merchandise. ‘Great’ clothes until a month later when you find out that every crop-top you purchased has fallen apart due to just everyday wear. My point is that these garment factories employ people to work like slaves for hours on end without any breaks in order to produce 20,000 garments every week, including your crop-top. And after discovering that, I presume you would ordinarily throw that crop-top in the bin, again deepening yet another already grave issue – waste and the disposable society. When we throw away a piece of clothing, it does not decompose straight away, instead it gives off a gas 20% more damaging to the environment compared to CO2, solely due to the gas that contaminates the clothing when it is being made in the factories.

I do, however, understand that cheap clothes are a necessity and that high-street clothing is deliberately accessible to us all. I do think it all comes down to the lack of alternatives; don’t get me wrong, we do have an excellent array of charity shops, which offer clothes at the same price as we see in Primark. However, I feel that charity shops are not necessarily able to cater for a low-income family’s entire needs.

After the Rana Plaza collapse, there was rather a revolution in fashion. Britain, alongside the rest of the world, actually began to raise awareness of the matter; however, issues surrounding ethical fashion still remain one of the largest problems within the fashion marketplace. The question we will continue to ask is whether the big retail giants like Primark will take matters into their own hands and fully respond with a strong attitude in order to deal with humanitarian concerns that we – as consumers - need to know are being tackled.  

 

    

 

                Please note: I do not own any of these picture