Monday, 5 March 2012

Tokyo Girls Collection S/S12 - Sherbet Garden

On March 3rd, Tokyo Girls Collection 2012 was held at the Yokohama Arena. The theme for this particular collection was 'Sherbet Garden' which took its name from the recent pastel trend that is sweeping gyaru and starting to seep into the rest of the fashion concious world.

If you're unfamiliar with Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC), it's a fashion event which showcases fashionable streetwear, often by domestic brands. The clothes are often modelled by celebrities instead of professional models. It's open to the public and not just to journalists and the fashion elite and its almost unique in the sense that it there are often music performances, auctions and the famous Miss TGC Contest.

Musical performances this time came from Kyarypamyupamyu, Milky Bunny, Kana Nishino, IU and KARA.

Brands which attended are:
Abbey DAWN
BEAMS
bonica dot
CECIL McBEE
chesty
Double focus
DURAS
Khaju
LANDS OF Eden.
LIZ LISA
Lovedrose&Co.
Nina mew
NINE
one way
phebely
RYZA
SERENE Dept.
TWNROOM
VENCE EXHANGE
YEVS

TGC is useful as it can help to pinpoint what the upcoming trends can be in the upcoming months, so you can stay one step ahead of the fashion pack. Noteable trends from ths TGC are:

Sensational Skirts



This year at TGC statement skirts were all the rage. Liz Lisa, phebely, chesty and DURAS were just some of the brands which showcased this upcoming trend. It's a fun, and girly, feature that could be added to all of our wardrobes.

The skirts don't need to be as over the top as the catwork outfits. You can wear these a little more toned down for the same sort of girly flair. DURAS' offering shows a more evening way to wear these skirts whereas Liz Lisa's offering shows the skirt in a more day-to-day option.

Pair these skirts with a minimalist outfit. Keep the top half fitted and let the skirt do the talking for the rest of the outfit.

Which Brand Wore This Well: I like DURAS over the top offering as it showcases just how these skirts should be worn.
Which Brand Didn't Wear This Well: I wasn't a fan of chesty's presentation of this trend as the floral top swamped the skirt completely.

Brave Bolds



Bold prints are making their way into our wardrobe and many, many brands showcased this upcoming trend. Liz Lisa, BEAMS, DURAS, tokyo girls collection and a fair few other brands showcased this in their collections. It's a daring move which will certainly brighten everywhere in the summer!

With bold prints, the bolder the better. Just don't go for clashing colours as you'll stand out and not in a good way at all. BEAMS shows us how to wear the trend in a bright and eyecatching way.

With these bold prints, let the prints do the talking. You don't need to over-accessorise and wear another half a dozen prints with these. Liz Lisa's offering shows us exactly how these prints should be worn.

Which Brand Wore This Well: Although I adore BEAMS' offering, DURAS shows us how to look classy and sophisticated wearing a bold print.
Which Brand Didn't Wear This Well: I wasn't too fond of the tokyo girls collection special collection's offerings; I thought all of the other collections managed to out-bold them.

Wonderful Warms



With the arrival of summer, we'll be leaving be leaving behind the pretty pastels of spring and seeing warm colours creep into our wardrobe. Yellows and oranges are wonderful additions to our wardrobes. Lovedrose&Co., Double focus, BEAMS, Cecil McBee and TWNROOM were just few of the brands which showcased this trend. RYZA also had a lovely orange dress; check it out if you already haven't!

This trend can be easily worked into evening dresses which will brighten you up, or worked into your daily wardrobe. CECIL McBEE's lovely raincoat will even brighten you up on a cold, rainy day!

The key to working these pale warm colours is to not wear an outfit consisting of them. Work one key piece into your outfit and leave it at that. It'll brighten you up and make you look super awake. If you don't want to wear this, use an accent like Lovedrose&Co. did; the yellow belt brightened up the white dress more than a brown belt ever could!

Which Brand Wore This Well: I'm in love with the coat CECIL McBee put on its catwalk. It's perfect for those long, rainy summer days!
Which Brand Didn't Wear This Well: I thought everyone wore this well, but I found TWNROOM's use of this colour a little boring.

Ravishing Reds



If there was one colour that dominated the TGC, it was red. Nearly every collection had red somewhere in its collection, and if it didn't it had another flame colour. Red is set to be this summers hottest colour so prepare to see this everywhere.

If you're a pale girl, red will probably drain you of all colour to beware wearing this colour. If you're pale maybe wear this colour as an accent to your outfit, or if you're feeling braver wear red on its own.

You can wear red on its own or team it with a plethora of other colours for a fresh look. It's a bold colour to wear but if you wear it with confidence you can definitely pull it off.

Which Brand Wore This Well: Most! Most of the brands worked this in without making it look too bold.
Which Brand Didn't Wear This Well: Barely any. Take a look through the collection for inspiration and tips on how to wear this colour.

Funky Florals



Are we surprised to see this trend pop up? No? Didn't think so!

Florals have now appeared so many times for the S/S period they're now considered to be a staple piece. I wasn't surprised to see these pop up in TGC! One Way, bonica dot, chesty, TWNROOM, LIZ LISA and Khaju were just some of the brands to feature this summer staple item.

To be honest, you can't go wrong with florals! They're girly and sweet and will always crop back up year after year. My only recommendation is to ensure that the floral pattern itself doesn't look as though it came off your granny's curtains!

Which Brand Wore This Well: I loved TWNROOM's combonation of trends : it worked really well and looked bright and fresh!
Which Brand Didn't Wear This Well: I was a little disappointed by LIZ LISA's contribution. The pattern looked unsettingly similar to my granny's pyjamas!


Other trends I noticed were maxi dresses (which are now becoming a summer staple), short front and long back skirts (a carry over from the current trend but will it stand the test of time) and pastels which may fade out as spring ends.


The next Tokyo Girls Collection A/W Collection will be held on October 13th at the Saitama Super Arena. See the report for this Tokyo Girl's Collection here!

Which trend are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

If you liked this post please follow my blog for future posts! Thank you!

Sunday, 4 March 2012

Blog of the Week: Elsie Bucket

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog as a thanks to my loyal readers and friends. Without you guys following me I definitely wouldn't have the inspiration to blog! If I didn't blog you guys would definitely be super unhappy... right? I joke, I joke. But seriously, this is a thanks to all of you.

I am going to feature one of my reader's blogs a week. If it brings a little traffic to their blog or even a subscriber or two I've definitely done my job!


Week One is going to feature a friend of mine's blogs (yeah I'm biased); Elsie Bucket.



Elsie Bucket is run by a little lady who we shall call Elsie. Elsie is a student at Central Saint Martins which is a big art school over here in the UK. It's one of the most prestigious. Why do I think this is notable?

Do you know who else went to Central Saint Martins?!

Alexander McQueen. Stella McCartney. John Galliano.

The blog is often updated with Lucy's latest pieces, be those she has done for herself or those she has done for the school itself. It's really interesting to see. She doesn't update too often so it's really refreshing to see this pop up on my dash board! She doesn't use too much text either as she lets the work do the talking so it's perfect after a long stressful day!



She doesn't just post artwork though so don't let that put you off. As every young woman does, she also updates us on her life and her fashion choices. As a reader I really like this because I don't live in London. She also has a wicked sense of style.



Look at those shoes! Don't you want them? I do!

To conclude, Elsie Bucket is my blog of the week. If you click 'Elsie Bucket' anywhere in this post it will take you to her blog!

All images are screencapped from her blog and do not belong to me; they belong to her.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Liz Lisa: Love Pasterine

Hey all!

These are my favourite picks of Liz Lisa's Spring Collection which is named 'Love Pasterine'.

I promise you, they're really nice!

Liz Lisa are keeping up with the pastel trends that is currently sweeping gyaru at the moment and have identified mint, pink, orange, white and blue as the colours to be wearing. I've attempted to pick something from each colour as my picks of the season.

Mint Green



I absolutely adore Mint Green and I'm so glad it's coming back into fashion. It's been difficult to find anything with that colour green over here in the UK though!

This green dress really stood out to me as soon as I opened the page for this colour. It's really sweet and can be combined with a plethora of other colours on season (i.e. white) in order to stop the green overwhelming the piece.

Pink



Pink is practically a staple colour for Liz Lisa. I'm pretty sure I've seen this same dress in blue but it's nice to see a maxi dress in pink. I suppose this is where the 'ethnic' part of the collection name comes into it?

There's one or two maxi dresses in this collection so definitely keep your eyes peeled for them.

Orange



I really liked these two! I prefer the outfit on the left; the little bows and the frills make the other outfit too young looking and two sweet for me. Perhaps if I was younger I could pull these off!

I'm not quite sure how orange this is supposed to be as they've filtered the page's colours. I'm hoping it'll be a peachy or pale orange. Who looks good in bright orange any way/

White



On the 'White' pages this really stood out to me. Maybe it's just me but brown and white just seems to be a Liz Lisa staple and I'm always very happy to see it pop up in any collection.

Last year there was a playsuit in Liz Lisa's S/S collection that looked really similar to this. Good news if you bought that, you can wear it again without any worries!

Blue



I love, love, love this outfit! Liz Lisa is known for being very sweet and girly and I found this refreshing.

The blue definitely stops this outfit from being too OTT sweet which I'm glad for. It's also showing that not all Liz Lisa co-ordinates need to be sickly sweet.


I'm interested in hearing what you guys thought of this collection: yay or nay?

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Gyaru Spring Colour Trends

I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could come up with co-ordinates from UK stores that would incorporate most of spring's colour trends, as per Sara's post on this at Moments Like Diamonds.

These were done just to pass the time and to see if I could actually pull something like this off!

Lipsy



Lipsy Tape Pocket Jumper in Oyster. - Pales/Pastels
Lipsy Belted Pleat Mini Skirt - Monochrome
Lipsy Patent Chain Pump - Pales (also available in black: monochrome)
Lipsy Swallow Stud Earrings - Pastels
Lipsy Pearl Bow Pendant

I concentrated on the pale/pastel trends for spring in this co-ordinate. I added the polka dotted skirt to bring in the monochrome theme and stop the outfit from being too overly girly and Liz Lisa-esque. It's really cute!

Topshop



Hieroglyphic Silk Jersey Tee - Monochrome
Black Ponyskin Skinny Belt - Monochrome
BowBelted Shorts - Monochrome
Cats Eye Sunglasses - Monochrome
ALBI Mid Ankle Boots - Monochrome
Aztec Mesh Stretch Bracelet

Monochrome is still popular as ever with Mode. A big misconception about monochrome is that it has to be smart, so I thought I'd attempt to put a co-ordinate together that's a lot more casual than it is smart!

New Look



Striped Roll Sleeve Top
Coloured Skinny Jeans - Pales/Pastels
Crochet Flower Elastic Headband - Pales/Pastels
Flower Pendant Necklace - Pales/Pastels
Oversized Oval Ring - Pales/Pastels
Mel Apple Bow Shoes - Pales/Pastels
Pastel Across Body Bag - Pales/Pastels

This is a more feminine and Liz Lisa-ish take on the pales and pastels trend. I included the jeans because Spring time isn't neccessarily warm! I absolutely adore the shoes I used in this, they're so pretty!

River Island



Beige Chelsea Girl Long Sleeve Blouse
Light Beige Chino Shorts - Pales
Light Brown Peeop Toe Brogue Books - Pales
Beige Croc Satchel - Pales
Gold Tone Eiffel Tower Necklace - Pales
Cream Pearl Heart Bracelet
Beige Chunky Cable Socks - Pales

I went straight for the pales trend for this one! I think it looks quite smart; River Island also has a beige pair of trousers that could be substituted instead of using the shorts. The colour scheme is pretty basic but I quite like this.

So there we have it; four co-ordinates using stores on the British High Street using the gyaru spring trends colour palette. How about we make this five? Show me yours!