Emily Du Jour

Friday, 18 November 2011

Christmas Jumpers!

That's right folks Christmas jumpers are totally on trend right now... the tackier the better it would seem...

I snapped the above picture at Primark in the menswear section.

So last week i joined the W.I !! That's right, i am now part of the local Womens Institute.
We made beaded snowflake decorations & i have to say i am extremely proud of mine.. no idea what i'm going to do with it mind (it doesn't match my glittery Christmas tree theme you see)..

Isn't it pretty?
Possibly the most crafty item i have ever made in my entire life! And i'm not sure that i'll ever be able to make another one without being told exactly what to do.. But still i'm impressed with it!

Also don't be fooled, this was extremely hard to make! Very intricate!!

May i also point out that the W.I i have joined is a "younger / hip " version of the old womens club! I'm quite excited because i'd wanted join a W.I group for some time, but there hadn't been any suitable looking ones until this new one started.

Next month we're making Christmas wreathes so watch this space!!

Aswell after talking to the leader of the group , she made a really good point that our generation has kind of missed out on learning skills that our grandparents etc would have learnt such as needlework / knitting and so on.. So it's nice that we can go to groups like this to learn these kind of skills.

XOXO

Halloween

So since i have been a bit AWOL from my blog i just realised i totally missed out on posting my Halloween outfit this year...

This year i was a witch.. a witch with a jaunty hat. (purchased from Accessorize).
Complete with glittery bat tattoo transfers ( also Accessorize).
I just had a little get together with friends at my house, which of course i decorated..

(complete with a little familiar !)

Fabulously British Christmas

Have yourself a FABULOUSLY BRITISH Christmas with Jack Wills..
i'm quite disappointed because i haven't received their catalogue for a while now & i'm not quite sure why..
Anyway i've just had a quick look through their website & they have some DELIGHTFUL new pieces in stock since i last looked... not that i can afford their over priced stock now, but still it's nice to browse..

I just realised i can't actually copy & paste any pictures from their website so this is going to be a rather dull post after all...
Go have a look for yourselves at all the fabulously British over priced items! Ha!

Offensive?

Is the above image OFFENSIVE to you?
Well the Advertising standards agency have banned yet another fashion advert for the reason that the above image is glamorizing anorexia & that Drop Dead Clothing's website was "socially irresponsible" for having such a thin model..

Their statement :

“We considered that in combination with the stretched out pose and heavy eye make-up, the model looked underweight in the pictures. We noted that Drop Dead’s target market was young people.We considered that using a noticeably skinny model with visible hip, rib, collar and thigh bones, who wore heavy make-up and was posed in ways that made her body appear thinner, was likely to impress upon that audience that the images were representative of the people who might wear Drop Dead’s clothing, and as being something to aspire to. Therefore, while we considered the bikini and denim short images might not cause widespread or serious offence, we concluded they were socially irresponsible.”

Is the model really glamorizing anorexia?
I do feel sorry for the model, having adverts banned for the fact that your body is deemed unacceptable to be in an advert can't be nice.

I feel like there's more to be considered when ad's like this get banned.. Ok yes she does look a bit too thin.. however that doesn't necessarily mean that she's unhealthy & also there would be uproar if there was an ad banned where it depicted a size 16 girl with love handles if it were deemed to be glamorizing obesity. ( not that i'm saying size 16 is obese.. i'm just trying to make a point, that if it was the other side of the scale other people wouldn't be happy).

But yes, maybe models should all be "healthy looking" sizes.

The website state that the model is in fact a healthy UK size 8... i kind of find it hard to believe that she is when she looks so thin.. anyways they have said that they actually find it offensive that people have been so offended by a size 8 model which is a "normal" size.

Is the picture offensive? No , not in my opinion.. however i do believe that it is sending out the wrong message, especially to impressionable young girls who may see this & think they should therefore be that thin...

XOXO

Designer Totes.

How much would you pay for a designer canvas tote bag?
This one to be precise -

Is $300 for a canvas tote (Anya Hindmarch FYI) just a tad too much?! YES. yes it is. Unless your a millionaire.. in which case, well why are you even buying canvas totes when you can have a collection of Mulberry & Louis Vuitton leather handbags?!

Why would anyone pay that price when they could buy a nice leather handbag ? That is beyond me.. however i must assume that it is purely down to the fact that it is DESIGNER, that cute little bow is a status symbol - a "look i can afford designer goods" type of status.

XOXO

Oh Lola!

OK so i'm a little bit behind with this news story.. and i have been a bit slow at updating this blog in the past month or so.. however i'm back!

SO.. Marc Jacobs landed himself in a bit of bother with the UKs Advertising Standards Authority, as they ruled his advert for his new perfume Oh Lola! 'too suggestive' & ordered it to be pulled..
So what was wrong with the advert exactly?

According to the regulatory body, ‘the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality. Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualize a child.’

Hollywood starlet Dakota Fanning is stunning, however only 17 years old which is the problem.
I can see where they are coming from, but it's hardly indecent.
Marc Jacobs is known for his controversy though & he's certainly caused another stir with this.

I have to say though i have seen this advert printed in magazines & i never thought anything of it, i've certainly seen worse. However her age is definitely the problem here.

Were the ASA right in their ruling??

Is this really a dress?!

I have to say i don't watch TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex) so i actually have no idea who this orange looking girl is..apart from she's called Lauren Pope & she turned upto the Twilight Breaking Dawn premier wearing THAT - which is really just a satin sheet really?!
I mean is there any need to dress like that? I despair..

Versace for H&M

So yesterday saw the launch of the Versace for H&M collection, with items ranging from £19.99 right up to £199.99.
Donatella herself was present at the launch in the Regent St store in London, where some shoppers had even camped out all night to be first to get their hands on these pieces of clothing.
Shoppers were only allowed to buy one size of each garment, despite this of course items have already popped up on EBay for double or triple the prices that they were in the shop..
The H&M website of course was inundated & crashed, the Versace collection is now totally sold out.

I have to say i was very disappointed that my local store didn't receive the collection, not that i could afford any of it..
I do really like the fact that designers such as Versace are teaming up with high street brands to launch collections like these, as it does mean that you can own something designer without the massively hefty price tag. However the major problem with this is that a lot of people will buy lots of items and then stick them on EBay, although i'm not sure there's anyway to get around that unfortunately.

As for the collection itself, it's bold & bright! I actually would have bought a few things had i the money to do so..

Although i have just read about how the shops stocking the collection had "rules" -
Only 20 people were allowed into the stores at a time, each group of 20 only had 15 minutes in which to shop . I guess this makes it less of a complete free for all.. but still i'm not sure i would have been bothered to queue and then only having 20 minutes would make you feel pressured to buy something ANYTHING! Just because you'd been through the effort of all of that, you could hardly walk out empty handed?!