Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Hello lovelies,

I have been having a rather jolly time - it was Mr FF and my first Christmas spent together. So we got the tree and decked the halls and of course were well a truly spoilt!

So this post is to share with you a few lovely presents I received, our tree and just general Christmassyness! :)

Our Christmas Tree
A cosy tartan rug

Some very lovely tea sets and china. I am a big fan of Tea-pot-tea (said as one word!) Fun to say and the best way to drink tea.These books are marvellous - I highly recommend them. And a beautiful bird print scarf.

Thank you to my family, boyfriend and friends for these wonderful presents. I hope you all had great Christmases and got everything you wished for. But hasn't time flown? I feel this year has just whooshed by... It is already new years eve and this blog's 2nd Birthday tomorrow! I hope you have all had a good 2011 and I promise to be more vocal in the new year!!

Very best wishes,
Fashion Fantasist xx

Pop-Up Christmas

A lovely Pop-up shop has, well, Popped-Up in Cabot Circus this month...

This year, the run up to Christmas has seen over 100 local artists come together as part of ‘Pop-Up Bristol’ - a new initiative from Made in Bristol that has showcased a diverse range of independent galleries and creative talent on the high street for the first time, adding a new dimension to Christmas shopping at Cabot Circus this year. The pop-ups offer the opportunity to purchase quality gifts and one-off pieces by up-and-coming artists.

Drawn in Bristol is a newly formed, locally focused illustration collective which hosts regular events & shows in the city. The collective has 50 members and celebrates the work of Bristol based illustrators by providing them with a platform to showcase their work. Their stunning shop can be found in Quakers Friars and features original illustrations, prints and cards, handmade toys and locally designed T-shirts.

‘Upfest’, established in 2008 and now Europe’s largest graffiti art festival, adds a new dimension to Level 1 of the Glass Walk in Cabot Circus with an urban art and graffiti gallery, ‘POP-UPfest’. As well as urban style artworks, the gallery will feature Bristol street art photography and weekly live drawing events.

Along with these, the ‘Smithson Gallery’ pop-up provides a platform for a variety of talented artists and styles, offering original art and prints alongside great cards and original gift ideas including bags, cushions, tea towels, ceramics and decoration.

Pop-Up Bristol will be hosting a party to celebrate the one-month countdown to Christmas on Thursday November 24th at 6pm across their three temporary festive galleries at Cabot Circus!

The event will offer guests a fantastic opportunity to see and purchase all the brilliant artworks the shops have on offer and will also feature live drawing and music. There will also be a chance to meet all of the diverse and talented artists involved in the project along with some exciting special guests.

So if you are around in Cabot this Christmas season make sure you Pop by! They will be open as follows:
POP-UPfest: Open now - 24th December (level1, Glass Walk)
Drawn in Bristol: Open now - 3rd December (Quakers Friars)
Smithson Gallery and Gifts: Open now - 24th December (Level 1, Glass Walk)
Bristol Creatives: Open now - 24th December (Quakers Friars)

For more information check it out here!

Best wishes,
Fashion Fantasist xx

P.S I am really excited about Christmas! :)

It's oh so quiet.... shhhhh shhhhh

Right it is time to blow the dust off this blog and banish the tumbleweeds and get with the programme! I have no good excuse for my lack of activity and can only apologise for being dull and say thank you to those followers who have not left out of sheer boredom!!!

I have a few dozen posts lined up but I should probably fill you in with what I have been up to...

As you know I finally managed to get a paid office job at the end of February. I shall not divulge the company name but I was there with an agency on a temporary bases. On 1st June I was offered a role within the company to work permanently and I started on 1st July! I am currently 2 months in to my 3 month probation period and I feel it is going well. I enjoy working with the people I work with and I think that is what counts... My hours are also pretty cool 9am - 4pm, which means I have actually had some time to draw :) I also am really enjoying office wear = smart/casual can be lots of fun and I am also becoming more experimental with my weekend style. I hope to incorporate some style snaps for you on this blog going forward.

(Yes this is a work shirt... Tucked in to a black pencil skirt it looks pretty cool!)

Mr Fashion Fantasist and I also have two new little members of our family in the shape of two very mischievous kittens who , I'm not going to lie, keep us on our toes. They are Bea and Rosie. Bea is the runt of the litter and is a tiny, black short hair and Rosie, her sister, is a black long hair. At this very moment I have both of them sitting on my knee batting at my fingers on the keys and the screen. Most of the time they can be adorable but they can be little terrors as Mr FF found at his peril when they chewed through his skype head set whilst he was mid conversation.... ooops!! But look at their little faces - you can't be mad for long! They also seem to have some sort of death wish throwing themselves up and down the stairs...
Stairs? Yes you read correctly! Mr FF and I have moved out of our one bed ground floor flat in to a two bedroom house! Yay! To be honest I am just as excited about the stairs as the kittens!! Hehe! It is still rented but it is a lovely Victorian mid terrace house with features, a garden and I have converted the second bedroom in to a bit of a studio space, which I plan to shut myself away in whenever I come home from work. However coming from a one bed flat in to a house one notices a severe lack of furniture so I have become a tad obsessed with interiors at the moment and I think my Tumblr blog will start to reflect this... I need to buy a scanner, mine went to scanner heaven, as I have a big box of image clippings I plan to share with you on that blog!

Front room
Bed room
Second bedroom/Studio!

Anyway that's the life update over... I am very much looking forward to writing a few posts I have lined up and sharing with you my Autumn favourites that are now in the shops. But for now, how are you? and what have I missed?

Speak Soon!!
Best wishes,
Fashion Fantasist xx

204 Gloucester Rd

On Wednesday evening (15/06/11) after a mildly stressful day at the office Mr FF and I headed up Gloucester road for an 'evening with designers/artists at Charlie Boots'. Charlie is a Bristol based ethical fashion designer and now has a lovely unique shop on Gloucester road. She has a lovely mix of her own fashion and pieces from other artists. It had photography by Michael Reeves and Deborah Weinrab on the walls and the window display was by illustrator Kirk Stacey. Charlie informed me that she is interested in local artists using her window to display their work and create interesting and varied window displays. She is also keen to allow other ethical designers exhibit their work on her rails for limited periods to help raise awareness for other ethical fashion brands.

The shop was great and there was not only clothing and bags but jewellery, furniture, clocks made from vinyl and beautiful pottery. If you get the chance to pop up Gloucester road (a must do anyway as there are some wonderful vintagey shops) please do stop by Charlie Boots. She is also running workshops where you can learn to sew dresses, skirts, bags, cushions, underwear, purses or textile art with experienced and skilled tutors. To find out more about this service go to the 'news' section of her website.

Enjoy

Fashion Fantasist xx

Pull Yourself Together

This is something I plan to do in regards to this blog because I have been negligent and I am sorry!!!

But on a brighter note I would like to talk more about Pippa Stewart who's collections were featured in the Fairwear Fashion Show in March. I was able to catch up with Pippa and find out about the inspirations behind her collection 'Pull Yourself Together' and 'Operculum' created with Ashleigh McPherson and her views on fairtrade. 'My inspiration for 'Pull Yourself Together' was a number of things, first of all, over the summer of 2010 I was obsessed with the film 'An Education' by Lone Schervig. I particularly loved a scene in which the main character took a trip to Paris, the dress she was wearing was so sophisticated and feminine. I also have a passion for Vintage clothing and fabric, which i tend to collect from local charity shops whenever I have time to spare. So when i came across the floral fabric (featured within the collection), that teamed with a visit to David Austen Roses LTD in Brighton-inspired a 1950'sesque look for the 'Pull Yourself Together' collection. The collection I did with Ashleigh was the 'Operculum Collection' in which a group of six designers teamed together and focused on various areas of the collection. Operculum was inspired by garments from the era of World War 1 and the Women's Land Army, then mixed with a contemporary feel. The idea of the collection was to be based on classic designs, sustainable and interchangeable, with detachable collars and buttons. Each garment was to be treasured by its wearer in the way garments would have been in World War 1. As a group we disagreed with the issues of commercial highstreet shops generating 'disposable' clothing that is worn a few times and then thrown away.For Operculum we used 100% cottons and silk habotai all Fairtrade and we aimed to use wools found from local Alpaca farms in the West Country. The actual patterns for the garments hardly created any wastage and if there was any to spare after, the off-cuts were turned into gaiters and collars. All the embroidery throughout the collection is 100% sustainable by Gunold, who use renewable resources to create their range of embroidery threads.

I feel Fairtrade is very important because it generates better working conditions and fair terms for local farmers who produce cotton and other materials for the Fashion Industry. It also creates sustainability within local communities and that's why its important to be sustainable within fashion. With all the fabrics, patterns, trims and clothes found sat and unused in charity shops, why should we use even more energy and resources creating something new when we haven't even utilized the mass of resources we already have.'

I think these collections are both lovely and I really admire Pippa's thoughts on Fairtrade. I will definitely be keeping an eye open for what Pippa and Ashleigh do next!

Pippa has two blogs one for Pull Yourself Together and the other for Operculum.

I promise to have more frequent posts and I have a couple lined up soon!!

Best wishes,
Fashion Fantasist xx

Spot Of Tea?

Well it was my Birthday yesterday (5/1/11) and thank you for my birthday wishes! Had a lovely day and got very spoilt - which is always a good thing on a birthday.

I visited Bristol Aquarium, I had never been. It was really great - lots of different types of exhibits from fresh water to the Amazon and the Coral Reef. Here are a few snaps I took.I also received a wonderful array of gifts and felt truly spoilt... I will share with you some of my favorites.

A lovely Tea Set from the Boyfriend - I do love Teapot Tea (say it as one word very satisfying!)
And the beautiful frame in the background.And two sweet dotty tops from my parents.

There is also a mysterious present that is yet to arrive due to delivery so I am interested to see what that will be. I also got given some fruity and floral bath stuff and yummy chocs!

Hope you are all well
Best Wishes
Fashion Fantasist xx

Mary Katrantzou SS11

Back to the delights of London Fashion Week... Did I mention I am a novice!?

Well going in and out of the Newgen huts I got to see Mary Katrantzou's collection up close and personal. I think I fell in love a little bit. The colours, the detail, the photographic quality of the prints. For me personally it was perfection!

(This dress is called Serendipity and I think it's my Favorite!)

The inspiration was interiors and each print was made up of different rooms - dining rooms, foyers, sitting rooms, patios - it was lovely to see symmetrical details like flowers and chairs. The prints came first but with the pattern cutting interior objects just lent themselves to the silhouette - lamps, curtain drapes, fringes and pelmets. I really like the whimsy of the lampshade skirts there is something innocent and playful about it. Chandelier necklaces and fringes of beads also added a very literal touch that just made it strangely elegant.As you can probably tell I could probably rave about this collection for ever - if I could have put something on and run away in it I think I would have given it a go... And not just the one thing... Gabby in Desperate Housewives style... (Watch clip to understand the reference!) Unfortunately I didn't go to the show but here are some pictures from Style.com.Speak Soon!
Fashion Fantasist xx

Imagination

Sarah-Jayne Guest is a recent graduate from Loughborough University in Printed Textile Design. She has worked for design brands such as Elle and Selfridges and has now launched her own - SJGuest Designs. At the beginning of July I came across an interview with Sarah Guest and instantly fell for her artistic flare. Her work combines mixture of random objects in a drawn playful style. Here is a selection of her print works and soft furnishings.
I contacted Sarah because I wished to know what led her to such interesting playful outcomes and where she found her inspiration. "Lots of inspiration! The collection is called imagination, it aims to be fun and has no serious undertones. I mix together imagery from a variety of sources, boot sales, markets and occasionally the zoo. - I love the work of Alan Aldridge and Missoni. They have been strong influences and inspiration. Other than that it has really just been about having fun. - I love interiors and the ideal of making a house a home so I guess that explains the application."

Here is the chair cushions that first caught my eye in The Guardian.
Hope you have found these beautiful and inspirational - personally I like to try and find all the different objects in the prints - they are such fun!

Speak Soon
Fashion Fantasist xx