You must have heard of Professor Hawking’s passing by now. What has he got to do with literature or fashion you may ask. Nothing really. I never read science books voluntarily and I still have no idea how I managed to get a decent grade in physics when all I did in class was daydream the hour away but when I saw this star necklace I thought of him and his insatiable fascination with the universe.
There are some girls in my village who spend their days by riverbanks, watching the world pass by, and one girl who hoards flowers of every kind. Then there are some girls, bookish girls, with pleats resting on their shoulders and floral patterns on their dresses, who have taken over the library, with their languid figures and their face full of pallor, their lips stained a light pink and scattered freckles on their cheeks.
“Her evening dresses hung in the cupboard. Clarissa, plunging her hand into the softness, gently detached the green dress and carried it to the window. She had torn it. Someone had trod on the skirt. She had felt it give at the Embassy party at the top among the folds. By artificial light the green shone, but lost its colour now in the sun. She would mend it. Her maids had too much to do. She would wear it to-night. She would take her silks, her scissors, her–what was it? — her thimble, of course, down into the drawing-room, for she must also write, and see that things generally were more or less in order.”
Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
I am not one to wear very bright colours. Usually, an all-black ensemble or muted tones like grey, cream or blush pink are my go to colours as I feel like they are less attention seeking, so I can get away with sitting on a bench somewhere, unnoticed, and find inspiration on the faces of the strangers passing by.
Have you ever read Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain? That Mann, man, he does it every time. Making me want to go live in Venice the minute I read Death in Venice and now he has convinced me to want to look funereal every day of the week because of one of the women found in The Magic Mountain, the so-called Tous-les-deux.
YAHOO! STYLE: 5 SHOW-STOPPING ACCESSORIES INSPIRED BY YOUR FAVOURITE DESIGNERS
September 28, 2016Sometimes we need more than a subtle pair of drop earrings to complete an outfit. This happens when the clothes we wear feel like blank canvases and we turn to our accessories to make a statement.
From intricately woven necklaces worn with striking white dresses — with our hair up in a messy chignon and a cat eyeliner to darken our eyes — to bold brooches worn with a classic tailored jacket, accessories can take our everyday style from mundane to magnetic.
Get inspired by the designs of some of the top fashion designers and work these five show-stopping accessories into your next outfits. Read the full article I wrote on Yahoo! Style.
I was published on Yahoo! Style UK this week! This little blog of mine, where fashion meets literature, is the world I see in my daydreams and to be published on Yahoo feels like a dream…
For Yahoo! I wrote a piece about why you have to dress elaborately this season and as always, there is a literary reason behind the post. In this case, it’s Virginia Woolf’s fault…
You can read the full story here.
Asos star print bralette (sold out); The Complete works of William Shakespeare.
“Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue’s sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd’s ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I’d give to be to you translated.
O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.”
A Mid Summer’s Night Dream, William Shakespeare.
…And so let’s wear something laden with stars and carry this Shakespearean dream with us all day…
Has Shakespeare ever inspired your fashion choices? Share your thoughts below!
I am enamoured by the musicality of certain words. Sometimes I write words because they sound good in my head, because they roll sweetly on my tongue, like Giambattista Valli, Giambattista Valli. Say it out loud and tell me it doesn’t roll on your tongue like the best Italian gelato on a summer day.
There are days when I want to hide away from the world. Donning black from head to toe, I steer clear of crowds and try to drown myself under a pile of old hardbacks. Then there are days, clear days, when I want to look as dramatic, as feminine, as a Spanish senorita.
I’m off to the museum this morning to wonder amid skeletal bones and butterflies in this cozy quilted dress and pink blush gloves; with a locket around my neck and my head already in the clouds… You can follow the day on Instagram.
How do you like to look on most days darling?
I like to look like the dark and dreary village in my head by donning soft grey and winter white. With most days spent talking to the people in my head — daydreaming and writing, writing and some more daydreaming, I tend to wear the colours that cause me the least amount of distraction.
I have donned grey Ts with a winter white pleated skirt and winter white Aran jumpers with grey shorts. I have read Anna Karenina in a grey knitted dress and told the story of Eduardo del Mar while wrapped in layers of winter white.
When everything starts to become hazy, I pair up the colours with a warm coloured shoe like burgundy or blue and go roam around the silent city for a while.
Shop the dream:
As a daydreamer, a storyteller, and an avid reader I have always sought to surround myself with elements that help me attain a dreamy state of mind and my fashion choices are a primary example. There are so many lists of fashion tips for women already written that we are all spoiled for choice, but today I invite you to be inspired by my list, showing a style that reflects the dreamy, awe inspiring and hauntingly beautiful elements found in the stories I have told you so far.
Share the dream
“So how long are you in for?” I asked the prisoner from behind the gate.
Her face was hard, as grey as her Alexander Wang dress. She took her time to acknowledge what I had asked. I stayed there, my nose skimming the iron, waiting, when she moved closer and curled her fingers through the net.
Shop the dream
Winter is welcomed in a spectacular manner in my village my darling as the circus comes and settles here for some time. You should see the villagers during this time — pacing around their houses slowly, talking in whispers, as they wait for the first reverberations of the circus crew to hit the cobblestone streets of the village.