80'S FASHION

80's Fashion. It was bold, bright, and had a bigger personality than the people wearing it. 

(Album cover for one of Hungary's most popular disco groups, Neoton Família, Minek Ez A Cirkusz?, 1986)

Typical 80's fashion, consisting of bright colours, big hair and statement jewellery. 

(Terry and Dale Bozzio in People Weekly, November 1984)

(New Wave band, Strawberry Switchblade 1985)

(80s Coca-Cola commercial)

(Popular 80s curly hairstyle)

When you think of 80's fashion generally you automatically think about spandex leggings, baggy tops, leg warmers and neon. But that wasn't the only trend. Fashion was heavily influenced by music and here were many subcultures contributed to the trends of the 80's including: New Age Travellers, Grunge and Riot Girls, Indie Kids and Cuties, Goths, Ravers, New Romantics, Cyber Punks, Pervs, Casuals, Psychobillies, Raggamuffins and Two-Tone. 

SKELETON MAKE-UP

So today, apart from bonding with my cats,  i did my sisters make-up for a Halloween party tonight. I feel like Cinderella, staying in while my sister is off out. It's my first attempt at 'horror' make-up, but i think it looks alright. Especially as i had no time to do it, she's always leaving things to the last minute! 

For this look i used Snazaroo White make-up, luckily we already had it in the house! And seen as though we didn't have any black face paint i had to improvise. I got out my massive make-up collection of old eye shadows, cheap eyeliners and others of sorts. I managed to create a sort of black watercolour-esque paint using black eyeshadow and a cheap mascara. So considering the lack of materials it's quite decent. 

Paired with one of my mum's old suits and dad's wedding bow tie, as well as big hair of course. She definitely looked the best at the party. If i do say so myself!

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 020

001. So i am now at home! I was supposed to be getting the train back to Whitehaven tomorrow but i just couldn't last that long. My sister came up to visit me on friday for the weekend. Partly to motivate me to do some work, and also to go to a vintage fair. It was one of those £15 for a kilo things. I got a few nice pieces, my sister got a lot more! I did spend £45. Ah, that's my whole weeks budget! I didn't get too many things it was just this bag i found that must've weighed a good 2 kilos! It looked ancient. The majority of what i bought was 80's style clothing. As i'm basing one of my projects on the 80's when i saw some bright purple M C Hammer pants and a patterned bomber jacket, i couldn't resist. Maybe some photoshoot inspiration....

002. This week has been quite busy, so much work so little time! This fashion guide project is quite worrying, i need photoshop! Desperately. I am a little confused, i just need to write a plan. It'll make me feel better. I have the fashion guide, the shop report, 1000 word essay, questionnaire, and blogging to do. Ah!

003. So as we're all off home this weekend for reading week my flatmates decided to go for a goodbye meal. We were originally going to go to Nation of Shopkeepers but it was too full, i did see Cain Dingle from Emmerdale though ha! We went to this pretty Mexican Restaurant next door, it was quite pricey for a meal, £11ish for enchiladas when it's usually less than that for my weekly shop! Thank god for Zoe's 30% discount! 

004. After the vintage fair and arriving back at my flat. I looked on facebook and saw all my friends talking about their night out for Halloween, i couldn't hack staying in Leeds while everyone else was having fun. I love Halloween. So i decided to cut my sisters visit (two days short) and get the next train. I have never rushed so much in my life. 15 minutes until the taxi would arrive to pack. I did make it back home for 9:15pm though which is good. I spend the 4 hour train journey in the toilets shaving my legs and fake tanning. Getting dressed and shouted at my old drunk men for hogging to toilet. Straight from the train to Jess's house. My god i was a state, i had a really good night! I didn't have a costume at such short notice so Matthew helped me out with that one and drowned my ear with fake blood. It was good to see all my friends again, i can't wait to be back for Christmas! 

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Grace's Masterpiece, My favourite daily meal, Jellyfish, Playing with the scanner, again, Pumpkin, Dr. Martins Photoshoot, Not really fitting in, New books from the library, Bacon Bree and Cranberry, Even more books for research, 80's fashion research, goth, Mexican night, Enchiladas, Pretty Restaurant, Foundation heart, Cutest logo ever, Skype, Redoing my work for the third time.

 

80'S STYLE BRIEF

Yet another project brief set today. This one is for Context of practice and involves a lot of blogging! There were 4 specific areas in which you could choose from, Sustainability, Gender and Identity, Craft and Iconic Fashion Decades. I was considering doing Sustainability but then opted for Iconic Fashion Decades as i thought it would be a lot more interesting. My decade of choice is the 80's, naturally i straight away proclaimed to choose the 1920's but i think i've done that one to death. So i thought a change would be nice! At the end of the project we should have made a garment to post about, i'm quite excited to see what i come up with! (I'm thinking leather, with big shoulders). 

SPOOKY IMAGE MANIPULATION

So for my Fashion Practice and Methodologies project, we had to create mood boards to later decide what we were doing to explore further for our Fashion Guide brief. It came down to 3 choices, mine were Jellyfish/Marine Life, Fungi/Mould and Soul/Death. Death is definitely more my kind of thing, for example my Final Major Project for College, here and here. Which was based on Fetish, Torture and Murder; i would love to do something like that again but to go in my portfolio it would look to similar. And i didn't want to get into the mindset of my previous project and come out with a complete copy. So i chose Fungi, not my type of style at all. But it's a challenge, and something new!

Anyways, these are a few images i was playing round with last night (whilst i should have been doing actual work). They would have been perfect for Soul! They're so scary! I guess it's in-keeping with Halloween which is approaching very quickly. Hmmm, i'll find a way to use them at some point. The first one is my favourite. 

LEEDS DIGITAL FASHION WEEK!

I made it on the site! Yay! First featured on day 6. I think carrying out a street style for future projects can be very useful and inspiring. So i might consider doing it again!

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 019

001. This week has been so busy it's real! I have a huge amount of work to do. Urgh, it's so depressing. So i apologise that i don't have anything to talk about. I have literally spent my week working and skyping. I've left my room 3 times the entire weekend. I'm such a perfectionist, my work needs to be perfect. I've already re-done my work twice and i'm really considering re-doing it again. It's just not good enough.

002. Can't even write anything because i have nothing. And i'm stressed. 

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Fab Cafe, Dylan and Moi, All my sister does is send me photos of Pumpkin, Jellyfish Painting, Sleepy Pumpkin, Curious Pumpkin, H&M discount haul, Topshop Discount haul, Giant chess, Leeds buildings, and again, Dylan's and my last meal before he leaves me, Getting productive in my lecture, Creepy derelict building, Sketchbook work, Old books are the best, Worm sex, Skyping with the kitties!

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 018

001. I've been in a crappy mood all week. Since my friends leaving i've just felt really lonely. I have quite a bit of work to do too which isn't making matters any better. 

002. After sulking all day thursday because Dylan said he couldn't come visit me until friday i was in an awful mood. He kept texting me about how he wasn't going to make the train in time anyway and how i shouldn't be mad at him. I was still grumpy. So i put The Ricky Gervais Show on and tried to have a nap. Dylan rang me when i was just falling asleep asking me what i was doing that night. I thought he was just trying to be nice but it was digging the knife in. I was just about to tell him to get off the phone as i wanted to sleep, until he told me he was outside my flat... Absolute chufties. Visited the museum (again), and ate at out favourite spot. A mini-cafe in the market. Super cheap. 

003. We went out on saturday night to Halo, well we tried to anyway. The queue was so big we were waiting for over an hour. So me and Dylan decided to just go to town instead. We went to Fab Cafe, i've been wanting to go there since i moved. It's so cool inside! It looks like an underground superhero lair. It's like a mini-museum full of memorabilia of comics and old sci-fi films. It was fun, though the drink prices were horrendous! £5.30 for a double vodka and coke. Christ. 

004. Topshop Trinity opened this past week, it is huge, like crazy big. Obviously not as big as Oxford street but the second biggest in the country! There is so many nice things in at the moment. I want everything! As part of their opening celebrations they were giving out gift cards arounds Leeds with £5-£500 on them, and you had to take them to the shop to see how much it was worth. Obviously i was going to get a £5 one. I went back again, and got £5. My lucky boyfriend however won £50! Not £500, but it's still great. He gave it to me, yay. I got a lovely cream floral embroidered blouse, a cat t-shirt, a collar necklace, a tote bag, a lipstick, lipstain and nail polish. A good day!

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Ugly Faces, Normal faces, Oceana, Work time, Bathed Pumpkin, I love her, Light reading for my project, A little more street style, Constantly looking for inspiration, Picked myself a rose because i'm lonely and romantic, More photos of Pumpkin from my sister, Angry girl, Ricky Gervais show and naptime, Romantic meal for two, Squirrel Pepper, New favourite Chicken Bacon Cheese Cranberry, Cute Dylan and a cat, Yet another museum day, ..., My boyfriend, I should really do buy food. 

 

LEEDS STREET STYLE

Part of my Person and Professional Practice brief, I had to go out into Leeds city centre and capture the 'Leeds Style' through Street Style photos and a select few from my course would be put on The City Talking website as part of Leeds digital Fashion week 15th-21st. These are the some of the people that i found. I think i got a couple of nice images, not all of them are ideal. Number 4 is my favourite. 

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 017

001. It has been quite a good week. We started our project for Fashion Practice and Methodologies, and so far we're just making lots of mood boards. I really need to improve my layout skills! At the end of the project we should have completed a "fashion guide", can't say i'm entirely sure on what that is but, i'll find out eventually. I also got my Context of Practice brief, which is to create a T-shirt reflecting your personality. I'm not looking forward to that, mine will probably consist of cats. Typically. 

002. This week we were set a task to go out in to Leeds and take Street Style photos of fashionable, diverse looking people. At first i was quite embarrassed to go up and ask people, but it wore off. Some Gangsta looking guy was quite weird about it though, "No, baby. No." all up in my face. He must've been a fugitive. I only ended up getting 6 but i'll try to get more next week. 

003. There were a couple of Student lock-ins this week, i wasn't really too bothered about going. I don't want to spend money. But i gave in. The Urban Outfitters one was my favourite, free drinks, a band and photographers flying round. But even with a 20% discount i just couldn't spend all that money on clothes. The stuff was so nice though! I did treat myself to some Suede Flatforms from RiverIsland mind. My friends from home came to visit me on yesterday for Chelsea's Birthday night out so i needed some sort of height. Can't hack staying out until 5ish in hells, it's crazy. 

004. It was a good night out. We decided to go to Oceana, i'd not been before but i had heard it was chav central. It was actually really good, it's massive inside, there is like 7 bars in it so you couldn't get bored. Walking through each one, i actually felt like i was walking into a different country. I wanted to sit in Paris, but it was too full. It looking a bit like a brothel, with red velvet curtains, tassels and old dim lights. I was a bit gutted that some people wanted to go home at like 1am though, we'd only been there for just over an hour! I wanted to stay until 5! Anyway, it was sad seeing my friends leave. I didn't want them to go ha. I didn't notice until they came that people aren't the same here. I'm so excited to go back for reading week! 

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Homemade Thai Yellow Curry, Imogen's Birthday meal at Pizza Express, Street Style, Best Meal Ever, New Flatforms from the student lock-in, H&M student lock-in haul, Strawberry vanilla and Red Velvet cupcakes for Chelsea's birthday, Leeds Lights Festival, Mojo Cocktails, Round 2, Caitlin's face, Museum day, Leeds Architecture, Details, Sleepy Pumpkin, Yates, My friends are here! Naomi, Chelsea, She carried that round all night, Birthday Girl. 

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 016

001. It has been a pretty boring week again at Uni, just inductions for literally everything you could think of. I can't wait to start actual work! I'm not looking forward to using the sewing machines though, my god, they are so fast. Definitely going to sew my fingers soon enough.

002. Dylan came to visit this weekend, it was fun! We visited the art gallery and we all went out to Nation of Shopkeepers last night. It's really nice inside, it reminds me of this little place i went to in london. But the drink prices are unbelievable. £4 odd for a cider. Only one drink for me last night! After, we regrettably went to Players. Last time i went was on a Tuesday and it was good! (minus the dutch girl trying to steal my bag, and shoes...) But this time it was actual shit, so expensive and full of chavs. I did wack out a few Jenna Marbles dance moves to lighten the mood, but there was just no saving it. Hungover as hell.

003. I did buy some pretty things from a charity market this weekend. £2 for the brooch and £5 for the purse! And i went to TGIFridays, it was amazing! Sweet Potato fries are my favourite thing ever.

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Ugliest thing at the carboot sale, Michael Jackson Doll, Suck My Teet, Unfortunate branding, Chips and Curry sauce, Sleepy kitty, Travelling back to Leeds in this lovely weather, My new favourite necklace, Lonely night in, Lost teeny stretcher replaced by 3 paperclips, Most awful 3 hour lecture on how to empty a recycling bin using a mac, Lovely typical Leeds weather, Meal for two, Fancy Cocktails with Caitlin, Yes, Cutest salt and pepper shakers from Cath Kidston, Visitor, Nation of Shopkeepers, Beautiful terrace, Guess Who session, Museum day, TGIFridays Monster burger, Charity shop find, again. 

Ps. I have been needing to post this for ages! But unfortunately i no longer have photoshop, boo. So i put off posting because i couldn't resize it.  I've given in. 

SUNDAY PORTRAIT WEEK 015

001. Oh hello there. It hasn't half been a boring week! I have been bored beyond belief! I'd say i haven't done any less than i usually would do but i was expecting to be busy, and i was looking forward to it. God, i actually want work to do! I'm really excited to crack on with some projects and the tutors seem so nice. We even had a tea-party on my first day. 

002. I think i've been a pretty crappy fresher this week. I've only been out twice since i moved in. I think Tuesday was my favourite night though. It was the LCA freshers party in Hifi, awful party. I left within half an hour! My feet were killing me, the place was expensive and it was dead. I wasn't the only one who decided to leave Sarah (my flatmate) joined me. We got hustled into buying some bullshit tickets for Chilli Whites, sold them on in less than 2 minutes and ran through the town meeting many strange drunk characters. We ended up in Players which i really liked, mainly because of the 2 triple vodka and cokes for £5 deal! But what i didn't enjoy was some Danish drug girl trying to steal my handbag and shoes from me TWICE! Thinking it was hers apparently, I'm suspicious. A Russian man did put his "Russian Bazooka" (as he called it) in Sarah's hand as a surprise. Actual sexual harassment, but it was amusing. Then i trashed my room.

003. Thursday night wasn't as good. It was a Geek themed dress-up party at Evolution. It was shit, to put it lightly. My feet kept sticking to the floor, it was chavy and i was sober. The music was awful too. I did get two drinks bought for me though, even if they were from a couple of losers/perverts. I swear if my friend hadn't been with me there would have been an attempted rape "Let's go for a private dance outside?" Nah!

004. By the weekend i just couldn't hack it. I missed home and i was in an awful mood. There's no point sat moping round, i may as well do something about it! I did miss Judy's Vintage Weekender though :( But i got to see my Boyfriend and my Kitties! There seem to be vintage events on all the time so hopefully net time i won't miss out! 

005. Being at home was fun, we all went to Silloth Carboot sale this morning. It wasn't very big but i did manage to pick up a few items. My favourite being a gold candelabra to display my bracelets and what not. The charity shops in Silloth were surprisingly good this time. I got 3 cream shirts for £4.50, a blue velvet dress and floral top for £4 and my sister got an orange African shirt and fur coat for £7!  House At The End of the Street tonight! 

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Cute Ikea stickers for the kitchen, Enrolment Tea-Party, Gammon and Bad Girls Club, Turkish Crocheted Slippers from Dylan, Student Union Welcome Pack, Rapey Russian, Trashed Bedroom after a night out, Horrible horrible Milkshake, Skype with Pumpkin, And Morticia, Finally i have received my first parcel, Mushy eggs and bacon, Nandos with the Fashion Girls, Exploring Leeds, My Beautiful Boyfriend, Caitlin Man-hunting, The classiest way to drink Frosty Jacks, Geek Party, My Doll, What is this magnificent machine?, Milk and Vodka anyone?, Skype, Dylan, Coming home for the weekend!, Sat next to this guy, My glamourous assistant, Welcome home meal.