Bernhard Willhelm AW 2012-13

If there is one collection that has a vast selection of my favourite socks and tights for this Autumn/winter it has to be Bernhard Willhelm! I have had these images for ages and now I also have the images for next season so I need to get on with it and show you my favourites from the A/W 2012. You will have seen a couple of examples of the footwear on my Fox in Socks post a few weeks back, so you already know I have an obsession with the socks and tights! The whole collection is quite wearable, I have lots of the slouchy jackets, oversized tees (and of course the socks and tights), much more wearable than the menswear from the same collection, which is really creative, but a few too many unfunctional items (bare chest cut outs being one of them) that are not too Autumn winter friendly, or most men I know, friendly, let's use the word avant garde....I will show you a few chosen pieces from the menswear range too as there are some great pieces. There had been a lot of haters for this collection on pinterest, I am loving it, of course, attracted by the clashing prints, bright colours and big shapes as usual. People seem to take things so literally, you don't have to wear the whole look from head to toe!

Wrap Coats

Slouchy jersey with tasselled layers

Mix Print layers

Punk Mohair jumpers

 
Asymmetric leggings, graphic prints and sportluxe boots

Mix print jersey tasselled mash up!

Mix prints tailored V sportluxe

Camouflage sportluxe zip up jackets with shorts

 
Menswear mix print mash up

Snood style hoodie and Bernhard Willhelm!

To sum this collection up I would have to compare the very wearable women's wrap coats with the full on aztec jumper and leggings from the menswear range, this is no way the most outrageous item from the menswear range but it is definitely one of the pieces that caught my eye. The look is mostly for the very brave but as I always say, just take elements from it, apart from the socks and tights, I really want the wrap coats, mohair knits and the jersey tops, it all looks pretty warm and comfortable which is something I need during the British winter. It seems that long hair for men and women is a big thing for this look, so I am glad I am growing my hair, although I'm hoping my husband Phil does not become inspired to grow that long two tone beard! When in Bristol.........ND xx
 

 

 

The Bang DJs at Hoochie Coochie....and all the clowns have gone to bed....

I am currently getting my latest costume and a collection of vinyl ready for a magnificent Halloween Ball hosted by the Hoochie Coochie at no less than the Bristol Museum tomorrow night....If it's good enough for Banksy, it's good enough for me!!! I still haven't managed to post about the last time the Bang DJs kicked out the jams at Hoochie Coochie so I best get my skates on before I have even more images to show you.

Please click on all images to enlarge.

The below images are from The Hoochie Coochie Circus Child Ball which took place in the Invisible Circus Big Top  in September (this is the second Big Top we have DJ'd in the first being at The Big Chill Festival, but now I'm just name dropping...) It was a great night and I have chosen to show you the more candid or backstage shots taken by myself and Phil as we got ready and roamed the event. Expect clowns, Dr Seuss style bikers, circus performers, strong men and Steampunks.

 

 

The last pics are of me walking home after a night of DJing, dancing and drinking. I am wearing half of my clown suit, carrying the strong men's weights (in one hand no less) and I appear to wearing sunglasses at night..........
My brother was confused that I was actually managing to pull this look off, he the said I was dressed like one of The Slits (kick ass all girl punk band and style icons) I was nothing but complimented by this statement...ND xx

www.hoochiecoochiekabaret.com
www.facebook.com/bangbristol
 



No Debutante - Such an inbetweener

Hey hey! It's time to take a look at what I've been wearing lately in my first personal style post since my Post Pregnancy Posts - It's too early for that dress - came to an end. 

 I couldn't decide on/ come up with a new name for my personal style posts so it shall be named No Debutante after the blog, it's a little lazy of me but if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

The full name of this particular post is No Debutante - Such an inbetweener, a line taken from a 90s Britpop record by Sleeper and although I guess I am a bit of an inbetweener in the (my) fashion world it's just a good word to use instead of transitional fashion, meaning inbetween seasons. I personally found it hard enough to let go of my socks and layers and now you're telling me I have to put them all on again? I'd argue if I wasn't so bloody cold.....

 

Last days of summer and farewell to bare legs...It took me most of the Summer to pluck up the courage to go bare legged!! Above pic was taken at Legoland, this was the second outfit of the day after I got a soaking on the Log Flume, after queueing up for over an hour! I call this look The New-wave Girl Guide, well, I was prepared with my change of clothes in my denim studded Topshop rucksack!

 



Sportsluxe

Sixties Retro Cute

Sportluxe Punk

Creepers and leopard print leggings

 Sports Geek

I love my House of Holland socks!

Ellicott Road - our surname is Ellicott, so my husband and I thought it would be a good idea to take my photos (on our romantic night out) next to our road sign. No sign of Phil though, he's not so keen to be on my fashion posts! I was very excited to wear my Rock and Candy wedge baseball boots and my good ol' fake fur jacket!

 



My current obsession is studs!!

 

First I found the bag in Primark and then the shoes in Topshop. They look great with leopard prints and my mock leather jacket, I currently have my eye on a great studded leather jacket on Asos.com it's a little bit pricey but it is the best of all the ones I have seen on the high street. I tried Topshops version on and it was ridiculously cropped and skinny.....I want my studded leather jacket to be a bit baggy with a slight crop with room to wear over winter layers, basically it has to look like the one Madonna wears in Desperately Seeking Susan or I don't want it!

 

 

 Phew! I am actually up to date with my personal style images, that never happens. I shall be back soon with some more A/W 2012 inspirations. Thanks for reading, ND xx

 

Fox in Socks

As much as I love a bit of Dr Seuss, this post is actually about my ongoing obsession with socks, tights and footwear in general.

 

For years now I have had a serious (problem) obsession with socks and tights, I'm more obsessed with them than shoes, shoes are a mere accessory to wear with your wonderful socks and tights! It's all about the colour, the print and the styling, a simple hosiery item will not do!

 I think I can pin point the obsession to the late 1990s. It was the Harajuku girl that had caught my eye and a bit of styling from The Face Magazine, which was also an obsession around that time (RIP The Face....I loved you). Both for me, made me want to start taking notice of socks and tights, I would buy every interesting pair I could get my hands on. This seems extreme now as it's easy to pick up interesting hosiery wherever you go but in those days it wasn't. The reason for this was simply that socks and coloured tights were not a big consumer thing- god, if you want interesting socks go to Sock Shop...Er, no thank you.... I remember over knee socks (nearly always in black) made a few comebacks during the early 1990s but coloured socks and legwarmers hadn't been a big thing since the 1980s and bright coloured tights hadn't been seen for years! It seems mad now but I used to get very over excited if I found a pair of red tights in the late 1990s let alone anything else!

Since the weather is about to change here in England, I have been looking forward to more socks and tights layering and trying to find new ways to wear them! I have collected a load of images on pinterest of how I would like to wear them. I hope you like these images and are inspired to take a bit more interest in your socks and tights!!

Let's start with the good old sporty tube sock. I always get mine from American Apparel, they are frankly the best and probably one of the only suppliers of the tube sock these days. This is why it would be a complete tragedy for me if American Apparel was to shut down, I'd have to buy a life time supply of tube socks!

The king of the tube sock is the Z-Boys skater Tony Alva circa mid-late 1970s -see skate image below. No-one rocked a pair of tube socks, Vans and shorts better than Tony Alva. My husband Phil pretty much works his look whenever we are on holiday, let me add Phil rarely decides to put on a pair of shorts, this never happens in England, it has to be sweltering hot and then he'll wear shorts....with some tube socks....

 Layering tights, socks and wedges...Love it!

A couple of retro images found on pinterest. I'm loving the bright colours, mix prints and platforms! The above image is very Chorlton and The Wheelies (1970s UK kids programme -well worth a youtube glance) and I'm loving the high top boxing wedge boots below!! It's a great image!

Inspired by the above retro image and Meadham Kirchhoff's Autumn Winter Collection, I bought the above Lulu wedge baseball boots by Rocket Dog from Office. It was the stripey wedge that won me over! Below is one of my current style icons Susie Bubble from the Style Bubble blog - find her here www.stylebubble.co.uk (I shall be doing a Style Icon blog on this fantastic fashion outsider very soon) although Susie has forgotten her socks, I do love them high top wedges!

Eley Kishimoto always has fantastic collections of tights and socks, they often cost a fair bit but look great! I haven't posted any Henry Holland images this time but let's not forget his fantastic hosiery collections too! You can find both on asos.com. and the styling on Asos is worth a look for inspiration.

Catwalk Trends

Here are a some images that had caught my attention for the current A/W collections. The first image is from the inspiring Meadham Kirchhoff collection, I had originally posted about this  in September, I love the stripey socks worn with rolled up jeans and wedges.

The second two images are from Bernhard Willhelm's A/W collection, I shall be blogging about this collection very soon so here's a quick look at the footwear. It's more urban this time with strappy, comfy trainer boots and graphic mix print tights, the collection is a full on print clash which will always catch my eye!

Hey! This obsession isn't just for adults, check out the kids images above that I have collected on Pinterest (mostly from my friend Selena I imagine -she's kids pinterest obsessed!!) I'm loving the mix print leggings, stripey tights with boxing boots and spots, stripes and Dr Martens. You can't go wrong!

 

All images are from my pinterest boards find them here http://pinterest.com/nodebutante/ but a quick thank you to these sources office.co.uk,  ipaddock.it,  stylebubble.co.uk, bernhard-willhelm.com, eleykishimoto.com,  backtothefiveanddime.tumblr.com http://store.americanapparel.co.uk  indiansummervintage.wordpress.com  matildajaneblog.com  petithood.com pauletpaula.com 

I hope I have changed your mind about your footwear attire?? Next post may possibly be a look at what I have been wearing lately....It's been a while....ND xx
 

Whole Lotta Sylvie - 8-9 months

It's been a long while since you have seen her but it is now time to reveal more lovely photographs of my beautiful little Sylvie Belle and her fashion moments, of course.

Sylvie has just turned 10 months and I cannot believe it has gone so fast, you'd think I'd be used to it by now since Sylvie is baby number three, but the speed at which a child grows up is quite shocking!! You always seem to hurry things with the first baby always wanting them to progress and be into the next thing, it's exciting, but then you realise they are 8 years old and your second child is nearly six....you get the idea....

 

Sylvie now has four teeth, the two front bottom ones and a couple of fangs which is...interesting....She is trying to pull herself up to stand, has no interest in crawling and bottom shuffles to get to that thing on floor that she has spotted. Sylvie has settled into nursery, very well, which is both great and upsetting, it makes you think she ain't bothered either way! Ha! I'm sure she is...isn't she?

 

8 months old -Sylvie wearing her homemade Dead Kennedys t-shirt (what little girrrrl wouldn't want to wear a Holiday in Cambodia t-shirt??) spotty bloomers, tights and baby Converse boots. My little Riot Grrrrl.  

The above three photographs were taken on our family holiday to Ibiza. I love the top ones of Sylvie and Daddy. Here Sylvie is wearing her tasselled I love Ibiza t-shirt (as a dress) I searched everywhere for one of these in her size and on the last day I found it! It is so tacky that it's cool! All Sylvie needed was her hair tightly braided and then she'd look like all the other little girls on the island!! Hee Hee! Sylvie worked her Ibiza t-shirt.

That's enough photographs or Sylvie and Daddy, here's Sylvie and Mummy working the prints! My sock Mummy, my sock!

 Mix prints and layering.

 

 

My friend Rudi gave Sylvie this dress, I'm not sure where it's from, possibly Baby Gap but it's real pretty, I am still dressing Sylvie in the dolly print trousers and dress (more of a smock these days) that I bought from The Pippa and Ike Show shop when Sylvie was a week or so old. It was expensive....and I like to get my moneys worth!

 

I love the above photograph, Sylvie has the darkest and biggest brown eyes out of the whole family, a friend calls her Maltezer Eyes.

Sylvie is a little doll , I'm so proud of her! ND xx



It's too early for that dress - Post Pregnancy Fashion Dilemmas Part 14

So, what's been happening with me? Why haven't I managed any blog posts for over a week?? Well, the kids started back at school and I started back at work, so I have been juggling my job with my home life (and all those kids!!) My husband Phil's band The Relay Rips had an album launch and we have been sorting out lots of different DJ ventures for our club night Bang AND also have a family event which we are working on! I'm tired just thinking about it all, we are busy, but we like it that way! I personally get bored too easily, I am only sad that I haven't been able to blog more often, missing out on vital posts on London Fashion Week too...but hey, I am not your usual fashion blogger I guess!

 

I am now slightly saddened to announce that this is the last of the posts named

 It's too early for that dress - Post Pregnancy Fashion Dilemmas

as it has now been 9 months since I gave birth to my beautiful little girl Sylvie Belle and I am just about back to my old size, give or take a few pounds. It's time to stop relying on the old 'just had a baby' excuse and just bloody get on with it!!!! I haven't come up with a new name for my new Personal street style blog posts, so I need to crack on with that. Any help with this would be great.....it will have to be a song title or the name of a band (or film) of course, cos that's how I roll.

 

I only have a couple of images to show you from the end of August 2012, I think I had been driven mad by having the kids being constantly with me all Summer, taking photos of what I had been wearing didn't seem to be a priority!

 

Leopard print sandels, leopard print trousers and turquiose nail varnish! I was rather pleased with this ensemble.

This image rather sums up my summer in fashion, the colours and prints are all there but I look like I'm about keel over with tiredness. This photo was taken on a very sunny day at the Weston-super-Mare (my hometown) Steam Fair. We go there every year and meet up with my old school friend Rachel and her kids, the boys all love it and go on everything.....and we stand there holding the coats.......I remember saying I would never become that person.......Ha!

 

A brief look at how a womans body can change during pregnancy from a little pot belly to heffalump from 18 -40 weeks and then 9 months later below! It is quite amazing AND look what I managed to make, grow and nurture in that year , she's behind me in the floral Cath Kidston Maclaren buggy (now you're just showing off) the last image for my It's too early for that dress - Post Pregnancy Fashion Dilemmas post.

This image was the only survivng fashion image of me from my Ibiza holiday, I was too hot to care about photographing what I was wearing!

 

I love you Sylvie Belle!

 

Farewell Post Pregnancy body, I will not miss you! ND xx