You're so punk rock.

It seems to me that over the past decade punk fashion has become uncool and men and women are almost looking over the revolutionary style that is punk. Punk rock - the genre came to light during the early 70's when all that was playing was Beach Boys or lengthy prog-rock songs with 30 minute solo's and unsurprisingly the musically frustrated took things into their own hands and created something we have to be so thankful for - I mean if there was no such thing as punk Nirvana would probably be singing songs about how lovely their mums cooking is.

Aside from it's massive impact on the music industry, Punk has inspired people to do many amazing things. For instance, in England during the late 70's/80's punk exposed a genre called Ska to Britain, ska completely crushed the boundary between rock and reggae. Singing songs about politics and yet making them sound happy rather than the actual message it was giving.

One of the most recognised designers, Vivenne Westwood has been a great inspiration for punk fashion since god knows when and yet people run away from the mention of dog collars and angry music. I really love the creativity that comes with punk fashion - a friends brothers girlfriend made him this amazing jacket that would make your generic human shy away because it was too garish. The violent look of studs on a slashed denim jacket appeals to me, the fact that it's pretty much telling fashion to fuck off should be what everyone wants to do - because, no doubt if you live your life by what vogue says what kind of person are you? Just wearing what people tell you too is basically letting yourself be a carpet for any criticism that might come your way, because you never know if those pastels that you're wearing are going to be on fashion next Friday. So please, wherever/whoever you are - experiment, let loose, wear what you want! Because at the end of the day no one really cares about how you look - their more concerned about themselves. B.x 

Supreme commercial.

Has to be my favourite commercial for S/S12. Could be because I just watched Kids and this has the same kinda filming and feel, but it's just good to see something different to people strutting about looking kinda bored. B.x

facebook - c'est chic, n'est-ce pas?

It's come to my attention recently that facebook is becoming somewhat of a thrift store/boutique, within the past few months it seems like almost everyone I know (including men) have uploaded photo's of their old clothes and selling them for at least £2 a piece. I do think it's a great idea because if you're tight on cash and have loads of old bits and bobs lying about your wardrobe - why not? Then again uploading photo's of your old torn up clothes and expecting to gain profit from them seems almost mad to me. The problem with this mass desperation to gain cash via social networks is it's vagueness, I never feel compelled to buy anything because it only says tshirt - £2 - size 12. If i'm ever in charity shops I'm always looking for stains and it's quality - if it doesn't say anything about that who's to say it's really worth a fiver?

Also I hope that when people are planning on buying something online they remember not to get too disappointed when it doesn't fit or has a stain on the right shoulder...
7/10 - Take care - B.x 

School uniform in the modern world.

I suppose when I started secondary school it would be inevitable that the only trouble I would get into would be about uniform. This great foresight into the future was most likely triggered by one of the first things my head of year ever said to me 'this is against the rules blah blah blah, blah blah blah'  as she snipped the friendship bracelet off my wrist. I was 12 at the time so this damage to a piece of string she had just done felt rather brutal, I still look back on that moment and think "why is the world so full of people who have nothing else to do aside from think about other peoples appearance than think about something more important?" ,but I suppose I should thank her because if she hadn't of revealed the ignorant sides of education in old-fashioned countries like England I wouldn't be the student I am today. 

Personally I'm the kind of person that of you tell me not to do something, I'll do it. So this stupid rule and a constant nag from the teachers around me has lead me to do one thing throughout my whole secondary education and that is, not wearing the correct uniform. The reason why I'm so fascinated by toying with the rules is due to the fact that it hasn't put me in any danger (aside from the yanking by the jacket or the screeching - but you get used to that) it's never affected my grades, how I preform in school in fact, I believe that the days in which I'm comfortable with what I'm wearing I tend to work better. 

In certain circumstances I can sympathise with the rules about not offending anyone with your appearance but  when you're young, you don't really want to wear a something 'offensive' to school because you're too concerned about how you look and trying to be 'normal' so that excuse is utterly useless in most cases. I often hear teachers throw in the respect card, you know when they say something along the lines of "I can't believe you're still wearing that to school, after all the times I've told you not to. It's just disrespectful." that sentence acts like emotional blackmail. 

The efficacy of uniforms has become a huge debate with some people believing it gives a student a sense of pride about their school and it abolishes any sense of class divide in the school community and all these points are brilliant, but it makes me question is a pair of shoes or a necklace a real reason to send someone home at worst circumstances? 

I'd really love to hear peoples opinion about this because I know it's quite a dodgy subject so leave a comment or mail me at wewantshops@yahoo.co.uk 

B.x

PHIL KING.

I was very excited when Phil agreed to be interviewed for my blog because I feel like I'm always writing for a female audience and I'd like to think there are some blokes out there that read this (even though it's quite unlikely). Also I've recently become quite curious to understand how men dress themselves and want to be presented to the rest of the world. I think that we've all been lead into this idea that only women care about what they look like and if they're "trendy" or not. So here it is, fashion from a mans point of view...

How would you describe your style of clothing?
Usually, for me a lot of my clothing is practical. So there's a lot of trends that I think maybe look good on other people but I don't ever feel the need to wear them, so like, I've always been a baggy jean person I tried on a pair of skinny jeans once and I didn't feel like I could live with that, so I much prefer wearing stuff I feel comfortable in. I very rarely buy clothes in my normal everyday life in Bristol, so when I go somewhere I like looking at independent shops that I don't get the opportunity to see everywhere and buying something kind of like a souvenir. So a lot of the time clothing has a connection to place or a memory for me as well.

Have you always followed trends or just wore your own style?
I think I probably did a little bit when I was younger, I kind of grew up in the early nighties/late eighties I suppose, and so probably did follow a little bit of trend at the time I was listening to grunge music so I did wear my big dm boots and wore baggy jumpers full of holes and grew long hair. So I definitely did do that, I got my ear pierced a few times, but I guess since I've been in my early twenties I don't think I have followed any trends really. A lot of people maybe think that I have followed trends recently because the kind of 'folk' image is coming back, like I'll wear a flat cap a lot. But I've always done that, so sometimes I'm in trend and sometimes I'm out of trend but it's never a conscious decision

Looking back on yourself when you were younger did you ever feel like you had to dress the way that you did or was it more of a personal thing?
I didn't feel that I had to in the respect that I was put under pressure of anything but it was a time at my life when I was really struggling to have an identity. I started playing the guitar when I was 12/13 years old and I liked listening to loud,heavy,grungey,angry music and I wanted to dress in a way that expressed how I felt but I was never into heavy metal, and long coats and stuff. But I think I felt like I had to more like a rebellion against my parents - like most teenagers do, and probably against the conformity of my school or my college. So for me when I look back it I never felt like I had to wear this or that or wear anything or style myself in a certain way that didn't feel right for me because everyone else did. There was this phase where all I listened to was early american blues or early British like sixties rock'n'roll that was really inspired by american blues, like the kinks and the who and the rolling stones, but I never felt like I had to try and take on any elements of style from that genre 60 years ago. But it just felt natural to wear dm's and baggy jumpers.

Do you ever thing that it was harder for you as a boy when choosing your style?
The only thing I've ever thought about and I don't think this very often, is that there is so much less options for guys. Fashion for women is so much more interesting and so much more scope and I guess that's because with guys you've only got a tshirt and a pair of trousers.

But does it ever feel like you're suppressed to only wear jeans and a tshirt, for instance a girl can wear a tux if she doesn't want to wear a dress but if a man didn't want to wear a tux it would be frowned on if he wore a dress?
Yeah, well that's a really good example. I went to university in Bristol and we'd have balls every year, which I never really liked that formal dressing up kind of thing,  but one of the things I hated about it is that if you're a guy and you're going to a ball you have to wear a suit, because that's all you really have to wear and if you go to far from the norm you might not get entrance to the event. Whereas if you're a woman and you wear a tux that's fantastic or if you wear a cocktail dress or any other type of smart dress but me can only wear a trouser suit, which I find pretty boring.

Do you think that boys get the same amount of trouble from their parents as girls do with the whole "you're not going out like that" issue?
I think it does but from a very different perspective, I think the parents concern about the daughter is just about protection, but maybe for guys it's just to do with the representation of the family and they're a representative of the parents and they don't want that them going out and being misrepresented in that way. But I don't think it's the same thing for girls.

Do you think that the musician side of you is completely different to the everyday dad side of you?
For me having a kid immediately changes the way you chose your clothes, it becomes very very difficult, especially for the first year because you couldn't wear anything that you're not afraid of getting poo,wee or sick on. Also having a kid means that the washing machine is always on the go so you can't prioritise certain things so you have to be flexible about it. So the dad side of me is not precious about anything but when I gig I think there is a couple of things I do. I like to have something that forms my identity as a performer something that people can recognise, so the hat is something I get noticed for quite a lot because I'm never really without a hat and if i'm out without a hat on a lot of people quite often don't recognise who I am because they've only seen me preforming  in a hat and a shirt.  But occasionally when I have a big gig I'll put a suit with a waist coat and a trilby and I think the process of getting ready gets me a bit more revved up, it feels like more of a special occasion.

So in the news recently there has been a lot of discussion about kids wearing clothes that are too grown-up for them - for instance primark were selling padded bras for eight year old children, so the way you dress your son would it be a big issue for you if he was wearing some of the clothes that have been shunned recently?
I think that it's a really big moral issue dressing up children like that. I didn't know that they were selling the stuff you were talking about, that's really quite horrific, but one of the things that has really bugged me is big slogans on very young kids like 1,2,3,4 year olds. I saw a little girl that had 'porn star in training' written across her jumper and the parents or somebody has obviously bought that for her and immediately you're thinking "what are you thinking?". But even the ones which aren't as offensive as that like 'mama's little angel' I just find that very strange that you would want to put your child in that. It's very difficult as well because we get bought a hell of a lot of stuff for him and we get a lot of clothes which we then have to censor ourselves. But when we're buying stuff I just try to make it plain, which is really hard because it's very hard to find plain children's clothes, I don't know if you've ever been to mothercare but when you go in, one side of the shop is pink, red and yellow and the other side is black, grey and blue so if you're trying to buy something for a year old boy it's either going to be white,blue, grey or black and that's it.

And finally, have you ever been inspired by anyone or anything in particular that has changed the way you dress?
I think the thing that I like the most is when somebody embodies what they're wearing, completely comfortably and that could be a very plain thing or a very flamboyant thing. One of the things I hate seeing is people wearing something and looking uncomfortable. Like if you go out around here on a Friday/Saturday night you'll see girls walking around in really high heels looking like they're almost in pain. People who are comfortable with what they're wearing always look good.


Ok - I hoped you all liked that. If you couldn't tell from the interview Phil is an amazing musician who does tours all over the place so if you ever get a chance - check him out.
His website
http://www.phil-king.net/

B.x

Fit for royalty.

Coat - Joy
Dress- Urban outfitters
Bag - Pauls boutique
Shoes - Schuh 

Molly is 15 from Edinburgh lives in Bristol with her mother and younger sister. A passionate student and sometimes a bit mental (in a good way), I approached Molly for an interview because I felt it might introduce another personality that others might not recognise, also she's has amazing answers for everything.

What makes you get dressed in the morning?
Um.. I wanna look nice and feel good, basically and when I put on one of my 'dressy-uppy' dresses I feel quite classy and posh if you get what I mean.

Do you always try to keep on trend or do you just want to express yourself your own way?
I sort of keep on trend but, also everyones into vintage and big woolly jumpers whereas I don't wear that I wear stuff that suits me because most stuff on trend isn't very nice. So I sort of have my own style which is very classy and is inspired by my favourite T.V program - Gossip Girl.

What would you say to people that only stay on trend and all they want to do is be next Victoria Beckham?
I think they shouldn't, because that would be weird, I think they should what they like and what feels good. I mean, if the trend suits them then they should wear it because you've got to feel good and comfortable. So if you just want to look like one of the pretty girls in your school then you should get your own style because they'll probably like you more if you have your own style, rather than look exactly like them.

Do you think that the fashion industry is becoming quite reckless and quite hard for your everyday girl to be part of the trend?
I think its hard to be like one of the models, like all the things in topshop are for tall skinny people. I don't think the fashion industry is very good at making girls who don't look like boys feel good about themselves.

If you could speak to the CEO of topshop what would you say?
I would tell them to make more nicer things for the range of teenagers and teenagers are the most uncomfortable in their body so they should cater for all sizes. They only really do tall people or skinny people, they don't think about curvy or even athletic people really.

Do you think that the sizes in topshop are unrealistic and that most people don't have the time or the money to have an XS size figure?
Yes, definitely if you want to look like one of the models in topshop you'd have to get a personal trainer and not eat anything. So they should cater for more people and they'll get more business as well.

Why do you think that people still go to places like topshop even though they don't really like it?
because people aspire to be fashionable and look like models and I suppose rich in a way in all these nice clothes, so people will their stuff even if it doesn't suit them because they're disillusioned by the girl that everyone wants to be.

So, what inspires you to dress the way you do - aside from gossip girl?
I think that these clothes suit me and I think that they bring out the good side of me rather than the bad stuff, like I have quite long legs so I wear quite short things but not tight so it makes them hideaway.

Do you ever feel like you can't wear exactly what you want because society doesn't let you dress the way you want to dress or do you just not care?
I do care, but sometimes there is nothing else so I might wear something a bit crazy. Like sometimes I'll go out dressed all in red and people will say 'that's a bit weird' but I like it and it's not about the clothes for me.

Do you sub-consciously express yourself through your clothes?
Maybe a little bit, but I don't think you can express yourself through your clothes. I suppose I do a bit, but I'm not sure how.

Have you ever been interested in designers or big labels?      
I've always loved Gucci but I think it's because of their huge big sunglasses and I quite like to dress up as famous people sometimes and put fake gucci glasses and stuff but I also like Chanel because I love their adverts because they're quite interesting, they'll have some white girls with afros! But I haven't bought anything from any of them.

I hope you like reading about this kinda stuff  - because I have a few more to do this week.
B.x

Thank you molly xxxx

Bristols local newspaper...really??

As you all probably know I totally support the occupy movement and I was quite shocked when this so called 'newspaper' decided to go all vigil-anti on this cause without really knowing what it's about. Over the past five months they have been releasing articles that sound like they've written by been uneducated buffoons who don't have any right to working in an environment that provides information for the masses. They'll often have columns next to these articles asking for the public's opinion and although they may ask a wide range of people, the general print those with the same belief as them, making it completely biased and untruthful. Not to mention their 'beliefs' make Bristol look stupid. So please, if you're ever here and looking for a newspaper please don't get this one. It sucks.
B.x

On trend this season...

Season trends is always a weird one for me, because I never ever believe that they'll be on the highstreet in a couple of months, but a month later everyone is wearing them and I look like a fool. This year I will follow the trends for S/S12 and look on season (fingers crossed).

Miu Miu - Cap Sleeve 'Cady' Dress. 

To kickstart this post I thought I'd talk about the peplum dress, they've been showing up everywhere on the catwalk this season and they're great for the more athletic looking people who are desperate for some curves. Personally I'm not too keen on them but I love this one by Miu Miu, I think it's really minimal and suitable for any situation with the right accessorizing. I think if you're thinking about splashing out on a dress this season I highly recommend this one it's about £500 and sits really well on most body shapes.  

Mules. Even the word is disgusting, I will not be getting a pair of these in my opinion they bring shame to the shoe industry - there isn't one pair I like. I really hope it crashes and burns. eugh. 

Jason Wu - Raylene Silk-Chiffon Blouse

Almost every year pastels show up in the S/S catwalks, usually I'm too into them they look a bit boring to me, but this shirt by Jason Wu is just...Rad. Hopefully this will be the kinda thing that people will be wearing instead of the plain one colour things. 

Well I can't be asked to write about the other ones because I'm not too interested in them (apart from the 20's - it's gonna be amazing when everyone is walking about in flapper dresses!!), if i'm totally honest I'm quite disappointed by the seasons trends, the fashion industry could have done better. Hope this has helped. Sorry if it hasn't... 

B.x

ANTHROPOLOGIE. U.K - AMERICA

Anthropology - The study of human kind. This seems to be a suitable name  name for this super-boutique as it has something everyone wants. Opened in 1992 in Wayne,Pennsylvania Anthropologie brings out new designer decor all the time. All though most people might be put off by the price of their home-ware, I believe that it's worth every penny. Aside from selling really cool stuff for the house Anthropologie has really lovey clothing, not really sticking with this seasons trends their latest arrivals consist of loose fitting tanks and dresses  in bold colours instead of pastels that we'll see everywhere in the next few months. I will admit though their clothing line is a bit pricey so if you're planning to buy something there I doubt you'd find anything for less than £50, unless you're going to the sale which is an absolute bargain. I really love this shop - 8/10 (if you get the chance go to the one on oxford street, the shop is amazing) B.x