Neonism

My love affair with Ashish started when I spotted his beautiful leopard wedges that he did for Topshop last year (see Major Shoe Crush! and Mannequin posts). Soon after I saw Pixie Lott and Lily Allen in these sequinned Ashish dresses and my love for Ashish was confirmed. He is a man after my own heart, as I sure you are beginning to appreciate I love animal prints, sequins and one shouldered dresses. But there is another thing that I love, and it may not be totally fashionable, and is probably a relict ingrained in me from my 80s childhood and teenage adventures at Gatecrasher and Sundissential, but I unashamedly love most anything if it is neon!

Just to prove my point, here's a few of my neon adventures from 2008 and 2009. Mostly I only feel liberated enough to wear neon during raucous occasions such as festivals (e.g. Exit, Serbia) and during afterski (e.g. Hemsedal, Norway) where it is almost a HSE requirement that you stand out or you risk being lost in the crowd. However, when I was in Miami last fall I felt it was the perfect backdrop to bring a little neon into my daywear, which is represented by my neon green shades and hot pink bikini top peeking out from under my blue AA skater dress. I am sure you are wondering how the black and white prom dress fits into this all - these pics are from NYE just gone, and even though the dress is monochrome, I was armed with my beloved neon face paints and set about spreading a little neon love amongst the crowd of Get Loaded in the Dark (see Mannequin post). This was also a good time to post these pics and show you what I wore for NYE. I said I was going to wear my neon splatter AA dress but after one too much supersized dinners over the Xmas holidays I felt this Topshop striped prom dress was more forgiving. I did recreate the make-up from the Mannequin post though, or at least I attempted to. It wasn't as crystalline as I would have liked but it still looked pretty good. I'm going out in London again soon and will try something similar but more intense then. But I digress....

I just found that gorgeous Ashish dress that I spotted on Lily Allen on net-a-porter.com with 60% off!!! It was obviously a sign, since even though I love that website I never spend as much time on it as I would like (probably because it is pretty close to torture when I can't afford most of the things I fall for on it). But with 60% off how could I resist the dress I have been coverting for so long? So I bought it!! It's currently in England being looked after by my mum until I visit her in a couple of weeks! I really hope it fits!!! I have the exact occasion I want to wear it for all planned out in my head...but I am keeping that a secret...I don't want to spoil the surprise ;)

Oh, and before I go, if anyone out there wants to donate one of these fabulous Blumarine dresses from last season to me....I would be eternally in their debt. How gorgeous are they? Love the crystal gladiators as well...swoon...

xxx

Mannequin

Not since watching Kim Cattrall in Mannequin have I ever been so jealous of a shop dummy but when I spotted these gorgeous models in Topshop, Oxford Circus I fell in love. I love the neutral yet sparkly pallette of their clothes contrasted against the rainbow glitter and smokey eyes of their make-up. It's all so crystalline and enchanting. Their fluffy feather accessories just make the whole look so fun. The perfect christmas attire I say! Topshop is one of my most favourite places - I could literally spend hours in there, and I did. As well as scooping up the Ashish wedges I have been lusting after, I picked up these gorgeous Aggie boots (below) and tonnes of gorgeous statement jewellery and fab patterned tights (some of which I'm wearing below). I even got my eyebrows shaped and my nails done at the beauty bars there! My nails are now this uber cool sparkly red courteousy of Nails Inc (Apsen overlain with Petticoat Lane) - very Christmassy.

I'm going to Get Loaded in the Dark @ Brixton Academy (http://www.getloadedinthedark.com/) for New Year's Eve so I'm going to try and recreate the make-up from the Topshop models and team it with my American Apparel neon splatter dress that I bought when I was in Miami (http://store.americanapparel.co.uk/rnt46p.html?cid=29) - neon and glitter, the perfect raving combo. When in London, there is no point in being understated, which is why I miss it so much.

xxx

Major shoe crush!

I am majorly lusting over these Ashish for Topshop wedges. The Leo in me is craving the leopard print ones. I've been coveting them for so long but they don't seem to be available on the Topshop website. The longer I wait it seems the more people that are wearing them. They are so gorgeous. I must have them - the hunt continues.....