Decades of style in one week

At some point I'll get back into posting more frequently about my adventures with fashion, but for now I'm more into following challenges and creating themes to write about.

A while ago, I posted about my go-to uniform for autumn / winter, where, left to my own devices, I basically live in boots, layers, hoodies and scarves. But one of things I love about fashion is being able to step out of your comfort zone and play with different looks. I'm still very much unsure of my own sense of style, but by setting little goals and writing about what I wear and how I put together an outfit, I feel like I'm learning a lot and being able to explore my own style in a really positive way.

I decided to create a little challenge for myself to complete over a 5 day working week, where every day I would put together an outfit inspired by a specific decade. I am quite a methodical person, so it made sense for me to start in the 50s and finish on the 90s. I'm not quite sure that the trends of 2000-2010 have yet become "vintage" enough to be iconic of that era, and I don't really have much in my wardrobe that predates the 50s in terms of shapes and styles, so this 50-year period seemed to fit quite nicely into my schedule. On a side note, I'm really curious to see how the naughties are represented as a fashion era in the future - what do you think will be the overall theme of this time period? Skinny jeans, ankle boots and leather jackets? I really don't know!

So anyway, back to the point. Here are my outfits of the week. I've tried to link to similar items where possible. Which is your favourite?

Day 1 - 1950's

A fair few of my friends are full time rockabillies, and I wish I had the dedication sometimes to commit to the style every day, but some days I'm just a jeans and a hoodie kind of girl.

No jeans or hoodie for my 50's inspired look though. I love these cigarette trousers from H&M, although the waist is a tiny bit low for a real 50's silhouette so I tried to cheat a bit with a belt. I've added a super old blouse and mac from Primark, some black pumps and my favourite faux fur collar shrug from Collectif to complete the look. For my make up I stuck with a simple winged eye and red lip for a retro feel.

Shirt - Primark. Similar here

Trousers - H&M. 

Cardigan - Collectif. Similar here.

Coat - Primark. Similar here

Shoes - New Look. Similar here

Belt - market. Similar here

Day 2 - 1960's

As someone who wears a lot of black, I tried to inject a bit of 60s vibrancy into this outfit with a bright green cord mini and patterned scarf which I've worn tied in a pussy bow over my poloneck top. I've tried to inject some vintage texture as well with grey suede knee high boots by Park Lane from ASOS over my dark green tights, adding a buttoned pea coat to finish the look. I amped up the drama with my eyeshadow to go with this look, with a smoky heavily lined lid and pale lips for a 60's feel.

Top - Primark. Similar here

Skirt - Next. Similar here

Tights - Marks and Spencer

Boots - ASOS. Similar here

Coat - H&M. Similar here

Scarf - no idea! Similar here

Day 3 - 1970's

There are elements of the 70's I like. Platforms, suede, psychedelic rock. It's an interesting decade for fashion in terms of the juxtaposition of shiny, glittery disco excess and the anarchic, shocking extremeism of the punk scene. But in all honesty it's not "my" era. I don't have the hight or slight bone structure to pull off a flared lurex catsuit and the full-on mohawked studded leather and ripped denim look is a little much for a day in the office. So I did what I could with some wide leg wool trousers, olive suede belt and wedges, a white linen top, flared sleeve crochet cardigan and a New Look suede jacket I've had for so long it may soon be considered vintage itself. I went heavy on the bronzer and opted for a subtle shimmery green eyeshadow to finish off this look.

Top - TK Maxx. Similar here

Cardigan - Pilot. Similar here

Trousers - H&M. Similar here

Belt - Oasis. Similar here

Coat - New Look. Similar here

Shoes - Faith. Similar here

Day 4 - 1980's

On to the 80's for look number 4, the decade of my early childhood. As I was doing a brief bit of research for this post, it was the 80's styles I was looking up that brought back real memories of my mum and her friends, rather than looks I've only seen in photos and films, or on the TV and internet. Google image search for 80's fashion seems to focus mainly on neon active wear, whereas I remember lots of batwing tops and enormous shoulder pads, bodycon dresses and straight cut jeans. I went for a tight fitting pencil skirt,  batwing top, white leather belt, black leather bomber jacket and these awesome red leopard print shoeboots which are surprisingly comfy for someone who rarely wears heels. I toned down the wattage, but went for a typically 80's blue eyeshadow and sugary pink lip to counter the more muted tones of my outfit.

Top - Topshop. Similar here

Skirt - Primark. Similar here

Belt - Accessorize. Similar here

Shoes - ASOS. Similar here

Jacket - Oasis. Similar here

Day 5 - 1990's

The 90's - the decade of my youth! The grunge era of layers, plaid, denim and baggy clothes, with a dollop of checked skirts and crop tops on the side. I was so glad to don a beaten pair of Doc Martens after tottering around in heels for the past couple of days. I even had an instagram comment to say this look was very "Liv Tyler from Empire Records" which is awesome because that was pretty much the exact look I was going for. It wasn't really the weather for a bare midriff so I'm really glad I chose this mega cosy Warehouse jumper to throw over my bare skin and keep me warm. I no longer own the infamous Rimmel "Heather Shimmer" lipstick but I did my best to recreate the colour for this look, with natural make up for the rest of my face. 

Jumper - Warehouse. Similar here

Top - H&M Similar here

Skirt - New Look. Similar here

Boots - DM

Jacket - Primark. Similar here

So there you have it. 50 years of fashion inspiration in one week. I really loved trying out these different looks,  and I learnt a few things in the process. 

1) Iconic styles of the past seem to focus a lot on a waist. With the exception of the 60's look, I had some focus on my waist each day. Today's diet shows a propensity for a rounder midriff; the result of too many processed carbs and not enough activity leading to storage of visceral fat and a move away from a more classic hourglass figure. That's a post for another time perhaps, but this week has reminded me of the changing shape of women in recent years, probably to the detriment of our health, and encouraged me to look at my lifestyle and try to be a bit healthier.

2) I really like make up. I tend to go with the same look every day - a flick of black eyeliner, some shaping to my brows and a bit of lip balm. It was so fun trying to take inspiration from the colours and textures of previous decades. I kept it all quite subtle for work, but digging through my make up collection for different coloured eyeshadow, blush and lipsticks was really fun and something I'm definitely going to try and keep up for at least a day or two every week.

3) Putting an outfit together is so much easier with a goal in mind. It's something I've mentioned before but often seem to forget when I'm trying to work out what to wear each day. Thinking about what pieces I had in my wardrobe I could put together to create something specific was far less difficult than opening my closet and just trying to pick something. I'm not going to try and emulate a particular era with my outfit every day, but I might try and work out a particular theme before I wildly start pulling things off hangers and throwing them on my bed in despair!

What's your favourite look? Do you have particular style rules you follow? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

Great British Bake Off week 1 - Cake

So it's the first week off the Great British Bake Off and I've crazily decided to bake everything that the contestants are faced with. I'm not baking along in time, because frankly I don't have the time, but I'm determined to tackle everything and I shall write about one of my bakes for each week of challenges.

First up is cake. As a totally novice baker, I'm glad they started with a simple madeira cake, as I managed this OK. It's got a nice crack (!) and it tasted pretty yummy too.

The technical challenge is walnut cake with a fancy boiled icing. The contestants all made edible versions of this, so I'm hoping it's not a disaster waiting to happen. Getting my ingredients ready I crack on with the sponge mix, adding the chopped walnuts to my dry ingredients. I'm lazy and don't sift the flour, which will probably haunt me when my cake is too dense. I'm still very much getting used to the necessity of precision in timing, quantity and technique to create a decent baked good. As a love of slapdash inventive cooking, I rarely care for specifics of recipes and tend to make it up as I go along. For a good fish pie, pasta dish or homemade curry this tends to work fine, and is something I've been doing for many years. The science of baking, however, is much newer to me, and the more I question where my bakes are going wrong, the more I appreciate the reasons for such controlled steps. Baking is science, guys, and science is cool. 

I will get a fancy kitchen mixer soon. I think it's time to admit that I'm becoming quite keen on baking, and whilst it's a good workout to always cream my butter / sugar mixes by hand, I'm coming to the point where I'm craving efficiency over traditional methods.

Despite the lack of superpowered mixing assistance, I'm still able to create a fairly light and fluffy mixture, to which I add 4 eggs for moisture and to bind the mixture together.

I tip in my dry ingredients and fold in with a metal spoon as per the instructions. I have a tendency to overmix my ingredients and remove all the air, so I try to restrain myself and leave one or two tiny pockets of flour in the hope that my cakes will rise beautifully and not resemble pancakes for once.

I split the mixture between 3 pans and bake for a little less time than instructed. I've learnt that the oven in my new house cooks faster than expected, so I'm finding myself reducing either the temperature or the cooking time for most things. I'm still discovering which is more effective, but the cakes this time look pretty good - they are golden and springy to touch and there's a lovely nutty aroma filling the kitchen.

The next step in the recipe is to make the caramelised walnuts, which quite a few of the contestants struggled with. It seems that there is very little water to dissolve the sugar, and in their keenness to avoid stirring the hot sugar syrup and crystalising the mixture, a few were left with hot sugar rather than any kind of caramel. With this in mind, I add the water to the sugar and stir it together to make a kind of sugar paste which I put on a low heat. As a fan of multitasking, I throw some butter and sugar in a bowl to move onto the next step, the buttercream filling. 

Luckily, buttercream is something that's pretty tricky to get wrong, in my humble opinion. Mixed once again with a wooden spoon, it's ready in no time to sandwich the sponge layers together with creamy vanilla deliciousness.

Keeping an eye on my sugar, I wait until it is bubbling and browned before carefully adding the 10 walnuts and swirling around to coat in the hot mixture, before tipping onto greaseproof paper to cool. The recipe calls for a silicone sheet which I don't have. Later, as I am carefully peeling / washing off the slightly torn baking parchment from my beautiful caramel walnuts, I realise why silicone would have been a better idea. A lesson for next time and another baking related item added to my shopping list. 

Last up is the boiled icing, which we discovered on the show tends to go grainy if the sugar is not first dissolved in water before mixing with the egg whites. I'm heating that sugar for what seems like forever over a pan of water before I give up and start whisking. I've got quite a creamy, white and glossy mixture that's only a tiny bit grainy so I soldier on and hope for the best. Now, the recipe states that the mixture should be whisked over a pan of hot water, and that one needs to work quickly to decorate the cake before the icing sets. Hindsight being a wonderful thing, I would do basically the opposite were I ever to attempt a boiled icing again. By whisking the mixture over hot water, this means it's still very warm when I come to add it to my cake, and the whole thing starts sliding off and dripping onto the counter. The small amount of icing I leave in the bowl seems to be less runny after a few minutes before it has cooled fully, and probably would have coated the cake better. I can tell that it's still going to be grainy, and I don't get to add any swirls as the recipe instructs because it's still so warm! Maybe it needed more mixing, maybe if I had more patience and had actually waited for the sugar to dissolve properly I would have had more success, who knows. All I know is that boiled icing is added to my list of baking dislikes, and isn't going to become my signature any time soon.

I add the caramelised walnuts and even a little sugarwork I sort of twisted into something resembling a decoration. Forgetting to leave the cake to cool means that the caramel started to melt a little, discolouring the icing overnight. This is why this cake is a technical challenge. There are technical elements, that I haven't quite mastered yet.

There are definite "lairs" in my cake, the walnuts are pretty well distributed, I've managed to decorate with the walnuts and the taste is fine. The sponge is a little dry and there's that infamous graininess to the icing, but overall I hope I wouldn't have come last for my first technical. I did have the full recipe and the experiences of the bakers to go by though, so perhaps a significant advantage.

Next up, I baked a black forest gateaux. With less silly technical elements, this one went pretty well. Here's a picture below.

Week 2 is biscuits, and it's only going to get tougher from here on in!

Walnut cake recipe here. 

The Sword / Hang the Bastard @ The Underworld, Camden

On a Friday evening in September, during my busiest working week of the year, I couldn't be more excited that it's Friday. Partly because it means no work tomorrow, but mostly because I'm off up to the hive of activity that is Camden Town to see London metallers Hang The Bastard support stoner rockers The Sword, the latter of whom I've never had the chance to see before.

In a rare moment of good timekeeping, I actually arrive at the venue on time. Ordering a beer and allowing my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit underground space that is the Underworld, I prop up the bar for a few minutes until the speakers inform me that Hang The Bastard have taken to the stage. It's a sold out gig, so I'm quite surprised to see a lot of space still, but then I'm not used to being this early. I park myself next to a pillar with an actual view of the stage (a real rarity) and see what this London-based quartet have to offer. 

Opening with heavy, bluesy riffs the heads in the crowd soon start bobbing along. I'm a sucker for a half beat and a downtuned sound, and there's a lot of this being delivered tonight. There's buckets of energy on stage, and an awful lot of excellent beards everywhere. Frontman Tomas Hubbard screeches his goblin-esque vocals with an impressive ferocity, saving his vocal chords in between songs and turning around whilst the gaps are filled with abstract distortion and crackling feedback. I've seen HTB a few times and I'd say this is probably the most 'together' they've been. The massive doomy sludge riffs and big rhythms fill the space with a dirty, wonderful noise. By the end of their set the venue has filled up, and the capacity crowd seem ready for the headline act, suitably roused by Hang the Bastard's high energy, hard hitting performance. A band to watch out for if you like your metal veering towards death-style vocals and packing one hell of a punch.

The Sword open with the synth-electro Unicorn Farm from the new album, High Country. Following with Buzzards, also from the new release, they go on to mix old and new tracks together seamlessly into a cacophony of seventies influenced, beautifully balanced heavy rock. Tres Brujas from the band's third album Warp Riders follows the opening new tracks with meatier riffs and a togetherness that will stay for the rest of the evening.

The new material is arguably a return to a more classic rock sound, and has less of the heady, bassy stoner rock vibe of previous releases. This isn't to say it's lacking anything though. The 10 tracks performed tonight from the latest record display the characteristic polish and finesse that The Sword's fans have come to know and love. The solos are impressive without veering into self indulgence, the bass, synth and drums melding beautifully together to support John D. Cronise's retro vocals.

The older, heavier tracks get the best response from the crowd, with classics like The Horned Goddess, Freya and Maiden, Mother and Crone soaring over the now heaving crowd with Sabbath-esque style and doomier undertones. The set closes with one of my personal favourites, the epic Dying Earth from the 2012 release Apocryphon, followed by an encore of Suffer No Fools from the new album, and leaving us finally with Arrows In the Dark from Warp Riders. There's no grand exit, no stage antics. The Sword have come to the Underworld tonight to do what they do best, to play a lot of really good music.

In addition to the aforementioned downtuning and half beats displayed by Hang The Bastard, I also love a band who sound really tight live. There's something about technical brilliance and pinpoint rhythm that gets me screwing up my face into something resembling a contorted gargoyle. It's my own form of heartfelt appreciation. And tonight's set was chock full of technical brilliance and pinpoint rhythm. OK, so the Sword might not be the most charismatic band on the planet, but when they sound like this, I really don't care. This is straight up, Southern American rock at its finest.

http://www.hangthebastard.co.uk/
http://theswordofficial.com/

I still forgot to take any pictures though. Next time.

Roller Derby is hard work, and I'm not talking about skating.

My first post about roller derby is basically all about the skating. Getting your head around the equipment, learning to skate, watching games and meeting new people are all important parts of joining the derby community. It's about getting to know your team, learning the rules and setting your sights on passing minimum skills. It's a good idea when you're starting out to offer to NSO for your league. NSOs (Non Skating Officials) are crucial to the smooth running of games and scrimmages; tracking scores and penalties, keeping time and supporting the referees to keep things safe and fair. I can't stress enough how invaluable NSOing is to new skaters. You'll learn the rules faster, you'll see gameplay up close and develop an understanding of how and why penalties happen. You might not yet be at a skating level to be taking part in scrimmage, but I guarantee that when you are, an arsenal of knowledge gained from being part of the officials crew will come in handy.

[John Hesse]

But that's just the beginning. Once you've been with a league for a little while, and you've decided this sport is for you and you're going to stick with it, you'll start to realise how mammoth a task it is to run a league and be part of the wider derby community. Both from an administrative and a skating point of view, there is always so much to be done, which means dedication and commitment are attributes that are really necessary if you want to grow and develop in the sport.

Let's talk about the skating. You've nailed the basics, you've passed your minimums and you're part of your team's rec league or B team. That's great! But it doesn't stop there. Roller Derby is tough, it's a physically demanding contact sport and the top skaters are in peak physical fitness. If you don't already take part in exercise outside of training, you'll probably want to start looking at upping your endurance through regular cardio, or HIIT, or both. You'll find that it's beneficial to have a strong core, you'll want to work on your leg strength too, as that's where your power comes from, so you might look at incorporating weight training into your routine too. Whether you're a gym bunny, a home workout queen or a fan of the outdoors, you'll probably start making time to work hard on your fitness to improve your game.

Then there's the tactics. Going to training each week will improve your skating skills, of course. You'll learn how you work within the team, you'll develop together and build on the basics of defence and offence, you'll work on good skating form, getting lower, improving foot work and agility, adding power to your hits. But there's more. This sport is evolving constantly, and the style of gameplay has changed so much in the last year alone. Learning something new is hard work. Particularly when you've been training for a while, you've worked on tactics with your team, you've played in games together and celebrated victories. Going back to training, trying something new and having to get it wrong a million times before you can get it right is frustrating. It's the only way to learn, but it's hard work. Week after week after week.

Finally, and possibly the most important, is the effort and commitment it takes to run a league. I mentioned before that you might start out by learning to NSO. After a little while, you might pick up some other roles within your league, joining a department to assist with things like creating posters for games, updating social media and looking after merch orders. A bit further down the line, you'll realise just how much hard work goes in to running a league. As this sport grows and teams develop it's clear that for many of us, roller derby has progressed far beyond a hobby and much more into the realms of a part time job. Albeit an unpaid one. My league recently registered as a limited company, and is defined as a not-for-profit organisation. This means we now have to file returns to HMRC, we have to submit accounts and comply with financial legislation. Coaches have to make time to plan sessions and keep the rest of the team in check when things don't always go right. The events team have to cover everything from securing contracts with venues, to ensuring there are enough people to help out on the day, to answering 8 million questions about where tables should be set up and why the poster in the cafe down the road keeps getting turned upside down. I don't even know half of what the directors go through, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I want to. The words "there aren't enough hours in the day" have never seemed so apt. The amount of time, love and effort it takes to run a league is huge, and is a massive indication of how much the skaters, officials and league members are committed to this sport and everything it entails. It's hard work. Sometimes, when we're 2 hours into a league meeting and only half way through the agenda, I wish it would all run itself. But it doesn't, and do you know what, that doesn't matter. Why? Because hard work pays off.

https://www.gov.uk/file-an-annual-return-with-companies-house

Hard work to improve your fitness and your skating abilities makes you a stronger person, both physically and mentally. The health benefits to keeping fit and exercising are pretty widely documented, but on top of that there's an element of pride and confidence that comes with noticing your own development as a skater and as an individual. Whether it's beating a PB for running a distance, or lifting some impressive weights, or nailing those one-footed transitions, seeing yourself improve at something is a great boost and makes the hard work worth it.

[Lianna Brinded]

Hard work to develop tactics is what makes your team great. It's what gives you the edge and means that even if you don't always win games, you know you tried something new and you played the best game you could. It's a way to share the confidence of personal development as a team, when your whole team works together to bring new tactics into gameplay, you can share that confidence boost, you can share the pride, you can share in the satisfaction that the hard work you put in as a team paid off.

[Neil Biggs]

Hard work to run your league is the reason you can turn up every week to train. It's the reason you can play this sport. It's the reason you can travel, and have other teams travel to you. It's the reason you meet people, make friends, play games, share victories and defeats together, share the good times and the bad. In addition to life within the derby community, the skills that you use to help run your league can cross over to other walks of life. People skills, finance skills, organisation, PR, management, the list goes on.

The old saying "you get out what you put in" couldn't be more true. Being an integral part of a roller derby team requires you to put an awful lot in, but you get so, so much back, that, for me at least, it's worth all that hard work. Every time.

[Neil Biggs]

Scarves, layers, hoodies and boots. The onset of autumn dressing.

Ah, the British weather. Subject of small talk, British people's favourite thing to complain about and source of endless wardrobe dilemmas.

This time of year is particularly difficult to dress for, as the temperature can vary wildly day to day, it can rain any minute with no warning and carry on for days, and the work buildings and public transport can't quite work out when it's time to switch from air con or heating. Sometimes it seems that they've got both set to max, leaving you surrounded by a joyous mix of artificial warm-cold air, not sure if you're about to start sweating, shivering, or both.

So when I get up in the morning and look out of the window, do I dress for the weather I see? In a way, yes, but I've developed a few habits at this time of year that seem to work when I'm not sure if my lunch break will involve sunbathing or sheltering from a freak storm.

Scarves

Scarves are great. Small enough to fit in or tie around a handbag, they can add a surprising amount of warmth in place of a heavier jacket when the temperature drops. I really like the pashmina style scarves which can be unfolded and worm like a shawl. If the weather report is clear from rain but I'm going out in the evening and I know it'll get chilly, I'll take a pretty embroidered scarf out with me rather than trying to find a light coat that actually goes with my outfit.

Layers

The secret to transitional seasonal dressing is layers. Too hot? Take one off. Too cold? Put one back on. The trick is to keep them thin and light. Layering heavy wool, fleece and leather should be reserved for the depths of winter. I tend to feel the cold much more on my top half, so at this time of year I'm likely to wear a skirt and boots, or jeans and flats, then layer up on top with a t shirt, cardigan, jacket and scarf. I'm also a fan of wearing leggings under dresses when I'm not quite ready to dig out the tights.

Hoodies

In my uni days I basically lived in baggy jeans and pullover hoodies. I've come to appreciate variety in my wardrobe a little more now, but I'm still a big fan of throwing a hoodie over a daytime outfit for warmth and protection from a bit of drizzle. These days I'm more of a fan of zip up styles, wearing them more like a cardi / jacket over t shirts, tops and dresses for a casual daytime look.

Boots

I love summer. I love sandals and hot weather and ice cream and sunny evenings, but the one thing I enjoy about the drop in temperature is being able to wear boots again. Usually a pure bargain hunter when it comes to clothes, I'll fork out for a decent pair of boots that I know will last forever. Knee high boots and mini skirts, shoe boots and jeans, Doc Martins and dresses; boots see me through rain, long distance walks on a rare clear day, and work to dinner, work to gigs, work to home. Boots go with everything. I really love boots.

 

So that's basically my summer to autumn transitional style. What are your seasonal tricks for difficult weather? Happy September!