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Beauty and the Burka

The burka described by Wikipedia as, ‘an enveloping outer garment worn by women is some Islamic traditions.’  In Britain, the burka is a symbol of female fundamentalism that’s generally split into two equally un-compelling camps.

 

  1. a form of sexist male oppression, worn by downtrodden Muslim women with no voice.

 

 

  1. Worn by raving female fundamentalists who reject western values and the sexualisation of Western fashion.

 

 

Can these powerful pieces of clothing ever be fashionable? Up to a point yes, it can.

In the oil rich Arab gulf states vibrant colour it appears is the new black. Let’s face it black doesn’t allow them to express their individuality. Exclusive Parisian fashion houses are increasingly jumping on the burka bandwagon. Modesty and luxury apparently do mix. The likes of Dior and Burberry have targeting the lucrative Gulf State market, burkas have been given a makeover, opulent silk, gold trimming and millions of Swarovski crystals glitter on the streets of Dubai and Jeddah. Some Muslim women have an appetite for fashion and a budget to match. Move over New York and Shoreditch, there’s a new breed of fashionistas out there to rival Japans famous Harajuku girls, it’s called Islamic chic.

 

 

No one disputes how politically sensitive the burka is, feminist factions argue the merits of a women’s right to choose what she wears, verses the burka as an oppressive symbol of male domination and religious suppression. Through war, religious unrest and political oppression women have always wanted stand out from the crowd, and it appears there are ways to pimp this enveloping outer garment.  It would seem that fundamentalist fashion is on the up.

 

Why is Fur Fashionable?

Many of you may have noticed that that there is a lot more fur clothing back on the racks of clothes stores despite the efforts of animal rights activists turning up to fashion shows with their cups of blood, or big charity organisations like PETA campaigning and raising awareness against the cruelty of killing for fashion. So why is there a dramatic rise in furry fashion?

Well back in the 2000 fur was all the craze, if you were wearing it you were stylish and therefore cool. All the celebs and social lights had fur and what does the public do? Exactly what the celebs are doing!

The quantity of furry products started to decline when celebrities started to deliberately stop wearing fur to raise awareness and lead by example in the public eye. It was a very effective technique as people stopped buying it and forced stores to stop stocking it.

So what has changed today? Well simply the same thing in reverse. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have been spotted in furry garments. Both with a following of over 80 million Instagram followers they are trend setters and have a huge influence over their fans and the industry. Even though they and many other celebrities are somewhat to blame the fact of the matter is there wouldn’t be murder for fashion if designers and brands stood up and said no to killing for fashion!

 

Fashions greatest mistakes

Fashion isn’t easy, especially when everyone has their own tastes and trends are constantly changing it’s hard to stay in style. However here are some things you can definitely avoid that are big fashion don’ts.

  1. Low rise jeans

 

Low rise jeans may have been cool in the naughty’s but have definitely lost their edge and tad bit too much fabric at the top. The only people that can pull these off are strippers or sorority girls. Ladies go in the opposite direction – high wasted jeans are so in right now and do wonders for your figure!

 

 

  1. Platform trainers and furry boots

 

Let’s start with the platform trainers. We in this day and age have been blessed with the fact that trainers are in style and can liven up pretty much any outfit and most importantly they are comfortable!!! So it baffles me why people would want to complicate things. They look clunky, awkward and well ridicules, not to mention painful. Steer clear of the platform trainers peeps unless you want to look like a spice girl.

 

Now the furry footwear I will simply say this… do you really want your feet to look like they are alive and squeaking? Because I sure don’t!

 

 

3.Double denim

 

Now double denim is a tricky one because when done right it can look awesome and you will be showered with compliments wherever you go. But when done wrong, oh my god it is just so so wrong. First of all, if you wear a done up denim jacket and similar coloured denim jeans you will look like a cowboy from the 1600 or Miley Cyrus’s dad (Billie Ray Cyrus), and trust me people you do not want to be compared to him, people will stare. If you’re going to go for the double denim look try a different colours of denim.

 

Fashion Hacks

As a student, I can barely scrape together the cash to eat, let alone own a wardrobe like Rihanna’s. Though on the face of it this is depressing information, with a little bit of imagination and some accessories it is possible to make a capsule wardrobe go a long way. Here are my three top fashion hacks:

Firstly, go for black. Black is a great canvas for accessories, it’s slimming, it can stand up to the rigors of almost any student party (white and light colours can be taken down with the first slurp from the bottle of cheap red!) Take the little black dress (LBD to those in the know) fashionistas know it’s a safe bet, it’s long-lasting, versatile, affordable, and that’s good news to my student bank balance. It’s hard to go wrong with the LBD, and you can accessories the hell out of it. Add some cheap vintage jewellery found at the local chzzar and you can turn the LBD from minimalist chic to Grammy awards glitz.

Get ONE pair of good jeans. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with a pair of well-fitting jeans. Do your research, buy vintage, chase down Japanese denim, and don’t be afraid to spend some serious dosh on these strides. If you get it right they’ll be your best fashion friend for years to come. They’ll age with you, and once they’ve been around the block a few times, the tears and fading will be real, not faked in factories in the third world.

A brilliant way to add colour to your base staples is through scarves. A quick slick through the fashion glossies and it’s easy to pick up seasonal colour trends, and If you’re a charity shop hound like myself, you can pick up a matching scarf for pennies. Then the worlds you oyster, scarves can be used as belts, headbands and yes of course actual scarves.

Now all you need is a mirror and a little imagination!

 

 

Dying for a pair of sneakers

 

Sneaker obsessed individuals aka sneaker heads, collect sneakers as a hobby and status symbol. This craze started in the United States in the 1980s, with the rise of skater subculture and hip hop, injecting sneaker brands such as Nike with tonnes of street credibility. Back then there were 4 people employed by Nike to work on collaborations, now there’s a whole building dedicated to cross branding. Traditionally shoes were created around athletes (famously Michael Jordan’s stratospherically successful Air Jordans), nowadays it can be rappers, DJs, fashion designers, and more.

So why are we so obsessed?

Well, sneaker head culture is cool, there’s the slang, Dope = fashionable, Fire = very good, Goat = greatest of all time, Heat = rare, Steezy = stylish, Yeezy = designed by Kanye West – I could go on…

There’s the collectors, an A to Z of cool, a plethora of rappers, DJ’s and A list celebs, to name but a few; Mark Wahlberg, David Beckham and Jay Z. Collector and actor Jerry Ferara – Turtle in the hit TV series Entourage, even had an episode written about his sneaker obsession.

 

Then there’s the collector’s fanaticism, hypebeasts (trendsetters who only buy the latest releases) attend conventions, wangle invites to special release parties and it’s not uncommon for dedicated fans to queue outside shops for several days to get their hands on the latest nibs (unworn boxed sneakers).

The biggest collectors have thousands of pairs of kicks. Mega collector DJ Clark Kent has what he calls his ‘one a days’ a fresh out of the box pair worn daily. Kent has cooked up some of most sought after Nike colabs, such as Nike LeBrons and ‘Black Friday’ AF1s. Chances are if a rapper wants a pair of kicks they’ll either go to Nike corporate or Clarke Kent. Now that’s sneaker clout!

Of course, most sneaker heads use wads of cash and contacts to secure rare treasures like the  Air Jordan black and golds (The first Air Jordan produced, only 12 pairs were made and the price today $25,000!)

But there’s a tragic dark side to the sneaker industry, every year an estimated 1,200 people die over sneakers, many blame the huge marketing hype pumped out by the mega brands, (Nike, Adidas, Reebok) for creating a consumer feeding frenzy, which in turn creates violence.

Kicks, sneakers, keds, trainers, call them what you want, there are those willing to commit murder to get their hands on a limited-edition pair of kicks. Is it really worth it?

 

Fast Fashion is Killing the Planet

It used to be there were four seasons in Fashion, spring, summer, autumn and winter. These days’ fast fashion chains like H&M and Zara push out clothing for 52 seasons year, that’s a staggering one season per week. The fashion industry has gotten faster, and this has led to the era of disposable fashion. Teenagers no longer expect their cloths to last, ‘cheap chic’ is their motto, buy a skirt for a tenner, if it falls apart on it’s first spin cycle, never mind, there’s another tempting item clothing being pushed by the mega brands.

It’s the unadvertised side of fast fashion that needs highlighting. I know I’m not alone when I say I have no idea where my clothes come from, who makes them, if these people have a decent life. Is my new Top Shop jacket made by an underage child? The trouble is for most of us  when we’re looking for that fashion fix all thoughts of ethical purchasing tend to go straight out the window. Our thoughts turn to what a bargin these garments are, surly at that prie I should get one in every colour. This is when we need to STOP, put the brakes on and think about the exploitation, pollution, and the fact that you can only wear one pair of skinny jeans at a time.

Change starts with the consumer and their wallets, if companies see that there is a demand for more ethically produced garments they will respond to that. I hope ’ll never look at my wardrobe again and complain I have nothing to wear.

 

Pimp my Pooch

Wigs, coats, sneakers and diamond encrusted collars, you’d be forgiven if you thought that I was giving more column inches to Kim and Kanye. Not quite, just to Americas pampered pooches.  From rappers Rottweilers to Paris Pekinese’s A listers are employing pet stylist to coif, dress and accessorise their pets.

If you want to protect your pet against harsh winter weather, forget the gortex, why not go for £700.00 mink coat, though ethically questionable (why is a minks life worth less than a dogs?) it sure will make a statement when you and your best friend are out for your morning stroll.  What’s better than a designer bag, a designer dog carrier obvs, put your pooch in Gucci, or you could try the Louis Vuitton monogrammed canine carrier for a mere £2000.

 

Not got a Chihuahua, no problemo, there’s plenty of designer gear out there for dawgz in the hood, studded leather harnesses, baseball caps and leisure wear abound, if sequins and pink don’t quite work for the Rottweiler.

Notable famous pet pamperers include Sharon Osbourne who reportedly spends £230,000 a year flying her two dogs next to her in first class. Paris Hilton is another famous dog lover, Tinkerbell her beloved Chihuahua has a wardrobe to rival most humans. While head of the couture brand Chanel, Karl Largerield’s two Siamese cats each have seasonal made to measure wardrobes and a maid each.

When it comes to excess, perhaps the most OTT accessory of them all a 52-carat Diamond Dog Collar a mere snip at £1.5 mil. Studded with more than 1600 hand-set diamonds on 18K white gold attached to a crocodile leather collar. This £1.5 million collar just makes you wonder how much ransom money the owner would be willing to pay if their precious pup were kidnapped… not that I would ever do such a thing???

While most of us don’t have the kind of dosh Sharon does, it seems we mortals are following suit. Pop into your local pet shop and likely you’ll see a wall of fashion accessories. With the pet industry, reportedly worth 7 billion in Britain this year, top fashion designers are jumping on the gravy (bone) train. A study carried out by a consumer research group at the height of the recession found that people would rather scrimp and sacrifice on themselves than their pets own. Is it any wonder with statistics like there these the designer pet industry is booming?

A word of warning to you newbie pet owners who might be persuaded to buy Burberry raincoat for your best friend. One round in the park on a rainy day and your pooches stylish mac will turn from dapper into a muddy, torn, soggy mess – remember they have fur people!

Would I make this up?

Listen up people… Many of you who buy makeup will most definitely have heard of and most probably used MAC the high-end high street brand with attitude, celeb endorsement and philanthropic credentials. The likes of Ru Paul and Rihanna have lent their names to their charitable causes. MAC sells a rainbow range of eye shadows, lipsticks plush brushes in slick roller bag kits and their own brand of perfumes. Personally, I like MAC, their products have breadth, style, texture and as many colours a girl could want. Their clever branding, sleek packaging, cool staff appeals to the Goth and the girl next door alike. Their noir clothed sales assistants are well trained, helpful and able to pursued me to part with my meagre student grant!  I believe most are wannabe makeup artists, which means that they know a thing about skin tone, face shapes and what eye shadow colour really will suit a certain customer.

 

The down side? Yes, there is one… MAC is expensive, with mascaras priced at around £20 (blink blink!) it’s not the most ideal place to shop for students. Even if a fraction of that money does go to worthy causes.

Here I turn to Topshop, who launched a makeup range a few years ago. Topshop makeup is roughly half the price of MAC. But what about quality you ask? We’ll here the skinny, both makeup ranges are made by the same manufacture, meaning pretty much the same quality product.

 

So why are people still shopping at MAC if that is the case?

Well there are a few reasons I can think of:

MAC’s excellent branding – with their minimalist interiors, hip staff, Matt black packaging and kaleidoscope of lippy and eye shadow colours – it’s cool to be part of ‘team MAC’.

 

And well many people also like to stick to what they know!

My verdict – don’t be a sheep – it’s pays to shop around. Get away from the heard mentality. After a week after purchase, the packaging will have been long ago discarded, the glamorous assistant a dim and distant memory, the lid will be missing from your lippy and it will be rolling around at the bottom of your (likely) over stuffed makeup bag.