when the leaves begin to fall I try to catch them all

This week has been peaceful - lots of work but just about enough time to do it, early mornings and vaguely early nights (early for me, at least) and a Thursday spent wandering around London. I only had one lesson, so took the day to spend time in the city and visit the British Museum for my art project. The last time I visited I was about 7 years old and studying the ancient Egyptians at school, and we managed to get lost in the museum's huge rooms of mummies and sarcophagi...safe to say, I was terrified and convinced we were trapped forever. I hadn't dared go back until now and I'm so pleased I finally did - the building is huge and beautiful and it contains so many amazing artefacts and is the perfect place if you need a bit of inspiration or a nice break from the busy city outside.  

This outfit is from a few days ago, and includes a Beyond Retro shirt, Rokit skirt, Blitz denim jacket, Underground shoes and Monki socks. The bag is from Depop.

It's been really hard to break out of my obsession with red and monochrome - recently I've been obsessed with the combination, and it's become so difficult to put outfits together without some red or black and white stripes thrown in somewhere. The patterned bag and socks are easy to add to any outfit...I really must start wearing other colours again before I become someone who exclusively wears red. Not that that would be a bad thing...it is probably going to happen one day. Anyway, have a lovely weekend!!

strange as angels dancing in the deepest oceans

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll probably already know the shoot I did last summer with Ailera Stone for Miss Robin zine (these posts: 1, 2) and can imagine why I was excited to work with her again this summer just gone. The first time, we had wandered through the Natural History Museum and Covent Garden, snapping dreamy photographs on the theme of 'postcards'. This time, we spent the morning shooting in Hyde Park's rose garden. It was a blissful summer's day and the photos capture a lot of that bright, summery haze I was experiencing.

As for styling, I knew I wanted to reflect the natural environment around me so bought a haphazard bunch of florals, which I paired with white fishnet tights, 70s-esque platform school shoes (they look sort of like school shoes, I think anyway) and huge glasses frames. The above outfits feature a suede panel skirt from Beyond Retro's label, a Beyond Retro floral high-neck top, and a floral shirt from a vintage market.

(Beyond Retro top & shorts, vintage sunglasses)
The padlock I'm fiddling with in the 5th photo had "just like a dream," scratched onto it, which I noticed and subsequently meant I spent the rest of the day humming The Cure. I loved this little appearance of Just Like Heaven into my day and even now it's tune still brings to mind the warm summer sun and rosy flowers we spent the morning in.

It was such a lovely day, and the photos really capture that summery haze - days spent wandering through nature, exploring new places, taking time to relax or read in the warm sunlight. I'm looking forward to more days like that this summer, hopefully. Thank you again Ailera for a lovely day! Her work is seriously incredible, and can be found here and here.

Have a lovely week!

I was dancing in the rain, I felt alive and I can't complain

This week has been peaceful; I watched movies with friends, started making some of my first performance art pieces, and saw Aurora perform in Covent Garden (which was amazing - for some reason I rarely listen to female singers but she is so mesmerising...and her songs truly magical). I'm now having a sleepy Sunday, listening to her album and feeling motivated to create things and go places.
I never used to wear navy; now, I seem to wear it all the time. Since getting a pair of Topshop's Wide Leg Pinstripe Trousers, and this "COWBOY" bomber jacket from Depop, I seem to be wearing the colour very often and usually all at once. I love clashing patterns and it's quite fun limiting yourself to one colour but still trying to look a little crazy, as I tend to want to. I wore this outfit on Mother's day, on a little family trip out to central London. The shirt (worn over a navy velvet top I found at a market for €1 in France!) is part of an original 1940's skirt suit I found at a market, and I liked combining it with the bomber and giving it a casual and completely different style to the way it's designer probably intended it to be worn. I wore jewellery from Hirst Antiques, socks from Topshop, bag from Depop and shoes from Monki.

I still have gingham ribbon tied to the back of my necklace after I used it to lengthen it a few weeks back. I quite like having odd bits of ribbon and fabric draped on my person. As with patterns, the more the merrier, really.

I've been feeling weird recently in regards to what I'm doing in ~life~. I applied to Tokyo fashion week on a whim, as I've always dreamed of visiting, and actually received some invites to shows. I was so tempted but unfortunately the short notice has somewhat rendered me unable to make it...but, it has fixed my plan to go this time next year for certain. Which is crazy. I'm actually going to be travelling for work. That's insane. I want to do Paris this year too, in September if I can...it just shows that when you want things to happen, sometimes it's more about just going out and doing them instead of waiting for someone to tell or ask you to. Why wait for future possibility when you can make it happen now?
I also really want to work on the things I bring to the table, both creatively and otherwise. I have been keeping this blog forever but I have so much more in terms of ideas and thoughts that I want to put into words, paint on canvases, sew into clothes and capture in photographs. I want to start making and creating every day instead of spending some days only dreaming about it.
That got quite deep there. I could go on for hours. Instead, I'm going to go and make some art - one of the most cathartic / fulfilling things I can recommend in times of doubt about your creative potential. Anyway, I hope you all have a great week...I will have a longer post up in a day or two, but for now here are a few phone photos from Aurora and this week in general. Have a lovely week!