everything depends upon how near you stand to me (Beyond Retro Label s/s14 Launch)

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to the Beyond Retro Label s/s14 Launch at their Dalston store. I have been a huge fan of their clothes since I discovered them in Brick Lane back when I had only just started to wear more vintage-y clothes, and since then I have been basically hooked. Somehow they manage to combine fabulously groovy (yes I am using the word groovy) items with incredibly reasonable prices, all neatly housed in the coolest warehouse-like stores. I'm a sucker for presentation, and their displays and shop interiors have won my heart every season so far.
Beyond Retro Label is a collection of custom-made items sold alongside the store's normal vintage stock. They combine high street styles with vintage pieces and fabrics, mixing the two to create a perfect hybrid, and a great introduction for those new to vintage and secondhand shopping. It's also incredibly ethical - instead of throwing away old pieces, they rework them into something new and stylish.

I met up with Naomi from Two Shoes One Pair, Hannah from Beyond Retro, Adora Mehitabel and Kayla Hadlington, and spent the evening oohing over the new collection, taking photos of the store and stroking everything and anything velvet or sparkly. It was super quiet and so it felt like we had the store to ourselves...which was incredible as it was literally a haven of vintage and retro clothing, with some pieces even being original 60s and 70s designs (shift dresses and dagger collars galore).
The Label collection was obviously just as awesome as Beyond Retro itself; customised shorts, cropped shirts, leather dungaree dresses and sweaters that all worked as solo pieces or combined. I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing these items in store, and stocking up on pieces for when the weather (hopefully) warms up.

I loved the cropped jumpers and shirts the most; high-waisted shorts, skirts and jeans are my absolute favourite thing to wear. They are so flattering (and in fashion at the moment) however they can get a bit bulky worn with normal length jumpers, so I for one will definitely be stocking up on these as I've actually found them quite hard to find anywhere else.

Cropped bomber jackets, with patterned inserts. Does life get better? I loved the flamingo print especially, and thought they would be an easy way to wear the current sportswear trend.

I got to hang out with the amazing Kayla and Adora, both whose blogs I read with dedication. Their style is incredible and they were so lovely, and shared my passion for bright and sparkly things (which we managed to find quite a lot of).

I found these two pairs of shoes and basically I would have bought them both instantly if they had been my size. Usually I'm quite lucky with shoes as vintage stores often stock a lot of small sizes (I'm a 3 or 4) however recently I've not been doing so well. Maybe I found all the small ones already.

The decor fit the evening's aesthetic so perfectly, and since 'selfie' was declared the word of the year last year I felt it necessary to take a few with Kayla in the awesome mirror we found at the back of the store.

Coat and belt: Beyond Retro // Shirt: Absolute Vintage // Shorts & Shoes: Rokit // Socks: Topshop // Jewellery: Hannah Makes Things

Basically I had an incredible night (what gets better than hanging out with awesome people surrounded by awesome clothes?!) and am now really looking forward to any future collaborations with Beyond Retro, and of course London Fashion Week, which I am going to be attending on Saturday and hopefully Sunday and Monday too. Thanks to Hannah, Naomi and everyone at Beyond Retro for inviting me!

ellie xo

Smiggle Stationary

Hey there. Feels like ages since my last post...but once again, I have found myself snowed under with work. It's not all bad though - work isn't half as bad when it's art work. Art is probably the only thing that can be hard work and yet relaxing at the same time. On the subject of art, I recently received some super cool goodies from new stationary company Smiggle, and thought obviously the best way to communicate their coolness to you would be to show me using their products in my natural habitat (aka on the sofa on the laptop).

 (Elvis says hi)

Smiggle are a stationary company all the way from Australia, however their first British store is going to be opening in Westfields Stratford in London on the 20th February. They specialise in fun and colourful stationary and art supplies designed to brighten up your pencil case, which they definitely do. Everything is great quality too - the gel pens are bright and don't smudge or smear, and the headphones are the softest and comfiest things I have ever worn on my head (they're better than earmuffs). I really recommend you check out Smiggle's website, and nip down to Westfields to see the store when it opens!
hugs,

ellie xo

blurry face and cracked voice gone through VHS tapes

On Sunday I took a break from work and took my lunch to Golders Hill Park. I used to go all the time when I was little, however we haven't been in ages. It was nice to reconnect with my old haunt and be hit by that glorious wave of nostalgia that accompanies being somewhere that brings back memories of childhood. The weather had really cleared, and it was nothing less than blissful to be out in the fresh february air under the bluest sky I've seen since summer.

I've been feeling very sixties inspired recently, and after getting this Orla Kiely top (!!!) in Uniqlo for £6, I felt I had to go for the full on look. I wore it with my skirt from Oxford, cardigan from Beyond Retro, and mary-jane shoes from Rokit.

I took a bagel for lunch, and bought some tea from the Cafe, which is really lovely and sells amazing ice cream. Going back really reminded me of how lovely some local places are...you don't have to go too far in London to find somewhere so serene and peaceful. I've also been feeling a little estranged from myself recently, purely because my body is that of a sixteen-year-old girl, but my mind is still very much a child who wants to play games and run wild all the time. I think that it's just a part of growing up, but reconnecting with old places and things I used to do as a child have proved very comforting, and helped me come to terms with the fact that although I do have to accept some responsibilities and act with a level of maturity now I'm getting older, I can still do everything I used to do when I was little and still have just as much fun as I did as I used to. Being sixteen is both amazing and terrifying in equal measure, but I think I am beginning to get the hang of it at last, even though I still answer 'fifteen' accidentally when anyone asks how old I am.

I thought I may as well go all out and so even took my Spaceboy lunch box I bought from Brighton last year...nothing beats a cute lunch box when it comes to ways to brighten your day (especially when you know there's a bagel inside). We had a gorgeous walk around the park and had lunch sitting in the flower garden, before walking around to the little zoo.
Golders Hill Park Zoo was created in 1905, and is now home to donkeys, lemurs, ring-tailed coati and a huge variety of birds including beautiful Kookaburras and Eagle Owls. There is also a herd of fallow deer. I've loved animals ever since I was tiny, and remember visiting these same feathery friends with my cousins when I was little. Seeing animals like Coati and the fluffy Kookaburras never fails to put a smile on my face, and nothing could have brightened my work-filled day more than seemingly befriending one of the two donkeys, who decided to follow me as I made my way around it's paddock. The deer were also beautiful, and it was so lovely to be so close to such shy animals...and very helpful if I ever need to draw deer for future art projects. It's good to plan ahead right?

On a slightly separate topic, I've realised that I finally need to accept the fact that people I know read this blog. For a whole year I managed to keep in on the low-down, maintaining it as a sort of private hobby (even though the webpage is public). It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would...mainly as I go to an incredibly accepting school, and no one seems that interested (thank God). It's still a little weird though, but I've always known that my friends finding out was inevitable. It could be a lot worse, I mean it's not like I've got a secret rabbit porn blog or something...now that would be embarrassing.
Hope you're all having a good week,

ellie xo

the rain falls hard on a humdrum town

Hello again! The weekend seems to be nearly over, which is strange as I could have sworn it was only Friday yesterday. The grey cloud of rain that's been haunting us this last week seems to have lifted briefly, leaving the most beautiful expanse of blue sky combined with the crisp winter air. It's beginning to look increasingly spring-like, too, which is good as personally I think the Spring and Autumn months are the best of the year.

On Saturday I had to take a quick trip down to Central London to pick up some more bits & bobs from MacCulloch and Wallis. This, of course, resulted in a typical granny-ish outfit of mine made up of my Beyond Retro skirt, top from Absolute Vintage, cardigan from Nutshell Vintage and shoes from Rokit. I'm still obsessed with orange and mustard and so was happy to see that my satchel from The Leather Satchel Company matched the cardigan perfectly.

I also had a little look in Uniqlo and managed to get an Orla Kiely polo neck top for £6. Six Pounds. Orla Kiely. I don't think I can emphasise in words how excited I was.

For some reason, I had woken up at about 7am that morning and decided to follow a recipe for Peanut Butter cookies from Skinny Taste. (See the original recipe HERE) I am a sucker for anything peanut butter flavoured, and so I was kind of hyperventilating when I realised that not only did these taste divine but they also are relatively healthy, coming in at under 100 calories each and containing no flour, sugar, butter or any thing unnatural or particularly bad at all. They're so good, you can even have them for breakfast.

To make the cookies themselves you need two sachets of oats (I used wheat and gluten free ones but any will do) two tablespoons of peanut butter (crunchy and with no added sugar works best) and two bananas. Mash the bananas, and then combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl until you have a smooth, even and oaty texture (with no big lumps of banana!). 

Spoon the mixture onto a lined and greased baking tray, using the back of the spoon to spread the blobs into a more cookie-like shape. Make a little indentation in the middle of each cookie, ready for the filling. The mixture makes about 8 small cookies, or 6 larger ones, although for some reason I ended up making seven.
Put them in the oven (fan, on about 200'c) for about 15-20 minutes, until they are relatively firm and golden. Allow them to cool, before placing a spoonful of jam into the little indentation on the top of the cookie. You could use pretty much anything as a topping, however I opted for strawberry jam, blueberry jam, and nutella. The latter was probably everyone's favourite, but I think all three work quite well.

I'm not a very frequent baker, and despite my love of home cooked food I rarely find the time to make things myself. It was one of my resolutions to cook more, and so maybe this is the start of something...who knows. Anyway, I better get on with all the coursework I seem to have ended up with...I hope you are all having a good Sunday!

ellie xo