HAPPY HALLOWEEN/YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD GOTH

What a shock, I'm completely unprepared for Halloween this year! Seriously, it's SO unlike me, I've literally found myself with 2 days to come up with an awesome costume for a night out in town. DRAMZ! I still love both the dead Cleopatra, and last year's Bowie idea, but I'm just NOT confident in my own make-up artistry to pull them off or do them proper justice - especially Bowie. I defo don't wanna half ass Bowie. That's like some sort of crime.

Anyway, with a wardrobe already full-to-bursting of sheer black, cobweb knits, leather, platforms, PVC and fishnets, I expect I'll probably just pull together some kind of Gothic/witch attempt for Sat night. Cop out? Possibly. Still, work with what you got I guess.

In my dreams though, my uber-cool, thrown together Goth/witch outfit might look something like this...

Love this fishnet body suit from Tarantula Sisters - an Etsy fav of mine. I'd style it almost the same as they have, only with some high-waisted leather shorts instead. Loving the 90s black triangle bra too.

Looks a bit bare though, so I'd chuck on some intense body chains for extra Goth.

Chains available from Snefter on Etsy.

Instead of the classic witchy shoe, I'd go for the iconic Jeffrey Campbell Litas in black leather. They say, "I'm evil, but I'm sexy with it," right?

And OBVIOUSLY no self respecting Goth/witch would be seen dead (mwuhaaahahaaa) without her awesomely spooky Illamasqua green lip gloss. Duh.

Finally, yeah you could wear a witches hat but why would you want to when you could wear this amazing, creepy, vintage black wedding veil?

SHUDDER! Finish the look off with a spooky black cauldron for a bag (or PVC coffin backpack - we all had one!), a black cat, broomstick or a bunch of fake black roses...

SAWWTED!

 

THE RETURN OF ITCOW

In The Company of Wolves returns tomorrow night! The Glasgow-based multimedia fashion show extraordinaire is back at the Sub Club once again to highlight and generally BIG UP the best in Scottish fashion and talent.

After last year's amazing David Lynch-inspired show (Twin Peaks-tastic!) this year's event pays homage to Dario Argento, John Carpenter and William Castle with a 70's b-movie inspired evening.

With visuals from Florence To, art work from Claudia Sharpe and Rachel Nova, and 17 designers taking to the catwalk with collections never seen before in Glasgow, tomorrow night is OAN like King Kong!

Bonnie Bling OCH! Necklaces. BB have designed a special Howler necklace exclusively for the event.

As part of the show, ITCOW have also collaborated with DIY Nails who have created bespoke ITCOW horror nails for the girls on the night, as well as designing some nails inspired by some of the designers in the show:

Samantha McEwan 'Isolated Heroes' inspired nails.

AND, all the models will be wearing customised Dawntroversial shoes to strut down the catwalk. You know Dawntroversial, right? She makes those UBER-HOT galaxy print shoes and wedges in a huge range of styles and colours you probably saw on Etsy or a thousand million Tumblrs...

Swoon, drool, faint, etc.

ITCOW tickets are available HERE. Snap em up before it sells out, Glasgow ladies! I'll see you there...

In the meantime here's a sneaky wee trailer for the In The Company of Wolves fashion film which will be featured on the night:

AUTUMN WITH MULBERRY

We are blessed big-time here in Glasgow to have a gorgeous Mulberry store in the heart of the city centre, and last week I got to spend some time hanging about there while returning a Fox Lock satchel and Tilly from a shoot... Basically I stood twirling moronically on the spot (think Belle from Beauty & The Beast in the library scene) breathing in the heady scent of leather like it was my own personal brand of heroin for about 15 minutes. Casual like.

Something about Mulberry bags man... They do WEIRD things to me.

Anyway, I'm feeling UBER inspired by their AW11 lookbook at the moment, what with it feeling decidedly autumnal these days...

Pretty, huh? Here's my pick of the best Mulberry bags and accessories for autumn. Sigh, a girl can dream...

Swooning my ass off over here.

 

SHAUN LEANE FOR ROX... AND OTHER SHIZ

Jesus, it's been a while, eh?

This week has been spent frantically beavering away at some freelance projects, including chatting to the lovely Carol, Scottish Ballet's head of wardrobe, and assisting on a few shoots for The Herald again... Sneak peek time!

ALSO, on Thursday I was kindly invited to a swanky event at ROX in Argyle Arcade, to celebrate

jewellery designer Shaun Leane's latest collections - Horn, Tusk, Cherry Blossom and Couture Took My Heart...

Recognised internationally as a designer who pushes the boundaries of convention, yet still has an aptitude for creating classically romantic jewellery, Shaun Leane has created some of the most ground-breaking and trend-setting collections of jewellery currently on the market.

The uniqueness of Shane Leane jewellery is what makes it such an in-demand range, and it is this designer's distinctive attitude to jewellery-making that has made him a favourite in the industry.

To be honest, I'd never heard of Shaun Leane before the event - which is pretty bad considering he was responsible for all the jewellery at Alexander McQueen under the late, great man himself, who was also  a close personal friend of his. Ooopsie.

BUT actually, turns out I DID recognise some of his most iconic pieces like the brooch he designed for SJP at the AngloMania exhibition in 2006 and the bespoke collar for Bjork's 2001 album cover:

Some of my favs from his current collections include the spikey, jaggy pieces in the Horn and Tusk collections. Check em oot:

This gold Vertebrae Ball bracelet is actually from his earlier Serpent collection but is still available to buy at ROX online. It's my total favourite ever! At over £1,000 I'm sure you could probably find something similar in Topshop, but there's something about a solid gold, perfectly-crafted piece of bling that just sends me weak at the knees. Creepy, Gothic but utterly beautiful and delicate at the same time - jings, can SOMEONE please buy me it?

Queen Michelle from Kingdom of Style was there to quiz Shaun on his inspirations and his future plans. He told the rapt audience he'd love to work with Cartier, reinventing their signature pieces from the1920s and bringing them up to date with a contemporary twist. Cue mass swooning! CAN YOU IMAGINE? Seriously...

Much of the chat also centered round his collaboration with fashion oddball/genius Daphne Guinness entitled Contra Mundum or Against the World. To you and I that's basically a bespoke, priceless glove designed to fit Daphne's hand perfectly, made up of more than a thousand grams of gold and set with over 5,000 pavé white diamonds... So, like, pretty dope.

Here she is modelling it pretending to be a corpse. Obviously.

Shaun told us it took him over four years to make - that's some intense dedication right there. I would've loved to have seen it up close but it's probably guarded in a Gringotts-style safe somewhere, guarded by vicious fashion harpies...

Anyway, aye, twas a fabo night. I didn't take any photos cos I'm rubbish like that, but Amanda did so check em oot. Thanks to Toni and ROX for taking such good care of us! Here's a pic of me and my pal Kirsten on the left getting papped on the way in - such SLEBS!

Not that you can really see but I'm wearing a vintage snakeskin blouse, Toppers Ambush boots, H&M pleather skirt and Acne leather jacket. Kirsten is wearing Urban Outfitters top and Vero Moda breeks (I think). I pure love that Acne jacket but it does tend to bulk me up a bit since it isn't fitted. I'm looking a little who ate all the pies here...



See? Swanky.com/pureclassy. Anyhoo, back to the grind this week so expect a few more lunchtime blogs :)

OH, almost forgot, I was at Bon Iver last night at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. BEST. GIG. EVER. Do yourself a favour and watch this...

Ni-night y'all.

ETSY SPOTLIGHT: CELAPIU

I wouldn't say that I ordinarily harbour a secret BURNING PASSION for all things cute or novelty, but in the case of Polish label Celapiu, I've made a big exception...

Seriously, how awesome are Celapiu's adorable winter warmers? I especially love their snoods, hats and immense 'Foks' stoles. Have a gander:

Celapiu was founded in 2005 by designer Celina Dębowska: " I like to think of my products as "surrealistic", describing design philosophy rather than defining a particular style. I play with styles, shuffle between cartoon kitsch and urban deconstruction".

Santa, gies one of those Foks stoles in my stocking, please?