If you are yet to try this then I heartily advise that you do,

it’s amazing what the power of positive thought can do.

Have a great start to the week

xxx

 For hundreds of years, flowers have inspired the fashions of the day, but now a team of innovative florists and fashion conscious bloggers have created stunning flower designs based on the nations favourite designers.

Inspired by iconic designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford, Mulberry, Paul Smith, L’Wren Scott and Stella McCartney, Interflora florists Natalie Stanyer and Morgan Nuth worked with six of the nation’s finest fashion bloggers to create a series of stunning flower 

Each individual floral design was expertly crafted using the finest flower varieties and the latest floristry techniques to capture the very essence of each designer.

The Mulberry influenced arrangement, for example, used English flowers such as Sweet Avalanche roses and hydrangeas to emulate the fashion house’s classic British style. Meanwhile, the L’Wren Scott design included more exotic varieties such as purple Vanda orchids and Black Bacarra roses to create a truly glamorous, red-carpet feel – just like L’Wren’s revered evening dresses.

“It’s well known that the fashion industry draws inspiration from flowers – just look at the number of designs at London Fashion Week that featured floral prints,” said Natalie Stanyer. “Fewer people realise that fashion also has a bearing on floral trends. A good florist will always look to the catwalk for inspiration when developing their creative style.”

“This project was our attempt to give something back to the fashion industry by creating bespoke floral arrangements with a strong nod towards our favourite fashion designers.”

Fashion bloggers Sophie etc. (Sophie Neal), The Girl Who Stole London (Lauren Mahon), Style Trunk (Angharad Jones), Sequin This (Sarah Thain), Lauren Ella (Lauren Pearson) and Isabelle OC (Isabelle O’Carroll), used their own in-depth fashion knowledge to translate the styles of their favourite designers into the unique arrangements. Each worked closely throughout the day with fashion expert Tony Glenville, Creative Director at London College of Fashion, during a specially organised Interflora event which ran alongside London Fashion Week.

“Fashion and flowers is a marriage of creative outcomes made in heaven,” explains Tony. 

“Everyone in the fashion world uses flowers for some kind of signal, be it white orchids on a tea dress or exotic blooms on a floating silk sarong. 

“Interflora cleverly combined the key looks of a series of London Fashion Week designers, ranging from the British eccentricity of Paul Smith to the New York glam of Tom Ford, into a set of exciting proposals. The outcomes created by florists and bloggers working together were simply stunning.” 

Interflora has created a behind the scenes video, gallery of images and infographic explaining the inspiration and making of the flower arrangements. 

To see the arrangements and watch the ‘making of’ video, click here.

Sorry for the lengthy text and copy of a press release but I just couldn’t resist sharing this project. I love flowers almost as much as I love fashion (perhaps even equal) and it’s fascinating to see how the two influence each other.

Below are images of some of my favourites

What are your thoughts on florals in fashion?

xxx

Wouldn’t it be great to kick-start your modelling career with the help of professionals who actually know what they’re talking about? Even better, wouldn’t it be great to work with talented photographers, stylists, hairdressers and make-up artists before taking on a professional job? Look no further, UK Models are here to assist!

Our aim is to offer advice to aspiring models as they take their first steps into the industry. We do this by helping guys and girls create high standard portfolios and then offering information (honestly and professionally) about anything from agencies and castings to networking and freelancing. We are not an agency ourselves but a model support service, and we have been recognised as the best one in the country.

Our services are incredibly easy to access and something we encourage you to do if you’ve found yourself at a dead end in your career path. Log onto the UK Models website and fill in a quick and free application form to express your interest, and, if a member of our New Faces team receives it and sees potential in you, that’s when the fun will begin!

Regardless of your age, look or ethnicity, as long as you have the fundamental assets in place to become a model, you will be invited down to our London studios to start off the process of finding you work: by making you a portfolio. (Although these aren’t imperative tools of the industry, we have twelve years of experience that proves to us a model with a portfolio is likely to be a more successful one than a model without.)

We will ask you to bring a selection of outfits down too and over the course of a day our talented team of make-up artists, hairdressers and fashion stylists will transform you into a series of different looks. Between each one, a photographer will take your picture (in a variety of locations; some in the studio, some outside on location) before you sit down with a professional image consultant and chat through your final shots. This is an invaluable experience and one you will learn lots from. You will be able to discuss your strengths, weaknesses and whether you both think you have what it takes to become a model.

And our help doesn’t stop there! On completion of your portfolio, UK Models offer all guys and girls a year’s worth of assistance when it comes to finding work. If you’re lucky enough to be invited down, make use of this service whenever you like and feel free to talk about any manner of modelling, whether that’s to do with agencies, freelancing or networking.

If this sounds like something you’re after, great! You can get started straight away by popping onto our website and filling out the form.

Back in June Warehouse launched a national competition where people could submit their outfits. Based on the facebook votes nine winners were selected and these nine outfits have now been incorporated in to a video campaign which follows the day in the life of a girl who changes outfits every 90 minutes according to what is happening in her life.

90 minutes bears significance as Warehouse have just launched a 90 minute delivery service (available in a wide range of cities across the UK- brilliant!)

I think the idea of the campaign and the accompanying video is fantastic, 

it reminds me a lot of myself and how I can change outfits several times in a day- I never seem to be able to choose something to suit a range of occasions. I am yet to manage nine clothing changes but you never know, it could happen!

I’d love to hear your views on the campaign and the concept. Also tell me about how many outfit changes you’ve managed in one day. I’ll be amazed if it’s reached double figures!
On a side note I am absolutely loving the AW13 collection from Warehouse, so many pieces have made it’s way on to my wishlist!

Blog posts will be few and far between for the next week, bar for a couple of scheduled ones. It’s a mad start to the week and then I’m away Thurs-Sunday with the boy for his birthday. Off to visit his home town of Melton Mowbray, I’ve never been that far North so I’m really looking forward to it.

Have a good one

I’ll be on a catch up rampage when I am back.

xxx

(Image Source: Sony website)

Have you heard of a smart TV before? Chances are that unless you closely follow technology you’ll be like me and new to the whole concept. With everything from built in full internet connection through to Ultra HD viewing it’s kind of scary how much things have changed even in my fairly short lifetime.

My first memory of TV is being sat right up close to a big, clunky box, and on the terrible day that it went up in smoke it was replaced with the somewhat defunct dial controlled black and white thing that lived in my parent’s room. I remember not that many people owned their TV either- they were rented from shops and upgraded every couple of years (that was always an exciting time!)

Now I don’t really know of anyone who DOESN’T have their own TV…or six. In our house alone there are four of the things, each in varying degrees of newness and yet suddenly they seem decrepid compared to the smart TV.

Smart TV’s really are the future of home entertainment viewing. I really like the sound of the TV Sideview feature that comes with this new technology- you can learn more about what you are watching with cast and episode details of your favourite programmes, and this is from someone who doesn’t watch  that much TV at all really. I’d love to try this on the Great British Bakeoff though!

There is also the Sony Entertainment Network where you can browse the web or discover films, songs and all your favourite shows and use apps…The best part is that with the new technology, you can link a specially enabled smartphone to the big screen so all of the content on your phone can basically be brought to life!

It all sounds pretty snazzy. It all comes at a price of course but if you’re seriously in to your TV it sounds like it may well be a worthy investment. I’ll admit I’m intrigued, there is no way I could justify it at the moment but one day, maybe…although goodness knows what technology will have come up with by then!

I found this cool infographic of the biggest TV broadcast moments… how far we have come since the TV’s that captured the moon landing of 1969….