Calling the Creative...

A picture I took at the Bath Christmas market.

With Christmas hurtling towards us and me having literally no money, this years presents are going to have to be  seriously home-made. I've been back from Australia for almost a week now but it feels a lot longer. With a little too much time on my hands, I am going to be making some Christmas presents in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I have decided to do Home made cards, gingerbread men, biscuits (in the shape of trees!), jewellery and that is where my creative juices stop. I have no idea what else I can make and knowing how creative everyone is on the Internet I am fishing around for ideas. I will show you the cool things I have made as soon as the making process actually begins! But until then, please feel free to give me any quirky ideas or suggestions - no matter how strange they might be! The book below is full of amazing ideas but I have asked for it for Christmas so I'm not going to get it in time! It is amazing though, to check it out, it is at www.cathkidston.co.uk and is only £16. Compared to the prices in Australia, that is practically and give away.

Cath Kidston £16

Thanks for reading! Let me know your great ideas and suggestion, or even just to comment on anything I have said. Pictures of my new creation to follow soon!

Always look on the bright side of life (de-do..de-do-de-do-de-doo)

Sadly, it is back to England for me next week. No more amazing city skylines, or beach sun sets and I can forget about wearing vibrant summer dresses because the weather is going to be a painful reality when I land in London Heathrow. My trip to Australia has been amazing. I cannot really say too much more. However, going home is a good thing I guess. If you stay in an amazing place too long it becomes home and therefore boring and mundane. You have to go back to your reality every once in a while, it is just part of life. Looking forward to things is usually the most exciting part, so even though my trip is drawing to a close, I will try and remember that something fun is only round the corner! 

Below are a few of my favourite snaps from my trip to Australia...

My sister and Gemma on our Cairns road-trip!

Remembrance day - Melbourne

Bustleton Jetty!

Me up on a hill, Bronte behind

Manly beach sun-set

Harbour bridge sun-set, Sydney

Sydney at night

Bronte beach with my sister

Melbourne - Fed Square

The next post will be more fashion related - sorry that things have been so slow since I have been out here!
Thanks for reading,

Films can teach us 'stuff'?

So as I have said...my blog isn't just about fashion. It is about what inspires me and what I think is just plain inspirational. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the idea of city life. The rush, the buzz, the excitement - to me this is fashion. Fashion isn't just clothes. You can find it in everywhere you go because so many different things influence trends. The economy, the weather and current affairs all indirectly affect Fashion; what we wear and how we wear it. We are all part of the system whether we like it or not because we all play our parts. Although it is a bit over the top and preachy, I love the little speech made in Devil Wears Prada. If you have not seen this film then you are seriously depriving yourself of 160 minutes filled with amazing outfits, an easy but addictive story-line and lots of humor. The speech is given by the big boss of the fictional fashion magazine RUNWAY, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Miranda brutally informs her new intern Andy (Anne Hathaway) that although she thinks she is beyond getting involved in fashion, she too has her role in the industry. I had thought this for such a long time and hearing this speech on the film was like music to my ears. However, please do not get me wrong. I do understand that fashion is not for everyone and people are well within their rights to have no interest in it but I do not appreciate it being made to seem simple or one dimensional. There is a hell of a lot more to it than that and for many people, it is a big part of their life. It is just about being respectful, that is all.

I do not own this image (taken from Google images).

A little snippet from the film that illustrates this point

Miranda Priestly: [Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar looking belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers because she thinks they look exactly the same. Miranda notices and looks up] Something funny? 
Andy Sachs: No. No, no. Nothing's... You know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I'm still learning about all this stuff and, uh... 
Miranda Priestly: 'This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets?... And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.


Yes. This post has been brief but I hope it has either inspired you to finally watch DWP* or to dig it back out of your DVD collection and re-live it in all its glory.

Let me know your thoughts on anything I have said in this post. Whether you disagree or agree with me, it is always good to hear what you allchave to say!

Thank-you, as always, for reading and visiting 'Hailes Hearts Fashion'!