Flares – The Joy of Blogs

That ’70s style

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 by E, posted in 70's Fashion, A/W 15 Fashion, Blogging, Fashion, Popular Culture, Shoes, Shopping, Style

I’m not so keen on all the A/W trends this year. Little fluffy bag chains and marabou everywhere, just leave it in the ’90s! The ’70s trend however is much more exciting!

1970’s. What do you immediately think of?

This guy and this font!

TWIGGY-ERMAGERD

alt=<twiggy-1970s> — Pic: bohemiadesign.tumblr.com

alt=<Jerry Hall> — The beautiful Jerry Hall. Pic: Pinterest.com

alt=<farrah fawcett> — Farrah Fawcett being majestic. Pic: Picxing.com

The key ’70s trends were bell bottoms (flares), fur gilets and coats, bright prints, crochet, waistcoats, hot pants, florals, knee-high boots, peasant dresses and massive bell sleeves.

70s dresses — Louis Feraud dresses. Pic: Superseventiestumblr.com

alt=<crochet hotpants> — Pic: Buzzfeed.com

alt=<70s-peasant-dresses> — Pic: Pinterest.com

Looking at the high-street stores, I thought some had very loose definitions of ” ’70s style.” For instance, some shops had just stuck paisley print on everything and hoped for the best!

This white faux fur coat from Topshop is the ultimate in glam. At €125 it’s quite expensive but faux fur coats are so warm and cosy, an investment piece for winter.

alt=<topshop fur coat> — Pic: Topshop.com

Another great piece from Topshop are these tailored flares. Ideal with platforms and a floral blouse if you want to maximise the ’70s look.

Warehouse meanwhile focused on funky prints such as this tapestry blouse. I would wear this with dark denim jeans.

alt=<tapestry blouse> — Pic: Warehouse.com

I don’t normally shop in Warehouse as it’s quite expensive and I think their clothing is a bit muted for my tastes but I love the new collection, especially this paisley babydoll dress.

River Island have taken a big gamble with roll neck tops. Although this top is gorgeous, I don’t know if roll necks/polo necks will ever be cool…

alt=<river-island roll neck> — Pic: River Island.com

Boohoo.com have an amazing flared denim jumpsuit which I believe could transform anyone into a Charlie’s Angel.

alt=<boohoo denim jumpsuit> — Pic:boohoo.com

The shoe of the ’70s was of course the platform. The bigger and chunkier the heel the better! I had to include the grooviest shoe EVER from American store Charlotte Russe. (This is a shop I’ve been in a few times in the USA, quite cheap over there and worth a look if you are visiting).

alt=<floral platform shoe> — Pic: Charlotte Russe.com

If you’re more of a disco/Abba lover, then you have to see these River Island metallic platforms. Yes they are insane and yes I love them!

alt=<metallic disco shoes> — Pic: River Island.com

Hope you’ve all enjoyed this ’70s post. If you want more ’70s, these are some great blogs dedicated to ’70s style : Superseventies Tumblr, Sweet Jane and for a laugh Plaid Stallions.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win a €50 voucher for Athlone Towncentre through Facebook page. I’ve extended the deadline to next Sunday October 4th so get entering! Also be sure to visit my friend Kathryn’s new blog Violin Kit, if you like vintage you’ll love this blog! Thanks for reading as always.

Edel

Fashion Disasters

April 27, 2015April 27, 2015 by E, posted in 00s, 90s, Blogging, Fashion, Humour, Popular Culture, Style

A while back I wrote a post on 90’s style which got me thinking how about a post on my fashion mistakes from the 90’s/early 00s? ~~UNFORTUNATELY~~ I don’t have pictures but lets face it we don’t need the pictures.

1996-1998-The Formative Years

A green fleece jacket with a black and white check skirt, red and white runners and orange cat print socks. This was paired with a too-short fringe and a menacing grin in my brother’s confirmation photos….

PS..nor did I learn from the too-short fringe and cut my own fringe at the more mature age of 25….here’s the damage!

I also had a yellow fleece which I wore with beige combats…or navy track suit pants which buttoned at the side….

The best accessories were friendship bracelets and friendship necklaces. These were a status symbol in primary school.

Oh the ubiquitous Spice Girl necklace and mood rings. And hairbands with your name in luminous writing.

1998-1999 Hair Experiments

I think hair disasters are part of everyone’s pre-teen/teenage years. I had a camouflage scrunchie which I tied my hair up with and left two appealing tendrils down by my face.My hair was long and really fine, it looked horrendous like this!

1999-2000 Hair and Make-up Experiments.

Hair mascara. BLUE HAIR MASCARA. Complete with more face glitter than Kesha and orangey red lipstick. Definitely a great look for the disco. Totally.

I also really coveted cornrows and did two little braids each side of my head with beads at the end. I blame Alicia Keys/Christina Aguilera equally.

2000- Over-Accessorising.

Bandana and butterfly hair clips…. together!

CONFIRMATION

My confirmation outfit was actually quite cute. Purple velvet flared combats and a matching top with a white polo neck inside. (The polo neck was my mother’s idea). I had huge crimped hair with a straight fringe. Silver hair clips and massive clunky black shoes finished the look.

2001-Flares

Flares worn only with humongous clumpy heeled shoes (flares ended up being too short) or runners (flares dragged in the mud/rain). Oh and if I found jeans that weren’t wide enough to be flares no problem. Being the creative that I am, I simply cut open the seams slightly on each inside leg. TA-DA, FLARES!

2002 Goth Flirtation

Going to secondary school I wore the same denim jacket over my uniform for about two years. It was a long time before I could wear a denim jacket again. I also tried the Goth look (in private) wearing all black, chains on my jeans and purple eye shadow. Oh and I found a red and white studded leather jacket and wore it every single day. Musical influences included Good Charlotte and Avril Lavigne.

2003-2005-The Bling Years

I had LOTS of diamante jewellery and long dangly necklaces and earrings. I was trying to emulate my dubious idols…R’n’B singers and Footballers Wives……

alt="Tanya Turner" — Tanya Turner though

alt="destinys-child" — I still like these outfits! 😛

Also I used to buy “sets” with matching earrings and necklaces.Huge studded belts featured heavily also.

2005-2006 Sexy Outfits

Then when I reached “adulthood” (17/18), I had fitted white flared jeans which were paired with a green and white boob tube and a beige jacket. OH and they had diamante on the pockets. I looked so good drinking my Smirnoff Ice..

Or if I wanted to dress down this outfit, I wore the white jeans with a red zip-up tracksuit top. All other casual looks consisted of wide leg jeans and hoodies with slogans such as “Foxy.”

A denim skirt with huge rainbow coloured wedges. The shoes were a size too big also…Also the year of red highlights in brown hair 😥

So there you have the entire litany of disasters. It’s been fun looking back through my fashion disasters and hope it made you smile! Who knows I may find the photos one day yet! Leave me a comment if you have some fashion disasters to share 😉 As always you can like my blog on Facebook here and follow me on Twitter here. Thanks for reading as always.

Return of The Flare

February 8, 2015February 8, 2015 by E, posted in Fashion, Shopping, Spring Summer 15 Fashion, Trends

A while back I predicted flares were coming back after Lykke Li wore them to her Vicar St. gig late last year. Guess what ? Flares are indeed creeping back in after being consigned to a special place in sartorial hell for many years. Ah flares, I wore them my entire childhood/adolescence and they may have slightly bolstered my self-esteem at the time but looking back I can’t see why! Having B*witched for style icons didn’t help either.

Flares in the early 00’s required a heel of some kind (or a god forbid a chunky runner circa 2005), required frequent washing due to them dragging on the ground and always ended up extremely frayed. I had denim ones, cord ones combat ones, velvet purple ones, embroidered flares, coloured flares, the skinny flare, the flare so wide it forced others off the path……

With the advent of skinny jeans, flares were promptly discarded and forgotten about. Until now. The 2015 reincarnation is here and you may just like it 😉

Forget faded denim, the gothic velvet flare is much more sophisticated. They are gorgeous in dark colours and accessorised with graphic t-shirts and lots of attitude! They are an alternative for people who want to try flares but don’t want to look like a hippy. If you want to wear these, remember they are fitted in the waist and velvet isn’t a forgiving fabric so pick your size carefully.

URBAN PEOPLE Bohemian Burgundy Velvet Hippie Flare/Bell Bottom Pants 831 S #Urbanpeopleclothing #CasualPants — Pic courtesy of Pinterest

THOSE PANTS HOLY SHIT. <3 I need some in every color! — Pic: Pinterest

The 20 Best Street Style Looks from Milan Fashion Week, Fall 2014: Sarah Nicole Rosetto — Pic: Fashionista.com

I usually try to feature affordable and easily available products but I haven’t seen flares in any shops here yet. However I discovered this US site Colors of Aurora which is worth a look.

Flared jumpsuits are equally ok and very flattering.

And if you really want to go there and wear denim flares, pick a dark wash or a distressed style. Very pale washes coloured or embellished denim will look like you stepped out of a 00’s time capsule.

Here’s one of my favourite bloggers The Native Fox wearing dark denim flares.

Free People also have some gorgeous flares and flare jumpsuits..all expensive but great inspo!

Here’s the best thing about flares, they suit almost every body shape. Tall, short, curvaceous, thin, they flatter all shapes and sizes. If you’ve ever read the book The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, I’m willing to bet those pants were flares. This is why I wore them for so long during the awkward teenage years! I was insecure about my body and wearing flares helped me feel better. One important note though, if you are more on the petite side, make sure you get your flares taken up or wear heels. Flares skimming the floor is grand, flares wiping the floor not so great. You don’t want to look as though you are drowning in fabric! Also avoid long cardigans or baggy tops with flares, a fitted top or slightly loose t-shirt works best.

Let me know your thoughts on flares- a welcome back or hell no?

Thanks for visiting my blog as always. As always you can find my blog on Facebook here. Next up for me is a trip to Belgium in March! I look forward to writing about this soon.

Edel

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