Lady Luck Rules OK. OK!?

Yay! The sun shone today and it didn't rain at all! (well, it's not yet 6pm so there's still time) And I headed up town for a talk by Lady Luck Rules OK's Leona Baker at the Hannah Zakari shop on Candlemaker Row. 

For such an exciting event, only gold lurex, leopard print and a silly 'ooh' face would possibly doodle-doo. Plus, holy-mary-mutha-of-tha-baby-jebus it's got freakin' cold of late and so today was finally the day that I re-busted out my ye-olde-faithful frilly bosom-ed knitted gold lurex dress. Much like leopard print, I believe gold lurex to be a staple wardrobe neutral and this dress is warm, comfy, sparkly and hides absolutely every degree of bloating. Plus, it has ruffles! If anyone knows anyone out there who has the black version and wants shot of it, I'll buy it (it's from H&M)! For anyone who hasn't had them rammed down their throat already (sorry), the boots are Clarks from schuh.

So, back to the day's events! For anyone who didn't come across Lady Luck Rules OK while it was still going, firstly, you can read about the company here, secondly, sad times for you! The brand brought us some of the cutest and kookiest pieces of the, er, noughties (sorry, forgive my momentary twat-sounding-ness there - I hate the phrase noughties.) and some of my absolute favourite pieces of jewellery came from the site. In fact, I'm geeked up enough that I got married in an awesome personalised LLROK necklace, so there's a bit of smooshy sentimental value in the brand for me too. Aw! (Brace yourselves, you're about to get a wee swatch [that's a Scottish word for 'look' BTW. As in "Geez a swatch ae yer new dress" which means "Ooh, may I please have a look at your new dress? Splendid"] of Mr Scribbler)

Picture by Nick Mailer www.fotonick.co.uk

Ooh, look at the pretty necklace!

Sadly, having decided she wasn't feeling the love for her subject anymore, Leona (who started the LLROK after success selling re-worked vintage pieces at London's Portobello market and, amazingly, didn't have a design, jewellery or business background pre market selling.) made the brave decision, late in 2009, to bring Lady Luck Rules OK to an end (it closed up after Valentine's day 2010). Here's a coupla sheets of some of their early designs:

Forgive the picture quality. Being the toppermost awesome blogger amateur that I am my camera battery was dead this morning so the pics are from my phone. Hopefully you get the gist of their early designs, which were bold and colourful and, at the risk of sounding twee, just a bit 'different' from other things out there at the time. Something I think remained true of the brand throughout it's time, in spite of the imitators.

So, being the apparent LLROK geek that I am, when I heard about Leona's talks I decided to go along for a few reasons. Firstly, out of sheer nosiness! I was curious to know what went into one of my favourite brands - more about how it came about, how it grew and why it ended. Secondly, for inspiration. Like many people, the idea of building a business by myself for myself has always appealed - I'm, er, just waiting for the right inspiration to strike. Hmm - we'll see. But I figured the talk really might throw up some valuable info and it did - there were loads of helpful tips and tidbits (what Leona feels she did right and wrong, advice on copyright and legals, trade fairs, PR and much more) in there for anyone looking to start up any kind of business, not just something craft based. Thirdly, I've dabbled in the odd crafty thing here and there (just for myself and friends) and I was really curious to understand a bit more of the 'making' side of the business and that aspect of the talk was fantastically interesting. I'm not gonna give away all the tips and secrets but it was really amazing to hear about how the various items were sourced and made and it was a great reminder that, in business, you can never overestimate the value of a bit of lateral thinking! Another thing I really took from today was a sense of possibility. The fact that Leona developed such a successful business without having any kind of background in the field just goes to show that with a bit of determination and imagination, you can do whatever you want. Unless you're a tone deaf weirdy type and your ambition is to win the X Factor. Reality check peeps.

Here's a wee bit more of the back-catalogue (the owl is one of my absolute favourite pieces!) and, excitingly, a picture of our hands making our own necklaces! Ooh!

And the finished article:

So all that remains to be said is that today was well worthwhile - interesting, entertaining and really, really informative too. I'm just excited to see what Leona does next. Whatever it is, I don't doubt she'll make a success of it.

Hang on a minute - I've seen them before

Ah yes! The eagle eyed amongst you may well be scratching your head and thinking these schuh bought Clarks Originals boots have been on here before. And you'd be right! However, today I did one of my favourite fashion things and clashed a bunch of patterns (stripes, plaid and two different colour of leopard print anyone? Oh yes I did) so I decided to showcase the 'look' anyway. Plus, I think THESE SHOES ARE AWESOME. Please don't argue as this is an actual scientific fact. IN fact, 100% of people surveyed agreed that they're awesome*.

 

Now, if we're splitting hairs, they're actually desert boots, not shoes and, when it comes to le shoes, I am something of a hair splitter and quite pernickity. So, hairs split, let's continue. They're leopard print, they're hairy (and they ain't got NO split ends suga') and they're super comfy. Plus, they go with everything. I read a blog post a coupla days ago by Calivintage where Erin referred to polka dots as her essential neutral. Well baby, leopard print is my essential neutral. I sorta suspect that my dad had a fling with Bet Lynch or something and there's a bit of her in my mix. Either that or I'm the result of some crazy Bet/Pat Butcher liaison. Actually, I quite like that theory. Pat ROCKS a trench and earrings! Ch-ch-check it aaaaaht:

What a friggin' ledge! I mean, in the name of all that's been touched by barbie, will you look at that pink coat?! After the might of the Butcher I'm a bit embarrassed to showcase myself. So I'll ease you in with a blurry picture. I'm nice like that.

I rather suspect I might be an altogether nicer prospect in constant soft focus actually. Ah, who am I kidding? This picture's crap and I apologise. I am wearing:

Aforementioned Clarks Originals from schuh. Classic with a twist of you will. Like a raspberry Mojito or something. Mind you, in the case of a Mojito I say "don't fuck with it", whereas with the boots I say why-the-fuck-didn't-you-do-it-sooner-Mr-Clarks? Liam Gallagher didn't make your shoes rock 'n' roll, leopard print made your shoes rock 'n' roll!

(Mr Scribbler is watching The Wire and some punk just started blasting Boston 'More Than a Feeling' out of his car. I stopped typing for a moment to RAWK-beh, weh, weh, weh weh! Banananana!)

Uniqlo jersey dress and leopard leggings (get 'em here for £6.99)

H&M plaid shirt

Yes, and a Primark cardi!

 

And sans cardi. The shirt's new. I got it with the H&M giftcard I won on Twitter. Yes, one of the many "RT this competition"'s out there and I actually won this one! So thanks for my free shirt!

 

I haven't worn a checked shirt for at least 10 years. I was a big fan at school and wore them baggy with leggings, dodgy jeans and my DMs. I'm SO convinced I'm on the verge of becoming my 15 year old self again. Speaking of which, my pizza face is MUCH improved today. I used a Montagne Jeurness (that's a guess at the spelling) face mask yesterday and it seems to have soothed me nicely. Excellent. Plus, my hair was surprisingly well behaved today and did a cute wavy thing of it's own accord. Look:

So, despite the rain, I'm pretty satisfied with today - good shoes, well behaved hair, better behaved skin - happy days. Here's a money shot of the shoes before you wander off into the night. It's been swell to have you here.

*I surveyed myself for this scientific survey and I found the shoes to be awesome BUT if I checked with a good handful of girls in my office they'd all agree. And you should too. If you don't, go see an eye doctor. You need HELP. Now. 

ps - I tried Trebuchet as a font for this post. Usually I'm on the midnight train to Georgia. Any strong feelings on this? For the benefit of suicidal graphic designers, there's no comic sans anywhere. 

pps - if you haven't heard 'More Than a Feeling, here it is.

Legs 11 - Call of the Wild

Sounds a bit like the title of some kind of cheesy porno. Tee, hee! (Actually that might not be a bad idea...)

Shoes #11 in the Great Shoe Wearing Challenge (ha, as if it's a challenge to have to wear shoes every day - who do I think I am?) are Clarks Originals from schuh. I first saw these shoes a few months back and from that moment until they arrived in store I coveted the ass off them. And then they were mine!!

I've always liked Clarks Originals (more so on yummy indie boys) but never really though they were 'me'. Someone at Clarks must've realised this and thought, 'what can we do to reel her in?' (because it's the sole aim of every company to have me like their stuff), at which point a creative genius said 'let's make a hairy leopard print desert boot'. And, thus I was won.

Here they are in all their hairy glory (I am so not averse to a pair of hairy shoes. Did you see the Louboutins with the 'tail'? I think they were maybe for Christopher Kane. Amazing. I'm also ok with a bald shoe as it goes)


As you may (if you've read this recently) or may not know, I've had a filthy, dirty, stinking cold of late and, as a result, I'm dressing for snuggly comfort, rather than for trying to look like a goddess of any sort. I'm also hiding my snot ridden, rudolph nosed face, not because I think I'm fabulous and you don't deserve to see my face but because I think I think you're fabulous and shouldn't be subjected to it. Therefore, the boot outfit runs as follows:

Awesome hairy leopard print boots: Clarks Originals at schuh, £79.99
T-dress: Uniqlo
Black leggings: oh, who the hell knows?
Gold Lurex cardi (which we all know I favour): either Topshop or Primark (I have one from each and I'm not sure which it is.)
Gold Lurex socks (oh yes you better believe it!): Can't remember actually - soz...
Beautiful gold mirrored horeshoe necklace: Lady Luck Rules ok

Final Thought: Will there be a bitchy uncomfortable vibe between Chezza and all the lady x-factor judges?

Pretty Green (and blue)

So with the news that schuh now have Liam Gallagher's Pretty Green/Clarks Originals in stock (on site later today), I got to thinking about pretty green things (Ok, so it's tenuous but bear with me).

Anyway, as luck would have it, I got an email inviting me to rate or slate some 90210 girl's outfit. I clicked merrily, thinking "this is gonna be trampalicious and, probably, slutty and I shall judge" (oh, shut up, you do the same). And, much to my surprise, the dress was gorgeous! I can't even remember the chick's name and, I'll be honest, I can't be arsed finding it out, but, man, I am loving all over her dresses boink! Like Craig David (Craig David all over your boink? Keep up!). It's a 70s-a licious, slouchy, shiny polyester looking batwinged thing of an article of clothing. The emerald colour is gorgeous and works well on her and she's accessorised it (in my eyes) perfectly! The skinny, retro belt, the probably Chanel quilted bag (covetousness is SO my style) and the nude heels just set it off in the best possible way. I LOVE it. Go 90210 girl!

Anyway, this dress also got me thinking about my own shiny 70s-esque piece of maxi awesomeness. I got this dress from Miss Kitty Litter Vintage a few weeks back and swore I'd blog about it and, as yet I haven't. I'll do it properly later, all styled up and whatnot, but here's a wee preview for now. Words would struggle to describe the bold sapphirey vibrant (see - words - struggling) colour and the actual perfection with which it fits my bottom heavy body but I, as with little miss 90210's dress, friggin' love this dress. It makes me feel like I'm Giselle or something (she's my fantasy 'if I could have any body' lady). Which is no mean feat. I'll style it up and blog it properly later. For now, sit and enjoy the way in which it's retro shiny-ness complements the shiny-ness of the mannequin.

I don't Bet-Lynch it!

So, me and Bet Lynch well pissed ourselves with glee when we heard that leopard print is the word on the lips and print on the backs of the fabulous amongst us this a/w. I'll be honest, I'm a wee bit torn - should I be glad to have a huge amount of the stuff to choose from, in the way that Alex James picked from groupies and models in Blur's heyday, or should I be miffed that everyone's wearing me and Bet's numero uno print of choice? Hmm, I think I'll go with the Alex option and pick up all I can - grrr!



Here's my pick of some of the new and coming soon leopard lovelies getting me salivating...

I L-O-V-E this hat that's on the accessories page of the Toppers website. Shame said retailer didn't think it was worth replying to lil ol' me when I tweeted to ask them when it'd be in...SHAME on you Topshop!

Now being, as Gok would put it, a juicy pear, I'm a little scared of jumpsuits. All too often if it fits on top, it's straining around my ample behind in a most unflattering fashion. However, this little lovely is wide legged (Gok would approve) and, therefore, may skim said glorious behind. I think I just talked myself into buying it...hello, Miss Selfridge, you got something I want!

These are my absolute must have boots for the season. They're due into schuh very soon and I officially cannot wait! They're Clarks and that's classic, innit? But they're also leopardy and hairy and there's my twist. I shall be watching the website in hot anticipation waiting for them to appear. Oh, can you just picture Richard Ashcroft in a pair of these...

It's a dress, it's leopard, it looks cosy, it'll look cute right through winter. What's not to love? Warehouse, if you're interested.
Ouch! These are amazing! Killer heel (I used to live in Middlesbrough and some guy was actually stabbed to death with a white stiletto. FACT - heels can actually be killer!), leopard (obv), stomping platform and perfectly sized peep toe. Topshop are selling these ones...

For now, it's over and out from Bet and I - we're off to the rovers for a bevvie. However, I'll be back with a run down of all the leopard print loveliness I already have that I'll be rocking/resurrecting this a/w!