A Few of My Favourite Rihanna Looks

If you've been following this blog for awhile you know I'm a huge Rihanna fan. I don't just love her music, I love her fashion sense and overall representation and branding too. And its because you can never anticipate what Rihanna will do next. Just like you can't predict her tweets, or when her next album is going to drop, you also have no idea what look she's going to try next because she always keeps it fresh!

Unlike another popstar who only wears white, red or gold, Rihanna is truly fearless and willing to try anything at least once. So here are a few of my many favourite Rihanna outfits!

From left: Rihanna attends the Edun fashion show in September 2014 in a white suit without a blouse underneath in order to display the tattoo she got in memory of her late grandmother Gran-Gran Dolly. She pairs it with a sexy body chain and left her makeup and hair simple and understated in order not to take attention away from the beautiful suit and tattoo!

Middle: Rihanna alights from a vehicle sometime in 2013 wearing a Kenzo t-shirt and matching orange high waist trousers. This particular outfit is notable to me because Rihanna manages to pull off something I would never risk: an all-orange outfit. There are some fashion risks I'm unwilling to take but then I see Rihanna breaking fashion rules and taking crazy risks like this and it makes me wonder if I can too!

Top right: The now infamous transparent dress has definitely reserved a place in fashion history. Apart from its transparency, this custom-made Adam Selman dress is notable because each of those shimmering flashes on that dress are actually real Swarovski crystals!

Bottom right: I've spoken about this outfit at length here! Once again, I'm so impressed that she was brave enough to wear a tux as it's normally associated with men. The small touches to feminize it, such as the exaggerated poofed-up shoulders and tapered trouser hem were also appreciated. And you can't go wrong with Dolce & Gabbana, baby!

Fashion and Makeup Moodboard: September edition

Lately I've been thinking about see-through stretchy tops, high waist pencil skirts, too much gold jewellery, and late 80's/early 90's hairstyles.

Makeup-wise I've been thinking a lot about pasting on thick eyeliner in crazy colours-but only on the top lid!-,wearing fuchsia lipstick, and piling on excess blush. 

My Top Five Favourite Fashion Blogs

Wow! It's been awhile since I posted about fashion! Lately I've been into skin care and make up quite heavily and my blog has reflected that. However, I wanted to make a really quick post on my favourite fashion bloggers and say why I like them so much.

5. Walk of Fashion - My blogger friend Isabel had to make the list, even though she doesn't blog strictly about fashion. She's also really excellent as reviewing make up products and at detailing her skin care routine and stuff of that nature. However, when she does talk fashion, she does it really well! My favourite feature from her used to be the Interview a Fashion Blogger (Girls of the Blogosphere) segment which was unfortunately discontinued quite a while ago. Still a lovely blogger to follow though - and she covers a wide variety of topics such as lifestyle, skin care, make-up, bags, royal fashion (she's really on point with this one!) and nail polish!

4. Crack Cosette - I just never know what is coming next with this one, and thats what keeps me interested. I also love how she stays so true to the European aesthetic and palette. Like, some European bloggers try too hard to be urban or edgy or ethnic, and its just really embarrassing when you know that that is not what are about naturally or even what they genuinely feel comfortable in. She sees that there is still a lot of unexplored beauty in woolly fabrics, and pastel colours. I guess I just like how she resists trends but still manages to do new things with a very classic style.

3. The Sartorialist - At least one street blogger had to make the list and it had to be Scott Schuman. What a legend. The blog of his beau, Garance Dore, is more than a little wonderful as well. But Scott, Scott is amazing. He has the keen eye for detail that a great street style photographer requires.

2. Karla's Closet - I think I actually love this girl. Her style is just so...flawless. I know that word is bandied about a lot, but her attention to detail, to texture, and her fearlessness to adjust pretty clothes demands the word flawless. Since I started following her blog in 2010, this girl has been on point with every single post, and she only started in 2008! As in she took two years to perfect blogging, while others (me) never quite get the hang of it! The camera work is flawless, the editing is down... The whole blog just has such a uncluttered, stylish layout. For me, an aspiring minimalist, her blog is just so clean. That's the word! Clean. Her approach to fashion blogging is just so clean.

1. Style Pantry - If you are considering becoming a beauty blogger, don't go on her personal style page, because you will be discouraged. She can't be topped. Its just not possible. Just throw in the towel and walk away.
No seriously, her bravery with bright colours, ethnic prints and massive, billowing maxi dresses is to be revered. She is just so bad-assly excellent at all things fashion. Plus, as I'm a Caribbean girl, I can really appreciate all the bright colours and light, airy maxi dresses. I feel like if I were to live in the USA and I had all the resources and shops and everything, I'd have a style that was very similar to hers. Her style speaks to me on a very personal level.

Bonus fashion blog:
Style Tao - I really love Miray. She's a phenomenal street blogger. I actually think she might be as good, if not better than Scott, but her blog doesn't seem to get nearly as much flow for some reason, so I plugged her here. Guys, please check her out! She's photographed for Vogue and everything! :)

LDN Style

I went to London a couple of years ago and one of the first things I noticed on the high streets was the style. It was amazing. Its truly just like what you see  in the video below. No one seems to give a shit in London about how they dress. And the freedom of expression that that allows is fantastic. It was particularly fascinating to me, as I was (and am) a young island girl from the Caribbean, and people around here definitely don't dress like they do in London. Anyway, without further ado, behold the video that does a better job of summing up the rebelliousness of style that exists in London better than I ever could.

Pretend it's September 1st...

   So I was going to post yesterday but then I realized I didn't have anything to post about and that I only wanted to post because it was the first of September. 

   Ahhh September 1st....the day you realize you're going to have to write on everyone's facebook wall every single day because half your friends are born in that month. 

   The day when you realized that if your Hogwarts letter had come in the mail like it was supposed to you would be on the Hogwarts Express with all the other wizards.

   The month where every fashion conscious woman scratches her head and tries to figure out how to update her wardrobe to encompass the fall season. (Garance Dore wrote a great post on how hard it is to leave your summer clothes behind here. ) 

   The month where University students like myself reluctantly trudge to school while starting the countdown to next summer.

   The month where leaves turn orange and fall off the trees and hit innocent Uni students in the face as they study on the grass below them.

   Okay, so maybe September isn't my favourite month. Mainly because every September I happen to look in my wardrobe and realize I need a wardrobe overhaul. This happens every year. And I'm not the only that is worried. Why is it that every September we women look in our wardrobe and realize there is nothing to wear? And it's not just the women in the temperate climates. Where I live doesn't even have a proper autumn (well the leaves fall off the tree, but that's it. It doesn't really get colder). So why can't I find anything to wear? What is it about September?

   I think it's because, like Spring, people kind of view September as a new beginning. For some people, It's the beginning of a new season: Autumn. For others, its the beginning of a new term / semester at school.           

   Basically, for many of us, September heralds in something new. I dunno why, but stuff happens to happen in September. Particularly in September. I'm a bit upset about leaving the laziness of summer behind, but I really do need a wake up call for my lethargic brain. So let's do it. 

  I'm ready September. Snap me awake and make me busy.

  Bring it on.

 Give me all you've got. After all, I just might survive it.

Painting entitled September Morn. Disclaimer: I do not own this image. Image compliments of Sniggle.com

I found this great painting on sniggle.com called September Morn and I think its really beautiful and aptly depicts how I feel about September in general. I feel vulnerable, uncertain, kind of like I'm naked, but hell, at least I'm there. And I haven't run scared. 

  How do you guys feel about September? What, if anything, is new that's going on in your life this month?

Does your clothing define you?

Does the way you dress match your personality?

    I read this interesting article by Amy Uhrich and it was funny because it was a topic that I recently found myself thinking about as well. I found it was a well- written article on Clothing vs. Lifestyle, but I figured that I'd also give a crack at it to add my opinion on it.

    Now I don't know about you, but I think a lot of us dress as a way to show who we are inside on the outside. The external display of clothes is a medium through which we transfer our inner feelings. It's like a chance to show who we would like to be, but are not because we are too chicken. At least that is how it is for me.

    For example, I have a very retro 1980's Cyndi- Lauperish approach to style. I love the big shaggy hair of the eighties, and while my hair is unfortunately not so big anymore, I overdose on the shaggy part to make up for it. Nearly every week I find an excuse to wear my cropped, studded jeans jacket and ripped, faded uber-tight Levi skinnies. Basically I usually look like a 80's/early 90's reject or a Day of Our Lives extra circa 1990. (Don't knock it. It's kinda cute in all its pathetic-ness) 

    But alas, I am not a cool crazy recording artist like Cyndi Lauper who gave us big hits like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and I Drove All Night (I still think Celine Dion ruined that song with her perfect smooth voice, but that's a rant for another time.) I'm just a regular University Lit major who just might one day gather the boldness to sing Girls Don't Wanna Cry at an empty karaoke bar. 

    Therefore, my bold way of dressing does not match my personality at all. So what now? Do I dress all mundane and inhibited to reflect my life? Heck no! I keep dressing in the cool threads to show the bad-ass I am deep down on the inside. The bad ass that doesn't care about what people think about her clothes (except that catwoman outfit. Even my inner bad ass rejects that.) And I think that that is important, 'cos that's the only chance my inner bad-ass gets to come to light. 

   And I think that that shows the importance of dressing. It's so important that there is some outlet in our lives that shows our personality, just in case our life / lifestyle doesn't do the job. And sometimes it's the only hint anyone who has just met you gets an inkling of who you really are on the inside. I know a guy once looked at my pincushion earrings (....don't ask) and rightly predicted that underneath there was a wild child just waiting to be set free and who wanted to do the crazy things like bungee jump and skydive. He turned out to be a douchebag who just wanted to get into my Levi's (there's not enough room for you in these skin tights, loser.). But he was right.

    So basically, dress how you want. Do what you want. Into full wide ball gowns? Wear them. Everyday. Into huge dream catchers that you want to wear as a pendant on a necklace? Do it. Walked into Portobello Market two years ago and bought long turquoise feather earrings that match nothing in your wardrobe ? Wear them anyway. Don't mind what people say when they say that fashion or the way you dress doesn't matter. It does! If only to you as an outlet for your inner self!

   What do you guys think? Give me your thoughts please! :)