It's good to be back

...written by Sherin

I'm officially back from my holiday to Pakistan. It was my cousin's wedding and I was supposed to go for 10 days, but ended up only going for 4 because our initial flight was cancelled. Pakistani weddings go on for about 4 days, and I was able to catch the last 2 days of the wedding, and then have another 2 days for shopping and eating.

Here's what I wore to the wedding:

Day 1: I know I recently did an outfit post with this, but I thought I'd have a proper one with it.


And here's one of me with the bride. My favourite thing about South Asian weddings is always seeing the bride!
I know she looks sad here, but I promise, she was happy!



Day 2: I wore this to the last wedding I was at as well. I love all the detailing on it, and the trouserse were really heavy to walk in!


See, the bride does look happy!


There aren't a lot more pics from the rest of my trip because I really was attacked by mosquitos. My arms and faces are covered in bites and blotches.

Sherin xx

My favourite dress

...written by Sherin

Hi everyone! I got back from my holiday yesterday. I haven't organised my pictures yet, but I'll make sure to show you the pictures of what I wore to the wedding as soon as I can. I'm working for the rest of the week, and so will hopefullyl catch up with all your blogs at some point over the weekend. I did, however, have a favourite outfi from my trip:



I'm wearing H&M skinny trousers, New Look dress and shoes. I really do love this dress. I guarantee many more outfit posts with that dress.
It was scorching hot, but as it was a traditional country, I had to wear more modest clothes than if I was anywhere else, thus the trouseres with the dress. I'll admit it: I was more than tempted to take off the trousers throughout the day. And I'll also admit that wearing this dress in a traditional country wasn't the brightest idea I've had, considering the open back of the dress!

Sherin xx

Taking Back Sunday

...written by Sherin

Firstly, sorry for being absent from the blogisphere for the last few days. I managed to get a flight out Thursday evening and caught the end of my cousin's wedding. South Asian weddings are 3-4 days long, and I caught the last 2 days. I'm back tomorrow though.

I'll be honest with you guys, I've never been much of a fan of Sunday's. When I was a school, it was the day that I had to rush through all my homework. When I was learning to drive, it was the day that my dad used to take me out to drive and the only ever time my dad shouted at me (I think anyone who took driving lessons from their dad knows exactly what I'm on about).

Even now, despite having a day off work on Monday's, I still have a hate-hate relationship with Sunday's. I never do anything, and spend the day in my pj's, watching tv. Well, I've decided to take Sunday's back (I am also a huge fan of the band: Taking Back Sunday). Last Sunday, we had a family trip to the park planned, and now that it's getting slightly warmer, I definitely wanted to dress up and prove to myself that Sunday can be as fun as any other day!


I'm wearing a Hollister Dress and New Look Boots (it's still not warm enough not to wear tights!).

I'm also really happy that I can finally take pictures outside in my garden, instead of my messy room.


Sherin xx

History Of...

...written by Sherin

Chanel No 5!!!

Photo Credit

Although not as interesting as some of the histories I've featured, Chanel No 5 does have a story behind it. Thousands of perfumes hit the stores ever year, but non has ever been as popular and adored as Chanel No 5. Chanel No 5 is one of the world's most legendary perfumes and is a signiture perfume for any woman.

It was Coco Chanel's first ever perfume and was launched in 1921. It has been selling continuously since then. The perfumer behind it was Parisian Ernest Beaux. It is said that Ernest was inspired to make this perfume after a trip to the Arctic Circle and the smell of water at midnight. It is a simple, elegant perfume, that ooxes luxery and sophistication.

Chanel really thought about the name behind it. Her lucky number was 5, and she decided to launch it on the 5th day of the 5th month.

Most perfumes before then were flower scented, but Coco wanted to create something more artificial that was the scent of a woman, rather than flower. The aim was to have it as more of a composition than anything else and as a spotlight of women's natural beauty.

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Many celebrities have endorsed it over the years, most famously Marilyn Monroe. When she was asked what she wewars to bed, she answered 'Why Chanel No 5 of course'. Since then the likes of Nicole Kidmand and Catherine Deneuve have become spokeswomen for the perfume.
Andy Warhol even did a series of 9 silkscreens of the bottle as an exhibition, which helped the perfume grow even more.

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Are there any other history lessons you would like??

Sherin xx

Jimmy Choo and Shop Pulse

We have a few exciting competitions for you today...

Firstly, Jimmy Choo are doing an amazing Campaign in preparation for the launch of their first Trainers collection. Their have announced a Jimmy Choo Treasure Hunt: It'll be a really fun city-wide treasure hunt in London, and people will get the chance to win a pair of the Trainers.



You have to follow the Jimmy Choo Trainers as they make their journey around London. They'll be at the coolest places, such as the Saatchi Gallery, and you can follow them in real time to see exactly where they're at.
You can follow them on Twitter, Facebook or even Foursquare


Also, Shop Pulse are giving you the chance to win an amazing Mulberry Alexa Clutch. This competition is open to UK residents, and you can get more information here.

We know that both these competitions are UK only, but we're hoping to have an international giveaway really soon.

xx

Too cute a skirt not to wear

...written by Sherin

Sadly, I wasn't able to fly out on Saturday, due to 'Volcanic Ash'. I am disappointed that I had to miss my cousin's wedding, but am also relieved that I'm stuck at home instead of overseas. So, looks like I'll be in the blogisphere as usual!
Anyway, onto my post:

My work outfits have become a lot more casual these last few weeks. I'm sticking to jeans and Converses (like everyone else there).

However, when this stunning skirt was delivered just before I was due to leave for work, I knew I had to wear it that day. I put the outfit together within minutes, so it's not very creative!

I saw it initially when I went to the Tesco F&F Event, and instantly fell in love with it. The kind ladies at Tesco offered to send it to me and I couldn't resist!

So, I literally planned my outfit in a couple of minutes and rushed out to work. (Sorry the picture is blurry - I didn't realise until I put them on my computer.)





I'm wearing the F&F Skirt, Dorothy Perkins top and my Vans. I've gotten into a (bad) habit of wearing these particular shoes whenever I wear a skirt. They're just so comfortable!!!

Sherin xx

Sunday Specials: 18/04/2010

~ Firstly, a huge thank you to S of Not Just Medical for passing on this award! We discovered her blog recently and she is such a lovely girl.

~ Sherin talks about her style icons on Sugar and Spice and all things nice.

~ There is also an amazing competition we just found out about. Stella Artois are offering one lucky winner the weekend getaway of a lifetime to the 2010 Cannes Festival! The winner will get first class plane ride, tickets to the opening/closing gala and a tailored suit or dress to wear. To enter, check out this page.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Fashion in Politics: Battle of the Wives

...written by Sherin

Sorry all, you're going to have to put up with another political post from me.
The General Election in Britain is around the corner, so I thought I'd do a post about the politicians wives and their fashion sense's. If you are planning on voting in the Election, please don't let this post affect how you vote in any way!!!


















Photo Credit, Photo Credit


Sarah Brown

She is the current first lady and has a bit of a mumsy style, which she dons quite well. She's mainly seen in cardigans and longish skirts, but this trend doesn't seem to be taking off that much. Her favourite designers include Erdem and Graeme Black.

One item that she does pull of quite well are belts, which she ties around her cardi's to emphasise her hourglass figure. She's recently been seen in a lovely black trench, which we all know is a staple for anyone's wardrobe.

When she first became first lady, she didn't look too good, but her fashion credibitlity has been rising, especially since she's brefriended Naomi Campbell, and threw a Fashion Week Party. She's been seen in more tailored and feminine clothing and has been wearing on the knee dresses.



















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I particularly love her gown here! She wore it to te 2009 Women of the Year Awards, and it was designed by Catherine Deane.


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She wore this to the G8 summit, and it is something I could see myself wearing at some stage as well. I think skirts in that shape look brilliant on everyone.


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I think this is such a lovely look on her. The dress is Erdem and the shoes are Jimmy Choos. She wore this to the Labour Party Conference.

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Samanatha Cameron


















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Probably the most fashionable of the 3. She sticks to simple tailored pieces, and these are becoming really popular. One of her most popular fashion choices was going out in the polka dot M&S dress, and she often sticks to high street stores, such as House of Fraser and Kookai, as well as being seen in Zara shoes.


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Samantha is the current Creative Director of Smythson, which is a luxery leather good's store, and is known to produce some gorgeous handbags. This means that Sam does have an understanding of the fashion industry.

She's now got a little baby bump to support while out campaigning, so it'll be fun to see how dresses. She's been seen out and about in ponchos and loose fitting chiffon tops.

This spotty M&S dress was a great decision on Sam's part. Since she first wore it, sales of it have increased and it is now completely sold out. There was, however, a bit of controversy about how she got the dress. Apparently, she called up someone from M&S to find a perfect dress for her, and this was one was completely out of stock in her size. Apparently, M&S made a custom made one for her.

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Sam wore this to a star studded fashion party, held at the Burberry Store on Bond Street, hosted by Vogue Magazine. Sam is not one to stray away from bright colours, and this really shows her confidence.

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I love this dress. It is perfectly pretty and feminine. She wore it to the opening of Lanvin's new store in Mayfair.


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Miriam Clegg

Photo Credit, Photo Credit

The Spanish born is my personal favourite. Although she is not in the media spotlight these days, she does have really good style.
Like Sam, she's known for mixing high street (Cos), with more designer brands. Unfortunately, so is so litle on her online, that it is hard to find out a lot about her fashoin sense.

Miriam is a very high profile lawyer, so naturally her style is toned down and she is often seen in neutral colours and looking really natural. She definitely has that European chicness that I crave to have so much.

This outfit definitely works for her. The silk dress lovely, as are te suade boots. The bag is my personal favourite. It was made from recycled aluminium ring pulls.

This clearly shows that she is eco friendly, with the bag taking 1000 ringpulls, and is made by free trade workers in Brazil.

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Miriam is preggers in this picture and looks really good (Sam, hope you're taking notes).

Blue is definitely a good colour on her and I love how she paired a simple dress with a lovely statment necklace.


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Sherin xx

P.S. I'm away on holiday from tomorrow for about 2 weeks. I'm going somewhere where I don't think I'll have any internet access, so I'll be completely away from the blogisphere for a while. I do have some outfit posts and interesting posts scheduled though!

It's all sunny :)

...written by Sherin

The weather in England is officially getting warmer: Yaaay. I'm pretty sure last week was the first time I saw the sun in months.
And what better way to enjoy the weather than to go out and celebrate a really good friend's birthday! All of us were really close at University, but since we graduated, it's a lot harder getting everyone together for meet up's, so this was a good reunion as well.

I decided to wear this gorgeous dress which I bought from Tesco's F&F range. I absolutely love the design at the front and the print is just so pretty.


Here's a close up of the design at the front. It's in the shape of a heart. I love it! :D







And these were my shoes for the night. They're pink, with black lace on them. (From New Look).








Sherin xx

P.S. Completely unrelated to the above outfit post, but I really want to recommend a product to you guys. Can I just say: this product was not sent to me to review. I don't wear foundation at all...ever: just something I never wanted to wear. I got this Foundation Primer from Gosh at Superdrug and just tested it out this morning. It is absolutely amazing. It felt really good on my skin and doesn't make my face feel heavy at all, which all foundations do to me. So if you, like me, aren't a huge fan of foundations but sometimes need something to even out your skin, I definitely recommend this.

Chevrolet Unscheduled Gig

...written by Sherin

So, this event wasn't exactly fashion related, but it consisted of my other great love: Music. I was invited to the launch of Chevrolet's new car, the Spark, which took place last Thursday (8th April). The event took place at the Vinyl Factory, below Phonica Recording Studios, in Soho, and was definitely a night to remember. Because of my older brother, I am a huge car fan and there was no way I was going to miss this. I decided to take my best friend as we always have amazing nights out whenever we go out.


This was the official launch of the car, but there will be gigs throughout the country and you can vote for where you want them to go next and there will be 'pop up' gigs every few weeks from April to June. Venues include a car park and an old cinema. If you're in England, I recommend you to check out what cities they're looking to go to next and vote for you're favourite.

Dj's on the night included Nick Grimshaw (who is actually really good looking in real life) and Jack Penate, who had some pretty cool dance moves. But the best part about the DJ booth was that it was actually a Chevrolet Spark sideways, with wheels as turntables.




The Mystery Jets were also performing. I've been a fan of them for quite some time, so was interested to see them live. They were actually really good and had a great atmosphere. My favourite song of theis is 'Half in love with Elizabeth', so I think you can imagine that I was singing at the top of my voice when they sang that.


WAH nails, who I've previously had my nails done by, had a nail bar, in the form of a nail-car, there as well. I was really looking forward to getting my nails done, as my hands were in a bit of a bad state that day. I spent earlier that day with my hand in a stuffing machine, and was stuffing envelopes and delivering leaflets, so I had lots of of paper cuts and bruises on my hands. Unfortunatly, the line to get nails done was pretty long the whole evening, so I wasn't able to get them done :(


Finally, there was also a chance to digitally graffiti a car. This was really cool. Basically, there was a digital screen which you could do graffiti on and it automatically showed up on a real car.


It was an absolutely amazing night, and I had so much fun. I am not kidding when I say that there were seas's of good looking guys everywhere and I managed to talk to quite a few of them (including a Gerard Butler lookalike). The very cool thing about the evening was I also got to meet some guy who works on the Breakfast Show of my favourite radio station. I listen to that show every morning no matter what, and knew exactly who he was after he introduced himself!

Some people I met during the night (yes I take pictures with strangers):

(See, the guy behind me looks a bit like Gerard Butler)

I didn't take any outfit shots, but I'm wearing the dress I'm wearing here and here.
Check out more about the tour here and thanks to their Flickr page for some of the pictures I've used in this post.

Sherin xx

History of...

...written by Sherin

HIGH HEELS!!!

Photo Credit: The Guardian

High heels are definitely one of the most important items in any girl's wardrobe. A good pair can make any woman feel elegant, slender and very glamorous. I'm a huge fan of high heels and like to wander around in 4-5 inch heels. They actually have a long and really remarkable history behind them.

The history of high heels can actually be traced back to Egypt, 3500BC, where murals on walls show upper class citizens wearing heels for ceromonial purposes, as well as Egyptian butchers wearing them to help them walk through the blood of dead animals (thank you wikipedia for that mental image).

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However, it wasn't until the 16th century when it is claimed that high heels were properly invented. It was in 1533, when Catherine de Medici decided to wear heels on her wedding day to Henry II, a Duke and the future King of France. She was 14 and quite short (not more than 5 foot), so asked a cobbler to make her shoes that would make her appear much taller on her wedding day.
Apparently, she wasn't really a beauty and her husband had a tall and really pretty mistress. She wanted to dazzle the French on her wedding day, so opted for 2 inch heels to make her appear slightly taller, and appear to have a more towering physique. It is claimed that she is the original inventor of the high heel, and she did set the rage in Paris for heeled shoes.

Other monarchs who loved to wear heels were Mary Tudor, who loved wearing heels as high as possible, and Marie Antoinette, who famously wore a pair of 2 inch heels when she was executed.

With the success of heels thanks to Catherine de Medici, heels became really popular in the French Court, amongst wealthy men and women, and this quickly spread to other parts of the nobility. Heeled shoes became very popuar amongst the rich and powerful people and was seen as a dividing line between classes. The phrase 'well heeled' was used for the rich.

It remained that only the rich wore heels for quite some time, and even in the early 1700's, Louis XIV (King of France) decided to wear very high heels (often upto 5''), which had decorative patterns on them, such as miniture battle scenes. It was Madame de Pompadour who helped Louis popularise high narrow heels, which are often referred to as either the 'Louis' heel or the 'Pompadour' heel.

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The shoe was quickly banned after the French revolution, when Napoleon came to power (late 18th Century-early 19th Century). )Napoleon wanted everyone to appear equal and because the heel was somthing that rich people used, many didn't want to be linked to it. The French Revolution was all about moving away from traditional hierarchies and society moved away from aristocratic values.

The 18th Century also saw heels becoming very controvesial in America. The Massachusetts Colony banned women wearing them, saying that women used them to trap men, and anyone seen wearing them would be prosecuted as witches. The English Parliament also used this logic and treated women wearing heels as witches. Many critics at the time compared the high heel to the cloven hoof of the devil.

It wasn't until the late 1800's that heels became popular again. The invention of the sewing machine meant that there could be greater variety in high heels themselves.

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But it wasn't until my favourite perfiod of history, the roaring twenties, that the heel regained it's full glory again. Hemlines became much shorter, and this encouraged very high and slender heels.
Both the 30's and 40's were tough times, so the heel became more moderate, with lower and wider heels. At the same time, though, Hollywood gave the heel a new edge, with many actresses wearing sparkly and glitterry heels, which challenged the traditional French heel.

The 50's and 60's saw a revival of really high heels. Christian Dior kindly invented the stiletto for us. He collaborated with designer Roger Vivier to develop a low cut 'Louis' shoe, with a narrow heel. Interesting fact: Stiletto in Italian means small dagger, with a slender, tapering blade.
Then, with the creation of the miniskirt in the 60's (my second favourite decade), heeled boots were made, to enhance the look of bare legs.

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The emerging feminist movement did a lot to change perceptions on how the heel was viewed. Many women stopped wearing heels as it was claimed that wearing them indicated the sexual stereotyping by men. They were seen as 'man made' objects for the use of crippling women.

This theory lost favour in the 80's, with the invention of power dressing. Heels were bought back to the catwalk, with Manolo Blahnik's shoes making a huge impact, and the world has never looked back.

Sherin xx