Kingdom Of Style

Chiffon And On

I used to have a total chiffon obsession when I went through my goth phase back when I was about 18. It wasn't goth in the sense of being all black, it was more a goth/hippy fusion. My then boyfriend and I must have looked a right pair! He had beautiful long straight hair, wore floral shirts, velvet leggings and vintage Victorian riding boots, whilst I wafted about with waist length hair with feathers woven in it (yes, feathers), long chiffon dresses with white petticoats underneath. Our summer days were spent with him making me daisy chain headbands and me making him beaded necklaces. I don't know what was going though our heads. Fresh air by the sounds of it!

So I have had an on/off love affair with chiffon ever since. Unfortunately good chiffon is hard to find, but thanks to the trend for all things flowery and light, there has been plenty of decent chiffon to choose from.

After much pondering, I concluded that I really love Chloe's layered florals and black embroidered chiffon.

Clashing florals is the easiest way to wear them layered, but on reflection I prefer the more subtle approach where the colours and tones are complimentary.

Another surprise for me was finding that I actually really liked several bits of Christopher Kane's Autumn/Winter 08 collection. The sheer fabric adorned with, or worn over, the paillettes is very mesmerising indeed.

Last year, when my sheer obsession began to really resurface but it hadn't hit the shops yet, Queen Marie gifted me an old chiffon top with iridescent sequins to see if I could do anything with it. Whilst rummaging about my wardrobe last night I rediscovered a sheer gauze top I bought from Topshop ages ago which I think it would look lovely worn over or under the sequined one, for a nod to Kane's collection.

For my floral chiffon fix I will be looking to Florence + Fred at Tesco where they have some perfect dresses - although they are cheekily asking for £25 for some, which for a supermarket brand is a bit steep. But Queen Marie and I concluded the dresses would go on sale and I could snap one up for £15 instead. I shall be wearing it with Celeste Stein black floral tights.

Queen Michelle

Perky Peplum

So I decided what my life was really missing was a peplum.

When I first saw the Prada Autumn Winter 2008 collection I wasn't really enamored but I did really like the peplums sitting against the very neat silhouettes. I decided I would create my own.

I decided I wanted a quilted one with individual circle shaped rather than a traditional style. I cut five semi-circles and filled them with the stuff used for the inside of duvets. I attached them to a PVC waist band onto which I put 4 ribbon ties. Voila! A quilted peplum. And please excuse my shiny, makeup free face and unwashed hair.

Queen Michelle

Yes To Yeohlee

Malaysian designer Yeohlee Teng moved to New York to study fashion at the Parsons School of Design. She established her own label YEOHLEE in 1981 and in 2004 was nominated for the Fashion Design Award by the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. She was awarded the prize for her design work and contribution to American fashion.

The thing I love most about Yeohlee's work is the way she explores shape. Geometrics feature very heavily in her designs with shapes like ovoid, crescent, circle, box, arc and pyramids all performing as the foundation for her contemporary designs.

Whilst it's tastefully understated in most instances, I think taken out this context and combined with more dramatic labels like CDC, Ann D, Jean Pierre Braganza or Rick Owens, Yeohlee's designs would look even more magical.

Yeohlee's 1997 collection was entitled 'Urban Nomad' which is testament to her skill since it's a term that's been used so much recently in one form or another to describe eclectic, layered looks - and Yeohlee was thinking along these lines over 10 years ago.

Queen Michelle

Feeling Blue

At the Glasgow Craft Mafia craft and vintage fare on Saturday I managed to pick up a gorgeous blue vintage blouse. It was instant love! It also only cost £5 which made it all the sweeter.

The blouse looks best when worn open as a little cardigan and it told me it wanted to be worn with lots of girlie things - and who am I to argue? So out come the pretty dresses and slips and a fair smattering of colour.

I can safely say it's very rare I am happy to dress so whimsical and dare I say twee, but with such a pretty blouse I felt that by toughing it up it would loose much of it's effect.

Queen Michelle

Park Life

I do like a morning walk in the park with the Royal Hounds. I live near several pretty and leafy parks which makes me feel a little like I'm in the countryside without having to endure the isolation of the actual countryside.

Sunday morning was a perfect park day. Sunny but not too hot and reasonably quiet. As much as I like the park, it cannot beat how much Amber likes the park. She lives and breathes it! One day I shall film Amber on the way to the park - never a more excited dog will you set eyes upon! Mostly the excitement revolves around the fact she gets to play with her ball.

Amber The Amazing Acrobatic Dog. Even I didn't realise the park could be this much fun!

Queen Michelle

Fashion Rocks

We have all been very exposed to Susie Bubbles wardrobe - from her many outfits posts on Style Bubble, and some will have seen her outfits posts on The Fashion Spot or other wardrobe based show and tell type sites. But there is one single thing I covet in Susie's wardrobe from the very second I set eyes upon it. Her pair of vertical striped black and white tights. I'm not sure where she got them, but I knew I had to hunt down a pair for myself.

After coming across millions of pairs of horizontal stripes I finally found a pair from a site called Sock Dreams. Unfortunately they were hold ups and not tights, but beggars can't be choosers so I ordered them anyway and they are great, except they aren't very long. More like almost thigh high socks, therefore not much use in short skirt scenarios. So I turned to good old Celeste Stein, and she did indeed have a pair of vertical striped tights in her vast collection.

I got the Sock Dream ones about a month or so ago and have worn them through the city centre to work without any comments or snickering. However, on Saturday Queen Marie and I went to the Glasgow Craft Mafia craft and vintage fare at the Queen Margaret Union then onto the Barras in search of some vintage bargains. That's when I ran into the comments and stares.

To be blunt most of the people who frequent the Barras are a not exactly the brightest bunch however considering how famed these 'rough diamond' Glaswegian types are for their patter, I was at least expecting some funny and original remarks. Not so. Three counts of "stock of rock" (ho, ho, never would have thought of that one) and two "stripey tights!" (really?? I didn't notice!) I was getting really bored by the obvious, unimaginative quips.

By the time we had found ourselves inside a little bit selling antiques I clocked four men in their late 40's whispering and nudging to each other and staring over. I was left no option but to turn and shout over "yes, I am wearing striped tights". Needless to say that put their gas at a peep.

Why are people so insular? How can a pair of bloody striped tights illicit such shock and horror when we see people walking along the street with huge knife slashes across their faces, yet no-one bats and eyelid at that?

All these people do is make me more determined to wear them. Idiots.

Queen Michelle

1989 the number another summer...

The charming Rebekah of the splendid Fashion-Stylist tagged me to share my seven songs of summer.

As I type the rain is pissing down and the wind is howling down the chimney, but were I to hear any of the following, it would seem like summer in my head...

1. Fight the Power - Public Enemy
(Makes me think of festivals especially T in the Park)

2. Summertime - Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
(Can't argue with a feel good classic pop tune)

3. Just in Time - Frank Sinatra
( Feels like a drowsy afternoon, daydreaming)

4. Knights of The Jaguar - Rolando
( Dancing in the Campsies as the summer sun was rising. Truly truly 'a moment')

5. Daylight - Kelly Rowland
(No snobbery in The Kingdom, this is a laid back slice of modern summer)

6. Are you going with me - Pat Metheny
( For when you have been up all night, it's about 8am, lying on a sofa with someone special, talking quietly and you just start to drift into sleep. Bliss)

7. West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein
(Singing loudly, dancing madly, pretending I am both a Shark and a Jet)

Feel free to share the sound of your summer.

Right, I am off to put the central heating and a jumper on.

Queen Marie

A step too far...

Far far too far!

Sometimes I come across things on the wonderful interweb that are so wrong, that I shout NO NO NO at the screen. But when I came across Heelarious I realised I would have to call in the big guns. This calls for Sister Wolf and some extreme language - go sister!

Apparently these 'high heel crib shoes for babies' are extremely funny, completely soft, fully functional and May cause extreme smiling and hysterical laughter when in use (this is completely normal).

I gotta tell you, I'm not smiling or laughing...

Queen Marie

Bringing bathtubs back to life...

I love it when designers find another use for an object that may otherwise go to a sad end.
Here is another one.
Clever but expensive at £2620, brought to you by product designer Max McMurdo of reestore

Reestore is a line of green products based on the recycling of old home products. Taking everyday waste objects and turning them into charming yet functional pieces of furniture and accessories, Reestore attempts to “avoid traditional eco materials in favor of contemporary finishes, fabrics, and, above all, style.”

Clever and cool but I don't know how comfy it would be!

Queen Marie

A new ring in the City of Kings...

The lovely Stacey from Lapisette wrote to tell me about their new concept collection 'Form'
Each month they will create a new ring representing their idea of form and nature as one solid piece, combining intricate, organic shapes found in nature with solid sterling silver. The ring captures a stone's pure silhouette with an uninterrupted material and finish.

This is FORM ONE which will cost $275

For some reason this ring makes me think of the white city of Minas Tirith in The Lord of The Rings

Which would make it perfect for The King of Men and A Queen of the Kingdom of Style

Queen Marie

Just for the record...

We love vinyl.
We hold it in highest and eternal esteem.
But sadly we know, not everyone feels the same.
Some people even throw their old records away.
This makes us sad. But what makes us happy is when someone does something to give these poor discarded records a second lease of life.
Coming back as a cake stand! Yum Yum!

Brought to you by those clever girls at Lunacy for £30

Another super clever idea are handmade cd cases made of recycled records, made by artyfakt on etsy.
At only $52, each one is unique and I love love love them.

Strangely, I have this very Sergio Mendes record and if anyone tried to turn it into a cake plate or box, I would have them locked up in the tower so fast, their head would spin for a week. Tee Hee

Queen Marie

Every minute counts...

The last Subculture of the month is always a special one because Domsco is back in town.

To make sure that I enjoy every single dancing minute, there will be no disco naps and no resting of eyes! I plan to be down nice and early to dance away the cares of the week gone by!
Sir Samuel Beckett once said - Dance first, Think later! It's the natural order...

So make sure you dance tonight wherever you may be...

Queen Marie

Don't mess with the mafia!

Especially the Glasgow Craft Mafia!
They'll stich you up good*

Queen Michelle and I shall be in attendance today and in view of our penury will hopefully not be tempted beyond endurance. If you are in town, you too should visit!

Queen Marie

(* I was obviously channeling our dear chum enc when I made this quip)

Hiding In Plain Sight

As I have said endless times on this blog, I am a great advocate of de-prettifying. It's second nature to me to take my more feminine outfits and add a little something tougher, more masculine. One of my fall back ways of doing this was to throw my beloved old Maharishi camouflage jacket over the top.

I was a huge fan of Hardy Blechman's label and all his fabulous camouflage incarnates. As I sit in the house bored rigid today I dug out my vintage slip and leggings, that were stored in a suitcase, and popped on my camouflage jacket to nip out to the shop. I remembered just how well the clash of camo works over anything pretty.

A pleasant rediscovery indeed.

Queen Michelle

come on and touch...

The charming Jonny from Weber Shandwick got in touch a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would like to 'have a play' with the new Samsung F480 phone.
I said it would be my pleasure as I am a sucker for Samsung and all their shiny blackness

As shiny and black as my beloved tv

In the Kingdom we always say - "God is in the details"
and I have to say Samsung have paid attention to some details and seem to have totally missed others.
The box and packaging is a designers dream. The stock is GF Smith colourplan or some other delicious thing and it made opening the box a total delight. The phone itself too is a delightful little black box and the large screen bright, shiny and lovely.
This phone is packed full of gadgets, most of which I have still to use! A 5meg camera, fm radio, mp3 music player to name but a few. What makes this phone special is the touchscreen. To be perfectlty honest although the touchscreen menu functions really well, I find the scrolling through a bit jumpy and keep having to scroll back and forward until I find what I want. This could just be due to the fact that I am a bit clumsy, but practise may cure that.
I found it strange that in view of the camera function and the delicous big screen, that the phone did not come with a carrying case or pouch. I have taken to carrying mine in a little red silk pouch

Called 'Tocco' which is Italian for touch, this little phone is well worth touching up. Fnar Fnar.

Queen Marie

ps - HOLY SHAZAM BATMAN!

I forgot to mention THE BEST thing! - the phone has built in music recognition. You just record a little snippet of the song, wait a minute and up it pops with the artist and title. Sometimes even with an image! I tried it with a really old obscure DMX Krew thing and up it popped. GENIUS!!!!

Tasty Organic

Jonathan David Baker is a graduate of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and his collection for Rook Creative has been designed using recycled, organic materials. Not just any old recycled material though - Jonathan utilises sustainable materials such as tire rubber, discarded porcupine quills, paper mache and even a fox skull.

What he does with these materials is completely amazing. Very often we see recycled materials used a very gimmicky way but this is entirely more refined and the materials bare no resemblance to their origins.

I really hope we see much more of Jonathan's work in the future because it's people like him that could rebrand sustainable fashion as something luxurious and desirable.

Queen Michelle

If The Wolf Howls You Must Listen

When the delectable Sister Wolf  cries out "Queen Michelle, you must see these!!!" telling me check out the most amazing pair of leggings, I couldn't not listen. I was pointed to a pair of black and sheer strappy leggings which would compliment pretty much 99% of my wardrobe.

Like a refined, leggings version of my DIY Cages. If I were not such a poor Queen I would have these winging their way to my Palace right now!

Queen Michelle

The Girl From France

The phenomenal rise and success of street style blogs never ceases to amaze me. With new sites popping up all the time, we are offered a unique glimpse into the fashion conscience of cities we might otherwise never get to see.

The usual criticism of these sites is that they only show a certain type of person, the fashionable and the quirky, and as a whole do not realistically represent the majority of inhabitants of the city. Of course it's only the fashionable and the quirky since the mundane and the ordinary do not make quite as interesting or inspirational viewing. I don't think the people who create these street style sites are claiming to capture the essence of a city anyway - they merely seek to show us people across the globe with a common denominator - fashion and style.

The site I visit every day religiously is Facehunter. I love the myriad of styles and personalities he captures. But there is a girl, a French girl, who's images are so beautiful her site is now on my regular visit list. Garance Dore. I was first drawn to her site because of her amazing illustrations. Even though I don't speak French, I still revel in the quality of her shots.

All her chosen subjects are either striking or exceptionally beautiful, but I am under no illusion that everyone in France looks like this, but I love that she seeks out these individuals and then expertly captures their beauty in what seems like a passing moment.

Garance's photos certainly have the same polished quality as Scott of The Sartorialist, but hers have a little extra something in my opinion. Something more real. Whatever it is, it keeps me coming back every day.

Queen Michelle

Now You Can Meet Brigitte

Very good friend of the Kingdom and hands down the best vintage shop in Glasgow, Brigitte has finally gone and got an ecommerce site.

Brigitte excel at investment pieces, so whilst you won't find much by way of bargain basement prices, you will find a carefully selected collection of gorgeous clothes. Although if you do find yourself in Glasgow please make it your mission to stop by the shop because you will not find a better welcome than that given by owner Michelle. You too could have a marvelous day out with Brigitte.

Queen Michelle

The Ruffle Experiment Part 3

After the success of the shower flower adorned shirt, I did indeed turn my attentions to doing the same with a skirt. I wanted to create something that was unapologetically over the top. And over the top it is.

It reminds me some kind of ballerina tutu. It took 8 hours to complete, which doesn't include making the base skirt, so in total it was almost 10 hours and very sore fingers! It was pretty painstaking to actually create and I can safely say I won't be making another. I will however continue to explore using the shower flowers in other ways because I just love how they look.

It's not exactly for the wall flowers out there and I won't be wearing in an every day situation - it'll be reserved for going out to play and going to London, but I will definitely be wearing it. Bizarrely it's very versatile. Teamed with a plain vest and some high heels it actually looks quite normal - or maybe just normal in my eyes.

It indulges the whimsical, fairy tale side of me which is rarely given the time of day. And it gives me something which resembles hips which is always a bonus. My Prince reckons it makes me look like Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous. I know I should be insulted but somehow I'm not!

Queen Michelle