"LOVE YOUR CLOTHES" – FARA Charity Event in London

How often do you throw clothes away? Whether it becomes too tight/loose on you, or that you just don’t quite find the style attractive any more, or it could be worse, when it belongs to your ex’s which you thought was a good idea to steal from them when you two were still together. Anyway, have you ever wondered where the clothes go to after they’re donated to charities?

Most of the clothes of course, would end up being at store fronts which are to be sold and the money earned will go towards the charity, but that’s just the basic. How about the clothes that end up being neglected there for weeks and weeks since no one else may be interested in them?

Well, designers Grace Clark and Anna Crawley have been taking clothes and fabrics donated through the chain of FARA charity shops and sprinkle their magic on them to turn them into some unique and contemporary clothes and accessories!

You’ll get a chance to join in this event, which is aimed to inspire others not just to buy clothes that are made in this way, but to give it a go yourself!

Here is an invitation for you all to come and attend, the event is on Thursday 19, February at Fara, 28-32 Pentonville Road, 6:30-8:30pm.

“Love Your Clothes” is a not-for-profit organisation supported by the UK Government, which aims to raise awareness of the value of clothes and help us make the most of the clothes we already have. If you would like more information on this organization, head over to http://loveyourclothes.org.uk/

A little fun fact: Making an item of clothing from your wardrobe last just 9 months longer can reduce the carbon, water and waste impact of our wardrobes by a shocking 20%!

I have always been keen on sustainability in fashion & upcycling clothes since it does extend the ‘wear-life’ of clothes in my wardrobes as well as lessening the negative environmental impact of junking items that we no longer wear. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to this event since I’m all the way in Exeter University, but I do hope some of you guys can make it to this wonderful, creative event!!

Take care!

Mannie xx

BRITISH ACCENT

  pork pie hat from topshop // cardigan  from choies // shirt from romwe // skirt from jessica buurman // shoes from ebay

Hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and welcome to 2015! I went to back to my home town for two weeks, it was wonderful to see my friends again after so long! Anyway, my January exams are over, and it turns out that I did very well in the module I absolutely hate (computing for maths) but did awful in the modules that are just a bit more developed from a-level (calculus...). Surprisingly my parents found it very amusing and cracked up when I told them about it over the phone.

This second semester, I have promised myself to be on top of my notes and won't end up being in a hectic state before the exams, well... that's not exactly going well since I'm currently procrastinating... 

For the past few days my flatmates and I have to going crazy searching for a house for next year, and we seem to have found a wonderful house in the city centre! We're so excited to move in next year, although it is still another 7 months away!

I've been quite into the British fashion lately, I figured stripes and  checked patterns are the way to go, so I'm matching my blue vertical striped cardigan with this lovely checkered printed skirt from Jessica Buurman, paired with a chiffon white blouse and some burgundy tights for a pop of colour (plus I will never let go of how beautiful the combination of dark blue and burgundy is). I also bought myself a pair of platform brogues as a Christmas gift, it's definitely going to get many wears! The skirt I'm wearing is in a size S, it fits nicely on me (I'm a size 6-8), however it does feel a bit too tight right after I had dinner, but I suppose that happens with every other item of clothing!

Jessica Buurman skirt: http://www.shopjessicabuurman.com/celas-side-opening-skirt-p-11696.html

Also, here's a little funny screenshot of comments on one of my videos on YouTube to brighten your day:

I think that's the end of my rambling, I hope you will all enjoy 2015 and make the best of out it!

As always, you can hype this look on the side bar ->

Mannie xx

UNDERGRAD

 dress and bag from jessica buurman // fedora from choies // boots from h&m

University is hard work, I am so behind on my lecture notes and every lecture feels like lots of information are just being thrown in your face and all you can do is to slap it into your notepad and pray that you will somehow understand it when  you go back through it. I barely have time to sew because I've completely occupied myself with coursework, lecture notes, cooking, cleaning, seeing friends and oh, badminton! 

In case you haven't noticed, the long hair is gone! I thought it was finally time to rid the horrid coarse bleached ends and yes, I re-dyed my hair because I've got too used to having the ends bleached! I'm in the process of dye-ing it silver with the Direction hair dye, hopefully it wont turn out too bad...

The location for this shoot is actually just the end of the road of my student accommodation, it was raining and I didn't want to go far, so the garage men kindly let us have the vintage car in the background, made in the 1956, possibly painted by hippies in the 60's due to the paint job of the flowers visible in the last picture (yes we also had a little chat with them about the history of this car, which was actually very interesting). 

I adore this dress, from the pattern to the shape, it has a somewhat old-Victorian vibe, I'm a sucker for plaid, so I was thrilled to find this lovely cool toned dress from Jessica Buurman. I decided to add a hint of modernness to the outfit by wearing a (cool) fedora and a small satchel for a pop of colour.

Jessica Buurman dress: http://www.shopjessicabuurman.com/lynda-checkered-button-dress-p-11095.html

Jessica Buurman satchel: http://www.shopjessicabuurman.com/toya-buckle-details-tote-bag-p-9813.html

Now that I have Natalia as my human tripod, I should have no excuses to have a lack of posts and dull locations! Finger crossed that I will be writing again soon :)

As always, you can hype this look on the side bar ->

Mannie xx

HOWDY + UPDATES

 top from urban outfitters // shorts from romwe // flannel shirt from salvation army // beanie from dresslink // boots from jessica buurman

GUESS WHO HAS GOT INTO UNIVERSITY?!!! Yep, that's right, your gal Mannie right here, all the revision has finally paid off! So it has been a while since I've done an outfit post, so here it is. And I thought it would be time for a little update too.

I managed to get into my first choice university to study mathematics with management with an A* in maths, A in textiles, A in chinese, A in the extended project, A in A/S further maths... along with a C in english aha! (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, they are my A-level examination grades which are required to enter universities in the UK. Of course, I was absolutely thrilled with my results that I burst out crying when I opened my envelope in college.

Currently I've been busy packing for university (leaving in 2 week's time eeeeek!). I'm sure it'll be an amazing experience, even better than others claimed because my best friend Natalia has also got into the same university... I live in room 004 and she lives in room 005, I think we will definitely get sick of each other in no time haha!

Let's move onto this outfit, I have recently received a pair of boots from Jessica Buurman and I absolutely love it, I have never owned a cowgirl styled boots so these boots intrigued me so much I can't wait to get more wear out of them as I layer up some woollen socks with them in this coming winter!

Jessica Buurman boots: http://www.shopjessicabuurman.com/carmen-gold-studded-ankle-boots-p-685.html

I will definitely be back with another post sooner than you'd expect, so stay tuned :)

Mannie x

✿ STYLE CHALLENGE ✿ ft. Annika Victoria

Have you guys ever heard of the super duper awesome Annika Victoria from The Pineneedle Collective? If not then you have been missing out! Sounds cliché, I know, but I cannot express how excited I am to share this with you all!

So after a long time of stalking her blog over at The Pineneedle Collective, we finally began messaging each other and I took this opportunity to ask if Annika would like to do a YouTube collaboration with me, and she said YES! (Why does this somehow sound like a marriage proposal...I felt pretty fortunate nevertheless!)

Anyway, Annika came up with this awesome idea which is to compete with what we both love - clothes! She suggested a style challenge where we have to style one item of clothing and to come up with as many outfits as possible, whoever has the most points, wins!

Want to find out who was the winner? Watch our videos! The top one is my take on the challenge and the bottom one is by Annika :)

Okay... so I must confess, when we were filming, Annika did give me a hint of how many outfits she has put together... and I was determined to beat it, but I actually find that her outfits have more of a variation than mine haha!

Annika's Blog: http://www.pineneedlecollective.com/

Annika's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AnnikaVictoria24

Let us know what you think of our challenge!!

Love,

Mannie xx

LUSH PORTSMOUTH Summer Skin Event + HAUL

My best friend Ella (ellabellemin) and I were fortunate enough to be invited to the Lush Portsmouth Summer Skin Event which took place a few weeks ago. I have finally got round to editing the footage I have from the evening and also introducing some of the products from the goodie bags we were given by them. 

^ group photo snatched from Becky's blog ;)

When Ella and I arrived at the store, we were greeted by fellow blogger Becky from beckybedbug, then we also met Amzy from amzyinwonderland and Alice from anniewritesbeauty, at the very end of the event we have also made friends with Vanessa at vanessaswhimsicalworld!

Throughout the evening, we had the chance to have a foot treatment with some of their lovely products such as the Stepping Stone which is amazing at exfoliation, along with the foot cream my feet were left very soft... like a baby's butt. I was also very exciting during the face mask making because it was interesting to see how the ingredients were mixed together to form a paste, we got a little messy but hey ho!

Below is a video of me talking you through some of the lovely Lush products!!

Thank you to the team at Lush Portsmouth, we all had such an awesome time and definitely a great first time experience!

Love,

Mannie xx

WHITE WASHED

shirt from vateno // jumper from charity shop // shorts from jessica buurman // grey pork pie from topshop // shoes from dresslink

Is it awful that I've been feeling a bit of a post-exam blues? My last exam was over exactly four weeks ago and I feel like I now have too much time on my hands. Definitely not complaining, but it's just quite odd to know that I don't have to constantly revise and do past papers. Strangely I still feel a sense of guilt though whilst I was watching the CBS drama Elementary, an American version of Sherlock Holmes with a female Watson, pretty good. Maybe the sense of guilt is triggered by the fact that I feel like I should be educating myself every second, just maybe.

Two weeks ago I've had a photo session with my friend Eddie, I've had such a fun time and the lovely weather made it even better. It was a nice to have Eddie being a director too because I never know what pose to make or where to look, a professional experience! We managed to shoot all four of my somewhat "British inspired" outfits and this is the first one that I want to share with you guys!!

Eddie's links (You know you wanna click it yeah): 

http://photo.eddierollins.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/eddie_rollins

https://www.fb.com/eddierollinsphoto

Mannie x