|| Monday Morning Motivation ||

|| Black || The Greatest Colour in Fashion & Art? ||

Yves Saint Laurent once said that “black is the liaison which connects art and fashion,” supporting Gianni Versace’s similar citation that “black is the quintessence of simplicity and elegance.”

The colour of black wasn’t really introduced into fashion until around the 14^th Century, in which the status of black within fashion and art began to change. The fine quality dyes began to be imported and exported and soon arrived on the market. Initially black was to be worn by governmental officials and magistrates, acting as a symbol of ‘importance’ and ‘seriousness.’

Black was the colour of power; of dignity; of humility and temperance with the rulers of the European world basking in the symbolism of black.

Gustave Doreé || The Inferno, Canto

In the 18^th century black began to retreat as a fashionable colour, and as Paris became the fashion capital of the world; the powerful men and women of the world began adorning shades of pastels, creams and colours – a sweet shops of colours.

Then came the Industrial Revolution and everything changed. The cities of Europe and a-like became stained black resulting in the art and literature of the time to reflect the landscape – think Charles Dickens and famous French artist Gustave Doré. 

Henri Matisse || Potrait of
Madame Matisse

Within the world of art, black was a controversial topic with some artists fully loathing the colour within their works, whereas others, such as Manet, incorporated the colour in their works to capture the lights and true emotion of the subject. In the 20^th century black became the colour of Fascism from counties such as Italy and Germany. However within art, black regained some the territory is had previously lost in around the 19^th century.

In 1945, Henri Matisse (personally one of my favourite artists) greatly expressed his love for the colour within his work, explaining the significance and importance of the colour: “when I didn’t know what colour to put down, I put down black … Black is a force: I use black as a ballast to simplify the construction … since the impressionists it seems to have made continuous progress, taking a more and more important part in colour orchestration, comparable to that of the double bass as a solo instrument.”

Coco Chanel's 'LBD'

In 1926 our beloved Coco Chanel famously said this: “A woman needs just three things; a black dress, a black sweater, and, on her arm, a man she loves.” Along with her famous LBD – Little Black Dress – she helped to revolutionize fashion, and of course the colour of black within fashion. Women’s fashion became sophisticated and simplified, symbolising freedom coinciding with chic. One of the most famous dresses inspired by this movement is of course the one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, designed by Hubert de Givenchy.

In the 1950s, black became the symbol of individuality and intellectual and social rebellion, spanning from the leather jacketed greasers to the punk subculture of the late 20th century.

Designer Ann Demeulemeester said that black is of “the purest of colours … the most poetic, but at the same time strongest. It’s the colour of poets and writers and of rebels.”

Coco Chanel

Black within fashion is a recurrent feature, the only colour that stays no matter what. No matter the season. No matter occasion. No matter the style. Many speculate that black within fashion is greatly linked with the economy and in a sense I agree. Black has been, and still is, a symbol for various movements, subcultures and personal expression. Black became a way in which men and women could fully express themselves without giving in to the conformity pressed by society. It became is symbol of power, freedom, individuality and rebellion, and symbol that, without even knowing, would change the face of fashion and art continuously. Black is a colour that is in-definitively adaptable to our surroundings, social status, economical stance, and our political and moral movements.

|| Monday Morning Motivation ||

I have recently decided to have a new segment: Monday Morning Motivation.

It will be a little quote or picture that I will try a post every Monday, just to motivate us all a little bit into not wanting to crawl back into bed and cry for the next century about having to go back to work/school/college.

I hope they will motivate you

|| New Cosy Front Room Decor ||

After now living in our house for a year we had finally settled on what to do with the front room of the house. We originally had it as a dining room, but as it rarely got used (we just ate in the kitchen) it's now become a library come music room come living room without a tv. My dad likes to call it 'the library but generally my sister and I just call it 'the front room' - creative I know. After having the bookshelves and chairs in there for long enough, we thought it was time to finally paint it and finish it properly and after much deliberation on which colour, and which tone of colour and which brand would be best and all that sort of stressful but necessary planning we finally settled on Farrow & Ball's Brassica tone, a dark aged purple that it just wonderful.

My dad had recently painted the chest of drawers from a light blue which I, for the life of me, cannot remember to a lovely soft green colour called Pigeon, however leaving the wooden top of the drawers. We bought some door knobs from French Grey, (a fabulous interiors shop which I just want to buy everything every time I'm in there) purposefully getting mis-matched ones.

Me and my dad spent the day painting one wall of the room, me constantly saying 'oh it will only need one coat, I'm sure' and my dad saying the opposite. Obviously he was right because it did need two coats, as you can probably tell from the images below one coat was ever so slightly patchy. Whether that was to do with my painting or the paint underneath or just because it needed two coats I don't know, but what I do know is that once we did the two coats it looked absolutely fabulous! 

The colour is so rich and strong and makes the room so cosy and comforting, and the green chest of drawers compliments the purple so well it was as if they were meant to be.

The room is now wonderfully cosy and perfect for just sitting and reading with a cup of tea (my favourite thing to do), one of the guitars is also in there as is the piano and is now a wonderful place in which to have a mini-music-sesh. My mum also has her desk in the bay-window of the room, which unfortunately I didn't take a picture of, making the room a perfect study space (also meaning you can people-watch perfectly well.)

|| THE FINAL OUTCOME ||

|| Mallzee || App Review ||

I was recently introduced to Mallzee after I received a lovely email off their Engagement Executive. Mallzee is a free, personal shopping app with a “social twist”.

Mallzee is different to most online shopping companies in that with over 2 million products from over 200 brands you can find as many of your favourites all in one place. What I find truly wonderful is that it can help you pick out outfits and products based on your previous searches and purchases. They select them and pull them together making your own personal ‘Mallzee’ – how lovely. It’s like a personal shopper without the fortune being spent. The app is constantly evolving and changing meaning that if your style changes or the current fashion changes, Mallzee will the there one step ahead.

Within the app itself they have a voting system, which can help you, gain a second opinion. The voting system allows you to always have someone on board to impart his or her “fashion wisdom.” There are also live chats and built in sharing so you can get those extra all-important opinions.

‘But what if I can’t buy it right now’ I hear you ask. Well, within your personal Mallzee you have your own little virtual wardrobe of all the things you’ve thought of getting. They stay there until you decide to buy it meaning that you don’t have to spend ages searching for that perfect item again.

 I personally have got my Mallzee App and I absolutely love it. I have to say, that writing about it doesn't really say how great it is. It's one of those things you really have to see, use and experience for yourself.
I really recommend getting this app, and this coming from me really does mean something as I'm not a techy person at all and don't really have many apps on my phone at all. I think for me one of the best things is that you obviously don't have to buy things, you can just browse, get ideas etc, and the built-in personal stylist helps inspire you a massive amount! I really can't stress how much I enjoy this app, so please try it for yourself!

Get Mallzee Here

If you do happen to download Mallzee, leave a comment or send me a message on your thoughts - I'd love to hear from you.

All images taken from the Mallzee website.

|| Autumn Colour Flash ||

Autumn in finally here (yes, the post is a little belated I know…)

Autumn has always been my most favoured season, sprouting obviously from my birthday being in autumn making it my most favoured season as a child. However, as I’ve got older I’ve begun to appreciate in a much different way (obviously still loving the birthday bit.) There’s something ever so special about autumn and there’s so much that creates this ever so special time of the year, something so warming and nostalgic.

Here’s a list of my personal favourites of autumn:

• The colours
• The weather
• The food
• Halloween
• My birthday (of course)
• Bonfire night
• Fireworks
• The fashion

The autumnal colours are my favourite colours, and my wardrobe is best suited to the colder weather that autumn brings and I tend to either wear dark colours or the complete polar opposite with bright rainbow-coloured clothing. The dark warm colours of red, brown, orange, purple, black and deep shades of green and blue are truly a personal favourite in my wardrobe.

The colours I have really been in favour of recently are purple and orange. Together. 

Together? I hear to question in utter confusion. Yes, together. There's something so magically about this seemingly wrong combination. The clash of the two colours somehow works, and rather  effectively I feel. I happen to own a lot of both these colours in various formats meaning that the combination of the two is quite easy for me personally. All the clothes in the pictures are relatively old, and none have been bought recently.

 The dress underneath I bought maaaany years ago for a fancy dinner at my school. I don't think I ever wore it in the end, but kept it because it was Ted Baker. I couldn't throw away my first ever designer dress? I've kept it in my wardrobe all these years knowing one day I would wear it again and it would once again be a treasured item. And I was right. I wore it a few times throughout this year, and wore it at a wedding this summer. But I re-found my love for it when I was deciding on an outfit to wear to college. I decided to team it with this jumper (which belonged to my sister, and the original purchase is unknown) and to my surprise it looked good. I really liked the contrast between the two colours and the small amount of purple in the jumper helped settle my nerves about the outfit.

This top I bought in a charity shop a while ago, and I automatically fell in love with it. I love the stripes running through it of the two tones of orange: the deep warm orange and the lighter cooler orange. It's rather large on me but I like that (I'm a fan of baggy oversized clothing) and it's also one of the comfiest things I own and I wear it with almost everything.

This was again bought in a charity shop and I've had for well over a year. I have loved it ever since I bought it, it's incredibly soft and the colour is gorgeous and goes with everything! I normally wear it buttoned-up over leggings, or unbuttoned over almost anything else. It's really light-weight but oddly warming when need be - fabulous.

This jacket. Well where to start? This jacket is probably my most treasured item of clothing and is definitely one of my favourite things I own. I bought it in one of my local shops; Willow (which is not only my favourite shop in the entire world, but also where I currently work.) It's originally from India, and is completely covered in patches of various colours, patterns and pictures and is dotted around with little silver circles. It is unbelievably soft and I just love it so so much. I can't really express my love for this jacket in all honestly.

These Topshop jeans actually belong to my sister but I frequently wear them. They're a really soft shade of purple which I just think is so pretty. The jeans themselves are actually really soft and incredibly comfortable.

I got this bag in Paris last summer and I've loved it ever since. The size and shape is incredibly handy meaning that I can use it not only as a handbag, but also as weekend-bag if needed. It's a deep plum purple with faded sections and a pretty embroidered pattern in yellow.

As you can see, my love for the purple-orange combination is not only found in my clothing but also on my bed-sheet...

|| Angela & Roi Handbags: fashion with philanthropy || Donate by Colour ||

A few weeks back I received an email from the co-founder of online handbag company; Angela & Roi. I was over the moon to receive an email requesting if I could write about them, and obviously I said yes.

Angela & Roi are an online handbag brand that “combines fashion and philanthropy by colour.”

As my readers will know, I am very keen on vegan produce and am very much against the use of animals in fashion, and I was delighted to find out that Angela & Roi use high quality vegan leather to make their handbags instead of animal leather. Their bags are boutique quality, minimally and classically designed with minimalistic styles varying from totes, shoulder and cross-body bags, and each with various colour options. Their aesthetic is “vintage-inspire with a modern touch.”

“Our company was founded on strong moral principles. We prioritize ethical and respectful treatment of our customers. Our products reflect our value system that is focused on customer satisfaction, not profit margins. However, we believe we can use our resources productively in a way to impact the greater community. We believe fashion can be utilized to both an artistic and charitable effect. Our company presents an opportunity for us to intertwine consumerism with philanthropy. We hope you can join us in our effort to donate toward the solution of various causes.” Angela & Roi

One particular aspect of Angela & Roi that really fascinated me was their Donate By Colour mission. The idea behind this is that different medical issues relate to specific colours i.e. Lung Cancer awareness is linked with the colour white, so when cusomers purchase a white handbag from Angela & Roi, they automatically donate $5 to Lung Cancer Alliance. In total, Angela & Roi work together with 11 non-profit organisations:

Each handbag is accompanied with a detachable coloured ribbon, which associates, to the specific cause. By attaching the ribbon to your bag, you are helping to raise awareness of the associated cause.

• Red Ribbons – AIDS
• Orange Ribbon – Kidney Disease
• Grey Ribbon – Diabetes
• Purple Ribbon – Alzheimer’s Disease
• Green Ribbon – Anxiety and Depression
• Brown Ribbon – Cancer
• Blue Ribbon – Colon Cancer
• Gold (Yellow) Ribbon – Child Cancer
• Pink Ribbon – Breast Cancer
• Black Ribbon – Melanoma (Skin Cancer)
• White Ribbon – Lung Cancer

 Learn more about Angela & Roi’s causes here.

“We maintain our positive attitude toward change. We frame our campaign within our energetic color theme. Colors grab us out of the dreary day-to-day existence and shoot us into a world of vivaciousness. We chose to link different causes with specific colors. We wanted to create easy to recognize categorizations on our website. We understand how associations between tangible objects and pleasing concepts strengthen interest. Our purses speak color, and we believe our products should converse with our greater charitable goals.”

Not only do their bags support many wonderful causes, but also they are absolutely lovely! Every single one is beautiful, with excellent craftsmanship and designing  and all at an astonishingly wonderful price; ranging from $65 to $148. Below are just some of the types of bags Angela & Roi offer, with each design coming in an array of colours.

Palette White Cross-body

Sunday Black Tote

Palette Purple Cross-body

Square Mandarin Orange Tote

Palette Light Brown Cross-body 

Mini Navy Body-cross

Classic Wine Cross-body

Casual Grey Shoulder Bag

 As you can see, the bags are absolutely gorgeous, are wonderful prices, part of a wonderful and charitable mission, but they also do free deliver and returns. (Not that you would want to return them!)

Website // Facebook // Twitter

Leave a comment below letting me know what you think about this wonderful company, and do definitely check out their website. Let me know if you buy one of their bags too, I'd love to hear what you think about it and which colour/cause you went for.

I personally look forward to when I buy my own one - I'm saving up!