On the hunt for a perfect prom dress aka prom dress hunter guide

     Every girl has been or will be on the hunt for a perfect prom dress. Some girls wish to channel their inner princess on the night, whilst others wish to show off their sultry curves in a thigh split dress. Either way, you want to look your best and a right dress will definitely make or break you. If you're not into a diamante encrusted parrot puke prom dress, then this guide will help you find whatever you wish for. It will take time of course, but like me you can find your perfect prom dress without spending your life savings. Read on to find out how to get the dress you're dreaming of.

Rosie in Stella McCartney

1 ♡ BE REALISTIC, ORGANISED AND 1 2 3 4 SEARCH.

Of course you love Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's silver gown by Stella McCartney, but can you afford it? Nope. So start writing down what kind of dresses you'd love to wear. Flip through magazines, paying attention to the red-carpets events. Go on tumblr and type in prom in the tags, to see what others wore to their big night. That might give you a few ideas of what dress you want. If you're a pintrest-er then make a prom board. I did that and it really helped me keep my ideas organised, I had the whole look figured out 3 months before prom. Here's my prom board on pintrest if you're stuck! 

2 ♡ SET OUT A BUDGET AND START LOOKING

It's silly to spend endless amounts of money on one outfit, no matter how much money you have. Try to make your budget slim, highstreet shops offer so many special occasion wear you are basically sorted without going into expensive boutiques.  If you're worried about someone having the same prom dress like you, think outside of the box! If you like lots of diamantes and you're buying your dress in a local shops there's a 50% chance that someone else will have the same dress, but if that happens to you just smile and be confident yous are both looking amazing so just laugh it off  girl!  If you're determined to be the one and only, online shopping is your call, because there are so many websites and different styles available. If you're thinking about buying a prom dress online like me, here's a few I really loved - lulus, asos, revolve, missselfridge, nelly, tobi, nastygal.

3 ♡ FIND THE PERFECT DRESS

Look at the websites and bookmark dresses you love. Don't buy the first one you like, because there might be a one you LOVE on another website. I personally, probably spent 4 hours looking for my prom dress. I literally went through every website there is, just to make sure I didn't miss one. I had about 20 dresses bookmarked before I bought my most favourite one. When you have bookmarked the dresses you love, narrow them down to 4 and then ask a person, who's style you adore on tumblr/lookbook/blogger, or maybe ask your mum or your bff. Don't let their opinion totally put you off though, but do take it into consideration. My mum hated the dress I ordered, but I had the gut feeling I'd look amazing and when it arrived mum loved it on me. If you're a fashionista, like me, then you're probably right so go with the dress you like the most. Also, if you're stuck go on wheretoget.it it's a very helpful website.

4 ♡ ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE 

The dress arrived, but we're not finished yet! Jewelry  shoes and clutch should compliment your dress and look, they are important so don't overlook them. Again, think about the look you're going for and look at some celebrities/designers and how they styled a similar dress like yours. Don't copy them entirely, but do take in some inspiration. Go on Asos and have a live chat with one of the stylists. Tell them what you're dress is like and they'll suggest looks and give you many options to choose from. I did that with my dress and I found lots of interesting jewelry pieces that would make my dress look like million dollars. The live chat with a stylist option makes asos my favourite website to buy clothes from. If you're not into online shopping, make sure you know what you're looking for before you go shopping. Otherwise you will impulse buy, so you probably won't like the thing after you get home.

classic makeup look for prom

5 ♡ MAKEUP AND HAIR DRAMA

Don't forget to book your hair and makeup appointments early, otherwise you'll end up with no appointment at all. Make sure you know what you want, the hair stylist isn't inside your head so bring some visual stimulus for him/her to go by. The same goes with your makeup artist, bring in a picture so you get exactly what you want. Many girls before got themselves in lots of drama, because the makeup artist did
whatever he/she liked not what the customer wanted, but that was because the customer didn't outline it clearly. If you're doing your hair and makeup yourself, then look at youtube tutorials, youtube is like a tutorial goldmine.

off-guard pictures are the nicest

6 ♡ PICTURE PERFECT 

When everything is done and dusted, just enjoy your prom! You'll look amazing no matter what you wear, if you feel amazing. So make sure your dress and shoes are comfortable. If you don't like pictures, because you think you always pose awkwardly, then practice some poses in a mirror.  Get one of your friends to take pictures of you when you're not posing  but just smiling naturally, and then do the same for your friend. The nicest pictures are when the person on the picture isn't falsely smiling but truly having fun. P.S have an amazing prom xo

I hope yous found this guide helpful. I will post pictures of my prom dress and the whole look after my prom which is on the 7th of August. Thank you for reading and I'll see yous again soon x

Some call it homeless, others call it grunge, I call it I don't care.

Grunge look dominates the fashion week every year. But why? Be

cause it's effortless and edgy. Just a tonne of layers to keep you warm for example - a flannel and grey zip-up hoddie with a denim jacket on top, comfy but you still look like you are on top of your fashion trends. Grunge oozes the carefree rock and roll vibe, which is always in.

90's are coming back in style. People find themselves listing to Nirvana and Jam and wearing denim on denim. Alexa Chung was always the leader of the grunge clique, with her ombre messy shoulder cut and effortless makeup. There's nothing cooler than not giving a damn - mantra of every grunge chick. Highwaisted shorts, military parka, mesh tops and docs are your must haves for summer. Grunge is an ideal festival look in which you can rock your greasy hair in a high fashion manner.

Phillip Lim took on the 90's grunge and made it modern in 
his Spring/Summer 2013 collection. 3.1 Phillip Lim collection was full of matte bedheads and black boots concluding the youthful street appeal. Clothing that is playful, humorous, and walking the line between chaotic and cliché, but never succumbing to either. This collection is your 411 on how to mix grunge and modern sport apparel for spring and summer months.

So girls and boys; dig up your docs, denim jackets and eyeliner. Grunge is back- modern but cool. Put on your Sex Pistols record and dungarees full of the carefree nonchalance screaming "I don't care". Check out my grunge polyvore sets below and follow me on polyvore. Oh, and girls - release your inner Effy Stonem. 

                                                  

Hussein Chalayan F/W 13

Hussein Chalayan is a British/Turkish Cypriot fashion designer who wowed everyone with his beautiful f/w collection; which was on show at Paris Fashion Week. 

Born in Cyprus, Hussein Chalayan moved to England at age 12 and attended Central Saint Martins. His graduate collection, which included designs he had buried with iron fillings to see how the material would decompose, launched him onto the international scene. 

Chalayan f/w collection featured three transformation dresses which the internet fell in love with. The dramatic effect of a model tearing up her dress to reveal another, just as beautiful,  dress beneath it is mesmerising . For his F/W 2013 collection, Chalayan said;

“I wanted to reference ascendancy in the backdrop. It really was about the idea of creating a reluctant spirit and capturing an earthbound element as it leaves the body.”

final piece of the collection

My favourite piece from the collection is the finale transformation dress. I love this fragmented dress that looks like a cracked Gerhard Richter painting or something Michael Chase would envision, and then it transforms into this sleek black silhouette.

I'm not the only one who has fallen in love with this collection and his genius idea for two-in-one dresses, all in fact all the tumblr fashion bloggers are in love with it too; constantly reblogging gifs of the dramatic transformation dresses. Not only are these silhouettes gorgeous  the prints and colors amazing, but they make my engineering affinity go sky high with mucho amor! This is a priceless collection.

Oscars 2013 best dressed

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

     As it's the award season all the most expensive, diamond covered gowns are now on show. From Naomi Watts wearing a silver cut-out Armani Prive dress to Amy Adams in her delicate light-gray ruffled dress by Oscar de la Renta that landed her at the top of many best-dressed lists of the night.

    Academy Awards are the most watched award ceremonies around the world with views reaching over  41.7 million. Therefore, you wouldn't expect to see anything less than amazing dresses worn by the nominees and guests. Yet there are some who obviously underpay their stylists. Take Jennifer Aniston for example, she looked boring, and let's say bright red is not her colour, as she showed up in Valentino's plain trademark red gown.

Halle Berry in Versace

    Let's talk colours - most ladies decided to go in safe but dazzling sparkles and reflective metallics. We've seen Catherine-Zeta Jones in Zuhair Murad resembling an Oscar statue,  Stacy Keibler in a gray Naeem Khan gown and Nicole Kidman in a black and gold L’Wren Scott dress and the best for last; Halle Berry in a geometric silver and black sequined Versace dress. These girls sparkled inside and out, offering some shine to the otherwise dull red carpet. 

Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen

   

 Whites and shades of nude dominated the red carpet giving it a sense of femininity and innocence. The Best Actress award winner Jennifer Lawrence radiated in her Dior Haute Couture gown, but my favourite was the beautiful Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen flower embroided dress that made her look like a princess.

Samantha Barks in Valentino

Yet many ladies chose the minimal but impressive colour of the night - black. They do know indeed how to make wear the safest colour on earth, like Adele in a sequined Jenny Packham gown and Salma Hayek in a gold collared Alexander McQueen dress. But the winner of the 'little black dress' category goes to Samantha Barks, who donned an ultra-low V-cut dress by Valentino, stole everyone’s attention despite her small role in Les Miserables.

Jessica Chastain in Giorgio Armani

   Saving the best for last; Jessica Chastain, The Best Actress nominee for her role in "Zero Dark Thirty" showed extra early on the red carpet. The sequins in her Giorgio Armani rose-toned gown complemented her beautiful ginger locks, done up like Veronica Lake, and oozed classic Hollywood glamour thanks to a bright red lip. Even though she didn't win an oscar, she definitely got gold on the red carpet.

Snow White

Richard Nicoll 

    Let's take on spring/summer's biggest trend - white. We have seen a big white-out in s/s collections designers like Richard Nicoll, Rochas, Simone Rocha and Alexander Wang . White is no surprise for the summer season, though in the past few years it was considered perhaps too obvious and did not feature as much as we would have liked. For Spring Summer 2013 white is everything.

Simone Rocha

    Purity and simpleness of white is what has drawn many designers to it. We have to detox our wardrobes from crashing prints and deep burgundy shades, as summer comes our way. Of course, it would a little bit premature to white-out our wardrobes just yet. Although it is good way to start with a pair of white heels or maybe a white bodycon dress, worn with your hair tied back with a simple gold cuff and  to top it off; red lips? Sounds minimalistic, but just enough to make a spring/summer fashion statement.

Moncler Gamme Rouge

   White is the big colour of the season, on coats, on accessories, on trousers, shirts and dresses. For minimalism-lovers like myself, it is a trend worth exploring. Clean cut shape white dresses and coats will be this summer's craze.

Rochas

American Apparel Dream

     Basically, my whole wishlist at the moment contains all of American Apparel's stock. I'm in love with American Apparel's simplicity. It has all the fashion basics and I want them all. Let's be honest, no one has enough highwaisted shorts or circle skirts; it's what you build your outfits on. Or you can just chose to wear    American Apparel's easy jeans and turtle neck top and still manage to look effortlessness fashionable and hot. Effortlessly fashionable and hot should be American Apparel's new name.

 Also, I love American Apparel's lookbooks. The photoshoots are natural, the models are unconventionally beautiful and flexible. Simplicity at it's best. So here are my favourite American Apparel's items/ads + my wishlist.

P.S I'd love to be an american apparel model ugh.

spring/summer 2013 trend - solarplexus and cut-out dresses

Michael Kors (solarplexus)

    If you're looking for a new hot s/s trend fresh from the catwalk then solarplexus is yours! You're probably wondering what "solarplexus" is and how it is related in any way to fashion, as it sounds something like you'd find in an astronomy book. The solar plexus is an area of the body near the base of the sternum. Solar plexus has also a spiritual dimension according to Hinduism. 

   
  There has been a lot of solarplexus' on show at New York fashion week especially in collections of Michael Kors, Badgley Mischka and Narisco Rodriguez. So, if you want to show a bit of flesh but still leave your pins covered, solarplexus cut-out dresses are a great choice for a walk around the beach or a summer party. Solarplexus dresses are elegant, yet sexy and summery. 

Michael Kors (cut-out)

Alexander Wang

   

Alexander Wang

 Cut-out dresses,bikinis,tops and whatnot are back in trend as seen on Alexander Wang's s/s 2013 collection. As you may know Alexander Wang is becoming the new king of New York fashion – if it isn't already confirmed so. If you like minimalism and have an aesthetic approach to clothes, then you will love Wang's s/s collection, as it's full of clean cut shapes and black and whites. With cut-out dresses you can still be sexy and seductive, whilst leaving the rest up to somebody's imagination.