Archive for the ‘Accessories’ Category
Accessories, Celebrity Style, Christmas outfits, Gallery, jewelry, vintage
By Andrea Petrou on November 25th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Kate Middleton's engagement ring; previously belonging to Princess Di herself
The impending Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton is all everyone’s talking about at the moment – especially the ring that he proposed to her with. The ring in question is the same one that Princess Diana wore during her engagement to Prince Charles – a beautiful white-gold creation with a 12-carat sapphire inset. It really is quite something to behold, in an old Hollywood kind of way, and what with Miss Middleton swiftly becoming a British trendsetter, why not get your own piece of antique-looking jewellery? You don’t have to get engaged to wear one, either.
Classic, beautiful jewellery will always be in fashion – that’s why we’re strong advocates of the cocktail ring, a glamorous and classic way to add some sparkle to a simple outfit. Metallics and diamanté for the day, and deep tones of blue, red and purple for a vampy, festive look in the evening. Audrey Hepburn wore them, and so will we.
Check out the gallery above for our top 5 cocktail rings.
Tags: "Kate Middleton", antique, princess diana, royal weddimg, sapphire
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, Celebrity Style, Christmas outfits, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on November 25th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
The model looked stunning last month at a gala in NYC, wearing a sequined maxi dress, headband and sultry velvet blazer. We love.
With all the upcoming parties and events that get rammed into your diary during winter, everyone has been very preoccupied what they’re going to be wearing this December. And we’ve found the one woman we should all be trying to emulate at this year’s office party – Victoria’s Secret model Chanel Iman.
Obviously, she’s stunning and all that – her mix of African and Korean roots have blessed her facially – but more importantly, she has got the party look nailed and is a walking advert for the motto that sometimes more is more. Feathers, fur, sequins, metallics and glitter; ’tis the season to pile it all on with a shovel, and have another drink.
We particularly loved the outfit that she wore to a gala in NYC last month, oozing vampy Hollywood glamour in a deep-blue velvet blazer, teamed with a sparkling headband and sequined maxi skirt. This is the way to carry the maxi-length from summer into winter.
To see some of our favourites of the supermodel’s best looks, and where you can get similar pieces online, check out the gallery above.
Tags: Celebrity Style, Christmas outfits, drama, get the look, Glamour, maxi skirt, supermodel, velvet, Victoria's secret
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Accessories, Christmas outfits, Features, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on November 20th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Pink Bird Print Cup and Saucer
This stunning cup and saucer from Liberty is a dream gift for any girly-girl.
Advent is nearly about to start, we’re being bombarded with Christmas adverts all over the place and everyone is trying to sum up the courage to embark on the impending stress-related heart attack that is Christmas shopping. At least, I know that I am.
We at Shiny Style wanted to do a nice thing for those who are feeling a little uninspired gifts-wise this year – I’ll be regularly posting galleries with gift ideas for the loved ones in your life. Whether you’ve got a friend who is impossible to buy for, someone you want to impress or a hapless boyfriend that you need to nudge in the right direction, hopefully these articles can be of use and make your Christmas shopping stress-free.
So, starting with the quintessential, quirky “girly girl”- we all know one. Above are all the trinkets, gifts and surprises a lover of tea, florals and cake could ever need. Get clicking!
Tags: christmas gifts, cute, feminine, girly, present ideas, pretty, retro, shopping, xmas
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, dresses, First Looks, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on November 20th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Goldie Fringed Camel Cape
This on-trend cape is a chic alternative to a regular coat when wrapping up warm this winter. Fearne Cotton has one.
Portobello Market has, for a long time, been an iconic site for London shopping – it’s one of the best places in the country to pick up something unique and unusual. Suits of armour, vintage postcards, old luggage, records, and most importantly, clothes. If you live in London, love vintage and one-offs and have yet to go, I wouldn’t recommend anywhere else more highly.
However, market shopping is tiring and can be a bit of a pain; especially for those of you visiting from outside the city. That’s why Shiny Style hearts the new clothing site Pretaportobello.com so much. Taking all the best boutique clothes and accessories available at Portobello and squishing them together in one lovely website, you can now shop the best of the market at a click of your mouse.
I’ve been hard at work (poor little me) searching the website to compile a shortlist of all the very best clothes and jewellery that the site has to offer, readers – and you can see the clothes in the gallery above. Everything we found is gorgeous, but ShinyStyle’s favourite is the cute sixties mini-dress with bow cuffs – the perfect cocktail dress.
Tags: Affordable Fashions, boutique dress, london style, online market, party dresses, portobello market
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Accessories, Designers, Fashion News, vintage
By Andrea Petrou on November 10th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
It’s a good time for designer labels to be shaking things up a bit as Valentino design casualwear for Gap and Lanvin collaborates with high-street chain H&M – and as a rival fashion house, you’ve got to keep on your toes. Which is why it’s very smart of super-chic Italian label Marni to step up their game by putting some of their classics from the past back up for sale again.
People’s love for vintage is only getting stronger and stronger at the moment, particularly when it’s designer – who needs a long, rhinestoned creation for a festive party when Karl Lagerfeld is willing to lend you a vintage Chanel sheath dress? (If you’re Keira Knightley, anyway. The rest of us have to depend on Beyond Retro..) With fashion-forward celebrities like Florence Welch, Kelly Osbourne and Paloma Faith all professing their love for the secondhand, Marni may have made a very clever move.
Their re-released vintage pieces include pretty blouses, tailored trousers and accessories, and will be on sale until December (so start dropping hints about Christmas presents to your loved ones). They can be found here on the fashion house’s website.
Tags: christmas ideas, designer label, dress, italian, Marni, re release, vintage
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Accessories, Celebrity Style, Gallery, jewelry, vintage
By Andrea Petrou on October 20th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Edie Sedgwick used to make dancewear and thrift store clothes look more expensive with dramatic costume jewellery
As Marilyn Monroe was so fond of reminding us, diamonds are a girl’s best friend, something that rings especially true as the party season approaches. But who can afford them? Not even celebrities tend to wear their own jewellery on the red carpet; just like we borrow a cute dress from a friend to wear out to the office Chrthristmas party, celebrities ring up Cartier’s and ask them if they could borrow three million smackers’ worth of diamonds for an important première, pretty please. But that kind of behaviour is really only okay if you’re Jennifer Lopez or similar – I think if I rang up a jeweller’s and asked to borrow some diamonds to go and meet Barry the plumber for a date at the cinema, all I would hear on the other end would be hysterical laughter and them hanging up.
Which is why we should all be taking a leaf out of fashion icon Edie Sedgwick’s book when it comes to making the cheapest of outfits look expensive. One of the true original party girls and face of the 1960s “Factory art” era, Edie knew all about how to make cheap look good. She continues to inspire fashion today with her poor-little-rich-girl style, and is one of my favourite dressers of all time. Pop-art artist Andy Warhol said of Edie in his memoirs, From A to B to Back Again, “She was trying to prove to her family back in Charleston that she could live on nothing, she would go the Lower East Side and buy the cheapest clothes, which happen to be little girl’s skirts, and her waist was so tiny she could get away with it. Fifty cents a skirt. She was the first person to wear ballet tights as complete outfit, with big earrings to dress it up. She was an innovator–out of necessity as well as fun–and the big fashion magazines picked up on her look right away. She was pretty incredible.”
Edie was lucky enough to have a trust-fund – unfortunately, most of us don’t have one of those, which is why I thank the heavens above for costume jewellery. They look like expensive jewels, they glitter like expensive jewels, but they don’t cost like expensive jewels – you can pick up a pair of statement chandelier earrings or a gorgeous cocktail ring from costume jewellery site GlitzySecrets for about twenty quid. Once you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter what else you wear – Edie showed us that all you needed to look party-ready were a pair of black tights and a leotard once you had the jewellery. Hell, you could wearing a binbag to a party and still be the most fabulous person in the room, as long as you’ve got the jewellery.
Viva fake luxury! And viva Edie. Check out the gallery above for our favourite pieces from GlitzySecrets.
Tags: "60s fashion", costume, dramatic, Edie Sedgwick, party fashion, statement jewellery
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Accessories, Designer collaborations, Fashion News, First Looks, Footwear
By Andrea Petrou on October 20th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Exciting news as Gap unveil the fruits of their most recent collaboration with design geniuse Pierre Hardy; one perfect pair of black suede and leather shoe boots. Well, sometimes simplicity is best. The shoes won’t hit stores in the US until the 28th of October at the slightly un-Gap price of $195, but we can forgive them – it is a beautiful shoe, after all.
Gap’s had a rough time of it these past few weeks; it’s taken a cutting verbal beating from the internet and worldwide fashion-lovers for its’ attempt to ditch their iconic logo for a newer, spiffier one (turns out that the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is an important lesson to learn in fashion), so this collaboration could be exactly what the brand needs to get back into their customers’ good books. And we’ll certainly be helping out – by fighting tooth and nail to get a pair when they become available to buy in the UK.
Tags: collaboration, designer, first look, GAP, shoe boot, suede, USA
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Accessories, Celebrity Style, Fashion News, Gossip, jewelry
By Andrea Petrou on October 15th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Girl’s Aloud glamazon Kimberley Walsh has launched her debut jewellery line for Argos, the one-stop shop for all things technical, shiny and reasonably priced.
She is the last of the Girl’s Aloud gang to start up her own business venture – Cheryl Cole, despite being a brand in herself, runs the high-end luxury jewellery line De Grisogono, while bandmate Nicole Roberts is now the brain behind the makeup brand Dainty Doll which specialises in makeup for pale and fair-skinned girls. Meanwhile, party-girl Sarah Harding owns a club in Mayfair while Northern-Irish beauty Nadine owns an Irish pub in Los Angeles. So really, it’s been a long time coming for Kimberley to strike out on her own.
The singer said of her new affordable jewellery line: “‘I like jewellery, I feel at least that keeps its worth. I can’t really justify spending a lot of money on clothes when there are so many other things I could spend it on, like saving for a mansion.” You’re a lot more sensible than the rest of us, Kim.
It’s a pretty debut from the star, with plenty of delicate gold jewellery that won’t break the bank and will look good with your dress at the Christmas party. You can view her designs at the Argos website here.
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Accessories, Christmas outfits, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on October 14th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Jonathon Aston Crystal Peacock Tights
Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens for the winter, and the spangly, over-the-top silliness of the outfits are beginning to slowly creep into both our hearts and our wardrobes. Whereas in the summer we’d have scoffed at all the sequins and sparkles, and said “No thankyou, I’ll stick to my maxi-dress”, we’re beginning to find ourselves idly wondering if we could get away with wearing “boobs ahoy” gowns, cut-out panels and lurid shades of fluoro to the office party. It’s the problem with winter – we have a tendency to over-decorate ourselves and end up looking like the Christmas lights display in Oxford Circus.
And no, you probably shouldn’t start dressing like Kara Tointon (or Ann Widdecombe, for that matter), but that doesn’t mean you have to go totally the other way and start dressing like a middle-aged German nanny. Just strike a little balance – my favourite way to get a little of Strictly spangle the understated way this winter is to jazz up a more classic outfit with a pair of statement tights, which bring back fond memories of dressing up little-girl style for the Year Six school disco but is still fashion forward.
The best ones available at the moment are from Scottish designer label Bebaroque, specialisers in fantastical “Alice In Wonderland”-style hosiery in candy colours, adorned with pearls and ankle detailing. Especially dreamy are their black tights with the white and gold bow detailing on the ankles – with tights that pretty, you can make any crummy old outfit look way prettier immediately. Unfortunately, with designer hosiery there comes a designer price, with some of their tights costing up to a cool £75. If you don’t feel like investing that much in something that could potentially ladder, there are good versions on the high street – personal favourites are the gold embellished ones from Zohara and the super-sexy mock suspender fishnet stocking tights from Topshop, which will have the boys howling and drooling at your feet. To see my top 5 party tights for the party season, check the gallery above.
Tags: Accessories, bebaroque, christmas fashion, designer, embellishment, party season, tights
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on October 8th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Summer is offically gone, the thick M&S tights and winter coats are coming out of the wardrobe and we’re all bracing ourselves for the wintery weather ahead: rain. In the UK, it rarely snows but it pours. Just the other day I was wailing and lamenting over my beautiful leather biker jacket that I wore over my head to keep my hair dry during a torrent and as a result it now looks (and smells) like it’s been chilling out at the bottom of a pond for the past five years. Weep.
For those of you that know, deep down, that it is very good common sense really to carry an umbrella with you everywhere you go come October, but just can’t quite bring yourself to be bothered enough to get one, you should take a look at the boutique umbrella company Umbrella Heaven. There’s a great array of umbrellas, from the ladylike, classic styles to the more cutesy, gimmicky ones: we particularly love the see-through parasol-style umbrella with the white lace trim, which is gonna be an adorable way to keep dry and groomed on your way to work or to a club. Also favourites of ours at Shiny Style were the the dragonfly-print umbrella, which is a statement in itself, and the lovely girly “Daisy” umbrella. Check the gallery above to see the best from the site.
Tags: fashion umbrellas, parasol, practical, rain, umbrellas, waterproof, winter
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, Fashion Crush, First Looks, Gallery
By Andrea Petrou on September 28th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
Sweet Pink Macaroon And Ribbon Necklace
I’d like to see the girl that won’t want to “ooh” and “aah” over the adorable handmade jewellery from Cat Bear Express. Even the hardest of girls wouldn’t be able to turn down the necklaces, rings and charms in the shape of itty-bitty cakes, ice creams, sweets and little animals, which look lickable and good enough to eat. I actually had to eat something sugary whilst looking through Cat Bear Express’ online Etsy store.
If you’re really just not that into the whole tough leather and lace look, or just want to let the world know how much you love food with smiley faces and cute little animals, you can’t do much better than this jewellery shop. It’s perfect present material for a friend or girly relative, and items can be made bespoke on request to make the jewellery personal. It was hard to select some favourites from the shop as I love everything (as you can tell from the gallery above) but I especially loved the pink macaroon necklace and the marshmallow bracelet.
I suddenly feel a passion for charm bracelets coming on…
Tags: bespoke, charm bracelets, crafts, cute, etsy.com, girly, home made fashion
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, Celebrity Style, Gallery, Trend Alert
By Andrea Petrou on September 10th, 2010
By Emily Borrett.
When I started secondary school, you could tell who was cool and who wasn’t by what kind of school bag they had. If you had a shoulder bag, you were cool. If you had a backpack, and wore both straps on your shoulders (as your mum instructed, so you didn’t get a bad back) you weren’t. And yes, I was stuck with the backpack – it was so heavy that I walked like one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I still, to this day, blame that backpack for being so terminally unpopular for the first three years of high school.
But suddenly, a new breed of backpack has appeared. It’s lightweight, chic and a bit of a wink to the 90s “Clueless era” when fresh, preppy schoolgirl style ruled. And when it’s being championed by the likes of Daisy Lowe, the Olsens and The City’s Whitney Port, you know you’re onto a good thing.
Even Chanel’s making them – in lush, buttery-looking quilted leather with the iconic double C emblem. Back to school chic has never been so good. Check the gallery below for some of the best back-candy around at the moment.
Mary Kate Olsen showing us how it's done
Tags: Accessories, backpacks, designer, high street, it bag, Olsens, preppy fashion, star style, Trend Alert, Whitney Port
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Accessories, Affordable Fashions, Fashion Crush, Gallery, jewelry, Trend Alert
By emilyborrett on July 14th, 2010
This summer, Allison Pearson published her second novel “I Think I Love You”, following the puppy-love lamentings of Petra, a teenage girl growing up in 1970s America and nursing a huge crush on the teen-idol of the time, David Cassidy. Though I can’t relate to being in love with David Cassidy (I really don’t get it – his smile frightens me), “I Think I Love You” made me feel all wistful and nostalgic for a time long lost, a time of kissing my Leonardo DiCaprio posters every night before I went to sleep, a time of writing love letters to all of the members of A1 (my favourite was Ben, the one with the big forehead and the curtains).
I suddenly found myself revisiting all of the extreme and occasionally ridiculous celebrity crushes that I’d suffered from in my early years; if I remember correctly my first love was when I was five, and the lucky fella was Mighty Max, that cartoon character with the back-to-front cap that was mates with an owl and had magic powers or something. I liked Thomas the Tank Engine too – he had nice eyes – but my last true freight-train sized crush was Kurt Cobain, whose sallow, stubbly face filled up every space of my bedroom walls for two years in my early teens and haunted my dreams every night. I wrote “Mrs Emily Cobain” all over my notebooks, wore T-shirts with his face emblazoned on them for days on end and drew endless sketches of him and me holding hands. In hindsight, all mortifyingly embarrassing, but I know that I was not alone – it seems every girl in the world has at least once suffered from the phenomena that is the Celebrity Crush.
It’s this nostalgia for the era of puppy-love and teen idolatry that makes me love the jewellery of Joy Hikade so much. A California-turned-London girl, Joy makes and sells her rock-and-roll themed earrings and bangles featuring the faces of such retro crushes as Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers for six pounds a pop. Each piece is hand-made so that you can be sure no-one else will have the same one as you, and can also be bespoke on request. If you feel like channelling your inner fanatical teen and want to let the world know it with your jewellery, check out the gallery below to see examples of Joy’s work.
If you like Joy’s work and want to buy one of her pieces, she sells her stuff at:
The Runway Showroom
Arch 62/63
Camden
London
NW1 8AH
For those who don’t live in London, well.. now you’ve got an excuse to go, haven’t you?
Tags: camden market, hand made, Jewellery, joy hikade
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Accessories, Department Stores, Features
By emilyborrett on July 9th, 2010
Just as Audrey Hepburn famously declared that she was “simply crazy about Tiffany’s”, I’m equally crazy about the Liberty store in Carnaby Street, London. For a few years now its been an annual tradition for me, my mum and my sister to go there in our Sunday best for hours of window shopping, followed by tea and cake in one of its’ tearooms. And it really does take hours to fully do the rounds. If you’ve never been before, it’s worth the train into London – it’s a huge, grand, multi-storey building full of beautiful things to gawp at, from hand-made jewellery, stationary and clothes, to chandeliers, rugs and other homeware. Unfortunately I’m not really to be trusted on the higher floors where the most expensive items are kept, because I’m so clumsy (if I remember correctly, last time I was there I almost knocked over a crystal bowl worth about £1,000 with my bag). However, whilst many of the items on sale in Liberty are way beyond any budget of us little folk, you can still pick up something in one of their iconic prints for a reasonable price.
The famous Liberty prints, which have been in production since the 1960s, are a riotous explosion of psychelic paisleys that have never gone out of fashion; they’re completely evocative of the spirit of 1960s Carnaby Street, one of the most famous sites in London. Even a little piece from Liberty is an exciting splash of colour – some of my favourites of their smaller, more affordable pieces were their luggage tags, keyrings and notebooks (I’m a sucker for a pretty notebook) in the shop’s unmistakeable prints and patterns. My personal favourite out of their prints was the pink peacock-fan print, as I felt girly and summery just looking at it.
If you want to inject some Liberty-style splashes of colour into your life, look at the gallery below for the best of their little bits, perfect for a Carnaby girl on a budget.
Tags: Accessories, Carnaby Street, Liberty, London, textiles print
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From:Pictures: 2012 British Soap Awards - Best dressed, Michelle Keegan, Jennifer Metcalf and more