domesticjenni: Fashion Inspiration

Friday, April 22, 2011

Mary Katrantzou AW11

Erdem SS11

Dolce and Gabbana SS11

Some of the catwalk looks that are inspiring me at the moment - images from elleuk.com

Although I have only been participating in Fashion and Beauty Friend Friday for a short time, it has been going for one year now. I have been reading and enjoying the posts for much longer than I have actually been joining in and am delighted to be able to mark this milestone with a post about inspiration using the same questions that were answered by the group a year ago.

1. Which celebrity (celebrities) do you look to for fashion inspiration?

I don't think that I really look to any celebrities in particular more real people through blogs and street style images. I find these looks are usually much more interesting and wearable. I do however quite like Katy Perry's, Jessie J and Dita Von Teese's style but would never copy them completely as it just wouldn't suit me and I much prefer to try and be unique.

2. When it comes to your own personal style, what inspires you?

I mainly get inspiration from clothes that I see others wearing on blogs but also designer collections and sometimes anything and everything I look at from flowers to posters, art and interior decor. I love contrast, patterns, prints and bright colours. You can see the blogs that I regularly read, I am inspired to different degrees by all of these blogs.

3. How do you hope to inspire your readers?

I hope to inspire my readers with fashion and style that is also has a minimal impact on the environment. I don't want to be constantly preaching to people what they should and shouldn't buy or wear (especially as I am by no means perfect) but I hope that I can introduce new eco brands and show looks made from second hand or old clothes that might show people an alternative to fast fashion.
I also realise that style is a really personal thing and not everyone will like all of my outfits but there might be some elements of them that they like or be inspired by.

4. Outside the realm of fashion who/what inspires you?

For business Saffia Minney the founder of People tree provides lots of inspiration on how you can run a business and still remain ethical and true to your values. My children also inspire me no end, hard to explain how but they do.
5. And since Idol is ending… Which songs inspire you?

Lenny Kravitz - Are you gonna go my way? and anything by Black Eyed Peas, Bob Marley No Woman, No Cry. I am sure there are loads more but I just can't think of them at the moment.

Where do you get your inspiration? Have a lovely Easter weekend

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

For those that don't already know, I am a Style Councillor and also lucky enough to work with a really amazing fashion forum called the Shopping Forecast. Not only can you have your say on what you would like to see in the shops for the season ahead (don't complain about it if you haven't voted!) and enter competitions to win lots of clothes but you can also have a good nose at what everyone else likes for the summer and get plenty of inspiration.

Over the last few weeks, the voters (or electorate) on The Shopping Forecast have been showing a distinct preference for the colour Cornflower blue both on its own or combined with white in a pretty print and mainly on cute fifties style dresses.

The funny thing is amongst all of the reading up on trends I have done for SS11, I don't think I have heard a single mention of cornflower blue. But I really do love this colour, it is much easier to wear for daytime than the bright/ cobalt blue that I have seen and heard quite a bit about. I am really hoping that retailers are going to take note of this fab colour and serve up lots of beautiful Cornflower blue dresses for us this summer.

If you need any further persuasion here is just a little inspiration:

Popular Cornflower blue items on The Shopping Forecast

Interestingly, the colour Cornflower is most commonly associated with the blue Cornflowers but also a Dutch Painter, Johannes Vermeer who used the colour along with yellow extensively in his paintings. Both provide a great source of inspiration for summer outfits - here's one I made earlier on TSF.