Where's your head (wrap) at?

It seems head wraps, ribbons and general sparkling embellishment are the raison d'etre amongst fashionista slebs at the moment. I have been observing the growing popularity of such decoration of the head with interest. Being an established fan of ribbons ( see earlier post) and a recent fan of Gossip Girl, I have been delighted to see the attention that Blair Waldorf's headgear has been getting, although I have to say the sloany pony look is not really my stuff, and the more BoBo ( see this week's Grazia, genius) look of Serena Van Der Woodsen catches my eye a little more. My perennial style crushes MK and Ashley Olsen have been spotted all wrapped up and the lovely people at WhoWhatWearDaily.com have catalogued the looks of LA's finest. The best thing about this look is your hair needs to be a bit messy, so that suits me. It also seems like you can wrap pretty much anything around your bonce for different looks, day to night stylee. I particularly like Urban Outfitters' Linked Headwrap and the Chain Braided Headwrap, which is sophisticated and summery at the same time, as is the gorgeous Skinny Feather Headwrap. For a Fame feel, American Apparel's lamé headbands can't be beaten.

With this in mind, and the fact that I have £4.79 in the whole world, I experimented a bit with stuff I have hanging around - turns out you can pretty much wrap anything around your head, as I hoped! I think the fringe hinders rather than helps but I reckon it just changes the look - if your hair is short for example, it will look different to someone with Pre-Raphaelite waves. I expect one of these looks will be gracing my tete at The Boy's gig in Brizzle tonight - see you there!

It's just a little style crush...

Have you ever had a style crush on someone? I get them all the time, but I find it extremely disconcerting when it's focused on someone who is 1 day older than my youngest little sister! It starts the same as any other crush does, but is focused on the someone's style instead of their attractiveness. You get the excited feeling of anticipation, but this time it's about the next incredible accessory your crush subject. Pretty sad really, and I don't know if anyone else does this or if I'm just 'special'! My latest style crush is on my new kindred spirit Clare. I will namecheck her because I'm sure she will be excited by this. I say kindred spirit - she is the Boy's bandmate's girlfriend, and is the girl I would have liked to have been at 18, but we have similar views on everything from fashion to the band. Arty, naturally stylish and confident she makes and wears her own clothes with aplomb. Her style is a sort of cross between seventies hippy traveller and urbanite eighties, with a little vintage thrown in. Brooches at the neck, hand-customised belts and hand-made muslin dresses form part of her look, whilst another component is coloured tights and jersey dresses. Although I will feel like a creep and a 16-year-old, I imagine her festival-chic look might be forming part of mine this spring...

Boy jeans meet girl jeans

Is it wrong to have sexual desires about jeans? The Boy's best mate was wearing the best pair of Topman boys jeans I've seen for ever the other night, meaning that I complemented him an inordinate amount. This led to slight peacock-stalking from him and a few mardy glares from the Boy, but I still can't get them out of my head. I want them! and I want the Boy to have them even more! They were a weird kind of eighties wash, punky but not too OTT and very skinny. They reminded me of the kind of wash my jeans had when I was five in the early nineties, a grainy blue but thankfully without the elasticated waistband and grass stains. If I can find a pair small enough they will definitely be in mine and the Boy's wardrobes this spring, his'n'hers style, his worn with the inevitable vest, whilst mine will look great with a checked shirt and my trusty Converses. Bring on dressing like I did when I was five!

This week's most wanted - Office Roper Boots

This week I am mostly lusting after Office's black leather roper boots. Having wanted some for ages, I consulted my finances, and seeing their parlous state have decided to hold back, despite the obvious lust these babies inspire. Similar beauties have been seen recently on the feet of Kiera Knightley and Kate Moss and would be a great replacement for my worn-out, disgusting old Uggs (see earlier post). However, on visiting the Office sale today in a state of desperate anticipation, I found the white version priced at £25, but sadly I must be running with a crowd as the black ones were still far, far too expensive for my sad little empty purse, hence they remain tantalisingly on the shop shelf instead of on my wardrobe shelf, and make a virtual appearance here!

Tie a yellow ribbon...

In the spirit of new year frugality, and talking inspiration from Suzie Bubble in her DIY section, I randomly bought £11 worth of ribbons in an online sale over the Christmas break. Now, back in Cardiff and with an assorted pack of fabric in a rainbow of colours and textures, I'm slightly at a loss as to what to do with it.
However I had some ideas. A few narrow ribbons would look great slung through the eyelets of my favourite pendants, giving me a new way to re-obsess about my huge collection of long necklaces. Or a piece of tartan ribbon tied as a waist belt or as a choker with a bow would give a pleasantly retro feel to the new season's plaid trend.
I've already started placing ribbons in lines along my wall, studding them with paper clips holding photos and my favourite 30s images, which I think creates a warm 'washing line' look in my cold uni room. Next I'm going to make woven ribbon cusion covers with my Singer to brighten up my cold uni bed, and then I'll add what's left to a diary to brighten up my cold uni days! Finally I'll save some of the best satin streamers to make a random barcode pattern on one of my white t-shirts. With all this twee, multi-coloured decoration, I'll hopefully have a much brighter, and cheaper january than was at first expected during my post-New-Year's-Eve-purse-checking depression!

U-G-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi...

Sienna in her Uggs FOUR YEARS ago!

I have to say I have a love/hate relationship with my Ugg boots. It is four years since the crazy looking beasts first became fashion news on the feet of the likes of Sienna Miller and Kate Hudson, but the pesky things don't seem to want to go away.

Uggs went from fashion favourites to faux pas when the WAGS caught on so I stopped wearing mine. This transpired to be a stupid and unmanageable decision as soon as December hit. Ballet pumps jst don't cut it in the British winter. So I dragged the relagated items from the back of my wardrobe and breathed life into them once more. My feet enjoyed this newfound toastiness until I saw a ten-year-old wearing some very similar, upon which sighting they were instantly demoted once again. This was about two years ago. Since then my Uggs have been repeatedly picked up and discarded. This year, it seems, you cannot be a student without a pair, and those who did not buy them four years ago are filling the coffers of Ugg once more. Therefore I am wearing them again, admittedly with a slightly hangdog an expression and a "but they're really comfy..." ready on my lips.

The thing is, these are weird shoes, as shoes go, and that is saying quite a lot. One commentator, probably a man (and by the way, men in Uggs should be shot), said they made women look like they had hooves. The proliferation of celebrities who look like Innuits because of them is surprising. Therefore, it must be the comfort factor that keeps us coming back for more. It is certainly not anything to do with the price! But despite all this, and the ever-maligned likelihood of looking like a sheep (literally) I just can't put mine down. So tomorrow I will sheepishly be pulling my Uggs on, because its one shoe addiction I just can't break.