MADNESS; what absolute legends. Following Reading Festival ‘11,
I am fixated with these retro, cane swinging, loud singing, back bending men
who truly brought FUN to the stage. After narrowly avoiding being crushed to a
pulp in the hysterical crowd, a lovely man (who was about 6ft5 – well he seemed
that tall to me! Perhaps because I wasn’t wearing heels.. .) hoisted me up onto
his shoulders and the stage came to life! I could finally see – I was very
tempted to crowd surf but the security guards were definitely conforming to
their tough guy, scary man stereotypes so I stayed put! Basically the point to
this story is that MADNESS’ lyrics hit me as the perfect title for this post.
Let me explain why. . .
My most favourite photographer ever, Sharon Cooper http://www.sharoncooper.co.uk/texted
me to say she was picking me up for a shoot at the Stevenage Old Town Charter
Fair! First; excitement, second; what on earth do I wear??? We all know about
this maaassive, inevitable question that is automatically programmed in any
girl’s nervous system as soon as the word ‘event’ and ‘camera’ are mentioned!
After much deliberation, I followed topshop.com’s (my
fashion fairy godmother) feature on the rise of eclectic style and so sequins,
leather and wild vintage prints seemed the perfect fairground attire.
As I’m not completely accustomed to the whole public
modelling thing, for me, shooting at first was slightly embarrassing to say the
least! I was self conscious and felt that I couldn’t completely relax but then
after we freaked ourselves out in the Haunted House and played on the ten penny
arcade games (we so nearly won a fiver!!) I couldn’t stop laughing, feeling
like a kid in a sweetshop!
As usual, Sharon was fun, creative, inspiring and wonderful
to work with! I did feel kind of bad though, as I dragged her on to the
waltzing tea cups . . . it wasn’t until she came off looking green that I
realised she didn’t take to spinning at an insane pace very well!
Blouse and clutch - Flo's Place Vintage
Sequinned top - Mum's wardrobe!
Black leather pants and ring - Topshop
Earrings - French Connection
Shoes - Zara
So .. the famous leather pants manifest themselves. After
sitting in my wardrobe since New Year’s, I have been, again, too inhibited to
wear them but they were perfect for the funfair shoot. Following Kate Moss’
iconic biker chick style, the leather trousers have zoomed back into the
fashion scene, creating vast envy over her amazing Isabel Marant cropped
leather biker skinnies – I dream.
Mum’s sequinned top was a real find and paid homage to Miss
Sui’s bedazzling collection of sequinned beauties.
In fact, this outfit is quite inspired by Anna Sui’s
Spring/Summer collection of eclectic prints that are mashed together yet still
manage to retain the soft ladylike feel of the forties, perhaps through the
floaty, romantic fabrics on which her fabulous designs are displayed.
Anna Sui’s Summer 2012 collection – all this blogging about fashion week has infected me – I’ve joined the hype!
My Sui
piece is definitely this fabulous vintage shirt I bagged at the gorgeous Flo’s
Place http://www.flosplace.co.uk/contact.html,
a vintage haven, crammed full of retro wonders. And the best part. .. The
blouse was 100% FREE! Another factor contributing to my love of thrifting.. . The
insanely low prices!
The waltzing tea cups. . .
The helter skelter. . .
Me! A lovely fairground owner let me in his booth for a
quick snap
The haunted house. . .
Farewell to the Fairground!
Claire xo
P.S: We discovered that Candy floss + hair are like oil and
water . . . .they don’t mix!!
