I am probably stating the obvious when I say this but the blogosphere is severely over-saturated. It's such a shame because it means that really good blogs are a lot harder to find and so it's harder for the authors of these blogs to be recognised for all the good they are doing in this virtual world!

LEOPARD PRINT GOLD

It's less than a week until christmas and right now I couldn't be happier. I'm back in London for a month and have been re-united with my old self. I am sitting writing this wearing my leopard print (faux) fur coat which I have just fallen in love with all over again, tacky and very fake gold hoops hanging from my ears and Blink 182 playing in the background. Perfect combination of all things me.

Very sorry for the poor quality and random selection of images that I have no sources for. Just going through pics on my mac and spontaneously selecting!

WUTHERING WUTHERING WUTHERING HEIGHTS

I started this blog over a month ago to act as a sort of release for me. I wanted it to be my safe place in a way, somewhere where I could be myself. I'm annoyed that I haven't been using it in this way and I hate the fact that I've been such a bad blogger. I'm placing a lot of the blame on myself but also on my uni deadlines and the fact that I'm living in such a horrible little student bubble. My life just doesn't seem real, every day passes with very little happening. I'm not one of those people that enjoys 'extreme' drinking so in student land I'm not sure I really fit in. I'm going home on Monday though and have never been so excited, I'll be back in the south and will once again have London on my doorstep. I'm hoping that being back will re-ignite some passion within me and that I'll start to feel a little more fulfilled. Fingers crossed. 

ANYWAY, inspiration time! For the past couple of weeks I've been listening to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights pretty much on repeat. Being a massive fan of the novel, the song does so much to me and just transports me back in time to those wild Yorkshire moors. I can't say I'm generally a big Kate Bush fan when it comes to her music but she has got a certain mystifying style that I can't ignore. These are stills from her video for Wuthering Heights, she looks slightly unhinged but the effects are undeniably beautiful and other worldly. 

 And those wild eyes....

<3

LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT

At the moment I feel like I am missing leopard print in my wardrobe. I have a leopard print jacket but it's just too big and fluffy for my liking. I wouldn't mind a leopard print pill-box hat as made famous by the Bob Dylan song and Audrey Hepburn (above) but what I really want is the perfect leopard print coat.

Maybe I should channel a bit of Edie Sedgwick/Sienna Miller? I don't want it to be particularly fury or too tacky, just a nice leopard print coat. Why are they so hard to find?!

UNIVERSITY BLUES

Sometimes I wonder why I have so much nostalgia for the 60s. Is it the fact that most of my musical heros herald from this era? Is it because everything was just so damn cool back then in swinging London and Andy Warhol's New York? This morning I realised the real reason why I find myself tearing up when I watch anything 60s related (pathetic isn't it?). It's because today I feel like I have no freedom. Contrary to what we're made to believe, that everything is so good now, racism isn't the problem it was, men and women can generally do the same jobs without there being an issue, Britain seems to be a pretty safe place to live and the majority of young people seem to be in education. But here's the thing, when it comes to breaking the mould, to being a bit rebellious, going against the shackles of society no one wants to speak up. When you walk down a British high street, even in London where eclectic street style is supposed to rein, you see mothers and daughters dressed the same, the same pair of worn UGGS, the same bland, beige ensemble, the same oversized hoody and leggings combo. Where is the originality? What is there to define the youth of today? 

My main issue is with the education system where all young people are forced to consider going onto higher education. Apart from those who manage to slip through the net, usually just because they are considered trouble makers, it seems that teenagers are brainwashed into thinking that in order to make a success of their lives they must go to university. It doesn't matter which university, which course or their reasons for going, they have to go otherwise they will be deemed failures by their peers, their parents, their teachers and most importantly by their future employers. 

I have never wanted to go to university even though I was considered intelligent and academic at school and finished with a very good set of GCSEs and A Levels. In the end though I allowed myself to be pushed into it. I did a foundation diploma in art and design for a year which for me was a highly valuable experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt a lot. I then progressed onto my fashion degree despite my reservations and gut feeling that this wasn't what I wanted. I have almost completed my first semester but already my doubts are starting to raise their ugly heads. Having being here just two months, my worries about disliking the stereotypical student lifestyle have already been confirmed. I only have lectures two days a week. The rest of the time is supposed to be for independent work which basically involves cutting and sticking. I wonder how this will help me get a job especially when I have been turned down for numerous part time shop jobs because of a lack of experience, something a degree will not enable me to gain.

I suppose the reason I've written this and rambled on for so long is because I want to know other people's opinions. Should I stick with the degree even though I'm becoming increasingly frustrated and just want to get out into the real world, or should I drop out and embrace some of the sixties free spirit that I know I have somewhere deep within me?

STYLISH COUPLE NO.2

Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo way back in Dylan's freewheelin' days. 

They may not have been the most fashionable couple but I feel that from these photos you can tell that they definitely had some style about them. A very subtle style with Dylan's checked shirts and stripy tops and Rotolo's simple black ensembles. These photos also show a very human side to Bob Dylan, a side which you don't often get to see in later photos and video footage from when he had become more of a musical hero and icon.

Sadly Suze died earlier this year at the age of only 67 but I'm sure these iconic photos of her and her beau will live on for many years to come.

And of course I had to throw in some more pictures of Bob, back in the 60s he just exuded style and charisma (in my opinion anyway, i know a lot of people tend to disagree).
 There will never be another like him.

STYLISH COUPLE NO.1

George Harrison and Pattie Boyd were one of the most stylish couples of the 60s if not the whole century. I can never get enough of these gorgeous photos of them both together looking ever so beautiful and totally in love. I cannot even put into words how envious I am! I can't even imagine living in an era where this was what 'celebrities' looked like.