The Forgotten Ones

I am typing this up on my sister's old laptop as my mum's computer, which I was using previously, is currently not turning on - and neither is my laptop. The right-click button is non-functioning and the screen doesn't sit up by itself (I have it leaning against a vintage suitcase which is balanced on top of an upturned laundry basket...which is sitting atop a milk crate full of old records), but still: it works, receives internet and, very importantly, was storing a bunch of photos that I had either forgotten about or couldn't access (because they are on my unresponsive computer).

I'm really happy with the rediscovery of these photos and in retrospect I have no idea why they weren't posted beforehand - I love them! The two absolute babes in these images are my fabulous sisters and favourite photography subjects, both of whom I utterly adore. The first two black-and-whites are of my magnificent god-sister Jazz, the second photograph of her has actually appeared on this blog before, but I couldn't resist reposting it because Jazz looks so adorable and infectiously happy, as she does in the shot above. All the other pictures are of my wonderful sister Ireland, who I will be seeing this weekend - YAY!

...And as I'm trying not to neglect clothing details: the hat donned by both Jazz and Ireland is a vintage wool and velvet number found at a charity shop, the seventies leather boots worn by Jazz are mine (from Etsy), and Ireland's green sixties mini, Jazz's sixties lace shift dress and seventies summer maxi were all unearthed from my mum's hoard of vintage and second hand pieces that she has collected from charity shops over the years.

Ever Changing Taste

 Do you ever wonder what your much younger self would think of your style? Do you think the former you would approve? I think the smaller me would definitely approve of the fact that this sparkly knit jumper was taken from my sister's wardrobe, or that I wore an outfit made with pyjama shorts (made by a friend). But I think what my younger self would mostly approve of, is that as I write, I'm eating chocolate. 

My taste has changed a lot over the years, such as becoming a vegetarian at the age of six,  completely going off certain foods or hating any shoes that were wedges, to then be dreaming about the outfits I’d put with a pair of red suede ones I saw on eBay.

At about the age of five, I would wear rainbow striped T-shirts I accidentally put on backwards, and a pair of bright red three quarter pants with a tie-up belt that I kept double knotting (a nightmare to undo.) Though the bright colours I wore, at that age I loved the dark tulle skirts, knee high lace up boots and ripped tights I saw donned by Goths - though not the white faces and panda eye make-up, that kind of scared me.
And while an eight year old with a sort of tomboy style, I fancied sixties velvet mini dresses, mushroom pinks, and fur pillbox hats – some things that I actually really love now.
I'm not entirely sure if I would’ve liked my current style choices, and I look back on some of the designs that I drew a couple years ago and am definitely not a fan of the metallic green ruched strapless dress, or the aqua blue maxi I designed.
But your style will always change and be influenced, but I don't think I’m ever going to like fluoro bubble skirts or mint green polyester shirt dresses. 

I did this shoot a couple of months ago with my sister, and was quite happy with how the photos turned out.
The theme was very much inspired by our childhood style - though with much less layers, as our former selves would wear puff sleeved vintage fuchsia formal dresses and sheer second hand scarves, only to be hidden under more layers of blue chequered sheets belted with colourful sashes. 

Adding to the jumper and pyjama shorts, I borrowed a pair of my sister's knee high stripy socks,  some stripy mary jane flats from a charity shop, my grandma bought the heart horse necklace and the pearl pendant was from a market. The watch is vintage from a charity shop and the Pandora bracelet holds a few of my mum's handmade glass beads, and because it was something I loved to do when I was younger, I put Christmas decorations in my hair.

Art, Clothes and Contemplations - restarted

Ok, so this is still my old blog (which was started December 21st), but my posts have been deleted, so I'm restarting it.

Art, Clothes and Contemplations  

I've  got a huge passion for art - drawing, painting, digital art, mood boards, designs and a big interest being photography - though I have big ideas when it comes to this, I have little skill, as well as the only practice of this being with a bad quality camera that would do strange things with zoom without permission as I took a shot.
I have a bit of an obsession with Tim Walker's photos at the moment, which inspires me to take my sister for a trod up the countryside, camera in hand, wearing whatever it is we manage to put together, as well as possibly lugging around the occasional prop.

Where we live, we're surrounded by hills and bush, trees, weeds and tall grass, as well as orchards and cattle. This aids my sister (Ireland) and I in interesting photos, but with the requirement of our shoes being caked in mud and our clothes having prickles and seeds that we picked up walking through the grass.

I love clothes, putting together outfits and styling myself, other people, or the models I draw in my designs, but I'm not a big fashion follower, I don't wear or like something because it's in this season, or if it's following a trend, sure, some trends may find themselves in this blog, but not because they're trends, because I like them, me and fashion have a bit of a love hate relationship (similar to the relationship I have with my extremely curly hair.) Lots of the clothes that will be on this blog will be vintage and/or charity shopped, second hand and hand-me-downs, and not to forget clothing that I've "borrowed" from the huge hoards and stocks of vintage from my mum, as well as a mixture of different things that suit all sorts of different personalities, I don't really have a particular style - it's simply "take what you like and leave the rest."

I'm a big reader, that loves to get my hands on a good book (have been interested in reading a few classics at the moment) as well as a love of good poetry, art and photography, I love writing - stories, occasional poem, I had also liked the idea of journalism for a bit there, and I even took interest in writing my assignments - writing is one of the reasons I started this blog, I had found that I really like it, as well as photography and a place to be able to share it.

Will be posting soon,

- Willow