[darceyfmm-blog]

NEED OUTFIT INSPIRATION?

Lost for fashion inspiration? Well look no further, @fashioninflux has got your back girl! Whenever I am stressing out about what to wear I can always rely on Lydia Rose’s amazing instagram profile. With 2.9 million followers she is definitely storming ahead of outfit game! Lydia post’s daily outfit ideas which keep you up to date everyday! I think this is really important for a fashion blogger, as keeping up with content is what keeps views. She also talks to us on her story showing us her daily outfits and purchases. This is great for new ideas, even though I have brought an item which she has promoted before! Keeping on trend she mixes and matches key trend seasonal pieces you can find in everyday high street shops.

Sounds lazy but it is great that someone is doing all the looking for you! Fashioninflux is like your own personal shopper, in a way. I mean, we all enjoy scrolling through the pages and pages of our favourite clothing sites for those bargains but at the end of the day, let’s be honest here isn’t it easy when youtubers and fashion influencers do it for us! I think now-a-days we trust influencers more than we do celebs and even models! They are just normal people like us who love fashion at an affordable price.

[darceyfmm-blog]

POSITIVITY AS A BLOGGER

Being a full time fashion influencer is every fashion lovers dream! It just looks the most coolest job you could have, I mean going away on sponsored holidays, working with your favourite brands and most importantly having the sickest instagram feed everrr! Although online it comes across as this glamorous easy life style, we always forget the emotions and pressure these influencers have to produce content, and it to be on trend and interesting! 

@amberroselorimer Is one of my favourite fashion influencers on Instagram. She always keeps a positive energy through her feed which I love. Her comments keep viewers, such as myself involved and real. But how does it actuarially feel be in that position? Is it emotionally challenging? To find out I asked Amber this question... 

Your instagram feed projects a positive outlook. How do you maintain this attitude? “Thank you, that makes me really happy to hear as keeping positive is something that I really do try to make a conscious effort to do in my day to day life. Like with so many people, I’ve struggled with anxiety for a number of years, but I found, especially over the past year, that changing my mindset to be a more positive one really has helped me overcome this.

For me, the best way to maintain a positive attitude is by surrounding myself with people who make me happy and who have my best interests at heart, spending my time doing things that I want to be doing and not being afraid to say ‘no’ to the things that I don’t (if you haven’t read ‘The life changing magic of not giving a f**k’, then read it ASAP) and to stop comparing myself to others, or spending time worrying about what others think. The latter is easier said than done, I get that, but we have no control over other peoples’ thoughts, so I’ve come to realise that it’s pointless to hold back on doing the things that I want to, over the fear of something I can do absolutely nothing about. “ - @amberroseelorimer

[darceyfmm-blog]

DENIM’S DIRTY DEEDS

You could say, the only items of clothing the models have on is denim could make it stand out more. In reality, does anyone really wear denim like this? In the 1980 Calvin Klein created a commercial, featuring 15-year-old Brooke Shields who models the brand's jeans and says, "Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."  This soon becomes a famous but controversial line. With Brooke only being 15 at the time, is this sexual campaign really appropriate for a young girl? Humm. But like many campaigns, women are always put as the object of desire in this case to sell jeans. I mean, how many adverts do you see where the man needs an item to get the girls? In comparison to how many women's adverts there are where they can’t have anything without it being for the man's pleasure even if it is a plain old pair of jeans?

A huge drive in the Fashion Industry is sex! How can you talk about fashion, within a campaign or advertisement without mentioning or seeing something related to sex? It shocking when you actually stop and think about how many brands use this to help their campaigns, to be memorable and frankly make the product desirable. Now, you wouldn't think of sex when I mention the word ‘denim’ but as soon as you mention ‘Calvin Klein’, ‘Levis’ or ‘Abercrobie’ all you can think about is gorgeous topless models in nothing but jeans and underwear! Calvin Klein started their campaign history with advertising jeans and have used sex appeal and desire to make this image stick in our heads. I mean, it has worked how many of us own a pair of Calvin's? Have we brought them to look sexy and desirable like the models? I think so.   

Originally when we think of ‘denim’ it takes us back to what workers would wear. How can such a ridged, hard wearing material be sexually appealing? Gone of the days where the rich wore only suits and finery and the poor wore workwear and rags, jeans are now worn by everyone. Denim became a rebellious statement of fashion, from hippies to skinheads, skaters to football casuals and from bikers to ravers, denim hit all sub-cultures in a unique way.

[darceyfmm-blog]

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Sophia, 20 and Cinzia, 21 have been my favourite youtube/ fashion bloggers from day one!  The two girls from Nottingham have brought a new refreshing (and often prosecco filled) content to youtube. They started out doing fashion ‘look books’ on trendy outfits which you could easily recreate and afford, (bargain!) as well as simple Q&A’s. I was instantly latched to the girls' personalities as they seemed to be more genuine in front of the camera than other youtubers, i’ve previously watched. This is what we need! Girls on youtube who are just REAL, and these two certainly bring it!

As Sophia and Cinzia became more popular they have continued to be themselves which is why I love watching them! I feel as a viewer, I have grown up and learnt things with them, about being a girl at the same age. Their content is mostly veganism, fashion hauls and trips away, but also do ‘get ready with me’ videos which are just hilarious! You feel like you are the third member of their friendship group through the screen. The girls natter on about real life issues and funny life stories, laughing along with them as they drink away before their night out. They have also recently started a new series called ‘boy talks’ where people send in juicy questions and issues they are having with their boyfriends or friends and they give their opinion on the situation. I think this is great! As a community of girls in this generation it is important to share our problems and support each other, which is what Sophia and Cinzia are succeeding to do. They feel like your online best friend’s which you can trust and rely on to give you an honest opinion or review. They even get their mums involved its such a good watch!

Over their time on youtube, they have developed their style through sponsors and getting the chance to collaborate with brands such as ‘Niki’ in a capsule collection, but never fail to be loyal to their viewers or stray from their original style. Not like other youtubes which chop and change their personalities or content to suit watch is popular or on trend, and I don’t know about you but it comes across very fake. This is a big thing in the youtube world which is what makes us want to watch, or not to watch certain people more than we think! I believe what makes them unique is that they keep it real. Despite being more popular, or you could say famous, the girls are still there for you!

This year they got invited to Coachella which is every fashion influencers dream! I mean who would turn that down! Rubbing shoulders with famous celebs and posting absolute dream insta pic’s in the coolest outfits! Whooaahh. This did not sway the girls as they kept it very real on their experiences at the festival in their vlogs. You truly are living the full experience with these two!  

[darceyfmm-blog]

WARDROBE BASIC TO FASHION STATEMENT?

It is hard to imagine Politics and fashion hand in hand but in fact, both influence each other a lot! We pay more attention to what others wear and how we present ourselves on a daily basis more than we think. We hate to admit it but we can all be quiet judgmental when it comes to fashion sense and funny enough also in Politics. Over the last century, fashion has become a new platform in which people can express their political views through colour and style but especially Print! Nothing is more in your face than a clear, bold, Arial font on a plain, old t-shirt... am I right?

Designer, Katharine Hamnett wore an ‘anti-nuclear’ slogan tee when she went to meet Margaret Thatcher. This raised lots of publicity and questions about how we need more than just fashion statements to bring about real change to our planet. Katharine could have worn a beautiful dress or floaty blouse but went for a plain white Tee with Black bold print stating “58% Don’t Want Pershing”. This came from a European opinion poll about the Pershing nuclear missiles across Europe without consulting the public. Just a simple quote on a t-shirt blew the publics minds, to how something that simple can become an effective political rebellion movement. The revolution of the t-shirt went from a wardrobe basic to a Political statement, just like that!

And to this day, the power of print has revolutionised politics in the fashion industry. It's a good job there never out of fashion as pushes for votes and opinions against politicians such as Trump have exploded all over t-shirts throughout catwalks as well as to the high-street! Power to the people on the streets!

[darceyfmm-blog]

HEROIN CHIC OR HEROIN EKKK

We’ve all seen the movies and television shows, like Pulp Fiction and Trains potting that show characters taking drugs and still looking fabulous badass! But we forget that these films show drugs in a much less damaging way than what, it really like in reality. Its crazy how many outlets during the ’90s were influenced by the use of drugs, from Calvin Klein to supermodels such as Kate Moss. The use of drugs was shown everywhere in our everyday lives! Heroin had become purer and it was more commonly used because it was less expensive, becoming more popular as a middle-class drug.

We’ve all wanted to live the glamorous model lifestyle at some stage in our lives, so would want to know what they wear and do. Photographers around this age such as Davide Sorrenti were specifically known for capturing models who not just looked heroin chic, but often who was on heroin at the time. This trend blew up throughout the fashion industry into photographers work and even campaigns at the time like Kate Moss featuring for Calvin Klein in 1990!

The introduction to “heroin chic” came to be popular in the mid-1990s in the fashion world. Pale skin, dark under-eye circles, and being thin and androgynous were all contributing factors to the look.  You might think who would want to have massive bags under their eyes and look pale as a ghost? But it was all the rage to created a self-loathing and depressed look as the drug supposedly allowed people to escape from society. I agree that this look is controversial. Promoting the idea that being off your face was cool, what!? I believe that some Images went too far and glamourise this lifestyle through supermodels at the time.

This act of rebellion arguably went too far as it was dangerous! Photographer Davide Sorrenti, unfortunately, died in his early 20’s due to his addiction. I think it is mad how it takes for someone to pass away to actually make people stop and realise the effects this drug is having on people? Did the fashion industry gone too far?