Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

For my Sunday Fun day, I dragged my mum with me to the last showing of Alexander McQueen’s retrospective exhibition: Savage Beauty, at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was stunned to hear of McQueen’s suicide in February of 2010 because he was a designer like no other. McQueen in his heyday was most definitely my favourite designer – his shows were theatrical, and a juxtaposition of romance and menace. I knew I couldn’t miss out. So much so, that trust me to go on the very last day of the exhibition! *Face palm* The queue was ridiculously long but all worth it because of what awaited us in the beautiful, but often eerie, exhibition.

McQueen’s shows were the epitome of art. My favourite room proved so by being shrine-like and enveloped in his futuristic designs, animalistic headgear, and audio/televisions consuming the black space. I had to take a moment of recognition in every corner, just to make sure there was nothing I missed dangling from the nook and crannies in the walls. Despite there being so much to look at around me, at one moment in the midst of the noise and chaos surmounting, all screens and audio simultaneously transitioned into the infamous Spring/ Summer 1999 runway. This iconic show was concluded with Shalom Harlow having her white synthetic tulle dress covered by machines with neon paint. Amongst the room, everyone as if under order turned their gaze to the centre of the room where the actual dress stood, defiant and deserving of all our attention. It was a surreal feeling to be in the same room as the great Alexander McQueen’s designs, and it’s an experience I will truly never forget.

Obviously I wasn’t the only one who admired and thoroughly respected the work of McQueen, as over 480,000 tickets were sold for the £3million budgeted exhibition. I am super lucky and privileged to have seen his work in person, as unfortunately, it will most definitely never be exhibited again. For those that did miss out, I managed to sneakily take some photographs of outfits that mesmerised me. I wanted to take photo’s of everything as you can imagine, but the security were pretty hot on not allowing photography. Sorry guys! For now, enjoy and let me know if you have the chance to visit the Savage Beauty exhibition too! I’d love to know.

Honey, I'm home

3.1 Phillip Lim wool jumper / Helmut Lang black mesh leggings / Acne Studios tan boots

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What can I say? I've spent almost 2 months away from my precious blog. I know, I'm a bad person. But, at a push to find the positives, the time away has been good for me. I needed to get back into my groove of things in sunny, oops, I mean dreary England. On top of that, I managed to get my old retail job back at Harvey Nichols, so every night I've practically been comatose.

There's always good that comes out of bad and in my being away, I of course bagged some bargains at an extreme discount at HN. I hope the pictures of goodies will redeem my self just a tad. So go ahead and drool. Also, let me know what you think of my purchases. I tried to be smart with my money for once and although we're technically in Summer, I decided to buy bits that'll see me through Autumn/Winter. Let's be honest, it's not exactly the Maldives outside is it. *Sigh*

Melrose Trading Post

It's been two weeks since I last posted something worth reading and many apologies for that. I've been finishing up on my studies out here in California and I'm pleased to shout to the rooftops that I'm finished! Although I'm thrilled to be over with uni work for the next couple of months, I'm sad that it means I'm 3 weeks closer to leaving for England. But, have no fear, in my final weeks in California and New York (yes, you read right, New York, eeek) I plan to explore as much as I can and cram it all into my blog. So watch this space.

Moving on, this Sunday I finally visited Melrose Trading Post, which for those who don't know, it's Los Angeles' most renowned flea market. Literally, this place sells a bit of everything. From selections of typewriters, vintage clothes, cool jewellery, and arts and furniture, you name it, they'll have it. And, they'll throw in an abundance of vendors with so much charisma and personality which is enough in itself to persuade you to go! A sweet lady at the Desert Moo stand, where I bought my necklace from, even told me that Jaden Smith had been seen walking around when I was there. Can you believe it? Unfortunately, knowing my luck, I didn't see him, though I'm sort of glad I didn't as it saved me embarrassing myself from being a total fangirl. And only a few weeks ago, she saw Victoria Beckham there being followed around by 3 macho bodyguards.

Needless to say, the Melrose Trading Post is the place to be every Sunday. See below all of my photographs of my day for more details. Sorry, there aren't a lot of images, I was too busy shopping as you can imagine. I need to set an alarm in my phone or something to remind myself to snap away at all of the amazing things I'm lucky enough to experience in my travels. I promise, I'll be thinking of you all in my next venture.

I snapped up a pair of Levis distressed shorts and jeans for $12 each!!

This beautiful crux necklace is from Desert Moon

My favourite purchase of the day. A $10 tribal print rucksack. Success!

Admission fee: $3 and all proceeds go to Fairfax High School which is super sweet

Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax High:
7850 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles CA 90046
Sunday 9am-5pm

P.S. Have you guys ever been to a flea market? If so, where has your favourite one been? I'd love to know and maybe get the chance to visit myself. Till next time, be safe!

Brand Crush!!

1) Mint swim one-piece

2) Purple sporty bikini

3) Cut out animal one-piece

4) Nude mesh cover up

5) Black cut out one-piece

6) Black mesh cover up

Draya Michele, fiery reality-show personality and savvy entrepreneur, has really outdone herself with the latest Mint-Swim collection. With an innate ability to create sexy outfits by the pool that are elegant too, Draya has answered every girls dream. Not only is the collection showing Draya's obvious creative flare in designing swimsuits, but her cover ups are so cute too! I especially love the subtle thigh reveal, and alongside the mesh material (which I'm loving lately), I can already see the boys swooning over any girl confident to rock this look. Take my word for it ladies, the previous Mint-Swim collection sold out in lighting time. So if you like what you see, then claim your honey!

NastyGal Favourites

1) Slit maxi dress

2) Leather daisy creepers

3) Black satin dress

4) Lace playsuit

5) Duffel bag

6) Lace-up blouse

7) Asymmetric Skirt

8) Studded bucket bag

9) Racing stripe dress

SPRING BREAK

NastyGal store launch in Santa Monica

Over the weekend I visited NastyGal's store launch in Santa Monica. You can probably tell by now that I'm obsessed with the brand because I've mentioned it quite a few times in previous blogs. But can you blame me? Sophie Amorouso is a talented woman who has a keen eye for fashion and on top of that, interior design. Her store's layout, much like her first shop on Melrose Avenue, is gorgeous and the fitting rooms were so cool but a bit daunting because the glass door, from the inside, is transparent so you can see people walk by. Thankfully, they can't see inside your room. Weird. Not quite sure how I feel about it but I like that she breaks away from conventions of other retail stores. 

The Hollywood Hike

I didn't think I'd have to say this again but, yes, I hiked the Hollywood sign for the second time! My gorgeous friend Josie came to visit me from England and she constantly begged me about seeing the sign for herself. Of course I'm not that much of a terrible friend to let her go alone so I went along. When I tell you though this girl tried to kill me!! After my first hike up the hill, we decided to take a different route to jazz it up a bit for myself and to cut the route in half. The shortcut we found was probably the quickest path we could have found which was amazing but it scared the s*** out of me! The hills were super steep that I was practically crawling up and down the rocks, fearing for my life. And on top of that, a woman who passed us warned us of her seeing a rattle snake. I can't even tell you the thoughts that raised through my mind. I could have killed Josie but we were focused on reaching the end. Which we did, in one piece!! The sights from the top of the Hollywood sign is amazing and I'd definitely recommended anyone visiting Los Angeles to experience it for themselves. Although, maybe take the longer route.

Soulection Event

Last night was insane!! A big group of us girls headed over to the Regent Theater for Soulection's event, Sound of Tomorrow. It was so worth the ridiculous amount of money I spent, as you usually drunkenly do on nights out. This was my first time seeing some of the Soulection DJ's perform but I'd seen videos of how crazy their crowd can be and it didn't disappoint. The energy in the room was contagious and I was dancing away throughout the night and got to watch my first dance battle in an LA club, it was hilarious! Jay Prince performed too who was really good and sweating so much bless him because he put on an energetic performance. For those who are probably thinking, 'who the hell are Soulection,' it's a record label collecting musical artists/Dj's/producers who vary in their musical genre but basically all celebrate good music from across the globe. Honestly, you need to check them out if you haven't already. 

https://soundcloud.com/soulection

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the highlight of my night was of course getting a cheeky selfie with Esta. I fan girled so hard! The shame.

Megan x

Call me the bag lady

Traipsing through Asos marketplace yesterday (with my imaginary money) I came across this astutely named bag company, Handpicked. The company pride themselves on selling street-style fashion accessories sourced from all over the world. Whilst obviously looking to-die-for, their styles are also practical so I can imagine being able to style them for college/ work or just a trip to the shops. The prices are what completely sold me though, because the material looks quite expensive so their prices ranging from £22 - £119 is pretty good if you ask me. To top it off, they're discounting the spring collection (so basically everything you see below) with 30% off. I know where I'll be heading with my next student loan.

Below I've listed some of my favourites from the site, I hope you enjoy! Oh and let me know what you think of the Givenchy dupe at the bottom. I think it's amazing! And the closest thing I can have to the real thing for now. Lol

Handpicked

Love this Givenchy dupe!

Everlasting Basics

(dupe) Forever 21 | Zipped Jeans: (dupe) Zara | Patent Boots: (dupe) Topshop

Hunting through my wardrobe, I wanted to pick items that best showed how basics create a perfect, effortless outfit. I bought this striped, turtleneck crop top from Forever21 a couple of months back. It hangs nicely and long enough so that it doesn't ride up like some crops tend to do. Stripes are one of my favourite staple prints to own so it always comes in handy to invest in at least one. These are the faux leather trousers I wore in my last post which just shows how much I wear them! The zips (which unfortunately don't double up as pockets) give the outfit an edgy twist that styles seamlessly with the patent black boots. I purchased these comfy boots from H&M almost 4 months ago for £35.00 if I remember rightly and I can see them lasting me for a long time. H&M are amazing for stocking fashionable ankle boots that don't hurt the bank account.

Because I purchased all of the items above a couple months prior to this post, a lot of them aren't for sale any more. Instead, I've linked to some look-a-likes that are as good as the real thing! Let me know if you recreate the look yourself or like what I pulled together.