Backless Blooming

The weather is glorious!!! It is Spring time and Spring means flowers blooming and the beginning of Summer.

Last night I was flicking through my friend's copy of Harper's Bazaar with Emily Blunt on the cover and in it's high street trend section it had a ASOS.com dress which was a combination of hideous and really attractive to me. It was white with pinky red roses on it; very tack-granny-tastic. It had a tulip skirt and capped sleeves. I wanted it.

I went on the website and looked for it to no avail. However I did find a good collection of floral dresses. Whether garish such as the asos own brand, or subtle like Trina Turq's design they had a good selection. I found myself leaning towards the backless dresses. Hence the "jazz" print one which I finished off with. It's summer time; show off some back!!!



Diesel Hybiscus Print Halter Backless Dress £98

ASOS Floral V Back Pencil Dress £44.50

Trina Turq Indian Silk Cutwork & Jewel Flower £280

ASOS Jazz Print Cut Out Back Tulip Dress £37.50

Watchmen

After the fiasco of trying to see Watchmen in the cinema last week, I finally managed to see it in a late showing after work on Friday.

Absolutely brilliant.

Watch the trailers.




Now I cannot wait to read the graphic novel.

Who's watching Watchmen? Not me!

Last Saturday I was going to go to a fund-raising ceilidh with my boyfriend and his friends just outside of Glasgow. However, through lack of organisation on the male part they were left with no kilts to wear. As a further blow we were all struck with extreme lack of finances and another plan was sought out.

It ended up just being me and the other half deciding to scrap together the cash we had to have some dinner and go to see Watchmen. A brilliant plan from the outside, sure, but that night was to follow a series of badly timed and careless decisions.

It began when we went to view cinema times and, it being a weekend night, I was drawn to the late night showings of the film. The boyf was sceptical, suggesting it might be too late as we would have to hang around (it was currently about 5.30) and that perhaps we should see the 8.50 one instead. I insisted that I was too full from lunch and I couldn't possibly eat until around 8 leaving no time to see that one and how much fun would it be to see a midnight movie?

He consented.

This plan might have worked if we had perhaps gone to mine first and not, as it was suggested, to stay out, have a couple of drinks, then dinner, then movie. Considering the length of time we had to kill and the lack of funds we had to kill it, this was never going to work.

The first place we decided to go was the Blue Dog for a couple of cocktails. Hello? We have no money! When was this a good idea? At least our stupidity was made up by the delicious cocktails. I had a chocolate cherry martini and then a strawberry one with pepper for a spicy kick.

Then it was an Italian dinner at Sarti's. The food was spot on; delicious, big portions and reasonably priced. my one qualm would be that the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu is £18, but (after ordering of course) we noticed that people were drinking carafe's of wine, clearly the house and obviously cheaper than ours, and our wine was not even of a high standard. I think it would have been less cheeky if they had put ALL the wines, including the cheap ones, on the menu. As we finished our meal I noticed we were in time for the 8.50 showing (silly me) so we went up to the cinema on the off chance we could switch our tickets. A Saturday night with a brand new release of a big budget highly anticipated movie? No way. The queues for the one big cinema in Glasgow were spilling out on to the street.

So, with 2 hours to kill and less than a tenner between us, which we really shouldn't be spending, and the weather absolutely atrocious (think Wizard of Oz blizzards but add west coast rain) meant we didn't want to go far, but had no money to do something close by. In the end we went to the lovely Bar 10 down Mitchell lane, purchased a bottle of wine and slowly sipped it until it was time to go.

It's just lucky we have constant, flowing conversation.

On the wet and windy way to the cinema, with slightly woozy red wine heads, I consoled our wear souls with the knowledge that the brilliance of this film would make up for the disastrous, yet surprisingly fun, mistakes of the evening. We get into the cinema, surprisingly busy for so late at night, find a perfect centre middle seat and make ourselves comfortable.

The film starts. It is visually stunning and compelling from the start. Dark, cruel and cynical; this dystopian America sucks us in and, with no typical film structure, we are bemused, but fascinated throughout. That is, until, during one particularly loud moment in the film involving Dr. Manhattan, a speaker explodes.

As it occurs in an "explosive" sequence in the film we don't notice it immediately. Not until we realise this buzzing won't go away and there is a piercing ringing in my ears. From being in a heavy comfortable zoned in state and then being blown out of it, finding myself suddenly out of the cinema with a pounding headache and actually feeling quite dizzy. I was not impressed.

Fortunately we have free tickets to go and see it another time. I cannot wait.

And maybe next time we won't be so frivolous so that we cannot afford popcorn.

Getting into the swing of things....

I wake up every day and I would say my mood decides my style for the day. Variables include what music I am currently playing over and over again, what film I saw recently, what girl I walked past on the street who inspired me with a unique styling decision, the colour of my hair, my mood and what I see when I look in the mirror.

Although nothing tends to stay the same I have noticed a trend in the past few months, maybe even extending back as far as the past year, that I almost constantly wear dresses. Whether I am wearing 80s jumper dresses with clashing tights or 40s tea dresses my jeans appear to be sitting ignored in my bottom drawer. Occasionally I glance at them and sometimes I even take them out and, on a few rare occasions, I put them on and go to the shops in them. I do feel a twinge of guilt at my poor neglected trouser collection, however I cannot see me switching back to them permanently any time soon. Especially as I have returned to my retro phase, going somewhere between having Jackie Wilson constantly spinning on my record player or swaying to some 60s soul.

The love of the music definitely effects my styling and I have once again pulled out the petticoats, halters, shorts and started quiffing my hair (not long enough to do the proper styles yet!!). The music has also inspired me to finally take up swing dancing classes like I have been meaning to do for so long. I just want to be able to be at a party, chatting away, when all of a sudden some jive is put on the radio and I grab my partner and swing dance till dawn.

I went to my first class the other week with a couple of girl friends and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is no need to go with a partner and there are me there (just make sure you get one who knows what he's doing as a strong lead is essential). However, after I left the class I realised I had noone to practice with so have been determined to find a suitable male partner. After asking a boy I work with who seemed interested I turned around to find my relatively new (but superbly wonderful) boyfriend asking why I had not suggested he go with me. Now, without trying to offend, but the idea had not crossed my mind simply because I didn't think it was the kind of thing a guy who likes metal would want to do. How wrong I was. Not only has he proven how brilliant a boyfriend can be by offering to go dancing with me, he has shown me how well he knows me by actually also loving Jackie Wilson. More than me in fact.

So we are going to our first swing class tomorrow. I have beenb unable to resist the temptation of 5os dresses these days and both of us are so excited!!

Although I don't think he's told his friends yet....

Edinburgh Mag

My brother Ewan Macintyre, creator of the Big Freak, is starting his own Edinburgh based magazine with a focus on local artists; musicians, painters, film makers, designers, performers, creators and innovators. He asked me if I want to be editor. Do I want to be editor? Hell yeah.

Sure, it's an ambitious project with no initial pay and lots of hard work. Sure there is no guarantee that it will become a success. But, and the 'but' is a big 'BUT', it is exciting. It is something that needs to be done and it is something I love doing. So, there was no question in my mind as to whether or not I would do it.

The first issue will only be 12 pages, a tester, and will be in print on the 11th March. My first feature is going to concentrate on a girl who calls herself 'Knitty Kitty'. As the name suggests her products are handmade, mostly knitted, goods.

Amongst my personal favourites:

'Bill Oddity skirt with Leather Bird'

Her quirky one of a kind earring collection

'Royal Ascot Bespoke Fry Up bag'

Keep checking for news on the mag itself and the full article!!

If nautical nonsene be something you wish...

...then hop on the deck and flop like a fish! Oh sorry, took the Spongebob reference to far there.

In fact, if ye be seeking nautical nonsense then pretty much anywhere on the high street is where ye scurvy landlubbers should be heading!

On my way home I made a few stops into the shops lining Buchanan street and, gorgeous velvet "with it" wedges from Office aside, noticed a few nice items highlighting the current sailor/ preppy trend.

















Here's just a couple of my picks from the high street.

New Look
Bird print dress £25 Stripe Bow Court which also comes in Navy £25


Topshop
Knitted stripe top £32
Matelot hotpants £28

eek run out of time before work

to be continued...

just YouTube it

We all know already the joys of youtube. You want to catch up on a random episode of some programme or another? As long as you don't mind watching everything in under 10 minute parts then NO PROBLEM. So much so that the broadcasters now promote their programmes on youtube so a simple case of typing in the name of something won't necessarily take you there so easily.

Youtube has become well known for it's library of short hilarious and random clips, such as "charlie bit me" or the poor grandmothers reaction upon being shown "two girls one cup". A short while ago, however, I found an entirely new use for it which although has been around for ages I thought was necessary to share as it really does, for me, give an excellent example of the wonders of youtube.

Last year when I was entering my rockabilly faze full on I realised I had to know how to do the hairstyles. I initially stumbled upon some websites devoted to vintage style providing pictures or step by step instructions for pin curls etc. But, it wasn't until I went on youtube and came across a multitude of videos SHOWING how to do victory rolls that I realised this site was useful as well as entertaining. Granted, a lot of videos are rubbish and not all methods of doing certain hairstyles were the same. But, only a few minutes later I had found the video for me.

Unfortunately my hair is too short right now as it is still growing out from the major chop I had before. I was recently reminded of these step by step videos though because, despite the challenging hair length, I am getting myself excited about the things I can do with it when it grows a few more inches. There I was; watching girls show me how to do a classic 40s chic pin-up style do when I see a link to fellow blogger vintageortacky showing how she does her inventive catwalk inspired make-up designs! Make-up too? Fantastic!!

I especially liked her Artemis in her Sailor Moon series.