The Skirt Couturier Editorial:

Aysha Minty from The Skirt Couturier is a designer I work with quite often.  She approached me and my dream team a few weeks ago to do an editorial for her so that she could show off her latest designs and do something unique.

The outfit she designed was inspired by Downton Abbey the British drama series that is set in the Edwardian era (1901 - 1914). Aysha used silk in her design because she thought it fit the era perfectly, I agree. The design of the skirt is a "Jazz Skirt" which comes from the sway of a woman.

We shot on a cloudy day which made the look and feel seem even more like Yorkshire, the setting of Downton Abbey.

Raeesa did my hair in a vintage hairstyle to suit the theme. For the first time we are going to feature a hair tutorial to show you how to get the look:

1. Curl hair with GHD or curler and section the hair into four sections: front, left, right and back.

2. Make a low bun that sits at the bottom of your neck with the back section of the hair.
3. Use the left and right sections to create small "circles" which you will pin up around the bun by looping the hair.

4. Take the front section of hair and tease it to create body, then simply twirl it and pin it on the right side of your head.

5. Hairspray and voila!

This is just a teaser of what's in store from Raeesa. Be on the lookout for her very own website which she will be launching soon with exciting content such as “how to” hair tutorials and eBooks.

Photography by: Layla Shaik Photography
Hair by:Raeesa E
Clothing by: The Skirt Couturier

How to Make People Believe That You Have More Clothing:

One of my friends recently mentioned that I am the queen of interchanging looks. I pride myself on being able to wear an item in different ways, making it always look new. I have a rule that I will not wear the same look twice in a year but I will wear the same item more than twice and that's where there's a big difference.

 

To be honest since most of us aren't on a celebrity style budget; interchanging your wardrobe is exactly what you need to do to create the illusion that you have more clothing. In this post I will give you some pointers on how I'd interchange this outfit and how you can do the same with your wardrobe.

 

 

 

For this look, I recycled my white dungaree that I shot previously as part of a sports luxe shoot. My top tip is to invest in a plain dungaree or jumpsuit to wear on its own, but also wear a top over it like I did with this outfit to make it look like a pants (no one will know!)

 

 

 

 

 

The shirt I'm wearing is from Forever 21, instead of the sleeves being attached at the shoulders they are attached at the waist as a trendy waist belt. My interchanging style tip for this shirt is to wear a high waist midi length skirt over it to make it look completely different. You could also switch up the look by wearing a longer length coat over the shirt without the pants and there you have it, good as new!

 

Lastly, any look can look refreshed if you add on some accessories or wear it with a different shoe. I added this adorable hat from Cotton On to my outfit to make it seem more fun.

 

 

 

 

 

I also added on these quirky clothing pins from Zara to my shirt and silver backpack that was gifted to me. My sneakers are from a Spanish brand in Madrid.

 

 

 

In future I may wear the same look with my hair down, without the accessories and add a heel to make it look more sleek.

 

I hope my tips are helpful, happy interchanging!

 

Photos by: Layla Shaik Photography

Hair by: Raeesa E

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Barcelona Blogger Vanessa Troset:

Over the holidays I vacationed with my family to Spain and Portugal. We visited quite a few cities: Madrid, Granada, Cordoba, Seville, Lisbon and Barcelona to name a few. Barcelona was our last stop before we journeyed home to South Africa and while I was there I was lucky enough to meet Barcelona based fashion blogger, 'Vanessa Troset.'

 

 

Vanessa and I decided to do a mini fashion shoot on the streets of Barcelona. For the shoot I wore a designer coat by Andy Huang, LISOF School of Fashion Graduate. He is an Asian South African and so he has mentioned that his designs have always been influenced by both western and eastern cultures. For this particular outfit from his 2015 range he focused on infusing both cultures into one. The western elements he used for instance were the collar, lapel and suiting fabric mixed with the eastern traditional kimono silhouette and eastern influenced embroidery. I fell in love with Andy's design the moment I saw it and I'm sure you will as well!

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa is one of the nicest people I've met during my short career in blogging and she is beautiful too. We walked along the streets of Barcelona looking for places to shoot, while chatting as though we were long lost friends.

 

 

 

Vanessa is originally from Venezuela, she is now living in Barcelona where she runs the social media for a cosmetics brand. You can follow her on Instagram with the user name @vanessa_troset to see just what she gets up to in Barcelona. Every time she posts a picture it makes me miss Spain, with the old buildings, beautiful architecture and cobble stone roads.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed adventuring around Europe but at the same time I'm happy to be home, back to blogging and reality. A very happy new year to all my followers, here's to a great year ahead for all of us!