Liverpool (this is not here).

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Liverpool for the third time. In typical Bee fashion, the purpose of my visit was to gauge the size of the wardrobe I'd be storing my clothes in when I attend university there in September.

Now, as a Beatles fan, I wanted to visit their hometown wearing my obsession dedication, but I didn't want to look a typical tourist in one of my many Beatles t-shirts. My solution? A not-so-subtle nod to Sgt Pepper :)

My mother and I were shown the show flat in the accommodation building that I'll be staying in, Cambridge Court. The building next door, which is also university accommodation, happens to be a former hospital and guess which iconic 20th century musician and peace activist was born there? How cool!

Image source:  http://openplaques.org/plaques/8183

I then took a little walk to LIPA, the performing arts school which is housed in the building that was once Paul and George's school, Liverpool Institute. At this point, it had gotten quite cold so I put on a cardigan and my boots had begun to hurt, so I changed into a comfy pair of Dorothy Perkins flats.

 I saw Paul's childhood home (as well as the Beatles museum, the Cavern Club exterior and Penny Lane) the first time I went to Liverpool, but I couldn't find John's, so this time I hopped on a bus, determined to find it. Coming from such a small city, I was shocked that it could take forty minutes on the bus to get somewhere still in the same city.

As silly as it sounds, seeing Mendips in person really set in the fact that John was a real person, not just a legend. I already knew it was so, of course, but I couldn't help thinking - the little boy who grew up here was murdered. It made me so sad. RIP John.

Mendips is much grey-er in colour than it looks on these photos, however. We ran out of time really quickly, so a fleeting look at Strawberry Fields was all we could manage after this. I couldn't get the whole gate because there were people in front of it, and the photograph of me is truly awful in quality, but it's the only one I have.

Tomorrow, I'm going on a day trip to Liverpool (tried and failed to think of a 'Day Tripper' joke at this point), but by myself this time. It's also results day tomorrow, which means I'll finally find out whether I've got the grades to confirm my place at LJMU or not. I don't usually worry about this kind of thing, but I absolutely bombed that exam. Wish me luck!

Bee

x

'sgt pepper' dress - primark (thrifted)

boots - new look

cardigan - select

"I've never heard of a beautiful witch before..."

For a college art project, I decided to create a stage costume for Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. It was a bit ambitious considering the short amount of time we were given and the miniscule budget, but I did it in the end! My college rented out space to display the best of students' work for the Art Show, and my dress was featured, alongside some photographs I took of my lovely friend, Micka, modelling it. Here's a little peek at our photoshoot. I even made the wand - picture me using terrifying metal cutting machines and saws in the 3D department doing this. Yikes!

In case you were wondering how the dress actually looked, I also took this full length picture. I'm pretty proud of it considering the closest I'd ever come to making my own clothes was primary school sewing club, in which we simply threaded thick wool strands through foil with holes in it! I didn't follow a pattern, just bought the material and tried to make it look as princessy as possible. Do you think Glinda would wear it?

         

forever we're singing that old country song...

I went to a country and western themed birthday party recently, and thought I'd share a few pictures. There was even a bucking bronco! It was a few months ago - before I got my fringe.  Pictures were taken by my wonderful friend, Zanii.

  

jacket: Oasis
dress: Oasis (thrifted)

title lyric: Me & Tennessee - Tim McGraw

"I think it's Santa Claus!"

I felt like sharing a silly little video I made with my friend Micka, well over a year ago. It's certainly rough around the edges, but we had great fun crafting all the characters, props and sets entirely from recycled products, voicing the characters and messing around with stop motion technology. This "fun" doesn't include me burning myself four times with the hot glue gun, of course!

We created it to promote SCARF, a local company that collects arts and crafts resources and resells them to the community at low prices, serving to aid both recycling and the bank accounts of the good people of the Black Country in these difficult times. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the export and little pink squares start appearing on screen near the end (not sure what the term for this is, my technical vocab is a little underdeveloped!).

It tells the story of an author struggling to find inspiration for his new novel, until he accidently discovers SCARF's website. That night, he finds himself dreaming about a strange place called Scarfworld, where everything is recycled - even the sun! His adventures in this dream world, not to mention it's resident creatures, Duvysnuvy and Snuvyduvy, provide him with the inspiration he was searching for.

Enjoy!

Style Inspiration: The Pajama Game (1957)

Usually, I like to draw inspiration from the 1960s, but I can't help but admire the beautiful, ladylike fashions of the preceding decade. One of my absolute favourite starlets of all time is the lovely Ms Doris Day. I adore her happy, nostalgic films which make me want to step back a couple of generations, hop on a transatlantic boat and find myself steeped in 1950s Americana. I particularly like Young at Heart, The Thrill of it All, and On Moonlight Bay. One picture I did not enjoy is the Pajama Game, but I was mesmerised by the clothes!

I love everything about this screenshot! I especially adore the dress the woman on the far left is wearing, so summery! This scene is so colourful and so America in the Fifties!

Gladys wears an adorable halterneck summer dress, in pink with red trim. I love that she wore orange flats with it! Gladys, as crazy as she is, has the best wardrobe in the film, I think. Read on to see more of her looks.

Here she is in a cute grey and black polka dot dress with orange bows on the arms and below the bustline. The dress is typical 50s in that it goes in at the waist and out at the hips.

I am completely in love with Gladys' dress in this scene. It was, unfortunately, hard to get a good screenshot of. It looks more like something from the early Sixties rather than 1957! It's a slim fitting, pale pink knee-length dress with a sweet, long polka dot scarf around the neck.

I can't get over how amazing she looks in this scene, despite being drunk as a skunk! The halter neck wiggle dress flatters her figure perfectly.

Moving on to someone other than Gladys. Doris herself, as Babe Williams, looks phenomenal in a lovely white dress and teal neck scarf. I love, love, love square necklines. I don't know whether you can see, but her teal shoes match her scarf perfectly.

I think this is my favourite outfit in the film, tied with the previous image of Doris in the white dress and possibly Gladys in the blue wiggle dress. I want this dress soo bad! It reminds me a little of a 60s dress, but with the classic 1950s shape. You can't really see here how amazing this girl's hair is!

This sailor inspired dress really is so pretty. I love the collar and tie!

I can't say much for Doris' outfit, nor the lady on her right. But oooh, I do love the attire of the woman on her left! How cute is her little pink top and apron? Just below shot is her fuschia pencil skirt.

This is one of my favourite movies of all time, in terms of fashion. I've heard that Zooey Deschanel's favourite film for fashion is the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. What's yours?

random acts of patriotism...

 In celebration of the Diamond Jubilee (words that must cause some to roll their eyes at this point), my mom and I had a fit of patriotism and displayed lots of bunting on the gates in front of our house! Shame the weather was a bit gloomy, though.

That's my dear mother, hanging up the flags.

"Pull a stupid face" she asked, and certainly received.

We also put some patriotically-coloured bunting up against the fence in the back garden's patio, which you can see in the last three photos.

Now, off to a local celebratory fair and bonfire!

Bee x

dress - charity shop; originally matalan
tights - primark
boots - charity shop
flower garland - charity shop

Charity shop goods!

I got a fringe (or bangs to Americans?) cut, what do you think?

I haven't posted in a while, so on the spur of the moment I decided to photograph things I've thrifted in the past seven days. And yes, these photos were taken in my bathroom. With a shower in the background. On an iPhone. In low light.

I fell in love with this 1960s mohair coat (my mom, not so much) £4! I rarely, if ever, buy coats but lately I seem to have been on a spree (typical - the weather has been abnormally glorious and I'll have to wait til winter). I can't wait to wear it with a vintage mini dress and burgundy go-go boots!

I got this from a new vintage charity shop. Because it specialised in vintage, things tended to be more expensive than they would be in a regular charity shop. It was £25. It was quite embarassing because when I tried it on, I got swarmed by the staff who complimented me and took photos for their Facebook page. Couldn't really not buy it after all the fuss!

I bought this for £5, and I couldn't resist because it reminded me of a 1970s groupie. I feel like Penny Lane wearing it! This photo and the previous one weren't taken in the bathroom because I photographed my whole vintage and vintage-style collection a few days ago for my friend to put in her pre-production folder for her FMP she's doing about vintage fashions. My own FMP is Snow White based.

A pair of 1960s glittery evening gloves, £1.75.

1960s-esque earrings, 50p

This umbrella print dress originally from New Look is so adorable. £3.99

1970s green knit waistcoat, £2.99

                                                

Meet my skull model, Mr Bonejangles. He's supposed to be a candle holder, hence the remnants of wax in his cheekbones! While Mr Bonejangles isn't thrifted, the lovely black beret he is oh so skillfully modeling is. I've wanted one since my all black beatnik-meets-Bardot phase but never found one, strangely enough!

This satin headband isn't thrifted but I wanted to show it off anyway. I love it because it reminds me of Biba, although not particularly in this picture. I bought it for £2 at a local arts and crafts fair, along with some cute whale earrings. 

I got this lovely Monsoon hat for about £4 or £5 from a charity shop I rarely go to, but I adore it. It's so sweet and reminds me of my favourite era, the sixties. I must say, Mr Bonejangles looks rather groovy in it!

A pair of turquoise flower hair clips, 50p 

This, like my last two items, wasn't thrifted but something I lost a couple of years ago. I had completely forgotten about it until this morning when I thought to myself, "that shark tooth style necklace would go great with this outfit, what a shame I've lost it." By strange coincidence, my mom walked in ten minutes later saying she had just found this, plus the necklace below, in a long forgotten about box!

I love this owl necklace which I think I lost about two days after purchase! I think it was from Forever 21, which I visited just after its first UK store opened in November 2010. Finding it again reminds me that I'm also missing a huge statement necklace I bought at the same time!

And last but not least, a creepy voodoo doll my crazy grandma found with her personal photos when we sorted through them. She gave it to me because "you like weird things, don't you, Amy?". She bought it in New Orleans years ago.

I also desperately wanted to buy a rockabilly Laura for Topshop mini skirt that I found in Oxfam, a pair of 60s-esque shoes in Sense and a faux pearl-collared floral chiffon dress in Barnardoes but time and my attempts at cutting back has stalled me at the moment. But if they're still there tomorrow, I can't promise I won't be handing over the cash.

Bee x