LIFE// My Birthday

My birthday was a little over a week ago now and it was really great. my parents were really generpus and bought me, Prada and Jean Paul Gaultier aftershave along with my iPhone 5 and a new pair of black 510s as well as some money to go shopping with, which I've spent on a really nice bonded cotton jacket which I'll save for outfit posts and the suede brogues you can see above, as well as a few other things.

my friends were so generous as well, from the lot I ended up getting a beautiful soft yellow check shirt from Cos, a white textured jumper from Zara, some all black converse, a mug (better than it sounds), Tom Ford Black Orchid, two bottles of Vodka, a book called Fashion Scandinavia, that I've had my eye on since fashion week and some all white  Air Force Ones and the new Justin Timberlake album from my girlfriend. I'm also told there is more to come...

All in all a great 18th birthday...

OUTFITS// Brutalist Blue

Collar Tip Shirt // Topman // Old

Squared Neck Jumper //  COS // £69

Wool Bike Jacket // COS // No longer for Sale

510s // Levi's // £80

Elites // Nike // £45

What I love about this outfit are it's subtle nuances, like the different shades of blue, or the different ways the jacket can be worn, taking it from peacoat to biker jacket, or the way the collar tips align perfectly with the squared neck on the jumper.

STYLE// Spring Inspiration

Electric Shades Richard Nicoll + Lou Dalton (Photos from Vogue.com)

Varsity Jackets and Shades of White Phillip Lim (Photos from 31PhillipLim.com)

Non-Leather Moto Jackets and Poppy Red Paul Smith (photo from Vogue.co.uk)

This spring is gonna be all about primary colours and classic jacket cuts, including the Moto Jacket and Varsity Jacket but with fresh fabrics and colour pallets.

OUTFITS// Scandinavian Winter

Coat // Cheap Monday // £15 (so lucky in the summer sales)

Shirt // DIY [here] // N/A

Turtleneck // Cos // £18

Skinny Trousers // Topman // Old

Shoes // Nike Elites // £45

Watch // Hugo Boss // £135

Normally at this point of the year, people my age are praying for snow every night and groaning every morning because we have another college day, but nevertheless, this year we've experienced a scandinavian winter because of something to do with the North Atlantic Jet Stream (I have no idea if I'm honest), making for some nice winter outfit photos and six day long weekend.

STYLE// A Blue Christmas

Christmas Outfits are usually littered with clichés of red and green or ugly christmas jumpers and that is all part of the charm I suppose and what is a christmas outfit without them. This year however I wanna try something a little different so I think I'm gonna abandon any ideas of red in my outfit and go with blue.

STYLE// Winter Wishlist

I really don't know what draws me to the first item, but I just am so it's a bit of an indulgence really, I'll probably never wear it. The other items are pretty much within my usual aesthetic, I've been after a decent pair of leather boots for a while, my bargain suede H&M one's are barely holding together at this point although for the price they've lasted surprisingly well. I'm often drawn to blues and blacks at this time of the year and am really loving the Matte & Sheen trend for Winter 2012 which is why I like the two Jumpers. The black jeans have been a long time coming, I have a pair already but they fit awfully, have faded slightly, are just overall bad quality, I wouldn't recommend them, they are stretch skinny ones from Topman, the ones I want that are pictured above are Cheap Monday, so should hopefully fare better.

DIY// Denim Dip-Dye Shirt

You'll need:
- Shirt
- Bucket
- Bleach (preferably thin but thick will work too)
- Coat Hanger

Nº1

Dilute bleach with water 1 part thick bleach to 4 parts water and add more bleach if it isn't working. It's best to start low and build up incase your shirt is delicate although I ended up using pure thin bleach in a second attempt because the thick bleach had no effect.

Nº2

Go get something to eat (probably best to wash your hands first if you don't use gloves like me). Some people say theirs only took 20 minutes to bleach to white but I ended up having to leave mine over night in pure bleach so this bit is a bit of a guessing game.

Nº3

Rinse by hand and then wash thoroughly on its own in the machine and then dry.

Tips:

- If you haven't got a wide bucket it might be easier to put an elastic band just above where you want to bleach to to help you get it all in quickly. Don't bleach past the band or you'll get a tie-dye effect.