Love Her Style: Jessica Alba

My long-standing girl crush on Jessica Alba has come to fruition in this post, which will see me drooling over various clothes she puts on her amazing body, and generally make me look like I'm in love with her! I'm pretty sure I first self-diagnosed myself with Alba-itis when I saw 'Honey' (and those abs), which was obviously every teenage girl in the noughties' favourite film - that and Mean Girls (duh). Ever since then I've noticed Jessica's street style cred get better and better, and I'm definitely not alone. Her selfless contribution to best-dressed lists worldwide has enabled her to achieve the current hardcore girl crush status she has!

Starting off with my favourite look of hers, Jessica caught everyone's eye when she left a Ralph Lauren show in a candy pink midi skirt, cropped black jumper and strappy sandals. Her simple up-do, sparkly earrings and nude lip accessorise this look into the next level of best-dressed lists. Looking like America's sweetheart, never has the word perfection been so well personified!?

Next is total girlish charm in this asymmetrical black top, floral skater skirt and boots combo. Complete tomboy schoolgirl chic, she still looks like she means business with her folder and iPhone to boot. 

 Yep. Then there's the body. Just let this one sink in for a while. Totally cute bikini too, by the way.

This look is so easy and understated, but Jessica can pull off just about anything and make it look ridiculously good. Over-sized scarves are something of her trademark, and this casual bad girl outfit is so cool, and very easy to recreate! Black and grey are the subtle grungy tones of the look, but her lime Birkin adds a pop of colour, and those heavy studs add the fashion edge.

This look is so great for its simplicity, and is useful as outfit inspiration for work, going shopping or going out for dinner. On-trend neon peach makes this look stand out, but keeps the rest totally simple with a white shirt, dark jeans and nude wedges.

Yep, there it is again. She even looks fantastic at the beach (unlike some of us, who tend to be frizzy-haired, red-faced horror stories with a patchy burn) with a fringed turquoise kimono, straw hat and minimalist jewellery.

I love this. Powder blue and black combine in one serious working woman floral get up. So professional and stylish at the same time. *Googles floral trousers*

More down days are spent in comfy fabrics with more over-sized scarves to keep it casual and cosy. A palette of white and beige lets her olive skin and brunette locks do the talking as she looks bright, fresh and relaxed.

Which of these is your favourite look? Whose style are you loving lately?!


xo.

Love Their Style: Mary-Kate & Ashley

I have always loved Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for as long as I can remember; right from when they did that 'It Takes Two' film (anyone else remember that?!), up until the current Elizabeth and James years! Essentially I have grown up with them, even though they're a few years older (making them way more cool when I was thirteen, obviously). I really wanted to do a style post on an Olsen, but picking a twin was way too hard as I love both their styles in different ways! Ashley was always the girlier twin (even when they were ten years old she was always the one dressed in pink, whereas Mary-Kate was dressed more in blues and greens - stalker alert!). I love her more feminine approach to dressing, and she always looks that little bit sleeker than MK. On the other hand though, Mary-Kate's grungier-at-times, slightly more relaxed approach is effortlessly enviable, and makes you wish you could throw on double denim and stacked wrist wear and look just as cool (so far I've just achieved looking a bit homeless). I love how well they complement each other though, and how they've developed such different yet equally desirable fashion sense after being styled identically for most of their lives! 

What do you think of the Olsens?! Who are your style icons?

xo.

Fashion Reads

I love books as much as I love fashion, so when they combine it's a winning combination in my eyes! Obviously there are thousands of fashion-related books on the market, but I just wanted to post about the ones I own and love, of all varieties. I love reading and collecting books of all kinds, and as I did a degree in English Literature my collection is pretty huge now as you can imagine! Books have gained huge popularity in the fashion world in the past few years, and I did a blog post in 2006 about books starting to emerge within the fashion genre at the time. 

The first few are non-fiction and 'The Fashion Book' is like an encyclopedia of all important and talented people/designers/brands/photographers/models within the fashion world and is great for covering the basics of their career and how they have made an impact on fashion. 'Style' is an incredibly well-known book from Lauren Conrad and covers the how-to genre. It covers basic style, beauty regime, how to shop tactics all inspired by Lauren's take on things. It is more geared towards teens I feel, but definitely has useful information in there, and as I love Lauren's classic California look, I couldn't pass up on tips on how to look like her! 'Dogs in Vogue' was a Christmas present from my Dad a few years ago. We have a collie/retriever cross, and I love all dogs, and I have been an extremely loyal subscriber to Vogue since 2005 so it couldn't be a more perfect combo! The title is self-explanatory, and this book features all the high end photography that has been in Vogue over the years featuring dogs.

Fash Non-Fiction

The next section I created is less about high end fashion, and is more about the fiction created or inspired as a result of the high fashion world. It's incredibly chick-lit heavy, but great reads all the same. 'Sex and the City' is an obvious classic and is about four women's experiences with men written in a unique style with plenty of fashion talk in between. In the TV series, fashion practically is its own character and features a lot more heavily. 'Gossip Girl' is a book series I loved reading in my late teens and follows the scandalous lives of upper class private-schooled teens in New York City. 'Shopaholic' is also a classic and follows a serial spender and her clothing best friends. 'The Carrie Diaries' is a prequel series to 'Sex and the City' and follows Carrie growing up and moving to New York as she enters the world of fashion.

Fash-Inspired Fiction

This last section is my favourite and features three books I love that all came about from blogging! 'The Sartorialist' you will undoubtedly have heard of and features all of Scott Schuman's most amazing street-style pictures he has posted on his blog. 'Style Diaries' is an encyclopedia of serious fashion bloggers around the globe and features pictures and descriptions of why you should go and check out their blogs. 'Facehunter', again, is another of the blogging elite and Yvan Rodic's book features all of his best photos from his favourite street style haunts, done in the most creative ways sometimes! More of a fashion-addict's picture book than a real book, but just as great in some ways!

Blogger books!

Have you ever given fashion books a go? What are your favourite fashion reads if so?

xo.