SPARKLING LEGS

The shimmering fishnets in my previous post were give to The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret to try out and review by We Love Colours, you remember, where also the colourful socks Eddi got to try came from?

The lurex glitter fishnets are soft, stretchy but still durable so they work well for dancing. They sparkle in strong light which will be great for stage (and for one of our new numbers, soon!), but in other conditions the shimmer is more soft and all-over; you don't have to be a show girl to use them :)

BECAUSE BOYS LOVE COLOURS TOO

Some time ago I was asked to try out and style socks from We Love Colors. We Love Colors offers a lot products for women, men and children in more than 50 colour choices on everything. They have mostly leg wear, but also products like dance wear and gloves. The colours go from earth near shades to neon bright.

I used to wear a lot of colored leg wear before and mix and match, even though I nowadays am more moderate with my tights and stockings; choosing mostly brown, grey and black or darker colours like burgundy and aubergine. For burlesque shows however I love to wear coloured fishnets for example, but more on that another time.

What I really enjoyed among the We Love Colors products was the fact that they offered socks for men in all the same colours as they offer women. I have often been searching for plain colored socks for Eddi but with the exception of some blue and red ones it's hard to find other than dark socks for men! So Eddi got to try out a coulpe of sports socks:

(Eddi says he is not giving the finger to the world on purpose.)

I think socks are a great way to spice up any outfit for a guy, add a little fun and colour to it by matching a shirt, accessory or a fine pair of shoes with the socks, or perhaps by letting the socks be a small contrasting detail to the rest. This applies to women's outfits too of course, but writing this I mostly had mens' clothing in mind, as it tends to be darker and less colorful compared to what women wear. (Ok, I know some trends lately have been very colorful for boys and men alike, but I'm thinking classic styles here, not techno hipsters or the early nineties.)



The sport socks are a quite good lenght that goes properly over the ancle and up on the calf. The colors are very bright! Colours differ from one computer screen to another, so check the name properly on the colour you want to order, neon really is neon bright :)

J'adore Dior- Sex and the City 2. Harmless fun or offensive drivel?

The Guardian has called Sex and the City 2 the epitome of the “rise of the critic-proof movie” meaning that no matter what the reviews have said about how awful the film is, people will still flock to see it.
So where do my allegiances lie?
Well I love Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte (in that order- I love asking people who their favourite character out of the 4 main girls is. I think it does tell you something about what kind of person they are) and I love the TV series.
I saw the first film and thought it was very bland and disappointing however according to many reviews this new film is supposed to be even worse.
The glorious Hadley Freeman, my favourite columnist for the Guardian (Ask Hadley is simply brilliant. Check it out now) said that “The Sex and the City films have destroyed the legacy of a funny and fantastic TV show.” Then there is the genius review from Linda West which said that Sex and the City 2 is pretty much "a home video of gay men playing with giant Barbie dolls."
The hilarious reviews have put me off but with the fun, the frocks and the friends, it’s just a bit of harmless fun.
I will have to see it before I can judge it properly but at the end of the day it just comes down to a couple of hours of escapism. And call me materialistic to watch it simply for the clothes- especially the J’adore Dior tee which SJP wore, pictured above- but I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

Have you seen Sex and the City 2?
What did you think?

Beth Ruby xoxo

"If you never do anything, you never become anyone."

As you already know, I am a firm believer that you should always read the book before seeing the film, so I read Lynne Barbers memoirs before seeing the multi award winning film. I devoured the book in one day and the film is now in my top 10 favourite films list. They are both simply brilliant.
Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard

Nick Hornby did an amazing job turning the memoirs into a screen play and transforming Lynne into the wonderful character Jenny, who Carey Mulligan plays so convincingly you cannot help but fall in love with her when you watch it.
It's the story of the clever school girl Jenny and her dilemma as she has to choose between going to Oxford University or marrying a charismatic older man, who whisks her away to Paris and introduces her to his glamorous friends. But he is not all as he seems...

Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper

I cried and laughed out loud at both the book and the film.
They made me want to visit Paris and go to fun parties and meet beautiful people and wear gorgeous clothes (the costumes in the film are breathtaking)
But of course even more than that watching and reading An Education just backs up my ambition to go to Oxford University, study English Literature and ride around on a beautiful bicycle- preferably this Pashley.
Clearly I cannot rave about how much I love the film enough, so go and read it and see it ok? Only then you will understand how much I love it.

Also Carey Mulligan wore this amazing Prada dress to the Oscars. Check out the little knives and forks and scissors! Unbelievably awesome, right?
Oh and did you know that she's going out with Shia Labeouf? She is one lucky lady.
Beth Ruby xoxo

"The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it"-Nowhere Boy

I went on Sunday night as a pre-stressful school week trip to the cinema with a best friend to see Nowhere Boy. It was brilliant; you get sucked right into the story and really see the points of view of all of the characters.

It’s a biopic of John Lennon’s childhood and teenage years of being brought up in Liverpool by his formidable Aunt Mimi, played by the fantastic Kristen Scott Thomas, and then meeting his free spirit mother Julia, played by Anne-Marie Duff, when he was 16. The film is centered about his relationship with these two influencing figures in his life as they both compete for his love.

But a special shout out has to go to Aaron Johnson who plays the young Lennon role of charismatic and troubled bad boy really well (and yes he played Robbie in ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ and my hasn’t he grown since then. Me and Emma couldn’t stop swooning over him in the cinema haha)
Of course a rock n roll film isn’t complete without an amazing soundtrack and the music in this film really transports you back into the 50’s. I am a huge fan of Sam Taylor Wood who is the director of the film. Her exhibition called ‘Suspended’ (it’s worth the Google it if you haven’t heard of it already) really connected with me and is one of the few exhibitions you visit where everything in the room is the same high brilliant standard. She definitely is my favourite modern artist. Incidentally Sam Taylor Wood, aged 42, is also engaged to Aaron Johnson who is 18 years old and is expecting his child. Seeing as he is absolutely gorgeous she is one lucky lady.

Anyway juicy gossip aside here is the trailer:

Beth Ruby xoxo

BLUE & WHITE

I have been asked to do a review on a party outfit by Very.co.uk; theHolly Willoughby contrast dress with cummerbund detail, the Love Label Lavish frill suede platform shoes and the French Connection fabric quilted bag. Well who would say no to that?

Arriving just in time and colour-wise, white and blue, the outfit is perfect for the independence day of Finland, today, December 6th! (Although the color combination actually is white-blue-black, which really makes me dressed up in the colors of Estonia but let's not get picky here. Plus I'm a quarter estonian anyway so...)


The Holly dress is far more fancy than on the pic in the online store! It's a dress for fine occasions. The material feels good. The fit is alright, but I am, as always, between sizes - what fits my behind and does not stretch over the shoulders is once again too big in the waist. I might reach for my sewing machine on this one, but so far it was easily adjusted by taking the waist in with a large sequined safety pin in the back; just folding the belt and fastening. Otherwise I have to admit I think this dress would gain on having the belt removed, or the cummerbund could rather be in horizontal pleats like the tuxedo cummerbund, smoother, more plain. Sometimes less is more, and the waist would appear smaller if it wasn't for the belt.

But sometimes more is more and just right! The shoes are over the top - in a good, delicious way. Very burlesque. I love the blue color! I chose blue since I thought red might be too, hmm, obvious somehow. (And like my boyfriend said, a bit 'too sexy' perhaps.) Plus everybody needs a pair of blue suede shoes, right? These shoes also come in grey which I think would be the most perfect for this dress - and otherwise too - but there are only big sizes left. So if you have bigger feet, go for it! I normally prefer shoes with a slightly thicker heel for the sense of comfort and everyday usage, but these are still alright to wear due to the platform. These will be swell for burlesque nights and shows!

The bag is the exact same color as the shoes! I think most shoulder bags get a fancier look when worn as a clutch so for this outfit I have put the chain strap in the bag.

Now what? The Finnish independence day is quite a serious celebration and no carnival. So fancy dinner and then the president's independence ball on TV.

PS. there is a discount over at Very which lasts tomorrow still; 3 items for the price of 2!

A SHIRT IS A SHIRT IS A SHIRT. OR?

(Yes, I am shamelessly using my cats for more interesting pictures.)

I have been asked to do an honest review on a shirt from Littlewoods. (I hadn't heard of Littlewoods before but maybe it's a familiar name for you if you' re from the UK or so?). The Love Label check shirt.

So why not; one can never have too many shirts. A basic cotton shirt is always useful and versatile since easy to wear in different ways. At first I wasn't really sure about how one reviews a shirt though; it's either a good shirt or then it's not.

Well this turned out to be a good one - I was positively surprised when I received it since I, to be honest, think it looks rather boring on the site. It has kind of a western vibe that you can accent by wearing a jeans skirt or a fuller skirt and "hide" by wearing a pencil skirt or high waisted wide trousers, like me. I am between sizes and tend to order the bigger one to be on the safe side just to find out that I am in fact not in between sizes but exactly the smaller one, and so it was in this case too. But a shirt doesn't really have to be skin tight, it looks nice with a bit of puffiness.
Thumbs up!

5 Stars- The September Issue *****

Just got back from seeing “The September Issue” and it didn’t disappoint.
R.J. Cutler's new film is an amazing insight into the Vogue office and the world of fashion where as the tagline states: “Fashion is a religion. This is the Bible.”
The film documents the 2007 September issue of Vogue as the team put together the single largest issue of a magazine ever published.
It was intriguing to see Anna Wintour, the editor in chief nicknamed “Ice Queen” behind closed doors and I was surprised to see how charming she can be, for example with the designer Thakoon and there is a particularly touching moment when she says her brother (a political editor for The Guardian) and sister (who works in charity) find her job "amusing."
The film actually has lots of funny moments such as when the brilliantly flamboyant Andre Leon Talley declares: "There is a famine of beauty darling! My eyes are starving for beauty!" and also when he turns up to a tennis lesson (on Anna's orders) in Louis Vuitton.
But the star of the film for me had to be Grace Coddington, creative director at American Vogue who is the genius behind the clothes and the photo shoots who has been working in the business for thirty years. She specialises in 20 page editorials which are often romantic and have a picture book like quality to them (she was the talent behind that magical Alice in Wonderland themed shoot)
Grace and Anna started Vogue at the same time and so Grace is one of the few with the courage to stand up to Anna when she is in her formidable business mode. You cannot deny they are obviously a perfect partnership though with Grace's artistic talent and Anna's straight talking drive.
Altogether it is a fascinating look at what it would be like to work in the famous Vogue office with fashions most influential figure.

Sienna and Anna (in her trademark bob and sunglasses!) at the premiere for The September Issue
The finished result of all the hard work shown in The September Issue
Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour



The hilarious Andre Leon talley playing tennis in his designer gear