The Final street stylers...

Hand bag or gym bag....

Following on from the Next Big Thing brief, I seem to constantly find myself on the look out for the next big product, so when I was reading articles on the Daily Mail online and came across this one I got very excited.








The product itself is an average looking leather handbag but with a difference...it doubles up as a gym tote! The bag itself is made up of secret compartments to which are used as storage for gym wear and personal items, as well as having a yoga mat sleeve on the bottom of the bag for you to be able to store the item to save you from awkwardly having to figure out a way of carrying it.

The bags were designed by a company titled GymTotes and retail for roughly £120 each, with each individual bag called a different name to help the consumer differentiate the purpose for each bag and its storage compartments, depending on the specific sport in which it was designed for.

I think that GymTotes is a very interesting invention as it is something that has not been introduced into the market before, and also helps the fashion conscious to feel as though exercising is almost glamorous.

Sourced from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2914064/Looks-like-handbag-performs-like-gym-bag-multi-functional-tote-working-woman-loves-work-out.html

Paper Wedding dresses

Artist Asya Kozina from St Petersburg has created a range of intricate and extremely delicate wedding gowns out of plain sheets of white paper. The Russian-born artist studied old drawings and sepia photographs of traditional Mongolian wedding dresses and based her extravagant line on outfits worn hundreds of years ago.

Asya then used life-sized models in order to craft her stunning, exaggerated forms from plain sheets of white paper.

Today, Mongolian wedding clothes have bright, bold colours and patterns, but Asya believes that colour only distracts from the detailing of the gowns. 

For Asya it was extremely important to capture the elements of the wedding dresses of the past as she believes that they are one of the most accurate representations of a nation. 

She said: 'It's wedding clothing that embodies the most specific characteristics of each national costume….They are symbolic of the cultures they come from.'

Speaking to Pixable, Asya revealed that she chose to use paper as her medium as she believes as a material it is extremely versatile. 

She said: 'I see great potential in paper. It is a way to translate ideas and largely... for me, it is also a metaphor of life and art.'

Asya continued to say that although paper has huge potential it does cause certain problems when it comes to photographing the models. 

'There were technical difficulties in the process of shooting models because they were not able to sit down. 

'Crumpled paper cannot be restored and the shoot took about five hours.'

The artist added that she also had concerns about misrepresenting a country that she shared such a passion for. 

She said: 'Another difficulty was that I did not know how to react to Mongolians if they were to see my own rendition of their cultural costumes. What if I hurt somebody? 

'I immensely respect and love the culture of this country.' 

I think that Asyas designs are simply stunning but obviously very impractical, a piece of amazing art but nothing more..

Wacky portable phone chargers

Any smart phone user will know how ridiculously short the battery life is, being constantly on the go needing to use your phone when the battery only lasts half a day (if you're lucky) does get quite frustrating at times. But could this problem now have been solved?

As technology continues to develop, smart phones seem to be at the full front of taking technology to the next level. We are all familiar with portable phone chargers, but now there are even more over the top designs of portable phone chargers in which are suited to each persons individual needs.

The wind up portable charger
USP: This is a sleek hand-held box, with a fold-out handle for winding. For each minute wound, it gives up to two minutes of battery. If your phone powers down in the wild, just it in to this and frantically twirl the handle.


Retails for £24.99 from online store http://www.windup-products.com/


Solar powered portable phone charger
"Groov-e"
USP: This is either solar-powered or you can shine a lamp on it to automatically charge it. This functional-looking black charger is around the size of a smart phone and has enough battery for about two-and-a-half times the charge of an iPhone.


Retails for £19.99 from http://www.mymemory.co.uk/

Audio Powerbank
USP: This is both a torch and a charger. Slightly bigger than a lipstick, this will charge an iPhone one-and-a-half times before you need to recharge it — but it does suit many electrical devices including Samsung and Blackberry. Charge it up by plugging it into a laptop or USB port with the lead provided. Check you have your own lead to charge from charger to phone.


Retails for £20 from Tesco


HyperCharger
USP: A sexy, slender credit card-sized charger with enough charge for to get an iPhone to half power. It’s compatible with the iPhone 5.

Retails for £39.99 from http://www.firebox.com/firebox/beattheclock?via=hp&s=2x2&t=feature



Innergie Pocket Cell
USP: Gives up to 25 hours extra talk time on a mobile phone. Looks like a large cigarette lighter, but this gives a good two phones charge.

Retails for £69.99 from http://www.amazon.co.uk/ref=nav_logo

Mirror Power, MIPOW
USP: Touch up your make-up with a back-lit mirror while charging your phone. A slim iPhone-shaped mirror with enough charge to fill a phone up to two times.

Retails for £49.99 from http://www.cleverkit.com/


I think that the idea of a portable phone case that you can choose to be most suited to your own needs is both practical and fun and definitely worth investing in.

Eminem ft. Sia "Guts over fear" featuring Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow is a former America's next top model contestant who suffers from a rare skin disorder called vitiligo, which causes the skin to loose its pigment.

Following on from America's next top model, Winnie was signed as the new face of Desigual. Her unique look has been popularized within the fashion industry with designers desperate to use her for their new campaigns.

Winnie has recently been involved with Eminem, as he cast her to star as the leading role in his latest 2015 single "Guts over fear" featuring singer SIA.

In the Syndrome-directed clip, Eminem crafts a narrative about a down on his luck Michigan man overcoming personal hurdles to become a professional boxer. Meanwhile, model Winnie Harlow lip-syncs Sia's lines. Wearing a blonde "Sia" bob in "Guts Over Fear," Harlow shows how she relates to Marshall Mather's tale of rising above the odds.

I feel that having Winnie cast in the music video helps to bring the lyrics to life as the song is about perseverance and determination, which is something that Winnie Harlow has experienced first hand by never giving up on her ambition to model despite being constantly put down through her childhood. It goes to show how the fashion industry has evolved and become more accepting of people who do not fit in with the old criteria of "one size fits all". I think that it is refreshing to see such a unique face being praised within the fashion industry as it is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the size 0 stereo-typically beautiful models that are sprawled across every designer campaign on a regular basis.

Street Stylers continued...

Out and about on the streets of Nottingham!

New York Day 5

Spent the day checking out Visual Merchandising for different stores..incredible!!

Bergdorf Goodman

Celine

Chanel

Jill Sander

Michael Kors

Oscar De La Renta

Prada

Max Mara

 Fendi

It was so interesting to see all of the different designs within the visual merchandising windows for all of the different brands. One thing that I noticed in the majority of the windows was the use of digital screens to which projected the products seen within the shop from their original appearance on the runway.

New York Day 4

Grand Central Station

The MET museum...

Went with intention to see the Guggenheim museum...only to find out that it was closed on Thursdays....typical!