Valentino SS/14; Paris Fashion Week

With my absence of blog posts of late, what a better place to catch up than with my favourite Spring Summer 2014 collection? Valentino never fail to create awe-inspiring intricate showstoppers to which the most recent catwalk show was no exception! All catwalk imagery on this post is from vogue.co.uk where you can find more pieces from this collection and great quality up close imagery of surface textures and accessories.

I absolutely love this entire collection; the embroidery/ lace work and patterning is exquisite and definitely warrants the high designer price, if I had the money I wouldn't hesitate to splash out on one of these stunning dresses. The ethnic influences and folky nature of each creation builds upon and creates a new dimension to what we already perceive in pattern and embroidery. In my opinion there are essences of Aztec patterns, Victorian silhouettes and Roman style which really set this collection apart for Spring/Summer 14 whilst continuing the great legacy of Valentino.

I also find it really refreshing that Valentino haven't entirely ruled out autumnal tones and longer clothing as most of us like to still cover up in Spring, well especially with the UK weather! The accessories include; coloured tassle bags, statement necklaces, brooches and thong sandals. I love the necklaces that appear throughout this collection, they are a kind of wrap around style which remind me of lion chain necklaces that are quite popular at the moment but with different pendants and the chain wraps around the neck a few times which I really like the style of, they also look great against the high-neckline garments.

It's a dream of mine to one day attend a Valentino show; his creations translate so well both online and on paper so I cannot even begin to imagine how they look in real life, not to mention the atmosphere and staging of the show. 

In reality, at the moment I will second for second best; sourcing high street alternatives that are somewhat similar to certain characteristics of the Valentino collection. Here are a few high street pieces I've assembled to emulate Valentino at PFW.

River Island Fluro Stone & Ribbon Statement Necklace // River Island Black Fluro Embroidered Skater Skirt // Romwe Retro Floral Short Padded Jacket // ASOS Embroidered Across Body Bag with Pom Poms // ASOS Petite Exclusive Skater Dress with Embroidered Detail and Cut Out Back

Although they will never come close to the Valentino masterpieces, I love these high street pieces! The colour pallette of them and some of the patterns mimic some of the Valentino designs. I've had my eye on the Romwe jacket for a while now but I need to get my act together and decide whether it's worth the investment before it sells out. I get paid later this week so it might become a cheeky purchase! Also I found this ASOS dress today which is beautifully fitted, I'm not one usually to like V necks but the embroidery detail creates a lovely silhouette and shape!

What are your favourite pieces from the Valentino collection? 

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DIY Tapestry Collar

So I've had this plain sleeveless shirt lying around for over a year and I've only worn it a handful of times (Story of my life). I wanted to spruce it up a little in an attempt for it to showcase itself outside of that of my cluttered wardrobe! Knowing that I wanted to do something with the collar so that the shirt would be more interesting with or without a jumper; I got my creative juices flowing and thought the best option would be to embroider a pattern on the collar.

I've seen embroidered/tapestry/cross-stitch garments hit the high street here and there in varying styles. My favourites taking influences from Japanese floral patterens and 19th century tapestries. Here are a few pieces that coincide with this DIY post;

Sophia Floral Oriental Kimono  £20 Boohoo

Moto Floral Embroidered Jeans £50 Topshop

Victoria Crop Sweat with Floral Embroidery  £18 £10 Boohoo

Freya Floral Embroidered Denim Hotpants £18 Boohoo

Dr Martens 1461 Tapestry Shoes £110 £65 ASOS

Rare Embroidered Cap Sleeve Dress £49 £15.50 ASOS

I didn't want to directly copy any of these prints so I went in search of patterns that would flow well with the collar shape. Recently, I took a trip to London with my best friend where we visited the Saatchi and V&A in addition to mandatory shopping. In the V&A there were gorgeous Turkish tiles and ceramics which really inspired me so I thought these would be perfect for this little DIY project.

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I collected a few images of Turkish floral designs and sketched the design that I wanted on the collar. I love the collar schemes on these Turkish tiles and the intricacy of their repeating patterns.

Here's my easy step by step guide of how to make your own DIY embroidered Collar. I must admit this was quite time consuming to make but I just did 15 minutes here and there at night with the telly on in the background!

1. Find an old shirt or buy a cheap one from Primark or eBay.
2. Trace the basic shape of your collar and sketch your design.
3. Pick some embroidery threads from a Hobbycraft, market or fabric shop. I was lucky my mum has a lot of embroidery threads! 
4. Sketch in pencil the basic shapes of your design onto the collar itself.
5. Grab a needle and you're ready to go. I recommend that you divide the embroidery thread up; they're usually made up of 6 smaller threads so I divided them up into 3 lots of 2 threads so it was less bulky and easier to achieve more detailed shapes.
6. I sewed one colour at a time as I thought this was easier but it doesn't really matter. I also tried to make sure most of the stitches were facing the same direction to get the tapestry effect.

And there you have it, an easy way to liven up an old top. You could even embroider necklines of old tops not necessarily a collar, I might even embroider the pocket on this top to match if I find the time.

Although I think I could've taken more care when sewing the pattern and that it could be a lot neater I think I will wear this shirt far more than I have done, particularly in AW! Hope you enjoyed this post and let me know if you decide to make your own embroidered creations!

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