{pretty details & other expensive things}

{photography by garance doré}

{mary janes}

{prada fall 2011 via moodboard}

{cozy days ahead . . .}

{carmen kass by daniel jackson for harper's bazaar us, september 2010 via oh}

DESIGNER ENVY- My soft spot for gimmicky heels

It has been awhile since I have had a full on designer shoe envy (probably due to being locked up revising in my room and spending less time on Style.com and Sea of Shoes if anything else)

But once I laid eyes on these DSqaured shoes which have a SPINE FOR THE HEEL (!!!) I fell a little bit in love.

"It's just such a genius idea!" I cried.
And then after getting a major deja vu I got thinking about the sheer amount of times I have said that after seeing a rather cool pair of heels.
After trawling the extensive albums of photos of shoes which are knacking up my computer hard drive I realised just how many gimmicky heels there are out there.
Shoe designers love a good novelty idea to get people talking and buying. (If this was a power point I would add the cheesy *KERCHING* sound effect here)
It makes sense really, I mean I know a girl can own a lot of shoes but there are only so many plain black sling-backs someone can have before they crave the crazy.

And I know I would rather have a pair of fierce, eye catching, compliment attracting, fabulous shoes than a pair of plain. fabulous shoes (remember my rant at the beige schmeige and boring ol' Celine's "Wardrobe Staples" ?)

So here are some more gimmicky heels I found.
I'll shut up now and let them do the talking:

Dolce and Gabbana 'Face' shoes- photo from Sea of Shoes

The Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte 'Melted Wax' heels (which I thought looked like the Wicked Witch of the West melting...) Source unknown

The legendary Chanel 'light bulb' shoes (source unknown)

And the lovely new 'Chandelier' heels from the Prada collection.

Can you think of any more shoe gimmicks?

I could go on but I really must go back to revising Vietnam and Womens rights for my exam tomorrow. Exciting I know.

Ciao!

Beth Ruby xoxo

ps) Happy fathers day!

{abbey lee + prada}

{tumblr via felicity -- thank you!}

Here comes the summer...

Wahey I have just signed up up to do a National Life Guard award at my local pool this summer which I am very excited about (as well as a little bit nervous) so to get me into the swimming/summer/hopefully sunshine mood I thought I would do an image dump of a post with some lovely life guard related photos I have on my hard drive to share with you all.

I doubt I will look like any of the models do, seeing as I will be in my black speedo swimming costume complete with "go faster!" stripes and even less like some kind of Pamela Anderson doing the legendary Bay Watch slow motion running in red short shorts. But I don't think that the red short shorts are compulsory life guard attire so I'll be ok.


Sources from top- Russh January 2010, Prada Lookbook Spring Summer 2010 and the gorgeously summery editorial from Vogue Nippon April 2010 issue which was photographed by Blaise Reutersward and was modelled by Marloes Horst.

Beth Ruby

Hello Tara Lacey.

I was asked to review this blouse by new designer, Tara Lacey. How could I resist but to say yes!

The blouse is beautiful, so light-weight, so detailed so delicate.


Back View of the blouse.


Gorgeous detailing on the arms, such pretty lace! It's the same detailing along the bottom of the blouse.

Stunning Pleated detail!


ALSO, PLEASE ENTER THE INTERNATIONAL PRADA GIVEAWAY all you have to do is follow via blogspot!

Oh How Summery!

I love summery days in spring, where the sun shines in the afternoon and it feels like it's the middle of a British summer.
So I put on my gorgeous new maxi dress, and took some outfit photos OUTSIDE! (it was a special occasion!)

Oh how summery.
Dress - Goddiva
Shoes - So You Shoes

I don't like my face on this picture, but i love the dress!



Shoes - So You Shoes

Close up on my dress and the jewellery i'm wearing.
ALSO, PLEASE ENTER THE PRADA GIVEAWAY IN THREE POSTS BELOW!

FINALLY, A NICE PRIMARK TOP.

Okay, so personally I'm not a Primark fan. I love my New Look and Topshop and various online stores. My friends always say how they never seem to find anything nice in their, and that it's all either really cheap and tacky. Or decent and overpriced. So when me and my best friend went in our local store to get some tights, I came across this top. I fell in love...

It's like lace and crochet together, and looks lovely with a white top underneath, and my white top here in the photo is from Topshop!

White top - Topshop.
Lace/Crochet top - Primark.
Skirt - Chiarafashion
Knee Highs - Topshop.

Back view of my outfit



I've seen a few bloggers with this top already, not realising it was from Primark! it's selling out fast so hurry up and get yours!


ALSO, PLEASE ENTER THE PRADA GIVEAWAY IN THE POST BELOW!

Prada Giveaway!

Wow, even I'm excited for this fabulous giveaway thanks to Sistar B Bags!
The company is trying to reach 100 followers on their blogsite Sistar B Bags Blog!
So she contacted me to help her along.
All you have to do is click on this link Sistar B Bags Blog! AND FOLLOW HER BLOG VIA BLOGSPOT. All you need is a twitter account, blogspot account or google account. exciting or what?!
And you get the chance of winning this:

OPEN TO ALL FASHION-TRAIN READERS, YES YOU INTERNATIONAL READERS TOO!
competition is open until April 26th!
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

"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