Minimal Packing?????

Haven't blogged for a while but just been really busy with everything for a while, just life taking over. Its mad after such a relaxing crimbo just thrown into the stress of school and jsut life in general. Anyway getting soooooo excited, going to New York in just less than two weeks for half term!!!

I mean WOW, NYC, in the snow! I last went to New York two summers ago for a few days on the way back from visiting my cousins from Toronto but this time it is going to be different! Just a trip to NY for a sole purpose of shopping, seeing and just generally taking in the general atmosphere.

The only problem is what to pack?! As it is going to be snowing and minus degrees , how can you look good but stay warm?! Last night it snowed for the first time this winter so me and the fam were off to Greenwich Park sledging all morning which was hilarious as it seemed like my dad and were having more fun than the majority of 8 year olds there. However this time we weren't as lucky as my cousin Mia who sledged in Primose Hill with Lily Allen 2 years ago

babe your hats covering your eyes.
my cousin Mia on the back of the sledge!

How am I suppose to look good and stay warm when today I was dressed up in an awful parka and my Nana's cardigan, although her cardi is pretty cool, blue and white dogtooth check knitted on a machine in Iraq by my great aunt! And on top of that apparently I have to plan a capsule wardrobe..... YES I KNOW MINIMAL..darlinggsss I can't do minimal. Anyway it has to be done if I want to be able to bring any new clothes back.......unless i just wear as many of my clothes as I can on the way back hmmmmm

However will probably end up looking like Kruno Budiselic who has
 the Guiness World Record of the most amount of tshirts worn at once
Maybe not such a good idea

I have decided on a few key pieces that I am definetely going to bring:

this ASOS shirt is a must bring as it works for day to
nightand can be worn a variety of ways

Gotta love a Bernstock Spiers turbini hat, the essential chic headgear 

TOPSHOP tie dye jeans
give any outfit an urban rocker edge

New Look Limited Edition Fur Coat
Keeps you warm, snuggly and on trend without killing any innocent animals! :)

Finally... Dr Martens!
grippy for the snow and that extra cool factor for NYC

AH-ZEE-LEE-YAH

On a lighter note from yesterday ( sorry about the rant!) the gal on my mind today has been Azealia Banks! Ever since seeing her in NME a few months ago and then finally hearing her elusive debut track 212 on Radio 1 in September, with over 40 changes having to be made to allow it on air,1 I have been a bit obsessed! I guess its kinda weird if you think about it, a 14 year old scholarship girl listening to a 20 year old potty mouth rapper from Harlem swearing at every given point and making vivid sexual references. But this girl can actually rap, sing, act and makes fucking good music which is pretty much unheard of nowadays thanks to Cheryl Cole and her followers of pop rejects. And the fact that she is continuously swearing, saying "imma ruin you cunt" doesn't make me want to stop listening to her, in fact it makes me want to listen to her more.

snapshot from the '212' video when Azealia is saying "what the fuck are you into huh" in this guys face ahahhaa

Soo today it was announced that Miss Banks had come third place in the BBC Sound of 2012 poll. I was kind of surprised that she didn't come first she is the freshest new talent we've had for a while anyway BBC's too mainstream for her hahaa lol, anyway I predict Spector to come first. They are completely different to Azealia's grime city vibe they have more of a 60s rock and roll Venice Beach theme with a husky indie twist, after all they are Dalston's superstars. Still she deserves this title and definitely deserved the no1 spot on NME's Cool List. C'mon she is the epitome of cool, rapping every single motherfucking swear word you could think of to mad backing of electronic beats, ( actually using some without permission ooohh) , while prancing around with a smile that your grandma would love. 

middle of the page, middle finger
thats how she rolls

This girl's going places... well she already has but ya know even more so. Azealia Banks went to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, I know all I can think about is people jumping on tables in lunch and dancing exactly like Fame, and apparently according to an interview with the BBC it was exactly like that. After wanting to pursue an acting career she suddenly dropped out of school to take up her real passion: music. She got signed up by XL who then dropped her, hahahaa shame on you suckerss, and then recorded 212 which was the start of her rise to fame. 

Now she's recording a new album with producer Paul Epworth who worked with Florence Welch, another South East London girl like me. Can't wait to see Azealia on the NME Tour in February and see if her 'tude really lives up to all the hype.

LIQUORICE: HER NEW TUNEEEE

union jack like the spice girls
sequin glamour with attitude

brothel creepers, daisy dukes and nike
match made in heaven

green faux faur and stripy strapless
gotta love her 'stagewear'

wearing a crown cos she's the queen of cool
dont forget the signature mickey mouse icon

MAYHEM

So its been over a week since Christmas and everyone is going crazy already. We've had New Year mayhem and although everyone has made numerous resolutions, including my parents- "I must exercise, I must not each chocolate, I must lose a gazillion pounds" no one is doing anything to address the major problems of the UK at the moment. We have been warned that 2012 is going to be even tougher than 2011 due to the eurozone crisis and the heavily hitting recession that is engulfing everyone across the world. 2012 calls for more redundancies to be made across the nation;  however perhaps the Olympics will bring more revenue to the country although so far it has costing billions leading us even further into debt.

mate you got some work to do

The crazy thing is while this is all going on everyone is hitting the high streets and shopping in the sales spending hundreds of pounds on 'bargains'. To be fair I've done the same i got two t-shirts from Topshop, a pair of Chinese slippers and a pair of H&M cloggy sandals but ya know something has to be done when we are in this state of economy. A box just arrived for my mum from Space N.K filled to the brim with products, full of gift sets and miscellaneous items and she's claiming that 'its all from the sale darling and I ordered loads of gifts for different people'. Two words: BULL SHIT. People believe that they need an plausauble excuse to order masses of the internet and they don't but it just strikes me how unnescary all the sale items we buy are. So many people grab up dreadful items that are absolutely disgusting but because its £3 they suddenly feel the need to buy it.

The worst is the big designer sales at Harrods, Harvey Nics and Selfridges. Selfridges marked its first day of the sales on Boxing Day with its busiest ever single hour of trade in which £1.3 million was made! Masses queued outside for hours hoping to get a great bargain however this is really just a false hope. All these designer items are maybe 50% or 60% off but still if they were sold on the high street and you just removed the branding then they would be a third or less of their original price.  I know I say all this and the next year I will go back again and buy a considerable amount from the sales but all I can say that if the country is behaviving all manic and crazy about a few items of clothes going on sale, thousands queuing up hours before the shop opens and even two stabbings occuring then we really are in trouble when it comes to our economy.

shoppers running into Selfridges after queuing for hours
wooooooww

I wish that I had Jessie's girl

Hey everyone sorry I haven't posted for a while, been busy with Christmas and New Year and then for a while I just wasn't really inspired and couldn't think of what to write on this blog. Writers block, eh?

Anyway over the past week I have been listening to Radio 1 and finding out who was the BBC Sound of 2011. Today Jessie J was announced as the number 1 Sound of 2011 by Zane Lowe. She beat James Blake- #2, The Vaccines- #3, Jamie Woon- #4 and Claire Maguire- #5. I love all the top 5 artists, the Vaccines are amazing and I'm going to see them in February and my mum regularly goes on about the time she saw Jamie Woon in the Jazz Cafe and got a kiss on the cheek from him and regularly calls him 'Jamie Swoon'. Haha in her dreams...Anyway Jessie beats them all by miles, she looks the part and acts the part with her unique street style and attitude.

Jessie J, otherwise known as Jessica Ellen Cornish, is in fact a real popstar who actually has experienced life. By the age of 22, she has starred in a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, written songs for Miley Cyrus and Justin Timberlake and toured with Chris Brown. But other than her musical achievements, its her style that really catches my eye. In her debut single 'Do It Like A Dude', right at the beginning you can only see her swooping black fringe and lips painted black and silver and covered with black diamanté spikes. 

She also has a very urban glam chic style about her, she wears playsuits with hoods paired with stilettos and on the Jools Holland Show she wore a black fringed top with skinny faded jeans and leopard print heels. I rhinks he will become a real style icon in 2011 as well as a music star. Her signature look is big hoops paired with jeans and either a statement jacket or heels. She is like the Lady Gaga of Essex; fearless, unique and definitely a one to watch 

Jessie J in music video for Do It Like A Dude

R.I.P Ugly Betty

Happy Christmas Eve Eve to everyone! Only 2 days left and there is is so much left to do! I'm actually so excited about Christmas, I know that I have a faux fur coat and a Current Elliot denim shirt and a pair of Hussein Chalayan/ J Brand jeans but I wonder if I'm getting any surprises. Its just too exciting! Anyone looking for a bargain should head to Browns Focus sale on South Molton Street, that's where I got my shirt and jeans!

Anyway last night I said goodbye to an icon, a heroine and an inspiration aka Betty Suarez. Yesterday the last two episodes ever to be aired were shown and say goodbye to the old and in with the new. Ugly Betty has been a complete inspiration to me over the last few years and has taught me a lot about life and self- belief. It is about the portrayal of ugliness and beauty and how it is perceived in different ways. At the very beginning when Betty had terrible dress sense and full on braces, glasses and bad hair no one at Mode, the fashion magazine where she worked, took any notice of her because they all thought that beauty only shows on the outside. However, by the end everyone loved her because I think everyone had realised that beauty comes from within and maybe it helped that she had a chic new pair of glasses, good dress sense and swishy hair.

I have grown up with Ugly Betty and I actually don't know what I am actually going to do on a Wednesday night anymore. I will have to start rewatching all of my boxsets to get rid of the void within me now that Betty Suarez seizes to exist. I don't know how anybody is going to going to live without Wilhelmina scheming, Marc and Amandas stealing from the closet and plots to embarrass Betty and Hilda's dramas. I am actually the real Ugly Betty: I have glasses, braces, crazy hair and plan to work in a fashion magazine. Ugly Betty has inspired me so much, if it wasn't for Betty I probably wouldn't have even started a blog. Ugly Betty will be in my heart for ever and I will always pay homage to the bravest girl in Queens: Betty Suarez.

The difference between Betty Suarez from the first episode to the last

The reinvention of 'prison chic'

So glad the holidays are finally here!! So far its been interesting I guess...got good grades, went ice skating in Canary Wharf with my girls in the snow, got stuck in a blizzard on the M6 and finally to top it all of Misfits Christmas Special tonight!!

 I am absolutely obsessed with the ASBO- orientated drama where 5 young offenders on community service get stuck in a freak storm and develop superpowers. It is amazing and closer to home as it is set on a estate in Thamesmead close to where I live. 

Theres something almost fashionable about the characters who star in this gritty drama. I think Misfits has reinvented the phrase 'prison chic' . The characters are often seen tumbling around running away from danger with their curfew tags hanging from their ankles and their orange jumpsuits worn differently according to each of them. The show makes me want to buy a bright orange jumpsuit and acccessorize a la Alisha with big gold hoops, bows and waist- clenching belts or Kelly style and scrape my hair into a Croydon facelift with severe smoky eyes and Adidas plimsolls. Other then the gripping storyline which is so intense, the fashion is actually very now and nostalgic with the signature South East London style with a twist. For Spring/ Summer '11 I predict clashing bright colours teamed with scraped back hair and big jewellery, Misfits influences everyone.

From Left: Kelly, Curtis, Alisha, Nathan and Simon a.k.a The Misfits

Panda wishes you a Merry Christmas

The Dream Christmas Tree

Only 10 days until Christmas, WOW! As its getting so close I thought it would be the perfect time to start a blog. So here's a bit of info about me. My name is Luma, I'm 13 years old and I live in London- the city of which all fashion, culture, art and music revolves around. I love living in London and can't imagine living anywhere else on the planet. All the beautiful backstreets and alleyways filled with all sorts of surprises- some good and some bad. 

In London is where I found one of my most amazing finds- on South Molton Street I found...A PANDA CHRISTMAS TREE!! I'm a bit obsessed with pandas, I have a panda teddy bear that I sleep with every night. That makes me feel like such a loner but I always know I will have one friend that I can talk to about anything: My Pandie...