Wilde Thing

I am just a little bit crazy over Olivia Wilde at the moment, ultimate Girl Crush alert!! And especially after seeing photos of her at a premiere in this stunning Gucci number....

Olivia Wilde

Gucci Fall 2011

Her look is so perfectly put together, i love the dress for its quirky 1970's cool. Just the right amount of skin on show, Olivia does side cleavage in such a classy way, teamed with cats eyes and that fierce red lippy its a sure fire showstopper. LOVE.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Lee Alexander McQueen 1969-2010

Savage Beauty, the McQueen retrospective has closed its doors after an extended run in the Met. It is an exhibition i would have loved to have seen. McQueen to me was an aspiration, a British boy from the wrong side of the tracks who rewrote the rule book on everything about Design. I find his work hard to describe in way that does it justice;  each piece holds such beauty and detail that it blows me away time after time. I think the images say more than I ever could, and I can only image that wearing a McQueen gown feels like slipping on an old friend that fits you like a glove.

"I think there is beauty in everything. What ‘normal’ people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it."

— Alexander McQueen

The exhibition has belonged in London all along, and now the V&A have launched an online petition to bring the Savage Beauty to the Capital. This seems the perfect homage to the Designer, to take his collections back to his home town.

A V&A spokeswoman said: "We would love to host the exhibition, we have spoken to the fashion house about it as we really want to present McQueen's work to our huge fashion and design audience here in the UK."

More info, including the petition itself using these links;
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Bring the McQueen Exhibition Home
Vogue.com Inside Savage Beauty

Skinny Genes

"I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes."


Yves Saint-Laurent

Normally, i never wear Denim, of any kind, ever. But recently I've found myself shuffling back into my old Skinny Jeans! 
I went for lunch with the Manfriend and Family today in this 7/8ths style, just double cuffing the hem a little and pairing with a simple mannish shirt and pink lipstick and Voila, dressed and ready to go in half the time!
Its a look I've been using a lot a work too. Waiting on all the Autumn/Winter Deliveries i need to be practical, yet still want to look good on the Shop Floor. Wearing a black chiffon shirt fastened to the top, tucked into second skin dark denim jeans with a leopard print pump fits the bill perfectly, and nails the Androgynous trends for this season too! I just switch my pumps for a block heel or wedge in the evening and add some oversized gold earrings, job done.

shirt by Alexander Wang £385 at Selfridges, earrings by Daisy Knights £165, shoes by Topshop £50

off key inspiration

I let my boyfriend take a few shots of me last night just to get a display picture for A Game of Silk & Mirrors, these are just some ideas i played around with...

Piano Legs- Ben Christopher

I find this image so alluring, in a sort of Alice and Wonderland-esque way; maybe some sort of beautiful Burlesque show you'd find if you went far enough down the rabbit hole....? Its sexy. From the rigid smooth lines of the piano and the cold monochrome of the keys, down the undulating lines the models legs create in those fabulous stockings.  I love the contrasts, how its both restrained yet oh so provocative... 

These are my favourite snaps, i put them together really quickly, having an apartment full of white walls is always a bonus! I loved the idea of cropping the shots or placing the focus directly to one side of the screen to echo Piano Legs, as if you are only seeing part of a story and can imagine the rest of the scene. 

I kept the Cabaret theme too, using tights similar to the original and using a Bow Tie and Glasses to play up the androgyny. 

The Silk Shirt is Topshop and is one of my wardrobe staples for work, the glasses are my Boyfriends and the Bow Tie actually is a little sequinned hair slide with a multitude of uses!

All shots taken on an iPhone 4 by Christopher Greaves     http://the1881.tumblr.com

There are...

137 days left of 2011, hopefully on here, i can fill them with something beautiful.

I chose to set up A Game of Smoke & Mirrors to share everything i find beautiful. I finished Leeds Art in the Summer of 2010 and since then have worked my way up in a company to become a Retail Supervisor, meaning that during the day, i'm lucky enough to be immersed in Designer Menswear, but in the evenings my thoughts are all consumed with dreams of the Big City and studying what i love, which if its not obvious already, is Fashion.