Wardrobe | All that glitters

Is not gold..
But sometimes a little bit of bling is perfect for brightening up the snowy days that we're having in london at the moment.

Wardrobe | Plastic fantastic

Clear wallet: eBay

Although it's maybe not the best bag in a sense to bring around with a wallet and phone on full show, I still really love it. Clear plastic, square minimal envelope shape and gold corners. Absolutley perfect. Oh and ignore the dodgy tanning lines on my hands, a DIY New Year fake tan was never a good idea... 

Wardrobe | The perfect bag

Like most aspiring clothing collectors across the blogsphere, I'm always searching for "the one". Oh how that phrase brings joy to the hearts of fashion gals all over the world - the perfect item. An item you can hold onto for years to come (sorry boyfriend), treasure, stroke reassuringly in times of need, an item that looks effortless paired with anything. My searches for "the one" have come in many different forms, the perfect white shirt, the perfect leather jacket, the perfect pair of heels. Sadly, "the one" usually is too expensive for me to lay my hands on (i.e the perfect white shirt, rag & bone, why you so pricey?!) or is impossible to hunt down. Until yesterday, my search for the perfect bag was unrequited. That was, until I laid eyes on the most beautiful bag I have ever seen. Hello, Zara bucket bag - or the 'shopper basket'. First of all, it's big. I mean, really big. It can fit everything in, laptop, keys, make up, kitchen sink. Secondly, it's minimal. There is nothing I hate more than tacky bags with a thousand zips, patterns, fabrics and weird twiddly bits with no purpose. Thirdly, it's made of the softest leather and comes in three gorgeous colours. Finally, it's only 39.99. What more could you want? While my perfectly perfect wishlist is still waiting to be completed, at least I can cross one line off for now.....

Wardrobe | Winter

Skirt from Rokit, DM lookbook poster, "The sugar mile" poetry anthology by Glyn Maxwell, "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess

Had such a busy weekend, due to the weird indian summer weather we've been having recently! On Friday I met up with Lucy for discussions on the magazine and poster making (If your around London, posters for DOOMED YOUTH shall be popping up around Portobello, Shoreditch and Camden, as well as South Ken in the next two weeks - give me a shout if you see one!). Saturday, I met up with lovely Tegan and Mike who were up in London for the weekend, and we had a nice stroll through Southbank, Covent Garden and Piccadilly, whilst picking up henna tattoos, £1 books and panda rings on the way. Because of my horrific camera lens, I didn't manage to get any photos, but you can find them here, on Tegans blog. Check them out, there's a brilliant one of me wearing a giant panda head (don't ask). Saturday night was out with friends, and then lastly, Sunday was spent with Vicky - one of the sweetest girls ever - in Covent Garden. We swooned over the gorgeous guy in ROKIT and then tried to talk to a Polish skater in South Bank, as well as managing to get wet from some freak wave splashing over the railing from the Thames. We stopped into the Doc Marten store in seven dials, and I managed to pick up the lookbook with Agyness Deyn and the heart stoppingly beautiful Ash Stymest, its absolutely perfect. Def adding some more shoes to my wishlist... Gorgeous weekend, can't wait to get the photos developed!

Wardrobe | The perfect autumn wardrobe

Image via Flickr and the lovely Vicky.

The A/W wardrobe. Something us mere bloggers spend hours thinking over, lusting over, dreaming over. The first instinct comes when your favorite shops start stocking the winter ranges, however much the sun is shining outside, you find yourself lingering over a knitted sweater or a pair of fur lined boots. The second comes when your favorite magazines start on it - "THE PERFECT CAPSULE WARDROBE FOR A/W" screams from the front cover. And the third stage, the beggining of planning - alas the stage that makes you count your money in your paypal account and think "oh well, I really need that super adorable hat/heavy denim jacket/insert wintery item here". Currently, I'm at stage three. How many items can you get? Where from? What money budget are you thinking off? What trend are you going for? After reading Susannah Frankel's recent column in the Independent, I decided to get down to it, and start the planning stage.

• The first thing to think about is the kind of trend you want to go for. A good place to start is of course, trusty Style.com for the catwalks, Vogue, Elle. and online blogs. Sure, Fetish inspired bondage gear might not be everyones cup of tea, but there are some really great guidelines to follow around. 10 years back from the recent 70's trend, the 60's mixed with some futurist elements and slick boyish tailoring are my go to styles.
• Secondly, think of your wardobe! There is no point spending lots on on items you already have enough of. Keeping in mind with my still ongoing capsule wardrobe project, I'll be looking for pieces that keep in the trends, but also can easily be styled with older pieces from other seasons.
• Think of your budget. Being a 15 year old student, lets face it, I don't have lots to spend. Gather an idea of how much you want to spend, and the relevent shops you can look for. Online market places like eBay or Etsy are always good to look for pieces at a cheaper price, after all, trends are recycled all the time.
• And lastly, make a mood board! My inspirations has come from "This is England 86'", old 60's movies, back issues of old magazines, and skin heads.

I've been thinking of 5 items in particular. Firstly, a cool polo shirt. Topshop, Lazy oaf and Fred Perry have always stocked some great styles, and as well as nodding towards the skin head, boyish vibe, they easily fit into my every day school uniform. An slightly over sized 6o's styled coat. Maybe something with a peter pan collar, something similar to the gorgeous coats Audery Hepburn wears in all her movies. A burgandy sweater. A navajo rucksack. and lastly, a fur collar. What looks are you interested in for this coming winter? Have you begun on your wardrobe? Oh and I almost forgot to ask, does anyone know how to use a Dell for blogger? Being on hols, I've been using the hotels old old DELL, and my layout is coming up distorted, and won't let me open new tabs to reply to your comments! HELP! Panda xo

Wardrobe | Back to Basics

Loafers - Office

Things on my mind recently? The frequent rain (and a few storms), exams, maths, getting a fringe, the summer, spain and Jill Stuart's resort '12 collection. Each day feels like 2, and each week drags on. How long till the summer? I've been filling my time with procrastinating and eating ice cream. This weekend I went to my schools fair - and you Londoners will know what I'm talking about - only to have it wrecked by the biggest and shortest burst of hail, rain and wind. People were being dragged across the field with the marquees, all the stalls were blown over, and my friends and I were soaked to the skin. I don't think I've ever been that cold for a while, I could feel the water soaking into my bones. We went up to catch a movie, and missed it that evening, so we walked around for a little. I managed to pick up these beautiful loafers, building up my basics section of my new wardrobe. More posts late this week, after all my exams are over! Comments are disabeld for a little while, until I have the time. But feel free to ask me a question here! Panda xo

Wardrobe | Spring Cleaning

I finally started the re-invention of my wardrobe the last few nights (and changed my font!). If you've not new to this blog, you'll know about my plan of creating the perfect capsule wardrobe, if not, look here. Anyway! If your like me, with a wardrobe crammed with items you don't like or want, face every morning with a stone cold bitch face muttering "i have nothing to wear..." or just want a new look, the path of the capsule wardrobe is the one for you! After many days (and nights) questioning my sanity, I have created a list of of my steps to a beautiful, organised wardrobe.

1. The easiest part - culling your wardrobe, e.g selecting your items.

2. Working out your style - defining and re-inventing

3. Wardrobe essentials

4. The hard one - sorting, selling and saving

5. Last minute touches

Saturday night I began the process with culling. Which basically means trying on EVERYTHING in your wardrobe (yes, thats it, everything) and creating my favourite thing, a list. Whilst doing this you need to think about different things you look for in an item. Does this fit me well? Do I ever wear this? Does this make me look like obese dwarf? Scrutinise all your items. Keep in mind to do this to your accessorises, underwear, night wear and even bags as well. I''ve got hundreds of weird old bags left over from my 'emo' phase, or hand me downs from people that are broken, never used or just plain ugly. Now, whats next? Sort your discarded pile into boxes or bags with the following labels: Selling, aka through eBay, to you friends, through your blog. These are the items that are worth some money, and are in good condition. Charity shops, this is easy, the items that are too worn out or damaged, or just not worth the money. Apart from these two, there are lots of other alternatives. For example, how about saving a few for DIY practice or just to save to give to younger siblings or such?

So what did I come up with? After de-clutter number one, I now have a compact, colour co-ordinated rail of clothes. Seems like a good 2 hours work to me. I'd love to hear of your wardrobe encounters over the last few months. Email me at studmuffinthepanda@hotmail.com, formspring, or leave a comment. Hello to my new followers as well! Panda xo

Wardrobe | Stripes

Red stripes - Urban Outfitters Blue stripes - H&M, Black stripes - Vintage

So. I'd like to apologise for my, frankly, horrific blogging at the moment. My school work has been pulling me down with exams and revision, and, yep, you guessed it, even more revision. However, It's half term, and I'm trying to get myself out and about in other than a pair of worn old tracksuit bottoms and a bitch face that accommodates my revision sessions. I've had such a lovely week so far (aside from the work, natch). Last night I went out to a party with a friend and met loads of lovely people, a few days ago went up to Kings Road with another, Saskia - who you should check out on youtube for great make up tutorials - as well as meeting up with some old friends.

On a more clothing related note, whilst wildly leaping into creating my basic wardrobe, my uniform at the moment has involved of lots and lots of striped shirts. I have an abiding penchant at the moment for the boat necks and cropped sleeves that expose my wrists. They are really so simple to wear, and I'm finding myself looking every time I enter a shop searching for stripes. One of my wardrobe staples are defiantly becoming striped tops. What are your preferred wardrobe picks? Panda xo

Wardrobe | What's on my desk?

1) Giant Rubber Duck; this was given to me on my 14th Birthday by my freinds. It's full of messages from my year group, friends etc. Its so lovely, but it's HUGE, so I have no idea where to put it!

2) Wreath and Headdress; The little star headdress is from my first nativity ever. I was a snowflake, a small part, and I cried when I found out... Quite embarrassing... haha!

3) BFR mag, courtesy of Babara Ryan; It's the sweetest thing ever. Visit Barbara's blog here.

4) Art Project; I'm working on this for my art at the moment. I'm going to cover the skull completely in flowers. It's been inspired by Day of The Dead.

5) Revision notes! SCORE

6) Collection of Street Style Books

7) My Beautiful typewriter; I got this a few years ago for a measly £2 from a carboot sale by my country house. It's in great condition, and still works. I write up a lot of stories, or lists especially on it. I've been meaning to paint it a pretty pastel yellow or blue though, and spruce it up.

8) Box of DIY; Don't know why this is on my desk haha! But it's full of studs, ring bases, fake flowers, stone, thread, ribbon, bows, charms, chains, everything!

9) Lemon 'n Lime Water; I drink this, or vitamin water constantly. So so so good.

10) Where the magic happens; Ok, not really, but this Mac has been through a lot of shit. Including me dropping it down the stairs by mistake, and watching it split clean in half. It's been fixed countless times, and still works amazingly. Basically my baby.

11) Various train tickets and film; I have so many train tickets, it's nice to put a few up now and again.

12) Close-up of Skully McSkull!

Todays rather different post is the love child of many of my lovely followers asking for a room tour - this has been happening for about 7 months, and I'm so sorry for not doing it sooner - and one of my outbursts of cleaning my room (This only happens about twice a month, I'm afraid). My desk is my little alcove of happiness. It's where I spend my time doing homework, blogging, writing, drawing, you name it. It is full of the stupidest junk, and I think you can see a lot of my character from it. Let me know what you all think, and hopefully, We can start a chain of desk posts. I want to know, whats on your desk? I'm in London the rest of the holiday, revising, and seeing friends. I'm pretty excited though, going down to the super good charity shop round the corner to see if I can fit in a shift or two. I'll let you know how it all goes soon enough! Thanks and a big hello to my new followers! Panda xo