copycats.

there.

part of the much talked about, and much lauded (especially on the blogs) Miu Miu shoe collection for SS10. yes, it's nearly autumn now, especially in shopping terms, but that's really not the point.

whereas those who've been going crazy for the shoes all seemed to love the print and the colours, it's merely the heel shape that drew me in. chunky and square; high but with a surface area that suggests they might be comfy for longer than your average high shoe, and in a range of styles and colours. of course, while i adore the print versions - the first pink bejewelled number and the kitty-print of the second style, in particular - if i was actually going to spend real money on expensive shoes, i'd probably err on the side of caution and go for these:

img from 5inchandup

WOAHWOAHWOAHSTOP.

this WAS intended to be a 'where can i find a similar heeled shoe for significantly less money?' post, but since the answer to that was, as it is for everything, 'trawl ebay', i stumbled across these.

these ones aren't Miu Miu, of course.

they are, in fact, a rip off. and while that is a subject that has been written about time and time again, i offer you not 'real vs fake', but 'fake vs fake'.

img also from 5inchandup

now, River Island 'borrowed' from the above pink bejewelled number and these cherry print ones sold for about £65, but the first, plain option comes from Korea and will cost you about £25.

and that's not all!

a glance at their shop (which is completely overstocked to the point where i really couldn't face the 60 pages of shoes before me...) reveals all manner of copies - some of which are really rather detailed/similar to the original.

mcqueen, chanel, balenciaga (or sam edleman if you're that way inclined), even a rodarte/nicholas kirkwood-esque number - and this is just a smattering. and all of wxyon shoes shoes are between £20 and £40, ish.

by this point, it should be obvious that i'm not against the rip-off industry. this is because a) i like shoes, b) i can't afford the originals and c) i'm pretty fickle, and spending £500 on a shoe probably isn't a good idea if it's possible you'll get bored of it in 2 months.

if i like a designer shoe A LOT and a similar version of said shoe happens to pop up in River Island or Topshop for a fraction of the price, i'm gonna want that option. especially if it's in Topshop, because that's what store cards were made for.

if some shop on ebay sells better copies for a third of that price, well, which one would you buy? of course, the quality won't be all that (i assume) but given the nature of point c) above, i might not care if they fell apart within a couple of months. and as i've seen from other peoples experience, price doesn't always equal quality anyway.

that said, if the black Miu Mius were to be on sale somewhere, i'd be all over them in an instant.

but what would you do?

------------

...and to get back to the original point of the post - since the selling point for me is the heel, perhaps these numbers would make me happy anyway:

£65 from office, also in black

and, let's face it, if i'm looking for something specific i'll almost always try the vintage section of ebay before i try anywhere else, and of course eebs hasn't failed me this time:

i stopped and gasped at that last pair. i mean, they have the heel, and they're printed, which is a bonus, but ALSO THE PRINT IS LEOPARD BASED I MEAN ITS LIKE ITS MEANT TO BE YOUKNOWHOWMUCHILOVELEOPARDPRINT*HYPERVENTILATE*.

brb, trying to decide if i can fit into a size 4.5

"classic revival".

Karlie Kloss in Vogue US

...and some kind of move on from the vogue italia shoot i posted last week (though with more clothes).

although i have NO LOVE for the rochas shoes in the first pic, i do have admiration and/or love for everything else in this shoot (Derek Lam skirt in pic 1, balenciaga shoes in pic 2, 70s feel to whole shoot, entire look in pic 5).

might look to adding scarves to the beehive, which is currently being dyed, since the roots were ridiculous. trying to keep the blonde bit blonde is a task, i'll tell you that.

imgs from fashiongonerogue

fur and gold

I'm very nearly done with my sketchbook - shall be wandering down to the library for last minute printing and gluing since my printer broke and my glue ran out, but more or less, yknow.

Amongst the drawings of greek statues and photos of european buildings are a number of editorials and street style looks (thankyou, blogs of the internet!) and a few catwalk looks, most notably from Rodarte and Alexander Wang S/S10, Christopher Kane Resort 2010, Chanel and Haider Ackermann A/W09, and a lot of this man:

yo 'sup, homes?

Rick Owens; the one and only.

Namely A/W08, but also newer seasons...

A/W08, though, I loved. So I'm posting it.

Because, I have come to realise, this blog is pretty much an online sketchbook of most things that I do and see, and it will undoubtedly come in handy in my uni work and beyond. Infact, it already has.

I just love the 'warrior woman' vibe - course, most RO collections have this vibe, given the leather, but yknow.

My actual biggest want ever in life was one of his jackets. I 'spose I shall make do with the custom made one, green lining or non, for now.

What struck me about this collection though, was the furs.

Cos I vowed, never in my life have I yelled at a girl like this to wear new, real fur. I'm down with faux, for obvs. I'm down(ish) with real vintage (no extra animals had to die to keep me warm, innit), but new fur? Not a fan.

Which is odd, really, cos I have absolutely no problem with leather, and I'm a meat eater through and through, and it's good to not waste things and use every bit of the animal and such...

As it turns out, my gorgeous warm and fluffy vintage fur that I got in Paris is real. Eep. I google translated the German label, what of it.

I mean, I shoulda known given the fluffy, but it was just too good of a price for such a coat....

Point? Rick Owens A/W08; totally hot furs. Ach, damn you Rick.

It's the drape of the 6th one; which is essentially the furry version of that coveted leather jacket. It just gets me everytime.

PS; nominated for blog of the month at ukstylebloggers! Jus' sayin; it's a vote kinda deal.

Lazy Blogging: Things I Love (& Hate!)

As stolen from NOGOODFORME.COM aka one of my daily reads. Home of Beatles and Kinks fangirling and imaginary shopping sprees; hilarious and heartwarming genius; read it now.

This is partially a recap of the past 48 hours, also. Handy that!

I LOVE this clip, sent to me by Ana Eagle Snowdon. As discussed yesterday at great length. Armstrong & Miller's WWII fighter pilots aka chavs. BRILLIANT, isn't it. Isn't it.

It is.

I ALSO LOVE Sean Lock on 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Quote:

"What's the the worst thing about nightclubs?"

"Slaaaaaaaaags"

"Worst thing?!"

"Yeah, not enough of 'em. Slaaaaaaaaaaaaags"

XD

I HATE when people with pushchairs think they're more worthy of public space than anyone else. Like in the lift, in the car park, we got in last and so were going to get out first and this bloody woman charged ahead with her child and nearly ran us over. Dickhead.

I LOVE the word 'dickhead'. It's such a northern insult. Northerners just swear better. Infact, this is how well we swear - to pronounce dickhead properly, it should be pronounced thusly, and as harshly as possible: "Dick'ed"

I HATE having to wait 'til January to see new Lost episodes, especially given the Comic Con craic. Dominic Monaghan!?!?! Was ist das!? See, it even called for german. And I have to wait at least 4 months for this. Possibly 5. I don't even know the damn month.

I LOVE how Mad Men is back on TV in just three tiny weeks! JOAN MOTHERFUCKING HOLLOWAY IN ALL HER GLORY! Yesssssssss. And Don Draper, who, let's face it, sweats sex.

Also Project Runway!!! WHEEEEEEE!

I ALSO LOVE and recommend wholly, driving down the A1 (any motorway/highway/fast road/whatever) playing Rebellion (Lies) by the Arcade Fire as LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE and dancing. I also love/recommend following this with pizza at Pizza Express and ice cream at any anonymous ice cream stall. With sprinkles.

On the ice cream, not the pizza. Unless that floats yer boat.

I (and Ana) HATE any adverts not involving animated meerkats. Particularly anything promoting hair/beauty/feminine products. WHY ARE ALL THESE WOMEN ANNOYING/IDIOTS?!?!? Arghhhhhh etc.

Like, that one where the woman has fishnets on and then she shaves her legs and then she's like "ahaha I don't need these anymore!" and takes them off and struts on her merry way. Woah, wait. YOU WERE WEARING FISHNETS! Like you can't see hairy legs through fishnets! WHATTHEFUCK.

Don't get me started on that Tampax Pearl advert. It must be stopped.

I LOVE drunk boys who dance like Jarvis Cocker. And Connection: now at Stereo. And fabulous gays who have the male equivalent of my hair* and wear harem pants. Such boys are amazing.

*blonde and asymmetric. Although I believe his is longer than mine. Booo.

I HATE when alcohol makes people forget awesome nights. Not me this week! Be excited for me having all my memories of Monday in tact! Wooo!

I ALSO HATE how my hair is stupidly short after I had to cut the split ends off and now I look like a boy. ;_;.

I LOVE how this gives me an excuse to wear/buy hats to wear while it grows.

This nicely leads into how I love charity shops more than life, especially when I buy the mother of all fabulous hats (post to follow. Although I have to wait for a camera so....hmm.) for £4, and then go into Scope to find they have a sale and therefore manage to get a cropped jumper (which I have been looking for!!), an orange silk vest and a pair of clearly awesome men's chinos which are that slouchy, turn-up kind of awesome for a pound each. A. POUND. EACH. Essentially, that is an outfit for £3. Suck it, bitches.

Charity shop sales, man. That's the meaning of life.

I enjoy that it was hard to think of 'hates' at first and then I got right into it.