HEJ! It's clog-o'clock

Jeepers Creepers! Time check - 2:14am. Melissa Sarah has work in less than 6 hours. You would expect I would be hugging the fragile shell of slumberland, ready to wake to birdsong and for cute bunny rabbits to make me eggs benedict and help me put on my powder blue negligee.

Negatory. Probably like the sad individual in the news this week who is being treated for smart phone addiction, the billowing gaze of ghastly white phone screen glare is caressing my face like a cheap balaclava.

It's a genuinely rare occasion that I even make it past 9pm without being seduced by the sandman but this occurence stood out for all the wrong reasons.

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Oh the horror!

Was this really appropriate instagram etiquette? Should there even be a worry over instagram etiquette? Either way, with semantics aside, I have altogether been denied access by the technological robot gods for (quote from 16-year-old brother) "Being an internet stalker freak". Well excuse me Libby Chessler.

I may be spending a nauseating amount of tick-tocks by being extremely rude in peoples company, scrawling through gif after gif of cats and breakfasts but it's all to feed my addiction, not to instagram or smartphones, but to swedish style. Why do the swedish girls seem to be outdressing the globe!

Stockholm and Gothenburg as travel destinations are seeming dreamier and dreamier as the days roll on and Scandanavian style is always something I looked to for adaptable summer looks, without losing your essence and taste, come rain, shine, or rain, or rain again, and rain...

There's something very adorably Suzy Bishop about their dainty collars, innocent 60's prints and coquettish berets.

Circa days of 2007/2008 when I first grew a penchant for blog browsing, I was always more inclined to delve into Scandanavian blogs like the beautiful Sandra from Niotillfem or Alice Point.

Since then, H&M has come all Beyonce over us and high street brands such as Monki & the sought after Orjan Anderson & Adam Friberg creation, Cheap Monday, have made us Brits prick our ears up like clog fancying meerkats. AND BEYOND RETRO! My word!

Brands like Weekday and Acne have only strengthened fascinations, with collaborations with Antwerp graduate Mariel Manuel for Weekday. Scrummy mermaid musings. I want to be a mermaid!
In terms of design graduates, alongside St Martins, I think Antwerp Royal Academy Of Art squeezes the best of fashion grads like Mariel, Matthieu Thouvenat & Cedric Jacquemyn. Their graduate show this year was stunning.

DD: Do you have a type of person in mind when you are designing?

Mariel Manuel: I love women from David Lynch's movies and they always inspire me. I like to work with his feeling of displacement, of people that are not in the exact right setting

-Dazed & Confused

My appreciation is seeming to stem from my love for the more trend-escaping, pure & small intricate details that make life what it is. I love breathing in and getting foolishly giddy over the smaller things in life, and the instragram users I love so from Scandinavia seem to be of the same ilke, not just in fashion terms. No one can underestimate the power of coloured hoisery & t-bar's to drop you back to princess-like innocence. Theirs an element of me feeling like they are ahead of a fashion timeline that no other have hit yet!

So here are a few (to myself) inspiring pictorals from my favourite instagrammers who keep making me want to keep upping my game!

VIA @carolinbrigelius

VIA @johannanyberg



I'm a wee bit obsessed with acquiring some Swedish Hasbeen's . The closest store for these scrumptious yodelling cuties is in York.

                                                      

'ows that!

Does Mr Jimmy Anderson know how devilishly on trend he is at the moment!?
One thing I associate with Summer is cricket but Chanel have taken my wisdom (obviously) and hit a massive six into the crowd!

Colonial breeze and humid landscapes shared the runway with "the squad" and Karl's summer muses sauntered to the wicket. It's hot out their in the middle, so I better get my whites ready!

Someone please tell Bumble that he inspired Chanel Cruise 2014

OLD LADY FILM NIGHT - WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGGOO?

“The (fashion) industry invokes its powerful magic, the model. Paid 20,000 francs an hour, this courtesan for the eyes, the mirror of the fantasies, madonna of the photo spread, keychain to the dream world, the cover girl.”

—	Who are you, Polly Maggoo?

Ottavio Missoni - The Prisoner Of War Who Stumbled Into Our Fashion Hearts

It was the love story that forced it's way into people's hearts and wardrobes. Ottavio "Tai" Missoni is leaving behind an italian fashion dynasty as he passed away this morning at the age of 92.

Being a lady who's life is sprinkled with plenty of colourful grandad knits, chevrons & zigzags and a great believer in strong, loving relationships with family and partners, todays news came with great sadness, as I'm sure it did for everyone.

From being a prisoner of war in Egypt as a youngster, becoming a Olympic hurdler and falling into the fashion world after meeting a shy Italian girl in London named Rosita, it's impossible to imagine Milan Fashion Week without the huge powerhouse that it has become today.

He was a true patriarch of Italian style, with both Rosita and himself making a big stamp during the late 60's and 1970's. When reminising the waves of the beautiful imagery seeping from the pores of 1970's fashion houses and being recreated now, alongside Pucci & Ossie Clark, Missoni were the kings of the chevron, stripe and the psychadelic print.

Print was simply a segment of their house stylings that seem to have remained a constant throughtout the families generations. In 1958 the first dress was sold under the name Missoni. It was a knitted shift dress with a really complex and detailed weave intermingled with a immeasurable array of colours flowing through the garment. After laying eyes on it, Diana Vreeland was quoted as saying "Who said there are only colours, there are also tones!"

From their humble beginnings, set up in the basement of their first home, the ethics, style and imaginative collections have remained the same. I love the real warmth you get from a fashion house that is family based. The fact the youngest lady and Ottavio's granddaughter Margherita cities her grandmother as her biggest influence holds such weight with people like myself who is lucky enough to think just as highly of my immediate family.

For me, appearing on the catwalk with Angela in 2011 at Milan Fashion Week spoke volumes of how the house operates and helped bring back Grandad chic, I've always described my fashion style as a schoolgirl who's got locked in her grandad's wardrobe.

"Mix & Match became our look and we experimented with all sorts of weaves and methods - space dyeing, tie dyeing..." - Rosita Missoni

Knitted dresses & Missoni coats have remained the must have staple in a range of different fabrics and textures like rayon, silk, cotton & wool. As a duo their experimentation with knitting techniques have revolutioned modern fashion. What I've always admired about Missoni is their steady foundations and the ability to not break their backs over regimentally sticking to every current trend.

He very much reminds me of my own lovely Grandpa in appearance and attitude and I'm a complete sucker for old love stories, similar to my own Gran & Grandpa. Whether it was being an author at 90 or being a father he was a completely timeless character. Ciao Tai!

"Our philosophy since we wnt into business has been that a piece of clothing should be like a work of art. it should not be bought for a special occasion or because it's in fashion, but because a woman likes it... and feels she could wear it forever" - Ottavio Missoni