Acid Brights and Summer Rain

Hi, welcome to my very first blog! :-)
I've been meaning to start a fashion blog for absolutely forever and I guess the new year is a perfect time to start! Basically I am just hoping to document in some way the crazy creative process that constantly goes on inside my head, and to let you in on some of my thoughts and feelings relating to fashion. I am constantly hunting for new inspiration and searching for that next 'look' to try and create, that next persona to take on, so that I sometimes spend hours on the internet trawling Google Images, the fan sites of my celebrity style crushes and facebook (yes- I do realize that makes me a bit of a facebook stalker, but you'd be surprised at some of the style inspiration you can find!)
     Like all creative people, I can be inspired by so many different things; films, books, music, TV programmes, people on the street, designers, fashion magazines, even certain types of weather. I am aware that what I am about to say is a little weird, as everyone i know seems to hate this weather, but my absolute favourite type of weather is when you get one of those unbearably hot, humid, sticky, over-cast, cloudy days, where the sky is like this dense, impenetrable white-grey, and the air feels alive with the threat of thunder and lightening, and you can feel its crackling tension all around you, like it's full of friction- and you can't wait for it to break. You can't wait for that moment where you hear the first rumble of thunder, and then the sky opens up and warm rain pours over the the hot, dry pavements and sun-baked earth. Most of all I love the smell. Summer rain. You just can't beat it.
     I work in a perfume shop, and there is a perfume called Unforgivable by Sean John (that's P. Diddy for those of you who don't know) which smells just like the rain. Sometimes I tell this to customers when I'm trying to sell it to them and mostly, they look at me like I'm a little strange. Anyway, when the weather is hot and humid like that, it reminds me of the summer when I was seventeen and me and my friend used to go out shopping all day in Croyden Centrale, and take walks to the park near my house, and in the evenings we'd try to get into random old-man pubs where we wouldn't get ID'd and sit and get drunk on cheap wine and talk about makeup and boys, or sit in my house watching Sex and the City, and we always wore little shorts and pumps and shrunken jackets in bright, clashing colours and sports-luxe fabrics.
     My friend always carried off the look so well and I always wanted to dress like her. When I was meant to be revising for my As levels I would really be spending hours pouring over tropical-print shorts and shrunken jackets in acid brights on Topshop.com to wear during our summer adventures. Sometimes, when it rained, we'd run out into my back garden and jump on the trampoline in the downpour, getting soaked to the skin. Since then, I've always wanted to do a photoshoot like that: two teenage girls jumping in the rain in summer on a tampoline- all long wet hair flying and mascara running and bright, funky outfits with lush greenery in the background. Whenever the weather is like that, it makes me think of those long, hot, summer days of teendom, longing for the rain to break the hot, restless tension in the air, and I want to throw on a shrunken white bomber jacket over a red and white printed shift dress cinched in with a thin mustard waisted belt, and add heaps of red plastic beads and matching red patent pumps, like I did that summer in 2006.
     I am aware that this post has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the current weather/trends, but anyone who knows me, knows that I hate winter and being cold more than anything in the world, and that I live for the summer months. Therefore, in my defense, I think I needed to write this as a boost to get me through the cold, dark months ahead, and hopefully to inspire and boost the spirits of anyone reading this (it's never too early to start planning your spring/summer looks, people!) 
      On that note, I am currently LOVING the Snake Valley collection in Topshop right now (a quick warning: you should probably be made aware that I am completely and utterly OBSESSED with Topshop.) Anyone  who hasn't already had a browse through their SS 11 previews online, do so immediately if not sooner! I can't wait to put on some snake skin shorts and a fringed crop top and dance beneath a summer sky with coloured streaks in my hair (I haven't done that since I was fifteen and I used to spray pink hairpsray from Boots in my hair, and I've been secretly hoping the look would come full circle ever since.) (Also, I'm not sure where exactly I'll be dancing around like a hippy underneath a summer sky, but it's the image I have in my head.) Here are some pictures to get you more inspired for the (hopefully) hot, lazy, humid summer days ahead, so please enjoy them, and I hope you enjoyed my first post! Lots of love,

Chloë

xxxxx

I found this on Google Images when I searched for 'summer rain' and I think it sums up the those words perfectly.

   
This is on the Topshop website- I got it from http://stylesketchbook.blogspot.com. It outlines the whole 'snake valley' look.

 
  This really beautiful picture also came up when I googled 'snake valley.' I love the colours in it and I think it definitely captures the mood of Topshop's Snake Valley look. It's from a website called www.protectsnakevalley.com. Apparently there's an actual place called Snake Valley and I didn't even know :-S Well, you learn something new everyday!

Also, I've decided to put together a little outfit that I can imagine wearing to a summer BBQ/ garden party that I may just have to purchase in the nearby future...

 These AMAAAAZING shoes which I have just discovered and which I simply HAVE TO HAVE. Omg. they are SO beautiful. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

with these sexaliscious mini-shorts, (which could also be worn now with black opaques and battered winter boots),

with this crop top

worn under this kimono jacket

with heaps of gold and turquoise jewelery like this stunning ring. Obviously the outfit would need to be tried on first, but I think it would look pretty fantastic.
All these images are from www.topshop.com