Three Summery Ways to Wear Plaits!

For most of us girls who skii, plaits are the only option.

Pigtails, braids, ponytails, loose? Not an option.

Plaits are bound at the ends (no hairband headaches when stuck under your helmet), go straight down either side of your head, keep your ears warm!!, minimise Post-Skii-Helmet-Removal frizz and fuzz, and whats more look super cute/cool at lunch time or Apres-Skii!

Now I'm a very lazy girl. But that's not always a bad thing.

Long hair is as much of a nuisance in the winter as in the summer.

So I undo my plaits pre-shower and redo my plaits post shower.

Skii-Shower-Braid-Eat-Sleep-Repeat.

From this I have developed two key 'styles' (more like side effects).

The first is 'The Slept in, Messy Plaits' which give them an edge.

The second is the 'Polished Perfect Partially Wet Hair Plaits' which give them a sleeker look.

Both of which feature in these three looks.

My essential and reoccurring hairstyle of messy to clean plaits while on this most recent skii trip to Aspen, Colorado!

From upper left to bottom right: 1. Clean plaits! 2. Messy plaits (but mums plaits are clean)
3. Messy in a skii lift mid skii 4. Clean plaits along with apres skii root beer float
 5. fresh on the slopes with clean plaits 6. and finally last day messy sweaty plaits.

With skii season wrapping, I've been testing different ways to wear plaits so I can seamlessly segway them from winter to summer. These are the three styles i'm most looking forward to wearing them with. So without further ado...

Feminine Yet Hardball Street Style Look

The messy feminine plaits soften the harsh colours, graphics, chain and overall hardball street-ness.

Top and bottom: Feminine plaits on top, pink Chanel flats on bottom, and street in-between.

Moschino SS15 Jumper: Barbie Inspired Collection

 Christian Dior three Chain Necklace: Borrowed from mum.

Pink Chanel Ballet Flats: Second Hand Store Find

These were my favourite jeans until they got ruined.

The trick for safety pin DIY Jeans is to mix up the sizes of the pins. 

Essential: Make sure you get at least TWO of these XL Retro Saftey Pins.

 Moschino Bracelet: Net a Porter x V&A in Vintage Jewlery 

(Seriously check it out. Such good prices.)

Vintage Earrings brought a different retro aspect to the outfit.

But big earrings, of any kind: clip on, vintage, one on one side, are very in this summer.

Whatever your views of Iggy Azalea (can she sing? Has she had plastic surgery? Is that really what an Australian accent sounds like?)  It's undeniable that her fashion sense, just like her impressively pear shaped figure has had a large impact. 

To put it bluntly, she has taken rap and the traditional black culture that surrounds it, and repackaged it in a white.. Australian way. Like it, Love it, or Hate it... the female gangster look is... in?

The Half 'Teenager-at-a-Festival', Half 'Middle-Aged-Mother' Look

Middle Aged Mother                 v.s.                   Festival Teenager

A classy, vintage, Louis Vuitton Bag - but it's a backpack. With a foxtail on it.

Loose fitting, unripped, monochrome dyed, practical jeans - paired with a tummy exposing crop top.

Classic refined smoking slippers - with fat diamond encrusted gold heel. oh. and leopard print.

Elegant vintage gold and black clip on earrings - with fun cool club master sunglasses

but..  Plaits   -    Plaits 

This one can go both ways!

See why I insist on sleeping in my plaits? Soft, whispey, feminine, and most certainly effortless!

LV saying hello.

 My leopard print shoes, Louis Vuitton backpack + Foxy, and hair all match colour scheme, tying the outfit together from top to bottom.

I've admiringly dubbed these shoes my Las Vegas shoes, because I wore them the first time I visited. They scream faux-luxe, tackiness, Hugh Hefner, arrogance, flashiness, and bling bling. 

But that's why I love them!

Plaits are also fun because they lure innocent people into a false sense of security... 

when in reality... I could take them down in a fight...

 Louis Sitting Pretty. 

(Who I got for a pretty fee too! From the same Second Hand Store as my Chanel shoes!)

Navajo, New Mexico, Yellow.

Plaits + Native American inspired look = Can't go wrong.

Turquoise, tassels, brown leather and lace; all make up the traits that are inspired by Navajo women.

                     

Can you paint with all the colours of the wind? Pocahontas moment.

Gorgeous suede skirt with (cow) ivory beading, and such beautiful tassels.

American Indian turquoise and and silver from the Navajo tribe in New Mexico.

Navajo Princess!

Here is a good place to pause. 

My grandparents live in New Mexico; so it's a place I hold dear to heart.

The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American governed territory, that straddles part of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. It is the largest plot of land owned by any Native American Tribe. 

I tend to think of America as a whole; with all the stereotypical traits of New Yorkers, Texans, Floridians (lived with them!), Bostonians (Studied with them!) as miniature american cultures.

But Native American culture is so much bigger, richer, because its older than all of those miniature cultures. It's so un-american (considering all the traits I associate with the adjective american)

That is why many draw so much inspiration from the Navajo tribe alone; it's a huge culture.

With its own language, food, and of course way of dressing. Unfortunately it's adapted and modernised today due to globalisation (like everywhere else in the world), but there is a wealth of tradition and records to admire. The reason I brought this up is because although Navajo culture does still exist today, it does not exist happily. Many problems burden the nation, but predominantly it's coal mining 'curse' (as this documentary dubs it).

This is the trailer for the Vice documentary. The documentary itself is only 15 minutes long. If this interests you, it's interesting to watch and learn about. At the end of this year I'm donating to The National Parks and Conservation Association which has a great plan to reduce pollution of this coal-fired power plant that is causing so many health issues. 

You can too- if you wanted- if that was something you were interested in. Click on the link above!

For this last look I cleaned up my plaits a bit. 

Just this once...

I hope you all enjoy! If you are inspired by any of these ideas you know I'd love to see! You can post them in to comments of this post on Rogue Gone Vogue's Facebook page!

Happy belated Easter! -J xxx

Accepted into LCF for Fashion PR!!

I wanted to share with you all that I have been accepted into the London College of Fashion (part of University Arts London) for Public Relations and Communications!!
This is very happy news because this was my top choice and I have spent 2014 trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I have happily found myself falling for the world of fashion.

(Ball drop moment) : this is why I titled this blog Rogue gone Vogue. It's a metaphor. Clever, right?

It's always been something I loved and followed but never thought of fashion as something I could pursue professionally. After I moved to London, went to the Conde Nast College of Fashion and had this internship at Ralph Lauren (blog post soon...) it was clear that fashion was in fact very professionally pursuable. What's more there is a whole spectrum of choices! From fashion design to styling, illustration to photography. But fashion PR is what I've decided I want to do.

What is fashion PR?
I was asked this in my interview and was stumped. Stupid really; it's what I'm applying for and there I was stumped. But it's a difficult subject to pin down and describe when it's so broad and changing. (Keep in mind Fashion PR was very different and arguably didn't exist 60 years ago!)

So I explain it in two ways; the factual way I explained it to my interviewers, which simultaneously (roughly) explains what PR is...

"PR is the strategy behind communicating; the positive exploitation of relationships (not an evil thing I promise) and the brand to brand/brand to consumer relationship and voice blah blah blah"

And the bubbly silly way I explain it to my friends, which simultaneously explains why I chose PR...

PR is the reason that you feel like Chanel runs in your family, or that GAP is the only place for jeans, or that you'd argue with your mum 'it's not just a plain white shirt, it's a ____ white shirt'.

They needle and thread together the fashion weeks, to the celebrities who attend them, to the glossy magazines with glamorous ease.

The deeply emotional yet giddy feeling you get inside before you watch SS15 or FW15 strut down the runway.

The exciting and fabulous part of fashion where you get meet celebrities but act as flippant and professional as you get on with your job.

Everything you see on TV that you feel that merits the adjectives 'glamorous' or 'fabulous' is, or is down to, fashion PR.

It's exciting, overwhelming, but an adventure every day and every way.

That's why I'm doing PR.

Vogue House: Living Masthead

VOGUE HOUSE

The alter at which we worship...

Puppies are permitted in the office.. It's Policy.

Katie Thomas's spread 'My Close Up' in Tatler this month.

GQ's headquarters in Vogue house

The heck is that? you ask...
Well, reader, a Masthead is the equivalent of 'credits' you see in movies but for a magazine.
It's usually a hidden half-page near the beginning or end of a magazine (depends on each publication): and it lists the job and the employee's name.

A Living Masthead, is a process in which seventy excited fashion students waddle over to Condé Nast's headquarters, and huddle up in the beautiful Vogue Board meeting room (see photo above).
Then, in 15 minute darling doses, us eager fashion students are graced by various different Condé Nast superstars (through our eyes).

Throughout the day; I learned so much. Everyone' story of 'how they came to be' was so original, interesting, and quirky. From Will Harris (Head of Digital at Condé Nast) who started out with a law degree, to Patricia Stevenson (the Publishing Director of Tatler Magazine) who started with a degree in Hotel & Catering: everyone seemed to have found their own way to Condé Nast.

Everyone spoke so passionately about their careers; that their excitement and passion seemed to bubble up in our throats too; with each 15 minute segment ending in questions being fired at them at the velocity of hysterically inspired teenagers.
Some of the jobs that topped our list for most exciting included Nicola Moulton's job as Beauty Director of Vogue. Just this very morning she was at the Le Boutin's new nail polish range launch, then lunch, then she was speaking to us, and later that afternoon she was writing up a review of a new Spa: had all us girlies thinking "where do I sign up already!".

Any job in the Beauty department at Vogue was clearly our destiny after Nicola's talk; but it was only after Katie Thomas's (Tatler's beauty assistant) talk that we were hoping destiny could give us the best of both worlds; Tatler AND Vogue.
What I found even more exciting than Nicola's schedule was actually recognising and understanding what Katie's job was; Katie is in charge of the Tatler Celebrity 'My Close Up' interviews; where she finds out the beauty routines of actors such as Matthew McConaughey (who floored Katie with his delectable charm) and actresses such as Amanda Seyfried who's dewy, doll-like, doe eyes are purely down to some (unfortunate in my opinion) genes; sorry, no beauty tricks there.
I found what Katie does so fascinating because it's such a fresh take on featuring celebrities in magazines, so niche, so quirky?
If destiny made me so excitable, the least it could do is land me a job like Katie's to give me something to get excited about, right?

My dearest reader: I could write you a book on my thoughts and experiences today; but I'll save you the anxiety of experiencing my bee-hive of a brain, and instead, leave you with some direct quotes that provoked such thoughts in the first place...

"The saying is true; Dress for the job you want, not the job you have (...and since you lot don't even have a job yet, dress as best as you can!)" -Patricia Stevenson

"The difference between Vogue's beauty pages versus other publications [beauty pages] is we think on the left side of the field; always putting a twist or new angle on something" -Katie Thomas

"We don't like to focus on the anti-aging creams, or blemish remedies; we like to focus on enhancing the natural beauty of the confident women that is our reader"-Nicola Moulton

"No matter what job you end up with in life; you will always be trying to sell something to someone. So you better start learning how." -Patricia Stevenson

Until tomorrow!
Night Night sweeties!
-J xxx

Welcome To My World

Good Morning London!

Welcome to my wonderful world... This is my last, first post; so lets make it special!
To whom it may concern, I've decided to create this blog to share the special and wonderful things that I cherish with you all. So much has happened to me since I left Switzerland and came to London- as of now, I don't want to miss a thing!
A fashion driven career and lifestyle is what you can expect to tune into, with exciting toppings such as:
- Coverage of The 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show! (December 2nd 2014)
- Incredible guest speakers at the Condé Nast College of Fashion such as Bella Freud, Mary Katrantzou, and the one and only Fashion Foie Gras! (October 2014)
- My incredible intern experience at Ralph Lauren's PR department! (February 2015)
and many many more!
I'm so excited to share all of this with you, whoever you may be: friend, family, or fashion peers- I'm going to teach you everything I learn!

Love you lots sweeties,
- J xxx