NEW BLOG NEW BLOG NEW BLOG

Hullo! Long time, no see. Before I make this here Young Shields private, I would like to direct any followers of this blog to the new Young Shields which is finally ready over at www.youngshields.co.uk. Its about digital media, youth culture tid-bits and maybe occasionally a little bit of fashion.

So check it out - - - -  > WWW.YOUNGSHIELDS.CO.UK

THANKS! XXX

Young Shields is changing

Hullo hullo hi. Expect a whole new Young Shields/different kettle of fish to launch in the new year. Change is good!

Meanwhile, I update my Tumblr from time to time with new writings.

Til then!

so divine

To many the act of wearing anything but a teensy-tiny string bikini on holiday is a near-blasphemous act against the God of Good Tan, but for me true sacrilegious style can only lie in this divine one piece from Anthropologie. 

And guess what, kids - its on sale! Praise be! Let the lastminute.com September holidaying begin.

Wake up with a Stranger

Girl who wakes up with a stranger in 1996: 'What the eff?!'

Girl who wakes up with said stranger in 2012: 'What the eff?!! Sneaker sandals?!!?!'

HI! So after shoddy internet/life getting in the way, I'm back with er, added backside. I've been working at Dazed and Confused with the ad team there, which has been great so far. This sometimes involves looking at back issues (yes, the back thing is back) when nobody's looking, including a July 1996 issue I picked up the other day. With a smiley Neneh Cherry on the cover and stonking editorials such as the above, it all felt remarkably fresh in more than just a 'ooh let's make friends with the 90s cos we're sooo fashion' sort of way.

Also of note - do you think I would hear back if I cut out and sent off one of these coupons now? Tee hee (I wish).

Is this my favourite editorial ever?

It recently emerged that, in a poll of the most complained about adverts of all time, this one for Paddy Power was among the top contenders. If 'When it sizzles!' is anything to go by, however, then animal cruelty standards have come a long way since the heady days of 80s couture...

'Hey Grace, how do we liven up our 20th anniversary YSL piece? We've got the peppy dancing models, the Butlins redcoats, pix at jaunty angles, nylons, accessories, the catchy title...but something's missing.'

Grace: 'LET'S THROW CATS AT IT'

Photos

zOMG PROM!

Of course not, I'm way too old for Prom! (in other words: be my date?) Still, dresses for Summer Balls are occupying my brain more than they should be with several exams yet to go. If I could find a combination of any of these, that would be just great! A kind of home-delivered, ready to wear Schiaparelli Shirley Suicidal Supermodel sandwich... Thanks in advance, fashion gods!

Imagine being the couple on this Life cover? I hope they got married and had lots of babies.

p.s. Mmmm...exotic plumage

Maarten Van Der Horst x Topshop

schuht to puke

Top 10 picks from the only Tumblr in the world that actually smells like a Charity Shop. 

Meanwhile, somewhere, the Sartorialist wakes up in a cold sweat, realising with some relief that his platform-shod, polyester-clod pursuers of the night before were all just a horrible dream.

Or were they???

http://schuhtutehemd.tumblr.com

From 80s Cartoon to Catwalk to surprisingly good High-Street Store

I think I might have some trouble turning this into a series of 'From 80s cartoon to Catwalk to surprisingly good High Street stores' (did somebody say Bananapradaman?) but I might just give it a shot. Here goes:

From Rainbow Brite...

To Rainbow Brightest...

To Rainbow Brights again.

Earlier this year, Christopher Kane's Resort collection had us fashion girls craving rainbow brights harder than even our Punkyfish prone 13 yr-old selves could have envisaged. Luckily, purveyor of 'Brit Girls 'Pon Town' dresses Motel offers their distinctly less $$$ version with various multicolour items on sale. So now we can all be as blindingly stylish as everyone's favourite 80s Acid House chick, Rainbow Brite. Hoo-rah.

:-)

Surprisingly Fruitful eBay Search Terms: part 2

(part 1 here - or should I say heer)

Now for Part 2 of a little series I like to call Surprisingly Fruitful eBay Search Terms - and no, for once, I'm not talking about fruity print clothing (having said that, check out my latest, greatest and juiciest ebay find...)

Instead, here's another top tip for Ebay bargain hunters and huntresses like myself out there. This week:

2) 'Avant Garde'

Now, I'm not the sort of person who would describe my own dress sense as Avant Garde. According to Wikipedia, 'The term is used in English as a noun or adjective to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.' 


Who knows, maybe there's a chance that other people would like to refer to Young Shields as an Avant Garde blog - and, by association, myself as an Avant Garde blogger. Perhaps my use of the Apocalypse Now typeface in a fashion blog is, in itself, innovative. 


But I'm still not the sort of person who would describe myself as avant garde. There is a sort of person who would feel comfortable doing this out there, and I imagine them as such: a woman in her 40s or 50s, perhaps, who enjoys wearing tailored pieces from her own independent boutique, which sells Gothic-cum-Ladylike pieces and smells faintly of incense. She has a few cats. Perhaps she has bleached her avant-garde hairdo too many times and has now taken to dying her cats' hairs pink, too. I might be able to have a conversation with her on the subject of tie-dye, but not much else.

An avant-garde couple

CAN YOU SEE THIS AVANT GARDE CREATURE NOW? Now imagine what happens when this woman decides to sell a few pieces on eBay. What is the natural description to be attached to her clothing - clothing that, indeed, perfectly meets the Hipster Girl's sartorial needs today? Well, her tie-dye, 70s platform shoes, leather-bordering-on-fetish gear, collars and various feathered items all have one thing in common...

Some nice avant garde items going cheap on Ebay

 ...they're only bloody Avant Garde! Trust me - as a search term, its gold. You'll look as a-garde as Grimes in no time!

LATEST FASHION NEWS #2

THIS JUST IN: WIDELY DERIDED RAPPER-TURNED-FASHIONISTO WEST RELEASES ANOTHER COLLECTION OF HEAVY BLACK LEATHER. CELEBRATES WITH GO-KARTING FINALE AND KIM KARDASHIAN. 

TWIST: CONTROVERSIAL LOOK SPORTED BY FASHION BLOGGER 16 YEARS PREVIOUSLY:

adventures at urban outfitters

When the lovely Charlie from Urban Outfitters kindly offered to show me round the new collections in their Oxford Circus store a few weeks ago, I hopped, skipped and jumped at the chance. Here's what I learnt:

Antipodium is new to Urban Outfitters this season - I was loving this t-shirt dress with a print made up of angry cats and dogs. It like, totally makes a print out of animals - but not as we know it. Awesome.

Among some bits I got to choose to take away with me was this polka dot shirt with spiky tipped collars. I later offset the sheer fierceness with teddy bears. Hanger: stylist's own ;-) 

But the best part of my trip was discovering the most close-to-perfect dress known to man, in the form of this snake-print number from Vaudeville & Burlesque. It fits, it flares, it has bloody great pockets.

In my head, this is what it felt like:


All in all, an adventurous time. Also for some lols head to the Oxford Circus store at the moment, where amongst some heavy refurbishments some makeshift wooden changing rooms have been set up. Picture changing rooms with no roofs on, and then picture builders working on the ceiling, and you'll see what I mean.

LATEST FASHION NEWS #1

THIS JUST IN: WIDELY ADORED RAF SIMONS TO LEAVE JIL SANDER (POSSIBLY BUT NOT DEFINITELY FOR DIOR). CELEBRATES WITH EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF COATS WITH NO BUTTONS.

On Butterflies (and maybe turnips are pondered too)

Of all of the prints on all of the clothes in all of the world, of all of the polkas, leopards, stripes and tutti fruttis, butterflies have always been one of my least favourites. I guess what with every girl of my generation having sported countless appliquéd butterflies on almost every item of our 1990s wardrobes - I remember a particularly funky pair of denim pedal pushers - they're just not very, well, cool. 


That was until a little butterfly shaped micro trend fluttered into the eyes - and hearts - of those who checked out Kit Neale's menswear installation at Fashion East. 

From Bomber jackets to Backpacks, butterflies were combined with floral and large table cloth prints - and with one fell swoop (also known as one butterfly-clad male model with cute curtains) my thoughts on the matter were sealed. 

And just like that, my fashion brain was whirring, in search of more winged creatures 'pon clothing. It was, quite literally, a Butterfly Effect.

Of course, Butterflies also make a great cameo appearance in everybody's favourite Czechoslovakian New Wave rom-com, Sedmikrasky (Daisies). Her man needs to get him some Kit Neale.

So what makes the Kit Neale collection that cut above other butterfly prints of my dark past? I reckon the answers in the execution - inspired by hanging out with his Dad on the allotment, Kit incorporates winter vegetables into his designs. A somewhat more British take on Prada's bananas, I'm not sure turnips have ever been so sexy!

I'm also not sure if anyone has ever typed this into Ebay before:

Huh. So there we have it: a true fashion Butterfly effect - from small beginnings to a larger state of conditions, finishing with an Ebay equilibrium of zero results.

Oh, but if you needed any more reason to check out Kit's cabbage patch, maybe this will do the trick.

'Its Bliiind Date!'

 Dudes and Dudettes (mainly dudes): forgotten how to dress this Valentines Day? Can't decide between your denim dungarees or coral two-piece? Well here's our Graham with a quick reminder...courtesy of some late 80s/early 90s Blind Date screengrabs. 

And girls, if you're feeling a bit lonely on Valentines, you can just be glad you're not with any of these fellas I suppose. Although, to be honest, I'd take pastel trouser suits and tropical shirts over the latest Take Me Out chino-lad any day of the week. No palm-leaf print tee? No lighty!