StyleWatch: LVCAT

LVCAT . 23 . HUDDERSFIELD
JACKET: TOPSHOP
LACE TOP: DIY
PENTAGRAM LEGGINGS: ETSY

 

DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE: If Wednesday Addams and Robert Smith collaborated and made a clothing line, I expect it would pretty much be exactly like my wardrobe.
FAVOURITE ITEM FROM THIS OUTFIT AND WHY? My favourite item from this outfit has to be the pentagram leggings. They were handmade by a girl on Etsy and I pretty much live in them.
ANY ITEMS ON YOUR WISHLIST? I’m on the lookout for a good tasselled leather jacket, a nice leg harness/chain and a ponyskin skater skirt.
BIGGEST FASHION FUCK-UP: Oh, where to begin? I’ve had some outrageously bad outfits in my time, but that’s what fashion is all about; experimenting, evolving and finding a style that makes you feel as good as you look.
FAVOURITE BRANDS: Actual Pain, SABBC, Oh Hell Clothing and shopwithasianstereotypes.com
HOW DOO YOU THINK YOUR STYLE WILL EVOLVE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS? Oh who knows? I’m getting married in a couple of years, and I’m a step-mum, so I probably will have to tone down my look slightly at some point!

Fashion Fades

Fashion changes pretty quickly. Those flat ankle boots you got last winter now seem frumpy and safe compared to the studded heels that are all the rage now. Your trusty trapper hat has been disregarded in favour of an obscenity-emblazoned snapback (or baseball cap, if you’re as old as me) and that t-shirt bearing the name of that metal band you loved a year ago…who wants that now there’s a new Obey offering up for grabs? There are thousands of examples of trends coming and going, with some, thankfully, disappearing as quickly as they first burst onto the scene (hammertime pants, anyone?), but that’s part of the fun of it.
See, when it comes to fashion, clothes and accessories are the parts that don’t really matter all that much because they don’t have lasting implications. A massive orange puffa jacket will be welcomed into Oxfam along with your old acid-washed jean shorts and those horrible Creepers that were never a good idea.
Hairstyles get a bit more serious when the fashion tide turns. Who wants to be left with a neon-striped Mohawk when trend dictates it’s all about lengthy curls? Not to mention the hundreds of girls left cursing the day they ever deemed an undercut to be the height of sophistication. Unwanted colours and wacky styles take a bit more time and effort to bin than a trip to the local charity shop, but eventually they can be rectified and the current mop du jour can be applied to your bonce in due time.

But what about the trends that come around and leave permanent, sometimes unwanted, reminders of your wasted youth? Tattoos a-plenty is what’s en vogue these days, with everyone claiming to love body art and masses of youngsters aspiring to be tattooists. It doesn’t matter that the majority of these folk were rocking grandparent chic two months ago, before abruptly deciding they’re now the hardest of the core, and produce ‘drawings’ akin to a blindfolded primary school child. It’s like the good old days of MySpace, when every camera-phone-toting scenester proclaimed they were photographers.
Unlike those faux-tographers, the army of LA Ink-inspired wannabes are dabbling in an altogether more permanent world. Tattoos are for life, everyone knows that, so you might as well get a good one and go to an actual artist for your work, which seems to be the concept that so many people are choosing to ignore.

The Quality vs. Quantity argument is very apt in today’s fashion-driven world, with many teenagers choosing to get as much coverage from head to toe before they hit their mid-twenties. Unfortunately the vast majority of these people are going to useless tattooists and coming out with sleeves, chestpieces and throats covered in, well, shit.
Sadly with the trend of tattoos has come the attitude that more is best, regardless of how well done they are. Status has become attached to the quantity of tattoos a person has, with heavily-tattooed men being messiahs of sexiness, even if they’re covered in diabolical work, whilst guys with one or two pieces of spot-on work are overlooked simply because they aren’t covered.
Surprisingly, tattoos can make people seem irresistible, point in case Mitch Lucker. He’s not attractive and his band haven’t done anything good since 2009, yet he’s heralded as being amazing and awesome and oh-so-gorgeous because he has tattoos. The most re-blogged and followed girls on Tumblr have stacks and stacks of tattoos; Radeo Suicide has some beyond questionable pieces but she’s the poster girl for hot, sexy chicks with ink!

Too much emphasis is put on tattoos, and people are being heralded as deities for no real purpose. Non-tattooed folk aren’t worth a thing to some people, which is pretty ironic because they’re usually the ones who get whingy for being treated different for being tattooed. It works both ways. No-one is better than anybody else, tattooed or not.
The status needs to be taken away from tattoos and people need to realise that, while it seems like the most important thing in the world right now, as you grow up it becomes a lot more different in regards to peoples’ perceptions.

I often wonder if the thousands of youngsters who are dazzled by this lifestyle really understand how having tattoos can affect the day-to-day aspects of life. People will stare. Constantly. And not even try to pretend they’re not. There’ll be unfair judgement, hassle from employers, presumptions made and, to the extreme, even unwarranted physical abuse.
On the outside it’s harmless body expression, and it’s fantastic that people feel comfortable enough to be able to express themselves. But tattoos are a current trend; another bandwagon that’s becoming more and more full by the day. What happens when the people on that wagon get bored like they have done with every other trend they’ve jumped on? Is the NHS going to foot the bill for laser surgery on all the unwanted tattoos across the nation?

StyleWatch: Brad Wroe

BRAD WROE . 20 . NORTH EAST

HAT: VANS
COAT: LEVI'S
T-SHIRT: LOTEK
JEANS: H&M
SHOES: NIKE 6.0

DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE: BMX; I'm wearing big spastic velcro shoes and a Lotek t-shirt.

FAVOURITE ITEM FROM THIS OUTFIT AND WHY? The shoes because they are practical as well as nice-looking. They protect my ankles when I ride and it's the first time I've come across the Mogan-mids in a decent colour. And I know it's not clothing but my tattoos are pretty special, they're my birthday suit outfit!

ANY ITEMS ON YOUR WISHLIST? Some more better-fitting BMX t-shirts - I'm bigger than I used to be and baggier ones are more comfortable to ride in.

BIGGEST FASHION FUCK-UP: I'm originally from Preston so it's a pretty big travesty that I've never owned a shellsuit.

FAVOURITE BRANDS: Nike, Vans, Lotek, Actual Pain and general band merch.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR STYLE WILL EVOLVE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS? I'll probably just end up wearing baggier clothes; my diet won't allow me to stay in pants like this for much longer!

LabelWatch: Actual Pain

Sin is in! If you fancy some threads that are befitting of the darker side of life check out Actual Pain. Their baphomets, goats’ heads and skeletal Marilyns aren’t your run-of-the-mill t-shirt prints, and the symbolic side of the Pentangled leggings hint at something deeper than the average anticross.

Actual Pain offers clothing and jewellery with a Satanic slant that you need to keep your eye on. It’s relatively new here in the UK, but a steady trickle of independent stores are beginning to stock the wares of the Seattle-based company.
With the majority of their prints coming on a variety of vests, t-shirts and jumpers, Actual Pain have managed to bring options to everyone, whether you prefer sleeves or not or just fancy something warm to relax in.

Far from playing to the current trend of adoring the dark side, it is obvious that the folk behind Actual Pain have created a brand that they have a firm belief in right to the roots.
If it’s something you want to be in on, visit the official website HERE.

Life Therapy?

(c) telegraph.co.uk

You know those days where you feel like crap? The ones where everything from your hair to your cooking is going wrong, your top somehow doesn’t match your new skirt and you can’t help but wonder ‘What if…?’ about your job, ex and everything in between. Oh yes, you know those days.
Well ladies, you don’t have to suffer any longer, I have the answer. He’s the early morning saviour of the unemployed, steely-faced as he wades through lie detector results and DNA tests galore; he’s dealt with thieves, underage pregnancies and more love triangles than the average Premier League footballer. Of course he is Jeremy Kyle.
I am fully urging you to tune into La Kyle if you’re ever in need of a pick-me-up when life isn’t quite what you hoped it would be, for Jezza truly is the perfect antidote to My Life Is Crap Syndrome…

· Area 1: Man Troubles
There’s nothing that gets you down quite like the behaviour of men. Single or taken, serious or having fun, the dilemmas are never far away. ‘Does he like me as much as I like him?’, ‘Why can’t he help around the house more?’, ‘Will he label me a slut if I sleep with him before Date Three?’
You may never get any answers to these questions and they’ll stay burrowed in your brain until the whole into him/help/slut situation is all you can think of. They might seem like impossible-to-deal-with niggles, but here comes Jeremy Kyle to blow your man woes out of the water!
The ante has been upped; lies, cheating, threesomes, meddling families…somehow your male-related problems seem as important as what to choose for tea, leaving you to sit there smugly thinking ‘Well at least MY boyfriend isn’t a potential father to his best friend’s cousin’s sister’s ex-boyfriend’s babysitter. And at least he didn’t meet her on Facebook.’
Enjoy Date Three.

· Area 2: Appearance Insecurities
If the dodgy male behaviour isn’t enough to perk you up in the ‘my life’s better than yours’ stakes, the female guests could well be the answer to your problems.
Fresh on the Kyle Catwalk are all the latest council estate looks, from tracksuit bottoms teamed with grubby vest tops, to too-small jeans and ‘quirky’ t-shirts from Select circa 1999, not forgetting that there’s usually enough cheap gold jewellery on display to show exactly why Argos is still in business.
Team all this gorgeousness with the very best Croydon facelifts and squiggly scratcher tattoos, and suddenly your uncertainties about trousers or a skirt are proven completely unfounded.
But that’s not all. If your hair is misbehaving, simply be thankful for the following: at least it’s not ginger-dyed-black with a good three inches of roots growing through. Greasy roots. With visible dandruff. Proudly displayed on national TV.

· Area 3: Annoying Friends
Let’s face it, we all have them. The ‘why won’t he call me back?’ girl, the ‘guess what I heard today…’ girl or the ‘I’m so fat’ size 6 girl.
You give your shoulders for tears and ears for comfort and sometimes you just can’t help wishing you hadn’t bothered. Sometimes the problems of friends get on your wick, which is perfectly normal, they were probably looking for the nearest exit when you dissected your latest break-up for the hundredth time.
Stop right there though! After an hour with Jeremy you’ll be begging your bestie for some mindless gossip and dying for her to complain about faux-fatness simply to tell her how fabulous she actually is.
Look at it this way: has she ever tried it on with your man?  Has she ever tried to implicate you in any dodgy dealings? Has she ever stolen money off you and used it to pay for drugs? No, no, no. Most importantly, though, has she ever allowed you to go on national TV dressed like a long-lost relative of Worzel Gummidge? HELL no. And she never would. She’d never do any of those things, which is something you’ll be eternally grateful for after hearing of the double-crossing shenanigans of Jezza’s finest.

· Area 4: Career Doubts
As a fresh-face 18-year-old you headed off to university with every intention of becoming the best lawyer in the country. By the first set of holidays the doubt crept in, your liver was functioning at 30% and the majority of the previous three months was a fancy dress-filled blur.
Come the first set of Easter holidays uni life is a distant memory and, four years later, you’re in the same job you had to get when you moved back to your parents’ house. So your life’s not gone exactly according to plan, but there’s no need to feel bad about it.
The tracksuited, lie detecting brigade are on hand to make your dowdy 9-5 feel like a high-flying power career that’d impress Alan Sugar. You may well ask why, and the answer is the surprisingly simple: at least you have a job. It may not be what you set out to do, but you can feel happy in the knowledge that you’re a contributing member of society.
All too often the guests on Mr. Kyle’s programme are jobless layabouts, happily claiming benefits with no intentions of looking for work to provide for the uncountable number of unplanned children they’ve brought into the world. And they’re unashamedly happy about this set-up. This instantly gives you the moral high ground and the feeling of smugdom you deserve for being a worthy member of the United Kingdom.

So there are four key areas for you to stop stressing about. The next time you’re having one of those days just sit back, pop the telly on and indulge in some Jeremy therapy.
Your life will never have seemed so perfect.

A Weighty Issue

(c) inquisitr.com

Remember a few years ago when Nicole Richie looked like she’d drop dead at any moment? We all remember that photo of her running on the beach, flat as an ironing board but for her excessively protruding hip bones and ribs. Shockingly, women across the world tried to emulate the look; size zero was everywhere. Being on the ill-looking side of painfully skinny shouldn’t have been appealing, but it was. Thin was in.

Fingers of blame were immediately pointed at the fashion world, but fashion is about clothes, not the people wearing them. It makes sense for models to be thin and average-looking instead of voluptuous and beautiful. Gorgeous creatures on the catwalk would provide too much of a distraction from the clothes, whereas plain, slim models allow the clothes to shine.
Fashion wasn’t to blame, nor was celebrity culture, it was a sheer lack of good old common sense! If you’re of the idea that you have to fit into jeans small enough to be confused with your daughter’s then perhaps you’re a bit deranged anyway. What’s wrong with having boobs, hips, a bum and – God forbid! – a bit of a tummy? Well, absolutely nothing as it happens. It’s perfectly normal.
As women we’re pretty much pre-programmed to be dissatisfied with most things, but it’s a big step from lusting over designer handbags to actively forcing your body to be something it’s not.

There are loads of celebs who’ve been down to the size zero depths and realised that being healthy is more important than being thin. Nicole Richie has now embraced motherhood, isn’t skeletal anymore and looks amazing for it. Tyra Banks has piled on some pounds, still looks fierce and often speaks out against being too skinny. Christina Hendricks is the same and even Geri Halliwell has a fantastic figure again after leaving her size zero years behind.
Some of our leading ladies have always been savvy enough to embrace their natural curves and are champions for supporting normality. Think Kimberley Walsh with her gorgeous hourglass shape; America Ferrera who scrubs up from Ugly Betty into a fabulous curvy girl and Kim Kardashian who is the current poster girl for boobs and butts.

Happily, it has come full circle, although it's taken half a decade to do so. For every Victoria Beckham there are now three Beyoncés – women who appreciate and embrace looking womanly. Gok Wan is the out-and-out champion for real-size girls, whilst Supersize vs. Superskinny is one of the only TV shows highlighting the negative effects of being underweight instead of just focussing on the overweight.
Times have changed since the initial size zero hysteria and, with an average UK dress size of 16, it seems we’re not all under the skinny spell. With Spanx, heels and clever make-up we can all look our best all of the time without having to feel guilty about having pudding.

Kate Moss can keep her “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” idea to herself because surf babe Marisa Miller sums it up perfectly: “It’s always better to look curvy. Women look sexier.”