You may remember that I am part of the Access All ASOS blogger programme. Lately it’s been a bit quiet on that front for me but there was something that I knew I had to be part of – the Secret Santa! Basically they gave us a discount code and sent us the details for one of our fellow bloggers, so we could send them a little treat. I didn’t know the blogger I was given, but I hope she liked the little treats I picked for her.
As for my own… well: these are the amazing goodies I got – from someone who realised how much I love cats! It was a lovely surprise and it brought a few smiles to my face. Thank you ASOS and my lovely Secret Santa!
The task: to recreate one of Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic looks. I felt inspired and I picked the one in the middle as it immediately made me think of the red dress I have in my closet, that doesn’t get enough love – somehow it feels too grand for work… This is for an ASOS competition, to signal the release of the new Yves Saint Laurent biographical film. I’m quite excited about it… I watched L’Amour Fou recently, a documentary film about the relationship between Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. It’s an emotional film, very touching even and was a very good insight into the personality and life of the Designer. This one, with all the costume recreation promises to be if nothing else, a feast for the fashion and style hungry eyes.
I got together with Filipa and we went round St Wulfram’s (the local church) to do some photos and freeze our asses off. I should have really worn a coat out. The things one does for art… and a nice competition.
I decided to wear sneakers, because, you know. They’re comfier and all that. Plus I wanted to dress it down a little. I didn’t want to look like I was heading to the ballet or something…
Outfit details – Dress – H&M (from Ebay), Gloves – from Ebay (got them for the office Xmas party outfit) , Shoes – House of Holland x Superga, Fascinator thingy – Poundland (cheap!)
Ok, this is getting silly now… Just watch the trailer if you’re curious about the film.
I’m joining the ladies over at Visible Monday as it’s been too long since I’ve done it, no?
Last Saturday I headed down to London on more time, for the first ASOS Insiders event of the year, this time a clothes swapping event, with talks about ASOS Marketplace and some of its vendors.
The premise was simple: you had to bring up to 3 good quality barely worn or unworn items, to swap with your fellow bloggers. There was also a selection of ASOS samples available for grabs. We were asked to fill in a tag for each item with our info and details about the clothes and place them on the rails. After that we were given some time to wander around and see what we liked. I put my eye on a few pieces and when the time came we all went for it. It was all very civilized and all of the 3 pieces I picked were on my ‘watch list’. After that we were told to just grab anything we wanted as they didn’t want any clothes left on there. I ended up picking up a few more items and came back with more than I brought in. Result! This was my first clothes swap event and I really liked it. I hope I can attend more during the year, as according to my resolutions, I’ll have to, if I want new clothes.
The talks about Marketplace were very informative – I had never really considered selling stuff on there but now I think it’s a really good idea. It’s better than Ebay because you can list up to 100 items, for a fixed price and you don’t pay anything to do the listing, only a commission when you sell something.
The first talk was by ASOS Marketplace’s very own manager, followed by Amy from Mod Dolly (what a surprise!) and Steve from House of Jam. The talks by the vendors were extremely inspiring and we could see how their businesses have been steadily growing organically.
As the event started early we were treated to breakfast and later a light lunch that was very delicious! I loved the mozarella and tomato skewers. Nom!
Sarah from A Million Dresses looked really cute in her Mod Dolly tartan dress and her apple shaped wicker bag but what really caught my eye were her nails. How sweet are they?
Laura from That’s so Yesterday, Siobhan from boutique Shop Floor Whore and yours truly showing off our crazy phone covers. We were clearly the colour brigade of the day.
I was fascinated by Shop Floor Whore goodies – reminds me a lot of the 90’s rave and club culture, what’s there not to like? A totally fun explosion of colour and glitter – right up my alley. More on Shop Floor Whore soon!
Mod Dolly’s rail at the event, with some of the items from the current collection, one of them my lovely dress that I wore on Christmas Day in Marrakech.
Here I am, posing for an outfit photo with Lucy from Lucy Loves, who I had already the pleasure of meeting at a previous event. She is so nice, I hope to hang out with Lucy again really soon!
(What I wore, in case you are wondering: Beret – Betsey Johnson, Cardigan and long sleeve black top – Primark, Dress – Sonia Rykiel for H&M, Pencil Scarf and black socks – H&M, Shoes – Portuguese designer Filipe Sousa at Eureka Shoes)
After the event Amy took Laura and I back to Dragon Castle for some dim sum. Delicious!!!
The lovely Charlotte from Crave Green Velvet made a video of the event – with great music to go along with it too (M83! Love them!). Make sure you watch it.
Thanks ASOS for organizing another fun event. We Insiders are truly spoiled!
(I’m adding this post to Patti’s Visible Monday, as it is outfit sharing time!)
Last Saturday I had once again the privilege of attending another event at ASOS. This time, Social School. Sedge Beswick, one of the social media ladies at ASOS promised to teach us everything there is to know about social media and so she did.
After a few nibbles, of course, which included branded cupcakes with several social media platforms.
We were shown a fun presentation, with a lot of interesting facts and statistics about social media and its platforms. We also played Social Bingo – each and every one of us got a card with several words and expressions that we had to cross out every time Sedge mentioned them. As with traditional bingo, the first one to complete a card got a present! I didn’t win anything on this first game but I did on the next…
As always, there is plenty of beautiful clothes around the activities room, that we all feel like taking home. As that is not possible, I just snapped a couple of photos.
After a break for more drinks, nibbles and chatting, we got back to the room and had a social media themed pub quiz. I got 2 questions right and got to bring home these festive accessories:
I also got a very cute iPhone 5 cover for my friend Filipa, as no one really wanted them.
I asked one of the girls to snap a photo of what I wore quickly, as this skirt was getting its first outing. Head scarf – Moschino, Hello Kitty Jumper – H&M, PVC Skirt – River Island (on sale, get it NOW!), Boots – Zara.
Once again, I thank ASOS for the opportunity to attend these events and be part of the group of Insiders.
I don’t know if you have noticed one of the buttons on the right hand side column on the blog page – I am one of the many bloggers chosen to be part of the new blogger outreach program by ASOS called Access All ASOS, which makes me an ASOS Insider. One of the perks of the program is to be able to participate in activities organized by the brand and last Saturday I headed down to London to attend Selfie School.
This came in the perfect time as the selfie is clearly having a moment – it was picked by the Oxford Dictionaries as the word of the year just last week. Like it or not, and no matter how narcissistic you might think it is, the truth is that it is here to stay, thanks to our ever present mobile phones and their increasingly better cameras.
As we were arriving, we were invited to try some nibbles and drinks – I didn’t eat much as my appetite has been ruined lately but the few things I tasted were delish! I also got to talking with a couple of bloggers and made acquaintance with Lucy and Katie, among others, who were really nice too.
We were separated into groups and under the guidance of Olly Lang @oggsie we were given a few exercises to experiment with – an emo photo (with dramatic lighting), a composite image (full body photo with details), a natural light photo and a mirror selfie, preferably not showing the phone.
I have a lovely phone, a Samsung Galaxy S4 that takes brilliant photos (a lot of the outfit photos I’ve been publishing on the blog in the last few months have been taken with it) but unfortunately the operative system decided to run amok and it had to go back to Samsung for repairs. Great timing, no? I had to fish my old Galaxy S from the drawer and took my tablet too, just in case. Despite the technical problems and shortcomings, I had a great time and managed to produce an image that won me a little prize in its category:
What I wore: Turban – Lomography shop in Lisbon, Pullover (with hearts on the elbows) – ASOS, Skirt – Zara (second hand), Boots– Dr Scholl (via TK Maxx), Bug Earrings – H&M.
I also took my Fuji Instax with me and managed to take a few snaps. I’m glad I did as they came out real cute.
I had a great time and it was lovely to meet Hannah and Sedge, with whom I’ve interacted with on Twitter before. I hope there will be many more events in the future! We were also given a quick tour of the ASOS offices and I loved it. I will be making a post dedicated to it on Wednesday.
After all this, I can finally take a decent selfie, don’t you think?
