What a busy week this has been! Friends from the Lisbon office were visiting and we went out for meals a few times. Thursday as I mentioned yesterday, I went to the Company Magazine Fashion Forum in Manchester and that was a long stretch but it was worth it!
The Carnaby Irregular Choice fringe boots. They’re amazing.
Dress by Suncoo and my old leopard jacket from Bershka. Shoes by Kurt Geiger, via TK Maxx. Hurry, you can get them here!
A photo from the road trip to Manchester last Thursday, some of the attendees at the Fashion Forum.
Pop stars where they belong lol. The day before M Thatcher’s funeral (she was from here).
Last Sunday I finally finished the black angora bejeweled top. As there was a little bit of rain I wore my see through rain boots! They look like DR Martens but made of see through plastic!
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram under the handle @hellothemushroom.
Last Thursday was a busy day! Work in the morning, hospital appointment at lunch time and road trip to Manchester for the rest of the day!
Filipa, Daniela and I got in the car and drove up North to attend the Company Magazine Fashion Forum. We had a laugh on the way there and got to see different landscapes – it’s flat as a pancake where I live and it was refreshing to see some hills.
We arrived a little bit earlier so we still had time to walk around and see the streets and do a little shopping – got myself some bargains on sale at H&M, woopwoop! The rain had also stopped just in time for our arrival. How lucky was that?
Details: Dress – Suncoo (via TK Maxx), Long Sleeve T-shirt – Primark, Cardigan– Vintage, FlatformShoes – Kurt Geiger (via Tk Maxx), Crazy Cat Lady Bag – Ahcahcum Muchacha (my current favourite Japanese brand), Jacket – H&M Trend (via Ebay).
After all this we headed to the event, held at one of the Manchester University buildings. It was full of young girls, some of them with their mums and that was nice to see.
Some of the other atendees. The girl in the pink hair was to me the most interesting looking girl there. I would like to know where her blog is as I think her style was quite individual. (I’m not being funny but I saw 3 different colours of the same H&M sweater in the same room).
The speakers were:
Kathryn Kenny – New Look – Senior Digital Content Manager
Victoria White – Company Magazine’s Editor
Oonagh Brennan – Company’s Associate Editor Fashion
Karen Jones Russell – Stylist
Jen Holmes – Blogger at A Little Bird Told Me and Freelance Writer
The conversation was quite interesting and I came back home with a few more ideas (and clearer ones) on what I want to do and what I should be doing to get there. I particularly liked hearing Jen Holmes talk about her work – I’d love to do the same thing! I’ve been working in the finance industry for too long and it’s about time that I move back towards a more creative field. I kind of owe it to myself!
That’s me, taking photos! Photo courtesy of Amy Jane Alice. Click on the link to see her detailed account of the event.
After the Q&A session we grabbed our goodie bags and drove back to the G. It was a very tiring day but I think that it was worth it.
Part 2 of last Saturday’s adventure in Manchester! I hope you enjoy it.
Funny how simple things like splashes of neon colour can be so inspiring and eye catching!
Who knew that rats could play music?
I would never go on that ride. I’m brave but I have my limits!
Details of what I wore: Skirt and Jacket – H&M, via Ebay, Stripy turtleneck – Zara, Stripy Cardi and Piano scarf – H&M, Shoes – Office via Ebay, Bag – Target, Half gloves – Ebay, Brooch – Vintage, from the vintage market in Brussels (I still need to post those photos!)
Here are the photos of the main attraction of the trip (for me at least). this is an exhibition of photographs by Kevin Cummins of Morrissey and The Smiths, throughout the years. Perfect for someone like me who loves Morrissey and the Smiths since I was a wee kid. You can still see it until the end of this week, more details here. I wish I had some money lying around to buy some copies! I had to make do with the exhibition poster, which I will have framed for my future apartment.
After all this we were freezing and just took refuge at the train station, to have a hot drink and make time for our train back. It was a lovely day out. Next week I will be visiting Curtise of The Second Hand Years in Sheffield and I can’t wait!
As mentioned yesterday, Saturday was spent travelling with my friend Filipa. We hopped on a train and 2 hours later we arrived in the North, in the lovely city of Manchester. I have been there a couple of times before ( see the posts here, here and here) but it was the first time for Filipa. My original plan was to see the Morrissey and the Smiths photography exhibition by Kevin Cummins and go to the Manchester Art Gallery, walk around and do a little shopping if time permitted. Fortunately everything went according to plan and we had a nice day out (no rain, can you believe it?) even if tiring, but we did everything we set off to do. Great success! As I took many photos I decided I should break the day’s events in 2, so today I am showing the arty bit and on Wednesday I’ll publish the details that have caught my eye while walking around the streets as well as the Smiths exhibition.
We started the tour at the Manchester Art Gallery and had a few pleasant surprises.
The first surprise was on the Manchester gallery area of the museum, the exhibition Dreams Without Frontiers- a few pieces inspired by the idea that the music makes the mythology of the place. There are so many good bands that come from Manchester and made it known to the world, it becomes part of everyone’s cultural landscape. I thought this was a most interesting concept to be explored.
I made a little vid of the video installation The Smithsons by Cyprien Guilliard (2005). I love this song (possibly the most melancholic of the Smiths repertoire) and it made the images that go along with it feel so desolate and sad… It is also interesting to point out that none of those images were filmed around Manchester, in fact they are from the Palissades, the Bronx, etc, all around New York. Manchester becomes a cultural state of mind rather than just a physical place.
Mixed media installation by Kelley Walker.
Another great surprise was the exhibition by artist Raqib Shaw. I had never seen his work before but I was immediately smitten! Working in two and three dimensions, his work was the revelation of the day. I have taken a few photos but I’m afraid these do not convey how beautiful his pieces are in real life- some of the detailing is made with crystals and unfortunately the camera doesn’t capture all the sparkle in the same way our eyes do.
This image is Raqib’s mirror of this:
Some details of this painting, that really amused me – the picnic basket and the female monkey with nipple tassels just killed me!
It was good fun going through the galleries and spotting some of his pieces hiding and mixed in with the more traditional pieces from the museum. In the end there was a whole floor dedicated to his more monumental pieces and I took loads of photos!
Raqib Shaw is a Kashmiri artist who now lives and works in London. I find the influence of Asian culture quite evident – the colours, some of the themes (the monkeys in outfits), the use of gold and glitter. It kind of reminded be of this Indian panel I had at home with a very colourful depiction of Ganesh, with gold beaded accents. His work is also violent and kinky – some of the monkeys in his paintings are quite cheeky! Just look at the images and you will see, no need to explain. 😉 Regardless of this, it also feels like he has a big sense of humour and I couldn’t help myself from grinning like an idiot while going from piece to piece.
Some close ups for detail- you can see clearly on this one the sparkly crystals and the gold detailing which is drawn using a porcupine quill.
I took a few more photos but as this post is getting long, you can peek hereherehereherehere and here if you fancy taking a look at them.
We also saw a couple more things in the museum- their collection is pretty much the same but they keep adding different points of interest and sometimes change things around so although this museum isn’t one of the biggest I’ve ever seen and I’d been there twice already, there is always something different to look at. An example of this were the tags that had been added next to some of the pieces, advising the visitor to the fact that some of the glasses on paintings had been smashed by suffragettes as an act of protest in April 1913.
Top image: Emmeline Pankhurst, a suffragette and women’s rights leader at the time, bottom, some of the political paraphernalia of the group.
Some of my favourites pieces in this museum are the Pre Raphaelites, they have a fairly decent collection and some very good quality pieces. Names like Millais, Rossetti, Waterhouse and some more can be found there. I don’t know about you but I always find their languid portraits of women, with so much attention to detail and rich colours very fascinating.
Autumn Leaves by Millais. Such vibrant colours!
Ophelia by Arthur Hughes
Detail of Derby Day, a fine example of the Victorian era’s romantic fascination with an idealized every day man.
Detail of the gallery wall.
Admiring the naked ladies.
A vase by artist Grayson Perry. The other side can be seen here.
Another thing I like to look at in old paintings is the details on the costumes, it is very inspiring. The way the fabrics and textures are depicted can be extremely satisfying to look at.
A dress made of nails. Who volunteers to try it on?
View from the window.
Kitteh 😀
This one was very cool – a mouth camera! Basically the film was inside the artist’s mouth, who used the lips as the shutter. The photograph has a red tone because there’s always light that goes through the skin.
This mirror is all faboulousness. I want to have it at home.
On the revolving kaleidoscope, wearing lots of stripes.
Aaaaand that’s it (for now). Next post will be the second and last part of the day with all the other nice and interesting things I stumbled upon. I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know if you think this is too long. I am trying to make the blog as pleasant for my readers as possible. xx
Happy Easter everyone! I’m now talking to you from my bed as I am completely and utterly destroyed after all the walking around in Manchester yesterday. It was totally worth it though, I’ll post about it tomorrow! For now, here’s a sneak peak into the past week as seen on my Instagram feed. Don’t forget to follow me @hellothemushroom if you haven’t done so yet.
Last weekend I started this DIY project. I hope to finish it today or tomorrow and wear it this week.
It’s been horrendously cold and snows every now and then. Apparently the temperatures are going to stay low throughout the month of April. This leads me to conclude that my Summer clothes will not leave the crates in the garage this year. (Topshop jacket, Mod Dolly dress, flowered boots from Ebay)
These are some resilient flowers. Go Spring!
This week I took my lunch box to work. I’m kind of thinking I should be using it for something else as it’ll eventually get manky and I like it too much to see it ruined!
I’m absolutely in love with Iris Apfel and her sense of style. I got the book Rare Bird of Fashion and took to sharing some of my favourite ensembles on Instagram. I won’t bore you with all of them.
I love these bracelets. I am totally going to DIY the hell out of them. I’ll show them when I do 🙂
This red dress totally looks like the red dress I wore here. I will wear a similar combination just for fun as I also have Harlequin flats!
I want a red stole! Now!
This one has been my favouritest of all I think. I love the shape of the little jacket, the colour and the piling up of jewelry. Although it is something I don’t do myself as it doesn’t feel ‘me’, I love seeing it on other people!
I found these tabi style boots from Irregular Choice on Ebay for a song. They are from one of the first collections Irregular Choice ever made (beginning of the noughties, maybe?) and I wanted to have them in my IC collection since forever. They’ve never been worn but they weren’t properly stored so they’re a bit stained (The Instagram filters softened the stains but trust me, they’re there). I am planning on painting them a soft Spring inspired shade of light yellow so I can wear them without looking bad! I’ll keep you posted on that one too.
Finally got my hands on a copy of Advanced Style. If you don’t know the blog all I can say is “where have you been all this time?” (and to click on the link too). Lovely Judith from Style Crone is in it!
I also finally own some of the Aranzi Aronzo books. They are some of the craziest silliest kawaii stuff I’ve ever seen (plus they make me laugh). I remember lusting over them on my visits to the Fnac store in Lisbon but as everything else in that place, they were overpriced. It’s the kind of stuff that never fails to put a smile on my face.
Fairy clothes. It was a bit too much for the office. Skirt from Ebay, booties from Primark!
Some lovely landscapes on the way to Manchester yesterday. I wish these little photos could convey how beautiful it was. Snowy hills and sheep and their babies along the way, some rustic farm buildings… a lot of beauty to take in.
Some bits reminded me of the Alps. I miss skiing 🙁
Yesterday’s lunch at the Manchester Art Gallery. Hake fillets with sweet and sour peppers. Nom!
Monkey King! Detail of a fabulous tableau by Raqib Shaw, who I have to say was a surprise. More on this in tomorrow’s post!
They were some lovely photos indeed. If I had some spare money (a lot of it) lying around I’d buy a couple of prints but at £900 a pop, I’ll have to content myself with the exhibition poster…
After a full day of travelling and walking around in Manchester, Filipa and I had a well deserved hot drink at the train station. Chai latte <3
Hope you are having a lovely chocolate filled Easter!
Admiring the naked ladies.
This week I took my lunch box to work. I’m kind of thinking I should be using it for something else as it’ll eventually get manky and I like it too much to see it ruined!
