All posts filed under: Music

Boys in bands

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It’s 2001 and me and my friend Hannah have just concluded an intense 3-hour Sims session. We’re laid on our backs on her bed with our legs in the air, scruffy Converses rested on her lilac-hued bedroom wall. There’s a poster of Calvin from S Club Juniors (most likely torn out of Mizz Magazine) stuck to the wall with a bit of blue tac she found at the bottom of her dad’s briefcase. Naturally, we’re both staring at his brown-eyed baby face and completely ignoring her mum’s distant call to come and eat our fish finger sandwiches at the table. Fantasising about him walking through Hannah’s bedroom door in Leeds suburbia was our favourite pastime. It even got to the embarrassing extent of roleplaying our first interaction with him, because of course we were going to meet him one day and he was going to fall in love with us. My next culprit turned out to be Dougie from McFly. I was a little less infatuated because now, at 13, I’d realised the error of …

Of course, aspirational writers need role models – but not like The Independent columnist Chloe Hamilton

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Two can play this game… Any self-confessed Blogger, Vlogger or Zoella fan will have most likely read Chloe Hamilton’s The Independent column on beauty vlogger, Zoe Sugg. Known to the Youtube world as Zoella, a name that Chloe says is ‘irritatingly Disney-fied’ yet how ironic that as I read this a Disneyland ad banner frames her own words. Zoe has over six million subscribers and her online success has quickly catapulted her from Wiltshire-born beauty blogger to the Vlogosphere’s biggest Superstar. Unfortunately, with fame comes criticism, something I’m sure Zoe, to some extent, will be struggling with as she surfs the proverbial wave she is currently riding. So, when I saw a link to Hamilton’s article on my Twitter feed last night, it took me a while to click on it. Why? Because I knew I was giving in to the idea of media outlets cashing in by attacking trending figures of the moment. Even though I gave The Independent one view, I feel my lasting and final opinion after reading Hamilton’s one-sided vendetta against Zoella overshadows …

Harvey Nichols Leeds: Kristina Blahnik Q&A

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On the evening of 7th October, Harvey Nichols Leeds invited me to a Q&A event with Kristina Blahnik, Manolo Blahnik‘s lefthand woman when it comes to his family-run shoe empire who is also, incidentally, his niece. Here’s my story of the intriguing and fascinating stories she told us… Leaning against the structure of the water fountain in the central hub of the Victoria Quarter in Leeds after a day at work, I browsed my Instagram and checked my emails before entering Harvey Nichols to attend the Manolo event. As I anticipated the occasion, I thought about what Manolo Blahnik meant to me. The first image that sprung to mind was a youthful Carrie Bradshaw pounding a New York sidewalk in a pair of Manolo Mary Janes followed by a scene from Sex and the City where Carrie exclaims ‘Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes! I thought these were an urban shoe myth!’. For Manolo Blahnik, Carrie was the turning point for the designer’s commerciality, something he never pushed for, however after Candace Bushnell wrote his shoes into the book out of pure …

Harvey Nichols AW14 Fashion Show

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Last night, Harvey Nichols Leeds showcased the best of their AW14 designer collections in a runway show which had the longest catwalk I have ever seen! With the grandeur of the Victoria Quarter’s architecture as the setting and an audience of fashion savvy people, the show proved once again that Leeds do have the fashion factor! I cannot commend Harvey Nichols Leeds enough on the creativity and innovation expressed within the show and really wish other retailers and companies would follow in their footsteps to give Leeds a mark on the style map. Harvey Nichols will always lie at the central point of Leeds’ fashion hubbub. From Burberry to Balenciaga, they stock the best of worldwide fashion. I vlogged the event and you can watch it below followed by some recaps of the style showcased on the night. The trends for this season’s HN fashion show were particularly youthful and current.The expert industry stylists at Harvey Nichols Leeds really excelled this season in marking their luxury fashion territory in the city and you could tell …

Part III – Santorini

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After a hectic time in Mykonos it felt so good to hop over to Santorini to a hotel room right next to a pool with air con – luxury after two nights sweating to death in a non AC box room in Mykonos! We stayed in the area of Perissa, quiet and understated with the best beaches we’d been to so far. We spent the majority of our time in Santorini exploring the island – one day we literally quad biked all the way around it! Oia, at the North of the island, is just as beautiful as it looks. The view overlooking the Caldera is so amazing. We also visited the Red beach and found a few other niche beaches down little dirt tracks. Our quad bike was pretty knackered as we got it cheap so on one occasion I did have to jump off and push us up a hill! If you want to explore and go on interesting excursions then Santorini is the Greek island for you. We went on a boat …

Part I: My Greek Adventures

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This Summer, I went Greek Island Hopping with one of my best friends, Cinzia. The experience gave me a slight taster into what backpacking would be like. Believe it or not I did get worried about the straps on my backpack rubbing my natural tan off my shoulders every time I put it on (a girl thing, I think) however once I got over that it just simply hurt. Joking! It felt so freeing to just shove everything in a bag and leave for another adventure to a different island. The Greek islands are definitely one of the most beautiful places I have been. The population of cats is beyond amazing, the food is cheap but tasty however you get slightly harassed by restaurant owners attempting to entice you in. The sea is the clearest of clear and definitely makes up for the not-so-great sandy beaches. Overall, the experience was better than I had ever expected and I feel blessed to have seen so many beautiful places this Summer with a great friend. Part I …