Today I’m here to speak up about brand snobbery. This is a topic I actually feel very passionate about as I think I encounter it quite a lot, not only in life, but within the blogging community. It seems that if you don’t regularly shop at Topshop and River Island then you might as well not have a blog, when in reality they’re out of a lot of people’s budgets, even if they’re technically ‘high street prices’.
Fashion In Our Lives
Fashion Police – Size Zero Models
Earlier this year I wrote an extended essay for school all about size zero models and their impact on other models and the wider world. When I was writing it I researched into lots of former models who were pushing for more representation on the runway and better health checks within the modelling community to prevent sick, mentally ill and incredibly young models from walking in the shows.
Finally, finally, some designers have taken notice and made amends to their modelling requirements. French groups LVMH and Kering, which own some of the largest designer names out there, such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, have been the first of their kind to implement rules to this extent with their models.
The new rules state that female models cannot be below a UK size 6, male models cannot be below a UK size XXS, all models must provide a doctors note stating they are healthy and fit to model, all models must be over 16 if being used for adult clothing and those between 16 and 18 must be accompanied by a chaperone if travelling abroad. These rules should encourage a bigger representation of curvier women and plus sized models on the catwalk as well as older models too. Of course, it also ensures that all the people within the modelling community are safe and less likely to develop eating disorders as the need to be stick thin to be a model should slowly fade away.
It should be interesting to see a fashion week where not every show is completely made up of size zero models, like they have been for many years. I hope that this act by LVMH and Kering inspires other big fashion houses to do the same so eventually all catwalks will be more diverse and accepting of every size.
What do you think of this news? Tell me in the comments below!
(All of the research I did on this news came from here)
Love Chloe x
Other posts you might like…
How To Get A Bikini Body
Step One: Workout for 25 hours a day, 8 days a week
Step Two: Survive on a diet consisting 90% of salads
Step Three: Be unhappy
Why It’s Important To Find Your Signature Style
Up until earlier this year I wasn’t dressing in a way that presented me, my new outlook or my style at all. I have always been interested in fashion but I let the opinions of others affect my style choices instead of going with what I wanted to wear. So, today I’m going to walk you through why I think it’s important to find your signature style. Continue reading
For The Love Of Lingerie
Lingerie has become a large part of my life as I not only have a big passion for it, I also want to pursue a career in designing it. I believe that confidence is definitely boosted by a beautiful underwear set and style starts from what’s closest to the skin. This post is going to focus on how to find the perfect underwear for you and why I think investing in underwear is important.
It may come as a surprise that the majority of women in the UK are wearing the wrong bra size, we need to remember that our bodies are constantly growing and changing and your bra size from three years ago probably isn’t your bra size now. Many women find it uncomfortable to go get measured in a shop so here’s a lifesaving explanation on how to find out your bra size from the comfort of your own house.
- Take a measuring tape and wrap it around your ribs, just under your boobs. Make a note of this measurement in inches and add 5. This is the ‘number part’ of your bra size, so if this measurement was 29 inches, for instance, you’d add 5 to get 34. If you’re between sizes (say you got 31 inches for example) always size up, you can use the adjustable hooks on the back of the bra to tailor it to fit you.
- To work out your cup size you need to measure around your boobs; run the measuring tape around the fullest part of your breasts and make a note of this measurement. Work out the difference between the number you got before and this measurement, if the difference is 1 inches you’re an A cup, if it’s 2 inches you’re a B and so on.
There, wasn’t that easy?
So, why do I think lingerie is so important? Lingerie empowers us. It makes us feel sexy, beautiful and powerful (and also a bit naughty as no one else knows the true extent of its beauty but us!). The delicacy and intricacy of lingerie excites me and I think nothing compares to going lingerie shopping. You won’t ever see me leaving a lingerie shop without a big smile on my face!
Try it for a week – wear gorgeous matching underwear sets everyday for an entire week and I promise you you’ll feel more confident and happy. You get an instant boost by putting them on, looking in the mirror and thinking ‘damn, I look good’ and that feeling continues throughout the day.
Lingerie isn’t just there to keep you modest, nor is it just for the enjoyment of your partner, lingerie is there for you. Making yourself feel happy and confident should be your main priority and I think investing in good underwear is the best way to do that.
Products included in this post:
Black bra – here // Black knickers – here // Turquoise bra – can’t link, sorry 😦 // Pink bra – here // Pink knickers – here
Do you agree with me? Tell me in the comments below!
Love Chloe x
What Not To Wear To A Festival
This post was originally going to be called ‘what to wear to a festival’ but after attending Penn Fest and practically drowning in mud I had to admit my mistakes and decided to warn you all not to follow in my footsteps!
1. Don’t wear white shoes!
Okay, yes this should have been an obvious one, but as you all saw in my shoe collection video over on YouTube (here) I’m not really a trainer sort of person so white converse was all I had to work with. I say white, now they’re so caked in mud I doubt they’ll ever be able to be called that again…
2. Wear wellies!
If there’s even the slightest bit of rain you’re practically guaranteed to be drowning in mud. By the end of the night we were basically swimming around the field as we trekked through mud that was at least 3 inches deep. Wearing wellies would have made my life a lot easier I assure you. There are actually some very fashionable ones that you can get (examples here and here).
3. Don’t wear shorts!
If you can, try and stay clear of shorts. I don’t even want to think about what my legs looked like at the end of the night, I don’t think I’d ever seen legs so covered in mud! That definitely could have been avoided by wearing trousers and keeping my legs protected.
I did do some things right! I definitely recommend wearing a poncho, I wore a cheap one (the type you can get from practically any theme park) but you can get more stylish ones; Boohoo even offer them (here)! There were also some girls wearing transparent macs (like this), I thought these looked gorgeous, the more stylish alternative to a poncho. The poncho kept me dry and also protected me if I fell over in the mud (which thankfully I managed not to do).
I’d also recommend bringing your things in a backpack as it’s much easier to carry round than a handbag, you don’t want to be in a large crowd whilst lugging around a handbag.
What I’m wearing:
Top – here / Shorts – here / Shoes – here
Are you guys attending any festivals this year? Tell me in the comments below!
Love Chloe x
Models With Stretchmarks
I was over the moon when I saw tweets and articles online about ASOS’s decision to include models showing off their stretchmarks on their website. Stretchmarks are a part of our bodies just as much as our arms or legs, so why are they being hidden?
By covering them up we are being taught that they are somehow wrong and deserve to be hidden away, when in actual fact they are a physical sign of how we are growing and becoming beautiful people. The majority of people will get at least one stretch mark throughout puberty then gain more when pregnant or through natural weight gain in their life and that’s okay. They are nothing to be ashamed of!
These models look stunning showing off their natural beauty and an important part of being a woman. Their tiger stripes, as I like to call them, look great with their bikinis and doesn’t take away from their ability to be a model at all.
I’m so proud of ASOS for breaking out of this modelling mould and I hope that other brands follow suit. Embrace your stretchmarks!
Love Chloe x
(All photos belong to respective owners)
Why I Want To Work In Fashion
The fashion industry is one of the most creative, exciting and vibrant industries in the world and there really is a job for everyone within it. Personally, I want to go into designing lingerie and swimwear, something which I’ve been passionate about since I was about fifteen. I fell in love with the brand For Love And Lemons and their gorgeous, intricate designs inspired me to begin designing my own.
Lingerie and swimwear is so delicate and close to the skin that it is just so different to any other types of clothes; there’s so much detail in such a small amount of material that it fascinates me. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you’re wearing good underwear then you’ll feel happier and more confident, there’s something just so mood boosting about wearing fancy underwear. Beauty and confidence truly does start from the bottom layer of your outfit and if you’re wearing gorgeous underwear it will shine out of you.
I love looking at lots of different designers and catwalk collections, with my favourites being Zuhair Murad, Chanel and Elie Saab. The imagination of these designers astounds me and I love delving further into the collection and exploring it like I do in school for my textiles A Level. This allows me to look into the techniques used across the collections, trust me it’s incredible how subtle some of the details are on these pieces.
The fashion industry continues to inspire me day after day and I can’t wait to be a part of it myself, both as a lingerie designer and hopefully a blogger!
Fashion Police – Mannequins With Visible Ribs
I couldn’t believe what I saw when I was out shopping the other day, surely I’d been wrong, surely any self respecting shop wouldn’t display mannequins with visible ribs. But no, unfortunately what I saw was very much real and I admit it made me feel a little sick. What was the need for these skeletal mannequins? Tall, stick thin mannequins with almost hollow stomachs and carved out ribs were stood in the shop window displaying the clothes that this shop were selling, half of which were clipped into position as the shop didn’t even sell clothes that small. It made no sense to me, the mannequins definitely didn’t entice me to go into the shop. Instead they left me questioning myself about my own body and what our world has come to.
Size zero is a phenomenon that has hit the fashion world by storm over the past twenty years and has resulted in a multitude of problems across the modelling and fashion industry. Runways are full of skeletal girls battling eating disorders, shops display mannequins with impossibly tiny figures and the media portray this twisted parody of the human body as the epitome of beautiful. I’m not saying that thin women, and people in general, can’t be pretty, of course they can. All shapes and sizes are beautiful, but the problem starts when a particular body type begins to be presented as perfect and every other shape is discouraged.
For most people this stick thin body is an unachievable, unhealthy way to be as the only way to get to this weight would be through starvation or other unhealthy methods. So why are our high street shops displaying these mannequins which 99% of their customers can’t relate to?
In today’s world surely we should be trying to show that every shape is beautiful instead of focusing on a skeleton as our ideal. It’s hard enough to do that ourselves without the shops we visit depressing us even more. In a perfect world there would be a multitude of different shaped mannequins which we could all relate to, thus making us feel more confident, represented and included as we enter the shop.
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo of the mannequins in the shop I visited but I have found some photos online of similar mannequins being used in other shops. Of course, the pictures belong to the respective owners.
These mannequins supporting unhealthy bodies need to be stopped, I’m sure you agree. The sooner we promote beauty as being all shapes and sizes, the enter. Remember, we are all beautiful.
This post comes as the first in my new collection of posts, Fashion Police. I’ll focus on problematic areas within the fashion world and the latest news in the industry, I hope you enjoy!
Learn A Little Bit More About Me!
I realised that you guys don’t know that much about me and as I believe creating a bond with the blogger is an extremely important part of liking a blog I decided to get personal! This post is inspired by the ‘get to know me’ or ‘all about me’ tags I’ve seen across YouTube and Tumblr but I’ve adapted it a little. I hope you feel a little bit more like you know me after reading this, I wish I could make friends with each and every one of you and I hope this post initiates a bond. Hope you enjoy!
What is your name?
My full name is Chloe Margaret Cecilia Grant, but that’s quite a mouthful. Margaret is actually my official middle name whereas Cecilia is my confirmation name (a name given to catholic people when they officially get confirmed into the church), but I prefer Cecilia to Margaret as I think it flows more with Chloe, hence why my blog is called ChloeCeciliaGoesCouture.
How old are you?
As of May 2017 I am 17 and I will be 18 on the 20th of September.
What is your star sign?
You might be able to work it out from what I just said but in case you haven’t, my star sign is Virgo. I kind of fit the stereotype as I do enjoy cleanliness and structure but I’m definitely not as neat and tidy as Virgos are made out to be!
Where are you from?
I’m from Birmingham, England. I’ve lived here since I was born but a lot of my family are Irish, as my Dad grew up in Northern Ireland, so I have strong ties to there too.
What do you study?
I’m currently in sixth form studying three A Levels: fashion, French and English. These have always been my three favourite subjects and studying only them for sixth form has made school so much more enjoyable.
What is your favourite colour?
My favourite colour is blush/dusky rose as I think it’s definitely the best shade of pink, which is in general my favourite colour.
Do you have any siblings?
I have one sister called Sophie who is 14, nearly 15. She’s featured in some of my videos and I’m sure she’ll be in many more. Me and Sophie are extremely close, we are best friends and always have been, I couldn’t wish for a better sister!
What do you want to do in the future?
After school I want to study Body Contour at De Montfort University and become a lingerie and swimwear designer. I also hope that my blog and YouTube channel will become successful and I may be able to do this as a career as well.
What is your favourite food?
I love Skittles more than life (just ask my boyfriend who treats me to a bag nearly every time we go on a date!) but my other favourites have to be ice cream and candy floss. Also, I put mayonnaise on everything, I really believe it is the greatest creation on Earth. Not only is it beyond tasty it also helps cool down spicy food which is something I just really can’t handle; sorry I’m a typical white girl!
Where do you want to live in the future?
I’d love to live on the coastal road from Cannes to Monaco in the south of France as I think this is the most beautiful place on Earth. A mansion with an infinity pool would be the ultimate dream, so here’s to hoping I become successful! At some point in my life I’d also love to live in Paris, it is an absolutely gorgeous city and of course a fashion heaven.
What are some random facts about you?
When asked this question I have a few random facts up my sleeve ready to whip out. I knew all the words to Pure by The Lightning Seeds before I knew the alphabet because my mom used to play it so much when I was little. I’ve performed as a dancing plate in DisneyWorld in a Beauty And The Beast performance. I won a poetry competition across Birmingham when I was 13 and I’ve had lots of poetry published.
What are you afraid of?
I have many random, weird fears such as feet, house fires, spelling tests and Bradley Walsh, you know the guy who hosts The Chase? I can barely touch my own feet and if someone dares touch me with their foot I absolutely freak. My fear of house fires stemmed from studying the Great Fire Of London in Year 2 when I went on to have a reoccurring nightmare for a few years. Spelling tests have always terrified me and throughout primary school I only ever got one spelling wrong and when I did I had a complete break down and had to be escorted out! And finally, my fear of Bradley Walsh. I’m still not sure where this stemmed from but whenever I look at him I get so scared, I think he was a scary character in a kids TV show I used to watch.
What are your interests?
I’ve been a ballerina since I was 2 but I’m still not very good, I guess I’ll just have to stick to watching Dance Moms and wishing I could do even one turn without falling over let alone twenty plus. I’ve been in the Girlguiding family since I was 5 and now I’m a young leader, I love Guides and all the opportunities it brings me. I have a big obsession with everything Disney, especially Peter Pan, and I’ve always secretly hoped to work at Disneyland as a face character.
I hope this post has let you feel like you know me a bit better and if you have anymore questions just leave them in the comments!
Chloe Cecilia Goes Couture 