Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: Fashion, Uncategorized

What I Wore: Wear The Dress Day

Every season there’s a dress that seems to become an overnight sensation.  The truth of it is that it begins its life on Instagram, shared by Bloggers, Digital Editors and even regular fashionistas like you who have inadvertently become Influencers by buying it, wearing it, photographing it and sharing it with your friends, family and followers.

This year’s must have dress hasn’t conformed to any trends – I say that in a hushed tone as it’s a bit of a dirty word right now – it’s a simple shape that can be worn over and over again.  A simple white dress with a polka dot motif, it’s up there with the most classic of designs and works for day and evening.  The dress, as I’m sure you know is from Zara and is lovingly referred to as the Hot 4 The Spot dress.  It even has its own Instagram account and at just £39.99 it’s a piece that will transcend seasons and work hard in your wardrobe long after the social media furore has died down.

Pixie Tenenbaum wears THAT Zara Hot 4 The Spot dress made famous on Instaf=garm on Wear The Dress Day August 22nd 2019

Such is the love for the Hot 4 The Spot dress, that Conde Nast orchestrated a global Wear The Dress Day event on August 22nd 2019 with Glamour Magazine hosting a party in London in the same day.  Unbelievably, on August 22nd #WearTheDressDay and #Hot4TheSpot held the worldwide top trending hashtag positions on social media for the entire day.  That’s the power and influence that fashion has when people decide to come together over something.  One simple dress.

I bought the dress early and it hung on my open clothes rail for a little while, I even thought about taking it back because I thought it might be a little see though (it’s not).  Then I saw a community of women unfolding online, connecting over something they love and conversing about it in their own little space and I thought to myself, that’s something I can get down with.  Plus, the dress is undeniably lovely and universally flattering.

I wore mine for the first time to The Cosy Club in Durham when we were invited to a menu review.  I noticed right there and then that something amazing happens when you wear the Hot 4 The Spot dress; people gravitate towards you either to ask you where the dress is from, to compliment you on it, or because they’re wearing the very same dress and want to revel in your style choice.  Sartorial sisterhood achieved with one simple decision.

Obviously wearing a dress is easy, especially when it’s instafamous.  You can choose to accessorise to the absolute max in order to stand out from the crowd, or let the dress do the talking and keep things real simple.  I wore mine with Vionic Kanela boots (a PR gift), frilly socks and a Zara leather jacket I bought in Monaco around eight years ago which I wear all the time.  It’s a simple look and once which received a multitude of compliments that night!

Did you participate in Wear The Dress Day or even just get your hands on the dress and love it?  Did you customise it to make it that little bit different?  Drop me a comment below and let me know.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

What I Wore: To Dinner at Beadnell Towers

Sustainable fashion has made leaps and bounds in the last twelve months alone.  With Second Hand September taking place in the same month as Fashion Month, it’s taking huge steps in the curation of our wardrobes and really making us think not just what we want our clothes to say about who we are as people, but what they say about our purchasing choices and power.  There are so many ways that people can tap into sustainable fashion, whether it’s by sourcing ethical materials and fabrics from high street stores whilst still buying new, or buy purchasing vintage clothing (older than 25 years) or from second hand / charity / thrift stores.

Personally, I do all of that, but I do have a penchant for vintage and as you know, I can’t resist a prairie dress.   I’m not sure if I mentioned this already but Bo turned 40 earlier this month.  Actually I did, I mentioned it in this post and yes, it’s still a very sore subject for the same reasons.  Anyway, we were recently invited up to Beadnell Towers for an overnight stay, seriously the hotel is amazing, it’s recently been overhauled completely and the place is just brimming with original features that are complimented beautifully by new homages to the old.  You can read about our stay here, but the reason for the mention is more to do with setting the scene for my vintage prairie dress.

Beadnell Towers is the most perfect location for blending the old with the new.  It’s exactly what Dynargh Design have done in their interior design brief.  It’s what we do with our wardrobes every single day, maybe not to the same degree, but all of us every day are mixing old and new clothes to create something individual, to stand out in a crowd.

Pixie Tenenbaum stands in front of twin copper slipper tubs wearing a blue midi prairie dress and brown cowboy boots at Beadnell Towers Hotel

For dinner I put together a really easy outfit, I say it every time and I’ll say it again: a dress is easy because it’s one piece.  Easy to pack, easy to dress and easy to accessorise.  This particular one is a vintage midi prairie dress in cerulean blue with white trim and I’ve paired it with my favourite battered old cowboy boots from Topshop.

Pixie Tenenbaum wearing a cerulean blue midi vintage prairie dress in the Muckle Hoose Suite at Beadnell Towers Hotel

The thing I love about this dress is that unlike most other typical prairie dresses, it doesn’t trail on the floor, and it has elbow length sleeves which is quite unusual for the type of dress.  Also, I never normally wear a sash belt with a dress but occasionally with this one I do because it works really well with the ruffles on the front – which are also great for creating the illusion of a bust.  Top tip, or maybe that should be top tit?

Whenever I wear this one, and it’s not as often as I’d like if I’m honest, it always garners lots of compliments – it’s one I’m thinking about taking to London Fashion Week with me because it never seems to get enough of an outing in that I never seem to wear it for a full day.  I’m trying to shake that whole thing of it being a bad thing for Bloggers to be seen in the same outfit twice because I really do love my clothes!

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, Pixie

What I Wore: Styling the Vintage Prairie Dress

When it comes to trends there’s one that’s been building momentum for some time now.  It started with the resurgence of vintage dresses from a particular era as far back as seven years ago and the emergence of new brands like Batsheva and The Vampire’s Wife who have dedicated themselves to creating modern versions of Gunnies and the prairie dresses we scour vintage rails for.  Now designers like Bora Aksu are reinventing the prairie dress for a new audience to great effect.

I do own a Batsheva frock and two Vampire’s Wife dresses and I do feel amazing in them, but it has to be said, there’s nothing quite like an original vintage prairie dress.  The thrill of finding one, especially when it fits and it’s the perfect length and composition – well, that’s just unbeatable.  So, what exactly is a prairie dress?  Well, let’s get that clear first off…

A true prairie dress has three main features (and a lot of vintage sellers will list any old maxi dress with a few ruffles and call it a prairie dress which is absolutely not the case), so what should you be looking for?

1. a high, stand up collar

2. a feature waist – either elasticated, belted or ribboned, but not empire line

3. a flounce – that’s the detail which appears in the bottom third of the dress

Anything in addition to this is a lovely bonus.  If it has an empire line it’s a different type of dress from the same, or a similar era and your vintage seller is cashing in on your lack of knowledge, or maybe even theirs.  The rules are simple though, if you like the dress, buy it, if you’re definitely and resolutely looking to buy a prairie dress, then stick to the protocol.

Here’s my current favourite (subject to change literally daily) and the one I wore to the VIP launch of The Cosy Club at Durham’s Riverwalk complex.  It’s a full length navy blue true vintage dress, fully lined and covered in tiny polka dots, bought right here in the North East from an expert vintage curater and re-seller called The Pansy Garden.  It’s a dream to wear because it’s so light and flowy and not at all heavy meaning that when it’s warm outside you don’t get all hot and bothered in it.  I’m wearing it with a Topshop leather and chainmail belt which I bought a few years ago, you can find a similar one here, a Western style works well.  Chuck on a pair of cowboy boots (again mine are Topshop) and a fedora (out of shot because the wind picked up), and that’s one fast, easy, and pretty damn sustainable outfit.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, North East, Pixie, Uncategorized

What I Wore: To My Birthday Dinner

I turned 40 this weekend, a huge milestone in one’s life and apparently as older people will tell you, it’s the point that things begin to take a downward slide.  Totally not the case.  In my case it’s when things get a whole lot more fun, I’m taking more risks than ever with fashion, I have an even bigger “fuck it” attitude towards most things, and I’ve kicked more stressful shit aside than ever.  Being 40 is mint and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

My lovely husband Bo organised a surprise birthday dinner and gathered only the best members of our family to a venue that was shrouded in secrecy, I was told to dress however I wanted to and to keep warm as we’d have a little way to walk from the car.  I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with surprises and Bo knows this, I really, really love them.  But also really, really hate them, so knowing this, I was assured that this was one that I’d love and to just go with it.

So, the facts: a dinner, the best peeps, possibly some cold weather.  I hit my middle floor closet and pulled together an outfit I’d put in the “Cute” category.  A dress covered in space cats bought for me by Bo as a Christmas present (with pockets), opaque black tights, my M&S boots which I bought a few months ago now and have since sold out but I’ve literally never had them off my feet, and a custom made necklace given to me as a Christmas gift by Pop Up Studio in Low Fell which says “Fuck You All” – Yeah, they know me pretty well.  Also, debuting my new shorter hair forced upon me by a pre-Christmas fuck up in the hair salon.

A short car ride later and we were parked up on the Gateshead Quayside and walking in the direction of the old and now infamous Buffalo Joe’s and Baja Beach Club Sites.  As we crossed the road and entered the new By The River Brew Co. site I knew instantly where we were headed, I’d been talking about visiting ever since reading Jay Rayner’s glowing review in The Guardian calling this place a “must visit” and possibly “one of the best restaurant’s in the UK”.  As we entered Träkol (Swedish for Charcoal) the first thing that hit us was how dark and atmospheric the place is.  We visited on an uber cold Winter’s night with the wind whipping our heels on the way in.  The main source of light was a warm, low glow from a free standing Parkray fire in the middle of the main room.

As this is an outfit post rather than a birthday dinner review, I won’t go into extreme detail as I’ll go way over my word count but let me say this, Träkol exceeded expectation.  The whole thing, the ethos of nose to tail meant that the menu proposed dome difficult options but we needn’t have worried, everything we ordered was delicious.  Even Plankton, our twelve year old son was able to order something and finish every last scrap of what he was presented with, the food served is divine.  It’s prepared and presented with care and attention and every ounce of flavour can be tasted.  We weren’t there as press, or Bloggers, we were simply there as a family who paid for a birthday dinner together and we’d highly recommend that you check them out if you’re in the area.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, North East, Pixie

What I Wore: To Channel Sabrina The Teenage Witch

Actually, that title maybe a little misleading as this is perhaps more of a Weird Sisters look, I like to think of myself as more of a Sabrina by nature but a Prudence or a Dorkus in the style stakes.  This is one of my favourite looks at the minute and it’s not too difficult to achieve right now as similar dresses are pretty easy to find on the highstreet.

It started as a microstyle on the runways maybe 18 months ago and as with everything in fashion, it takes time to trickle down and eventually hit the highstreet as what we know as a “trend”.   The highstreet is great at picking out the “fast” and easily identifiable top level trends, i.e. the ones that will sell and “convert” into highstreet mass sales, – the ones that the highstreet as a whole will latch on to and buy en masse from overseas producers.  Basically the ones that you’ll see in every shop window throughout Spring / Summer / Fall / Winter.  Because fashion works as a domino effect.

What they’re not so great at, is recognising underlying trends, those are the ones that can take much longer to hit the rails, and often stores have no idea why they’re selling them, or where those looks came from.  Because some buyer watched a show and took a risk on a look and bought up a cheaper production of it.  This is one of those.  It’s one you could very easily make, or customise too, I’ve done it to pretty great effect, all you need is a black shift dress and some heavy lace, you don’t even need to particularly skilled at stitching as it’s all hand stitching and it can all be hidden.

So, your best bet for finding this look on the cheap is Matalan.  Matalan have a couple of similar styles in black, forest green and midnight blue complete with white fluted sleeves however there’s one caveat, they’re only produced in the brand’s petite range which means they’s smaller in every dimension, not just the length.  If like me you’re tall, this option is out.

Elsewhere on the highstreet you’ll find similar (although poor quality) in New Look – currently in administration so be quick.

The dress I’m wearing here is a FW18 Zara dress which I bought myself online (no previous affiliation).  Normally I’d advise you to go into the store and try on because I’m an advocate for keeping our British highstreet alive and thriving, however in the case of Zara stores I’d strongly advise against it and suggest that you buy online at every opportunity.  Staff are rude, obnoxious, unhelpful, patronising, unfriendly – and it’s not store specific.  I’ve experienced this in every Zara store I’ve ever visited and a quick Twitter poll recently concluded that you Voyeurs feel exactly the same.  My advice here is vote with your feet, buy online and use your home as your changing room, return anything you don’t need.  Simples.  I’ve styled this with opaque black tights (everyone owns opaques), my current favourite M&S boots which I bought around September-ish last year (also in this post), and one of my favourite Chanel quilted handbags which I just don’t get enough use out of so I’ve decided to use more this year.

Now, where’s my spellbook…..?

Pixie