by ivis | Sep 23, 2018 | Fashion
Everyone is officially back at school/college/ uni and I’m already counting down the days until summer, that is how deep it is. I say this now but I know for a fact that I will miss 6th form. As much as I hate it, I love it, this past year I have had some of the greatest and funniest moments of my life, I have made lifetime friends and I’ll miss not seeing them 5 days a week.
The transition from high school to 6th form was not as hard as everyone said it would be (well for me personally), the only thing that was stressful for me was finding a new outfit to wear every single day and I can proudly say that I did not repeat a single outfit last year, only God knows how I managed to do that because as of right now, I feel like I have nothing to wear, I have ran out of outfit ideas and I have spent all my money on clothes for my work experience ;(
The key to dressing for education is comfort, you don’t want to be doing too much for the sake of fashion, so my advice is to stick to basics. I learnt this the hard way, NEVER EVER waste a good outfit for school, it is not worth it!
Here is my back to school wishlist;
by ivis | Sep 19, 2018 | Lifestyle, Travel
Travelling has been a passion of mine since I could remember, most three-year-olds would be afraid of getting on a plane but not me. My family constantly remind me of how excited I was to get on my first ever plane at the age of 3 and surprisingly 14 years later nothing has changed. I still love that feeling of getting on a plane and knowing that there’s a whole other world out there that’s just waiting for me to discover, a new culture for me to experience and new memories for me to create.
Throughout my life, I have been lucky enough to travel to amazing places around the world such as Amsterdam, Spain, the south of France, Qatar and South Africa but there’s still so much that I have left to see and experience. In my opinion, travelling not only educates you as a human being but it also challenges you by teaching you new skills you never thought you could do and it helps you to get in touch with yourself, grow as a person and helps you to figure out what it is that you exactly want from life. It gives you a whole new perspective. But most importantly travelling makes history come alive. You get the chance to see and experience everything that you have ever read and heard about.
People always say that in life you only ever regret the things that you didn’t do and I completely agree with this, in my eyes, everything happens for a reason and our actions reflect how we felt at that moment in time, therefore, we can never regret the things we did, instead we should see them as life lessons. 10 years from now I don’t ever want to regret the decisions that I made. Sometimes I feel that as people we over think everything and although taking responsibility for our lives is important our happiness should come first, above everything and anything else, sometimes you just need to be spontaneous and do whatever it is to make sure that you’re living the best life possible. Men are so much better at putting themselves first than we are as women, this is something that we need to learn from them because life is meant to be a joyous thing.
As soon as I turn 18 I am grabbing my passport and I plan on going EVERYWHERE, however, I will not be backpacking, staying in hostels or hitting the interrail. As much as I want the full experience I am way too high maintenance for that – I have extremely high standards. If I’m travelling I plan on spending my time in the most luxurious hotels and resorts. I Can’t have it any other way, after all, I want to document it all for you guys!
I’d love to know your Top 10 places to visit in the comments! Mine are
- Cuba
- Bali
- Mauritius
- Senegal
- Italy
- Mozambique
- The Philippines
- Japan
- Dubai
- Saint Lucia
by ivis | Sep 18, 2018 | Fashion
Vogue is the holy grail when it comes to fashion magazines, it is known as the bible of fashion, it is every fashion lovers go to and I guarantee you for a fact that there is no one in this world that has never heard of vogue. I remember buying my first ever issue at the age of 12 and this was when I first discovered my passion – I literally remember skipping lunch at school one day just to pay for it and it was the best decision I ever made! From then onwards I have been addicted, my collection of Vogue magazines got so big to the point that my mother threw most of them away because she thinks I’m a hoarder (I’m not btw). However little does she know Vogue is the main source of my inspiration when it comes to writing blog posts. So my question to you guys is, should there be a Vogue Africa? When it comes to this debate I am so conflicted, if you asked me the same question a few days ago I would have said YES, Most definitely but now after reading up on it I really don’t know.
If you didn’t know this already, Vogue started off in America as a weekly newspaper in 1892 and then later became a monthly publication. It is known as the worlds biggest fashion and lifestyle magazine covering every single topic you can think of. Topics of which can all be covered from the African perspective. It’s first international edition, British Vogue, was launched in 1916 and it has since expanded to include 23 more international editions, among which are Vogue China, Arabia and India and recently Vogue Poland. Vogue launched 125 years ago and it’s only now that they are considering a Vogue Africa? Why now? Is it too little too late?
Speaking to Reuters, Campbell said “We just had Vogue Arabia – it is the next progression… Africa has never had the opportunity to be out there and their fabrics and their materials and their designs be accepted on the global platform… it shouldn’t be that way, people have come to realise it is not about the colour of your skin to define if you can do the job or not.”
I agree with this 110% there are so many talented Visual creators in Africa and the continent has so much history and culture to share with the rest of the world, people have their own perspectives of Africa and they are so incredibly outdated – there are people that still think we live in huts? How ignorant can one be? The world deserves to get to know just how wonderful my continent is, it deserves to see the beautiful people that belong to it, the fact that we don’t place negative stereotypes upon each other instead we celebrate each other and they deserve to see what true diversity it!
What I have come to understand is that the apparent hesitation with launching vogue in Africa is the idea that Africa lacks an adequate luxury market which is a very big misconception, according to a 2015 report by Bloomberg, at the time, Africa’s luxury retail sales represented the second fastest growth rate globally. This can largely be attributed to the presence of new luxury retail locations in South Africa, as well as Nigeria’s increased craving for luxury goods. I feel like in a way Vogue Africa will help to shut down all the misconceptions people have when it comes to Africa but if it does happen I want it to represent every single country on the continent. It needs to be inclusive and I want it to showcase AFRICAN BRANDS because there are so many incredibly talented African designers that just don’t have the funds or the means to become ‘mainstream’ and it is so frustrating when the western world try and essentially copy from us and take credit, for example, earlier this year when Maxhosa by Laduma sued Zara for copying their sock design. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the magazine needs to be 100% authentically African.
Nigerian-born fashion designer Ikire Jones tweeted, “We gotta stop asking folks to let us into their parties when we can throw better ones.
And then there’s this statement! I feel like the world is so focused on becoming westernised that in the process we are forgetting who we really are to the point that we’re constantly looking for approval from these countries. Instead of living up to our own standards we try to live up to theirs – especially when it comes to beauty. It’s so sad seeing African girls lose self-confidence because they don’t fit the norms of western society! We don’t need Vogue, It’s time for us to claim our rightful place as innovators! Why should we wait to be accepted by these institutions? Why should we allow someone else to represent Africa when we ourselves know it best? No one else is going to put in the same passion and love like us. It’s time for us to take charge and create something AMAZING to showcase to the rest of society because Africa is most definitely a force be reckoned with! One day it is going to take over the world and I cannot wait!
So what is your opnion? Should Vogue have the blessing of branching out into Africa?
by ivis | Sep 17, 2018 | Fashion
I literally feel like crying, summer is sadly over and soon we’ll be going back to our cosy knitwear and huge winter jackets. I feel like 2018 is going by way too fast, before I know it I’ll be going to university! Like WTAF!!!!! That’s so crazy to me. People are not lying when they say that time flies!
Anyways as my last goodbye/ tribute to the summer of 2018, I thought why not reminisce on the hottest trends of the season. In all honesty, I don’t know how I felt about the trends that dominated summer, I feel like I wasn’t really surprised because most of the trends we saw this summer had been on the rise for the last couple of years, they just weren’t mainstream yet. It was just an “Oh people are now wearing this?” type of moment.
In this new generation and era of social media it’s so easy to follow trends, it has never been easier than it is now for people to be inspired especially by “influencers” who are giving us none stop fashion inspo all day every day. We have everything right at the tip of our fingertips – there is no need for us to buy magazines anymore because all the inspiration we could ever need is online in so many different styles on so many different types of people. And that’s what I love most about social media – It’s diverse and no matter what you look like you can find the perfect person to inspire you!
CO- ORDS
Topshop was ahead of the game when it came to co-ords! They sold the best denim co-ords and my biggest regret this summer was not getting my hands on one ;(
Bum Bags
What many people need to learn for future reference is that as fashionable as they are bum bags DO NOT go with EVERYTHING. In all honesty, people really overdid it this year with the bum bags to the point that I got sick of seeing them however if it’s designer I’m not hating x
Sliders
who would have ever thought that there would come a day where it was acceptable to wear house shoes outside of the house? Certainly, not me but I mean sliders go with literally anything and everything and they are comfy af so why tf not!
Bandeau Tops
This was my obsession this summer! God only knows how many bandeaus I bought this summer, they’re just so freaking cute and it was free the nipple season so …….
Cropped Jackets
I have loved cropped jackets for the longest time! I don’t know why it has taken this long for people to realise how great they are, they are so flattering for my curvy ladies!
Layered Necklaces
I mean do I really need to comment on this trend, it speaks for itself
Cycling Shorts
I think we have to thank Kanye for the rise of this trend with everyone wanting to cop the yeezy style. Cycling shorts are one of the best things to happen to fashion to be honest, they are perfect for t-shirt dresses that are a little too short and they loook great with everything from bandeaus, crop tops to my personal favourites – mens jumpers
Cargo trousers
by ivis | Sep 3, 2018 | Fashion
I feel like I start almost every single one of my blog posts by saying how much I used to hate the trend that I’m writing about but then how over time I learned to love it blah blah blah but that’s the reality that is my life – I feel like little me would always proclaim how much I loved fashion but I never really appreciated it as much as I do now! Getting older, reading more on fashion and having my blog has taught me so many things, the most important thing for me was learning to accept that fashion is an art and certain trends are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but we have to look at the bigger picture and how we can make those trends fit our personal ‘style’.
Today I’m not really talking about a certain trend because tracksuits have been around for TIME, instead, I’m talking about my new found love for them and how in recent years through the ‘streetwear’ hype they have become more and more popular and no longer just something that you wear to the track or to workout but almost a must-have in your wardrobe.
Not even going to lie when I say baby Ivis was way ahead of her time when it came to fashion (with the help of my mother of course aka the woman who bought all my clothes), I had so many tracksuits that I NEVER wore because I thought that they were “chavy” and disgusting because at this point in time I was a girls girl and tracksuits were most definitely not my thing but my mother kept buying them regardless. What was going through my head? Tracksuits are warm, comfy af, effortless and not to forget stylish!
Over the last couple of months, I have been saving tracksuit after tracksuit to my wishlist getting ready for this coming season and considering how cold the UK is going to be this year I need at least 5 to help me through the winter! I’m not over exaggerating here. Here are some of my favourites;
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