All That Glitters Isn't Gold

Northumbria University:

Fashion Film - All That Glitters Isn't Gold

Seeing as I've just finished my first year at Northumbria University studying Fashion Communication, I thought I would share a fashion film with you all that my friend Sophie and I worked on together. Oh, she has a blog as well, so you should go check her out if you fancy some new reading material - The Girl With The Blue Bow. 

We were given a pretty open brief, simply asking us to create a 2 minute long fashion film. When Soph and I put our heads together, we decided that we didn't want to create something that was so obviously fashion focused: i.e all about shoes, or clothes etc. In the end, we went with a theme/topic that isn't widely spoken about in today's culture, yet it happens more often than we would care to realise - abuse. The glitter was added simply as a means of bringing some sort of fashion aspect into the film and it also helped provide us with a title for our film.

Considering how often this happens to people on a daily basis, we didn't want to sensationalise the issue, or portray it in a distasteful way. What we came up with seemed to go over well with our class and lecturers, so I hope you will all enjoy it as much as they did. 

                                  

Music: Passenger - Let Her Go

Summer Picks

White Hot Picks:

H&M

As you may have already read in my Cannes Film Festival post yesterday, I'm currently coveting anything white at the minute. For someone who generally goes for black, this is quite a revelation to say the least. But alas, I have seen the light and now I can't stay away from it. Earlier in the week, I decided to have a little (or rather, a large) clear out of the wardrobe and ended up with four black bags full of clothes that I no longer had any use for. My friend Sophie then remembered that H&M have their recycling service, where you give them a bag of unwanted clothes (they can be from any brand) and in exchange, they give you a £5 voucher to redeem in store or online. It might not seem much, but when you think about how said clothes would have just ended up in the bin, it's not such a bad deal. You can give two bags in per person, per day, so I'm now currently the proud owner of £10 in H&M vouchers. I'll give them the other two bags another day, but what does that mean for now? More shopping of course...

Ankle grazers, ripped skinny jeans, summer dresses, funky sports bras (love my sports bras), summer day dresses, embellished shirts, panda phone case (obviously), perforated bucket bag and the sexiest sport luxe heels that I've seen from H&M to date - that's what is taking up space on my shopping list at the minute. There are a few more items from H&M that I love, but I've already bought those; like their white 'New Icons' tee and white cami with black leather spaghetti straps for example. It's a top that I would wear 24/7 if I could. 

It's usually a hit and miss with H&M for me, but this season they're tugging on all the right strings. I want something every time I go into one of their stores, which is probably why my bank balance is suffering now. Well, that and my girls' constant need for cocktails from Nancy's Bordello. Sigh.

Photo Credit: Images clipped from H&M website onto Polyvore.

Cannes Film Festival 2013

Best Dressed:

Cannes Film Festival '13

When it comes to festivals or award ceremonies, I can't say that I pay much attention at the best of times. I'm not particularly into celeb culture - in fact, I pretty much despise it - but there's just something about the Cannes Film Festival that just has me sitting up right in my seat to pay attention. If you're a regular at Vita di Moda and have been for a while, then you'll know that I blogged about the best dressed from the festival in 2012, so obviously I feel the need to blog about it again this year. Let's see if you agree with my picks shall we?

From left to right: Zoe Saldana in Emanuel Ungaro top and skirt, Jessica Biel in Marchesa and Cheryl Cole in Zuhair Murad beaded gown.

That skirt and top combo that Zoe Saldana had going on would have been pretty boring to the say the least had she not injected a bit of colour with her orange platforms. I don't know why, but lately I've been gravitating towards anything in that colour (H&M have got their hands all over it this season), so her outfit definitely made it into my best dressed list!

Is it just me who thinks this, or is it near impossible for Jessica Biel to look horrid in anything that she wears? She could have worn a black bin bag and still looked good - bitch. Marchesa gowns are always stunning, so it was only natural that it would look more than fitting on her - stunning.

I can't say I've been a fan of Cheryl Cole in the past, but I would be kidding myself if I didn't admit how gorgeous she looked in that red gown. It's just the design and positioning of the embroidery that makes it - slightly strange seeing a celeb of her stature at the film festival though I thought..

From left to right: Cindy Crawford in Roberto Cavalli, Jennifer Lawrence in Dior & Liam Hemsworth in Dolce & Gabbana

I'm definitely feeling anything white this Summer, which is quite a drastic change from my usual black, so with this in mind, I was immediately drawn to Cindy's RC dress. I loved the designers collection this season, so it's pretty standard for one of his gowns to be in this best dressed list really.

Now, I'll admit that Jennifers Dior gown - although undoubtedly beautiful - doesn't really have a wow factor, but I wanted to put her in this list purely because I had to comment on her figure. Am I the only one who thinks she has gotten a lot thinner recently? I'm not going to start saying she's too thin like most tabloids would do, but she was a celeb who made herself relatable to women of all ages because she repeatedly told us of how happy she was with her figure and that she wouldn't subject herself to the media and its pressures to be a certain weight. She looked fab as she was - and still does now, i'm not going to lie - but it's a little disappointing if she has gone and lost some weight. She's only human though, so I can't be too harsh on the matter - I would be dieting constantly if I had her life!

Then we come to the beauuuutiful man that is Liam Hemsworth. A man in a suit will always be a pleasant sight, however when said suit is D&G, you know things are going to be x100 more attractive. He just looks so sleek; and that's not just because he doesn't have a Disney starlet on his arm anymore..

Who has been your best dressed from the festival this year? 

Photo Credit: www.vogue.co.uk

Location, location, location

Times Are Changing:

We're Relocating!

If you're a blogger yourself, you may have recently been renewing your domain names and potentially, like me, having issues doing so. With my first year at university having just finished a couple of weeks ago, I think it's fair to say that I was under a bit of stress and couldn't really focus on VdM and getting things such as content and indeed the domain name fixed once it was reaching its expiry date. As a result, you may have been typing Vita di Moda into your search bar and coming up empty - for that I am truly sorry. It is only now when I'm home visiting for Summer, that I've been able to get things sorted and focus 110% on it. 

Although we're no longer .com, I hope you'll all find that a .co.uk URL is just as suitable for the blog and easy enough for you to all type into Google or the top search bar when popping round for a visit. It could have been worse though, I was about 10 seconds away from changing the blog name altogether. Just the thought of rebranding is enough to give me a nightmare, so I'm glad it didn't come to that! 

If you could all do me a huge favour and tweet this post, or even just mention the URL change on Twitter/Facebook or word of mouth when you see your friends, that would be fantastic. A total rebrand would have been hellish, but a simple address change is going to be just as challenging - help me make it as smooth as possible?

Maria xo