Leeds Street Style: 24/01/2011

Liam
Assistant Manager of Blue Rinse

Top: Vintage
Bottom: Grin
Shoes: Vintage
Coat: Vintage
Belt: Vintage
Scarf: Vintage
Ring: Vintage

Daisy
3rd Year Fashion Student

Top: American Apparel
Shoes: Vans
Watch: Nixon
Jewellery: Gift+found+key+ring pull
Tights: Primark

Mark
Owner of CHIMP

Top: Rebel8
Bottom: Levi's
Shoes: HUF Choice
Belt: Louis Vuitton
Hat: Rebel8

My Thoughts:

What I notice of UK's retail scene is it's dominated by big brands compared to the Far East. Even if you spend £50 on a dress, there is still a good chance that you could bump into someone wearing the same at a party.

For that matter, accessories are a great way to create a distinctive look. I love seeing people like Liam and Daisy, they slowly collect their jewellery from markets, friend's gifts, or items that are interesting to them. You may buy their clothes, but you can never copy their charm bracelet.

Another person that is always working hard on the individuality style in the city, Mark Bedford, the owner of CHIMP. By seeing the brands he is wearing, maybe we can get an idea of what's he would recommend in the shop. I'm also a reader of his stylish blog, but he kind of stopped for a while, let's hope he'll be back on it soon.

Turn Up The Style, Turn Down The Heat.

In one of my cool-hunting blog post's we talked about proportion being important when you're going for a vintage style because some of the vintage clothes you find may not come in your size, which, for me, is most of the time. Or there's always another option to make sure the vintage item you get is one of a kind and the right fit. Renewal designs.

I was at ReMade in Leeds last night for Global Cool's first stop of their tour Turn Up The Style, Turn Down The Heat. We were greeted by cupcakes and tea, and after we picked a jumper provided by Blue Rinse, owner of ReMade in Leeds. Lizzie told us some simple ways to add a bit of spice to a plain jumper. We had various vintage materials to use, so while creating new garments we were also recycling. In the end, I (with the help of the designers of the shop) came out with a green jumper customised with a chain necklace made from Ribbon. 

 

The vintage scene is definitely bigger than ever, and you can start to find many renewal sections in high street brands like Urban Outfitters, Miss Selfridge and ASOS. I'm sure many of you have already been doing bits of renewal with your clothes, jewellery, and other things. But for the ones who haven't started yet, why not try to make something old, something new.

STP's Far East Feature: Kung Fu

Today I was kicked in the back of the chair by someone here in the Hebe Media office. It made me want to get my Kung Fu on! It also got me thinking of some of the great Kung Fu movies I used to watch as a kid. 

Kung Fu, played such an important role in the Far East movie movement. In 1949, a of bunch of martial arts academies put together a fund to shoot a film about a legendary hero Wong Fei-Hung with not just acting, but actual kung fu fights in it. Since then, Kung Fu movies grew in popularity. Every decade, there were new Kung Fu stars to take the genre to the next level. The greatest star of all was Bruce Lee, his brand new performing style attracted global attention. After he died, all the studios tried to create a different Kung Fu star to fill his spot, including Jackie Chan. But people weren't buying it, no one can replace Bruce Lee.

"After Bruce Lee passed away, the whole movie industry went down. Everyone thinks he is the best, no one wanted to watch other Kung Fu movies, I was very disappointed at the time." - Jackie Chan

Luckily, a few years later they found back into people's hearts: Kung Fu comedy. And finally, Jackie Chan's career took off from this point. In the 80s, Kung Fu became a great support for action films, a few action directors even made it to the Hollywood and are still playing important roles there like Yuen Woo-ping for Matrix, Charlie's Angel, etc. Jet Li became famous afterwards in the 90s by playing the legend Wong Fei-Hung. 

Some people think that one of the popular themes in Kung Fu movies, you know the one, where the Kung Fu master beats some foreigner, are a comfort for the memories of the Chinese being invaded by foreign intruders. For kids (like me!), Kung Fu characters were just like Superman for us, giving us the feeling of knowing someone out there with great power, is fighting the big man and protecting us. And also it is just a lot of fun to learn from the tv how to Kick people in the face with style ;)

Leeds Street Style: 13/12/10

Rachel

 

Top: Pop Boutique (Vintage)

Dress: H&M

Shoes: Vans

Watch: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Vintage

Ring: Vintage

Tights/ Socks: Primark

Sweater: Pop Boutique

 

Rachel's favorite Leeds clothes shop: Pop Boutique

 

 

Joe

 

Bottom: Edwin Jeans

Coat: Barbour

Shoes: Vans Old School

Hair Accessories: Obey Beanie

 

Joe's favorite Leeds clothes shop: HIP

 

 

Andrew

 

Coat: Vintage

Bottom: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Vintage

Bag: American Apparel

Belt: Vintage

 

Andrew's favorite Leeds clothes shop: Vivienne Westwood

Describe the Leeds fashion scene in 1 word: Electric

 

 

My Thoughts:

I went cool-hunting last week in a freezing day, so big thanks for these beautiful people who pleasantly allowed me to shoot them.

 

Rachel works in Pop Boutique, one of my favorite vintage shops. I love her accessories from head to toe, and she's such a friendly person, she's definitely not one of those shop assistants with attitude.

 

I stopped Joe as he was on his way to a meeting, that's why he was holding a projector  (And no, it wasn't part of his accessories) I imagined Joe has a great knowledge of brands and is certain of his style, because of the brands he was wearing were from everywhere in the world - Scottish coat, American hat and shoes, and Japanese jeans. Or maybe he just buys everything from HIP. ♥

 

Andrew uses many vintage items, and Leeds' vintage scene is definitely growing bigger and bigger the moment. Wearing boots normally shortens the length of legs, so I like where he positioned his belt to balance the proportion.

Until next time! (Or maybe see you on the street! ;))

Old fella with "FREESTYLE" on his backpack. ♥

STP's Far East Feature: Pimp My Teeth

Let's bring back braces! Wait a minute, were braces ever IN?

I absolutely adore people who wear braces; they are cool, represent youth, there is some kind of beauty in being in pain, and not everyone gets to wear them! 

In the Far East, braces are a complete hit right now. You have got to admit, if you can look good with a cage in your mouth, you can look good in anything.

 
So all you youngsters (and adults) who wear braces, there's no need to be shy about your ultra coolness anymore, EVER!