Styling Timeline

I feel awful for the lack of updates, but sometimes I struggle to find my words and instead resort to happily shopping online. I've spoken a lot about clothes recently, but not a lot about my shoots, as I haven't done one since the end of June. I have one coming up in two weeks, and it's going to be an exciting one (no spoilers just yet!). However, I thought it would be nice for me to post one image from each shoot that I've done this year, as a documentation of what I've achieved so far.

Styling Timeline

So there you have my entire body of styling work to date. It seems so little when viewed like this, but behind every picture is weeks of trawling the internet and shops, hundreds of exchanged e-mails, countless PDFs of outfit plans, and hours of braving the cold weather and changing models in public places whilst working out of a suitcase, which is why I'm adamant to use the experience to make my upcoming shoot the best I've ever done. These shoots will be showcased in full on my website when it hopefully materialises out of thin air, because Dreamweaver and I don't get along too well. I've taken to Gossip Girl marathons to avoid having to use it.

On another note, I'm back to university now and surprisingly excited for my final year. I've got plans to start a magazine from scratch, which will involve what I enjoy most: doing a million shoots, bugging people via e-mail, and going cross-eyed courtesy of inDesign. Joy!

Knitwear Obsession

I'm probably going to jinx the already heavily cursed English weather by saying this, but I'm actually enjoying the premature chill that has kept London company for the past few days. Wrapping up in lush knitwear is my favourite part of Autumn/Winter, and below is my list of gorgeous cardigans to cosy up. I won't be getting any of them soon as I've just dropped £99 on a Massimo Dutti piece, but there is another one on my list and I expect it to be mine by the end of winter! Teamed with jeans, boots, hidden fluffy socks and layers of Uniqlo heat tech will ensure a stylishly warm winter for me.

Massimo Dutti - £99.00

NW3 @ Hobbs - £79.00

Topshop £50.00

Topshop £40.00

Victoriana shoes

I find it so excruciatingly painful to sit down and write a blog post nowadays. Not sure exactly why, but it feels a chore again as opposed to a stroke of inspiration, which is worrying as it took me years to get comfortable with blogging. It could be because I'm not shooting at the moment and have less to talk about; because every thought formed in my head at the moment is about clothes and shopping and chunky cardigans and snuggly scarves and elbow patches oh my godddddd (pardon my loss of control); or more likely because I no longer like my blog layout. I'm in the process of building my website now (check out my err, oh so creative holding page over at www.aliyastylist.com), so may just build a new blog to go with it, most likely on Wordpress. Sorry Blogger, you've served me well but no longer tickle my fancy.

I've been at Fabulous magazine since mid-August, but switched from the fashion desk to Art desk last week and am loving it so far. Designing pages on Indesign is something I enjoy at university and would love to pursue so it's great to be getting practice and experience at a publication. Plus, I'll get loads of pages into my portfolio, which is why I do a silent squeal every time I'm given a fashion or beauty page.

Now, onto the shopping talk; I am obsessed with this weather. Despite having a blossoming cold and flu, the thought of snuggling into a warm, oversized scarf as my (yet to be purchased) blanket cardigan floats gracefully in the (bloody overpowering) wind has sent me into a fit of shopholicism. I love Autumn/Winter clothing with a passion, even more so since I mastered the skill of dressing appropriately for the weather (see my first ever blog post). Alongside this, I'm very much enjoying the Victoriana and heritage trends at the moment - the gorgeous shoes I've just purchased (pictured below) are a perfect example of the former, and the various elbow-patched items I have on my shopping list are inspired by the latter.

Suede slippers - £52.00, Topshop

In two weeks' time I'll be returning to university to for my final year as well as finalising a mid-October shoot with Faye Sampson, so expect lots of updates on that. Hopefully my website will be up by then too. For now, the only thing I have to talk about is shopping, so bear with me and my worrying antics. 

Leather obsession

I am absolutely obsessed with the leather and suede detailing trend of this autumn. For the past few months I've been darting towards every item that has been touched by either of the two materials in some way, whether it's a leather t-shirt or a jumper with elbow patches. I even forked out £40 on a plain white top from Oasis which is already bobbled but has 2cm leather cuffs on the ends of the sleeves. Fast forward a few days and a lot of expenditure, and with a mere £11 left in my account I'm searching for patches on eBay to sew onto my existing clothes.

Today I went round the shops with an even more feeble £4 in my account (not to worry, pay day on Wednesday and no particular need to eat food) and alas, managed to find around £1000 worth of clothing which will be making guest appearances in my dreams for the next few weeks. In fact, I found so much stuff that I am actually compiling a list of what I've seen and will narrow the candidates down to what I absolutely cannot live with. At the moment my head is swimming with gold buttons (an lifelong fetish which has nothing to do with trends), elbow patches and tiny tiny strips of leather which manage to make a plain jumper worth £50. Having said that, I'm still buying elbow patches on eBay, but am now failing to find the perfect red jumper to sew them onto in order to recreate the beautiful but expensive Massimo Dutti jumper I saw today. Damn this exclusive elbow patched world.

Above is a small fraction of my current lust list; Massimo Dutti unfortunately do not have an online store, or this post would be flooded with the elbow-patch heaven that I encountered from the door to the changing rooms in store today. I have however found out that there are 300 Massimo Dutti stores in Pakistan, where I spent the entire month of July, so am currently in a state of shock and regret that I didn't stock up this delicious collection for a fraction of the price whilst I had the chance (that is, if they had it!). I'm going back next year and now fully intend to return in a chic, Massimo-Dutti-clad fashion.

Starting my third week at Fabulous next week, it's going well so far and I'm getting a chance to assist the fashion director on a shoot or two! Very excited about this, so expect lots of tweeting about it. In the mean time, I'm organising my own shoot with Faye Sampson in the next few weeks, and it will be featuring some of the leather adorned garments featured above: I will most probably have to be physically wrenched away from this clothes when it comes to returning them, so self-control my exercise for the time being!

Fabulous

I'm about to wrap up my first week in the fashion department at Fabulous magazine, and it's been going really well so far. My daily routine consists of organising and packing up clothes from the fashion cupboard to return to PR agencies and stores; it sounds like a mundane job, but I get to see and touch press samples from my favourite high street stores which haven't even been released yet, which is alone is a treat for a shopaholic like me. I also get to watch the fashion editors (who are really lovely) prep the wardrobes for shoots, and I've already picked up a lot of inspiration and tips for my own upcoming freelance shoots. I'm hoping for the chance to assist a shoot or two in my remaining three weeks and get valuable first hand experience of working under professional stylists, which will no doubt provide me with guidance for my aspiring career as an industry stylist. Exciting times!

One big downside of interning for a fashion magazine is that I am even more obsessed with clothes than I was previously, yet my funds are running extremely low due to an extravagant splurge on the 'new wardrobe for my internship' (funnily enough I still struggle to find an outfit to wear every morning). Thankfully Fabulous fashion is made up of high street brands including some which I would generally overlook completely (Love Label, Peacocks, New Look etc), and in the four days of rummaging through thousands of items, I have fallen in love with the high street (and it's hidden online gems) again. I have tried to steer myself away from 'cheap' fashion over the past few years as I believed it would be wiser to make investments into more classic, 'luxury' items, but unfortunately I've found that even when I spend £50 on a top, I am bored with it by the end of the week. As a result, I have decided to embrace the throwaway culture of today's fashion and start buying on the high street again, because no matter how much I spend on it, it'll be in my charity bag within six months anyway.

The same doesn't go for bags, as I am currently lusting after this Sophie Hulme box tote, and feel that an outfit that costs under £20 can always be justified by a £400+ bag.

Finally, I have purchased my domain: http://www.aliyastylist.com. There is nothing on there at the moment, but in the next month or so I will have launched my online portfolio and am also considering a daily fashion blog, as I would like my online presence to remain as active as possible. We shall see what happens over the next few weeks!

Return to London

I touched down in London ten days ago following my four week holiday to Pakistan. The trip was absolutely amazing and reuniting with my relatives from all over the world whilst celebrating my cousin's wedding was worth the insane heat and humidity. I also picked up a real vibe for Pakistani fashion whilst there; floor length dresses with contrasting pleats in the skirts strangely reminded me of London fashion, albeit covered in sequins and embellishment that brands would charge £100s for here (not that they come any cheaper over there, as my bank balance sadly discovered). I have yet another wedding to attend there next year, so there now is another line of clothing added to my shopping list on top of the usual monthly wardrobe makeovers and random splurges that I generally treat myself to. Definitely predicting bankruptcy by Christmas time.

My quietness on Twitter and here have been due to my month of absolute luxury and disconnection from the fashion business, but next week I'm starting a four week internship at Fabulous magazine and intend to be back in the swing of things by lunchtime on my very first day. Looking the part is very important to me, so the first thing I did when I arrived back was empty out half the clothes which I've been wrinkling my nose at for the past few months, and promptly went shopping. Usually I have a lot of difficulty finding clothes but this time I appear to have struck gold (at the supposed price of gold unfortunately but never mind); in the past 10 days I've built myself a new little wardrobe and cannot wait to start wearing it next week. I'm working seven days at my retail job this week so have been sporting a look consisting of a white t-shirt, jeans, military boots, dishevelled state and permanent frown, so it will be extremely refreshing to put effort into my appearance again. I may even consider doing a few outfit posts, though this will most likely drive me to buy more clothes for variety.

In terms of shoots, I'm currently on a mini hiatus as my suitcase is still filled with holiday clothes, but I'm expecting to be back at it by September, when some more of my pending shoots will be published! I'm also looking to launch a portfolio website soon, so this blog may well relocate within the next few months. But until then, expect constant updates about my various expenditures, shoot plans, internship diary and the upcoming London Fashion Week.

Last one for a while

This will be my last post for a long time, as I am flying out to Pakistan for a month tomorrow. I will have access to the internet but most likely won't be active as there is only so much I can update about there whilst remaining relevant. In my absence, I will be having editorials published in both Turn magazine and XO magazine, as well as one or two more upon my return in August. I expect I'll be shooting pretty soon after landing so watch this space nearer the time for more updates on exploding suitcases and mad adventures on location.

My biggest excitement for August is the four week internship I have managed to secure at Fabulous magazine, beginning in the middle. I have been dying for work experience there ever since attending Pepperhaus's 'So you want to work in fashion?' event at London College of Fashion where the fashion co-ordinator was a guest speaker. This was half a year ago, and I'm glad my perseverance with applications in that period paid off. I'm looking forward to going on mad shopping trips in the two weeks between my arrival in London and the start of the placement, as I will definitely need some new attire to fit into the fashion department. My philosophy is that you cannot be the part without looking the part, and as shallow as it is, I feel a million times more confident and bubbly with an amazing outfit on.

Until August it is; I leave you with the cover image of soon-to-be-released summer issue of XO magazine. Photography by Faye Sampson, styling by myself.