Collection | Pieter Mullier X Alaia

I'm excited about the appointment of Pieter Mulier as the first appointed creative director of Alaia. His debut collection harks back to the fashion house work by Azzedine Alaia himself.

My Style | Viewpoint

Here I am some years ago during London Fashion Week. My eyes are dressed in Oliver Peoples and the outfit is by Georgia Hardinge. The shoes were a collaboration between Preen and Aldo. The bag is Celine and the hat is by Bates.

My Style | 70s Granny Glamour

My style is 'granny glamour meets athleisure meets androgynous meets 1970s. Today I'm wearing a vintage baseball jersey with a faux leather collage and a sunhat with Nike sweatpants and patent Gucci flats. What are you wearing today?

Scent | Fenty Perfume

Can't wait till Rihanna's Fenty Perfume is available in the UK. With tangerine, geranium, musk and more, this is the one to try.

Collaboration | Marc Jacobs

I was honoured to have been driven to the shows at London Fashion Week some years ago in a Marc Jacobs perfume cab. Oh the fun!

Miscellaneous | Faux Fur

This was the faux fur jacket that I wore over and over. This was the faux fur piece that I adored because of her texture. This is the faux fur jacket I wish I still had.

My Style | Layered

I like my garments to have company. I achieve this by layering lots on. In this throwback shot I'm wearing satin harem pants with a duster coat. The latter was found in a TRAID store.

Press : Lavande Magazine

Image by Andreas Tomoiaga

Image by Andreas Tomoiaga

I like Lavande Magazine. An online magazine that reminds me of the best zines (e-zines and fan-zines) and good old scrapbooking.

I was interviewed by Bridie Adams on my lifestyle and career. Read it here.

My Style | Sock Drawer

Images by Stefan Jakubowski

Images by Stefan Jakubowski

I was created in 1981. My love of socks goes back to 1986. The 90s were a good time for socks. From scrunchy thick socks for school with my shoes to those with frill and lace hems for church with shiny patent shoes, we wore them all and I was obsessed. Thank you to my Mother who passed her love of hosiery and socks to me indirectly. Seriously never knew a woman who had more hosiery than her. She had enough to dress the legs of every woman and girl and unborn female across the globe. Well it is 2021 and I have a collection of socks and tights to rival that now. Anyone want to start a socks addicts anonymous group?

I keep my socks in a Gucci bag box. Well I figured they could live in there. In my mad hatter mind that makes sense. The point of this post is to ask for someone to set an intervention. I’m averaging close to 20 pairs of socks deep. All by @Gucci . Who needs that many?

Follow my style adventures here and here.

A Tastemaker | The Strategy

Image by Stefan Jakubowski

Image by Stefan Jakubowski

So you have a dream.

Say it, speak it, write it down.

A lot of dreamers get frustrated. Have you heard what happens to a dream deferred? Langston Hughes can tell you about that in his poem ‘Harlem’. A dream deferred will give you mental and physical ailments. Don’t let that be you. Instead... make it happen. Do that with a strategy. A lot of things don’t happen for people because they don’t realise that a dream (however bright, shiny and intergalactic) is not going to happen without a plan. I am 100% a dreamer. My head exists in the white fluffy clouds most of the time. Don’t ask me the biological, chemical, social or physical reasons for this. I haven’t the foggiest (I mean I don’t know).

What I do know? Is dreaming is good. It is fantastical. However the problem about desires and daydreams and plans in your head is it in your head. You can visualise it, you know the taste and smell of it (or is that just me, give your dreams and aspirations the meat on their bones that they deserve darling!), you know the full shape of it.

That part is done. The hard part is going from that to making it come to pass.

The bridge over those two not too distant islands is ‘strategy’. How are you going to make it happen? What actions,events,things will lead to that dream coming to past? What will it take?

Get a pen and paper and write the dream down. On that paper write in whatever format you prefer (mind-maps, bullet points, lists, whole paragraphs, sketch it in steps etc) the steps you are going to take to get to the destination called your dream. For some it helps to work backwards from the intended goal.

An example is my strategy at 10 years old. The dream? Three part; be the person who was dressing the celebrities seen in the best dressed pages of Vogue, have my own fashion & culture magazine, help luxury fashion & beauty brands with how they came across.

My strategy at 10 years old to do the above and I broke it down as the dream was threefold so I addressed how I was going to do as when I was an adult (lol wasn’t i a very serious 10 year old?) …

On becoming a celebrity personal stylist (part one of the dream)…

1. Borrow fashion books from the library. Read lots of them

2. Keep an eye on what celebrities were wearing through TV, magazines and newspapers.

3. Watch films for the costume design.

4. Study fashion at University.

5. Read lots of fashion magazines.

6. Continue to make fashion collections for my dolls.

7. Ask Mum to buy me more Barbies and Barbie clothing at Car-Boots, thrift stores and secondhand shops.

8. Practice putting outfits together on myself.

9. Learn to use a sewing machine.

10. Customise clothing.

17. Write to fashion magazines to gain experience over the summer from when I’m 16 years old.

18. People watch more.

19. Keep watching red carpet award shows and ask myself what I would have done different per each celebrity outfit.

20. Surround myself with everything fashion!

The list went on and each point had sub points. This was just for the dream about becoming a celebrity personal stylist. I did the same for the part about working with brands and for the third part which was having my own magazine someday too.

The lists had sketches and doodles, I added inspirational quotes and text from newspapers and magazines.

You don’t have to add that. What I do encourage you to do is simply write down the dream and then write down how you plan to achieve. Here are some points to use to inspire …

1. What stands in the space between the dream and realising it? Address this by making those the things to achieve so they no longer block the dream.

2. What will help you achieve this dream? Write it down and work on them one by one.

3. Who has achieved a similar dream? What did they do to get there? Each person, each dream is specific to you but sometimes some things are common to more than one person. Example.. dreaming of starting a restaurant like your favourite chef? Did they go to culinary school? It may benefit you to do the same (do your research, is it necessary? Check the facts). Did they work under certain greats? See if this industry requires that etc etc.

4. What can you do from every angle? The trick is to fire at your target with all cylinders. This is not a drill. This is your dream. Attack it from every angle; fill your hobbies with it, make your life work about it, let your social life be centred around it, let that be what you read, eat, sleep, think about etc.

It can get a lot more than this but the basic outline is once you figure out the dream strategise how it will happen. Don’t just do this in your head. Physically write it somewhere you can keep going back to and updating and amending. It is imperative to write it down. It helped me. It will help you.

Write down the steps you will take to achieve your dream. Put them in order of what you need to do first. Think in the long term and short term here right now. Now? Get to work. You can do it. If you can visualise it, you can do it.

Read about having a dream here.

All the best.

Glam kisses,

Marian.

A Tastemaker | A Dream

Image by Phill Taylor x Refinery 29

Image by Phill Taylor x Refinery 29

What is your dream?
Do you have one? Does it keep you up at night? Do you mull it over in your mind?

Do you have a dream? Are you living it now? Perhaps you know what it is and are on your way to achieving it.

Today I am going to start a segment called ‘A Tastemaker’. I believe when you are blessed with a lot it is imperative when you are in the position to (physically, emotionally & mentally) to give back. I think it is important to share wisdom, counsel, direction etc.

I am of the belief that the opportunities and gifts we have are not only for our own good but for the betterment of others. Your view off course could be different. Back to this series... this week I got two emails. Both were about a dream. Two different dreams. Two different people. One wanted advice on how to break into the fashion industry. The second individual was bemoaning the fact that she didn’t know what life work to choose.

This post is dedicated to these two individuals. It is dedicated to the people I’ve mentored along the way. It is dedicated to everyone who ever reaches out for help, counsel or advice. It is dedicated to you.

It all starts with a dream.

Ask a child what they want to be when they grow up. Most have an answer. In childhood we dream. You see this in the games children play. In the fancy dress-up, in the role play, in their imagination.

What did you want to become when you were a child? Did you change your mind as you grew? Did you find that by University/College/Vocational School/Internship that you still wanted to be that thing you pretended you were as a child?

There are no wrong answers…

Attaining goals and a successful career really starts with a dream. What is it you want to do? What makes you happy? What are you naturally good at? What keeps you up at night?

Figure that out and figure out your life.

A lot of people have great work ethic, are consistent and persistent and are waiting it out but they are batting for the wrong team. They attain success but are unhappy. This is because they are applying all the right things and working very hard but are doing it in support of something which they had no business of doing. Culture, upbringing, society, social norms, expectations, etc play a big part in a lot. Life isn’t an isolated situation. We and the choices we make are influenced by a lot of things around us.

You have to have a dream. Write it down, speak it out a loud, mull it over in your mind, walk with it, sleep with it, daydream about it, strategise about it, seek counsel (from those with the right credentials, experience and qualifications) on it, etc.

What we become, how well we excell at it, how far it takes us … all begins with a dream.

What is your dream? What are you doing about it? Do you know what it is? (Career advice services, mentoring and the right signposting will help with this!)

Dreaming is important. Do so incessantly! They will tell you won’t be able to attain it. They will tell you it is impossible. They will tell you that you don’t fit the mold. Do it anyway.

Start with a dream.

The first of the ‘Tastemaker’ segment. More coming soon. Tell a friend.

Glam Kisses, Marian.

Reflections | Celebrate What Makes You Unique

This week I got broached for a radio opportunity.

Over the years this has happened on occasion.

This time I said I would consider it. Someone had watched a clip with me and had passed it on to someone else. The point of this post is... celebrate everything about yourself.... The quirks, the good, what you may consider ‘bad’, the lot. What has this got to do with possibly being on radio? This... when I was in secondary school I was bullied and teased.

One issue for some was my voice. If you have heard me speak then you will know I have a low register. The boys in school and boys will be boys ... teased me mercilessly about it. They would mimic, imitate etc. What they didn’t know (and I’m sure they didn’t mean to...) was they caused me so much anxiety. Anxiety to go to school. Anxiety to walk into class, anxiety and more anxiety. Was it occasional teasing here and there? No. It started as mild teasing and soon became bullying. It wasn’t just about my voice. It was a few things from my height, my disposition, the way I wore my hair etc. This went on for years.

But back to the voice issue. I nearly developed a stammer and was scared to speak up. When you know all you are going to say will be mimicked back to you that can make you nervous to speak. Little did I know that same ‘tone of voice’, that register that was indeed unique to a woman, and my enunciation made it good for radio. I want to encourage you if you are reading this... that height that you’ve been made to hate, that facial feature they say stands out too much (good case in point? Barbara Streisand’s nose or Liza Minnelli’s eyes...), your style (will tell you more about that one day soon), your point of view... etc... will pay off so don’t change it or hide it for anyone.

You may hear me on radio soon. Who knows? That’s not the point. The point is those opportunities over the years which I’ve incessantly said no to were offered each time because of the same voice that a 14 year old girl was scared to let anyone hear.

Celebrate (if you can’t do this alone, get the support to do so) what makes you unique.

If you are being bullied call the BullyingUK helpline on 0808-800-2222 (1.30pm to 5pm Monday to Friday) or the National Bullying Helpline on 0300-323-0169 (open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday) in the UK. Call the Stop Bullying Now Hotline on 1-800-273-8255 (open 24 hours 7 days a week) or the in the US. More information and resources here , here and here.

Press | Style Of The City

Style of the City Summer Issue 2021

Style of the City Summer Issue 2021

Honored to be featured in Style of the City magazine. It is the Summer Issue. Founded by Rosie Harris who is also editor-in-chief, this magazine always inspires me. It is aspirational. It is for the style conscious.

Available complimentary in Wales, it is one of those publications that leaves you a little more informed than when you started out. I like it. Bravo Rosie for your incredible distribution numbers. Thank you for featuring me and my top style tips. Thank you Karine Laudort (who used to contribute to the publication) for setting it up and the pr.

Someone whisk me away to Wales now.

Read all about it at @styleofthecitymag and here.