Style Profile #13: Elaine Hepburn

Name: Elaine, Lainey-lu, MissElaineia

Occupation: Charity Education Outreach Worker, Art Therapist in training, Singer, Writer, Artist (in the becoming!)

Locale: London, for now.

Favorite shops/labels: For day to day style and ease, I still love good old h&m, though I usually go for the clothes left on the sale racks that no-one else wanted. I've never had the money to experiment with expensive designer labels but would secretly love to, as I reckon they'd cut to fit really well. Otherwise charity shops anywhere and everywhere - especially in towns in the middle of nowhere and in posh areas of London (for amazing deals!). Fav highstreet shop at the moment is 'Pop Boutique', a vintage-inspired/homemade clothes shop to be found in the tangle of interesting streets in between Neal Street and Leicester Square:
http://www.pop-boutique.com/where/Pop
Or Rag N Bone Vintage clothing in Deptford:
http://www.chriscareyscollections.co.uk/boutique.html
Or the fabulous 'Kitt's Couture' if you happen to be in Penzance, Cornwall!

Fashion Influences: My childhood, my ladyfriends, my Mum! The 60s/70s/80s and the collective unconcsious... (often my ideas come from seeming nowhere...) Working clothes- cowgirls, aprons, Japanese construction workers, India, Africa and countries where all sorts of patterns and styles are worn jostling along simultaneously. The odd glamour-puss; Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe; The Be-good Tanyas, Madonna (in the early years), Bjork.

Local Fashion Scene: London fashion is vast and eclectic, and multicultural - I love it. You can pretty much cater for any fashion whim you might have, it just takes you a while to work out where to find it. Currently I am stuck on Deptford - for its amazing African boutique/tailors, and the retro shops that are still chaff-and-grain, and still retro prices. I've heard there is a huge clothes mountain somewhere under one of the railway arches, where lots of vintage clothing outlets go to source clothes and get the deals, but I haven't quite mustered the energy to go find out for myself! Then there's Southall for anything Indian; whole streets of silks and sparkles, and then with the Indian restaurants, supermarkets, cinemas and Hindi signs, it feels like you are a hop and a skip from the sari emporiums in Chennai!


*Interested in being a Peach?*
Send 1) one full-length pic, 2) 2 to 4 other snapshots that capture your style, 3) your name, locale, fav shops, influences, the scene in your city, or any other pertinent info to pickypeaches@gmail.com

Trendspotting: Retro 80's

LOVE: The Sunglasses

I admit the first time I saw someone wearing the flat-lensed, bright-colored 80's shades I rolled my eyes, but I have to admit now that some people can definitely work this look! The key is using the sunglasses as an accent point and not wearing anything else that's too overtly retro, so that they don't look cheesy (and you don't end up looking like an extra from Miami Vice). I even love the slitted shades that are peeping up now. I think they remind me of Hollywood from Mannequin and I can't help but grin. Sadly, I've only seen them for sale and haven't caught anyone wearing them yet, but I'm hopeful. If any city has people who'd wear them it would be here in San Francisco, land of the eternally fashion eclectic.


HATE: The Big Shoulders

Right off the bat, I need to clarify that I hate big shoulders, not puffy shoulders - there is a difference. On a recent trip to H&M, I grabbed a jean jacket with a mandarin collar that looked promising. It had a bit of puff in the shoulders which I thought would look cute. Instead, I looked like I had just stepped off the set of Dynasty! Now, I do realize that this is the look a lot of girls are actually going for (frightening as it is), but I gotta step in and ask 'Why this trend?'

I *loved* the 80's (and, yes, I'm actually old enough to remember it!) and I honestly adored a lot of the fashion - 'winged' shirts, bright colors, bold jewelery. It was fun. It still is, which is why I can appreciate the 80's comeback and how daring so many of these retro looks are. But, I think someone ought to pull a few people aside and remind them that some looks are better left in the past - like MC Hammer pants, tight-cuffed jeans, and, yes, huge-ass shoulders.

Why? For one, it ain't flattering. On a-n-y-o-n-e. Two, the whole look was born from women who were finally entering the office as business women, instead of secretaries. It was a look that emphasized power, telling the good ol' boys that these ladies were not sweet, petite girl-Fridays, but people to be reckoned with. Now, if that's what you're going for, more power to ya! But if you're donning the look blindly for nostalgia or merely the retro-factor, you might want to pass on this one and leave it to Angela Bower.