Week 9 for the ukstampers weekly challenge theme is Fashion.  You have to include:

• what was/is your fashion disaster and what was/is your favourite piece
• use some fabric on your page
• use a picture from a magazine

For someone who is most comfortable in a jumper and trousers and not at all fashionable this was a little tricky.  I do love Helena Bonham Carter’s style which is quirky, a bit goth, a bit steampunk, a bit hippy but at all times very feminine.  I am rather boring and practical in my dress sense and I go for comfort and warmth instead of fashion or style.  My worst fashion disaster was when I was in my twenties and had no money and had an invite (via my mum) to the Queen’s garden party.  I had nothing that would do so I went to the sales and picked up an outfit that I could afford.  It was a kind of pale green and off-white skirt and blouse affair along with a white hat, sling-backs and a handbag.  A granny would have looked very smart in it.  The hat was weird – not quite a bowler and had a dent in it like a cowboy hat.  My favourite piece in my good old Belstaff jacket that has seen better days.  These jackets get better with wear and get nice and comfortable and mine has a certain smell that invokes lots of memories of my biker days.  Sadly it now lives in the loft (I won’t throw it out).  The lace I used for this is the same as that on my wedding dress but I painted it with black acrylic paint then highlighted areas with gold wax on some of the embroidered bits.  I don’t buy fashion mags so the picture of Helena Bonham Carter is from the Radio Times.

Inks:  Tuxedo memento black
Card:  Handmade cotton rag paper
Stamps:  Stampotique Gooseneck  (Daniel Torrente)
Other:  lace, black and vermilion acrylic paint, dark red emulsion, gold pen, black netting, lime stickles, gold wax, picture of Helena Bonham Carter