Invisible Children

Okay, so a couple of months ago I read this book, Threads. Other than the awesomely cool story, it had a moral behind it too. One of the main characters had come over from Africa to escape the LRA.
It's so sad. I wish that they would mention the Invisible Children on Comic Relief, because this is as gruesome and gory as it will get.
This rebel group, the LRA, have been capturing children in Africa and using them as slaves for 25 years. They make them kill - even their own family, friends and teachers. It's probably one of the worst things I have ever heard of. Not only do they have to brutally maim other people by force, they are also in extreme danger. Some children walk for miles every night to avoid being abducted by the LRA.
So that's why, I am going to spend the whole of my Easter bank holiday on the 25th of April, being quiet, in order to raise sponsor money for the Invisible Children of Africa. I think.
I hope some of you will do the same.
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/
Lauren :) x

Marilyn Monroe, YSL & Net-A-Porter - My Obsessions of Today

Hey!

Recently (well, two months ago) I watched 'The Seven Year Itch' starring Marilyn Monroe and other people I don't really care about... It features her iconic white dress, which fits over her SIZE 14 body perfectly.

If Marilyn Monroe still lived now -and believe me, I wish she did- she'd have been amazing, simply because she would be the inspiration and role model for all plus-size girls out there. Actually, size 14 ISN'T plus-size, but in today's size 0 you're expected to be as thin as a pencil. Even if you do look awful without clothes on, unlike Marilyn who appeared on the front of Playboy. Anyway, Marilyn would inspire girls who are even a little worried about their weight -like me- to embrace your curves. That white dress means a lot to me, because it shows me to treat my curves as a help, rather than something I have to hide. And size 0's look stupid in pencil skirts (which I love at the moment!).

Now on to my favourite designer, YSL. Yves Saint Laurent is a God and if I ever become a model -which would be pretty odd because I don't want to be one- I will be gutted that I didn't meet him (actually, I'm pretty gutted anyway). He was working as Christian Dior's assistant aged 17 and then FOUR YEARS LATER was running the company. Then, in 1961 he set up his own fashion house. He is an inspiration. Not only does he design THE most gorgeous clothes I have EVER seen, he died in Paris. The most romantic city in the world. The couture fashion central. The place I want to live in for at least a year for when I'm older and have successfully secured a job as a fashion editor/fashion designer/celebrity stylist. The place I want to visit right now. The place I visited in June 2010 for a day and went to PARC freaking ASTERIX and it absolutely tipped it down. I would have preferred going to the Eiffel Tower and shopping. And we could have sent the boys to some football stadium, unless they wanted to come too...

Paris is capital of France, and London is capital of England, which brings me onto my next point. I love London, and I'm buzzin' for March when I go SHOPPING there while my brother and my dad check out Stamford Bridge (as a United supporter it is a COMPLETE AND UTTER TRAGEDY that my brother supports Chelsea). I LOVE LONDON TO PIECES. London has all the designer shops I could possibly want for a day trip AND I GET TO GO IN THEM! I don't have enough money to buy anything, obviously, but I'm going to take my little Retro Diana Mini and get as many pictures as possible. I also want to go to the Portebello Market and check out the stalls full of VINTAGE COUTURE STUFF. Which I probably couldn't afford, but hey, a girl can dream right? Also, if I do have my dream job *sighs* I can hopefully get loads of designer stuff for free, make money for charities (please check out http://www.invisiblechildren.com/), live in Paris and buy the whole of Portebello Market!

Everyone says to follow your dreams, so I'm going to.

That's it for today! DESIRABLE PURCHASES OF THE DAY: Vogue, Blue 70s Cardigan from the NEXT Catalogue, Black Blazer, The Mulberry Satchel (I have £104. Nowhere close to the £824+ I need) and these YSL Shoes(right) -even though they wouldn't fit- because they're the most sleek, stylish shoes I've seen.

Dresses

A dress is only a small part of fashion, but yet they're the one thing every High Fashion designer sells.

Unlike neon legwarmers [they're more a winter thing], hotpants [snow + hotpants? No thanks.] and black skinny jeans [black + sun = sticky legs], there's a dress for every season. Whether it's a maxi, a mini, an off-the-shoulder or a strapless, you'll find a dress that works every season.

Dresses are a big deal for the Red Carpet too. Anne Hathaway managed to work about five hundred trends the other day wearing a maxi Oscar de la Renta dress with flower print [very 2011] and ruffles at the bottom. One dress, and she's my brand new style icon. The fact that she wore all those amazing Chanel outfits in 'The Devil Wears Prada' may have helped too.

Another style icon of mine is Alexa Chung. You've got to love her. She was a TV presenter, and now she's a SUPERMODEL. Not only did she seem like the most down-to-Earth person ever when I read her interview with Vogue in the December issue, she was also on the FRONT COVER in the March 2010 issue of Vogue wearing RALPH LAUREN. She's also the face of Lacoste AND inspired Mulberry so much they created the 'Alexa'. Named after her.

That's it for today, I'm feeling pretty proud that I managed to make my first blog post so long.

DESIRABLE PURCHASES OF THE DAY: Vogue, 'The Secret Lives of Dresses', Black Blazer, Mulberry Satchel (which unfortunately is £795...), oh, and this dress (right), because it's so goddamn beautiful.