ACCESSORISE, ACCESSORISE, ACCESSORISE

The current recession may mean that many of us have less to spend on fashion, but you really don’t have to spend a lot to stay looking glam and individual. Just a few well-chosen accessories can transform even the simplest of outfits, giving them a completely different look, whatever the occasion.

Choose a trendy handbag, funky jewellery, scarf, or headwear to complement your outfit, give it a totally personal look and reflect your own individual style and your mood at the time. Use accessories to give a classic outfit an up to date feel or to turn a daytime look into something stunning for the evening . There is always a wide choice of fashion accessories available to choose from, whatever your style and budget.

Contemporary knitwear designer, Jools Elphick, who sells a range of products on the Fashion Killerz website, agrees. “I've always felt that 'fashion' reflects a mood - this can be personal, national or global, depending on what we're tuning in to, she says. “For example, when the sun is shining and you're feeling good, then bright colours and exuberant accessories - be they large flowers in your hair, chunky jewellery or just a pair of sunnies - we put it 'out there'.  Take this further and a subtly flowing and feminine understated evening dress can be personalised with a feathered or sparkly head-dress, wrap and/or accessorised gauntlets.  It shouts individuality!

“So accessories for me mean adding definition, individuality and panache!”

Jools Elphick with a selection of her amazing Contemporary Head-Dresses.

Elephtheria Xenos, another designer selling a range of clothing and jewellery items on Fashion Killerz, comments:  “Jewellery is a key fashion must-have. It can be used to dress up and down any outfit and is like the finishing touch to an outfit.”

Accessories are also great for gift ideas. Why not treat your mum this Mother's Day to something really personal and distinctive such as this Mother's Day Necklace - a classic design that can be incorporated in many outfits - by Elephtheria Couture?

Or how about this beautiful beaded evening bag by Crafted by Nichola?

If you are looking for some unique fashion accessories, created by independent designers, you’ll find a wide range, including the items shown, on www.fashionkillerz.com. All the items are individually made and many are one of a kind so you know you’ll be adding something very special to your collection of fashion accessories.

Michele Turner

www.fashionkillerz.com

My Style Icon

I was just 13 years old and didn’t have a clue about fashion. Basically, I wore pretty much what my mum bought for me, and then HE came onto the scene and changed everything.

Suddenly Adam Ant was everywhere, including my bedroom. My walls were covered in his pictures, carefully cut from a vast array of magazines paid for by my meagre wages as a newspaper girl. I trudged for hours every week, my shoulders weighed down by the weight of the bag, carrying hundreds of copies of the local rag, through all weather conditions, but it was worth it.

Adam Ant changed my life.

I loved his music, still do, but most of all I loved his style. With each single he released, came a new look, the Dandy Highwayman, Pirate, Prince Charming… and he carried each one off so well. His style was flambuoyant, colourful, bold and ultimately very sexy. He stood out from the crowd and rapidly became a fashion icon of the 80’s.

It wasn’t long after Adam’s arrival in my life at that tender age that I began to get more interested in fashion. I started to experiment, became more confident, and realised that I didn’t have to follow fashion. I wanted to be different.

I started dying my hair – orange, pink, purple, red… and looking out for unusual items to wear, started customising my clothes….

When I was given a sewing machine at 16 – a very basic one – I began playing with fabrics, taught myself how to make clothes and although, by that time, Adam Ant was long gone from the music scene and my allegiances had moved to the likes of Motley Crue, Guns n Roses and other ‘hair bands of the late 80’s, his influence was still present.

Yes, I confess to making some real fashion disasters – including the baggy multi-coloured trousers that were among the first things I ever made and which caused great hilarity amongst some people – but I had made them and I was bloody well going to wear them! For me, it was all part of the learning process and it’s something I continue today with my designs.

Now qualified in pattern cutting, fashion design and tailoring, most of my work still comes from simply picking up a piece of fabric and experimenting. I rarely set out with a concrete idea of what I’m going to make, it just evolves and that’s why you’ll find quite an eclectic range of items under my brand Mosquito Head UK on the Fashion Killerz website.

So, Adam Ant, thank you for inspiring me to blossom from a shy teenager to become the individual, creative person I am today.

I’d be interested to hear who YOUR style icons were. Who changed your world? If any designers are reading this – who or what inspired YOU to follow a career in fashion?

http://www.fashionkillerz.com/

Adam Ant inspired a love of big collars and cuffs as in my jacket above.

High Street fashion v individuality

OK, so we all know that the latest fashion trends are filtered down from the top designers to the High Street but what I want to know is, why do people buy these latest trends?

Is it  because it’s safer to follow what everyone else is doing, because you don’t want to stand out from the crowd, or you don’t want to be labelled ‘out of touch’?

Perhaps it’s simply because it’s the most convenient way to buy your wardrobe? Maybe you genuinely  like what’s on offer? Or is cost the deciding factor between mass produced clothing and more unique alternatives?

Why do YOU buy the clothes that you do? Do you wear clothes that you don’t really like, or don’t really suit you just because they are ‘on trend’ or because you found something on a sale rail that was just too good a bargain to ignore but which will inevitably spend years gathering dust at the back of a cupboard? I think we’re all guilty of that one!

For me, the High Street is great for staples like t-shirts and jeans, but I much prefer to create my own style by adding unusual items from backstreet boutiques, independent designers’ online shops or making/ customising my own outfits. If you take the time to look around in less obvious places you can come across some amazing finds, unearthing new and exciting designer gear at affordable prices.

I don’t really care what the latest fashion is; I don’t like my style being ‘dictated’ to me. Spring/Summer fashion trends will apparently include fruity neon colours and bell bottom trousers but I can tell you now I most definitely won’t be wearing them. No way, Jose!

Now, I’m just going to clear out my stash of ill-considered fashion purchases… If you spot an incy wincy leopard print mini skirt on ebay at some point soon, it wasn’t mine. Honest!

Michele Turner
http://www.fashionkillerz.com/

What are the defining fashion trends?

I have to confess, I don’t usually take any notice at all of what’s ‘in’ and what’s not in fashion but for the purposes of research, I’ve been looking into the forecasted trends for Spring/Summer 2011 and am still none the wiser. It seems that in modern times pretty much anything goes.

The key looks are deemed to be 60’s and 70’s glamour, biker inspired clothing, and punk fashion.  Essentially, nothing new then. Just more recycled looks from previous eras. Nothing wrong with that, but  it has raised the question - have definitive fashion trends, as witnessed in previous decades, died a death, or am I just getting old and missing the point?

Think back to the 50s and you conjure up images of rock ‘n’ roll dresses, full circle skirts, Capri pants and teddy boy suits. The 60’s - the emergence of mini skirts with knee length boots and Mary Quant style dresses followed by the emergence of hippy style and flower power which continued into the 70’s  along with the introduction of Glam Rock then punk style. The 80’s (probably best left firmly in the past, in my opinion) saw shoulder pads, ra-ra skirts, baggy trousers, shell suits and ankle warmers! But what were the defining looks of the past two decades – I’ll be damned if I know!

It would appear though, that I have inadvertently 'predicted' many of the current trends in my latest collection of garments - which are listed for sale in my website http://www.fashionkillerz.com/ - as they include flower power dresses, full circle dresses, and MOD style dresses...

http://www.fashionkillerz.com/