Who knew that Scotland could be this sunny?

Hi m'lovelies

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous recently in Scotland and to be honest I've not seen much of it. Today I finally managed to drag myself away from my dissertation (or rather my dissertation procrastination) in order to rummage through Aberdeen's vintage shops while soaking up as much sun as possible. Its officially two weeks today until the hand in, which is pretty bloody frightening BUT I'm starting to see the finish line. HOORAY!

 Top : H&M : £14.99 | Culottes : H&M : £24.99 | Boots : Topshop : £35 | Hat : Primark : £8

Other than writing my dissertation I've not really been doing much with my life. I did get a haircut recently though which was a HUGE change for me. I've literally had the same haircut for about 6 years (at least), which is insane. I was worried that I wouldn't suit shorter hair and I was literally waiting to burst out into tears when the hairdresser cut it all of in a pony.. but surprisingly it felt amazing.  I can't tell you how annoyed I am for not doing it a long time ago and I now believe in the power of a new hair style to totally cheer you up. It's easier to manage and my hair now looks 100x thicker and healthier. If you're considering going for the chop, do it - midi/short styles are bang on trend right now and I can guarantee that you won't look back!

Sunglasses : River Island : £12 | Bag : Primark : £12 

electricfeelfashion 

Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Tumblr 

HELP ME I'M DROWNING IN DISSERTATION | An OOTD

Hi m'lovelies

 

While the majority of the blogosphere is loving life at fashion week, today I spent the majority of my time at uni, slaving away in the library on my dissertation.. which fyi, is due in 6 WEEKS. Jesus. I'm trying not to panic because I feel like I'm on the right track, however I also feel like that's impossible. Purely because I will have written a dissertation by the end of April, which is a TERRIFYING thought. Dissertations are for smart people. Academics. Not me. WOT.  Nevermind, by June I will hopefully be an actual Honours Graduate, which I guess is pretty cool. On another note, I can't believe that its been a YEAR since I interned down in London and got the chance to attend LFW. It's such an amazing time to be in London, as the buzz around a city full of creatives is like no other. That said, I will definitely be glued to all forms of social media this week, and I particularly can't wait for Burberry on Monday because as of right now, Christopher Bailey can do no wrong in my eyes!

Jacket : Primark : £25 | Dress : Zara : £29.99 | Boots : Topshop : £35.00

 

Uni breakdowns aside, I absoloutely love this dress. Zara TRF has been amazing so far this season. The never ending sale is finally over, and its packed full with perfect transition pieces from A/W into spring which includes a lot of lovely bohemian styles and colours. Its a gorgeous print, and works both during the day and dressed up at night with a belt and some heels. Another favourite from todays outfit is definitely the trench. Until I can afford a real one, Its basically my cheapskate interpretation of the infamous burberry trench, and for £25? LOVE. 

 Watch : Marc Jacobs | Necklace : H&M

electricfeelfashion 

Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Tumblr 

Basic 70s Boho OOTD

 Hi m'lovelies 

Firstly I want to thank everyone for the amazing response over my last post! It took me a really long time to get right, and I was a tad nervous about posting it, but I'm so glad I did. I've had so much positive feedback, and it motivates me to continue with similar kinds of posts in the future. Today though, here I am again with ANOTHER all black outfit post (shock). I swear I have been wearing a lot more colour recently, but I wasn't feelin' it today so...

 

I nipped into town for some light shopping and lunch as well as a long overdue eye test. It was such a beautiful day, and the sun was out - therefore I got to wear my sunglasses for the first time this year. I was quite skeptical as to whether or not it was ‘warm’ enough to wear a dress without tights... but I braved the Scottish weather, and it was actually the perfect temperature!

 Coat : Zara : £49.99 | Sunglasses : H&M : £4.99 

Last semester, I got the chance to do a piece of coursework which involved creating a capsule collection for S/S15, which basically meant that I got to do a lot of drooling over the 70s gear forecasted for Spring/Summer. Flares, Bohemian, A-lines, V-Necks.. you name it, I love it! Since then, I've been investing in my 70s inspired wardrobe for the season, and I feel like this outfit incorporates it all! 

Dress : Zara TRF : £25.99 | Boots : Public Desire : £39.99 | Bag : H&M : £29.99

As soon as I saw this dress, I absolutely fell in love with it and £25.99, you can't go wrong! I wore it with a Topshop crochet skirt underneath, which again adds to the 70s vibe. These over-the-knee boots have definitely been one of my favourite buys in a while, as I searched for a pair in my size for ages. I finally found them on Public Desire, and they were much cheaper than on the high street, bonus!

 Necklace : H&M : £3.99

electricfeelfashion 

Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Tumblr 

  x

Photo Credit : my fabby fab flat mate Olivia!

Weight-loss, insecurites and self-acceptance.

(Disclaimer: Everyone is different and deals with these things differently. I am no doctor or psychologist, but reading others personal journey's really helped me so I thought I'd give it a go)

The road to body image acceptance and body confidence can be a long one, and if you’re insecure about your weight/appearance, it isn't easy. As controversial as it is to some people, regardless of weight, you should NEVER be made to feel insecure about your body. 7st or 18st. Toned or not. Never.

Since I was about between the ages of about 15-19 I was extremely insecure about the way I looked. It all started off with something small, and spiraled off into a toxic cycle of endless self loathing, where no part of me was safe or respected. As I said, you name it, I didn’t like it. Including my face shape, chin, nose, eyes and hairline to name but a few and it slowly reached my body shape/weight. Without going too much into the dysmorphia, the endless insecurities ruled my life. They were always on my mind, and although many people commented on my obsessive behaviour/negativity, I never really told anyone about how I felt, mainly due to embarrassment. It affected everything from my everyday behaviour and diet to my relationships and it really got me down. I struggled on without seeking help for ages, which was extremely lonely and painful.

One thing that I want to point out is that I loved going to the gym and eating healthily, and at that time I probably was at my healthiest weight wise. However, a healthy mind is as important as a healthy body, and I, like many others, was so caught up in weight loss purely for superficial reasons that I neglected the importance of my mental health. I started dieting/exercising quite a bit between ages 18 to 19 and If you know me at all, you’ll know that I can be a tad obsessive when I put my mind to something. I become addicted really easily so exercising and calorie counting became my life for that short period of time. Instead of making me feel more confident, obsessively counting calories, exercising and ultimately; losing weight - didn’t work at all. In fact, it made me feel worse about myself. It was never enough and I got into a cycle of trying extremely hard to reach an unreachable goal, which me feel worse and ultimately led to failure. It was exhausting. I wasn’t happy, and altering my appearance wasn’t doing anything for me. I started to think to myself that I maybe needed to work on whats on the inside, first. Why did I feel that way? Where did it all start? I wasn’t born with these feelings and they had to come from somewhere, didn’t they? I also started to notice that a lot of people around my age were having similar experiences with their appearance. Everyone around me were trying to lose weight, everyone wanted the 'bikini body' and it  started to make me question why. Although I was my biggest critic, I was constantly bombarded by this pressure to be a certain way, to look a certain way and it continued to feed my insecurities.

Now, a lot has changed since then. I became extremely interested in body image and what it all meant. I started to seek out others who felt the same or who had gone through similar fights with their body and appearance, which solidified further my idea that A LOT of people my age felt this way. A simple Google search brought back these horrific statistics:

• 70% of British girls aged 11-19 cite their relationship with their body their number one worry.

• One in three British girls would consider cosmetic surgery. 

• Girls as young as five years old in the UK are worried about the way the look and their size. 

• 90% of British women feel body-image anxiety.

I was shocked by what I found and I was determined to understand why I and so many girls (and guys) feel like we need to constantly change our appearance in order to lead a happy and fulfilled life and it honestly took me on a journey which changed my life completely. I started researching the theories which explain methods of how we construct our own body image from an early age and how it can be influenced by a variety of external factors such as our upbringing, our peers as well as societal ideals and pressure from the media. Through research, I began to question why so many people were made to feel this way. I realised that the problem wasn’t with me, that I wasn’t mad and actually, I came to this 'crazy' conclusion that I didn’t need to change myself, at all. This was a confusing and scary concept, which I often doubted due to years of conditioning, but nonetheless I decided to take an active step in trying to become more confident in myself, flaws and all. I read endless self help books and blog posts and watched many a YouTube video on how thousands of women across the world had also become liberated with this realisation, documenting their journey to confidence - without the fad diet.

Firstly, I got rid of all of the negativity from unnecessary external influences as well as anything that I felt was clouding my judgement at the time. I quit the gym. I stopped myself from getting involved in commenting on anyone else's appearance. I ditched the diet obsessed magazines and TV programs and I unfollowed the ‘thinspo’ Instagram/Twitter/Tumblr accounts. I then started to put my research into action by telling myself that I liked loved those bits of me which I didn’t like. It sounds daft but, I literally stared in the mirror (clothed and nakey) and looked at the ‘flaws’ in my eyes. Why didn’t I like them? Did I not like them because I'd been made to feel like I shouldn't? I also spent quite a bit of time pointing out what I did like about myself, the positives. These didn’t have to be for purely aesthetic reasons… For example, I really like my hands, because I have similar hands to my mum and they remind me of her.  The more comfortable I became with my body, the more I started to understand and listen to it.

I then began talking openly about body image. For example, my problem with how many young girls are brought up to hate themselves, purely so that they will become more obedient and submissive consumers. As well as the whole 'We'll tell you you're not good enough, but its OK, don't fear; because we sell the products which will make you better' - Its twisted genius really. I felt enlightened and I couldn't believe that I'd wasted so much of my time trying to conform to this unattainable ideal while hating myself in the process. This realisation then led me to change the way I thought. If my inner monologue ever tried to tell me that I looked a certain negative way, I literally fought against it. I thought to myself 'nope, not today. I feel great and I look great'. I started to go without make up for a few days at a time and I started to put it on again for fun, because I enjoyed it - rather than as a necessity. I started to do more things I loved. When I exercised, I did it for fun, and when I ate healthily, I did it because I wanted to be healthy, not because I wanted to look like (insert celebrity here). It all sounds so simple, but for anyone who battles with or who has battled with insecurities, these simple tasks can often feel impossible, and they started to feel possible again.

Honestly though, the more you start to do this, the happier you feel. Once you become happier with yourself on the outside, it starts to affect everything and everyone around you. Do you point out others flaws in order to make yourself feel better?  Do you compare yourself to everyone? Do you feel too insecure to enjoy the things and/or people that you love? You can stop it all. For me, it all stems from inner happiness. Then, once you're happy with yourself and you would still like to lose weight in order to improve your health. Go for it. Because once you’re happy with the way you are during the ‘before' phase, I can guarantee that it’ll be easier and you'll be happy regardless of the number on the scale.

For me, two years on.. I can honestly say that I have never felt so content and happy with myself, ever. I still have off days (like everyone) but I am happy. I now roll my eyes at anyone who points out the the weight gain/loss of a celebrity. Who cares? Not me. Every January, when a large majority of adverts try to shove summer ‘bikini body’ tips tricks and diets down my throat, I barely blink an eyelid. I no longer look at myself and see flaws that need altering and I believe that there is no diet or beauty regime in the world that can give you true confidence like self acceptance. There is so much more to me than how I look or what I weigh.

There is so much more to life.

electricfeelfashion

Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Tumblr

 x

I need to get better at life.

It’s been over 5 months since my last post, which is pretty shameful. To be fair though, I’ve had one of the most full on semesters since I entered myself into 'fun fun fun' higher education. But enough with excuses, I’ve missed blogging and I have lots of new (and hopefully good) ideas for future posts. I want to focus on more than purely Fashion and open it up to a lot more writing of my thoughts, feelings and opinions. I was going to make a separate blog but then I thought to myself.. ‘Michelle, your track record with just one blog isn’t great, and also, does anyone really care enough?' Probably not. But, I find it therapeutic, so I thought I'd give it a bash!

I've seen lots of fab New Years resolutions posts. Therefore in true fashion, I’m going to kick off the year with mine... at the end of January.. so here goes:

1. Keeping in line with my commitment issues, my first resolution is to finish the things I start. It’s definitely a huge problem of mine as it’s safe to say that I have the attention span of a goldfish. Books left unfinished, previous resolutions left unfulfilled. Enough is enough, I am 21. I need to get a grip.

2. Learn how to write poetry. This sounds a bit weird, but I am absolutely obsessed with Slam Poetry/Spoken Word and I would love to be able to express myself like that. So yeah, that would be cool. If anyone’s interested in that kinda thing, I'd recommend subscribing to Button Poetry on YouTube.

3. Expand my vocabulary. After reading countless academic journals for my uni dissertation, I’ve realised that I lack the knowledge of the English language in a big way. I sat for hours reading just one article struggling to dissect the words in order to understand it’s basic meaning (which in my defence, totally overused complicated jargon). Nonetheless, I think that's pretty bad for a 4th year, soon to be, Graduate (fingers crossed). The first step in this quest of knowledge is the downloading of 'The Word of the Day’ app, which I’m sure will put me on the path of fabulousness. Word of the day: Enthesis (noun) - The point at which a tendon, ligament, or muscle inserts into a bone. Good to know.

4. Do something with my passion for the body positivism movement. If you know me at all, you’ll know how much I bang on about Body Image. It’s extremely close to my heart, and I would love to contribute to the movement in some way. Coming closer to the end of my degree (which I'm scared shitless about, fyi) has led me to start thinking about what I really want to do when I graduate. I still want to work in the fashion industry, but I would love to be able to combine both passions. I think body image is extremely important within the fashion world, and people often question my degree/career choice when I tell them how much I care about it, due to the materialistic aspect of the industry. However, behind all of that, the true essence of fashion is about expressing yourself and your personality. It still has a long way to go with the way in which it approaches body image, which is why I’d love to be able to help them along the way. Again if anyone is as interested in Fashion, the industry and specifically Body Image, I would highly recommend checking out StyleLikeU on YouTube. Their Videos are a breath of fresh air and they have honestly helped me along the road with my own Body Image issues. I would love to do something similar one day as their passion for the cause really inspires me to work towards my goal of making a positive contribution to the movement. Check them out, you won't regret it.

5. Worry less. I'm definitely one of those people who believes that ‘everything happens for a reason’ which doesn’t really make much sense with the amount of worrying I do. It’s partly because I suffer from Anxiety/Panic Attacks, but I am forever worrying about both the little and big things, which in the long run often causes me many more problems than the things I’m actually worried about. It’s exhausting and often unnecessary.

6. Appreciate my friends/family. I know that it’s extremely cliché but I am surrounded by the best bunch of people going and I need to appreciate them more often. I feel that over the past 6 months I’ve neglected them slightly due to the uni stress. Which is weird because I’ve probably needed them the most over that time. Even if it’s the odd text to see how they’re doing, I need to be more grateful of how fab they are.

And finally:

7. Travel.  Do it or you'll regret it later.


electricfeelfashion


Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Tumblr

 x