ARK Clothing VS Flashmob

Though I love vintage, thrifting the perfect bargain and sales galore, I had the pleasure of choosing an outfit from the Hearts & Bows line at ARK Clothing to gig in over the Tramlines festival weekend.

How come? I hear you mutter. Well...my band Screaming Maldini decided to crack out an a cappella arrangement of Summer Somewhere bang in the middle of Sheffield's ARK on Division Street. Check it.

I'm wearing an 80s dress that I shipped in from the US from Etsy and a bag I got from River Island in the sale years ago. I had to just...sing! In front of the unsuspecting public! But knowing I'd soon be joined by the rest of my band and 25 singers, a trumpet, guitars and a flute. Absolutely loved it. 

In return (!) ARK let us wear their clothes. 

Photo: Georgina Martin

Photos: Georgina Martin

Here is the dress I chose, I loved that I could make it my own by adding the ridiculous Topshop fruit necklace as the black high neck provided a perfect "blank canvas" for the statement necklace.

 Annie had such a huge decision to make! She looked amazing in all the options from Hearts and Bows but I'm glad she went with this leatherette skirt as it's not something she'd ever usually wear. Teamed with the pretty shirt, the leather was softened somewhat.

The boys looked pretty sexy too. But enough about them.

 I do hope you come to a gig soon and check out Screaming Maldini on the internet (we're all over that shizzle). Especially here. Oh and ARK.

G x

New Face of Pretty Used Things

She's a complete stunner is Miss Suzanne Strutt and despite modelling for Jeffrey Campbell shoes the other day, she's only gone and donned some Pretty Used Things and modeled for my ASOS Marketplace.

Check out some of these stunning pictures I captured of Suzanne for my shop. And please check out the clothes too! We have your Summer holidays covered with pretty sun dresses, maxi's that will see you through to Autumn and the usual bright, kooky pieces we love to offer your ever expanding wardrobes!

Come on in, the water's bloody lovely...TO MY SHOP THAT IS!

You Love Colour, Don't You?

Yes. Yes I do.

Top: river Island
Skirt: Topshop Maternity
Necklace: Topshop
Shoes: Office
Bag: New Look

And might I add that although nothing is vintage, it was all in the sale. High Street thriftiness!

BRB gotta go love Tramlines festival for a whole extra day and night. X

Sheffield Goes Bloody Mental

Oh yes. It's my favourite time of the year. Tramlines Festival is upon us once more! Sheffield is invaded by thousands of extra gig go-ers hoping to catch at least one fantastically FREE gig from one of the top notch indie bands around at the moment. I thought I'd condense the weekend into my top picks across the weekend of July 20th-22nd. Oh and check out the website: Here.

Alt - J
This band have created a somewhat unexpected wave across the nation. Despite not being able to quite decipher 90% of the lyrics, I absolutely adore the kooky, glitchy sound these guys have formed. Breeze Blocks is a firm favourite. Find them at The Bowery on Friday night. Form an orderly queue.

Joe Banfi
Audiences are guaranteed to be captivated by Joe's beautifully raw vocal. Accompanied with guitar, cello and haunting vocals from Miss Annie Rushworth, Joe Banfi is one to look out for in the coming year as he has been signed by cult label Communion Records. Olive Green makes me tingle. Catch Joe at the Folk Forest in Endcliffe park at 2pm on Sunday.

Mammal Club
Now, I confess. I've heard of Mammal Club before, they are a local trio. But I've never actually tuned in until today and boy, they're bloody good. Painting flies the flag for Wild Beast' style falsetto with a disgustingly catchy, soaring chorus. There's a tinge of Sheffield in there, but I'm happy to hear my city coming up with some electo-indie-pop without a grain of irony. This lot take to the stage at SoYo on Sunday at 6pm.

Beth Jeans Houghton
The woman is incredibly sexy, twisted and blessed with gorgeous effortlessly beautiful vocals. Main stage eye candy on Sunday night. Dodecahedron is a highlight.

Screaming Maldini
Sticking with SoYo on Sunday, my band Screaming Maldini will be taking to the stage at 8pm. I'm not even going to try and be modest. We are freaking awesome and give good gig. Of course, we'll be playing new single Life In Glorious Stereo but we have a new track to share with you and it's a really good laugh. I'm so excited! Plus we will be decked out in Hearts & Bows clothing so we look extra neat and tidy.

David J Roch
David is obviously a troubled soul. Come to these shows with a heavy heart and leave with it plummeting through your shoes. Having said this, David's voice is just stunning. Skin And Bones is still my favourite song. He plays a full band gig on Friday night at The Library Theatre around 8pm. Plus he's a babe.

It's quite obvious that I could go on and on and on with a ridiculous list of artists. So I'm going to give you a whole more of people to check out in list form below all leading to a song of theirs. I do hope you can make the journey up to Sheffield to catch some of Tramlines, because the city just goes bloody mental. The atmosphere really is electric.

Captives On The Carousel

Nathan Holme

Let's Buy Happiness

Louis Romegoux

Hey Sholay

Blue Lip Feel

See Emily Play

Mad Colours

Frankie Vera

Johnny Foriegner

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Pushing Forward

Tangential is my middle name.

Those of you who have been reading for a while may have read about my new found thing for running and followed my training for my first half-marathon. You can read the report from that glorious day here.

But it's been hard ever since. I ran 4 miles 2 days afterwards and though it was OK I was obviously quite tired but running club people told me not to worry, that I was recovering. But why was it so bloody difficult to even manage 3K at ParkRun 5 days later? I had to duck out after one lap of the park! My legs had seriously failed me and I felt so defeated. All that work, sweat and effort only for me to go back to square one. These crappy runs continued for weeks and I still don't get it. When you learn the piano and you do a Grade 6 exam, if you stop playing for 2 weeks you don't go back to Grade 2, so why was my running so damn crap all of a sudden?

I began to associate running with failure and naturally crying my eyes out became a regular occurance. So I stopped running for 17 days. Last Saturday I went to ParkRun and finished it....in 31:16. My PB is 28:53. It doesn't look a lot, but it really, really is. I would say there's even a vast difference in those times, all just because I had that time off.

Yesterday I went for a very muddy run with Sheffield Running Club and OWNED it. I completely nailed some of those nasty Sheffield hills and felt pure triumph for it. It took me ages to get that feeling back, but I really did just need to KEEP GOING. Push forward. I still don't understand the decline in ability/fitness but I feel like I've become to overcome it and aim for my next half marathon in October.

Oh and I'm currently doing Weight Watchers. And I ate well last night. Get in. 

G x

Blast From The Past

Now then.

I've not always been particularly stylish or fashion conscious, I used to wear jeans and never straightened my hair. Wore my crappy chewed up glasses and plain t-shirts while doing gigs. But then I bought my first vintage dress aged 17 and things changed.

However, I've just stumbled across this old photo of me from when I was 14...

Needless to say I reckon I've always thought outside of the box when it comes to clothes! You've got to give me that!

Still moving house, so I'm still behind on life and for this I can only apologise.

G x

Mad Men Hens

Miss Bang Bang herself got married this weekend gone, so a big congratulations to the new Mrs Glover! 

The wedding day/night itself is a whole other gleeful charade but I thought I'd share some of the photos from her Mad Men Hen Do, courtesy of the fabulously talented India Hobson.

Louise looked the stunner, and I'm sorry to say I couldn't be there to get ready in the shop as I was at work (boo) but the girls had their hair and make-up done surrounded by fabulous vintage. Enjoy!