When you think of shopping and Sheffield, ten to one you think of Meadowhall, one of the UK’s largest shopping centres. It’s an obvious connection to make, but I do wonder why anyone would prefer shopping somewhere so clinical and vast, where all the shops are straight off the high street and where there are millions of other people after the same changing room in Dorothy Perkins.

Sheffield city centre itself might not be indoors, and you might not always be protected from the rain, but it has individuality, some truly beautiful architecture, and approximately nine hundred and ninety nine thousand fewer people in every shop.

The shops may be smaller, but they’re still there: Fargate has just about every large high street shop, and Orchard Square Shopping Centre, a quaint little courtyard off the main street, boasts a few high street stores as well as independent craft shops, cafes, and an adorable balcony to sit outside and enjoy a break during the warmer months. You just don’t find fresh air or balconies in massive indoor shopping complexes.

My favourite shop in the whole of Sheffield is ‘Evolution’, part of a small chain of vaguely ethnic themed gift shops. Just inside Orchard Square, its bright purple front and quaint stock make it hard to miss. Most gift shops are boring, plain and difficult to find anything affordable in; ‘Evolution’ is the exception to the rule. I could easily buy a present for everyone I know inside, and they wouldn’t break the bank. On top of this, the staff are friendly, helpful and passionate. Whether or not there is anything I want to buy, I always go to ‘Evolution’ when I’m in town, because of the smile it puts on my face for the rest of the day.

Buried away in the side streets of Fargate is another of my favourite places: the Millennium Galleries and Winter Garden. If ever my life turns into an exceptionally bad movie, and people are running round, crazed, trying to find me, I’ll be in the Winter Garden with a Fancie. cupcake and a mug of Tea Pig, listening to my iPod and just forgetting the world. The gardens are beautiful, and the shops within them are equally so. If ever the day comes when the Millennium Gallery shop can’t entertain me for half an hour with its kitsch wonderfulness, there is something fundamentally wrong with the state of the world.

Working out of town slightly, towards the University Quarter, West Street boasts one of the most beautiful, affordable vintage shops I have ever found. Cow, nicely inconspicuous with its bright yellow front amongst a sea of boring brick work, is the kind of shop any fashion writer could gladly spend hours trawling through. Like any vintage shop, not everything is to everyone’s tastes, but the cheerfulness of the colours and the helpfulness of the staff mean that finding that one item is not as painful as usual – and that you can’t help but come back, digging for more.

Meadowhall also has a cinema and several restaurants within its vast confines, keeping shoppers occupied when they can’t be bothered to shop. Now, obviously, the city centre can do better than that. With Leopold Square’s upmarket chain restaurants and several smaller eateries scattered around the city, and the independent Showroom Cinema on the road to the railway station, there’s really no reason to venture out of town at all. In fact, there just seem to be more and more reasons to stay within the city.

Image: HERE

This month's theme at British Style Bloggers is A Cause For Christmas - and it's a theme of which I am especially proud. This festive season, BSB are asking our readers, members and writers to consider a charity or cause that they would like to donate some money or time to in order to spread a little more genuine festive spirit.

Whether or not you celebrate Christnas, or any other holiday, this month, I'm sure that you can agree with me when I say that Christmas has become overly commercialised. My younger brother started his Christmas shopping in July this year, for fear that he wouldn't have the time or money to get people the kinds of presents that he wanted to, and one of the major things I think I'm going to miss in my first year as a vegetarian is Christmas dinner.

From September, we have festive cheer and expectations forced  down our throats, and this month, BSB would like to ask you to consider the though that Christmas might be something more than that.

Each of our writers this month is writing whatever they like, to grab your attention, entertain, engage and amuse you - but at the bottom, they're posting a few words about their cause of choice. We're asking you to pledge a donation at the bottom of this post, to give to one of our chosen causes, or to a cause of your own.

Please, join us. Spread the word. Share some cheer. Christmas, in my opinion, must be something more. And yes, I did steal that line from Taylor Swift.

LoveLoveLove

- A -

My Cause this Christmas:

Neurocare is a charity very close to my heart. When my mother was twenty, she was involved in a near-fatal car accident, and it is probably because of the support of this charity that she has managed ot make as full as recovery as she has. Having spent six months in a coma, Neurocare helped rehabilitate her, and helped with her treatment. Specialising in brain injuries and neuroscience technology, Neurocare's work is vital to saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. http://www.neurocare.org.uk/

Image: HERE

My mother taught me how to sew when I was still young enough to get Brownie badges in it, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I can sew. I sometimes regret that she never properly taught me to cast on and off with knitting, but knitting is a far less useful DIY skill than good old stitching!

If you don’t know how to sew, you don’t know what you’re missing out on.

Have you ever been sales shopping and seen a beautiful dress for a tiny, tiny percentage of the original price, because the zip is a little bit dodgy? Or, if you’re a munchkin (like me), have you ever fallen in love with a dress/top/skirt, only to realise that it’s miiiiiiiiles too long for you?

I have – and my two Brownie sewing badges (and one Textiles GCSE A grade...) mean that I can still buy them... I just fix them up myself. While my friends spent veritable fortunes on their Freshers’ Ball dresses, I got mine for £5 in a New Look sale, took the hem up and fixed the zip. I don’t think anyone noticed.

Wait, no, that bit’s a lie – they noticed, but only because I told them. Proudly. And loudly.

But why else should you learn to sew? Coat buttons, for one thing. They always come loose, and you always end up (after a while) looking like your coat is the wrong size, don’t you? Even if you can only do a few simple stitches, you can solve that problem quickly and easily... which reminds me – I should probably fix mine. Again.

And don’t even get me started on fancy dress! It’s one thing to go all out and buy a costume which costs a fortune and doesn’t really fit, but it’s another thing entirely to know that you made it yourself. This, my dears, is what Primark was truly invented for – creating clothes cheaply enough that you don’t mind hacking them to pieces in the name of partying. Just... make sure you know what you’re going to do with them once they’re hacked up!

So, if you can’t sew, what can you do about it? Learn, of course! Ask your Mum, ask your Gran, ask your elderly Aunty. There’ll be someone out there with the patience to teach you running stitch. Even if you only make it to the button fixing stage, well, you’ve made it to the button fixing stage, haven’t you?

Congratulations - a Brownie badge is winging its way to you.

I’ve met two of my best friends in the world on the internet, through blogging, and they’re two of the most inspirational women I’ve ever met. Rachels Charlton and Phipps, of Mon Polkadot Cheri and RachelPhipps.com respectively, are two of the UK’s better known fashion and style bloggers, and both are incredibly inspirational people. Coming from backgrounds which couldn’t really be that much more different, they’ve both achieved remarkable things, and are simply two of the most wonderful people that anyone could ever have the opportunity to meet.

‘Cause She’d Rather Waste Her Life Pretending

Much as Rachel Phipps hates me telling this story, I’m going to do it again, because of how inspiring and incredible it is: when she was fourteen years old, Rachel got bored, and decided to start a fashion magazine. As you do. This is something I’ve told a lot of people in the past when they’ve asked me how I became who I am today, and every time I do, people stop, blink, and ask again. No one quite knows whether to believe me or not – but I assure you, it’s true.

Coming from a world where, as I understand it, people tend to do remarkable things fairly often, Rachel managed to one-up them all, establishing Inside Out Magazine, which then became Lipstick Royalty Magazine, which then became one of the internet’s foremost alternative fashion publications in the space of three years.

When Lipstick Royalty closed last January, by mutual decision of Rachel and myself (her fashion editor), it was in order to lessen the load for our exams, and to make sure that the futures we’ve both been working towards for so long weren’t jeopardised by it.

Since then, Rachel has, of course, gone from strength to strength, making her fashion blog, once ‘Cause I’d Rather Waste My Life Pretending and now RachelPhipps.com, phenomenally successful off the back of her editorial experience with Lipstick Royalty. Her fashion photography, begun for a special issue of Inside Out in collaboration with Channel 4, has gone from good to spectacular in the space of two years, and she’s now a cultural and political writer for many well known online publications.

Fashionable daydreams in glitter and teal

Conversely, Rachel Charlton hasn’t had a very easy time of it, of late, as many of her blog readers will be all too aware. Her blog, once Polkadot Stripes and now Mon Polkadot Cheri, was started in order to give herself hope, and something to keep going for from day to day, and is now a huge success, having practically transformed her life. In the process, it’s also become one of Wikio’s highest rates British Fashion Blogs.

I first met this Rachel when she applied to be an intern at British Style Bloggers in January, and I was blown away by both her passion and her dedication. She’s come a long way in a short space of time, and I’m sure that she won’t mind me telling everyone how incredibly proud I am of her.

September marked a turning point for Rachel; it was more than just a fresh start, and the return to college, and the start of the future she dreams of. It was also the end of the last year, the year of transition, change, and everything that was wrong. I’m praying, now, that this year is a hundred thousand times better for her, and that it makes up for everything in the past.

"It's something unpredictable"

Image: HERE

When I first began British Style Bloggers, last August, one of the first posts I wrote was about Style Resolutions for the Academic Year 2009/10. I've just looked over them now, and I've realised that I utterly failed on all points except the "I will ease up on the eyeliner" front - thankfully, that one I did manage!

But, as I'm heading to a new city for university in six days time (eek!), now really does seem like the perfect time to make some bonafide style resolutions for this year, and to actually try to stick to them (minor psychological analysis conducted this morning over breakfast suggest that I failed last year because I was around all the same people as before, and so they'd notice the changes)...

In a new city, though, with people who have never known that I spend every day in jeans and Converse, I don't suppose for one minute that I'll have the same problem; as Claire so wonderfully pointed out last week, people who've never known you can't judge you by old standards!

Image: HERE

So, here goes with a few rehashed - and occassionally even new! - style resolutions for this year:

- As with last year, I will not spend every single day in jeans!

Although unlike last year, I don't have so many skirts; having realised that I don't wear them, I got rid of a bunch of old ones! I do, though, have a couple that I really like, and that I think would look fine with tights and my lovely new boots... and as it's Autumn now, I think that's allowed, right?

- I will stop judging all my outfits by whether certain TV characters would wear them

Because, frankly, I am neither a spy nor a forensic pathologist. And nor am I the right shape/size/etc to look the way they look in their outfits!

- I will stop wearing my hair in the same way every single day!

It's not even lazy, any more! It's habit. And, even this way, I freaking hate my hair. So, why do I wear it this way? WHY? (If anyone can answer that, I would be absolutely, most fantasically grateful!)

- I will not wear the same shoes every day

Because I have far more than one pair of shoes! Admittedly, I don't have half so many as most fashion bloggers, but I do have more than one pair, and more than one pair that I like, at that! On nights out, I will wear the heels I have which I love, and during the days, I will not only wear Converse or ballet flats. I will wear my nice new boots, for example...

- Before I go to uni, I will go through my wardrobe and fix all the things that are broken

Because I can actually sew, and I won't wear broken things...

- I will write more outfit posts on my blog

Because that way, I'll be forced to consider what I'm wearing, rather than just throwing on the first top I can find with another pair of jeans!

Image: HERE

So, what are your style resolutions for this year, then?

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Yesterday, British Style Bloggers celebrated our first birthday by basically becoming small children again. We had a lovely meet up, with party bags and Twister and cake and SQUIRRELS and fairy wands and wings and psychotic juice... and we really wish that you could have been there to share it with us!

Anyway, to celebrate our birthday, we're having a make-over, and a new logo, so over the next few days please bear with us - the site might look a little bit sparse and things might stop working, but everything will work out prettier than before, which makes it all worth it!

So, big love to the wonderful girls who were with us yesterday - Florrie and Rachel from the staff, and Carla, Becky and Sarah who came, too. There are no pictures of all of us, but here's one Carla took of the other five of us:

The park where we had the meet up was beautiful; the sun shone - which is never guaranteed in York! - and we blew bubbles and balloons everywhere... and gave a lot of Japanese tourists a very strange impression of life in small English cities!

We also made a video - big love to Carla and Sarah for helping me film! - which is below! Have a look and have a giggle... we certainly did!

On which note, all that remains to be said is THANK YOU for sticking by us through the ups and downs and round and rounds of our exciting first year, and we look forward to making the next few even bigger and better!

We're also looking for suggestions for themes for the up-coming months - if you have any ideas, please drop us a comment, or email me at amy@britishstylebloggers.org.uk!

Thanks again, and happy birthday, BSB!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -

I have to admit that when Rachel and I came up with the theme of "Festival Style" for this month, I hardly gave any thought to my own lack of festival experience, or to how hard it might be to come up with a trillion different posts on the theme - so I think that, thus far, we've done pretty well!

But, I thought that there might still be a few bases out there left to cover - for example, what about those people who don't have the money to spare for a ticket? Or who can't be bothered to travel? Or who don't want to get muddy? Or who love their new festival-style dress so much that they want to wear it, even if they don't have an occasion to wear it for?

What about them?

And then I remembered THIS ARTICLE that I read in passing last summer - and thought now there's an idea! Because, all you really need to have a fantastic "festival experience" on the cheap this summer is an iPod, a playlist, a bunch of friends, a garden, and some good food!

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, a wifi connection and a laptop, to stream some other festivals live to your garden!

NB: if you plan on playing music loud and for extended periods, warn the neighbours... :)

So, instead of posting anything stylish today, I decided to ask BSB staff and readers what their favourite summer songs are - and together we came up with the playlist RIGHT HERE :)

Enjoy - and please, don't forget to suggest your own tracks!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

I've often wondered what the point of Style Icons is. I've never really been the kind to look at someone famous and suddenly decide that they're the one person I'd like to dress like, but there have been instances when I've come across someone who I think is so impeccably dressed, or so incredibly cool, or just so plain awesome that I'd like to dress like them every once in a while.

I think that one reason we look to others to help us create our style is that we're looking to take a little of them and make them us: we pick remarkable people whom we admire for a number of reasons, and we try to emulate their style, hoping it'll make us more like them.

One person whose style I admire more than most is Emilia Fox - either as herself, or in character as Nikki in Silent Witness (my not-so-secret-OCD). She's intelligent, she's living her dream, and she manages to make any outfit look remarkable.

Images: HERE

I think that one of the reasons I admire her style (which is really poorly illustrated in these photos!) so much is that she tends to wear timeless classic pieces such as gold jewelry, jeans, heels and delicate, feminine blouses, but she somehow manages to make them look remarkable - like they're more than just the normal kinds of things you could buy on the highstreet.

Images: HERE and HERE

Another person whose style I admire is Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter. She's an amazing person - having been a life-long fan, and then having been cast in her dream role in the films - and I also admire the fact that, despite her fame, she's never compromised her style. She's always been truly individualistic, and she's never been afraid to be herself. In an industry as brutal as acting, she's remarkable in my book!

Image: HERE

Fashion and style can also be used to make a statement, and I think that, when the statement is right, it should be. The woman on the left is Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks. She's someone I admire generally, but not for her style - she made a stand against the war in Iraq, and it cost her her career, and almost cost her her life.

What's remarkable in this photo is the top she's wearing: a redneck country singer called Toby Kieth wrote a song, after she made her stand, calling on people to hate her for her views, and so, as a way of getting back at him, she went on stage wearing a top with the initials F.U.T.K. written on it.

The thing I admire most in that, though, is that she didn't say what the words stood for: she said it meant whatever you wanted it to mean, and scores of fans began making their own tops, and saying that they meant things like "Friendship, unity, truth, kindness".

They were used to make a political point, and they were used to bring people together. They were remarkable in that they didn't care, and in that they were brave, and I think, over all, that that's so much more important than style.

So, whe you're picking someone whose style to emulate, pick them because they have remarkable style, but also because they're a remarkable person. Choose wisely.

LoveLoveLove

- A -

A sneak preview of what's happening for the end of Body Image Season...

And... the press release mentioned in the video...

Can't wait for you all to see the ebook! It'll be the next thing we post, and it'll be in just a few days time! :)

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -

Every morning, my hair and I do battle. This battle is largely based on the fact that my hair sits right for precisely five minutes a day; the five minutes before I leave the house... meaning that I spend most of every day glancing in every reflective surface to see if it still looks as attrocious as last time. It nearly always does.

On a good day, my hair can look beautiful; I have the kind of golden-brown curls that make Grandmas go weak at the knees. On a bad day, my hair looks like Hermione Granger before she discovered straighteners and Frizz Ease. The problem is that good days are becoming rarer and rarer:

Amy's hair through the ages

And the last time a semi-decent photo was taken of it:

You can see the development from managable and cute to irritating and weird there, I think. Anyway, the reason that my hair and I have such a poor relationship is based largely on the fact that I have a) natural frizz and b) a genetically weird scalp, requiring medicated shampoo.

Over the years, though, I've learned one or two lessons about patience with hateful hair, and I thought that (as hair hasn't been tackled by Body Image Season yet) I'd pass them on...

Appreciate every good hair day you have

Seriously. You may be a member of Facebook's wonderous group "Why isn't my hair cooperating with me?", but if your hair does sit right for one day, enjoy that day!

Nod and smile

When your mother tells you that she loves your hair just the way it is. If you don't, you shouldn't settle for second best.

Do your research, and try out different styles

You might no believe it from those photos, but I have, and I'm now in the process of growing my hair out again, after trying it out short. Short was not a good look for me. Neither was straight; and don't even mention the word "layers"... I now know that the only way to wear my hair is to wear it long, and keep trying products...

On which note;

Try out different products

And don't believe the advertising slogans. Aussi Formula claims to de-frizz any frizz. Oh ho, it failed on me, and some! Also, don't take your friends' advice... unless their hair is identical to your own.

And... wait.

And, if in doubt, write a really angry blog post about your hair-based issues, and see what your readers recommend!

On which note... what do my readers recommend? :)

Good luck, fellow hair-haters - I feel your pain!

LoveLoveLove

- A -