My Colourful Life

 London – it’s a city known for its grey skies, grey buildings, and somewhat grey skin pallor of its inhabitants, and having cemented my roots in this city for 4 years now, I feel that I’m starting to do the same – come over all grey. But instead of turning to the fake tan bottle, I’m remedying it two of my favourite things that fuel my everyday life: fashion, and coffee. The psychological affect clothing can have on our happiness, wellbeing and confidence has always been at the core of what I write on Fashion Slave – it’s why I do fashion! Whatever makes you feel your happiest, sassiest self wins, basically. So when tasked by Lavazza to create 4 looks inspired by their beautifully shaded LFW AW17 coffee cup, created in collaboration with Ashish, I knew I (and you!) was in for a skittle-hued treat.

Last Sunday that I wrote about the power of the LBD (which I still completely stand by), but there’s something about colour that can really brighten your mood in a way nothing else really can. But as blogger I’m more than guilty of usually sticking to a palette of strict neutrals – failing at one of my 2017 Style Goals to embrace brighter hues! It’s easy to stick to our uniform of blue denim and chic black tops – adding perhaps a colour-pop accessory if we’re feeling adventurous (or hungover and looking for something to detract away from our tell-all face). But is it really very fun though?

 Put down the navy knitwear and stash the black T-shirts – let’s face it, Spring is just around the corner (I hope…) Yes 2016 was a bit of difficult year, but by no means should we shy away in clothes that’ll make us fade in to the background. Inspired by the eternally playful palette of Ashish and the rainbow-bright Lavazza cup, I styled up these looks bursting with the same colourful energy of the designer. A few people have noted that I always seem to have a coffee in my outfit shots – and that’s because I’m rarely without one! So it seems to be a totally fitting collaboration working to work with Lavazza, the coffee sponsor of LFW, fuelling both myself and the rest of the city’s fashion folk during fashion week and beyond. Running around London shooting photos for your blog certainly sounds like a glamorous task, but it’s not always the case, so you need a little bit (note: a lot) of a caffeine fix just to get you through!

Forgetting the sad state of politics for just a moment, remember life is full of beautiful moments and emotions. Love, happiness, sadness, laughter, hope, anticipation – and every time we put that old black jumper on we’re masking these a little bit. Style is about an expression of emotions and our lives, so why not make it so?

It’s time for dopamine dressing, fashion that’s supposed to cheer you – and everyone else on your commute to work – up. Swap your navy jumper to a smile-inducingly yellow one instead. I threw this one on when meeting my boyfriend last Sunday and he practically could not stop complimenting me until the moment I took it off. In fairness, he’s adorable and compliments me all of the time, but he couldn’t stop talking about what a “ray of sunshine” I was brightening up the miserable rainy Saturday we shared. In fact, I swear anyone within a 6 foot radius of me looked generally smilier – but perhaps I’m just taking credit for the fact that they were all just happy it was a Saturday. I pulled this colour directly from the colours of the Lavazza x Ashish coffee cup because it’s simply the perfect shade to remedy a dull London day!

And like I said, it’s time to stash your plain black T-shirts, swapping them out for a slogan T-shirt instead. They have been hitting a home run in the style stakes as of late (on and off the runway): not only can they declare an important message, but they certainly elevate your off-duty jeans and leather jacket combination. Ashish’s collection was punctuated with them, shouting messages of hope loud and proud. I reached for my old Urban Outfitters Girl’s tee – I’ve always been a girl’s girl, writing this blog interlaced with notions of feminism to make any reader feel empowered – and this tee felt like a subtle nod to that. Pulling inspiration from Ashish’s specially designed Lavazza cup, I teaming it alongside these raspberry pink culottes and fuchsia pom pom clutch from VVA.

Even when shooting these four kaleidoscopic looks, I had my worries that we’d be shooting all of these shades against the typically dull grey London landscape. But with every corner we took, a tiny bit of colour popped up here and there, be it neon signs in shop windows or murals that looked like Rainbow’s Zippy just vomited 10 packets of skittles on the wall.

Take this post as a stand on the monochrome mantra, and the all-black-everything-black style motto so many live by. Positive thinking was so 2016, this season it’s all about positive dressing.

To keep up to date with the next instalment from the Lavazza X Ashish collaboration, follow Lavazza at @LavazzaUK
This post was sponsored by Lavazza, with monetary compensation made for the creation of this post.

Photography by Nick Andrews