This outfit caught our eye because of its sports luxe vibe, with Nike trainers that are very popular right now, and pale pink neoprene fabric – two elements that have been seen continuously this season.
Once again, we were unable to get much information out of our interviewee, but we did find out that she has just graduated her 4-year degree and that she looks fabulous! So there’s that.
We almost pushed people over in our heist to talk to Lauren when we saw her walking down Oxford Road, for reasons I’m sure you understand after seeing the photographs. Her clothing was interesting and therefore we knew she would have a few things to say, and she definitely did!
“Fashion is shit” were her exact words, despite studying Fashion Design at University and having her own clothing brand, LNER (which happen to be her initials). However, her reason behind the statement was valid. She doesn’t want to conform to what other people believe is “fashion” or “style”, she wants to wear pieces that she has customised – like her boots – and create pieces that people come to her for, not opening a store in a quirky part of town.
Very Vivienne Westwood punk era, no?
Lauren told us she likes to shop in charity shops, as she can never find pieces of good quality in high street stores that she can afford. Her wardrobe is very colourful, something we gathered from the outfit she was wearing, and her style “depends how she feels on the day”. We personally would love to see her wardrobe!
‘Sam the man’ – is a phrase that has never been more suited than to the lovely gentleman we came across whilst having a few drinks at The Font on Tuesday night.
Of course, our attentions were first caught by his immaculate beard (if i had to pick one sentence to describe 2014, it would most definitely be “The rise of the beard and ponytail combo”, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, BUT WE LOVE IT). But as we approached Sam and asked him to take part as a subject in our street style project, we were amazed by the man before us and his knowledge of.. well absolutely everything it seemed, and not in an arrogant “I know everything, please and thank you” kind of way, but the kind of way that was totally endearing and you know that he would definitely be the guy you want to consult before making any permanent life decisions. Oh Sam, how wonderful you are.
Anyway, enough fussing over the poor man who was expecting to have a quiet drink with mates and instead ended up in a stairwell with 4 girls asking him all sorts of questions, and lets get to the details of the interview:
Are you living in Manchester at the moment?
“Yeah, currently. I am working at Manchester School of Art at the moment in their sales department, I’m saving up to do a PhD next year. I’m going to do my PhD in International relations and Feminism.”
(SWOONING YET?)
Where are your clothes from that you’re wearing today?
“The top is Calvin Klein, and my belt i got made by a leather makers in Newcastle, and of course my shoes are Doc. Martins. My Jeans… well they’re actually women’s jeans from H&M. They fit better… or rather, fit how I want them to.”
My face, at this point, drops as I question why I, a women, cant look that good in my own women’s jeans from H&M.
What is the main thing that influences your personal style?
“Various things have influenced how i’ve dressed over the years, my style has changed considerably too from when i was younger to now, like i suppose anyones does. Music mostly I think influences me, musics always been a part of my life, like I used to be in an indie band, and then a jazz band, and then i was also in a swing band. But classic rock and roll is a main influence of my style.” Abbi then suggested James Dean… “yes I can go with James Deans, he’s cool.”
“I’m really not into this whole thing where brands are coming off like ‘all 90’s skate culture’. New Balance and Stussy used to be really great brands in the 90’s and now they’re being worn by people who aren’t into true skate culture and listen to modern house music and take too many drugs. Obviously thats an unfair generalisation and I don’t mean that in the way it probably sounds. The point i’m getting at is that they’ve lost their originality.”
Then we asked the classic blogger question: What is fashion for you?
” For me i feel its like this; You get a lot of your confidence from the way your dress, whether or not you’re having a good day you can get up and choose what you want to wear and what makes you feel good and your whole perception changes for the day. You might wake up and feel crap, but then you walk to your wardrobe and put on something that you love and then you’re like ‘ yeah i’m feeling great today’.”
Is Ethical fashion something you think about when shopping for your clothes?
“Massively Important! I try and buy mostly British Brands, or brands that haven’t been made over seas in scarily inhumane conditions. I was a politics student so it’s really massively complicated, like there wouldn’t be the work there for the people if the big brands didn’t go there but at the same time they take advantage of these desperate people and thats not fair. So yeah, I try and buy heritage brands usually.”
In that case, what are your favourite British brands?
“Fred Perry. Love Fred Perry.”
Our blog is focusing on fashion in manchester in particular, is there anything that you link or feel in particular about the subject of fashion and Manchester as a place that endorses it?
“What came out of the 90’s and the brit-pop scene is impossible to get away from in Manchester, it’s always gonna be button-downed cotton shirts, parkers, and in a way Brit-pop made manchester. You can’t get away from that, but i think people, especially in the last 7 years with Manchester’s development, realised you have to distance yourself from doing the whole Liam Gallagher-esque type thing. The Brit-pop thing was so big here that now everyones desperately trying to get away from that and rebel and its ended up with Manchester being this big hub of diverse fashion, people doing their own thing, and its really interesting and really good for Manchester because now you’ve got all these amazing smaller brands popping up all over the place, and i think a lot of its down to the students here, they’re doing a really sick job of it.”
So that was marvellous Sam, we hope you that you’ve enjoyed reading his interview as much as we had conducting it… Sam’s our new fave guy. Cheers to Sam for taking part in our project!
This is Elliot, a Customer service employee that we spotted in Oxford Rd’s ‘Falafil’, tucking into, what can only be described as, the tastiest looking falafel salad dish I have ever seen (THERE WAS HUMMUS!). However, it wasn’t the his tasty dinner that first caught our eyes, more his perfectly mismatched outfit of bargain finds, which totally, totally worked.
Elliot told us that of we had caught he 3 years ago, he would have had ‘short-back and sides’, been wearing something relatively smart-ish, like a pair of smart tapered trousers and a fitted shirt, and some classic smart brogues. However, one day he decided that that just wasn’t him, and began dressing to his own personal style. He told us that he has always been fascinated by his mothers clothing and how women’s clothes generally tend to fit a lot nicer and that he’s definitely not adverse to picking up the odd women’s shirt in high-street, charity, and vintage stores around Manchester.
Well Elliot, you don’t have boobs and for that we are jealous as we wish finding a totally on-point shirt that looks good in any fit was as easy for us girls without taking into consideration that buttons on the edge of bursting will never be a look thats in. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL DUDES.
Elliot wears unbranded trainers, grey cuffed tracksuit bottoms, and women’s checkered shirt.
In true student style, a couple of us went on a wee adventure to Tesco Express late on Tuesday night in order to get some essential student supplies (This included chocolate, strawberries, waffles, and milkshake), and whilst on our way spotted this lovely young man wearing very stylish attire. Although we didn’t quite catch his name, he did mention that he was a first year Business Management student at MMU, and that he liked to shop around at various charity shops to snap up simple yet classic pieces in order to build his look for as little cost as possible. His scarf, featured in the above photo, is just one of these fashionable bargains.
“Manchester is great for Charity shops, especially if you can be bothered to catch the tram out to Rochdale or Altrincham where the prices are even better than usual”
So, after spying Sam and Joseph at The Uni of Manchester, and seeing how well their styles worked alongside each other (unintentional apparently; see first HotVimto blog post for evidence!), we wanted to focus in on their individual styles.
Sam told us that since moving to Manchester from London she feels like she can dress a lot more freely in terms of her own sense of style and comfort.
“Although London has lots of different sub-cultures and you see that through fashion there, Manchester is a lot less conservative and this means that I feel more comfortable here dressing how I want”.
Joseph said that the price difference between here and London was the main influence on his style;
” It’s much easier to find clothes that I like here, and thats because of the price. London is EXPENSIVE! But also, I feel that sometimes the pressure to dress to your individuality in the most extreme way possible in London is a bit too much. I like that I can so easily dress in my favourite Brands here.”
“I try to mix English culture and style with French style, as that is where I am originally from.”
Up and down the long length of Oxford Road you come in contact with many people, but Sycca caught our attention immediately, with his minimalistic, clean style and the way he held himself.
hot vimto 