Happy Birthday Blog!

Lace top - Urban Outfitters

Boucle shorts - Topshop

Boots - Topshop

My blog has turned two years old today! It's been a fun two years doing street style photography; going to events such as GraziaDaily's Blog Brag; meeting some amazing people, and getting featured in Company magazine. What really keeps me going is not just my love of fashion, but hearing from friends and followers. It's so nice to think that people are still interested in my opinions and inspirations that I showcase on Love from Lou Lou. Thank you all for reading, commenting and making it all worthwhile!

Love from Lou Lou

Floral Shirt Look

Floral shirt - Topshop

Jeans - Topshop

Satchel - Urban Outfitters

Shoes - Office

I may be biased, but I think Topshop does floral print better than any other high street store! I love the unique prints so much that for all four uniform pieces this season, every piece I got was floral!  I think my obsession partly lies with my love of colour and I like that people can identify it as my signature style. When it comes to designer, as you may know from previous posts, Erdem makes me go weak at the knees!

If you were wondering why I haven't blogged since The Scottish Fashion Awards, I have been very busy applying for a couple of my dream internships. I'm so glad that many fashion companies are starting to pay their interns. It gives people a much better chance to succeed in the industry, rather than it just being an opportunity for those with wealthy families. I hope both companies I applied to like the moodboards I created and the answers I wrote. Fingers crossed!

Love from Lou Lou

The Scottish Fashion Awards 2012

Last night I was lucky enough to attend The Scottish Fashion Awards to photograph the red carpet and the winners. It was the seventh year for the awards and took place in Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium. This year's host was fashion icon Alexa Chung, who I discovered is a major inspiration to winners Karen Gillan and Tali Lennox. 

The red carpet was graced by celebrities and fashion insiders from around the world, including D&G model David Gandy, Made in Chelsea star Millie Macintosh and "Yeah Right" singer Dionne Bromfield. Teenage singer Tallia Storm had been performing at Elton John's Scottish concert the previous night, which she described as "surreal and incredible". It was nice to see her wearing tartan, as part of her extravagant dress. 

My favourite dress of the night was worn by actress Louise Linton. She looked stunning in her intricate white dress, created by Parisian designer Basil Soda. Doctor Who star Karen Gillan came a close second for me in the style stakes as her Twenty8Twelve printed dress was bright and quirky. I also loved the couture dress that Tali Lennox wore. The Scottish Model of the Year winner said that this week she is shooting for Cath Kidston. 

American celebrity stylist Derek Warburton wore some amazing rings and described his bright pink turban look as "Lawrence of Gayrabia!" He also said that he is always looking for new talent. There was certainly a lot of amazing  fresh talent at the awards.

Alexa Chung wearing Christopher Kane

Actress Louise Linton (Scottish icon nominee) wearing Basil Soda

Founder & Chairman Tessa Hartman wearing Basler

Celebrity stylist Derek Warburton wearing rings designed

by Helen Yarmak and Crows Nest

Made in Chelsea stars Millie Macintosh wearing Supertrash

and the gorgeous Proudlock!

Designer nominees Holly Fulton (left) and Louise Grey (right)

both wearing own designs. Middle: Jennie Cook wearing Jennifer Morris

Fashion insiders: Hillary Alexander, Brix Smith-Start & Paula Reed

Top models: David Gandy wearing good old M&S, Tara Nowy wearing

a sequined gown, Amanda Hendricks wearing Vivienne Westwood

Skins actress Freya Mavor , singer Tallia Storm, 

singer Dionne Bromfield wearing Holly Fulton

The 2012 Winners

Scottish Designer of the Year - Christopher Kane

Scottish Fashion Icon of the year - Karen Gillan

Scottish Model of the Year - Tali Lennox

Scottish Hall of Fame - Stella Tenant

Other winners:

Scottish Young Designer - Hayley Scanlan

Scottish Textile Brand - Dashing Tweeds

Scottish Accessory Designer - William Chambers

Scottish Communicator - Faye McLeod

Scottish Retailer - Schhh-ooohs

Scottish Fashion Photographer - Jonathan Daniel Pryce

Scottish Graduate - Joanne McGillivary

International Designer (for use of Scottish fabrics) - Mulberry

Scottish Fashion Innovator - Brian Rennie

Fashion Ambassador - Colin McDowell MBE

Congratulations to all nominees and winners. It was an amazing night and everyone did Scotland proud. 

Love from Lou Lou

Queen Ravena's Costumes

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" Evil Queen Ravenna in Snow White and the Huntsman would definitely beat Snow White if it was just based on style! I haven't been this impressed by costume design since the Mulleavy sisters' creations for Black Swan. Dark films seem to be a re-occuring theme for costume designer Coleen Atwood as she has previously designed for Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd, and Silence of the Lambs. The most recognisable costume of her career has to be for Edward Scissorhands. 


For Queen Ravenna's intricate outfits, Coleen used a range of unusual materials including rooster feathers and iridescent beetle wings. Speaking about the beetle wings, Coleen said "They're incredibly sharp, so I had to be careful about how I used them. If you hit them, you can hurt yourself. They're quite treacherous, which really suited the character." 


The feathered cape was also very impressive as CGI was used to turn it into dozens of flying crows. It took a total of two weeks for the cape to be made as each feather was trimmed and attached by hand.

Actress Charlize Theron who plays Queen Ravena thought that the wedding dress was the most impressive visually, however it was so heavy that it was very difficult to wear walking up the isle. The top of the dress has a bone-like appearance and further down is leather piping sewn onto pleats. 

I think Coleen Atwood stands a very good chance of winning a fourth Oscar, although I can't speak too soon as I'm yet to see all of the 1920's costumes for The Great Gatsby. Roll on December, for some more beautiful costumes!

Love from Lou Lou

Jubilee Look

Dress - Iboo @ ASOS Marketplace

Belt - Unknown

Boots - Topshop

Happy Jubilee weekend everyone! I think my scarf print dress has a jubilee look about it with the crowns and royal colours. I bought it from my new favourite seller on ASOS Marketplace - Iboo. There were only a few made which makes the dress feel more special. 

Will you be celebrating this weekend? I'll be working at Topshop, but I'll be running the jubilee section at the front of the store which should be fun! I'm going to be wearing pieces from Topshop's Jubilee range so I'll try to get a photo of that!

I also have to show you my nails which I'm quite proud of! It was really easy to paint the end of my nails as I used french manicure stickers from Boots. You should try it!

Also, if you have the Instagram app you can add me - LouLouBrooke. I love taking pretty pictures using it. By far my favourite app.

Love from Lou Lou