Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Spring into Summer with Amanda Brunker at Dunboyne Castle Hotel

Spring is finally in the air and if the sound of the ice-cream truck singing its way through my estate this week wasn't enough to announce its arrival, the 'Spring into Fashion' show held at Dunboyne Castle Hotel on Thursday certainly was. And with the beautiful Amanda Brunker hosting the fashion event, I made sure I popped along and managed to get her to pose for my blog!

Amanda Brunker, RTE's All Ireland Talent Judge is the hostess with the most!

The stylish event was held in aid of a local school in Dunboyne and featured four of the localities favourite boutiques including Ever Elegant, Dunboyne, Sorrento, Maynooth, Shamon in Castleknock and The Designer Circle in Ratoath. With a few familiar faces from the Irish modelling industry and a mix of yummy mummies and some brave Dads from the local school, the show celebrated the Spring / Summer 2011 collections and Blossom Hill and Red Bull were just two of the sponsors featured on the night. For the full story, check out this weeks Liffey Champion newspaper - due out on Thursday!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Oasis Spring Summer 2011

Spring is definitely in the air and if the ice cream truck singing its way past my house the other day isn’t enough to announce its arrival, the new seasons collection in Oasis sure is. So last week I popped along to Dublin’s flagship store on St. Stephens Green and checked out what the Spring/Summer 2011 Collection has in store for us this year, excuse the pun.



The collection brings us back to the Twentieth Century’s most glamorous decades and spans over a fashionable era from the 50s to the 70s, stealing inspiration from some of the eras’ chicest fashion idols including Ms. Audrey Hepburn and Farrah Fawcett.

The 70s inspired looks feature floral embellished maxi dresses and ruffle electric blue styles, which pay homage to Farrah, as well as retro knits with mark a summer of extremely cute knitwear and skinny weave dresses. The Roman Holiday collection marks the decade of the 50s and mixes blues and sailor themed navies with cropped capris and flirty sundresses.

One of my favourite looks was the Boho Chic collection, bringing crochet back and recapturing the 70s layering crocheted looks with sheer fabrics and soft prints. While the maxi dresses still feature from last year, the collection featured mid length dresses which lie mid way between the knee and the ankle, a trend I’m still unsure about but which is bound to be big for the upcoming season.



The denim flare is also making another comeback this year, along with its close relative - A-line skirts, which together giving an extremely retro edge. And although I’m reluctant to take a break from my trusty skinny jeans, I’m looking forward to a season of terracottas, nudes, pistachios, blues and whites appearing in my wardrobe this year!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

'Makeovers for Free'

And so here are the rest of the photos from the Makeovers for Free shoot at Vince Tully's studio!

To check out the full blog and all the details of the shoot, go to www.onoffer.ie/blog. Be sure to visit http://www.tully.ie/ and the new look Makeovers for Free website - http://www.makeoversforfree.com/. You might recognise some pictures!! :)






Monday, January 17, 2011

Vince Tully's 'Makeovers for Free' Results

Whilst researching an article online recently I came across Vince Tully Photographers and his ‘makeovers for free’ sessions he hosts at his studio in Cootehill, Co. Cavan. So I set off, wardrobe in tow, to Cavan at the weekend to meet Vince and his camera and suss it all out for my blog on Onoffer.


After his lovely sidekick Gina gave my face a complete overhaul, I pulled some of my best America’s Next Top Model poses, had a blast and think Tyra Banks would be well impressed with the results...!!

I’ll post a link up to the full blog once it’s up but for now, here’s a sneak preview…










Check out http://www.tully.ie/ for more info!!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I've caved...

I'm always slow to start new social networks and felt slightly guilty and sentimental when I moved from Bebo to Facebook. So even though I'm several months too late, I thought I'd try my hand on Twittering and see what all the fuss is about... so follow me!

http://twitter.com/burkenatalie

:)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Why I'm avoiding the January Sales

I love the month of January! I’m not sure if it’s because it’s the start to a brand new year or because it’s my birthday month (therefore obviously associated with happiness and presents) or is it just because it’s such a nice word to look at? (Not sure why, but this makes a difference to me.)


The only thing affecting this month being so great is those wretched post-festive sales. Am I weird for loving fashion and being addicted to shopping yet hating the January sales with an absolute passion? It’s not that I couldn’t do with a good bargain, in fact finding one makes a days shopping completely worthwhile especially when you’re broke and trying to save and can only revert to window shopping to ease your retail cravings… But I can honestly say I’ve never found something in the sales that I’ve truly loved and thought getting up early and beating the fashion queues was worth it!

Am I shopping in the wrong place or am I just simply leaving it too late? I used to work in retail so know first hand that sometimes when the sales come along, so do the resurrections from that sale we had four years ago which, at full price, were about €55 to begin with and by this stage are worth approximately €1.50. And that’s being kind. So I’m pretty sure all stores are the same and drag the rags and remnants out from behind the scenes and onto the shop floor. And even though I try the odd time to root through the railings, I usually come out with the only item that is actually full price – just left in the wrong place by another customer. Cruel. :(

Now I’m sure there are some items that have been reduced from just before Christmas, I reckon I’m just shopping too late to find them. The thought, however, of getting up at 7am on St. Stephen’s day morning and lining up outside the nearest shopping centre just to be sure I get that jacket for 30% off is something I’m pretty sure I will never cave and do!

I saw a sign for ‘further reductions’ on a shop window today which I’m hoping signifies the end of the sale period coming fast. Let’s hope so!!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Style for the Snow!


It baffles me that as a country, we seem to cope amazingly with the usual miserable clouds that hang over us 11 months of the year. We resigned ourselves long ago to the fact that we jinx ourselves if we leave the house without an umbrella, and we’ve adapted fashion wise by coordinating our little bag-sized brollies with our outfits and jazzing them up with cute frills and polka-dot trends. We’ve just about mastered jumping (in a very lady like way) over puddles in our black peep toe heels too. Yep, we’ve adapted to our climate in a very stylish way indeed.

How is it then that as the first little snowflake falls from the sky, the whole country stops functioning. Nobody makes it into work or school, traffic chaos is worse than a regular Monday morning and people stock up on food as if they’re settling into winter hibernation. Other countries seem to cope with the white weather just fine but as a nation we seem to panic at the first falling flake!

Now at first we do all get a little over excited – putting up our Christmas trees and sculpting snowmen whilst humming Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ to ourselves, weeks ahead of the festive schedule. But it’s only after the joy of building snow people wears off and the cabin fever sets in that we realise we actually can go about our daily business after all!

It’s what to wear that is my biggest conundrum in this weather. I’ve tried work wear boots and whilst they look the part, they’ve less grip than an old sleigh. Boots with good grips just don’t go well with skinny jeans and woolly hats and scarves just don’t do anything for my little leather jacket. So what can we wear that will keep us warm, safe from the ice and free from fashion malfunctions?

Taking this season’s faux fur, rock chick trends on board, here are some of my favourite snow-friendly items from the winter collections: 

Faux fur hat from New Look
Faux Fur from Republic


Cream Headband from Oasis

Long Grey dress with black frill River Island

Longline Cream Cardigan from Penneys

Black Leather gloves New Look