Dress of dreams

We were wandering around Cardiff when one of my friends noticed a shop selling brightly coloured sequin maxi dresses and said “Laila, your dream shop is here!”. I ran inside only to discover the most BEAUTIFUL dress I have ever seen nestled on the back wall. Peachy satin corset, sequinned lace flowers, frilly bows and diamnate ruffles leading into a lengthy feathered train; what more could any self-respecting fairy princess want?! The very friendly shop assistant told us it was the only one of it’s kind and had never been tried on. I pretty much leapt into it when I found out it was in my size and she kindly let me cavort around in it long enough for all the boys to get bored and head to the bike shop next door.

I always loved fairies and princesses and the bigger and more whimsical the better! My Pinterest board of dreamy clothes has a lot of frilly fantasy items and my love for princess clothing has led me to amass quite the collection of second hand wedding dresses over the years (sadly no groom in sight) and probably a few more tiaras than is necessary for a freelance musician and volunteer charity worker. Sadly I didn’t have a spare £365 to add this particular number to my collection, but rest assured as soon as I can I’ll be back to snap it up for future gigs, carnival parades and midnight dances with charming members of fairy royalty… well, I can dream right?

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All I Want For Christmas

As mentioned before, I am usually a bit of a Scrooge this time of year but for 2013 I’ve decided to throw myself into Christmas. Unfortunately my kidney infection has meant I missed out on most of my planned Christmas parties/days out, but I was able to attend my singing teachers Christmas showcase on Sunday. My singing teacher always organises these events beautifully and the concert took place at The Battersea Barge which had been beautifully decked out for Christmas. The ceilings and beams were literally festooned with fir garlands and fairy lights.

I sang two songs; All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey and the duet Baby, It’s Cold Outside with my good friend Justin. Justin was fantastic but I was really underprepared; due to my kidney infection I’d barely sung a note for the last week and my top register felt very thin and weak. Normally I would cancel but I was so eager to get back to feeling normal, and given that it was a fun event with mostly friends in the audience I thought I’d attempt anyway. You can listen here – all feedback appreciated!

I first fell in love with this headdress in Sheena Hollands amazing shop whilst on tour in Derby. I made friends with Sheena whilst I was there and she later messaged me about her shop moving due to a very unsupportive council and telling me she was selling off many items. I leapt at the chance to finally own this beautiful piece. Coupled with my travelling cloak we decided I looked like an elf queen. I’m also wearing my lace “cardigan” which is the oldest vintage piece I own – it’s actually a Victorian boys blouse but I wear it backwards as this little top thing. Big thank you Justin for being an amazing duet partner and taking all these photos!Cloak – charity shop, £10. Headdress – vintage, via Sheena Holland, £25. Dress – charity shop (Topshop label), £9. Lace boys shirt – charity shop, £22. Facebook/Twitter/Bloglovin/LookBook/Pinterest :)

Princess

Meetings

One of the best things about working creatively is how often hanging out with friends leads to working on new projects. I had the pleasure of meeting one of my good friends Aella today who recently set up a theatre company with another friend of ours, and she asked me about using some of my music for their first show before taking all the photos you see here. I later bumped into a fellow Goldsmiths alumni in Urban Outfitters who had just returned from touring with Lucy Rose across Europe and America.