Guest Post from Allysha Johnson

Hi Readers I'm Allysha Johnson, a 15 year old blogger for 'It's A Style Fix' I'm delighted to be guest blogging for the Peggy Collection as its my first time! You can follow my Blog at: www.itsastylefix.blogspot.com And well do you like Vintage Dresses? Well I'm here to talk about a shop that might be the right place for you vintage lovers out there.... Vivien of Holloway! Vivien of Holloway sells inspired 1940's and 50's reproduction clothing from Sexy Bombshell Strap Dresses, Halterneck Pencil Dresses to 1940's Sarongs which are great for Glamorous Events, Parties or even for Day! What I adore about this Vintage Shop is they produce beautiful dresses which separate the look and the charm of authentic vintage by adding a colourful and fun twist, but in a range of sizes, the dresses fit and flatter the modern figure which makes the figure suited for a modern lifestyle. The fun bit is that one day you could feel like a 1950's showgirl, whereas the next day you could be a femme fatale all to the just of wearing these dresses...they are made to feel like you! I LOVE the fact that the Vivien of Holloway are made and produced in the UK and what makes it more great is that they are well known to people across the globe, even celebrities! As well as producing good dresses, they also provide good customer service with does bring a smile to your face :) Nevertheless the fabulous frocks, the shop also provides a wide range of hair-flowers, jewellery, shoes, handbags and more, to help you complete your real vintage look. I would say this show is a MUST to go to when it comes to Vintage Clothing. I would recommend this to anyone that is a Vintage Stylist or anyone that is a Vintage Lover if that's YOU!!! Where to find them? You can find them at Holloway road in London or for online shopping, go on their website at: http://www.vivienofholloway.com U can also go visit their blog at: http://www.vivienofholloway.blogspot.com Enjoy shopping! Allysha xxx It's A Style Fix

Guest blog from Harriet Kelsall

Harriet Kelsall runs the UKs leading Bespoke Jewellery Design Company who specialise one-off pieces of jewellery designed especially for their customers.  Harriet started the business in 1998 because she wanted good bespoke jewellery design to be affordable and unpretentious and her 30 strong team have been leading the way in bespoke jewellery design ever since.  Their most recent awards include the 2011 UK Jewellery Awards and Harriet also holds the coveted Everywoman Retail ‘Woman of the Year’ title.  She took time out to write a guest blog on for me describing three of her recent favourite commissions.

As a designer, there is nothing that inspires me and my design team more than an interesting story.  Even if one of our clients wants a simple solitaire ring, we love to put something personal into their one-off design for them so that it reflects some part of their story or personality.

When Diana asked me to write this guest blog about a few interesting design commissions, so many came to mind!  It has been hard to narrow it down to just three.

Last year we were approached by a lovely couple, Ed and Laura, who wanted me to design a bespoke engagement ring inspired by a peacock feather.  They had a lovely story about a happy holiday spent chasing a peacock around a zoo trying to get it to put up its tail!  Laura brought her peacock feather along to our studio and we came up with this lovely design for them.

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/ID/6397

Another ring that I particularly like was recently designed by Alice who is one of our senior designers here.  It was designed for a fan of mathematics in Cambridge who wanted his ring to be made like a Mobius twist.  I think the result is beautiful and elegant and I like the fact that you don’t really get the mathematics connection unless you know about it too – it is just a beautiful form:-- 

  http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/id/7510

We are also very pleased to be one of only a few jewellers allowed to use certificated Fairtrade gold and this was the type of ethical gold that Model, DJ and presenter Lisa Snowdon chose for her bespoke pendant.  I love working with Lisa because she is so laid back and creative.  She wanted me to design her a pendant which she could wear all of the time.  We looked at using the ‘Aum’ or ‘Om’ symbol which is a Buddhist mantra which represents everything in unity.  We chose an aspect of that symbol and simplified it to create a symbol that represents Lisa being in the centre of her destiny and dreams.  It is to celebrate her 40th birthday on January 23^rd and the stone is a beautiful Laser cut garnet (the birthstone for garnet).  She is delighted wit the result and even treated me and a few of my team to a very posh tea at the May Fair hotel to say thank you!

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/earneck/ID/4045

Vintage Life Magazine Features

I was once again featured in the national publication of Vintage Life Magazine and my Marilyn knitted vest top was featured along with my article.  I was also featured in the issue of last Nov/Dec where I designed the knitted red slippers.   The image of my model Lydia Bareham was used in the Jan/Feb issue and it featured a photograph of her in the Marilyn design.  This was from my autumn/winter collection photo shoot with the very talented David Taylor of dctaylor photography  dctaylorphotography website 

I am looking forward to working with Vintage Life Magazine again as it is one of my favorite publications.  If you havent read it and you love vintage you really should you can subscribe online to it too Vintage Life Magazine Website or you can buy it in WH Smiths and other retailers which can be found on their website.

 

Bridal Designs Wedding Jewellery Guest Post

Here is the first in a series of guest blog posts I am featuring on this blog.  I am currently designing and making my spring summer collection so rather than neglecting my blog I will feature a few different people on here.  Hope you all enjoy them and please feel free to leave comments.

When I said I'd write a guest blog post for the lovely Diana I was struggling to think of a topic, after all ...what did we have in common? She's a talented knitwear designer, I make wedding jewellery , she's Gok Wans' knit queen, I...er.....make wedding jewellery.

Then when browsing her website I came across a familiar sight...the #SBS badge! What? i hear you cry? Well if you are a regular lurker on Twitter you will probably know, but for the rest of you, #SBS stands for Small Business Sunday. Theo Paphitis (yes him of Dragon's Den fame) supports small business by retweeting (basically forwarding your message) your tweet to all his followers. He chooses six businesses every Sunday for this honour and both my website (http://www.bridaldesignsweddingjewellery.co.uk) and Dianas were chosen at the end of 2010 for a retweet. This might not sound like much but it's amazing what a difference it makes, your website is mentioned to 208,000 of Theo's followers, thats a lot of potential customers! 

So, we do have something in common after all, unfortunately it isn't knitting ability...I'm ok at scarves....as long as you like them with holes in and a bit wonky....

Tracey x