Fashion from the 2010s and Beyond

Fashion has played a huge role in my life during the 2010s. My fashion style has evolved throughout the decade to what it is now. I really feel the first big milestone for me was when I moved to Dublin in 2012. I really feel this was the first time I was away from home and I could test out different brands and styles. With time I feel like I really honed in on my style to get to a real casual chic look.

In the early part of the 2010s, because I was really thin, I was able to wear tight bodycon dresses that really showed off my long legs and small body shape. This allowed me to feel really sexy but in the wrong way. I felt I was sexy but with hindsight I was really portraying the wrong image. As I grew into my 20s and put on a bit of body fat, I soon learned very quickly that this was the wrong style dress for me. I knew by the middle to late 20s that skater style dresses were the way to go.

In this time I was learning about skater dresses, I was also learning about online shopping and the many shops that I could purchase these fabulous dresses. I started to learn about boohoo.com, forever 21 and pretty little thing. With these shops, I was learning the different types of even skater dresses you could get. You could get peplum, maxi, mini and mid length. You can also even get straight cut or flowing. The fun you have online picking out the different dresses for different occasions was great to get away from the history or politics assignment you could have been doing instead.

Colours was my next learning curve. As being a blonde in college, I went for blues and reds and sometimes I wore purple when it was my birthday as that was my favourite colour. As I got older, and changed my hair colour to brown, I still kept the blues and reds but added in browns, yellows, black and whites now. The dimensions you get by wearing these colours is so much better. I wish I knew this when I was younger. By pairing a white top with a black skirt and putting a belt with it you are showing off your waist and hiding your boobs. It allows you to feel sexy without being in any way revealing. This is now the opposite effect I have from when I was in my early 20s. I feel as time has gone on, I have learned to go with what suits me and not what looks good on a hanger or what a size 8 model is wearing. I am so confident now more than I was when I was a size 8.

Fashion has taught me so much, how you wear the clothes not the clothes wearing you. Fashion has given me so much confidence that I can now teach people what I have learned throughout the years. Life is all about learning and growing and I feel through fashion I have done that really well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it. I will be back again soon

Joanne
xxx 

A Very Irish Christmas

For my next blog post, I want to share a typical Irish Christmas with everyone. For me being with my family is the most important part of Christmas. Sharing dinner and laughter is the best part of any Christmas celebration.

I like to get my shopping done during the first two weeks of December so I am not in a mad rush at the end. I love walking around my hometown of Cork. They put on a festival every weekend in December called Glow and this has lovely food markets and a ferris wheel. It makes Cork way more exciting to go shopping as you have lights and songs being played all around the city.

Myself and my family put up the tree and the lights around our house on the 1st of December. I like to get the full celebration for the whole month of December and the first week of January. The other 10 and bit months of the year are bland and boring to say the least.

I love watching Christmas movies over christmas. I try to watch one movie per night from the 1st of December. It is like my advent movie marathon. Home Alone 1 and 2 has to be my favourite  Christmas movies. I usually watch them on Christmas Eve and Christmas day but I would have watched them during my advent marathon as well. With a cups of hot chocolate and the fire on it makes for a lovely christmas tradition.

On Christmas Eve, it is my cousins birthday so we go over to give her, her present and come home to some nice festive food. We usually have egg nog and a small bit of the turkey my mum has prepared for the next day. We then go to mass. This is very typical being Irish. Religion plays a huge part in my tradition by going once a year. It is a lovely mass as its full of carol singers and santa stops by. It really brings back my youth and really spells the true meaning of christmas that is the innocence of children. We then come home to a few drinks and a couple of movies and then head to bed for the long day that is christmas day.

Christmas day for us as a family is: get up put on your christmas clothes and head to the graves of our loved ones who are not here anymore. It is a very real part that there are a few empty seats at our dinner table every year. Still visiting their graves gets a little part of them sharing in our day with us. After going to the graves we eat christmas dinner. I usually have a sea food starter and then have turkey and potatoes as my main dinner. I then have chocolate cake for desert with some bucks fizz and some vodka as my drinks. We then open our presents. Most families open their presents when they get up but we enjoy opening them after dinner and then fall asleep while watching a christmas movie. Once the movie is over we head over to my aunt's house for games and drinks until around 12 where we come home and go to bed.

My fashion at christmas is usually dresses. I plan three outfits one for christmas eve, christmas day and stephen/boxing day. Since my influencing started this year, I have been more careful with my outfits and want to pick out three very different outfits that go well with each day. I was always into fashion over christmas but this made it all the more enjoyable.

This was a post on my very Irish Christmas
Have a merry Christmas and a great 2020

Joanne
xx

The Influencer Game

This is my first blog post for a while. For this one, I want to speak about my new trials and tribulations of blogging and fashion influencing. There are many highs and lows to this industry that I like to call a game. You have good days and you have bad days. I believe over all since I started in July this year it has been a huge help to me. It has built confidence for me that I have looked for through this whole decade and given me a purpose to try and help other people who have gone through similar problems.

I have always been interested in fashion but if you told me even a year ago, I would be sharing it with the world I would have laughed at you. I have shared my love of Boohoo, Missfiga and Rebellious fashion through my posts. My fashion has changed with time and I choose to go with affordable fashion because I believed you can make great clothes for an affordable cost. The love I have for clothes and love shown to me by my followers has shown there is a market for me in the instagram world. The help shown by other women in this industry has been second to none. I feel it is never about competition but about women sticking together to help and build each others confidence. You have never met anyone but you feel like you know them for years.

I did at the beginning lose confidence in my ability to do this by using bots and follow for follow magnets to get my followers up. I realised very quickly there are no short cuts to success. It is all built on long term strategies and a really strong work ethic. I have taken the good days with the bad and have learned from every photo and blog post that I have ever put up. I am not one to give up ever and I am not about to let that set in now over a few set backs online. I believe in my ability and strengths that I have been given here and believe that this will all come good in 2020. I would love to get some band ambassadors to work with me next year but sticking to what I know and working hard will be the order of the day.

I want to thank every person that has followed and supported me through this journey so far. It hasnt been easy but the support I have been given has really shown I can do this. I have worn my heart on my sleeve on every picture and blog post I have created and for me no matter what I love everything about this industry no matter what will be thrown at me in the future