Fashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, access, makeup, body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers. Because the more technical term costume is regularly linked to the term “fashion”, the use of the former has been relegated to special senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while “fashion” generally means clothing, including the study of it. Although aspects of fashion can be feminine or masculine, some trends are androgynous.

The Haute house was the name established by government for the fashion houses that met the standards of industry. These fashion houses have to adhere to standards such as keeping at least twenty employees engaged in making the clothes, showing two collections per year at fashion shows, and presenting a certain number of patterns to costumers. Since then, the idea of the fashion designer as a celebrity in his or her own right has become increasingly dominant.

It’s been a weird time to be a woman. Here in the UK we’re approaching the 100 year anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. We’ve seen women come together for movements such as #Metoo. All of this against the backdrop of women’s refuges closing and the ‘global gag rule’ being reinstated.

As such, is it any wonder one of the most talked about books last year directly discussed gender and power?

As an English Grad, I have spent many an hour discussing how masculinity is being portrayed in various classic novels. To see a book focusing and discussing the female gender in this way, instantly intrigued me.

I won’t give away any spoilers, but the basic plot follows a number of women from various walks of life. So what makes this book special? One day women all over the world rediscover their dormant ‘power’ – an electrical like charge they can dispense at will.

I’m going to be honest, it took me a good while to get into this book. I’d heard such good things about it, maybe I overhyped it… but I was on holiday so stuck with it, and I am so glad I did.

The novel explores how physical power is so tied up in power dynamics in the modern world – from walking down the street to religion. It imagines how men may react if one day they were no longer the ‘stronger’ sex – some are scared, some angry and others, slightly turned on.

There is so much to be said about the ideas in this book, I don’t know where to begin. From the use of technology to spread messages and bring women together, to the shame that can be felt if you do not fit into the gender stereotype ascribed to you.

There’s far too much to say in one blog, so if you are interested in gender (or alternative futures) this book will be straight up your street.

What I will say, is one of things that I loved about this book was its honesty. I guess we like to see the good in people, we like to think that if women had power as described in the book, it would be used to promote equality.

But, would it?

If you had power, would the shifting dynamics be enough? Would you use it for the greater good, or for your own gain? If you had treat badly, abused or trafficked, would freedom be enough or would you want revenge?

The women in this book each have their own motives – and to some extent, they all make perfect sense. You can understand why the want this, and deep down it makes you wonder if you would want it to, were you in their shoes.

The characters are not the selfless, altruistic characters women are often shown as in literature. They are hustlers, imposters and unsure of their actions. Sure they are daughters, mothers and friends but for once this is not the point, the women in this story are not viewed purely in their relationships to others.

It reminds us, now more than ever, that women are not just ‘women.’ We are driven, strong and capable. We can hustle, care and cry. We are more than just our gender – we’re human.

 

I’ve tried to write this post at least four times, but I’m hoping that this second glass of wine will help make it flow. After all, what excuses do I have? At the start of 2017 I promised myself (again) I was really going to work hard to grow this little ol’ blog – and once again I didn’t. Somebody change the record eh?

Though to be fair, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for last year – it was huge, hard and ultimately amazing. So big I had to admit defeat and delay the whole ‘New Year, New Me’ thing until after my birthday because Lord knows I needed a break.

So what happened in 2017?

Well for a start me and Craig celebrated our first anniversary with a weekend away in York – that I didn’t blog. I wanted it to be for us, where we could be silly and daft and not worry about getting a photo of The Shambles without the millions of people milling about.

It was on the run up to this weekend away, and the return to work that put some pretty big wheels in motion. I realised I was no longer engaging with my job. I liked it, I liked the people… but it didn’t challenge me and make me think. It wasn’t helping me grow. As we spend so much time in work, not being fully engaged felt like a disservice both to my company and me – so I left.

I found another job, that although it was still in marketing it is totally different. It has extra responsibility and meant learning new skills as I went. It was scary, but I’m so glad I pushed myself outside my comfort zone.

In the same week I started my new job, I also moved in with Craig.

Word of advice: Do not, I repeat, do not hand in coursework, start a new job and move house within four days. It is stressful AF and you may end up crying in the kitchen weeks later, because you so bloody tired and still have to do the washing up.

Anyway – we viewed one house, loved it and got told we could move in within two weeks. It happened faster than I ever thought it would. I thought it would include weeks of thinking and planning, but it was all about making the jump whilst we could.

As we were both living with parents it meant sourcing all the furniture and extra bits we needed in double quick time, and I will be forever grateful for all our friends and family for rallying round and making it possible.

A month after moving in, we got two tiny little rabbits. Becoming a bunny mum was such a steep learning curve it needs its own blog post, so let’s just say our lives have never been the same since!

They say comparison is the thief of joy, but boy am I good at it. It’s a habit I need to break, but that’s another story. This year I found out not only were my grades in line with others on my Masters course, they were even pretty good! My course is filled with people who have loads more experience and amazing careers, as much as I loved learning them it also gave me a nice dose of imposter syndrome. So finding out I wasn’t doing as badly as feared really built my confidence up!

Then of course there was the BIGGIE – the engagement! You can read my engagement story here, but to put it quickly, it involved a surprise holiday, a proposal and after it all we managed to get both sides of the family together for meal. It was such an amazing feeling getting everyone together to celebrate. We’re getting married!

The year ended with our first Christmas in our own home. We spent the first part of the morning as a tiny family (me, Craig and the bunnies) then visited all of our relatives before joining my family for Christmas dinner. It was busy, manic and magical!

So there you have it – 2017 was my biggest year yet, and I feel it has laid some great foundations for 2018!