New Release: Subcouture

After a disappointing first start to what could have been a fabulous first couture collection, Subcouture is back with a second official release. This time, masked with two '2 hour only' dresses, the store takes inspiration from designers such as Zac Posen, Camilla Skovgaard, Chanel and Alexandre Vauthier.

The store, which is priced between nine and thirty stardollars, was released on the 28th and is once again only available for 48 hours. The two sequinned black dresses which were only available for the first 2 hours after general release are shown in the above advertisement.

Although both the graphics and designs have taken a step up (although they still aren't particularly great), I still find the entire Subcouture store and concept to be somewhat underwhelming. Nothing as of now has thoroughly impressed me and I am waiting for the day that the shop will pleasantly shock me with a new collection.

What do you think of Subcouture's second collection?
To view the real life versions click here!

Style It #2: Charlotte Purse

Truth be told, I had some difficulty choosing what piece to do for the second Style It. There are just so many great pieces on Stardoll, that can be styled so many different ways. However, I finally made the decision to style the Charlotte Purse from Fallen Angel.

I wouldn't say this purse is difficult to style, since it is solid black, but I would say that it is a piece that has endless possibilities. While I was trying to find an outfit to style around this purse, I was constantly straying from my original plan, which was to make a very simple and minimalistic outfit, simply because I kept coming across pieces I though would look good with this purse. In the end, I gave up on making a simple outfit, and instead decided to make an outfit that for some reason looks very French in my opinion, most likely because of the stripes.

Now I would like to see how you would style this purse! Simply style it, and upload the image to Tinypic, Imgur, etc. If you want, you could also post the image on your own blog. Then just post the link in the comments along with your Stardoll user name. Next week I will post the looks here on TTT. Also, I have decided to add a bit of incentive this week since I am cleaning my Stardoll closet anyways. In next week's post, the outfits will be voted on by the readers, and the owner of the best outfit will win these Pearl Pink Heels from Stardoll's Mark Fast Tribute.

I look forward to seeing your entries!

xoxo Jessica / ALLYE99

Hot Buys Go Street Style

Throughout my years on Stardoll I've felt as though they have been, at times, somewhat out of touch with the real world of fashion. Although a vast amount of Stardoll creations are inspired by those of real life designs, I still always feel that something disconnects the Stardoll and fashion world, and whether it be the fact that Stardoll have to cater to a young audience or not I do not know.
On a whole, a lot of Stardoll's recent releases, whether they be Rio, PPQ, Young Hollywood or It Girls, have been at a pretty high standard, and it's been good to see Stardoll taking into account what many fashion lovers on the website crave most.

After a mediocre set of glamour themed March Hot Buys I was somewhat shocked to see the direction that Stardoll had gone for in the April collection. Wave goodbye to the bandage beach dresses and bejewelled sandals and hello to the trendy street style items which Stardoll now have to offer.

The collection, which seems to take its main inspiration from Rihanna and Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy), is full of innovative pieces which I would have never guessed Stardoll would have created. Admittedly, not everything I could see myself buying, but I applaud Stardoll for including a variety of pieces while still sticking to this wonderful street style theme.

The interested red and white striped blazer is actually from the mens fall/winter 2014 Givenchy collection while the boots, which are also designed by Tisci, were created for Rihanna's world tour. The other items all seem to follow the same style route, but I am yet to find any of the other real life versions.

All in all, I am thoroughly impressed by Aprils 10 new additions to the Hot Buy emporium. Both the graphics and stylings have got me excited for the release of these items, and I am ready to load up my shopping cart with some of these fabulous pieces.

Are you excited for the April Hot Buys?
Which do you like most? Comment  below.

Styled Outfit: McGinley Jacket, Killah

I've always loved this cardi - it's the sort of thing I would happily wear in real life, so when it came out in the Plaza quite a while ago now, I bought it right away! Recently I wore it for my latest challenge at The Stardoll Lookbook and someone commented saying they'd always struggled in styling it in a younger/fashionable way - so that's what I plan to do in this post!

So it's from Killah and costs 12SD's - for me this is a great price for the amount I wear it, and that makes it a great purchase =)

Normally I wear it with dresses, and I've actually kinda gotten into the habit of wearing it with the denim Hotbuys one (2nd on the right below), but it does work well with any coloured dress really, I think bright ones look great:

But these looks are quite basic, I wanted to come up with something more, so here are some more styles that I've come up with for this cute cardigan =) 

Somehow all ended up being with trousers, but I still think it shows versatility with the cardigan! Oh, sorry for my terrible editing skills, don't quite know where they've disappeared to today!


So what do you guys think of the cardi? Love or hate? 

Styled an outfit yourself? Show me in comments =) 

A New Stardoll.com

When we were first given a Stardoll makeover back in the early summer months of 2010 there was shock around the entire globe of Stardoll players. The typical yellow and pink that the users had grown to love had vanished off of the website, and replacing it was a sleek new look very similar to the one we know today.

Stardoll's unveiling of their makeover in 2010

Since the big makeover of 2010 we have yet to be presented with a major change on Stardoll. Throughout the years we have of course received some minor altercations to the website, but nothing as drastic as what we will be seeing in the near future. In the summer of last year, an application by Stardoll called Downtown was created and put onto the App Store. The application offered a different way of playing Stardoll with an all new design, and it seems like that may be hitting the official Stardoll.com website very soon. 

The new toolbar for Stardoll - Credit to Underneath Stardoll 

We have already seen a minor update to the toolbar of the site, with the new black theme showing a more mature and fresh side to the one previous. Personally, I'm all for the concept of a Stardoll makeover, as long as Stardoll also focuses on important updates they really need. 

After a quick browse on the Underneath Stardoll blog it became very obvious about the features people really want to see updated on Stardoll. Firstly, an updated starbazaar and storage search - Although I'm not particularly bothered about the storage, an updated starbazaar would come in very handy. At this point it's incredibly hard to narrow down your search so unless you're lucky; good luck finding the item you're looking for in the first ten minutes of hunting. 

As well as this, people seem to be interested in the return of the popular Catwalk competition, which made its sudden exit from Stardoll a few months back after being replaced by The Vote. I would also enjoy to see the demise of the starcoin, with the stardollar becoming the sole currency of the website. I think many people will agree that the starcoin is a somewhat pointless currency as it becomes increasingly challenging for non superstars to conjure up stardollars. 

Stardoll Downtown App - Starplaza

Although the Downtown app was a promising introduction into the future of Stardoll I cannot say that I was happy about every new feature given. The lack of a save button could be hazardous to the actual Stardoll website - I for one thoroughly enjoy giving my doll new looks, and not all of those I wish to save. The removal of a save button, in my opinion, would be an awful idea.

All in all I'm excited for what could be to come for the new Stardoll. It has been a while since something exciting has happened on the main website and I think it would be great for Stardoll to develop from the makeover they gave us almost four years ago. Are you excited for a Stardoll makeover? What new features would you like to see on Stardoll? 

Fearlessly Fierce

Let's be honest here, I have no talent whatsoever when it comes down to writing a simple introduction. Usually, I'll draw a blank for ten, fifteen, maybe even twenty minutes before I even have a simple grasp of what I'm going to cover in a short and informative post. Pft, yeah right. Short and informative isn't my forte. Once I've maintained a basic understanding of my topic, I have to go into explicit detail about every nook and cranny of what I'm reviewing. Or what was supposed to originally be a quick, "New store release!"

But, aside from the point. I have plenty of time to go into detail about my methods of ranting, and more so what could be explained as a massive scheme to get my point of view across. It'll take even longer when I manage to stray from my original intent, and post about how it's been months since I last posted (and for that, I do have a reason, but I'll spare you the details). No, that's only a waste of your time; just reading some incoherent mess that is a sixteen-year-old controversy junkie.

No, today I'm not going to ramble off about some lame scandal involving two well-known elites. I'm not going to even take a crack at that one user who couldn't even manage to pull off even the simplest of outfits; I'm more than done with that phase, no matter how much it might've gave me pleasure to trash someone else. What I am here to talk about however, is the final issue of Fierce.

Truthfully, I wouldn't be shocked if even a herd of people questioned, "What's Fierce?" Others might scoff and retort with a, "Only the best magazine of all time!" Regardless of whether you classify Fierce as the best, or simply one of the better magazines on Stardoll, I believe any project deserves praise. Even if it stinks. Like, badly.

Fortunately though, that wasn't the case for Fierce. Like its name suggests, the magazine certainly has a fiery edge to its stream of unique content. And for one last time, I got a taste of what it was like to be Fierce. Earlier today, the graphic designer, founder and owner of the magazine pulled a Beyonce, releasing the final issue without a sliver of a whisper breathing it's return for a final time. And after four years of still no issue, I definitely was not expecting the cover of one of my personal "pioneer" favorites to come back just like that. Much less a simple, "we're back," post gracing my eerily (somewhat) active dashboard.

Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the cover, but I won't go further than that. Mainly for the fact along with the cover, several graphics within Fierce is far different from any other technique in the stream of what's classified as a Stardoll graphic norm. I did however, find myself eying Alice's technique, just wondering how she manages to make what would seem as somewhat simple for a mediocre-just-bordering-intermediate graphic designer. And I'm not just talking about myself, I'm talking about graphic artists across the board, might their specialty be Stardoll graphics or digital artists specializing in portraits to landscapes. The truth of the matter is that it all comes down to talent. That Alice certainly has.

It wasn't just the graphics that astounded me. Emma, the author of the vast majority of articles definitely contributed a strong portion to the magazine. Her writing is near spotless, flawless almost, except for a few errors here and there. But hey, it happens to all of us. I personally favored the, "Don't Judge a Book..." article, it definitely had a strong argument that I could feel and relate to. That's another important key aspect of any magazine; any piece of literature, really.

I don't believe entirely in reviewing the finale of any magazine, specifically because it can either make or break anyone's expectation of the beforehand mentioned brand. While I was entirely pleased with the content of Fierce, and believed thoroughly in this being a good ending point for the notorious player in the blogging industry, that may be the opposite of your reality. Another note of this being the fact a finale is ijdeed a finale; it's main purpose being able to evoke nostalgia. It reminds us to remember what was once good, and what will be forever cherished. Fierce will, and has, accomplished just that. Same goes for every other final issue, final blog post, final remembrance speech, final anything, really. We deserve to remember; not point out every flaw with the end of an era. Just remember what was good.

In short, the finale of Fierce came to show me not only the importance of remembering, but the importance of that one final curtain call. That in itself, is truly brilliant.

New Release - Nelly

On Friday we were treated to a new release of Nelly floors:

Two new floors of clothing and shoes for us to enjoy! I think it's an interesting mix of things, but I have to say I prefer this collection a lot less than previous ones, I find a lot of the things are quite unwearble and wouldn't fit too well into my style or current wardrobe. I did buy several pieces though, so it wasn't a totally disappointing release =) Here's the things I did buy:

I fell in love with the jeans and white shoes as soon as I saw them, so they were no brainer pieces for me! And I felt some weird attraction to the hat, it's very un-me and although I like some hats, I never really wear hats on my doll at all, but I kinda felt like I was missing out on something if I didn't get this? Hmm, we'll see, lets hope I manage to wear it! I don't really own many grey tops, so it was quite nice to pick these two up, looking forward to wearing them too =) 

So I've done a quick styling for you guys to see the jeans - they're a piece I've yet to see being worn around Stardoll, so many some inspiration might help?

I seem to have gravitated to pairing them with paler pastel colours, but I think they do look fab with that bright pink cardi! I really like all the looks, and they look good with heels, flat sandals and trainers, which is a definite plus - I did have a pair of wedges to style them with too, but I though 3 looks would be enough =) 

And now a couple of looks that I spotted around Stardoll of members wearing the new items:

 ^AngelOoops wearing the Medley Jacket in a formal manner, I think it looks great with the maxi!

^Marbum may only be wearing the Celfie Hat, but it's a fantastic look none the less!

So what do you guys think about this new collection? Let us know in the comments =) 

Strike A Pose!

*Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've had an extremely busy few days and I haven't managed to access the blog a lot!*

Last Monday brought us the release of Strike a Pose, an interesting new store with the aim of creating limited posed clothing items. Throughout the years on Stardoll there have been a few posed clothing pieces released, but none have ever amounted to a full store even with all the demand for posing on and around Stardoll.  With this new release we were treated to a selection of non posed items all priced around the 20 - 40 stardollar mark, along side a large variety of jackets, dresses and pants with different poses up to 175 stardollars.

Admittedly, I'm not impressed by many of Stardoll's limited collections - Instead of them being the utmost quality, I often find that they're a lot worse than even Stardoll regular real brands. Strike a Pose for me combined great graphics, an interesting concept and fair prices. I thought the regular items were priced well and the most expensive were worth the money. The store looked fresh and unique, and ended up selling out in around four to six hours, which is if I'm correct is the fastest ever full collection to ever sell on Stardoll. 

I'm very excited to see what's next for this exciting new brand on Stardoll, and I hope with time that it can only get better and better. What are your thoughts on Strike a Pose?

Style It! #1 Results

First off, I just want to say thanks to everyone who went to the trouble of styling the Green Pastell Trousers from Callie's Picks. I really like all of the stylings. Here are the three outfits, styled by the readers of TTT.

First outfit: ilgd

Second outfit: Beautifuloval

Third outfit: Mangunmeetan

Which outfit do you like the most? Vote in the poll below!

RESULTS

ilgd - 16 votes - 20%

Beautifuloval - 34 votes - 42%

Mangunmeetan - 31 votes - 38%

Congratulations to Beautifuloval who received the most votes for this week!

WCW (#1) - Fashion Week Street Style

Fashion Week has been a huge favourite of mine since I stumbled across the magnificent sight that was Chloé’s 2011 RTW collection. Ever since then, I have loved keeping up to date with certain brands and seeing how they have interpreted the upcoming seasons’ trends. One thing I have grown to adore through FW is the street style that people capture through their lenses. Being able to see various kinds of people express their senses of style on a day/days where pretty much anything goes is both exciting and inspiring.

So with Fashion Week on the verge of ending, (it has reached its final destination - Paris) I decided to dedicate the past week on Stardoll to wearing Street style-esque outfits that I felt would represent me in the four major FW cities:

NEW YORK

For me, New York has such a ‘working woman’ feel. I’ve probably watched too many episodes of Sex and the City (haha), but when I think about NY I imagine many Carrie Bradshaws running around in their fabulous heels, wearing coats fitted to perfection, with cappuccinos in one hand and mobile phones in the other as they make their way to work. This is just a silly fantasy of course, but it is the inspiration behind my NYFW outfit.

LONDON

Living in London has really made me appreciate accessories. Rings, hats, bags, necklaces; you name it, London girls work it. For this reason, I was mainly inspired by the role of jewellery in elevating outfits, as I feel like it can make a simple outfit that much cooler and interesting. There was something about the seam on the PPQ skirt that also made me gravitate towards it- I really liked how it looked like gold accents as opposed to stitching.

MILAN

Two things made me want to create this outfit; the first Milan street style photo I ever saw, and Moschino’s Fall 2014 RTW collection. I wish I knew how to find the photo I’m talking about, but unfortunately I viewed it years ago. Nevertheless, when I tell you it was something else I’m not kidding. There was such an overload of bright colours and yet a fantastically cool feel about it that has stuck in my head. As for Moschino’s collection, it was the sheer audacity of it; cartoony ‘in your face’ designs incorporated with the urban flair that is associated with Jeremy Scott. My favourite Milan show this season.

PARIS

If the fashion weeks were four different people, Paris would definitely the most feminine. The romantic nature of the city makes me think of soft yet clean lines and effortless simplicity. I thought the floral design on the dress (used as a top) added a little more intricacy to the outfit, and that the sheer material added a risqué element to it without being distasteful.

So those are my FW street style inspired outfits guys! Which one do you like best, and why?

Also let me know which of the Fashion Weeks is your favourite and what you would wear

(Definitely include a photo if you've got time!)

And before I conclude this post (because it is getting way too long), I'd just like to

say thank you for all the positive words on the last post. You have no idea

how happy your feedback made me.