BUDAPEST - ZAGREB

I have returned from ten days exploring Budapest and Zagreb to a pounding torrential downpour. All the more reason to get cosy on the sofa and begin sorting through the hundreds of photographs I have acquired from the ridiculous array of cameras that accompanied me on my trip.

Look out for my Off the Beaten Track travels guides to the two cities coming very soon (and also a separate post detailing the splendour that is Plitvice lakes). 

Photos taken by myself on my iPhone 4s: Matyas Church, Budapest; fish swimming in Plitvice lakes; the view of Zagreb from Strossmayer Promenade. 

ON MY TRAVELS

I go on holiday in two days time, which will mean a huge lag between posts on here and very sporadic instagramming. Bear with me! I promise to have lots of my own photographs to share upon my return.

Budapest - Zagreb - Budapest

If anyone has any tips of where to go and what to see in Budapest and Zagreb, please do get in touch!

Speak soon!

Photo: via Fashion me Now

PLANT LIFE

I almost purchased a new magazine today, only stopping myself because it's four days until pay day and there was quite a hefty price tag. The Plant Journal called to me through the window of the Cornerhouse; peeking in as I walked past, as always hoping to see a glimpse of Apartmento or Kinfolk (fellow Mancunians, help me out here?). 

Boasting the tag-line "A journal about plants and other greenery", you may wonder why on earth I would want to pick up such a tome. This is no gardening manual, however. Lovers of the titles I mentioned above, you will rejoice that there is yet another magazine to quench your thirst for all things aesthetically pleasing that also features distinguished, well-written articles about things you actually want to read about.

Featuring photography by several of my favourite analogue photographers, including Coke Bartrina and non-other than Lina Scheynius, The Plant Journal explores the works of creative people with a love of plants. Amongst the various photographic pieces there are articles detailing as wide a topics as the coconut palms of Ghana, cinematic childhood fantasies and the gardens of Versailles.

Screw the price tag, I'll be picking up a copy of The Plant Journal tomorrow.

Behind the scenes at So It Goes Mag, Style Slicker, Melissa Sonico, Kinfolk Magazine, Melissa Sonico, Filipa Alves, Kinfolk Magazine.

#FILMISNOTDEAD

'Love Film' takes on an entirely different meaning.

I'm currently unearthing my film cameras and wondering why on earth I ever put them away

#filmisnotdead

All photos, my own.

NORMCORE

'Normcore'. Does the mutter of that word make you want to throw your computer across the room and find a way to break the internet? Have fashion trends gone so far that they are now parodying themselves; the latest look an uber-trend masking itself as a non-trend?

There a few ways of approaching this subject:

i) The nineties has been buzzing around for a few years now, grunge in particular. Is norm-core actually that far removed from the Fruit of the Loom sweatshirts and unflattering mom jeans that our 1992 counterparts sported with their Birks the first time round? Isn't this just your bog-standard case of trends repeating over 20-year cycles?

ii) It was inevitable that after so many years of figure-hugging, brashly hued shiny fabrics fashion was going to spin 360 degrees on it's skinny jean clad hips and give us something different. Minimalism was ushered back in via Celine whilst grunge crept back into fashion. Whichever one you prefer, normcore is the extreme version: it's minimalism stripped back to no-labels, no print, no colour or grunge stripped back to it's early nineties we don't care what we look like roots. 

iii) As the Guardian loves to whinge, the 'hipster' is dead and normcore is on the upsurge. Fashion have always started on the streets; all of the big fashion houses and high street chains employ trend spotters whose jobs are essentially to spot the latest micro-trends on the street, tap into them as early as possible, target and market them at the majority of the population who wait to be told what to wear by such people and then watch triumphantly as the latest trend is born. What the Guardian refers to as 'hipsters' began as a trend filtered down from East London's youth scene and evolved to become more of a subculture than a mere trend. Essentially, the only difference between hipsters and mods or punks is the presence of Instagram. Now the Guardian are claiming that hipsters are a dying breed and normcore is surfacing to take over. What they are branding 'normcore' is probably the original 'hipsters' (please note my use of inverted commas throughout this post and take everything I write with a pince of salt) becoming sick of seeing the outfit they've been wearing for the past decade on sale in Primark and trying to reclaim some sort of individuality for themselves by going down a root they thought fashion would never take.

Normcore: whether you love it or hate it, just watch it start to creep into your wardrobe.

Images: Katie Silvester,  Chloe Borich, Beanie Major on I Wear Marina, Laura Austin