You Need a U.S.P. + Friendship Politics

I know what you're thinking,

a what? 

It stands for 'unique selling point'.

Something that's different about you, that really stands out. 

This came up the other day, when talking to my brother about him simply HAVING to take up a hobbie. We've been trying for years, trust me. It's gone from trying to get him to play tennis, starting guitar lessons at school, forcing him into Judo classess and countless attempts at playing football outside of just kicking a ball about at breaktime.

All have failed, absolutely misarebly.

So sitting in a coffee shop, my sister and I tried to convince him to find his 'USP' as my sister called it.

"What's different about you? What stands out? What are people going to think, 'wow I wish I could do that!' about you?"

He protested. Apparently being amazing at 'COD' is an acceptable USP in his eyes.

In the end we decided on a street dancing group. I offered to go along with him, put my sister protested.

"This has be his thing Fizz, his USP."

So, it's all about being unique. Having something special about you. This is, ignoring the fact that thousands of young people across the country attend street dancing classes.

We couldn't say our USP was being able to create a tower out of matchsticks because although it may be unique it's "too unique." It's doesn't fit into being a 'USP', whereas playing tennis does.

New ideas for blog posts pop into my head everyday, there's something I feel I just have to write about. But, when I think about it almost a quarter of them are to do with individuality, but at the same time, fitting in.

Maybe it's because of how old I am. At thirteen, going on fourteen, it's almost what my life is about at the moment.

Although I want to be my own person, there's something stopping me. Partly, it's my friends and ridiculously, even more so, my peers. And because of this, I don't really know who I am yet.

I attend a relatively small secondary school, with 800+ pupils (this is not including the boys school, which would make the total 1500+) and although this is not massive it is by no means minute.

 I don't know over half the people than attend my school - possibly over three quarters. However, I'm still scared about coming across 'too weird' or 'too stupid' infront of them, even if I'm never going to talk to them.

Infront of my friends, however, I should be totally at peace with being myself - you say? Well, not really. JH is probably the only friend I have at this point in time I'm not scared saying stuff that others would pass of as 'gay' and can give her all my true opinions without considering I may come across as 'pushy' because she doesn't see (or chooses to ignore the faults in me) and I do the same back to her.

I should surrond myself with friends like that, but it's hard. Don't get my wrong, I love my current friendship group and while they're good for a laugh and we share secrets there are too many 'friendship politics' and I'm sick of it. Its all about saying the right things, or knowing when to give my point of view without upsetting someone, or even knowing what I should say my point of view is (even when I don't really think it).

But sometimes I get it wrong.

I'm thirteen, for gods sake. I'm not going to be perfect. I'll say things that sound stupid, my friends and I will have conflicting view points, I'll fight my point of view but the problem is one thing I say can be blown totally out of proportion - even by the best of friends.

I never know what to think, what to say and when to say it. What opinions are prejudiced and which are uncalled for. When I should mind my own business, and when I was wrong for not backing someone up. It seems that speaking your mind is not poltically correct.

Another problem, is that people want to be a 'name'. Year 7? Eurgh, that wannabe annoying girl. Year 8? Oh yeah, there's that girl with the orange skin and the one who said that horrible thing about the orange skin girl. Year 9? The one with the bleach blonde hair and her sidekick with the dark eyeliner. The list goes on.

It seems to me that everyone thinks they're 'different' and their friends are just 'so weird' which of course means no one is 'different', or 'weird'. I notice this most in the people with 'names', the 'popular' crowd. Because, as much as they say they are, they're not different in my eyes.

It's all about being individual, but at the same time being cool and fitting in. It's like being 'indie'. It's all about standing out, or really, blending in with all the other 'indie kids' out there.

They say the most unique people are the most well known, but I'd disagree. I'd say the girls who get 100% in every test, wear Gap hoodies and tracksuits to non-uniform day (just because it's more practical for doing lunchtime sports clubs) and are completely invisible are the most unique. But why?

Because they don't care. They are in no way mixed up with school/friendship politics, they are always happy and most of all comfortable in their own skin. They don't care about what other people think of them, and because of this people don't bother thinking - or saying - anything about them. They'll wear what they like and say what they like. They're not rude or pushy, simply children like children should be.

That's what I want, and I wish I could have. Envy, not jelously I'd call this - because I'm envious of their simple life but I'm not jealous because I know it wouldn't suit me. I'm grateful for the friends I have, because they're amazing people, but I'm not grateful for the way everything seems to be high school politics in my social circle.

JH isn't part of my 'social group' but she knows alot about it, so whenever I hang out with her, it's a relief. I can get away from the politics, or let out all my 'political worries' to her and she will just agree and understand.

I didn't know where this was going when I started writing it, I don't know where it's gone, and it probably sounds like a big fat mess. But I'm glad I wrote it, now it's off my chest.

- FQ x

Rediscovering...

This isn't going to be a long, meaningful post. Just a short note, really.

I'm rediscovering the beauty of jeans, in particular - skinny jeans.

I'll be honest, I've been neglecting the skinnies for a while. Before secondary school I rarely glanced at skirts and dresses and my favourite outfit was a long top with leggings or skinnies, but now all I ever seem to wear are skirts, sometimes dresses and occasionally shorts. Jeans never seem to come into the equation.

My black skinnies are a bit short now and a lot tighter, but that's okay. The tightness is was makes them skinnies jeans anyway, and although they are short just one roll at the bottom will make them cropped trousers which are extremely fashionable this summer.

I'm so glad I'm embracing skinnies once more. I thought they'd become overrated in everyone elses mind, which meant that I underrated them in mine.

But I get it now. I felt that skinnies didn't make a statement in the same way skirts and dresses did. I now know that it's not the clothes, it's the way you wear them.

So next time I go out with my friends, I'll be leaving my treasured dresses at home and rocking skinnies once more! :)

- FQ x

Fashion, Style and Trends

Fashion and trends are two completely different things. fashion is following designers, getting looks straight off the caywalk and being on first name terms with the likes of henry holland,  vivien westwood and even having communicated beyond the grave to coco chanel. fashion is being perfect and being beautiful wearing the most insane colloections by top designers that no one else has the confidence or money to wear. fashion is being the 'it' person that everyone pretends to hate but is actually insanely jealous.

But trends, trends are not what designers make up, in fact they often evolve from the general public. being trendy is being popular, and looking cool in what you wear. However its not exciting and not different. A trend is something that everyone has and everyone wears, trendy is turning up on own clothes day in the same sort of thing as everyone else. Some recent trends that have been going around are things like a boyfriend cardigan.. they have never been seen on a catwalk, they have just appeared. Probably made by someone trying to make comfortable clothes popular. An example brand is Pauls Boutique - dont get me wrong, i adore Pauls Boutique and a PB bag used to be my must get thing, but then disaster happened. At first i noticed one or two around school which made me upset, it wasnt the same if others had them, but i was still determined to have one. Soon i was seeing them everywhere. Even girls as young as seven were following the trend and carting round a beautiful pauls boutique bag. I gave up, i didnt want one anymore, everyone had one and it wouldnt be new or exciting anymore. this is what a trend is, there were never any pb bags on the runways, it was a small boutique that the general public obsessed over and now half the country has one.

however style ...
style is something slightly different, it doesnt follow runways and it definately doesnt follow trends. Style is having your own personal quirk to how you look, looking amazing in what you wear because your style suits you perfectly. Style is being completely different but still looking incredible no matter what, even going as far as making your own clothes, just the way you want them. Its persnal and reflects who you are.

So which one is better? well one thing for sure is that trends are my worst nightmare. Looking the same as everyone else and not showing any personality you might as well be a robot. But there is still the question of whether fashion or style is better, the truth is they can be incorporated in one, which is the best way to look. This way you can take the fashion look and add a personal twist.

jh xoxox

What a day.

Wow, So this friday was one heck of a day!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. It's my school holidays (finally, exams were exhausting) and I've been either busy or just chilling out.

Thursday night was great, as well. JH came back to my house after school (and our last day of exams!) and we held a mini fashion show in my room. Well, not show. More like throwing everything out of my cupboard and throwing it on. Let's just say, my mum was not impressed to walk into my room and...well, not be able to walk because the floor was covered in clothes.

JH and I had our outfits planned out PERFECTLY. Each one on hangers and because we were sharing some clothes and accesories (a necklace and a lace leotard) but when it came to the actual day we didn't always stick to the outfits we had decided on - but it went fine.

The actual photo-taking was so much fun! Yes, we've gathered over 200 pictures (haha, I know!) on two seperate cameras (so, some of them are the same thing - just taken on different cameras) at loads of different locations.

As promised, here are some of my favourite ones (and I'll tell you a little bit about where we took them :D)

JH (left) and me (right) in Starbucks!

Me in Starbucks
(eee, my legs in this picture! :|
oh well, it's the only one you can see my full outfit)

So, as you can see, my first outfit was a high waisted floral skirt, striped blue and white shirt white knee high grey socks. Oh, and a black hat that you will see popping up in some of the later pictures! Shoes were ankle boots with a tiny heel, which you'll see later too.

Sadly, I didn't get a close up of the necklace I was wearing (well, it was JH's, but still) and it was gorgeous! Unfortunately, my coffee frappicino blocks it from view in most of the starbucks pictures.

I also was wearing (but it got too hot) a slightly big denim jacket that is, suprisingly, my little brothers. But he never wears it (idiot :P).

Here's some pictures of my other friends in starbucks :)

Greta:

Layla and Ella:

As we finished our drinks me and JH seized the oppotunity to change outfits (we were the only ones who had brought alternative clothes).

We rushed off to the toilets, and realised there was only one disabled toilet (it was pretty big though - so we shared) and it was unisex. It stank, for one.

JH swapped around the order she had planned for her outfits at this point, and I decided to mix mine up a bit. JH didn't change again the whole day, and I changed once nearing the end of the day (when she had left) but only from wearing shorts to a skirt.

After the relatively quick change (even though we were getting yelled at from outside the toilets) we left starbucks to look for more photo ops.

Our first stop was on a kind of...balcony? I don't know, it's hard to explain! Anyway, I'm only going to post full length pictures because there were quite a few of our faces!

(JH looking stunning, as usual!)

(greta! her bag is fitt!)

(Layla! Check out this outfit! Mmm, I could eat it up!

Wish I had a better shot of those shoes, they were epic - looked so chic with the outfit!)

(Ella! Red hair, ripped tights, cool kid trainers, topshop shorts - you can't really go wrong!)

Then we went to pose outside a church. Yes, slightly inappropriate - but the pics are pretty cool :D

(Me! Nice door, isn't it? So it's :

Retro sunglasses,

top cut by myself the night before with the aid of JH,

high waisted vintage Levi shorts,

diamond pattern tights,

brown leather ankles boots you kinda get a glimpse of,

black satchel and brown coat things.

Cute necklace you have to squint to see

Oh, coffee frappe.

And a primark bag (not even mine!))

So that's all of our outfits (except for my slight change) but I want to show you the car pictures on the graffitied road.

(Group photo, none of us look too attractive - but just look at the setting! Woah!)

(Me and JH, massive so you can see our outfits! This place is so cute! Amazing vintage shop, art gallery and studio, spray paint shop, vegan cafes, skateboarding, big fountain - it's got it all!)

(i'm on the far left, and this was my attempt of showing Layla and Ella two rather frumpy, cute items that they wouldn't pair together could look good. Not sure if I succeeded though!)

Last but not least, my final outfit that I wore in town, because I could show you so many other pictures but this is about the FASHION! :D

(my shoes! I have bambi legs when I wear them :') my bag broke, in the middle of a busy road, all my clothes fell out. I didn't know what to do, and Ella just took pictures! Everyone gave us weird looks, some laughed. It was pretty embarrasing!)

You thought this was my last outfit? Think again!

Afterwards, Ella and Layla came back to my house and we went out to the park. Here's what I wore :

(skirt I got from vintage shop that day, t-shirt from my sister from america, grey hat from god knows where!)

(My brothers denim jacket I was talking about earlier! The shoes are actually amazing; but they're my mums and she just WON'T let me wear them! And a yummy can of coke, it beats pepsi any day!)

So, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and my little recount of the day!

Sorry for not posting, been busy in the holidays, just getting back into the routine of school so I've found some time now to do this. Also, it takes forever to post pictures on here - it's a bit of a pain!

But, I've got ideas for things to write and have started to draft quite a few posts - so expect new ones soon!

Bye!

- FQ x