The big apple

So I am sat in a hotel room. At 6am. Not being able to sleep because i'm in NEW YORK CITY! 

What?! it still doesn't feel real. Even when walking through times square last night it didn't feel real.

Today we are spending the day going to the Rockefeller centre, central park and of course shopping and eating plenty of food! Last night we were all exhausted from the long trip so decided to take a little trip to times square and eat food at plant Hollywood. Also taking a little detour to Sephora on the way back where some small purchases were made.

New York is the dream of all cities. A city that never sleeps and is constantly breathtaking. New York is always a dream and thanks to my university course, I am able to visit once more. It is offered to every first year student, we have to pay, to go and explore the amazing city as part of our first individual project.

There is so many things I want to do while am here so I thought I'd share my top 10 list of things I want to do while I'm here:

1. Rockefeller center. 

2.Guggenheim Art museum.

3.Central park.

4.Eat cheesecake from grand central station (Because its the best)

5.Buy a cupcake from a ATM.

6.Watch a broad way show

7.Visit the 9/11 memorial.

8.Go and see the madness of china town.

9.Go up the Empire State building at night

10. And of course shop until I drop or my suitcase breaks.

If I can achieve all of that this in one week, I'll be a very happy lady. 

Am sure there will be many posts up over the next few weeks of my trip and this beautiful city but if you want to check out my trip while am in the big apple head over to my Instagram (Leahblenkinship).

Until next time, 

Plain Jayne x

Somewhere you wouldn't expect to look

After christmas hits, so do all the sales. I'm never that impressed with the sales now a days. It seems to be totally different stock which hasn't been in the current season. I did pick up a few things in the Topshop sale, of course, but one of my best finds this year was this pair of boots. 

Me and my mum went shopping a few days after christmas day. Normally am not interested in going christmas sale shopping as it is always madness, I normally go on christmas eve when its a little quieter, but I decided to go and see if there was anything interesting.

These boots were such a good find. They have a 70s twist to them and of course the colour is amazing.I love the gorgeous berry colour as they are a little different but will go with a lot of things in my, very monochrome, wardrobe. 

They are from a place I would never shop before or think to shop, Marks and Spencer's. Apart from for food or to walk through, I never go into marks and spencer. On this day I was just walking through to get out of the cold and these caught the corner of my eye. I just had to have them as they were on sale for only eighteen pounds. Eighteen pounds for a pair of shoes, you can't really go wrong!

Marks and Spencers have been stepping up there game a lot more recently to bring in new customers and to steer away from there typical target market of the 'older' generation. I have to say I think they are on to something at the moment and I shall be walking through to actually have a look around, not just to stay warm. 

Have you had any good sale buys?

Plain Jayne x

2015 Memories

It feels like only five minutes ago that we were celebrating the new year of 2015 and now we seem to be in 2016 and I can't really understand where this past year has gone. So much has changed in this past year and I have had so many amazing memories with the people I love most in this world. so here are some of my memories of 2015.

1. Getting into university

Getting into University was one of my biggest things that happened to me this year. I decided I know longer wanted to do health and social care anymore. Fashion was my true passion and I wanted a career in this industry. I never thought it would have been possible but I got into the three universities I applied for,  Nottingham Trent being my first choice and the one I am now gladly at. 

2. Completing my diploma in health and social care

Some people many say that going to college is a easier option then going to sixform. My two years at college provided this to be very very wrong. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done and completing my diploma after two years, walking away with distinction* distinction* distinction* was amazing! College was a hard time for me and the work was very difficult but I would redo it all over over again if I could. I will never forget it or regret it for that matter. I meet one of my best friends there who I couldn't be without now. 

3.Blogging

Blogging is something that I love and always will love but sometimes its hard to get the time or the motivation  to do it. Now I am at uni I am expected to have my blog as part of my work to help express myself and my work. I love having my own little tiny part of the internet even if no one reads it and i'm just talking rubbish. I can't wait to keep writing this year.

4. Being independent

I've always been a very independent person but moving so far away from home and from my little country life has taught me to be even more. Taking control of my money and spending. Cooking my own meals (which I did anyways) but having to figure out what i'm going to eat and if I can afford that food. just having to rely on myself. Taking care of myself when i'm ill. Washing my own clothes. Its all part of being independent and living away from home and I have to say, I have loved every minute of it! There nothing better then acting and doing things for yourself. 

5. Making new friends. 

This year I have made some of my best friends which I couldn't live without. People at university and at home. I've always had a close small group of friends and this year I have grown and meet some amazing people. 

I have to admit university isn't as sociable as I thought it would be but I have a amazing flat and some amazing girls on my course which have made a amazing first term at NTU. I can't wait to keep meeting new people and friends in my first year. 

6.Being more confident

I have definitely became more myself and more confident this year. I feel like I have really found myself this year. There is so many things I have done which I didn't think I could ever do like go on a  date with a stranger or do a big presentation on my own, even just going to university. I never thought I'd actually make it but now I don't want to be anywhere else.

7. Learning when I need 'me' time

I am someone who needs my own time. Away from everyone else to be able to think and sort my head out. This year I went on my first holiday alone, well sort of. Without my mum or my friends and it was one of the best things I have done this year. I gave me head space. Time to think and get over some of the heartbreaks in the first half of the year to then let go and move on.

I have to say, to some people it may sound like nothing but to me, 2015 has been one of the best years of my life so far. One of the hardest but one of the best. I have became myself and learnt a hell of a lot. Without everything that happened this year I wouldn't be the person I am today so I am thankful for that. I've spend the year with some of the most amazing people who I love very much and am so thankful to have in my life. I can't wait to see what 2016 has to offer! 

Lots of love

Plain Jayne x

Its been a while

Hello everyone. If there was a award for the worst updated blog, I would be at the top of the leader board for receiving the prize. When I step out of my university bubble and into my little country life I seem to loose all motivation.

Time to forgive and forget though. I can't believe Christmas have been and gone. So much has changed since last year. Some things I expected and others, not so much. Christmas and new year is the time for celebrations but also time to look over the past year remembering the good and the bad times, to then to looking forwards to another, probably very interesting, New Year and what that has to offer.

This Christmas I was a very lucking lady (Like every other year) and received a great camera (Canon EOS 1200D) from my lovely mum. I have so many exiting things coming up in 2016, first of all going to New York City which I am beyond exited for, so expect some great photos and probably to many of them. It might be trial and error with it to start with but i'm exited to document my travels and findings. It shall be glued to my hip at all times. Hopefully you will start to notice the quality of my pictures, in my posts, to be a lot better quality. 

Unfortunately there are some people across the country who haven't had the Christmas they were wishing for due to dramatically flooding. My home time, Carlisle, where I grow up was dramatically effected and one of the first places that was hit by the floods but now it has effected many other big cities like Manchester and Leeds. My thoughts go out to the people that are effected as it is such a terrible thing, especially around this time of year.

Expect many more blog posts to be coming as I am much more organised, she says, now and I have a amazing project coming up with university which I shall be featuring very soon on my blog and also many many blog posts of my travels in New York.

Hope you are all well,

Plain Jayne x

Fast Fashion

The world of fashion is seen by most people as a glamorous industry. Empowered by women and men dressing the world. Behind the scene of the industry it is a very different story. One that is very upsetting and anything but glamorous for the people working within it. 

Every week, we are present with a fashion film, something which gives us a closer look at the industry as fashion communicator and promotion students. A couple of weeks ago we were presentation with the documentary 'The True cost'. I personally had never heard of it before and didn't know what it entailed but as soon as it began it became very clear and I have to say, it wasn't something I would choose to watch again. 

The documentary may not have been very appealing to watch but it was the reality of what some people are going through in the world who work within the fashion industry. It presents the industry from a different angle to how we know it and talks about what we wear, the people who make the clothing and the impact it has on them and the world. 

It may not to be everyones knowledge but the price of clothing has been decreasing dramatically but man and environment costs have been growing. How does that work, right? The documentary shows the truth and horror of what people are living and working in to make our clothes giving us the fast fashion chain.

The film covers the lives which have been lost because of the working conditions. It featured the 2013 Bangladesh disaster of the ran plaza factory collapsing which lead to 1,000 and more workers being killed. Before the horrific disaster the workers of the factory had complained about the conditions they were working in to management, as they could all witness the cracks in the walls. Yet nothing was done about it. 

Not just does the documentary talk about the lives that have been lost from people that work within the industry but also how it has and is effecting peoples lives that are still working within the industry. Some workers have had to send their children away as it could cause them harm. Some work within polluted areas which are full of pesticides and chemicals which has caused a increase in cancer and birth defects like damage to workers skin. 

This documentary has changed the way in which I look at the industry. As the next generation of people stepping into the industry as fashion communicators and promotors. It will be our responsibility to help change this awful thing that is happening to people, to make this chain of production we have created.

Even with the knowledge of the 2013 Bangladesh disaster, most people still aren't aware of the problems and if they are, they choose to ignore them. Which needs to stop. 

Think about the clothes you are wearing now. Where do you think they came from? 

Plain Jayne x

Is fashion having a effect on our health?

When the fashion industry is brought into conversation there is always a discussion about body image and the affect fashion has upon us.

As Australia's, former editor, Kristie Clements says 'it cannot be denied that visually clothes fall better on a slimmer frame - but there is slim and there is scary skinny..' 

Is the fashion industry making us sick and having a dramatic effect on our health? This is the big question. studies have shown that;

 90% of British women feel body image anxiety. 

Eating disorders have doubled over the past 15 years.

50% of girls smoke to suppress their appetite. 

rates of depression in women has doubled between 2000 and 2010.

The fashion industry has been absorbed by thinner models. The 'paris thin' look consumed the nineties super models which lead to designers producing smaller and smaller sample sizers leading to the catwalk only seeing 'size zero' models and clothes. 

There is now starting to become a new move. A new move for more 'plus size' models appearing for marketing and within campaigns. There is now a gap in the market for plus size models as there is a grow and demand for them.

There are many high profile 'plus models' now for example Robyn Lawley, Candice Huffine and Katya Zharkova. Katya Zharkova is the first plus model to appear in cosmopolitan Russia and has worked with labels like forever 21 and silver Jeans.

Although this move for plus models is happening now, it was only a few years ago that it wasn't having such a big affect. In 2012 vogue published a front cover featuring Adele when, until now, she was at the hight of her fame. Vogue editor, Alexander Shulman, later revealed it was one of the worst selling issues of all times and that the popularity of adele did not translate into the fashion industry. 

Now is this new move happening for plus size models? 

Models aren't as skinny now as they were in the nineties and models like Katya Zharkova are displaying there figures with pride, with a healthy lifestyle but without the pressure to obey society's beauty standards and I personal think she looks amazing.

For a person that has personally struggled with weight and body issues, I understand the pressure we under living under the fashion industry and all I can is what are we going to do to change it. 

Do you think the industry is changing or is it changing us?

Plain Jayne x

Outfit: Key Trends

Outfit: Coat-Zara; Skirt-Toshop; Top; Zara; Knee high boots-Daisy street via ASOS 

Outfit posts were something I used to feature a lot when I first started blogging, I seem to have come away from that. What I love to blog about the most is my outfits. Outfits are something that I enjoy writing and reading about the most, so I thought it was time to feature another on my blog.

This little outfit is very winter ready and appropriate. Knee high boots are definitely a key trend for Autumn/Winter 2015. I feel like knee high boots have a bad reputation surrounding them and some people associate them with bad sexual natures. I personally think they are great if styled in the right way and people should have more of a open mind about them. 

Military style is also a key trend for Autumn/Winter, especially this season. This jacket from Zara is perfect. The jacket is slightly different featuring the navy colour, instead of a typical khaki green, but still being very military inspired with the tailored look and buttoned paneling. 

I decided to wear it open to keep it more causal. I wanted my main feature of the outfit to be on the boots and the jacket so I kept it casual with a tennis inspired skirt and a standard striped top with a turtle neck, which is also a big key style this season. 

Hope you enjoyed this old style post,

Plain Jayne x