Harvey or Me?

This week i went shopping in Leeds with my other sister. We decided to go into a well known high street shop, sometimes there is a door man but there wasnt this time, the shop was Harvey Nichols.
I have always been aware that there is a noticeable difference in designer prices and prices in other shops. Style guru's like Gok Wan are always talks about 'Designer vs High street', and i never really noticed the difference until now.

When we looked around the shop there were some fantastic clothes that i have never seen anywhere else, probably becasue of the exclusitivity that that designer has with Harvey Nicholes. However i did spot somthing that looked familiour. A white top. There it was on the manican. Me and my sister were shocked to see that this white top was very similor to one that we sell in Sasparilla. Its called the 3.1 Philip Lim Burn-out jersey T-shirt. And here it is.

Ok i admit it does look great and the fabric feels fantastic and it is made beautifully. How ever what will you think when you know you would have to pay for this t-shirt; £125. Which when you think about it it is just a t-shirt. Sure if you had a bit of money floating around or you wanted something for a special occasion you might be able to spent that ammount on a t-shirt. But i don't and i couldnt believe how much it would cost me to buy a t-shirt.

Here is our version of the t-shirt. Its cotton, its well made and fits like a dream. You probably would see this in the shop and think 'thats a nice t-shirt' and then look at the price £12.99. Which really is a bargain. Im not saying that one t-shirt is better than the other and its clear to me now, that the inspiration for high street fashion does come from the designers. I suppose thats why Gok Wan is so keen to do his 'Designers vs High Steet' fashion off on his programme, to show that auidence that sometimes the designers are better and sometimes the high street is better.

I wonder how much we are lead by price though?? I know i sure am, and i know which t-shirt i would buy.

But im not the first person to compare the Designers to the High Street. And that was not the only design i saw in Harvey Nichols which we had a "High Street Version" in Sasparill, and im sure there are many other high street shops that have designer 'remakes'.
I wonder how the designers feel about their designs being the inspiration for the high street, do they like it and feel that they have a huge impact on what we wear or would they rather their designs stay exclusive. Who would you rather have a top from Harvey or Me???

My Sister

This is my sister

She is Sasparilla. She (and my mum) set up Sasparilla last July. The shop has had it's ups and its downs, do you remember when this hit the news in January.

"SEVERE weather conditions have led to warnings from police for people not to venture out unless absolutely necessary" - Harrogate Advertiser

I remember it. The snow was so bad and with the bad weather brought bad news to Sasparilla and many other shops around the country. With the retail industry struggling throughout December and January, we felt like we had hit one of the hardest times that an independent shop could feel, and we were only in our first year. Why would people venture to a tourist/market down in the bad weather when they could go to their local city either by walking or by train. I cant speak for the other shops in Knaresborough and other small market towns but it was clear that we were all in the same boat. With the same road ahead and tough decisions to be made. 

But now its May and the weather is gone, it is finally sunny outside, and we had a great day to brighten our hopes for the shop and for Knaresborough. The local magazine called plush sent a loverly photographer to photography, Kay, The Sasparilla Girl. Kay will be a feature in their next issue. Plush had offered to do the feature, which is fantastic.

Kay decided to wear a Forever Unique dress with skulls on it. I must say it defiantly says Kay. The maxi looked fantastic and flowed nicely with Kay's figure. You may not think this is the dress for you, but its excentic print was loads of fun to wear and also a bit quirky, like Kay.

As you can see i was helping make sure the photo looked just right :) On a side note, i have mentioned in past blogs about what i "normally wear" well there you can see it now, jeans, a shirt or sometimes i like the checkered kind.

Its these kind of days that make Sasparilla feel like it was glad to survive the bad weather and it made me realize that when there are bad days there are some that are just so much better and loads of fun. These days are the ones that we want to remember. We are an indepent shop, we do feel the storm when it hits hard, but thats what makes us feel great about Sasparilla, wearing its clothes and being a Sasparilla Girl. Even though we are still a young shop, we have survived the hardest winter in 20 years, thats a phrase i feel proud to say. And this day really reflected that feeling.

We are just Sasparilla Girls wanting to bring a different flare to a small market town, and bring a bit of fun along the way.

I wonder what Kay saw in that photo that day?? did she see just her self in a nice dress?? or did she see her achievements; creating her own shop with a fantastic variety of clothing for all women, surviving the bad weather, becoming a feature in a magazine, letting her sister write this blog about her and Sasparilla or did she see the beginnings of the next step for Sasparilla... what that might be who knows

On the Street

It seams to me that block colours are in this summer so i decided to try on a lilac Closet Dress, newly in to see how it fitted for size and what the colour would look like on. I would say if you were to sum up my normal dress sense in colour, i mainly wear Jean Blue, Black and Red. Lilac is not a colour that i would have thought would have suited me but i was pleasntly surprised. I felt very summery.

Whilst i was outside in the streets of Knaresborough i bumped into two ladies, Estel (with the black hair) and Hannah (with the blond hair). Firstly i told them what Sasparilla girl was all about, and Elstel loved it she thought that women somtimes need a bit of guidence when it comes to trying on new clothes, stlyes and especially dresses. She felt that the block colours were a bold statement and she would never had imagned trying on a block colour dress if she hadnt seen me wondering the streets trying it on.

When i spoke to Hannah i was pleasantly surprised that she had studied fashion buying at Manchester Met University so i was keen to hear her opinions on the dress and what advice she would give women when they are shopping. She said "Have the courage to try things on, even if you wouldnt expect it to suit you" she also made it clear that "You are never to old to try different styles on". She would love to be a personal shopper and cant wait to help people herself.

When i was on the streets i did feel self conscious and worried as i had not worn a dress like this before, i felt like my knees were on display or the colour just wasnt "me". However when people passed me and i spoke to Hannah and Estel i felt that i was just being paranoid and all of those initial feelings i got were just immediate reactions, as if they were programmed into me regardless of what dress i was wearing. Just like Hannah and Estel helped me with my confidence i hope that i can help you too and make you realise that those "progammed reactions"are not always right.


If you would Hannah to be your personally shopper, please email her at hana_morris12@yahoo.co.uk

Lilic Closet Dress £65
Traffic People Pumps £35
Shell Necklace £21.50
LuLu Australia Bag £65

www.sasparillaboutique.co.uk

In the changing room with Rebekah Murphy and Rusty Vintage

Its Tuesday morning, its a new week and we have new designers in the shop. And whats even better is that they are local from Leeds and York.

Rebekah Murphy is a Leeds clothing designer who started out with a market stall in the corn exchange. her clothes are on the edge, you either love them or you can at least appreciate them, becasue they are so beautifully made and so unique. At first look i thought that they would be better fitted for slimmer girls. I thought if i was going to try on something new why not go for it. So i tried on a strapless ruched dress, with a brown and white pin-striped pattern.

Putting on this dress on my own it was difficult to zip it up, but when i did manage to contort my arms in the right way it fitted!!! it was a size 3, which is a 12, and that made me smile. I did try it on with out a bra, which is, if you know me a rare thing! This dress wasn't made to be worn with a bra, maybe a strapless one, and if i had one i would have tried the dress on with it. This dress would not have worked if it wasn't strapless, as soon as i put it on there was a feeling of glamor and confidence.

With the dress on i also decided to try on one of Rusty Vintages necklaces. Rusty Vintage is a a range of recycled vintage jewelry beautifully handcrafted and made into necklaces, by a Yorkhsire designer called Vicky. They all have a long chain which is great becasue they dont hang in that annoying 'cleavage area' getting stuck between the boobs. Instead they are long and floating.

I feel that these two designers matched each others style well and they made me feel comfortable in my skin. I felt like i had the edginess of bricklane London and the comfort of Yorkshire pride on a sunny Tuesday morning. I think if Rebekah Murphy and Rusty Vintage were in Sasparilla this morning i think they would be pleasently surprised how well their designes suited each other  so well.

www.sasparillaboutique.co.uk

Bettie Page Experience

Last week i was involved in a photo-shoot, but this one was not just any ordinary photo-shoot. I am part of a roller derby team called Hot Wheel Roller Derby and as part of that team we all need photos for our alter egos, mine is Imelda Mayhem after the singer Imelda May.


I never really wear dresses and when i do it takes me ages to choose the right one. My main problem, if you want to call it that, is that i have a larger than normal bust and a very tiny waste. Which often makes it hard to choose what tops to wear and shopping is a nightmare. At Sasparilla my sister loves vintage clothing, Betty Page and Vivien of Holloway, as does my idol Imelda May.

So when it came to choose an outfit for the photoshoot i wanted to be as much like my idol as possible, but with a little flare of Imelda Mayhem. The only was to do Imelda May justice was to wear a Betty Page dress. I chose a Red Swing dress; tight around the waist and top of the dress patterned and in that old sailors uniform style. It meant that there was plenty of room up top. It fitted like a dream, it really made all of my good features stand out and it was good at hiding those "muffin tops" everyone likes to talk about these days.

To make the day even better we had a great photographer, Sophie Turner, www.boxhand.co.uk . It was clear that we had all not experienced such a photo-shoot before. All the girls were helping each other to get their make up on and to get their outfits sorted. Sophie helped all the girls decide what to wear making sure that their outfits looked good on them and most importantly that they suite their alter ego. So when we were in front of the camera we all felt fantastic and comfortable. I have to say that all the photos look fantastic, everyones personality shines and the photos are so vibrant. You can look at all the photos from the day here

If i learned anything from the photo-shoot is wearing the Betty Page dress is that it really pays to get somthing that fits your body shape just right and having that courage to maybe try somthing a little different. With out this experience i may not have had the confidence to try a different flare, but don't wait like i did, just go for it. And if you havent found that dress that doesnt fit you quite right dont worrie it will be there somewhere, maybe in Sasparilla or hiding behind that alter ego dieing to jump out.

All Photos Copy write Sophie Turner (www.Boxhand.co.uk)

The Corn Exchange Leeds

Well as this is my first blog of many i thought that i should talk about the Corn Exchange Leeds. We have decided to open shop here, yes when we tell people there first reaction is 'I thought the Corn Exchange had shut down?' well it hasnt and Sasparilla is here now.

We love the new unit that we have and its a great space, we have furnished it with great floor and wall vinals and of course our unique changing rooms are there too. If you havent been to one of our shops yet you will definatly like the unique changing rooms we have, most people think they look like a circus tent, and when kids come in the shop they love playing in them!

We are hoping that the Corn Exchange will do well and we area defiantly bring life back into this fantastic building. On our first day of opening we had some fashion bloggers come into the shop www.styleslicker.com and www.wayworddaughter.com. After they came into the shop they seamed enthuesastic about blogging about Sasparilla. When i checked out there website i was disappointing to see that they hadnt written anything about Sasparilla, instead they decided to feature Rose and Co. Im dissapointed because i really hoped that they would support and independent shop, but they chose the more corperate route. Also Sasparilla Knaresborough sold Vivien of Holloway and Betty Page dresses from the beginning, something which Rose and Co now do. I would have liked them to feature the Corn Exchange as a whole and what it has to offer because i believe that it is a fantastic building which has some fantastic shops and it will only get better. The Corn Exchange cannot be forgotten.