Amy Winehouse Wedding Dress Theft

I haven't posted in such a long time, just wanted to share with you guys a piece I wrote on the recent news of a theft in Amy Winehouse's old apartment. (For her fan page and all info on her, just click her name!)

NOTE: (The quotes from Mitch are taken from The Sun.) 

Winehouse Family Left “baffled” over Wedding Dress Theft

Amy Winehouse playfully hugs her Father Mitch

As if the shocking death of his daughter wasn't enough, thieves have added to Mitch Winehouse's pain by breaking into Amy's home and stealing two of her most iconic dresses.

     WEDDING MEMORIES DESTROYED

A newsprint dress which she wore on Jools Holland's BBC show was due to be auctioned alongside her wedding dress for a whopping £130,000 in order to raise money for the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Both outfits were stolen from her apartment on October 31.

 "It's sickening that someone would steal something in the knowledge of its sentimental value," said Mitch, 60. "It is another blow for us."

     

"ALL OF HER POSSESSIONS HAVE BEEN TAGGED" 

The family are in shock and wonder as to why some of the more expensive dresses, including a couple from Dolce & Gabbana, weren't stolen, which has raised some suspicion that the items were stolen to order.

Mitch said: "The house in Camden is being sold so all of her possessions have been tagged, numbered and logged in preparation for storage.

"There was a window of about two days while that process was underway when the dresses could have been taken."

In the past year, the Amy Winehouse Foundation has raised well over £1 million for children's hospices, and to help fund drug counsellors helping addicts. 

First Seminar Assignment: Me, Myself & I...

This piece of writing was initially meant for my first seminar assignment to describe myself(and is aimed at my class), but I will be posting a lot of my work on here. You guys can not only get to know me better but this means I can get my writing out to the general public!

I can confidently say that writing makes up a major part of my life. My mum told me that after my first day of school I told her that the school was ‘rubbish, because they haven’t taught me how to read yet’. I read whenever I can nowadays, and when I get the chance I will update my fashion blog. My ten or so followers don’t seem to mind that the posts are occasionally weeks apart!

    
For this task I racked my brains trying to think of something interesting about myself to write about, but it was difficult. I think I’m probably similar to every other girl in this room! We shop, we laugh, we eat, we sit in bed watching desperate housewives for 3 hours eating crisps! I think what makes us interesting is what we find interesting ourselves, and for me that’s writing. What we like to do in our down-time and our hobbies is really what defines us as people, whether that’s watching films, going shopping or playing rugby! 

Whenever I have an interesting or meaningful experience I will write about it, sometimes on my blog, sometimes personally in my diary. People seem to think that keeping a diary is something for lonely people to confide in, but in reality it’s not just a shoulder to cry on, it’s a document of your early life!

    
Looking back at my writing from when I was younger definitely makes me cringe and wonder ‘why did I write that?!’ but as time goes on it’s a lovely indicator of where you were at and a reminder of your experiences that you had probably forgotten about!

I think the most interesting thing about me at the moment is my passion for this course and my dedication to my career. We are all in the same boat on this course and we all want similar things for our futures, which is why I chose to focus on writing for this task. Hopefully and most likely it will appeal to you as much as it does to me.

Beth x

Interview with Jessica David: Former Beauty Editor at Glamour

Interview: I get chatting to Glamour’s former Celebrity & Entertainment Editor, Jessica David…

Full time mum and winner of the Best Online Journalist award (2010) Jessica David is the former Celebrity and Entertainment Editor of Glamour.com. After giving an inspirational talk at Southampton Solent University, here’s what she had to say in a more in-depth conversation…

Did you always want to work on a women's magazine?

Initially I wanted to be a novelist! This is something I still want to do but haven't got 'round to yet, but I've always been heavily into women's magazines and especially celebrity, fashion and beauty, so this area of journalism seemed like a logical step for me.

What kind of experience do you think would be invaluable for someone looking to get into this industry?

I'd say bag as many work placements in London as physically possible! I spent a year doing placements and internships before I got my big break, so I know it certainly helped me have an edge over other applicants.

Was your life as Beauty Editor of one of the most successful women's magazines as glamorous as people presume?

It was and it wasn't! There were times when I'd worked a 20 hour day because of a relaunch or some impossible deadline, and times when I couldn't afford to update my wardrobe because all of my money had gone on travel expenses! But then, I wouldn't change any of it.

What do you love most about your job?

As a freelance writer now, I love that I can pick and choose my hours and my features. I decide what I want to write and when, so if I want to have a week where I just spend time with my daughter and go to Peppa Pig World EVERY DAT (which has been known!) then I can.

The Day I Met The Editor of Women's Health!

A lot has changed since the last time I posted, for example I moved to uni! I'm currently studying Magazine Journalism and Southampton Solent, and it really has its perks.
This is just a short post about the Editor of Women's Health magazine, Farrah Storr. She came in to talk to our class about her journey and the industry, whilst giving some invaluable advice. Once I've sorted out my notes I'll write a proper piece on her advice for all those wanting to get into magazine journalism, but for now here's a few bullet points to sum it up...

• Get work experience at as many places as possible.
• Build up a portfolio of small pieces of writing- anything you can.
• Make your email specific to the magazine you are writing to- don't make it generic.
• If you get a place, try to stay on. Hang around.
• Dress for the job you want. You are much more likely to get noticed.
• Get in early and stay late.
• Use social networking whist looking for a place and whilst at your place.
• Read up on the editor. Follow them on twitter!
• Try not to specialise too early- you may find it difficult to branch out later on.
• Have a favourite writer.
• Have an opinion.

Me with Farrah Storr.

Bestival 2012

I thought I'd share with you all the preparation that went into one of the best weekends of my life! The fancy dress theme for Bestival this year was 'Wildlife', so I chose to be a leopard and a flamingo. Separately, of course.

Numero uno: Glitter leopard. We had a few days to prepare costume wise, so we decided to make our own! The leotard used is really just a body/bodysuit (whichever you prefer) from Primark which cost £6. I drew on the leopard spots with felt tip and spread the gold glitter with Anita's Tacky Glue and a Q tip. Took me a few hours but it was so worth it!

This is the make-up look I went with to match the costume. Apologies about the untamed eyebrows,  I had yet to sort myself out pre-festival! The background gold was a Barry M pencil which I definitely lost therefore can tell you no more information about! The darker gold was an extremely cheap eye pencil, I don't even think it had a brand! And the black is just liquid eyeliner.

My flamingo costume! This one was the killer... took me a few days! The top was another body from Primark, and the feathers are Marabou feathers from Amazon at £3.99 for 120. (I needed 3 bags/360 feathers).  My tutu is from FairyLove, but they are quite expensive and you can't really see it so feel free to just make your own! I then ripped up strips of pink tissue paper and glued them on and scrunched them up. That definitely took a while...

Definitely not looking my best here with scraped back hair and tired eyes but here is my flamingo face paint! I think in the end I just went with the mask in the previous picture, but this was a nice experiment. I just used liquid eyeliner for the black bits, although face paint would've been a lot easier! The white is eye pencil, the light pink is just eyeshadow from Claire's applied with a really good brush, and the dark pink is Mac pigment so I didn't need a lot. All of the make-up used were presents so I have no idea of the price but I'm sure the internet will hold the answers!

If you went to Bestival this year I hope you had just as an amazing time as I did, and if you didn't, I advise you to go next year!
Beth x