Rebecca Holland-Johnstone

The elves at Cotton Candy Corsage HQ have been busy these last months, while the rain has been battering the mean streets of Glasgow!

There are lots of new shapes and vintage, ‘upcycled‘ creations to get you in the autumn mood, and keep up with the mutation of the floral corsage as it makes the transition to the new season.

Look out for funky, wear-with-everything ‘button belles’ mounted on glitzy cards and mixing tartans. tweeds, beads, buttons and prints.

The more elaborate belles can take centre-stage on a new a/w Mac or trench, or simply to pin your printed silk-scarf in place, a la Gok’s Fashion Fix! Enjoy and look out for the designs hitting the website mid-September 2008…

Arguably the most important component of the wedding day, the wedding dress is causing a bit of a problem at the moment.

I have a dress, but I’ve changed my mind. I want a different dress. But really there is nothing whatsoever wrong with the existing dress. Am I being foolish here? Needlessly chasing a second dress, when I have a sumptuous gown fit for a princess not more than a metre away in my very own wardrobe? I don’t think so, as I’ve now decided its the wrong colour. It’s perfect. But the wrong colour. And that’s important.

It’s an absolutely stunning, brand new (with tags) bridal gown from couture designer Ronald Joyce. In a rich satin of ‘clotted cream’, the bust is encrusted with crystal beading in a very unusual scallop-edge bust line. An in-built corset and elasticated strap means it does the hard work for you – so I wouldn’t need a separate corset (which is what I had originally thought, and had my eye on an Agent Provocateur number, but now I can get one of those as well!)

The clever gathering/ruching down the torso gives a very flattering effect, which merges into an A-line skirt with three gathers that would be much more pronounced once ironed out and fitted properly on the body. Inside the lining and tulle are impeccably white and perfect. A tulle underskirt provides a bit of body, and I was originally planning an additional hooped underskirt to really go to town on the ‘I’m a toilet-roll-holder doll’ look!

The train is classic and forms a delicate, neat circle behind the dress, which can be bustled up for the evening (bustle ribbons have not yet been added though). It is a zip fastening at the back, and comes with matching straps, though I much prefer the bandeau strapless look. This would sit perfectly with the matching stole in the same crystal beading at the edges as on the bust.

Basically, I was in ‘wedding dress excitement’ mode, and I bought this dress on a wave of bridal fever (the first dress I tried on!). We bonded, we connected, it felt right. However I realise now that if I was shopping for cup-cakes, impulse buying would not be something I would come to regret! An expensive mistake to make.

If this divine Ronald Joyce number (style number 54019) sounds like it could be the one for you, or a friend who is looking for a wedding gown with couture affiliations, then please email me for more info as I would love to hear from other budding brides and share the Ronald Joyce love.

I am a marilyn-monroe-esque curvy UK size 16 and this dress gave me the most wonderfully flattering shape. For an idea of how this gown looks on, follow this link, hovering over the bottom left image which shows the exact same gown in white.

Oh to have my own column SATC style! This is my online diary, wanton, wannabe fashion journalist stylee, of my yet-to-be-realised career dream. The first day of the rest of my life. What a cliche. I mean, everyone says that, except actual journalists who are constantly striving for original, witty intros, descriptions and middle bits, surfing along to the perfect denouement.

When you are a real journalist, each word, sentence, paragraph or unwitting simile has to convey a unique concept, untapped idea or irreverent joke. I want to be like them, writing about what I love. Fashion. I want to cover the shows, making clever references to vintage collections/modern art/urban culture, and intelligent commentary on the latest style, shape, colour, silhouette. The pre-shows, the real shows, the after-shows. I want to sit in the front row at the shows - I mean, anyone would KILL for that job, right? Working with Miranda Priestly of Runway fame, clickety-clacking with the other clackers, going to Paris…yes ok, The Devil Wears Prada is one of my favourite comedic fashion films.

All I can do is dream, masquerading as a pink-wigged mannequin named Penelope!

So, it has to be said, I’m not sure what all the panic is about seeing as I have nine-whole-months to plan my wedding. A baby could be born in that amount of time (not that we’re planning that anytime soon)

I mean, the key things are done - venue, photographer, rings - and more importantly, the groom! However I woke up this morning at the crack of dawn (around 8.30am, which is pretty early for me at the weekend), and couldn’t stop thinking about wedding plans. By 9am I was sitting at my laptop searching for florists, bands and delighting at the many styles, colours and shapes of wedding cake available to me.

Within an hour I had booked a beautiful hotel for myself and my bridesmaids to stay in the night before the wedding (complete with pool, spa, spacious rooms and stunning views), contacted a prospective music supplier, narrowed the search for footwear down to two choices, contacted the local florist and enquired about a cake! Phew! I also have a bridal appointment next week at my chosen dress boutique - the second viewing of a dress I coveted from the moment it encased my hips and turned me into a 1950’s hollywood starlet.

It’s all suddenly happening in the ‘wedding zone’, so I must get off and write up all my latest plans in the wedding planner…

So the story is, I’ve been engaged over two years and done very little actual wedding planning.

As a surprise gift, my wonderful, thoughtful, romantic fiance picked out a Smythson wedding planner, personalised with my ‘transitional’ initials: RHJ- Rebecca Holland-Johnstone. It is hot pink, the perfect colour for me, and its specially ‘Smythson’ super-fine milled paper pages, real leather cover and silvered edges, reassure me it is the platinum of the wedding planner hierarchy. Not only that, it likely cost a pound per page, so I now feel terrified of actually using it, and just want to adore it from afar, as it peeps out from its beautiful periwinkle box and matching fluffy sleeve. Bless, it may even graduate to family pet status.

It is sub-zeroon the scale of cool, reigning high above the funky ‘Vegas’ theme device I purchased on a whim one lunchtime in Paperchase. Having brimmed with pride and delight while staring at it on our double whammy Billy’s, as if it was my first-born child, I have now decided to do the day-to-day planning using ‘Vegas’, and once a plan is final and firm in our minds, and the motherships consulted, I will feel able to write out it out in the planner, in a neat, smudge-free scrawl.

Phew, glad I’ve planned out using the planner. That’s quite enough for one month!

Dharlings, don’t they look the business wearing this sumptuous oh-my-god-I-could-eat-it wrist corsage? A delightedly satisfied customer (Chloe, Stewarton) loved her bespoke commission so much, she spent half her holiday photographing it fashion-spread-stylee in the glorious Greek island of Kephalonia. Here are some of the stunning photos - thanks Chloe!

Wow! Love this little purse I bought at a recent Glasgow Craft Mafia event in Mono, Glasgow (the mafia clubhouse no less!).

So Markie, the chick behind these modern masterpieces of up-cycled genius, crafts under the name of ‘Librarian Barbarian’ and sells on american craft site Etsy.  Check her out, and I can’t wait until she has a collection of half-vinyl purse/bags out (seen a prototype, and it was so cool!!)

Also, the little leather keyring is by Dazed Dorothy - ‘join the quest for fabulousness’ here! I fell in love with the cute pink telephone button:)

With dharling Rupert whisking me off to Paris for my birthday next week, I’ve secretly booked this sexy cabaret show as a special treat - how naughty of me! I might have to whip up a new garter for myself to wear on the evening, and I’ll be sure to wear hot heels to go with it. Le Crazy Horse here we come!

The girls are so sexy, and the outfits (what there are of them) are stunning. I’ll be taking notes and absorbing inspiration into every pore like a glamorous journo with front row seats at Gareth Pugh, the hottest show at London Fashion Week this Feb.

With our ‘diamond’ reservation (diamonds are a girls best friend, non?), we will be in licking distance of the “scantily clad dance troupe…the tribute to Alain Bernardin’s legendary striptease…the stunning and seemingly endless legs…and the voluptuousness of the burlesque finale”, as we sip champagne.

A down-to-the-suspenders review will be posted here upon my return, but at the moment I think lubricious just about covers it; silky, lustful, slippery…

Au revoir x

As a special Valentine’s treat today to moi, I purchased a divine new lippie from Mac.

It’s called ‘lustering‘ from the ‘lustre’ range and it’s a super hot pink for hot Spring lips. I was tempted by a sumptuous, silky ‘nude’ lipstick as a second little treat, but then I thought, why buy a lipstick that will look like I’m not wearing any? Couldn’t I achieve the same fresh-faced look with one of the 42 lip glosses in my beauty box? I decided yes, and spent the extra cash on an iced coffee and a pain au chocolat!

I love the funky names of lipsticks, eye shadows, glitter liners et al. I really wanted ‘Lady Danger’ lipstick but the colour really wasn’t me. I remember reading once that Erin O’Connor wore that shade, but hey, she’s a model so she can carry it off. My friend Natalie bought an eye shade in ‘smut‘ which we had a giggle over, until we got lost trying to find Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden.

They do amazing free tea in there and I felt compelled to write in their feedback book to thank them for their detoxing dose of red and pink rose petal in cosylittle mugs. How divine. A girl really does need a break from the tiresome hunt for the perfect moisturising oil or lippie, but the rewards are beautiful skin and striking lips. It’s worth it. I’m worth it. You’re worth it.

 Long live make up! 

Ok, so I’m pretty in with the Cotton Candy Corsage crowd, which is why I’m often talking about how amazing, fantastical and wondrous the accessories are - caught. But I’d like to say that the latest collection of over-sized, super-wow necklaces are right on track with a recent trend feature in the February issue of Vogue.

The theme: cars, vintage travel, transport

The fabrics: Liberty-prints mixed in with some delightful, child-like cottons

The designs:

Buy this exclusive ten-piece collection at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture & Design.

I can’t wait for a trip on the Orient Express now…