Kelly Rowland in Dublin in AW09 Trends

After a weekend of recovering from the successful celebrations of Arthur’s Day in Dublin, I’m only now realising exactly who was here celebrating 250 years with us: Razorlight, Imelda May, Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, The Kooks, Jamie Cullum, David Gray, Sir Tom Jones, Ronan Keating, The Enemy, Soul II Soul, Estelle and Kasabian were all here, among others.

I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to the Vicar Street venue where Dizzee Rascal, Razorlight, The Blizzards, Ronnie Wood played.

All over the city, stars flew in to join us in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the day that Arthur Guinness signed the lease to the St. James Gate Brewery. None more glamorous than Kelly Rowland, rocking a few of the major AW09 trends and looking fabulous to boot. (pun intended). The studded dress, the boyfriend tux-style jacket and the ultimate, only-beautiful-people-can-wear-them AW09 footwear; thigh-high boots, hers are by Gucci.

I love the way she still has her mic with her in the street, (possibly South William Street), but is she flipping the bird here??? Hmmm, I think she might be, but who cares, that outfit is great and I love those boots; if only I could convince myself that I wouldn’t be channelling Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, I’d get a pair. It’s also pretty awesome to have another Destiny’s Child in Dublin.

How to… DIY denim cut-off shorts

It’s definitely getting warmer so my thoughts have dared to travel to summery clothes and shorts. I Put these looks together to see the various ways that I could wear a cute pair of denim shorts for spring / summer season. I decided that as I wouldn’t be wearing the shorts that often (this is Ireland after all), the €179 that this gorgeous 7 For All Mankind pair cost could be better off being spent somewhere else.

So I decided to DIY a cheap pair to achieve the same look. This is how I did it…

1. Get an old pair of jeans or buy a super cheap pair from a supermarket / charity shop

2. Cut off both legs, about 10cm’s down from the centre seam (Step 1)

3. Put on shorts and turn up each leg twice to gauge the correct length

4. Mark the top of the turn-ups with pins so that you can see which areas to distress (Step 2)

5. Take disposable razor and rub across the areas that you want shorts to look distressed until they are worn through to the light threads that go from left to right. It might be an idea to put something tough underneath the cloth to protect the other side of the shorts.

6. Wear through all the areas you want and try to aim for the areas that would get natural wear like the waistband and the fly. If you aren’t totally sure how

7. Get some spray bleach or drip some normal bleach onto a sponge (wear your rubber gloves) and apply to the newly worn patches (Step 3)

8. Rinse and allow to dry

9. Put the shorts back on and pin the turn ups properly

10. Stitch the turn ups so they stay put. These jeans have elastane in them so I didn’t tack all the way ‘round as the thread would break. I just tacked various points on each leg (Step 4)

11. Press the turn ups and pull them on! Ta-Dah!

Now, the best part, deciding what to wear them with?

I really like the fact that they are all really different looks, with the same  little pair of DIY denim cut offs. The smarter look with the boyfriend jacket would work with opaque tights until the weather warms up, the preppy look with the navy-blue V-neck sweater would look really cute with knee high white tube socks to make it trans-seasonal but the casual look with the green parker and slouchy white vest defo needs sunshine and even festival wellies to rock it properly.

Spring Shopping in Dublin

Dublin has some pretty obvious shopping havens like Brown Thomas and Henry Street. As well as some fantastic out-of-town centres like Dundrum and Blanch‘ but my regular shopping trips usually find me elsewhere; Wexford Street, Georges Street and Temple Bar, to raid the charity, vintage and second-hand shops.

This week I bought this vintage maroon velvet feathered hat with a veil, in a charity shop on South Georges street (€15). I’m thinking it would work just as well with jeans as it would dressed up with a posh frock. I also found this super, on-trend black and white candy stripe boyfriend jacket with black bows trim, in Sésí in Temple bar (€55). (I really like this; they stock Irish and Chinese up and coming designers).

I bought this pair of blue satin peep toe heels from China Blue in Merchants Arch(€49). I like the sparkly silver embellishments over the front and the fact they are four inches high – the perfect heel hight I think. I wore it all with a vintage Jeff Banks dress to see Ages of the Moon at the Abbey that night.