The bag of death

Can we really blame Primark for the death toll of Bangladesh factory workers of over 350? This is the current total and after 5 days the search for survivors has ended. Now it is a matter of finding bodies.

The facts are the owner of the factory got greedy and added 3 floors to a building that should only have been 5 storeys high. The workers are paid very low wages and the economy is dependant on producing garments for the Western economies.

It wasn't only Primark whose goods were being made there, Mango was another retailer and also a Canadian high st brand. Yet Primark is the go to place for really cheap clothing.

This really cheap clothing is keeping people in poverty, it is now causing them to die and it is about time we stopped shopping like this. From henceforth the Primark bag is the 'bag of death'.

image:EPA

Pick of the Week

Given the sunshine landed on our shores and these fair isles are partial to heading to the water when anything pertaining to heat is ahoy; the pick this week is mainly for land lubbers who enjoy a sea view rather than being all hands on deck.

Sailcloth Deck Chair £150 from Quba

No need to look shore side for a bailer whilst you put your feet up and think of maybe taking up sailing one day in Turkey in the calm seas. Would look equally stylish in the garden whilst sipping a G&T of an evening. 

Pick of the Week

One thing will remain for a while on this blog and that is pick of the week. I was bombarded by people (mainly friends and acquaintances on Facebook & Twitter) who it seems rely on these little picks of mine. So I promised to keep them going.

Meanwhile Twisted Skirt is live and I will be posting on there soon. Clients first, my work second, is the pecking order.

And lo! The sun it appears and then goes away but guess what it really really wants to play now. Which means it really is time to thing SUMMER. This week I am going to stretch your purse strings by £12.50. Yes £12.50 to inject a bit of colour and zing.

It is quite simply the M&S fluro tee.

M&S V-Neck Fluro Space-Dye T-shirt £12.50

It comes in 4 colours - yellow, orange, pink and green. The reality is the t-shirt is much brighter than the image but that doesn't mean over powering. I've gone for pink but I put a client in yellow the other day. They are all delightful sorbets in my book.

Old love New Ways

I've been a committed blogger since 2008 and before that I attempted to blog a couple of times; most notably in 2000. Yes that long ago when for six months I wrote a weekly soap opera online called Mobile Zone. Next year once I have finished my current and first novel The Star Ferry I will turn it into a book.

Back in 2000 I owned a website called www.mobilezone.uk.net or maybe it was .net.uk? Who knows but every Friday after work I would upload it with some html coding and there it was. I was obsessed by the idea that the internet just couldn't be a place of static pages that sat there. And how right I was except I wasn't a nerd or coder who knew what to do I just had the ideas.

There is often no money in ideas unless you can do something with them in terms of ability, passion and drive. My passion and drive always related to fashion, film and writing. Whilst not bored of fashion I am sort of over it except on a purely selfish basis of things for me. I'm still styling occasionally although of late there has been a flurry of personal styling work but I no longer do fashion shoots due to  the petit garçon. My main responsibility is to bring him up as nicely as possible whilst retaining my hand in work. Having been freelance since 2004 I'm seemingly an old pro at it all now, the juggling, the clients and the motivation to meet deadlines.

Writing has taken over and for that I am really glad. It is what I have always wanted to do and slowly but surely I am moving to working solely as a writer. I hope to get my new website up and running soon but time is the main constraint on this.

Twisted Skirt is my business - a publishing company that will be build slowly and organically. Although I would welcome any submissions from female authors now. Girlynomics is out already on Kindle and I am working on publishing in print which is more complex due to the mechanic of printing and distribution.

Girlynomics

From now on Make Do Style will be edging towards Twisted Skirt so the blog post will be changing, probably very little fashion and a lot more cultural writing.

Which means the dog can lie by my feet and dream, much as I like to do to!

Pick of the Week

Due to school holidays, the cold weather (oh please may it be over!) and pressing magazine deadlines I seem to be lurching from one pick to another.

Do not fret there will be post a foot which take you the reader in the direction of my new blog which is still underway.

Now I know the fashion world is all about the label de jour but one such fashion house is a quiet influencer of high street products, namely Chloe. I was sad to see Hannah MacGibbon go but now Clare Waight Keller is in place I haven't really noticed anything much to upset the aesthetics and direction of the fashion house.

One main point of influence have been the sandals which were adopted from the main collection a couple of years ago and flaunted by See by Chloe. Now this style of flat sandal is everywhere from Russell & Bromley to Topshop.

But it is Clarks that I am sending you all off to! Yes for £39.99 of your hard earned money you can flaunt your feet in the style credentials of the season - these almost flats

Available in white (which are my favourite) or black these Clarks Sharna Balcony sandals are a breeze to stomp the streets in.