It was love as sweet as a silken rose; she said welcome to Paradise.

Hello! Cripes -  everything is super hectic at ze moment what with school and The Hunger Games and homework and everything, BUT I still manage to make time for that gem of Sunday night television that is... THE PARADISE!!!!!!!!! It is (In my humble opinion) THE MOST BEAUTIFUL piece of cinematography to grace British television screens in The History Of Ever. It lives up to its namesake - it really is, a Paradise. If you don't watch it, then it's very hard to condense the intricate plot into a few sentences, but it is set in a department store in 1870 in England..somewhere. The main(ish) character is Denise, (played by the beautiful Joanna Vanderham), who works in the Paradise - just to clarify, that is the name of ze shop - and who is from a small village called Peebles. She has massive ambitions, and wants to take over the paradise one day. She is being courted by Moray (Emun Elliot) who manages the store, and they are basically the main characters (There are gazillions of others, but I'm aware of rambling, so I'll just say there's a scary man who owns the shop and his jealous but beautiful wife, and shop girls, and tons of other peeps).

Now, the Paradise is brillig for a myriad of reasons - for one all the characters are very strong and well developed, with interesting personalities and backstories. The plotline is also great, and as the cherry on the metaphorical cake, everything is SO BEAUTIFUL. Every set is gorgeous, as are the costumes, and the hairstyles, and ohmygawd just everything.

Denise, her uncle, and possibly Katherine.

Denise and Moray, looking like a different race of unblemished, perfect creatures!

Katherine glaring at a shawl.

Denise looking oh so incredibly gorgy.

One of my favourite episodes of this series - Denise had to bring the magic of the music hall to the Paradise!



You may already be sold on the wonders of the Paradise, but there is one final thing that sets it even further above similar-ish costume dramas - it dares to tackle feminism. Oh yes. It went there (*Clicking fingers in a z-formation*). Denise herself questions the way women are treated, in fact she has a row with Moray about it. Denise is the perfect role model for anyone watching - she's clever, determined, hardworking, and she has a dream. She may be beautiful, but she is far from a brainless airhead floating around in a pretty dress. And so, my friends, I hope you understand my raging torrent of fiery love for the Paradise! It not only is my life, but it is life. So tune in to BBC 1 8:00 until 9:00 on a Sunday, and be led into Paradise. (Can I just say, I am not being paid by the BBC!) Before I leave, here is Denise's spectacular speech. Toodlepip!

Princesses are my style icons: Part one - Belle.

So, Disney is the best thing in the world right? (Apart from quite a lot of other stuff, but that's not the point.) I was huffing and puffing up my hideously long hill on the way home from school today, and in between singing Mulan songs (You must be swift as a coursing river...) I was pondering how cool it would be if Disney princesses were real, and they could be our lovely helpful big sister mentor people. And then I realised - they may not be real, but that doesn't stop us from taking inspiration from their awesome styles! So, this is Part One of an indefinitely looong series of princess style icon posts, and it is based on Belle! (By the way, I am so addicted to this video, I just thought I'd get you hooked too.)

So, I was going for Belle in her lovely blue dress, which I think is ever-so-slightly more wearable! I know its not exactly the same, but that's the beauty of it! The blue pinafore dress is from New Look, and I love the flower pattern on it, the blouse is by Alexander Wang, the bow is just a blue ribbon, so does it really matter where it came from, and the shoes (Gollygosh they are gorgy!) are from Office. I really like this outfit, and I have enjoyed creating this post, so look out for more in the future. Oh, and an update on my life - today was the First Ever day Of Year Ten Isn't That Scary, and it wasn't actually as bad as I was expecting (touch wood)! I was with a buddy in every lesson, which was my main worry, and other than some outright DULL lessons, I had quite a good time! let's hope it stays this good - but things might take a severe turn for the worse - I mean, I am kicking off Tuesday with DOUBLE PHYSICS.