BLOGGERS CHOICE: SARA WAISTE

The beautiful, ambre haired, boho babe that is Sara Waiste came to visit us at our Manchester Studio and made a selection of her favourite vintage items from We Are Cow. Being a vintage lover and connoisseur of style and fashion we were so happy when she agreed to come and rummage through our basement full of vintage ready to be shot and uploaded to our website.

Our in house Photographer Lucie Crewdson was on hand to take some gorgeous images of Sara wearing her chosen items. It was so good to see how much fun Sara had too with rails and rails of one off items, we'd almost go as far as to say there were definitely 'kid in a candy shop' vibes going on and we loved it. It's so nice to see someone really appreciate all of our stock and our work put into making We Are Cow online a success.

We asked Sara a few questions about her style, love for vintage and where she sees Sara Waiste in the future and heres what she said:

HEY SARA! THANKS FOR COMING IN TO SEE US. DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING IN MIND THAT YOU WANTED BEFORE YOU CAME IN?

I've actually been on a hunt for the perfect boho winter coat for months now, I'd bought a couple but didn't feel like they were 'the one' so I was hoping I'd find a treasure when I came in, but I wasn't expecting to find such an amazing one as yours! 

WHAT DID YOU THINK TO THE COW PRODUCTS ONLINE?

Good, a good selection of stuff and I really like the model choice, the girl with the blonde hair looks awesome.

WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN THESE PARTICULAR ITEMS?

I've got a kind of boho hippy vibe to my look, so I wanted to choose products that reflected my own personal style! 

YOUR STYLE IS MOSTLY VINTAGE AND YOU RUN YOUR OWN VINTAGE COMPANY, SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT VINTAGE THAT KEEPS YOU SO EXCITED?

The thrill when you find some AMAZING one-of-kind piece of clothing you've never seen before that looks like it was made for you, is kind of like an addiction for me, I've always bought vintage and I've shopped in charity shops since since I was little. It's that feeling that you've got a piece of clothing that no one else has, it's different, and as someone who has never wanted to look like the same as anyone else I love that.

YOU HAVE SUCH A HUGE FOLLOWING ON INSTAGRAM NOW, WHAT IS IT ABOUT YOUR LOOK THAT KEEPS PEOPLE INTERESTED?

I honestly have no idea? Maybe it's Herschy (my fluffy cat) that everyone loves! I've always been myself, and styled everything my own way and people must like that I guess!

WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO FOR STYLE INSPIRATION?

Definitely fellow bloggers, tumblr is a great one for inspiration and Stevie Nicks and Mary Kate Olsen are perfect boho babes.

WHO ARE YOUR MOST FAVOURITE FASHION BLOGGERS?

Ooh that's such a tough one! Helena for sure (www.bellsfashion.blogspot.com) she's a rainbow mega babe and so inspiring, Ashley from Purse in Boots has the best grungey boho style (http://pursenboots.blogspot.co.uk/) New ones I've recently discovered and love are Leticia (http://bohemiansbanquet.blogspot.co.uk/) and Muzzy Stardust (http://velvetgoldmine.pl/) And my Australian boho babe faves are Caitlin (http://celestial-calling.blogspot.co.uk/) Taylor (http://onyx-eye.blogspot.co.uk/) and Leana (coconutlemonandlime.blogspot.com) Omg there's LOADS more I love I want to put them all down but I will be here all day!

HOW DO YOU LIKE THE NEW WEBSITE?

Love it! A lot cleaner, brighter and way easier to navigate, and so much more to read and get inspiration from, the blog, trends and inspiration pages are brilliant!

DO YOU HAVE ANY STYLE TIPS FOR US THIS AW'13?

All about the layers…and the faux fur gilets, i'm obsessed with them at the moment!

WHERE DO YOU SEE SARA WAISTE IN 5 YEARS TIME?

I'd love to be working in my own studio and have a team working for me, expanding my label, and my vintage shop might even be a real shop? Would love to still be blogging away too, hopefully having bought lots more beautiful vintage clothes throughout the years! And maybe with another fluffy cat too...

Keep up with more news from Sara and if you do anything today, make sure you follow her blog and instagram so you don't miss any of Sara's perfect style!

WAISTE BLOG

 INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

NEW WEBSITE // NEW WEBSTE // NEW WEBSITE

You may have heard us shouting from the roof tops as well as here on the blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, that we are launching a Brand New Website this Friday 6th December!! As you can imagine we are pretty excited about this! In the last 2 months our web team has expanded from just two of us to a team of four, this has given us the chance to really focus on creating an inspiring website to reignite your love for We Are Cow and introduce a whole new bunch of customers who would may be wary of shopping vintage online!

The difference between this website and our last is that all items online are chosen by us, by picking out the best items from deliveries we receive from around the world. We have created a website that will continue to show one off, individual, vintage pieces to fuel your own style but also show how you can stay on trend and how wearing vintage could be the future of avoiding that embarrassing moment when you bump into someone with the exact same item of clothing as you. This is most important to us! Our new Trend section will help to navigate you through the most recent AW'13 trends with items chosen especially for that customer.

We think vintage has become so popular that people have forgotten why they love it and as avid vintage fans we are here to put that spark back into it. We always show our favourite street styles and looks and we think it is so important to have an individual style and that can be head to toe vintage or mixing it up with high street and designer. Whatever your style we are sure we will have something for you. 

With a dedicated team now we will make sure to keep the website constantly changing by adding relevant features, showing new Blogger's Choice, Street Style, Get The Look, Inspiration pages, Trends, our Blog and most importantly we are aiming to upload around 200 items per week that you will be able to search through easily thanks to our refine search tools such as category, size, brand, colour and price. All shot and modelled on our fantastic group of models who we approached because we love their own personal style, each male and female model shows how the item fits and wears it with a real life feel. We have kept all prices low so there will be no nasty surprises at the checkout, just quality one off, hand picked, fashion forward items for a reasonable price!

Before we launch the new website we have a Sale on our current site to make sure we don't have to upload any items that people have seen before, so don't miss out on some super bargains on there. 

We really hope everyone is as excited as us and you will enjoy shopping on the absolutely brand new WE ARE COW Website!!

See you on the other side

x

FLASHBACK: GOOD GIFTS GONE BAD

As you may have noticed the Christmas hype is getting pretty serious as we start to approach the 1st December. We have our own kind of gift ideas being vintage lovers and employees. We are thinking handmade and reworked flannel/denim twin set with matching scrunchie, cropped knitwear with matching scrunchie, handmade hair bows and head bands, mittens and beanies with bows on are probably what we will expect to share out with our loved ones this year. 

You can't go wrong with one off gifts that have been lovingly made with recycled fabrics and you will definitely avoid the embarrassment of opening the same thing as someone one else on Christmas morning. This got us thinking about some of the gifts that people would receive every year and have to force out that pretend 'Thank you' to those clueless family members who probably just shouldn't have bothered.. The 80's was a particularly wonderful time for bad gifts, and hair, because there were no online wishlists or facebook you could share and make sure you get what you really want. Even though we kind of loved them at the time, theses items are mere car boot compost now. 

Here are some of our favourite unwanted gifts and awkward Christmas mornings of the 80s and 90s. 

Don't get caught out this year and be prepared. Visit WWW.WEARECOW.COM or pop into your nearest store for the best gifts this Christmas!

REWORKED KNITWEAR: CUT IT SHORT

We know there is nothing more comforting than a huge comfy jumper to cosy into for the colder months. We get so many of those at COW so we decided to play about with some of them and give you more options How To Wear your knitwear this season. 

Here are our Reworked Cropped Knits to give your winter wear an instant update. All stores have plenty of options, patterns and colours for you to choose from.

We recommend mixing them with longer shirts underneath over trousers or shorts. Or go girly with a pleated skirt and layer with scarves, knee high socks and gloves!

We will be adding these to our website WWW.WEARECOW.COM very soon so keep it here!

WE LOVE: FOXES

Foxes aka Louisa Rose Allen is a total fox! As well as that she has us dancing around our shops, studio and homes with her new singles accompanied by some wonderfully styled music videos!

Her catchy new singles Youth and Echo show her range and how a strong voice with a great tune can make for one hell of a good catchy pop song! We're not usually big pop fans at COW but Foxes might have changed us. 

We also have a huge style crush! She can pretty much wear any style and it looks great. We're guessing she doesn't normally run round a sequinned body suit like she does so well in the Youth video, but even your regular vintage tee, leather jacket and high-waisted shorts look like something special on her never mind those uber-cute Mickey Mouse Ears!

We highly recommend if you haven't already heard of Foxes you get straight to her YouTube Channel and listen to every single song and dance around while you do so.

If you want to hear more from Foxes make sure to check out the links below and her Instagram which shows just how cute she is in real life! She's not playing over here just yet but we will have to put a bit of sparkle on to go and see her soon.

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

SOUNDCLOUD

WWW.WEARECOW.COM

STREET SMART: WHAT A WEEK

There has been some seriously good outfits coming through our doors this week from you lovely customers! We never get bored of seeing what you are buying and how you're wearing COW or mixing up vintage with high street!

And we have to give it up to the staff in our Nottingham store this week.. Killing it everyday with such a fashionable bunch!! Love it. Keep your eye out for more street style fashion with COW and if you want to see yourself on our blog/ website make sure to #wearecow so we can see what you're wearing!

WWW.WEARECOW.COM

INTRODUCING: VICKY OLSCHAK

As photographers and stylists at COW we love to look for new talent and inspiration from all over and this week we came across Vicky Olschak. Vicky is both a stylist and a photographer from Manchester who's work is a mixture of interesting fashion stories to real life documentary photography.
We love the honesty in Vicky's work, from the city centre food courts to the side of the road cafes, to the children at home and even the organised fashion photo shoots have a sense of normality and humour to them. We're pretty sure for a girl who has just finished studying and at still quite a young age, who captures people and places in such a dramatic way like this, will be able to make quite a mark on the industry!

We got in touch with the lovely Vicky herself to find out more about how she started, working as both a photographer and stylist and who inspires her work..

HI VICKY!
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO GET INTO PHOTOGRAPHY AND HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT PURSUING IT AS A CAREER?

I pretty much got into photography whilst at uni. I studied fashion but for the fashion styling side of the course. And to be honest, it actually took me a while to enjoy the photography side as I always felt it made me concentrate less on the styling whilst on shoots, and I wanted to pursue styling as a career. It was only when we started to work on projects where we had to document ourselves and others, when I really started to get into photography.

WHERE DOES YOUR INTEREST IN FASHION COME FROM?

I'm not really sure.. I've been asked this before and I always find it so hard to answer. As far back as I can remember I've always had an interest in fashion.

DO YOU PREFER STYLING A FASHION STORY OR DOCUMENTING SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFESTYLE?

My love does lie with styling so I always prefer styling a fashion story. Photography wise though, I prefer documenting rather than shooting. Although I appreciate the control you get from doing both roles on shoots, I see styling and photography as separate pursuits.

HOW DID YOU PERFECT THE TECHNIQUE OF FINDING SUCH INTERESTING CHARACTERS AND SURROUNDINGS TO DOCUMENT?

Everything comes from the concept and the idea behind the shoot. And research. I might come across a location, or a model and think that'd be amazing for a shoot and then come back to it when it fits in with a concept.

DO YOU LOOK MORE TO PHOTOGRAPHERS OR STYLISTS FOR INFLUENCE?

I look to everyone and everything for inspiration. I generally find a lot of styling inspiration from people on the street. Interesting characters. And photographers that document interesting people.

WHO HAS INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?

Martin Parr, Tom Wood, Gosha Rubinskiy are big influences. Jamie Hawkesworth, Nick Waplington, Katy Grannan, Nan Goldin... I also love the styling of Max Pearmain, Stevie Dance and Tess Yopp.

BEING FROM MANCHESTER, HOW HAS THE CITY INSPIRED YOU?

It definitely inspires my concepts. I tend to gain inspiration from my own life and past and being from Manchester has certainly influenced that.

DO YOU WANT TO TRAVEL MORE FOR YOUR WORK OR WOULD IT CHANGE THE AESTHETIC?

Yeah, I would love to travel. I think it would change the aesthetic in the way that I'd be inspired by a new environment, but I think the overall style of the aesthetic would be the same. Otherwise it wouldn't really be true to my own style and I wouldn't be totally happy with the images.

WHEN STYLING YOUR SHOOTS DO YOU USE A LOT OF VINTAGE AND IF SO WHY?

I tend to use a bit of everything... I'll look at the catwalks and trends and try to incorporate that with clothing and styling true to the concept and character; and I like that vintage allows me to do that.

WHERE CAN WE SEE MORE OF YOUR WORK IN THE FUTURE? WHAT'S COMING UP?

I'm currently working on styling shoots with a photographer friend of mine. We've been working on producing a magazine for a while too so hopefully that will be in the works in the future too. 

To see more of Vicky's work check out her website WWW.VICKYOLSCHAK.COM

Or on Twitter at @OLSCHACK

WWW.WEARECOW.COM