My Adidas

The iconic brand of Adidas have launched a new advert that traces the history of their trainers. The commercial, which airs this week sees Adidas creator, Adi Dassler in his workshop coming up with dynamic concepts. The short memorial goes on to feature other Adidas icons such as Muhammed Ali, Run DMC and Bob Marley. Now I am not a real trainer fan, in fact I have had the same pair of trainers for the last seven years; the Adidas original with three stripes. I bought them on a vacation in Sydney and these ones were white with light green stripes. To say that trainers are big money these days would be a complete understatement, the whole sport industry is worth gazillions. Nike is the big player of course with other brands following suit such as Reebok, Converse, Puma and of course Adidas. Apart from the Nike store which I really like having a browse through for inspiration, Nike does not really do it for me. I find their approach a bit too generic and their clothes very overpriced and unoriginal. I do admire their marketing tricks and find a lot of their adverts very engaging. The brand that is after my heart is Adidas as they represent everything that Nike isn't which is more edgy and slightly elusive. Basically Adidas is the Apple of the sportswear market and has a vintage image that was gained from the early days of hip hop. Rap legends, Run DMC were avid supporters of the brand and even penned a song called 'My Adidas.' Since then the brand has been through leaps and bounds and they broke through during 1998 when they produced some amazing adverts starring footballers Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Patrick Kluivert and David Beckham. Those adverts were beautifully shot and very dramatic. A few years later they followed with the basketball adverts where the likes of Vince Carter showed off some breath taking skills. Adidas was here to stay and they were not going anywhere. Since then Adidas have had a mouth watering list of sports stars on its roster such as Patrick Kluivert, Anna Kournikova, Zinedine Zidane, Kobe Bryant, Sergio Garcia, Donavan Bailey and of course David Beckham and they have all made their mark.

I have been wearing my old Adidas quite a bit lately on my way to and from work as my poor feet cannot do heels 24/7 anymore. Last year I decided that my old pair were a but beat up and went looking for a replacement. I saw a really nice pair of white ones with pink stripes, yeah really girly girly but I liked them. I was expecting to pay around £50 but I was surprised when the sales assistant told me that they had been reduced to £19.99. Not bad eh. The problem is that they are sooo white that I am kind of scared to wear them. I mean we are talking pristine white here At the moment they are still in the cool blue box that they came in till I pluck up the courage to put them on.

Hollyoaks

This show, like chocolate cake is pure indulgence. I love nothing more than waking up on a Sunday morning, floating down the stairs to the lounge and tucking into breakfast while watching this show. What is it that I like about Hollyoaks? It is the ridiculous story lines, crappy acting, OTT characters as well as the over zelous music soundtrack that tries so hard to be cool. For those of you who don't know, Hollyoaks is a soap that is set in the Northern town of Cheshire where teenagers and twenty-somethings get up to all sorts of shenanigans. Teenage sex, marital affairs, rape, drugs, homosexuality, it is all here and then some. Think, Gossip Girl but without the penthouse apartments and million dollar trust funds and you are on the right track.

One of the new plot developments concerns, Summer Shaw, played by Summer Strallen who is pictured on the left. Now Summer (the actress) has starred in the West End productions Cats and Guys and Dolls. This week the show merges fact and fiction where Summer (the character) heads to London to pursue her dream to play Maria in The Sound of Music. This story mirrors real life as the actress who plays her has just landed the exact role.

Project Catwalk 3

Don't laugh but I only signed up for Sky last year so I missed out on the first series of Project Catwalk with the divine Liz Hurley. I am now rapidly catching up via YouTube. I am beginning to wonder how I ever coped before that amazing invention. I throughly enjoyed the second series of Project Catwalk albiet my shock when dumpy, Kelly Osborne was given the presenter's gig. No matter how I try I cannot bring myself to like that girl. Maybe it is her awful dress sense, her obnxious manner or the fact that she possess no talent whatsoever. Anyway - mini rant over - as you all know the second series ended with wonder boy, Wayne Aveline taking the crown and all the perks that came with it. I had my bet on Monika Rene with her flair and feistiness. Didn't you just love the sparring contest between her and Julien McDonald?

The third series started a few weeks ago and I have managed to catch some of it but what I have seen it seems to be more fight than fashion. Contestants bickering over trivial matters. Anyway it is the same format as last year; 13 contestants competing for the sum of £25,000, a spread in Grazia magazine and the chance to design a clothing range for catalogue, Oli. Now I am not one to turn my nose up at clothing labels but surely no aspiring fashion designer wants to be associated with a catalogue. It would be different with if you were an established designer and created a diffusion range to bring in some readies and make your line more accessible. The winner of Project Runway gets to show at New York Fashion Week, now that in my opinion is huge and much more beneficial to any designer's career than a catalogue deal. So how about next year's winner getting a gig at London Fashion Week? That is something I would love to see.

Project Catwalk 3 is on Sky One on Wednesday at 9.00pm

The Meaning of Sunglasses: A Guide to Almost All Things Fashionable

Ok, brace yourself because this is a heavyweight of a style book. Fashionista journo, Hadley Freeman's writing debut is on the ethos of fashion industry and all other elements. The Meaning of Sunglasses: A Guide to Almost all Things Fashionable is an A to Z of fashion with a twist. It does not cover the all and sundry of fashion but topics and subjects that the author finds intruiging. This approach results in a very funny, witty and very well researched book. As an officiando of The Guardian and ultimate style mag, Vogue, Ms Freeman certainly knows her stuff. However, unlike other fashion journos, she posseses a look on the industry that is cynical and analytical. Freeman like her books teaches you how to embrace the fun in fashion and not to take it too seriously. I mean it is only clothes right? Ok as well as shoes, handbags etc. Every echelon in the style stakes is covered here; vintage, music, film, fashion designers and even a certain Kate Moss. Normally I do not care for blurbs on press releases but the statement issued from the PRO that this title 'shucks off its imposing mystique of fashion and makes it relevant to people beyond the usual Vogue readership' is true to its word. Hadley takes fashion from the snooty elevators and brings it right down to grass roots level with her delightful entries.

The Meaning of Sunglasses: A Guide to Almost All Things Fashionable is published by Viking and out in February.