So, it is with absolute sadness that I close this blog. Many people have told me to take Cambridge Girl to London with me but it wouldn’t quite be the same and besides… you guys want to hear about what’s happening where you are! Maybe I will start another blog in the future but for the moment, Cambridge Girl in Preston is packed away along with all the beautiful clothes I have bought in the Preston shops over the past three years and the wonderful memories I take with me of writing about them.

It has been my absolute pleasure running this blog and meeting so many fantastic people along the way, I will really miss it.

The offer is still open to anyone who wishes to take the blog over, you can change the name as long as the principles are the same of supporting our local fashion scene. Please get in touch if you are interested: olivia_pinnock@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you to everyone who has said such kind things about the blog, I really appreciate your support and I still can’t quite believe how popular the blog has become.

For any of you who are interested in my next steps, I’m moving down to London soon to become the online magazine editor of a new website which supports emerging fashion designers called TellusFashion (Cambridge Girl recommends it.)

Please feel free to still use the Cambridge Girl in Preston Facebook page to post events and news that will interest the readers.

So, with a Ron Burgundy-esque catchphrase, I will say goodbye.

You stay fashionable… Preston.

The End.

Estee Anna Lindley

Charlotte Brown

Rachel Cliffe

Vivian Trang Duong

Angela Ritson

Rebecca McGee

Susie Coffey

Colette Gibson

Marina Wan

Kirsty Jane Lamb

Charlotte Pegler

Hannah McGee

Marissa Owen

UPDATE: Huge congratulations to Marissa who has won Student Collection of the Year for the entire show! I’ve added a few more pictures from her collection over on the Cambridge Girl in Preston Facebook page.

Anne Davey

Emma Robinson

Rebecca Wells

Jenna Horan

Cassandra Thomas

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Following @OfficialGFW2011 for all the latest from the event.
• Checking out some more of UCLan’s talent at the Degree Show kicking off later this week and open to the public. Especially the art show in Hanover Building, amazing! For more information click here.
• The Stylist’s Closet in Manchester. Remeber the event that took place last year in Preston? UCLan’s Styling students are doing it again but this time they’re giving a makeover to shoppers at the Trafford Centre. Get the info here.

Thank you to everyone who voted in the Cambridge Girl in Preston awards, it was so exciting watching a very close race between our favourite boutiques and fashionable places in Preston!

So, who were the winners?

Best for Clothing….

Coco Boo

Best for Accessories…

Miss Matilda’s Boutique

Most Fashionable Place to Be…

The Vintage Fair

And Preston’s Favourite Shop is…

Wonderland Vintage Boutique

Congratulations to all the winners and to those other nominees who came so very close to winning as well!

The Preston Lushlies engaged the crowd with 21 scents from the ethical cosmetic brand, some of which aren’t available in their stores.

Split into eight categories: the classics, the sweetie pies, the stories, the flirts, the wanderers, the romantics, the dirty half dozen and the exclusive The Smell of Weather Turning, each table had a theme behind the striking smells. Trust me, they’re not like anything you’ll sniff at Boots.

The beautiful and talented Eva Fox provided music for the night, her voice is simply stunning. Check her out on Facebook. 

The nibbles for the night were cakes which had been made to reflect the perfumes, including the utterly curious tobacco cakes which represented the flirty scents. They were just as exciting and unusual as the Cocktail Factory’s drinks – yum yum!

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Lady Boy – my favourite perfume of the night. Like Lush on Facebook.
• Lady Garden – my favourite cocktail of the night. Like the Cocktail Factory on Facebook.
• See more pictures from the night on the Cambridge Girl in Preston Facebook page.
• Taking your last chance to vote in the Cambridge Girl in Preston awards! You have 24 hours left!

Miss Matilda’s Boutique are on Facebook and can be found tweeting @_MissMatilda_

@Shop_Preston tweets about loving it local.

@GeorgesGirlPR1 – St George’s Shopping Centre’s resident fashionista. She’s also on Facebook.

Follow @HarrisPreston to keep up to date with all the latest news and events from the costume gallery and on Facebook.

@harvestpreston are on Twitter and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss the next creative festival!

@CocoBooLoves brings you news from the Boo. You can be friends with Coco Boo on Facebook too.

You can find the lovely gift boutique, @UtilityDesign on Twitter and Facebook. 

For vintage finds, “like” Wonderland Vintage Boutique.

For alternative and handmade goodies, check out Styx on Facebook.

For kooky clothing and accessories, “like” Reef…

… and then “like” their next door neighbour, Halo Boutique.

For some beautiful, handmade accessories from a Preston lady, check out the Facebook page for the Crafty Creations of Carrie Mariah.

To make sure you never miss the vintage fair in Preston, join Not Just Vintage… UK on Facebook.

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Letting me know if I’ve missed anyone off. Leave a comment with your favourite Preston fashion people to “like” and follow.
• Taking over Cambridge Girl in Preston. Still no takers for someone to make the blog live on after I’ve gone… get in touch if you love the Preston fashion scene and you want to blog about it.
• Staying tuned for my last few posts. Next week I’m off to Lush Preston’s perfume night and the UCLan fashion show at Graduate Fashion Week.

Bobochic has recently launched and sells beautiful accessories, jewellery and gifts at very reasonable prices.

I love the vintage inspired range , very chic. Miss B used to be a French teacher before she set up bobochic and loves all things French, especially their style. That’s where the name for the boutique came from too, she told me. “The word bobo is an abbreviation of bourgeois-bohème which refers to laid-back, effortlessly stylish people!”

Her favourite item on the e-boutique is the silk and linen pashmina in denim blue, black and cream, “everyone comments when I wear mine!” she says.

Miss B's favourite product from bobochic

 There’s also some fabulous stationery items including cards, journals and notepads and a sale section so that you can be stylish from as little as a couple of pounds! 

Each item comes wrapped in brown tissue paper and jewellery is placed in a brown organza bag, so you don’t even need to worrying about wrapping if you’re buying a gift, and if you’re buying a gift for yourself it makes it that bit more special.

It’s great to be able to shop online and still supports local businesses.

Still not sure? Take it from this happy customer who left a review on the website:

“I was so delighted with my Bobochic purchases for Christmas that I’ve been back for more! I’m very pleased with the quality and individuality and at such good prices too! The small, independent boutiques, where I would expect to find something a bit different/special, are becoming harder and harder to find, so well done Bobochic for entering that space! Looking forward to your spring/summer collection.
Regards, Helen, Bolton.Greater Manchester”

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Shopping on their now as there is free shipping and 15% off the new summer range with the discount SUMMER15 until 29th May. There’s also a permanent student discount of 10%.
• The silver evening clutch bag, it’s my favourite piece!
• Voting in the Cambridge Girl in Preston awards  if you haven’t yet. You’ve still got time and the votes are really close!

On Saturday, the Mayor of Preston and Jude Vause Walsh from Rock FM officially opened Global Threads, a new exhibition celebrating amazing fabrics from South Asia in today’s fashion.

It has been co-curated by young people from Preston and includes clothing from designers like Dries Van Noten and Ashish, to the high street, to student creations from the university.  

It focuses on historic fabric samples, given to the museum in 1866 and matches them with modern fashion, showing the influence textile manufacturers from India still have.

The fabrics are simply stunning, the style is inspirational and the young people have done a fantastic job! Read their stories as you walk around the exhibition on the second floor. It beautifully shows how the textiles industry, which used to be so booming in Preston, has expanded to truly global lengths. 

At the launch event there were lots of fun things going on and I had my picture taken after I was styled by the lovely Ruby Noise. All the pictures from the event will soon be up on the Tumblr blog for the exhibition, which has also been created by local young people. You can view it here.

If you’re a fashion lover, this is a must-go-to exhibition!

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Going to the exhibition! It will be on the top floor of the Harris Museum until 30 June 2012. Free entry.
• Been down and loved it? Vote for the Harris Museum as the most fashionable place to be in the Cambridge Girl in Preston awards.
• Picking up a leaflet at the museum listing all the events related to the exhibition going on including tours, talks, an embroidery master class and lots of great events for young people.

Well, it’s time for Cambridge Girl to move on to pastures new. In a month’s time I will be leaving Preston and therefore leaving this blog behind me. I have loved writing it, meeting readers, going to fashion events and helping to support our local shops in Preston but it’s time to say goodbye. I really don’t want the blog to go as well though and so, if any of you would be interested in taking over the blog I would love to hear from you. Whether you have your own blog already or you’ve always thought you might want to have a blog this would be a great opportunity for someone who loves fashion and loves shopping local to write a blog which is already established. If you are interested please drop me an email at olivia_pinnock@hotmail.co.uk telling me a bit about yourself and why you would like to run Cambridge Girl in Preston (being from Cambridge is not a requirement!)

But before I go there are still a few more blog posts to come and I would also like to run some awards, voted for by the fashion lovers of Preston, to show your appreciation to your favourite places to shop. The winner of each of the four categories will get their proud title on a nice, shiny certificate to hang in their shop window. Voting is open until 3rd June.

Best for clothing

The shop that is always bang on trend and you know you’ll always find something to treat yourself to on pay day.

Best for accessories

No outfit is complete without accessories. Where do you always find those nick-nacks to add some serious style?

 View This Poll

Most fashionable place to be

The events or places that make Preston great for fashionistas.

Preston’s favourite independent fashion shop  

Who makes an outstanding contribution to Preston’s city centre?

 View This Poll

Get yourself a whiff of some of the scents that Lush don’t sell in their stores next month down at the Cocktail Factory on Guildhall Street.

Only eight of their stores in the UK are getting the lucky chance to throw a party for you to sample their huge aray of scrummy smelling perfumes which are all expertly crafted by their head perfumier, Simon Constantine, and hand blended.

They are utterly unique, like nothing you’ve ever smelt before and unisex (so drag your other half along with you!)

On show will be:

Eight Gorilla perfumes - the core perfumes stocked in stores.

10 B-side fragrances - a range they sell online but not in stores from Lush’s old sister company, Never to Busy to be Beautiful.

Two early perfumes - old scents that have been discontinued in stores.

And an online exclusive that isn’t available in the shops.

The lovely Lush staff will be on hand to help you find your perfect scent and tell you the stories behind the creations of each one.

The event is taking place on Wednesday 1 June, from 8pm until 10pm. To book your place visit the Lush Preston Facebook event page or email preston@lush.co.uk.

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Reading my review of the night after the event.
• Breath of God is my favourite scent so far. Does anyone else have one? 
• The eastern promise cocktail at the Cocktail Factory – delicious!

This week’s post is about Etsy. People tend to fall into three categories when it comes to Etsy. Those that have never heard of it, those that are raving converts and love it and those that have heard of it, think it sounds pretty cool, but don’t really go on it. I confess that I fall into the latter but I’ve been inspired to check out some of the local talent through Etsy for the blog and I hope you’ll find some great stuff too. That’s the joy of Etsy; it doesn’t just support people who hand-make beautiful things, but it also supports shopping locally, even on a Global website.

So here are some of my Preston Fashion Etsy finds:

Louby   

These cute necklaces, bracelets, charms and earrings have a real tribal feel about them. The seller has 100% positive feedback and every item comes gift wrapped for you. She says she likes to make her jewellery while listening to music so the music often ends up inspiring the piece. Prices start at £3.11.

CreativeDeva

I love the natty crochet creations of this Etsy shop. In amongst the pillows and pin cushions are some finds for fashion lovers who like something a little different too. The seller has been knitting for 35 years and has 100% positive feedback too so you’re in good hands. Prices start at £9.32.

Disturbed Penguin Poo

If you can get past the slightly bizarre name, this shop has some pretty cool stuff. Another one with 100% positive feedback (what a trustworthy lot we are!) and prices from £3.11.

Cambridge Girl recommends:

• Other Preston Etsy sellers like SandraJuneSculptures, DancingGirlArt (from the same creator as CreativeDeva) and PrintForLoveOfWood.
• The PrintForLoveOfWood Paris, New York, London, Milan canvas bag. 
• Folksy, another handmade selling site.