Author: Lauren Bravo
Style & Social Media Columnist Lauren is a professional tweeter, pop culture junkie and Netflix addict. She's written about fashion since she was in flared jeans, and barely a trend goes by that she doesn't have an opinion on. An early adopter, she can usually be found hunting for a bargain on the virtual high street and blasting the latest high-tech skincare claims.
The week in hashtags – #BandAid30, #WeBackEd, #ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld
Charity, equality campaigns and Princess Bride memes stick a band-aid on the broken internet... it's our round-up of must-see hashtags from the past week. #BandAid30 We all know it's Christmas now, because Band Aid's latest incarnation has landed. Featuring the likes of Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran alongside One Direction (naturally) and Bono…
The week in hashtags: #BoycottStarbucks, #Parklife, #FutureJohnLewisAds, #AlexFromTarget
From picking up a penguin to ditching our PSL, here are the hashtags you need to know about from the past week. #BoycottStarbucks It's a hashtag that rarely dips far below the radar, but this week Twitter is mostly boycotting Starbucks because of the company's new employee dress code, which now allows tattoos but bans…
Hipster, hippie or Kim Kardashian: what type of ancient phone user are you?
It's official: Kim Kardashian uses an ancient phone! Not two tin cans tied together with string, but pretty damn close – a Blackberry Bold, which they don't even sell anymore. So devoted to her favourite B'berry is Kim that she even buys spare handsets on eBay and hoards them for future use. 'I like to…
Fireworks, and seven other photos that are always disappointing on Instagram
It's ok, we believe you. They looked better in real life. Fireworks It is one of life's great injustices that fireworks photograph so badly. Perhaps it is their way of reminding us all to live in the moment, appreciating their transient beauty for a few fleeting moments before it fades rather than selfishly trying to preserve…
The week in hashtags: #BeenRapedNeverReported, #Catcalling, #iStandSunday, #NaNoWriMo
From raising awareness and hijacking hate to moustaches and writer's block, here are the biggest hashtags from the past week... #BeenRapedNeverReported One of the most powerful hashtags of late, #BeenRapedNeverReported was started on Thursday night by Antonia Zerbisias, a writer for the Toronto Star, as a defence of Canadian actress Lucy DeCoutere, one of nine women…
How to turn followers into IRL friendships (without it being horribly awkward)
One third of 15 to 18-year-olds have met up with someone they met online in real life, according to a recent survey by BBC Newsbeat. It’s the kind of research probably intended to make parents shudder and double lock the front door, but for some of us a decade older (hello) and just as tech-crazed,…
‘Warmest regards’: how to email like a douchebag
Emails. We've had them for 36 years, but we're basically no closer to deciphering the etiquette of sending them. A quick straw poll on Twitter confirms what I've suspected all along – that NOBODY KNOWS THE RULES. Every day, electronically, we are sending each other more mixed messages than a carrier pigeon stew. Are you…
The week in hashtags: #TheQueenTweets, #FCKH8, #NoJustice, #OttawaStrong
The Queen got in on the act, time went backwards and Twitter got angry... again. Here are the most important hashtags from the past week. #NoJustice, #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence When Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for the culpable homicide of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Tuesday (as little as 10 months of which could actually…
Words that have whole new meanings, thanks to social media
'On a cold winter's evening, the whole family would gather round the wireless... because Virgin Media broadband was down to 2Mbps again.' For as long as it has existed, the internet has been taking words and claiming them as its own. Post, thread, status; all terms that would have entirely different meanings on Downton Abbey than they…
Is happiness the secret to personal style? We join the debate with Zandra Rhodes, Dawn O’Porter & Jim Chapman
Last Thursday 16 October, shinyshiny put our glad rags on and joined TK Maxx and a panel of industry pioneers for its the inaugural #StyleByMe debate about the future of fashion. Hosted by presenter, writer, vintage-inspired designer and owner of TV's glossiest bob, Dawn O'Porter, the panel featured 'high visibility' grand dame of British fashion Zandra Rhodes, legendary fashion…
