Dork Adore » Fashion + Beauty

Quirky Retailing: QR T-shirt for full frontal geekery

Emma Cossey — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:33 +0000

QR codes. Whether you’re addicted to scanning them (in which case we are forced to question your mental well-being) or you’ve already dismissed them as an obsolete technology thanks to augmented reality (you giant technology snob), there’s no doubt that they’re finally having their day.

Scan Me has created a range of t-shirts with customised QR codes. So in theory, you could make a QR code for your Twitter/YouTube/Tumblr page, a video or just a simple message, and wear it for all to scan.

You’ll have to get used to strangers on the street snapping your frontal area on their phone, though. But that shouldn’t be a problem. How else do people make friends these days?

Prices start at £9.95, and they’re available on the ScanMe website.

So the big question is, what would you QR code link to? Let us know in the comments below!

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Dork Fashion Icon: Daria Morgendorffer (Daria)

Tamsin Worrad — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I’d forgotten all about Daria until MTV started re-runs recently.

Watching it again, it struck me just how much of an icon she is for geeks. Intelligent and witty, she’s a cynical outsider to the suburban high school life portrayed in the show. She was everything I wanted to be (but wasn’t) when I was a teen.

She’s got a bit of the grunge aesthetic I adore – hey! it was the nineties – as well as pre-requisite thick rimmed glasses and thick fringe.

As well as style, she’s not afraid of her own intelligence and takes nothing from any of the idiots surrounding her; a definite geek icon right there.

So, want a modern-day take on the Queen of Irony’s wardrobe?

Clockwise from left: Parka £55 from Dorothy Perkins, Yellow military tee £28 from Miss Selfridge, Black pleated skirt £12.99 from H&M, Doc Martens £90 from Topshop, Mai Tai specs £69, from Glasses Direct.

What do you think? If there’s a geeky icon you’d like to see us cover let us know in the comments, or by tweeting @dorkadore!

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Wear Sherlock’s coat, Irene Adler’s shoes and Moriarty’s tie

Nuttycow — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:26:42 +0000

It’s Sunday night and every self-respecting geek is settled into his or her wingback chair (or sofa, if you don’t happen to live in the 1800s) ready for the onslaught of the brains and beauty that is Sherlock on BBC1.

However, if watching (and dissecting on Twitter) isn’t enough for you, help is at hand in the form of a new Tumblr: Wear Sherlock.

In the interests of research (and not because I’m totally obsessed of course) I trawled the site to find the best and most brilliant looks to suit any aspiring Moriarty, Irene or Mycroft.

Be warned, these particular inhabitants of London dress to impress and pay for the privilege.

The Ladies

1) Sherlock’s not big on strong female characters but – boy! – when they arrive, you know it.

Irene Adler not only has the most divine Christian Louboutin heels I’ve seen in a long time, but she rocks a classic French chic through the stunning dresses she wears and her understated yet striking make up (MAC and, surprisingly, Barry M will give you the same look).

The Gentleman

2) Despite his homicidal tendencies, there’s something infinitely cool about Moriarty. It might be his sunglasses or it might just be the way he wears his suit.

If the suited and booted look doesn’t suit you, you can always go for John Watson’s wardrobe?

The Abode

3) Even if you can’t fill your house with vintage 70s furnishings, you can still get the look with a variety of contemporary pieces that still capture the shabby-chic of 221b Baker Street.

If you need a cup of tea while pondering your latest quandary you might as well do it right with his china tea cup.
I’d invite as many people round as I could if I had this adorning my front door.
Mrs Hudson might not be everyone’s fashion icon but I just love this wallpaper.

What are you waiting for? Go have a look. What are your favourites?

P.S Fans of Sherlock’s style might want to check out our other post on Sherlock’s Belstaff Milford Coat.

P.P.S Have you visited Watson’s blog yet? Look’s like he’s been hacked….

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Sheldon Tees: Dress like Dr Sheldon Cooper

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:20 +0000

I’m going to go out on a limb and state that I have yet to find a self-confessed dork who doesn’t love The Big Bang Theory.

The geek-culture references peppered through the show have been meticulously researched, right down to the clothes the characters wear.

Although Dr Sheldon Cooper PhD might not be quite enough of a style icon to make it into our Dork Fashion Icon series, his wide range of ultra nerdy T-shirts have inspired quite a lot of envy in me.

Step in Sheldon Tees, a website that makes it possible to recreate that physics geek look in your own wardrobe.

Rather than being a retail site, Sheldon Tees catalogues the shirts with links leading to the appropriate site to purchase them.

It has a wide selection of T-shirts worn by Sheldon in the show, as well as a few inspired by the character and series (and some choice belt buckles as modelled by dubious style icon Howard Wolowitz).

I’d definitely recommend going and checking out the range yourself, but until then I’ve put together a selection of my favorites after the jump.

1. Where would Sheldon be without his Flash t-shirt? Available from 80s Tees for $24. 2. Evolution is a fact, and that’s my opinion. Evolution of Robots tee $17.99 from TV store online. 3. I think I like this Kablam t-shirt just because I wish it would happen to my computer sometimes $26 from Blank Generation Shirts 4. Shhhh….I’m Batman! $28 from TV Store Online 5. Rock Em Sock Em Robots, $19.98 from Stylin Online 6. Argh, monsters! $25 from Super7 Store

The stores are mostly based in the US, but rest assured, they ship internationally.

Nothing if not fully comprehensive, the site also lets you know which episodes the shirts were worn in should anybody question your fan credentials. You might not get any fashion points for wearing one, but the nerd respect gained surely outweighs that?

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Money is Time: contactless payment watches

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:17:32 +0000

It seems only recently that “contactless” payment technology has received airtime, so I was surprised to discover it has been going for several years. It’s just that retailers are only now getting into it.

The premise is simple, you get a card which you can top up online (it’s not linked to a bank account so you can feel secure there) and you can then use that card to pay where you see the contactless payment symbol. All you have to do is tap it on the reader.

My main worry with it was the ease of which I lose cards. Without a pin number I’d feel insecure about someone else getting hold of it and spending my hard earned cash, although spending limits do apply to avoid any disasters.

So I was excited when Dork Adore was offered the chance to try out the brand new contactless payment watches from watch 2 pay. It’s a lot harder to lose something that’s attached to your wrist and, like any self respecting geek, I love a good multifunctional gadget.

But how did I get on with this bit of hi-tech?

Fashionable contactless watches

The watch is a collaboration between Mastercard and watch manufacturer LAKS. It comes along with a prepaid card to use as well.

On a superficial level the watch looks great and not at all ‘gimmicky’, which was a worry for me (I am the fashion dork, after all). Even without the payment function I’d be more than happy to wear it on a daily basis and have had quite a few compliments on the style; fairly important is you’re going to invest in one and use it.

Setting up the watch is very simple and it comes with easy to follow instructions; just pop the sim card into the side of the watch, register your card online in a few steps and you’re off!

A lot of retailers are utilising contactless payment in their stores now. I decided to go to Pret-a-Manger to try out the watch by buying some lunch. In all honestly I felt very self-conscious as I waited for the cashier to add up my total, realising that asking to pay by using my watch was going to make me look a bit mad.

I needn’t have worried.

Scanning the watch took a manner of seconds but the difficult part was trying to get out of the shop after the cashiers realised what I’d done. ‘Are you going to fly off in your spaceship now?’ one asked.

It really did feel like I was in the future, and I had to show it off to various staff and customers before I could leave the shop. Disregarding the delay this caused, with a queue of hungry workers behind me and a limited lunch break the benefits of paying in such a short amount of time are pretty obvious, and it was the same when I tried a different store a few days later. I’d guess that the total time for me to pay was a couple of seconds, with no scrabbling to find my purse or waiting for the card machine.

Watch the pennies

In short, this piece of technology is highly impressive and actually genuinely useful, something a lot of gadgets can’t really claim. Not being linked to a bank account provides security, but it also allows you budget effectively since you can load it with only what you’re allowed to spend.

For example, you could pop your lunch money for the week on there and avoid the pitfalls of getting a tenner a day out and somehow frittering away the rest!

The watch is available in eight colours £99 from watch2pay.co.uk.

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Geek! A necklace especially for you

Dork Adore — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:01:00 +0000

Angharad Mead writes… Name necklaces have been done to death over the past decade, but this creation from Etsy seller QuirkyBoutique gives a tired concept a fresh new twist.

Try wearing it with some thick-rimmed glasses and a wonderfully nerdy t-shirt (one of my friends has a slogan tee proclaiming ‘Sex, drugs and nuclear physics’ – I think that would do the trick).

The Geek necklace costs $22.00 and is available on Etsy.

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Is the very expensive E>One laser hair removal gadget any good?

Katie — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:14:58 +0000

There’s a constant war of attrition going on between me and my extensive range of body hair.

If I’m not epilating, waxing or shaving, I’m probably just leaving it all to lie fallow in the hope that a sudden gust of wind won’t reveal the thermal layer of leg hair hidden under my maxi dress.

But could it be that the E>One from E-Swin holds the key to near-constant leg loveliness?

Yes, it could — though you might need to take out a mortgage to acquire one…

E>One that I want

Using the wonders of IPL lasers, the E>One sends a flash of hair-quelling light straight onto your follicles. The hair doesn’t return for a good few weeks, after which it is cowed and craven and more than happy to rethink its decision to sprout in inconvenient locations all over your body.

I had the E>One for quite a few weeks, but I only got round to testing it out once. I was really impressed with the results even after that initial use. The hair returned reluctantly, and in smaller numbers; I wouldn’t be surprised to see it moving on for good if I had that opportunity to give it a few more sessions.

So why did I only test it once in all the time I had it?

Well, hair removal is never a barrel of giggles at the best of times, but at least I can usually distract myself with something on TV. Because the light is not safe for human eyeballs, you have to wear special goggles while doing it. That means you’d also have to make everyone in the room with you wear special goggles. So TV isn’t really an option (and anyway, everything will look yellow through your sexy plastic lab specs).

There’s also a fair amount of mess to be made. You’ll need to squeeze gel all over your leg — the same sort of gel you get doused in when having an ultrasound — and you’ll also need ample space for the fairly large unit. Oh, and if you’ve got moles, you’ll be spending some time covering them over with the stickers provided.

That said, there’s still considerably less paraphernalia than you need for waxing.

There’s also a whole lot less pain.

Although the light flashes can prickle (and get increasingly close to feeling like electric shocks as you turn up the intensity), they’re a walk in the park if you’re used to waxing or epilating.

You can alter the settings for skin colour and hair thickness (unlike most other units, it works on tanned and brown skin, but it’s not suitable for black skin types). It’s not a particularly easy set up, with a thick book of instructions to plough through before you can unleash the light.

Once you’ve got it set how you need it, however, it’s plain sailing from there on. In fact, all you need to do is make your way around your (freshly shaven) hairy areas and wait a few days for the growing hair falls out. until the hair makes its patchy recovery (around five weeks if your hair is feisty like mine, up to nine weeks if you’ve got bashful follicles).

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The E>One is a lot faster to use than units like the iPulse Smooth Skin because its light panel is about twice the size. The strength of the laser means it’s also the only unit available that promises near-permanent hair removal after around 10 uses (after that, you’ll need to use it a couple of times a year).

I would love to give this system an unequivocal thumbs up. I really wasn’t expecting to be so impressed, but it really did feel like the solution to all my hair-related problems.

However.

It costs £1499!

That is A LOT of money. And since E-Swin reckons you’ll only need to use it about ten times before you’re body-bald for life, the cost-per-use isn’t great either. You can’t even make it sound all that reasonable if you add up the money you might spend over a lifetime on self-waxing (although it will save money in the long run if you pay for waxing).

The only solution to this problem is group purchase. Club together with friends, buy yourself a unit, share it round and once you’ve all done your ten sessions, start renting it out to any hirsute acquaintances.

You can buy the E>One direct from E-Swin, (payment options let you pay by instalment).

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Giles Deacon 3D glasses from LG

Tamsin Worrad — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:22:24 +0000

It’s not often that my major areas of interest cross over, but Giles Deacon has brought fashion and high-tech together with this pair of 3D glasses from LG (available now from Selfridges).

The fuzzy pattern on the frame was inspired by TV interference. The shades allow you to watch 3D movies at the cinema or in your own home — as long as you have a 3D TV, of course.

Deacon used the launch to talk about his excitement at the chance of experimenting with technology and also to say that he’d love to see a 3D version of Hitchcock’s The Birds. I can practically hear the horrified gasps of film fans across the country.

As much as I welcome tech and fashion collaborations, I can’t help but feel these have a pretty limited market. I’m not sure I’d spend £29.99 on a pair of glasses to wear indoors. Of course, you could wear them to the cinema rather than take their rather less stylish options, but you’d have to either be a dedicated cinephile or fashion fanatic to want your own pair.

Giles Deacon LG 3D glasses are available from Selfridges.

Would you splash out on fashion 3D specs?

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Dork Fashion Icon: Leslie Winkle (The Big Bang Theory)

Tamsin Worrad — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:00:29 +0000

She might not be the most obvious fashion icon, but Leslie Winkle is sort of my hero.

She’s super intelligent, with a brilliant sense of humour and invariably gets one over the boys in the show.

Despite being a nerdy scientist, she also gets her fair share of bedroom action. A sexually liberated female character who isn’t panned for it is unusual anyway, but one who’s a nerd as well?

Awesome.

Leslie’s look isn’t exactly high fashion — consisting mostly of hooded sweatshirts with graphic print tees — but it is pretty good for lab wear. Mind you, in my lab days it was lucky if I managed to get out of my pyjamas before falling through the door so the smallest bit of effort impresses me.

Scientists can’t be wearing heels all day and lab conditions are pretty variable, so layering is key. And, of course, no self respecting nerd is going to be seen without their black rimmed glasses. My only criticism is that Winkle often has her hair down in lab scenes. Not very health and safety, is it? My old lab tutor would have had a fit.

I’ve compiled together an outfit suggestion for emulating Leslie’s look, so click the cut for some geeky inspiration:

The answer to the question ‘Who made Sheldon Cooper cry like a little girl?’

Topshop hoody £22 -Paul & Joe sister combat trousers £71 – Delia’s t-shirt $9.99 – Topshop bracelets £10 – Converse £37.99

What do you think? If there’s a geeky icon you’d like to see us cover let us know in the comments, or by tweeting @dorkadore!

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Super Mario Converse Sneakers

Emma Cossey — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:00:45 +0000

I’m not really a converse fan. Eternal emo Avril Lavinge ruined them for me (and continues to do so).

But these Limited Edition Super Mario Converse might just win me back over to the brand. The shoes have been created as a continued celebration of 25 years of the hairy plumber.

If you fold down the cuff around the heel, you can even get a peek at Mario jumping for some coins. Cute!

The bad news? They’re only available in Japan *sob*.

Source: BitRebels

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Dork Adore » Fashion + Beauty

Quirky Retailing: QR T-shirt for full frontal geekery

More stories like this

Dork Fashion Icon: Daria Morgendorffer (Daria)

More stories like this

Wear Sherlock’s coat, Irene Adler’s shoes and Moriarty’s tie

More stories like this

Sheldon Tees: Dress like Dr Sheldon Cooper

More stories like this

Money is Time: contactless payment watches

Fashionable contactless watches

Watch the pennies

More stories like this

Geek! A necklace especially for you

More stories like this

Is the very expensive E>One laser hair removal gadget any good?

E>One that I want

So why did I only test it once in all the time I had it?

Skip to the end

More stories like this

Giles Deacon 3D glasses from LG

More stories like this

Dork Fashion Icon: Leslie Winkle (The Big Bang Theory)

The answer to the question ‘Who made Sheldon Cooper cry like a little girl?’

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Super Mario Converse Sneakers

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