Magpie

It's been a while...

2012-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

Since I last blogged, many important things have happened. But let's not dwell on that. It's a new year and, really, it can't possibly be much more cataclysmic than 2011. Unless, of course, the Mayans were right.
I did abandon my blog last year. I have missed it and I apologise to anyone else who might have missed it too if they exist. I was busy having a full time job, worrying about the world, dealing with real life and doing this:

Yes, it was two months ago, but it still feels pretty amazing. And I met Caitlin Moran!

I also took up swing dancing. This is definitely not the same thing as swinging. There is no pampas grass in my front garden thank you very much. That joke is getting very, very old now.
I've dabbled with dancing once or twice before but this is the longest I've ever stuck with it and it feels like it's a permanent part of my life now. And dancing makes me happy. When I got home after my last lesson the boy said I was 'glowing'.
What all this has meant is that I've had no time to spend hours trawling fashion blogs and watching style.com and BoF like a hawk for gossipy tidbits, shows and news. I haven't really had the energy to trawl online retailers to find content for 'best of the sales' posts or keep up to date on new arrivals - frankly after a while it just gets depressing because I can afford precisely none of it.
I do, however, still find the time to trawl charity shops, designer exchanges and car boot sales and I still retreat to Liberty to stroke the lovely things after a difficult week.
So this year, my blog is being revived. I made myself a New Year's resolution and I am going to at least make an attempt to stick to it by posting a minimum of once a week. The content may be a little more varied. I'll be posting about the hunt for the perfect 30s and 40s dance outfits - be they vintage or repro or modern-with-a-flavour-of (Miu Miu is on the wish list at the moment) - and about learning new ways to burn my hair with curling tongs. I'll be reviving the £10 challenge because it's fun, although I still hate pictures of me. I'll also be talking about non-clothing related stuff occasionally; books I'm reading, new recipes, dancing and other things I like. But there'll still be the occasional post on new collections, things in the shops and wish lists.

MMmmmmmmmiu miu - yes please! (image via mademoisellelek.com)

Finally, just thought you should know that I've sort of given up smoking and am putting aside the money I would usually spend on cigarettes (roughly £10 a week at current prices I think, although I did save by turning to roll ups for a while) as I'm trying to save up for my dream bag - a Mulberry Bayswater in black. I've wanted one for so long now that I've learnt to ignore the litle pangs of jealousy that I get whenever I see someone with one on the tube. But recently one of my favourite people was given one. Yes, given. Just like that. And I can't handle it anymore. So I've made buying one - the real thing - one of my other New Year's resolutions. And I'm selling a lot of my old stuff on eBay to raise further funds towards it.

Drool. (image via mulberry.com)

I want to walk into Liberty and pay in cash. Wish me luck!

Uggxactly

2011-10-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Tackling writer's block

2011-09-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

A very talented freelance feature writer that I first met back when were both trainee journalists emailed me this morning in a writer's block induced panic, asking for my advice on how to beat it. She's more than capable of getting past the block without my help and is a proper writer (I was one of those once but now I'm a web editor which mostly involves moving things other people have written around a screen, chasing contributions from bloggers and lots of scary budget meetings), but sometimes you just need a bit of reassurance from someone who understands what it's like. She said my response made her feel a bit better, so I thought I'd put it up here on the off-chance someone else might find it useful, funny or at least make them feel a bit better about themsleves because they are more organised/normal than me.

"OK, what I always do when I have writers block is faff around all day THINKING about the subject – this usually involves doing laundry, trawling blogs, walking in the park, spending hours on facebook, taking pointless bus journeys, going to the bank, etc... carry a notebook with me at all times and jot down the odd sentence (most of which I will be unable to read when I come back to them, but it will remind me what I was thinking about).

"Then when it starts to get dark I go out and buy a pack of 20 marlborough lights, a giant bag of maltesers and a couple of cartons or orange juice. Then I sit down and brain fart on my keyboard – write and write and write. "When it stops flowing I have a cigarette outside in the garden or take a juice and malteser break. At about 5am I do an edit.

"In all, during the course of a 24 hour day I will probably spend about 4-5 hours actually sitting in front of my computer attempting to write.

"Then I send it to my mum who reads it while I have a shower, tells me its fine, I look for reasons to disagree with her and then do another edit to correct all the things I found.

"Mostly, this technique is about giving yourself plenty of space away from the computer to organise your thoughts and being very close to deadline when you write so you can’t spend too much time agonising over it because you’ve just got to get it done.

"This is how I got a first at uni and how I got my first piece published in the Evening Standard. However, it is also how I failed to get onto a masters course at Cambridge.

"I have no idea if it would work for anyone else and it would probably be very risky to try it out for the first time so close to an important deadline. Also, I strongly advise you not to do the cigarettes bit – it’s how I started smoking again.

"The bit in bold is the important bit – you may be able to think of your own way of doing it."

Some things just need to be said

2011-04-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

We are all guilty. I think I suffer from a kind of keyboard specific dyspraxia as well.
This and other charming letterpress prints (I psrticularly enjoyed the one from the Trekkies to the Twilight fans and the stationery/stationary canvas bag) available from Sapling Press on Etsy

The Margaret Howell Sample Sale March/April 2011

2011-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

I am not going to offer a lengthy explanation for my prolonged absence from this blog. All I will say is that I got a new, very demanding full-time job as a web editor (a real, proper editor which is a terribly grown up thing to be) and there was also some other stuff taking up all my spare brain space. Mostly I was spending my alone time in the evenings watching the same episodes of Family Guy over and over again because everything else felt like too much effort.
I didn't have the energy or inclination to spend hours reading pointless, repetitive articles on the fashion industry or reports on the latest fashion shows, most of which were boring anyway, and the blog began to feel like a weight around my neck rather than something satisfying and fun.
It's not as bad as it sounds, I promsie, I am just preternaturally lazy and couldn't handle being so busy.
So anyway, now I am back. But not fully. I don't want this blog to feel like a burden again, so don't expect any consistancy in the posting regime. And it probably won't just be about clothes anymore, although I'm making no promises.
In the meantime, though, here's a gift from me to you - the Maragaret Howell sample sale invitation. This has become pretty much the only regular sample sale I frequent. It's not full of amazing bargains, but it is good for seriously useful things for your wardrobe that also make you feel like you've treated yourself.

How to dress for a protest

2011-03-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

My family have always been politically minded, from my grandparents right-leaning zionist generation, to my parents CND/anti-apartheid/anti-nazi campaigning, right through to my own light dabblings in socialist ideology (very short-lived).
I've been going to protests since I was tiny, strapped onto my dad's back in a brown corduroy sling or holding mum's hand dressed in Osh Kosh dungarees, so it was lovely to see so many families with young kids at the protest in London on March 26.
However, protesting seems to have become more risky as police tactics have changed. When I was little it seemed like the police were there to protect us from any violence, so when a group of skin heads started throwing rocks at us on an Anti-Nazi league March they were swiftly dealt with and we carried on in peace. Perhaps as a child I was sheltered from any other nastiness, certainly old-school protestors I later met while working for another anti-racism organisation would suggest so. But these days the police are the people I am scared of. Not because they are bad people - but because I am terrified of being kettled. Kettling escalates an angry mood and catches innocent peaceful protestors up in the aggravated swirl of masked teenagers looking to cause damage and antagonise the police into doing something stupid. Being held for an indefinite amount of time is scary and also I don't like peeing in public.

Thus, my mother and I have, over the past few years, been considering a new sartorial approach to protest that we thought would help us avoid any trouble. On Saturday, we put it to the test. No more dungarees, definitely no corduroy (not that I have considered either of these a sensible choice for clothing since an unfortunate lilac denim-cut-off dungarees moment when I was 13) - no face paint, no jeans, no slogan t-shirts of any sort. In fact any clothes that make you look like you might possibly be a protestor are banned unless they can be easily removed and compacted into a handbag or covered with a shawl.
And thus it was that I went along to the cuts protest in polka dot high heels, matching red lipstick, an APC coat and a satin YSL pencil skirt (ebay's finest).

(taken by my mum in nice hotel toilets in Mayfair, five minutes after leaving the protest route)

No-one was anything but polite to me. One woman stopped me and said she admired my commitment, coming on a march in heels. A masked teenager, fresh from smashing the windows at Lloyds, actually stopped and apologised for crashing into me as he ran towards the Ritz. A riot policeman told me under his breath exactly what the next police move was going to be so that I could get out of the way and not get crushed. In fact every policeman either of us spoke to was nothing but friendly, helpful and polite despite the abuse being hurled at many of them. We even managed to walk straight off the march into a very nice hotel to use the loo without anyone batting an eyelid.
After five hours the heels did start to hurt a little. But I still managed to run with the riot police as they poured onto Piccadilly from Old Bond Street and take some decent pictures, although I had to hitch the pencil skirt up above my knees to keep up.

Yes, some people would say that there is an ideological conflict in wearing designer clothing to an anti-cuts protest (even if the entire outfit actually cost me under £50). Those are probably the same people who thought smashing the windows of the Ritz was a good idea. But I think their point is moot. The middle classes - a number of whom would take a trip to Fortnum and Masons for birthday ice creams or Christmas presents, or the Ritz for tea for Grandma's birthday, and who are collectively the biggest consumer group for fashion in the UK - are seriously affected by these cuts. Almost all of them rely in some way on a state-funded service, be it the NHS, state schooling, libraries, sport centres, child care or benefits. Very few of them have the money to pay off their children's university debts, let alone the new fees. Yes, this may seem trivial compared to the loss of a disability allowance or a newly-jobless single mother with no support (although being disabled or a single mother doesn't make you automatically working class or poor despite what some newspapers seem to think), but the point is that these cuts affect almost everyone. And even the more comfortable and straight-laced members of the middle classes are angry. They're just a bit too nice to throw eggs full of paint at the Royal Academy. For now.

Some other outfits from the protest:

And my favourite message of the day:

A rather fabulous party - Skate at Somerset House hosted by Tiffany

2010-11-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I have been M I A, and I promise a proper apology and explanation is forthcoming in another post. But right now I am feeling all squiffy and happy thanks to Somerset House and Tiffany and think it would be much nicer to tell you all about that instead.

I's not often that I get invited to many glamorous parties through work - architecture journalism really isn't that swanky - but there have been a few exceptions recently. One of those was being given my editor's invitation for the Skate at Somerset House launch party, hosted tonight by Tiffany. I took one of my old war (graduate training scheme) buddies R, who enjoys a free glass of champagne and watching attractive but annoying well-bred men fall on their bums probably even more than I do.

The event was very... well, it was just very. As well as copious amounts of champagne, there was also apple and cinnamon cocktails, hot chocolate in the form of steaming hot cups of full fat milk and cream and a whole stick of solid chocolate to melt in it to your taste and, of course, mulled wine.

We watched Paloma Faith, clad in deep green floor length velvet coat with fur trim and matching hat, sing Santa Baby and one of her own songs (I think it was hers - it was about the advantages of dating much older men) and then turn on the lights on the Somerset House/Tiffany christmas tree, which to be honest was a bit of an anti climax - they were too tasteful to be really impressive. The tree was nice, just slightly overshadowed by the surreal goings on around it.

We got stuck in to the canapes including tiny pots of soup with cheese sticks, pate on teeny tiny bits of toast, similarly small blinis, small copper bowls of yummy beef stew with horseradish mash, prawn and crayfish cocktail and miniature christmas puddings that were almost like truffles.

Then we watched a rather mad, but very enjoyable, performance by a man in a lycra jesters suit who white-boy rapped over a mixture of classic swing and hip hop and watched Henry Holland, Sarah Beeney, Jamie Winstone and editor of Elle (and my idol) Lorraine Candy and her very cute little girl skating round and round in circles for a while.

Sadly, I was unprepared and didn't have my camera with me. My phone battery was also dying, but I did attempt to grab some snaps for you.

The tree - adorned with Tiffany's decorations worth the price of a flat in west London according to Paloma Faith. I think she was joking but can't be sure...

A man dressed as a jester, rapping and scatting to a hip hop version of King of the Swingers from the Jungle Book. Seriously. I'm probably betraying my complete lack of cultural awareness by being unable to identify him, but he was actually quite good although I can see the novelty wearing off pretty fast.

Lorraine Candy. Honestly.

That's Henry Holland on the left there. Have we firmly established that I don't have a career as a paparazzo waiting for me if the journalism thing goes awry yet? Jolly good.

After a few glasses of champagne, we did attempt to skate ourselves. R was intent on accidentally on purpose crashing into a good looking (and rich looking) young man, but chickened out at the last minute.

I don't think I've ever seen such a well-dressed crowd of skaters in my life. It was all picture postcard fluffy fur hats, shearling trims and cashmere scarves. So many women in so many beautiful coats! There were also some pretty tragic examples of plastic surgery addiction on display - no-one needs to have their lips that full, even if he fillers do act as insulation from the cold.

As we left we were handed a Tiffany's gift bag containing a box of notecards and envelopes. No jewellery unfortunately, but you can't have it all.

I wish I had more photos to show you that aren't just blue blurry messes, but I'm sure there will be plenty populating the pages of our illustrious tabloid press tomorrow morning for you to enjoy...

Objects of desire: Stine Goya

2010-10-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Printed dresses don't often appeal to me - they tend to shout too loudly. A bold printed dress can only be worn a handful of times because it's usually just too memorable. It's too much of a commitment being the girl in that dress. But every now and then you see something that just makes you melt a little bit inside. Browsing the internet I stumbled across this rather lovely example by Danish designer Stine Goya.

Stine Goya - Moonprint dress - £264 - ninaandlola.com

Look you can even tuck it into a pair of high waisted trouser (although this would only work if you were terribly skinny I fear). And now I want it very, very badly but given I had to bid a sad farewell to the beautiful scoop neck, perfectly soft, triple ply cashmere coat/cardigan at the Tse sample sale last night, there's no way I can afford this, especially in cost-per-wear terms.

Ever the glutton for punishment of course I had to go and visit Stine Goya's site to see what else was on offer this season and found the perfect bag.

Thunder bag - Stine Goya - 2000 DKK (approx. £235) - stinegoya.com

Sigh.

Cashmere glorious cashmere - Uniqlo jumpers and the Tse sample sale

2010-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

This season's Tse collection - but last season's was good too

The nights are getting longer and colder and it feels like we've actually skipped autumn and headed straight into winter. But the change in seasons has its compensations and of course one of those is glorious, soft, warm cashmere and lots of it. Or at least I wish I had lots of it.
If, like me, you can never have enough cashmere (and I really can't on my budget) but you have more than a little (but not masses) of cash to spare and the time and inclination you should definitely hot foot it down to the Tse sample sale on October 27, 28 and 29 at the Camden Town Hall where the cashmere brand is offering up to 80% off its main, mens and diffusion lines. I'll be there late after work to mop up any remaining dregs from the bargain rail.

Tse, Tse Men and tsesay Sample sale

October 27(11 am to 8pm), 28 and 29 (10am to 8pm)

The Camden Centre

Bidborough Street

London WC1H 9AU

enquiries - 020 3227 1046 ext 0

nearest tube: Kings Cross

Otherwise may I recommend investing in a men's cashmere jumper from Uniqlo? They come in a vast range of colours and the knit is fine enough for you to tuck into a high waisted skirt or layer up in. They're cheap enough - although not so spectacularly as to make you severely doubt the quality of the wool - to just slouch about in too. They look great under a blazer and over a shirt with a sharp collar or tucked in to a pretty skirt and the cardigans are oversized enough to be thrown over the shoulders and not instantly fall off again. And I can't think of anything more comforting to wear underneath a duffle coat on bonfire night...

Cashmere v-neck cardigan in 32 Beige - Uniqlo - £129.99

Pure cashmere crew neck sweater in 03 grey - Uniqlo - £89.99

Or if you prefer something more fitted the latest Velvet and Uniqlo collaboration should be able to offer something more to your taste.

The £10 challenge - zebra/tiger print

2010-10-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

I think it's fair to say that I'm fairly unlikely to ever wear these outside of my house. Or in fact ever again. But they do illustrate a point - some things just don't work when they're done on the high street. Slightly shiny zebra or tiger (depending on the background colour - these are a caramel colour so probably tiger and marginally more forgiving than the monochrome version) print peg legs are never going to look great really, unless you are very tall, quite thin or so brave that we all admire your tenacity and ignore the fact that it looks like you are wearing flammable pyjama bottoms.

Personally, I think even if these were pure silk and worth enough to put down a deposit on a small house, they still wouldn't be for me. Me and prints don't generally gel, let alone an animal print that also looks a little bit like an exaggerated wood grain. I can see that on someone else they could possibly look amazing.

However they do give me an excuse to show off my new shoe purchase - the Pierre Hardy for Gap wedges with which I am desperately in love. This morning I was wearing them to potter around the house in while still in my actual pyjamas (more grey marl than animal print) and every time I take them off I catch myself stroking them absent mindedly. I haven't felt this way about a pair of shoes in a long time. Inevitably JFK will hate them because they are wedges and men tend to dislike wedges, and the minute he says something they will lose a little of their lustre. I must admit I used to be a wedge hater, but now I have seen the light - as long as they are very high and not strappy sandals. Whoever said wedges were easier to walk in though hadn't met London pavements. Especially those special textured paving slabs that are meant to warn the visually impaired about road crossings but also serve as a mini obstacle course to any wedge wearer.

£10 challenge outfit;

Jumper - Mango - car boot sale - £1.50

Trousers - Wallis - car boot sale - £3

Vest - Uniqlo - car boot sale - £1

Total - £5.50

Shoes;

Pierre Hardy Design Editions - Gap - £89.50

Halloween make-up for grown-ups - Topshop and Mac

2010-10-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Is there any excuse as good as halloween for indulging in some quality fancy dress? I think not, but if yuo can conjure one up let me know and I'll be there. This year two of my good friends, Miss Laura Trouble and Eloise de Fine, are hosting a Zombies Ball at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen so of course an outfit must be planned. Especially as it is on a Friday night so I will probably have to get changed in the toilets at work or at the venue.

Usually what happens in these situations is that I go out and blow between £20 and £30 on pointless pots of glitter, eye crayons and all sorts of other rubbish from Superdrug, half of which I never end up using and the rest of which I use once, only to discard it all about six months later in a make-up bag purge. I promised myself this year would be different. I already have two suitable eye shadows from Mac - a poisonous looking glittery purple called Beauty Marked and an evil potion shade of shimmering green called De Menthe.

But I need another texture. Mac have just launched a new range called Venomous Villains, inspired by various evil Disney characters including the wicked queen from Snow White and, of course, Cruella de Vil.

Venomous Villains lipstick in Heartless - £13 - Mac

Venomous Villains mineralize eye shadow duo in My Dark Magic - £16 - Mac

Sadly my budget won't stretch that far. Instead I found the final ingredient for my make-up concoction at Topshop, whose autumn/winter Heavy Duty range is rather pleasing and filled with suitably dark and sinister colours with names like Grunge or Gloom. I was seriously tempted by a very deep purple lipstick which was tempting, but realistically was only going to be worn once so I steered myself away and towards a gel eye-liner in an emerald green called Ravine. Layer it on thickly with the little brush and it's dark enough to wear on its own so won't just be a fancy dress purchase but smudge it up and it makes a great base for something else. For halloween it will become a rather gangrenous looking cream blusher.

Solid gel eye liner in Ravine - £8 - Topshop

I'll post a picture of the finished results after I sleep off the hangover next weekend...

The fantasy autumn outfit - Carven and a bit of cable knit

2010-10-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

Arctic winds are a-blowing in London today. The sun is warm and the sky is perfectly blue with litle white fluffy clouds speeding across it but the wind-chill and the spine-shivering cuts announcements from the government today just make you want to swathe yourself in layers and layers of cashmere. Luckily this season's trends are, if you hadn't already noticed, big on the chunky knit. But working out what to wear with a big cable knit sweater isn't always easy - a chunky knit can completely eradicate the shape of the person underneath so you look warm but slightly like an oversized cat toy.
My own solution is to go for short skirts and tailored coats or jackets, cashmere gloves and a good scarf. A short flippy skirt may not be the best option when walking over a windy Waterloo bridge, as I discovered during a Marilyn moment this morning, but they do look nice or you could swap them for some surprisingly forgiving leather shorts. A pair of thick black tights will go a long way to preserving any modesty you have remaining.
At the moment I swear by John Lewis' cotton tights, because I'm not meant to be wearing lycra, but usually it would be my beloved Falke Cotton Touch tights.
Below is a slightly idealised version of what I'm wearing today (obviously I don't have this kind of money so almost all of mine is ebay and car boot sale alternatives but a girl can dream)...

Let's start with the coat - mine is an oversized sharply cut black APC number that I found for £10 in a charity shop. I particularly like the pin-stripe lining that peeks out when I unbutton and roll up the cuffs. However in dream land this season I would have bought this and pushed the coat to the back of the wardrobe (or at least taken it to the dry cleaners becasue I wouldn't have to wear it every day or freeze);

Carven belted wool jacket with fur trim - $1660 from www.lagarconne.com

Underneath it would be a much more swish version of the soft cream cable knit chunky crew neck that I'm wearing right now which was £1.50 at the car boot sale and is actually for a 10 year old boy. The luxury version is from Prada, but here's anotehr alternative from D&G - technically a dress but a little on the short side without something underneath it even for me;

D&G Cable knit wool-blend sweater dress - £280 - www.net-a-porter.com

And underneath that would be a silk shirt buttoned all the way up to the top tucked into either shorts or a short skirt. The shirt I'm wearing is a very old, slightly worse for wear, grey, lumberjack, £1 Primark bargain bin find from way back when but I'd much rather be wearing this one;

Rag & Bone Marai silk shirt - £220 - www.net-a-porter.com

With this, which has my favourite thing in a skirt - hidden pockets;


Whyred Pasca drape skirt - £142 - www.urbanoufitters.co.uk

Some kind of ankle boot is essential, and a little platform helps navigate the puddle strewn pavements of London without getting your feet completely soaked. The ones I have on are desert boots (who came up with that name? how can anything suede with a heel be useful in heat and on sand?) from River Island and are a pinky-sand colour with a chunky rubber heel. But of course in fantasy land where my feet never hurt wearing heels I'd be wearing these;

Burberry Aviator shearling platform boot - £695 - www.burberry.com

I mentioned above that the sun is warm. It's also exceedingly bright so some sunglasses would be nice.

Zooey sunglasses - $350 - www.oliverpeoples.com

I don't wear a huge amount of jewellery other than the pieces JFK has given me which I am inseperable from, so one amazing piece like this would do nicely;

Bear Ring - $136 - www.leviticusjewelry.com

And of course a scarf and some gloves are essential.I like my scarves big and snuggly - a hood is definately an added bonus to this one and I could never say no to long fluffy Margiela gloves...

Ann Demeulemeester Bebe snood - £250 - www.brownsfashion.com

Maison Martin Margiela angora long glove - £185 - www.brownsfashion.com

And finally a cup of hot chocolate made with dark chocolate, 50/50 milk and cream, a shot of brandy and strictly no marshmallows...

First glimpse of the Lanvin for H&M campaign

2010-10-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

We have fairly firmly established how I feel about the high-street designer collaborations that have become a routine part of the high-street schedule here in the UK. Generally they're a bit of a dissapointment. It's best to go into them without high expectations and be pleasantly surprised rather than spend months getting all excited and be part of the scrum on launch day only to discover that you've left the shop with a handful of rather squeaky feeling polyester that makes you look square. No, not hip to sbe square, but square as in shaped like a cardboard box.
But now that the Kate Moss at Topshop era is over and +J at Uniqlo is enjoying another successful season - with better fabrics this time round too - I feel it's time to reconsider my stance just a little bit. Especially because the Sonia Rykiel for H&M collection was lovely and now there's this to look forward to;

Plus there are these amazing Pierre Hardy for Gap wedges that I tried on in the shop only the other day and am now saving all my pennies for.

Pierre Hardy Design Edition wedges - £89

For once something really covetable from one of the most boring shops in the world. And we even got them before they dropped in the US. Fingers crossed there's still a pair in my giant foot size left by the time I can afford them....

What the high street seems to have realised is that we won't want nasty cheap fabrics and cuts more just because there's some fancy label on them.We'll happily pay a bit more for something a bit better (although we'll always think it would be nice if we didn't have to). I love that Alber Elbaz talks about making H&M into a luxury label for a few weeks, rather than opening up Lanvin to the masses. Fingers crossed they don't cock it up.

Of course, we may have invented this whole thing on the British high street, but you can trust the Americans to take an idea and run with it. Their king of collaborations, Target, is set to launch Mulberry for Target later this year. Sigh...

Topshop majesty ballet pumps - don't buy em

2010-10-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

Topshop is having a very good winter if what I saw when I popped in there to treat myself to my first new thing in ages was anything to go buy. One part of the shop was a veritable sea of covetable camel, cable-knit and shearling. Yum.
Sadly, my treat budget didn't stretch to any of that. What it did stretch to though was a pair of pretty tweedy ballet pumps, with a Chanel-esque black ribbon bow and diamante detail. Despite the name of this blog, I am rarely attracted to shiny things because on my budget most of the shiny things I can afford just look very cheap. I feel similarly about lace - if you can't afford the good stuff it's best avoided. But these seemed to be the exception. Look, aren't they pretty? And only £28.

Imagine them worn with turned up Max Mara black cropped trousers, a crisp white Aquascutum shirt and a chunky grey Cos jumper... and you will have a vision of what I was happily wearing to work on Friday. The shoes even managed to put a spring in my step, even if they were simultaneously rubbing most of the skin off the back of my right foot.

Sadly though this love affair was to be all to brief. The diamante studs started falling out around lunchtime. I spent half an hour in the hellish environs of the returns queue at Topshop's Oxford Circus branch on Sunday to swap them for another pair but the same thing happened before I even left the shop. So a refund was granted.

I'm not casting any aspersions on Topshop, who accepted the fault and did not hesitate in giving me my money back, but the whole thing made me a little bit sad. If you can't treat yourself to the odd pair of shoes without them falling apart, what is the point of earning money?

Anyway, I'm back off the embellishments for a while again and I would suggest that if your happiness depends on your shoes, even only slightly, don't buy these ones.

The pledge

2010-10-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

It's been over two weeks since I last blogged. Life has been busy - not that I enjoy blowing my own trumpet but I'm pleased to say that I am in the running for a major promotion and have been working my socks off to secure it. It's not just my blog that's been neglected; I haven't looked a style.com in almost a month let alone been anywhere near any shops. My already fairly limited social life all but disappeared for a while there and I have given up most of my freelance work, although I'm sure more will come along as I'm not very good at saying no to interesting projects.
Never the less this isn't really an excuse for my poor discipline. I have spent today trying to catch up with events in the blogosphere, reading my favourite blogs, clicking on links and hunting for new entertainment. Belgian Waffling, my favourite blogger in the whole world ever, has made a promise to blog every day for a month with varied results.
So to demonstrate my commitment (if lack of inventiveness) I too am going to make a similar pledge. Only it's only going to be for two weeks to begin with as I fear setting myself up for failure.
I have a couple of ten pound challenges in the offing, but other than that I am scrabbling for ideas slightly. If there's anything you'd like me to write about, any burning questions you'd like answered or any particularly annoying style sub-groups you'd like me to demolish, please do let me know.

X

Spray on clothing

2010-09-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

No, really.

This is frankly quite amazing, but there's a long way to go before I'm likely to embrace something that is so clingy and unforgiving. When you can get a kick-pleated pencil skirt, a button-up shirt, circle skirt or a-line shift from an aerosol, then I'll be sold.
The spray has been developed by Dr Manel Torres and Professor Paul Luckhamof Imperial College here in London and is apparantly going to be commercially available, although I'm not sure who's going to buy it realistically. It's a nice gimmick but not the most practical way to get dressed in the morning.
Also, the demonstrations suggest that you can't wear any underwear underneath (I love how incredibly bored that man at the end looks, chewing on gum like he's too cool for school) - presumably the spray-on fibres would bond with your existing clothes and ruin them. I don't really fancy dipping my bra in solvent to dissolve my clothes off it every time I want to get changed.
That said I wouldn't mind trying it, even if the model says it is a little cold.

Quote of the week - Karl Lagerfeld (again)

2010-09-30T04:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry but I couldn't resist this gem I found in a review of a new exhibition of work by the minimalist British architect John Pawson.
Pawson has worked for all kinds of people, including Kaiser Karl. Some of his correspondance with those clients has now gone on display at the Design Museum in London.
So in this letter, Lagerfeld is responding to Pawson's suggestion that a circual bower would be quite nice around Karl's tennis courts. Suffice to say Karl nixes the proposal pretty quickly with the cutting line; "I hate eveything 'round'."
Brilliant.

Mildly weird weekend

2010-09-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Oh Margaret Howell, how do I love thee? I'll not count the ways, but they are many.
Her A/W collection is basically my wardrobe only better (and less cluttered). So undertsandably I was looking forward ot her sample sale last week. Sadly though I was too busy to post the invite to the sale on this blog, let alone actually go to the damn thing.
And then on Saturday evening I got scammed at a cash machine with the result that I am down £210 and therefore do not have a single spare penny to fritter away at any sort of sample sale - it's strictly car boot sales and charity shops only.
Saturday night turned out to be fairly dramatic actually, although it didn't feel like it at the time. Mostly I just felt upset and rather stupid.The evening began pleasantly enough - JFK had to work late so I scooped up his ticket to descend into the bowels of Aldwych station, one of London's many disused tube stations. The station was opened to a limited number of members of the public for three evenings as part of the London Trasnport Museums Blitz anniversary exhibition. The idea was to simulate an air raid, take us all down to the platform and then get re-enactment folk to give us a flavour of war time London on a stock tube carriage from the 1930s. It was great fun, although far too short. Funnily enough though, I had actually been to Aldwych Station before - when it was still working. The station only closed in 1994. It's funny that there are so many bits of everyday London that I walked around when I was little that are now shut or gone and I don't even remeber what they looked like.
After that we picked up JFK from work and headed off to Bodean's in Soho for a meat feast and then on to my favourite bar. I took a detour to a cash machine just off Soho Square while everyone else went ahead. There were lots of people around so I was a little distracted when I stepped up to the cash machine. Then an Eastern European man tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the ground where there was a five pound note. I stooped down to pick it up but he carried on pointing at receipts on the floor so I looked again. By the time I looked back my cash card was gone, alhtough my money ahd been left in the mouth of the machine to make it look like the machine had swallowed my card. It only took a couple of seconds to work out what had happened though. So then I chased this group of four scary Eastern European men through Soho. I even spotted them using my card at another cash machine around the corner. God knows what I would have done if I had caught up to them. Me versus four quite organised men of varying sizes is not exactly a recipe for success.
Anyway, they scarpered and I ended up in Charing Cross police station, minus my cash card and, it later transpired, £210. Thankfully there is a cap on daily cash withdrawals on my card. I was a bit shaken, but generally what happens to me in these situations is I get upset briefly and then become very practical and philosophical about it.
JFK was brilliant - worried and furious on my behalf - talking about smashing people's hands with hammers and generally being very protective, which was unnecessary yet also hugely appreciated. And then we went home.
Ever since I have been feeling like a complete idiot for being so easily duped. It's not like I haven't warned plenty of visitors to London to be careful about such things. I was sober and in a good mood. But what do you do when someone taps you on the shoulder? It's hard to ignore physical contact like that. I suppose you really don't know how easy it is to be distracted like this until it's already happened. The police said they get around 10 cases like this every day in Soho.
Now, until my new card comes through, I have to limit my spending as I have to actually go into the bank whenever I want more cash. No unexpected splurges for me which is actually a very good thing as hopefully I'll be able to save a bit. Silver lining to every cloud and all that...

Oh my, Mr Ford...

2010-09-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, you're not exactly spoiling us because this lipstick costs an obscene amount of money. It's more like you're giving us the ultimate excuse to spoil ourselves by spaffing away on our weekly food budget on something completely pointless and also completely lustworthy. By making it more expensive you've made us want it more. Bet you feel pleased with yourself, don't you? I would.

This is the first full priced new frippery I have bought in quite some time now. Don't worry, normal service will resume shortly and I will be back at the jumble sales and charity shops ferreting around for bargains. But I have been working non stop recently, with a full time job and freelancing in every spare moment, and I felt like giving myself a proper reward, just one, before I give all the rest of my money to the bank to pay off my debts. So this is it. All £35 of it. It doesn't seem like much of a thing for £35 I know, but it feels like a very big treat indeed. Especially because I got the nice salesman in Selfridges to give it to me in a special Tom Ford bag. I know falling for the shiny packaging is stupid and shallow, but we can't all be Ghandi.

The only problem is that I'm scared to actually use it because I don't want to mess up its pristine-ness. Now that really is stupid. Who spends £35 on a really amazing lipstick they're scared to use?

Tom Ford lip colour in True Coral - Selfridges - £35

The official end of Jasmine di Milo

2010-09-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

I know the clothes were insanely expensive. I know the designer had a ridiculous advantage over most. But I still loved the clothes. And now is pretty much the last time to get my grubby mitts on them because Jasmine di Milo is having a final clearance sale, flogging off all the old samples and unsold stock from its archive. There's no word on what the pricing is going to be like, but it might be worth going along just in case...

The £10 challenge - nautical

2010-09-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

So last wednesday EDF came to visit our lovely home in Queen's Park to raid my wardrobe and find outfits for the ridiculous number of weddings she is due to attend in the next month or so.

In return she agreed to take some pictures of me for the £10 challenge in one of my favourite new finds - a super soft oversized denim shirt.

She also convinced me that my very fine limp hair was now long enough to put in a top knot and did my hair. I have wanted a try the now ubiquitous top knot for a very long time, but frankly, I think it's just not me. I'm never going to be 'edgy' enough to pull it off. The final straw was JFK saying that in Ireland the kind of scraggly top knot that my hair makes is referred to as a 'Stella bump' and is generally sported by pregnant teenagers in jogging bottoms.

I'm also not very good at having my photo taken by other people, so it's back to the tripod and the self portrait button on the Canon dslr for me.

However EDF also brought with her a present. A very lovely wearable present - a knee length pale yellow vintage high waisted Jaeger pencil skirt that features in today's £10 challenge post.

It's the perfect compliment for a much-loved but rarely worn Marc Jacobs t-shirt squirreled out from the bargain rail at the clothing exchange in Notting Hill two years ago for £7. I actually paid for it in vouchers acquired from the exchange of some old bits and pieces, so in a way it was kind of free, which is always nice.

So I'll reshoot the denim shirt challenge shortly, but for now let us turn our attentions to nautical fashion.

Trying to work out why nautical has been such a huge trend on the high street for so long is tricky. You may not have seen many anchor prints recently, but the breton stripe is still going strong. Coco Chanel is usually given the credit for transforming the attire of the rough and ready sailor into high fashion. We can thank the rich and famous and their penchant for expensive yatchs for ensuring that the look has hung around, fading in and out of favour but never quite disappearing. Jean Paul Gaultier has done his bit too with a far sexier take on the look than Chanel's elegant but boyish approach.

But the most recent revival of everything nautical is really thanks not to canonical fashion designers but to the rockabilly and burlesque scenes and the revival of forties and fifites pin-up fashion. The momentum behind it was building for most of the noughties, filtering up from the vintage purists, the rockabilly scene and tattoo parlours. Its appeal mounted as we tired of the hippy floatiness of boho, the scruffiness of rock chic or the lycra infused bling look, and wanted something nostalgic that required a bit of effort but was still a little rough around the edges and adaptable.

The nautical frenzy peaked a couple of years ago and has died down a bit now to make way for a more lady-like Mad Men inspired look as seen on the catwalks of Prada and Louis Vuitton, but it's still there hovering in the background waiting for another moment.

A lot of the iconography associated with the rockabilly and pin-up revival now looks a little tired, which means anchors are consigned to the Primark bargain rail for the moment.

I still love a good breton stripe, but the thought of yet another article about what is, basically, just a really good t shirt that's been around for ages just fills me with fatigue.

But it's still possible, I think, to be a little pin-up and a little nautical and keep it fresh. Especially when the sun is shining and you crave something jaunty. There may be a chill in the air but I'm not quite ready to sacrifice the last touch of summer just yet.

£10 challenge outfit;

Skirt - Jaeger - gift - £0

Top - Marc by Marc Jacobs - Notting Hill Clothing Exchange - £7

Belt - no label - car boot sale - £0.50
Denim jacket - Gap - car boot sale - £2
Brooch - Swarovski - car boot sale - £1

Total - £10.50

Shoes;

Office - car boot sale - £3

Blitz Spirit

2010-09-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit emotional today. Partly this is due to being very, very tired, both mentally and phsycially, and desperately in need of a few days off with no work hanging over my head. This situation has not exactly been made better by the tube strike this morning, or a minor family emergency last night or the fact that I am seriously behind with my work or the migraine that has been lingering since Sunday evening.
But it's also because this morning the streets of London are peppered with elderly ladies and gentlemen in crisply presented navy blue jackets and hats with rows of shiny silver medals on their breast headed towards a service at St Pauls to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz.
I think I've mentioned before that as a young teenager I was a little obsessed with the Home Front and the stories of World War II. 'What did you do in the war?' is still one of my favourite questions, although every year there are fewer and fewer people to ask.
But seeing the remaining war survivors today I can't help thinking about my much missed and loved grandparents. I especially miss hearing my paternal Grandma's stories of servicing as a fire fighter in Maidenhead and getting locked outside her bedroom window in her nightie.
Although my maternal Grandpa never felt able to tell me the full version of his own war story of escape and loss - he escaped from what was then Czecheslovakia and lost almost his entire family - it too has had a big influence on my life and cast a shadow of sadness over our family that is dissipating down the generations but remains terribly important. I miss them all very, very much today.
In London, thanks to terrorism, we still seem to be expecting the next attack. It is really not that hard to imagine how terrifying the sound of a bomber flying overhead would be, especially as the Imperial War Museum has done its best to replicate the experience for generations of London school children. It's a strange a strange and particularly scary kind of war when there are no obvious enemies to fight on the streets. But in this city we just get on with things regardless - the Blitz spirit has become something of which we are immensley proud
And the thing about the Blitz is that along with the terribly sad stories of loss there are incredible tales of heroism, joy and a strange kind of freedom. It is amazing what an extreme situation can do to a normal person. Which makes me feel more than a little guilty for complaining about my life.

In the rush to work, battling through the swarm of commuters around waterloo station, I spotted a group of war front heroes waiting for their transport to St Pauls. Sadly I forgot to take down their names and didn't have time to hear their stories, but they were gracious enough to allow me to take a very quick photograph. Frankly, I want their hats. But I also want to say the kind of big thank you that you never really know how to express.

A safe addiction - Liberty scarves

2010-09-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Is it scarves or scarfs? No matter, the important thing is that we all agree that scarves are wonderful, wonderful inventions. Is there anything as good when it's cold and raining and miserable outside than wrapping yourself in a giant knitted cashemre scarf of amazingness? Well, probably, yes, but still it's up there with some of the better things in life.
But despite the cold edge to the air, it's not quite the time for giant cashmere scarves that would make you faint from heat exhaustion on the tube. No, it's still just about the right time for floaty strips of chiffon, squares of silk and triangles of bightly coloured cotton.
An no-where offers a better selection than Liberty's scarf room which has just relaunched in the hallowed dark wood panelled central hall of one of the UK's best shops.
I had a sneak peak on Thursday and it's rather glorious, with styling stations to teach us lesser mortals how to stop a stupidly expensive square of silk sticking to your lipstick or flying off in the wind. After all these scarves, although spectacularly beautiful, do tend to be tricky to wear.
They have a nasty tendency to fall off at innappropriate times, which means you are constantly tugging at them. You knot one around your neck to stop it flying away and it suddenly tightens and now you're being strangled, which really is too much suffering even for fashion.
Which is why it seems especially magnanimous of Liberty to take its expertise, or rather those of its chief scarf tier Lauranne, to the masses via the very modern medium of youtube with these rather charming videos.

The scarf is definitely having a moment. Hermes launched a useful resource a few weeks ago now in the shape of its own scarf campaign site called Jaime Mon Carre, or I Love My Scarf. It also has a number of tutorials organised to reflect the styles of women living in some of the worlds most stylish cities - London, New York, Paris and Tokyo (hah Milan, you are too boring for us). Those damn French do still manage to outshine the rest of us though.

Image via Living Dolls because I can't get the site to work on my laptop to take a screen grab for some reason

Neither the Liberty videos or the Hermes site are especially new, but they've both merited repeated viewings from me over the last three weeks or so.
The result is that I want even more scarves than the suitcase full I already own (in my defense it's a very, very small vintage vanity case) and will be wiling away a number of hours stroking hideously expensive ones that I could never in a million years afford in the new Liberty scarf room just in case you were wondering where you could find me.

Lipstick love - Jemma Kidd makeup school ultimate duo in Scarlett

2010-09-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Although my heart is still set on owning Tom Ford's True Coral, I have found something to fill the bright lipstick shaped gap in my dull grey life.
I have to admit that Jemma Kidd's make-up range didn't instantly appeal. And if I'm honest it's mostly due to a bit of inverse snobbery about leggy blonde posh ex-models with impossibly successful lives. It's not exactly jealousy - I'm quite happy to never be known as an ex-model and JFK has a hold on my heart that no suave mutli-millionaire potential husband could challenge (although they are very welcome to try if it involves expensive gifts). And it's not a personal vendetta - Jemma is probably lovely and I've never heard anyone who knows her say otherwise - but there's an off-putting aura of horsey smugness around the Kidds.
But I wish I'd been less prejudiced and looked past this a bit earlier, because it turns out that Jemma Kidd might actually know a thing or two about make up if her ultimate lipstick duo in scarlett is anything to go by. (Yes, having a hugely successful business running a make up school and producing an extensive range of products probably might be a pretty strong hint, but shhh.)
I bought it in an emergency - I forgot to take a good red lipstick to Vintage at Goodwood where Kidd's Make Up School range was on sale. I didn't expect it to be a new love, I just thought it would fill a gap for a weekend and then be resigned to the back of my makeup bag along with about seven other not-quite-right reds until the next clear out.
But I put it on and it was glorious. Not only that but it stayed. And the balm in the other end (hence the duo in its name) kept my lips soft and made the colour gentler although the colour does wear off a little faster if you use the balm. The red is very bright and slightly orangey so it won't be for everyone. But don't write it off without trying it.

You get a better idea of the colour in the shot with the flash on, but I apologise for the state of my hands which is far more visible - it's a combination of no money for manicures, anxious biting of the nails and surrounding skin due to stress and also a skin problem on my hands. You may also notice that the tube is looking less than pristine - it's been knocking around in my bag as I've been carrying it with me everywhere even when I leave the rest of my essentials at home or on non-make up days when the balm is very useful.

Jemma Kidd Make Up School Ultimate Duo Lipstick in Scarlett is £13 and is available from her website, Space.NK and ASOS.

Agent Provocateur's Film Noir inspired jewelry

2010-08-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

I get regular, so regular they're getting a trifle annoying, email updates from Agent Provocateur whenever they release something new. I used to adore Agent Provocateur and I can't actually put my finger on why I have gone off them. There was just something that seemed wrong about the direction they were moving in over the past few years. It was almost like they were trying to shed their 40' does 50's does 60's burlesque skin and come out as some neon-clad (albeit scantily) Crazy Horse dancer from the 80s.
But now they appear to have moved away from that - the new ranges are happily far less Dynasty and far more Betty Page - and are trying to spread their wings and do something a bit more than underwear.
Agent Provocateur fans will, no doubt, want to stop me and huskily point out that AP has long done more than just outrageously desirable and expensive underwear that can't actually be worn outside of the bedroom (unless you are quite adventurous).
They started doing shoes quite a few years ago. But that made sense because knickers, suspenders, stockings and heels is definitely a good look. They also did some nightwear of the satin dressing gown variety and very tight and tiny t-shirts that could conceivably have been worn in daily life if you were desperate for the kind of attention that most expensive underwear lovers aren't really interested in. If you're wearing Agent Provocateur underwear, you probably don't need to advertise quite so loudly with your outerwear. Because really great sex underwear, as opposed to really great functional underwear, usually makes you exude an air of sexual confidence even if you are literally wearing a hemp sack or have the sex drive of a slug. I know this from experience. The swimwear also made sense - slightly less revealing styles of underwear suitable for playing in the water like a latter day Brigitte Bardot or going the Mrs Robinson route and seducing pool boys with a very strong cocktail in hand.
And there was always jewelery of a sort. The sort that included studs and spikes, nipple clamps, jewel encrusted riding crops and nipple tassles. Because, let's be honest here, you are not going to AP to look for anything subtle that could give your boring old LBD a new lease of life with a bit of tasteful sparkle, now, are you?
And yet, may I introduce you to AP's new 'film noir' inspired jewelery range. Still quite naughty - the designs appear to be going for a hareem girl chic although I have no idea what that's got to do with film noir - these are actually also quite wearable outside of the bedroom even if you don't have enough confidence to wear what is, essentially, boob reins disguised as a necklace.


Hareem Body Necklace - £260

Hareem whip ring - £125

Hareem earrings - £100

In fact I think the whole 'film noir' thing is nonsense. This is all more Liz Taylor as Cleopatra or Salome or something late 50s, epic and possibly a bit sexed-up biblical isn't it. They even have schackle inspired necklaces and bracelets. Actually these might be a really good way of getting nice jewelery and something to use to tastefully re-enact that infamous Princess Leia as a slave girl thing in one go.

However, at the more wearable end of the range, I particularly like the triumvurate of latin inscribed rings and bracelets. In gold, brown and black, each colour has a corresponding insrciption. I like the brown one, even if it is very cheesy - "Love conquers all things: let us surrender to love." Black is "Make me chaste and pure, but not yet!" and gold is "Kiss me with a thousand kisses". They're also fairly reasonably priced - £50 for a ring and £80 for a bracelet.

Latin Tri Ring - £50

Latin Tri Bracelet - £80

View the full range at the Agent Provocateur website.

The end of the affair - Selfridges and Dolce & Gabbana

2010-08-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Dolce & Gabbana fall 2010 via style.com

It was a beautiful relationship. But apparantly one of the UK's highest profile luxury goods department stores and the sex bomb's label of choice have had a "giant falling out".
It's hard to work out exactly what happened, neither side is being particularly forthcoming, but it seems that Selfridges wanted to move the D&G and Dolce & Gabbana lines to new areas of the store and the label was less than happy about the suggested arrangement.
Forgive me for a being a little bit of a sceptic here but this sounds quite unlikely to me. There must have been a bit more to it, no? I'm hedging my bets on a major personality clash that has turned something quite small and easily resolvable into a battle of the egos.
I know where a label is placed in a shop as big as Selfridges is mightily important, but not important enough to scupper and extremely beneficial arrangement. Dolce & Gabbana are, after all, both the kings of leopard print and satin (also polka dots and lace and the jackets and knickers look this season) AND one of Selfridges biggest sellers, especially in Manchester if Twitter is to be believed. They're an extremely valuable label for Selfridges to have in its mix, which veers toward the more commercial side of high fashion than, say, Liberty which is all about slightly more challenging and niche designers. And Dolce & Gabbana need Selfridges even more than it needs them. They fit in there perfectly and reach hundreds of thousands of consumers as a result.
Can we glean anything from the newspaper coverage of this fracas to help us make this odd situation a little less opaque?
The Evening Standard has quoted industry sources saying that Dolce & Gabbana were "furious" about the department stores decision to move the lines. Hmmm, were they suggesting moving them to the food hall? It still seems a little far fetched.
They've also quoted a 'leading fashion executive' (don't you love this vagueness? I do, it's very useful for my job to be able to quote people anonymously like this because you can beef up a slightly watery story quite easily this way by making someone sound more important than they perhaps are or get someone quite important to say something juicy that they wouldn't usually say if their name was attached to the quote). But the same quote is attributed to a 'co-owner of a premium brand' in the Telegraph and a line from it is also attributed to 'industry sources' in the Times. This is where the "giant falling-out" phrase appears to have come from.
Selfridges has batted all this off quite bruskly with some very non-commital quotes about "seeking to improve the diversity and presentation of our brand portfolio" and being "unable to accomodate Dolce & Gabbana and D&G in our mix going forward".
I like this quote. It's very snooty, very 'we think we're on the higher ground here and we're going to taunt you from it'.
The Times turned to Liberty's managing director, Ed Burstell, for another point of view. "There are certain stores in every country that set the tone for a global commercial brand," he said. "And it is vital that in those certain sotres the brand looks prmoinent and is placed in the best possible location. I think it's a little bit foolish on their [Dolce & Gabbana] part."
This, to me, is a rather honest and also wonderful quote. He's admitting that Selfridges, a major competitior in extracting money from fashion lovers, are quite important. And he's also basically saying that Dolce & Gabbana have thrown all their toys out of the pram and will probably have to go back and come to some sort of compromise.
Only time will tell, but I can't be the only one fascinated to see what happens next. Could Dolce & Gabbana be the ones to prove that they don't need traditional retail to be a commercial player in the UK? Or will they be back in Selfridges in time for the Christmas gifting season? Place your bets now...

The Yard Sale

2010-08-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday I stayed up until four in the morning eating cake batter, drinking Sainsbury's own house red which had a rather unusual hint of the white spirit about it, and watching zombie movies to stay awake.
This, it turns out, is a pretty good recipe for a hangover.
Luckily, it was all for a good cause - the very lovely Susie Bubble's Yard Sale. I turned up more than a little late - around midday - and feeling a bit fragile but with a wicker picnick basket full of cake and biscuits which seemed to go down well. Unfortunately I missed msot of the best clothes, but the presence of Ferry the Ferrett, some amazing chicken satay and meeting some of the UK's most interesting fashion bloggers was compensation enough. And it managed not to rain the entire time I was there, whcih was relief.
As ever, where there are fashion bloggers there are amazing outfits and also rather a lot of cameras so I'm sure this is just one of many picture posts, but never mind...

Susie's done a proper write up, which helps as I don't know who anyone was and she does.

Vintage at Goodwood in pictures

2010-08-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Vintage at Goodwood thoughts

2010-08-19T03:23:00.000-07:00

Having finally recovered from the weekend, I have had some time to think properly about Vintage at Goodwood. I think that honestly its main problem was that it was overhyped, because I went expecting little and had a really good time while others went expecting a lot and came away dissapointed. A large portion of the blame for this probably lies with Goodwood's PR team - Freud - who have been less than corteous to number of bloggers and also went a bit overboard with the PR in the run up to the festival.

I know that quite a few of the peolpe involved with the event in its early days and even on the weekend itself are feeling a bit abused and disgruntled, but I can't really comment much on that as having been turned down for accreditation I went as a paying punter.
What I can say is that I doubt that they will have made any money and that, aside from the PRs, I was treated well by all of the organisers that I came into contact with.
I can also vouch for the fact that the festival obvioulsy had teething problems, although I can't think of any festival I've been to that hasn't. Yes, there were long queues in the morning for the toilets, of which there weren't enough, and showers and campsite changing rooms. But all of these were very well maintained, with the occasional blockages and water loss repaired relatively rapidly for this scale of event. And the very fact that there were proper flushing toilets with loo roll and soap, showers and changing rooms with lights, mirrors and plug sockets for hair appliances was really quite something. I'm more used to portaloos and washing my hair in a bucket. There weren't enough foodstalls of places to sit, again simple errors of judgement from inexperienced festival organisers.
Yes, there was mud. No one can control the weather. But far from being the quagmire we were expecting, the soil actually dried up pretty quickly and copiuos quantities of woodchip were deployed overnight to try and soak up the worst of it.
There has been a lot of criticism of the commercial nature of the event - that there was little there that was free to do, that it was focused very much on shopping and that there was too much fancy dress and not enough dedicated vinatge lifestyle stuff. I agree to a certain extent. But there was quite a bit to do with free workshops, fashion shows (although I must admit these were very oversubscribed and I didn't get to go to a single one), talks and events, they were just small and poorly advertised. The only progamme available was a large hard back annual for £12, which was both absurdly expensive and impractical.
The popularity of the music tents was underestimated while the popularity of the main stage headliners was overestimated. Large swathes of empty field around the outdoor stages were a stark contrast to the sprawling queues to get into the 1940s themed Tanquery Torch Lounge. Many people missed some of the best music and artists due to lack of space and the timing of the main acts was pretty awful. But we did see the wonderful Puppini Sisters, rock n roll punk bands, swing bands, burlesque and plenty of wonderful dancers. The curator of the Torch tent said that they hadn't expected it to be such a hit and that next time it would be much bigger.
The Chap Olympiad was a particular highlight. I know some people have pointed out that you could pay £15 to see that in London, but the truth is that many of the people who saw it at Goodwood have probably never heard of The Chap and were delighted by the discovery. The same can be said of the Twentieth Century Society, the Leigh Bowery seaside-style poke-you-head through photo gallery and the bevvy of friendly Lipstick and Curls girls. Little touches like a old-time shoeshine stand, tea tents and actors performing staged vignettes were also peppered around the site helping make it both fun and interesting.
But what really made the event a joy was the people. It was truly lovely to see men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes dressed up to the nines, as so many of them did. What's more, the mix between vintage lifestylers, dabblers and fancy dressers from all eras was actually quite refreshing.
Yes, I can see that for the ardent vintage lifestyler and all the car and scooter enthusiasts involved it may have not been ideal, but their presence was hugely appreciated by the rest of us. We all put in more effort and had a better time because of them and I hope that they return if there is another one. I also hope that the organisers recognise the value of having them there and smooth over some of the disputes and hurt feelings that have been talked about by other bloggers. I had a great time there, but with a bit more thought this festival could be quite amazing.
Boring review bit over, pictures in the next post...

The not-quite-£10 challenge - Vintage at Goodwood edition

2010-08-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

Having returned exhausted from a weekend at Vintage at Goodwood and jumped straight back into work, my brain hasn't quite caught up with me enough to produce a proper review or even filter through the hundreds of photogrpahs that I took. For the moment lets just say that I had a really good time and was more than happy with my experience of the festival, although there were some obvious flaws with the organisation and planning of the whole event.
It seems to have really divided opinion among the blogging community, but thus far Susie Bubble's take on it is the one that comes closest to my own thoughts.
Another post with more pics and some proper opinions is forthcoming, but in the meantime here's a £10 challenge special.
I've always been a big fan of the land girl look so was more than happy to pull on a pair of wellies made necessary by the less-than-perfect weather. When I was younger I was a trifle obsessed with the 40s and early 50s. I loved the films, the dancing and, obviously, the clothes. I have dabbled a little with the more pursit side of things, taking swing dance lessons and attempting to wear authentic vintage outfits from head to toe, although this isn't quite possible with size 8 feet. But in every day life it's just not for me - I enjoy dabbnling with too many different things to ever commit to one era and there are days when the thought of putting on full make-up is just too much.
But the weekend was a lovely opportunity to dig out some of my favourite vintage pieces and mix them with some of my every-day pieces to create outfits I wouldn't usually feel confident, commited or comfortable enough to wear on the streets of London.
I have a confession to make though - this outfit comes to a little more than £10. I did put together something that came to less for the Sunday, but spectacularly failed to take any decent pictures of it. This dress, which is a little snug, was one of a big bundle that I shoved into a £20 bag at the first Angels warehouse sale last year and I can't remember how many things I had in the bag so I honestly can't tell you how much it cost, but it was almost certainly less than £5.

£10 challenge outfit;
1940's dress - maker unknown - Angels sale - less than £5
Cashmere cardigan - Max Mara - car boot sale - £3
Army cap (with badge removed) - ex-Soviet Army - Portobello market - £4
Sunglasses - Anne Klein - car boot sale - £3

Total - £15

Shoes;
Wellies - Dunlop - Kilburn Army Surplus store - £12

The £10 challenge - silk maxi

2010-08-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

I apologise for the slight delay in this, our second £10 challenge posting. It was due on Sunday, I know, and three days late isn't really that slight, but let's move swiftly on.
There will be some interesting guest challengers coming up soon, but in the meantime I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Here we're going to look at an item of clothing I wouldn't usually wear - the maxi dress.
This summer is supposed to have been all about the maxi dress. But the truth of it is that most maxi dresses make most women look bigger than they really are. Yes, maxi dresses have a nasty tendency to make you look fat.
I particularly enjoy it when people write in to magazine fashion advice columns saying they need a nice dress but are not a size ten and the woman writing the column tells them that a maxi dress is very forgiving and glamorous. They are lying.
My very forgiving and glamorous friend B tells me than her bias cut maxi dress is frankly lovely, but that the ones that stick out from an empire line are "fucking vile" and that all the cheap ones that get from New Look with the empire line waist with pouffy pleated skirts that you're supposed to wear on your holiday are going to make you look big, especially if you have boobs. I'm paraphrasing slightly here, but you get the gist.
Maxi skirts are a whole other prospect - easier to wear and less of a commitment. We may talk about this in another post.
The flattering maxi dress is a rare find. If you do find it, hang on to it, regardless of what the style mavens tell you about the longer length being in or out. A flattering maxi dress can do almost anything sartorially speaking.
Sadly the maxi dress I am wearing here is not one of those. This is mainly because it is actually two sizes too big for me. But it is beautiful and would look quite spectacular on the right woman.
It's by Hoss Intropia and is made of the lightest silk. It feels a little bit like wearing expensive air with a couple of fancy corsages attached. It even has the original price tag on it, but its former owner couldn't be bothered to remove a couple of small marks that she had mysteriously managed to sully it's silky loveliness with.
Please excuse the stupid poses, I have been drinking.

£10 challenge outfit;

Dress - Hoss Intropia - car boot sale - £3

Denim jacket - Gap - car boot sale - £2

Total - £5

Shoes;

Studio TMLS - car boot sale - £5

(I know shoes aren't technically included in the challenge but I am super pleased with these. They are the kind of shoes that men don't really understand - slight platform, black suede, gold studs on the heel and a ridiculous heel-less ankle bit with insane straps at the back. I'll give you a better view in another post soon.)

postscript: I will probably be selling the dress on ebay, but will let you know when I get around to that.

The double belt comission mission

2010-08-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

"This outfit needs something a bit out there to ensure that people don’t mistake it for something someone who has opted out of fashion would end up in. But what? Statement necklaces are overdone. A jacket would look too trussed-up. A thin double belt would probably do the trick, but we didn’t have one to hand. And there’s a good reason for that: they’re hard to find, apart from Hermès’ £600 one." Lisa Armstrong in Saturday's Times on the perils of teaming classic trousers with a classic shirt... obviously not one of life's more serious issues, but then this is not one of the internet's more serious blogs.

I've already flagged up the dangers of the fashion classic appearing plain old boring. Armstrong's suggestion of a thin double belt is a rather good one, but they really are difficult to find.
Earlier this year I tried on my first double belt at a little boutique in Muswell Hill called Charli where my lovely friend Miss Laura Trouble works (you can also see her walking around the streets of London in the nude on MTV or youtube at the moment - I am in awe of her bravado).
The belt actually came with a hideously expensive silk shirt dress that was nice but nothing special. But that thin strip of burnt-caramel coloured leather that came with it turned it into one of the most desirable pieces in the shop. Suffice to say I couldn't have it, but it has been haunting my dreams ever since, in as much as a cured, dead bit of cow can.
There are a handful of double belts currently available to buy in your average outlets, although surpsingly few of them are any good. And they're exceedingly rare in the second-hand places I tend to haunt.

This one by Michael Kors is quite nice, but still pricey - $350 on the Saks website

These two, by French Connection (top, was £40 now £26) and ASOS (bottom, £15) and both available on the ASOS site, are just a bit too fussy

So I had one made just for me at the Stables Market in Camden, which was unexpectedly satisfying.

Moustys is a traditional style leatherworkers in the middle of the sprawl of the newly-refurbished Stables. I must confess that my brother was the first to discover them, for reasons we shall not go into here, but it is something of a find in London.
The friendly man who runs it will practically bend over backwards to help you and always has a smile despite being completely rushed off his feet with customers.
My request seemed rather tame compared to some of the more elaborate pieces he's been comissioned to make recently, including the wide dragon belts with glaring red eyes that feature on Moustys' website. He also regularly does wallets, bags and sword sheaths.
For me he made a camel coloured leather double belt with a plain square silver buckle and a silver loop at the back. He left it extra long at my behest so I can knot the end.
It's only been a few days, but the raw leather, much sturdier than the buttery soft versions you would get from a premium label, is already starting to break in and I plan to wear it for a very, very long time. And it was less than £30.
But perhaps the best thing about owning this particular belt was watching it being made. I walked up, asked for what I wanted, selected the skin and the belt was created in front of me using tools and methods that haven't changed much in hundreds of years. Far more satisfying than buying something ready made. Sadly, I could only afford to buy the one, but I can guarantee I will be returning for more one-off comissions at a later date...

(Wown with Margaret Howell skirt and T shirt at the office at an ungodly hour)

One to watch: CLaer

2010-08-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

I know it's still summer, and therefore realistically far too early to be championing a knit-wear brand that specialises in cashmere, that most glorious of warm fabrics. But the magazines are all trumpeting on about how to get the next season's look and outside it is decidedly grey and rainy, so I feel vindicated.
CLaer isn't a typo, it's just another silly label name. But despite it's slightly odd branding (seriously, the twirly wirly typefce they're using isjust not right) CLaer's clothing is serious stuff. After all you don't get much more serious than a knitwear purist who used to be in charge of all things woolen at arch minimalist Jil Sander.

The label's name comes from that of its founder, Hamburg based designer Claudia Laermann, who was creative head anf designer for Jil Sander's knit and jersey collections for 18 years beofre launching her own line in 2009.
On her website, Laermann refers to Cashmere and Marino wool as "noble fibres" that "caress the body" and "contribute to the feel good attitutde of the wearer", which is rather nice.
She also talks about "feminine coolness" which seems like a rather euphemistic phrase better suited to one of those breezy advert about feminine care, but no matter. What's important here is the clothes, and this is cashmere as it's meant to be - stupidly expensive but versatile and covetable and hard to get hold of.
Most of the new collection, which includes a gorgeous fine knit cape and some very, very chuncky cable knits, woudl sit very happily alongside the key autumn winter pieces from Prada, Celine and Chloe, which judging by the September issues of all the fashion magazines, are what we should be wearing at the moment.
But, even I was financially healthy, I'd quite happily not spend all that money on any of those collections, and just buy one piece from CLaer.
Although even the promise of the rarest fibres harvested by hand from wild goats and tiny baby rabbits and then rolled into wool on the thighs of Christina Hendricks in a process overseen by the ghost of Chanel with assitance from Karl Lagerfeld would never get me into an Alpaca playsuit.

The £10 challenge - classics

2010-08-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome friends to the first £10 challenge in which we will look at the fashion 'classic'.
Classic is a much touted word at the moment - fashion editors are practically wetting themselves over it. Why? Well, they'll say that it's because, finally, designers are making clothes that real women actually want to wear again. Beautifully simple, well cut clothes in quality fabrics that make you sigh a little bit and don't have to be kept for special occasions. They'll cite Celine and Chloe at you til they're blue in the face. But don't be fooled, the fashion classic look is just as difficult to master as all the more outre looks that have pounded down the catwalk over the last ten years. The main problem being that it's very easy to just look really, really boring.
And yes, it is quite a lot like 90s minimalism, although the fabrics are a bit nicer and the cuts are a bit more forgiving.
However, there is one major advantage to the revival of classic style. You probably already have the foundations in your wardrobe. And if you don't it's not too difficult to find a classic buried under a mountain of old tat at the car boot sale or at the back of a rail in a charity shop.
Mostly, all this stuff about classic clothes means that I'm allowed to get stupidly excited over this skirt, which is essentially just a large, rectangular, black woolen tube that folds over on itself. That fold is quite important, because classics have to have something that stops them from being boring and makes them a bit, and I hate to use this word, 'edgy'.
It's also the perfect length for the new season - also known as a difficult, slightly below the knee and generally rather unflattering unless worn with quite high heels length - and is by Nicole Farhi.
It was missing a belt when I bought it, and the belt is what actually holds the whole thing together and makes it into a skirt that sits high on the waist with a paper bag top instead of a weird circle of fabric in a pool around your feet. From my point of view the missing belt was a very good thing because it meant I only paid £2.50 for it at a car boot sale this weekend. And I love it.
I'm going to wear it in future with my new camel coloured thick leather double length belt, which I had made only today and which will feature in a forthcoming post. But here it's tied together with a chiffon tie appropriated from a tea dress.

£10 challenge outfit;
Sunglasses - Anne Klein - car boot sale - £3
Top - Uniqlo - car boot sale - £1
Skirt - Nicole Farhi - car boot sale - £2.50
Watch - Lorus - car boot sale - £3
Necklace and ring - Alex Monroe - gifts from JFK (quite a while ago now. I think I'm due another.)

Total - £9.50

Shoes;
You can't see them here, but I'm also wearing a pair of exceedingly beautiful and exceedingly uncomfortable black Vivienne Westwood for Melissa plastic peep toes. If you remember, shoes are generally not included in the £10 challenge because it's hard to find second hand shoes in my size. These ones were reduced to £35 though, which merits a mention I feel.
This is the first time I have ever attempted to take a self portrait, so apologies for the rubbishness of the photo. Hopefully, I'll get better at this. I hate almost every photo of me which doesn't help either as it meant I ended up taking an awful lot of pictures where I just look intensely uncomfortable. I also noticed, looking back through them, that my legs are a completely different colour to the rest of me and have now gone out and bought some of that Johnson's gradual tan stuff for pale skin to try and correct this.

Guest starring Belgian Waffle and David Mitchell

2010-07-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to see something called Tall Tales at The Good Ship in Kilburn. The Good Ship harbours all sorts of memories for me, some awesome and some a little more uncomfortable, but it's a decent enough venue for an hour of hilarious story telling.
The readers were all brilliant - I haven't laughed so much for such a sustained period for a long time - and I heartily recommend you attend the next one which is apparently some time in September.
I went, I saw, I didn't exactly conquer, but I did summon up the courage to talk to four real life people who I had never met before. One of them was the very lovely Belgian Waffle, sort of my blog idol, who was incredibly gracious and friendly - despite my irritating social awkwardness which was made even worse by lack of alcohol which I'm not supposed to be drinking much at the moment. Honestly, sometimes I am so awkward it's amazing I have any friends let alone a moderately good career as a journalist. We're supposed to talk to people, put them at ease and get them to tell us their stories, but I'm much better at this on the phone I think. Or in emails.
I am trying to get better.
I also spoke to David Mitchell. In fact I sat next to him for the entire evening and spoke about seven words to him, but still. Is there anything as intimidating as sitting next to someone who is funnier and more successful than you and not knowing if you should talk to them? I tend to end up feeling that I'm sort of in the film about myself and I'm an awful female version of Woody Allen. I'm fine if there's someone else with me, but my bravado evaporates when I'm on my own unless I'm already feeling pretty bullish about life.
The walk home was also slightly strange and oddly entertaining. Walking up Kilburn High Road I was aggressively chirpsed. I'm not sure many people know what a "chirps" is, but my little cousin once patiently explained that it is fairly common slang for when a man tries to chat you up and get your phone number in the street. Quite often in Kilburn said man will either be standing outside a chicken cottage or a kebab shop looking like he's used the cold left-over by-products of fast food manufacture as both hair pomade and moisturiser. Or like he'd like to carry a gun and use his gangsta name to impress the ladeez, but lacks the sense of commitment this would take and probably raps about living the 'street life' in the NW6 ghetto while working on the tills at Pound Land and attempting to flog homemade CDs to pretty girls outside Marks & Spencers or WHSmith instead - still a little misguided but a much better approach to life in my opinion.
I'm not a huge fan of being chirpsed at the best of times, but having someone who is both faintly swarthy and exceedingly greasy follow you, even if it's only for a minute, making increasingly foul mouthed attempts to chat you up is both absurdly funny and also quite uncomfortable. I it's essentially harmless and I am used to it, but sometimes you really just wish they'd keep their thoughts to themselves.
Then, walking down from Kilburn towards Queen's Park, the transition from scummy to posh was perfectly marked by the dulcet tones of a jazz-lite cover of Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale being played by one man and a piano in the expensive organic restaurant. I giggled the whole of the rest of the way home.

Plus ça change (plus c'est la même chose) - fashion interns and exploitation

2010-07-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading an article from Saturday's Guardian on the exploitation of fashion interns. Singled out for particular criticism is Alexander McQueen, but there are also quotes from former interns at a number of unnamed houses of all sizes, from boutique labels to large multi-nationals, as well as fashion magazines.
Quite why the Guardian has chosen to talk about this now I'm not sure. It's hardly news, is it? And it seems unfair to single out McQueen when this kind of thing is fairly rampant in fashion.

My first job, over 10 years ago during the blissfully long summer between GCSE's and A levels, was working at a small but achingly hip fashion company that was essentially run by interns and students on compulsory work experience placements getting paid £2.50 an hour.
£2.50 an hour was fine for me - it was just a bit of pocket money. I loved the whole experience of working there. Taking the tube and the bus to the label's warehouse in Wapping every morning felt terribly grown up as did hanging out with the much older fashion students. I loved that I was given responsibility for cutting cashmere and painting the British Isles onto white t shirts using dye made out of old tea bags.

But those poor students, living in London on £2.50 an hour for six months in order to pass their degree, did not have a good time of it. They were shouted at, asked to work insane hours and never given any credit for their work even though they were what held the company together. The atmosphere was usually tense.
And it was hardly the worst place for them to be. At least this company paid them something (it went bust, not for the first time, shortly after - make of that what you will). And they did find a small sort of revenge by stealing pattern scissors and sewing supplies.
Most of the students had horror stories. One talked about an internship at Vivienne Westwood that had her working 12 hours days boning corsets until her fingers bled, but she stuck it out because her tutors kept telling her how lucky she was to be there. I don't know how much of that was exaggerated, but it was enough to scare me off.
They were also all hugely in debt from buying the materials they needed for their course and to put their collection together.

Years later, after deciding to pursue a career in journalism, I worked for free at a number of glossy fashion magazines. Rare is the intern at a fashion magazine who gets paid. Some will work for free for six months in the hope of getting a job. At magazines many end up doing nothing more than sending returns back to fashion PRs or handing out the mail - I've also had first hand experience of this.

Fashion is now an even more popular career choice than it was then. But there simply isn't enough space in either fashion or fashion journalism for all the people who want to be there. That's the reality that a lot of students, and indeed the colleges and universities that make money out of training them, don't want to face up to. Treating people like unpaid lackeys isn't ethical, but they do it because they can. Because if you quit there will also be someone to take your place. Everyone is desperate for experience because they can't get a job without it and there aren't enough entry level jobs to go around. Aside from asking students to abandon their dreams, there is no obvious solution.

And actually, unpaid interns are in some ways crucial to the success of British fashion. Smaller fashion houses need unpaid interns as much as those interns need the experience. For some of them, making a profit, or indeed just assembling a collection and sending it down the catwalk, without unpaid interns would be impossible. That doesn't make it right, but of course if they received more support it wouldn't be necessary to ask people to work for free. Sadly, fashion apprenticeships, which would be the best solution for this whole thing, aren't common. Will this government do anything to help? Given that it is in the middle of slashing funding for almost all of our cultural institutions and education providers, what do you think?

The £10 challenge

2010-07-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Despite waking up relatively bright and early on Sunday, I spent most of the morning in bed. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I read a bit of my book and watched Julie and Julia for the umpteenth time. For those not familiar with the film, it is about food and blogging and being lost and finding yourself again. It may not be a heavy psychological thriller, but I like it a lot. I also liked the book. And this time around it inspired me to get out of bed, make a beef bourguinon and think about blogging.

I feel I lack a bit of commitment. So to make things a bit perkier around here I have decided to launch the £10 challenge - one outfit every week for less than a tenner.

Predominantly sourced from the car boot sale, with a bit of high street and charity shop mixed in, each outfit will feature at least two items (not including shoes - I'm a large size 8/41 and it's incredibly hard to find second hand shoes in not icky condition in my size).

Even just buying from the car boot sale, ten pounds or under for an entire outfit might be a bit of a stretch, but that's why it's a challenge, silly.

Hopefully, I won't just be dressing myself. If anyone would like to volunteer to be my model for a week (and keep the clothes we buy obviously) do let me know. I hate having my photograph taken.

I have a slight backlog of outfits currently sitting here awaiting their debut, so the first challenge outfit will be posted later this week when I've worked out how to use the self portrait setting on my camera properly...

Quote of the week - Karl Lagerfeld

2010-07-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

This evening I am at home in bed with a temperature that came out of nowhere and feeling a little sorry for myself. I'm not ill enough to just fall asleep, but can't focus enough to read my book - the rather brilliant "London: City of Disappearances" edited by the always brilliant Iain Sinclair.
I love books about the history of this city. It reminds me that my city is also the city of millions of people who have gone before, who are living here now and who will live here in the future. And that each of those people will have a completely different experience. Obvious really, but somehow it's easy to forget when you're in your own routine, battling through crowds on the tube and looking down your nose at new arrivals who think east London is the best thing since sliced bread and the only place to be. London, this huge sprawling place that appears to always be on the verge of something, with its hidden stories of lives lived and lost, battles fought and finished and love affairs of every kind imaginable, is endlessly fascinating and Sinclair is one of its great chroniclers in my humble opinion.
Anyway, instead of reading that I am trawling Youtube looking at short clips and nosying about the blogosphere hunting for new things to read. My current favourites are the always soothing Dreamcats (possibly not soothing for anyone who isn't into cats though) and the hilarious Hyperbole and a Half.
I also love this video of Karl, apparently shot by a Chanel staffer after his superb couture show earlier this month. Although the collection was a triumph, introducing a new pared back and refreshing silhouette which Karl calls the new flapper and which must have taken a huge amount of energy, thought and time to produce on everyone's part, the designer was not about to rest on his laurels.

Karl: Fashion is about going ahead, not about memory.
Interviewer: And no credit on the past. Never?
Karl: This credit card does not work. When people want to be liked for what they did, they should stop.

A slight change of direction

2010-07-23T04:30:00.000-07:00

So, things have been a little quiet here. There are a number of reasons for this - 1/ I am lazy 2/ I am poor and avoiding looking at things I can't really afford as it has started to make me a little bit sad and 3/ Life has got all serious and I don't really have the energy to think about the fickle world of fashion every day.
Last week I had a biopsy in a very uncomfortable place. Not that I think having an extra hole cut into you with an extremely large hollow needle is ever anything less than uncomfortable, but this was an especially difficult area of the body to have said procedure performed on.
I'm a tad wary of sharing very personal and gruesome information of this nature with total strangers, but I'm finding it quite hard to concentrate on much else to be honest, except feeling bad for not blogging or making any atempt to do more work outside of my actual work (if that makes any sense).
Although it has stopped hurting now, waiting for the results is almost as bad. I don't know how you're supposed to behave during these things, but when the doctor casually mentioned what he thought the problem might be (not cancer, so I feel like a drama queen for being so upset by something that is 99.9999% unlikely to be life threatening which isn't helping) I think I should probably have asked some more questions. Instead I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, go home and hide under the duvet with some cake.
Which I did.
I even managed to avoid looking up the thing he had said he thought it was on the internet for a few days. I was too distracted by the ouch, but also very aware that looking medical things up on the internet is a very, very bad idea. There are too many worst case scenarios, horrible photographs and distressing stories, plus a whole lot of misinformation. It doesn't help when your tentative diagnosis is for something fairly rare either. Especially when the doctor failed to mention that you may have to live with it for the rest of your life, that it can only be managed instead of cured and that it can seriously effect one of the key areas of your life that makes you feel like a functioning woman.
You may have worked out that I did eventually cave in to curiosity and do a cursory web search. I'm not going to tell you what they think it is yet - it's too personal a thing to share with the world especially before there's a proper diagnosis. Once I have that I need to know what it means and start to work out how I feel about it other than confused and a bit scared.
But, with all my closest friends far away right now, it is good to write about it. Although JFK is being completely amazing, beyond what I could have hoped for, writing makes me feel more in control - that I'm doing something productive instead of wallowing.
In the real world I am mostly trying to have fun, despite the money problems. On Wednesday my dad took me to see two of the greatest Roma gypsy bands in the world at the Hackney Empire, organised by the Barbican, which was rather wonderful. Tonight I am going to see the ballet-comedy Coppelia perfomed by the Bolshoi at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden with JFK, which will hopefully be a little bit magical.
I am still heading to the car boot sale every weekend too, and finding bargains continues to fill me with joy. I think I might start trying to share that a little bit more here.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading my blog. Please do get in touch if there's anything you'd like me to write about.

Fendi Fall 2010 campaign - Anja Rubik by Karl Lagerfeld

2010-07-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Kaiser Karl has apparently worked magic over at Fendi, because it has somehow become a brand I covet. A lot. A lot a lot. Mainly thanks to this campaign actually.
Seriously, this man can do no wrong in my eyes. I worship at his despotic fashion feet. Or I would if he would let someone as declasse as me anywhere near them.
Why despotic, you ask? To which I say, where have you been? Have you not seen how obsessive Mr Lagerfeld is about controlling his empire? I wouldn't want to be on his bad side.
He even does the photography on his own campaign photo shoots these days. Like these for Fendi with Anja. His style may owe rather a lot to a few other photographers that I can think of and possibly rather a lot of exceedingly talented 'assistants'. But now is not the time to be casting aspersions on my favourite fashion dictator. Let us just gaze lovingly and longingly on these images and hope that one day, one lovely, lovely, luxurious day, someone somewhere will gift me everything in this campaign. Especially the fur collars and the luggage. And the shoes.

Actually, I prefer the campaign to the runway looks, but there were some great ones in the show too. These clothes, like a lot of the new simple but luxurious classic shapes that are coming for autumn, really do need models with a bit more flesh on their bones than Karl usually goes for and it still feels much too early to be thinking about wearing heavy black velvet. But I'm already lusting after these visions of winteriness...

I think it's the unusual undertone of Tzarist Russian oppulence, crossed with classic English country house parties that is really doing it for me. Nancy Mitford meets Princess Anastasia. Or wearing an inappropriate fur coat and wellies to walk the dogs and drinking and smoking too much.

(pics via style.com and Fucking Young)

If you build it they will come...

2010-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Opening this week: The new Acne shop on Dover Street.

I am beyond excited. So excited I went to have a look before it opened and spent about ten minutes peering through the window with my camera like some weirdo stalker. I will probably be disappointed, but I really, really hope not. Just this once, please, please, please...
Acne, 13 Dover Street, opens July 15th

The squirrel stalkers - a story in pictures

2010-07-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

An adventure in Queen's Park on a hot sunny day starring other people's children and a crafty squirrel;

Suffice to say the squirrel got away scot free, while the boy in red got a rather nasty graze on his leg after falling off the tree...

A day in Deal

2010-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went for our annual office summer outing. Any excuse to not be stuck inside at your desk on a sunny day is always good, but this was particularly nice. We got on the new super-fast train from St.Pancras, changed at Ashfird and then got on the much slower local line through Kent which took us through Dover - half pretty seaside town, half repulsive industrial docks, and along the sea front to Deal.

I wouldn't want to live there, but Deal is just about everything you could ask for from a British seaside town. Picturesque houses, a pier with a fancy cafe, a relatively cheap but well curated vintage shop (the imaginatively named Vintage by the Sea), shops with amusing names and old fashioned signage, a decent restaurant for lunch, a kitsch ice cream parlour by the sea and a pebble beach. The rather glorious weather brought out the local school kids who were splashing about in the water in their school uniforms and rolling down the pebble slope to the sea. And some exceedingly large seagulls. I am not scared of seagulls, but these ones were twice as big as our cat and had a manic glint in their beady eyes. If they were in London they'd probably be carrying knives and hanging around in groups around the corner from a local shop in Plaistow.

It's not a short trip to get there, but it's short enough for a nice day trip as long as there isn't a fire in the Thames Tunnel that means that the fast trains get suspended and you have to take the painfully slow route back into London...

Nice surfwear - not an oxymoron after all

2010-07-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Those who have made my acquaintance will agree that it doesn't take long to work out that I'm not really into most forms of exercise. I lack the requisite self-discipline for running regularly, and I can't bear to part with £60 every month for the privilege of exercising in the tiny sweaty box that is our local Fitness First. Last time I tried Yoga I had to sit out for half the class because I almost fainted. Some forms of exercise are fun and satisfying when only partaken in on an occasional basis. Like horse riding, ice skating, long walks on Hampstead Heath with nice people, swimming in the sea in India when it gets too hot to even consider being anywhere but in the water. All of these are acceptable because they are rare treats.
I was even persuaded by one of my oldest friends to try surfing once on a girly holiday in Cornwall. I will grudgingly admit it was quite fun, but I was never going to be an instant convert. After all, surfing may have it's own unique style, but I'm not exactly a fan of Hawaiian prints unless they're on 1950's bombshell dresses. And let's not even talk about wet suits.
Plus I don't hugely enjoy being in a bikini in front of, well, anyone really. Although years of serious training have made me able to pretend otherwise. The lack of mirrors in places like Goa really helps too, as does the fact that most of the skinny girls are on drugs or intensely annoying yoga heads. Or both. Which allows me to feel superior about my various wobbly bits.
But just when I though we had established firm sartorial reasons for my resistance to a repeat of being dragged into another humiliating surf experience, some buggers have come along and created a range of truly lust-worthy surf wear...
Despite having a rather twee Simone de Beauvoir quote on their website and a slightly silly label name, Jillian Demling and Karen Mulligan know what they're doing with Pret-a-surf.
They should do really. Demling is a Vogue editor and Mulligan manages Annie Leibovitz's studio. According to an interview with them in Vanity Fair this month, they set out to design a range of bikinis, swimsuits and rash guards inspired by 50's and 60's style because they wanted to "look good while playing with the boys."
I still think rash guards are deeply unsexy, but a mondrianesque print is a definite improvement. The only downer here really is they've chosen some ridiculously skinny models for the pret-a-surf lookbook, when really what's needed is a grown-up woman with breasts and some toned thigh.

The always swoon-worthy Marion Cotillard does a much better job of the same bikini in her Mario Testino shoot for Vogue, but I could only find these tiny picture to show you.

Pret-a-surf appears to currently only be stocked in the US. Although they do appear to have an online shop that ships to pretty much everywhere, I don't buy swimwear without trying it on first. Especially when it costs more than £100 and I still can't afford to be buying anything really nice at the moment if it's not from the car boot sale. But I really do want that bikini an awful lot. Sigh.

Talking of car boot sales, last weekend was a particularly successful one on that front. he sun brought out some good sellers. I found a cute Luella black shirt for £4, with white polka dots, black rhinestone buttons and tiny bows and ruffles on the cuffs. It's a bit big for me but will look good tucked into something high waisted I hope, or just left open as a light alternative to a jacket this summer. Other treasures from my weekend haul include a black Moschino Couture pencil skirt and a rabbit fur and silk cardigan for £3 each at my local primary school's summer fete. Not bad.

Magpie meets The Queen

2010-07-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

This may sound a little far fetched, but I did actually meet HRH last week. Ok, maybe meet is a bit of a strong term for it. But I was there, she was there, other Royals were there, hands were shaken, it was all very exciting.
It was the day of the England match, no not the ridiculously predictable one against Germany, but the one we actually won against Slovenia or Slovakia or someone like that. We had been let out of work early so that everyone could watch the match.
Of course, not really being a fan of football and generally finding the synthetic fibre-y-ness of football uniforms pretty awful, I was fairly uninterested. I'll watch men in crisp white tennis outfits on TV relatively happily, or even cricket, but football is really only exciting if you're actually there. Or drunk. Or if it's a hugely significant match and you're with all your friends. I was sober and in Southwark surrounded by office types who had all also been let out early and the idea of cramming into a smelly pub with them was quite horrible.
So I went for a stroll along the Southbank, up towards the Royal Festival Hall. It just so happens that around the same time I was wandering along, the Royals were preparing to arrive at said Festival Hall for Prince William's convocation into the Royal Society. So I joined the small handful of onlookers and paparazzi and the vast number of Festival Hall staff, security and police, to watch them arrive.
I even managed to take some pictures.

Let's start with Wills. Prince William really isn't hot. He has a very noticeable bald patch developing. I would need some serious gifts to go there. Maybe my own yacht would do it. But he is good at safe, boring suits. He gives them a bit of a James Bondish edge - very English, very plummy, a little bit dashing despite the bald spot. I don't know who this one is by, but I think a bit of Burberry and Dunhill would work for William. Kim Jones could work wonders on that man. Maybe after that I wouldn't need the yacht.

Princess Anne is definitely my favourite of the bunch. She's managed to have the same 70's Edwardian revival hairstyle for more than forty years now, which you have to respect. And she never has to go through the painful ritual of brushing out the backcombing. And look, she's rocking this summer's nudes! Plus those pearls. Those pearls are the only thing I actually want from the Royal family.

Now let's look at the matriarch. Frankly there is no excuse for this. I actually quite like the Queen, but this is just heinous, isn't it? There are hundreds of young, talented designers who could seriously benefit from her majesty's patronage but she chooses to go out in this. Who is this by? They should be ashamed of themselves. Ick.

Although she does have an awesome car...

This week has also been good for spotting royalty. Well, fashion royalty anyway. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me, but I was waiting for my dad at the Eurostar arrivals door in St Pancras when out walks none other than Giles Deacon. He was in a very snug fitting breton t and his trademark glasses and he was with a woman was carrying a very large pink Ungaro bag. What do you mean did you try and speak to him? What do you think I am, a journalist or something? Um...

Tom Ford, I think I love you even if you are a bit creepy...

2010-06-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Tom Ford is a bit creepy right, it's not just me? Don't get me wrong, I think he's brilliant and would be completely starstruck if I was ever lucky enough to meet him.
But he's just too smooth looking.
When a man is so focused on his veneer it's always a bit odd. I don't know why. It shouldn't be really. Especially for me, as JFK takes a lot of pride in the way he looks and is almost always dressed impeccably in a crisp white shirt, black jeans with turn ups, slicked back hair and shiny, shiny shoes. And he makes me go weak at the knees.
But Tom Ford takes it too far - he's too perfect, too glossy and too 'done'. Like those ladies who lunch who look amazing until they try to move their faces and you realise that they are physically incapable of movement above the neck and probably stay thin by eating baby food because they have no other choice as their jaw is too damaged by surgery to actually chew anything.
The difference is that when Tom Ford moves it doesn't look painful and we all follow instead of recoiling in disgust. This is possibly because he looks like sex and money, but that's not really enough otherwise we'd all be following oily men on yachts and frankly I can't be the only one who finds that idea a bit repulsive. No, I think it's actually because he appears to be as much of a perfectionist about everything he touches as he is about his own appearance, and we all want some of that perfection.
He's sort of like King Midas, but with style instead of gold.
His film, A Single Man, won over most audience members by being styled to perfection. When the characters emoted, moved (or ceased to), or just sat still, they did it so stylishly you cried.
His perfumes are equally well considered, although they are a bit heady for my taste and far too expensive to ever be within my reach unless I win the lottery, in which case I probably would still find better things to spend my millions on. Like a big country house I could fill with thousands of kittens. Or Alexander McQueen shoes.
They are also beautifully packaged. The only misstep is that the hyper-sexualised imagery he uses to sell them is beginning to feel a bit passe now. Gratuitous nudity is getting a bit dull. In fact at the moment every time I see a photo shoot or an exhibition with yet more pictures of private parts in it, I wince. We want to smell sexy, not have sex shoved in our faces on the tube when reading a magazine.
But the thing that has made me fall head over heels in love with this slightly creepy yet profoundly talented and oddly wonderful man is his lipsticks.
I know I'm a bit late to jump on this bandwagon, but even the thought of stepping inside Selfridges with my bank balance the way it was was just too depressing, let alone trying on a £35 lipstick. Yes, £35. Really. I'm not lying. I know, it is INSANE. But I was paid on Friday, and while I can't exactly afford any of the things I was hoping I would be able to, I did allow myself £40 to spend in Selfridges sale.
I managed to pick up an Alexander Wang racer back dress and vest for £20 each, so was feeling fairly pleased with myself. And then I went to the beauty hall, resolving to spend nothing, try as much as I could, and maybe scab some free samples of things. Instead I got to the bottom of the escalator and was immediately distracted by the Tom Ford lipstick stand where a woman was having the most perfect lipstick colour I have ever seen applied. I tried every single one of the Tom Ford lipsticks on the back of my hand, and he has not put even a hair on a toe wrong, let alone a whole foot. They look a bit bling and undeniably Tom Ford-ish - satisfyingly chunky rectangular cubes of white and gold with the legend TF imprinted into the lipstick inside. They are perfection in a lipstick.
I tried on True Coral, an intense orangey pink that would normally be terrifying. And it was, yes, perfect (are we bored of this word yet? I can't help using it here, sorry). It lasted through a shower and a private view at the Serpentine Gallery and even a bit of snogging.
Of course I didn't buy it - £35 is my food budget for an entire week and I'd just spent my fripperies allowance on Wang. But I think I probably will eventually. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a good match for the colour on every other beauty counter in Selfridges and in Boots, Liberty and Fenwicks. Nothing really comes close. I haven't tried any of the other colours on properly yet, I was too scared of what it might do to me. I don't think my brain can handle wanting that many lipsticks so intensley at one time.
I take it back, if I won the lottery I would buy all the Tom Ford lipsticks in multiples. I would give them to my closest friends. I would give them to my mum and all my cousins. Because you have to share this kind of love or else it will consume you.

Sales wish list entry number 5 - the Olivia Rubin dress

2010-06-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

A good dress is a truly wonderful thing. I have a lot of dresses, but only around three them really classify as a good dress. A good dress is a rare jewel in the wardrobe - something you can put on with or without any other covering and know you look good without even looking in the mirror.
My Acne sack is one of those dresses. Short, black, low backed, sleeveless with small shoulder pads and cleverly cut to be super flattering, this dress and some red lipstick got me eyed up by Orlando Bloom. It's a bit dressy for day though. For that I have my mother's old 80's Joseph dress, which looks like it's actually from the 50's but is much less restrictive and more comfortable than an original 50's dress would be. I also have a nude pleated dress from H&M that fits the bill. All of these look good with heels and flats, cardigans and jackets, tights and bare legs, making them pretty much invaluable as far as I'm concerned.

Some designers know how to do good dresses, and some just think they know. Olivia Rubin actually does know, and she is really, really nice to boot.
You'll know her dresses if you read the weekly glossy magazines here in the UK, as they're often worn by those in the limelight who want to walk the line between accesible feminity and scary fashion.
But aside from generating a nice bit of publicity, most of those celebritys are doing those dresses a bit of a disservice really. They might wear them once or twice before relegating them to the back of the pile, but these are not dresses for relegation. They should be worn as often as physcially possible.

Rubin has marked down her current collection by 40% on her website, and the prices are actually quite reasonable for anyone who has been paid in the not too distant past (ie not me)...
I've been coveting the Matisse (above), reduced to £179.90 from £257, since I first saw it all those months ago now, so on to the wish list it goes.

Although, like the Acne, it's a bit too fancy for every day wear, to me it looks like the kind of dress you could wear for a dinner party, party party, cocktail party or for looking like a glamorous wastrel knocking back tequila with beer chasers with EDF at a certain soho bar... basically it's a good times good dress. As long as your good times don't involve red wine because that could be a disaster. Lots of black smudgy eye liner is the only other bit of styling that would be essential with the Matisse - otherwise hair up or down, heels or flats, fur coat or cagoul, it doesn't really matter. I think it'd even look ok with wellies.
Next month Rubin launches a new diffusion range of jersey t-shirts, oli rubi, including a loose fitting t with her trademark brickprint about which I am irrationally excited in a way that would disturb most of my family and friends.

Sales wish list entry number 2, 3 and 4 - net-a-porter shoe special

2010-06-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today is the longest day of the year in the UK, and boy does it feel like it. It's been one of those days - the ones where you just about juggling everything and then someone tells you that your monthly pay form never reached the finance department and you want to go and cry in the toilet, but you can't. Anyway, all the deadlines were met. Well, most of them. And HR have promised that they've fast tracked my new pay forms and I'm at home sitting on my big comfy white bed and now it's time to relax... which is why I've been inflicting more pain on myself by looking at the shoes in the net-a-porter sale. I'll get onto the clothes when I'm feeling a bit stronger.

So here are the best, the worst and what's made it onto the wish list.

Let's start with the worst, and boy we're not spoilt for choice in that category this season. But these are truly, truly heinous - thigh high, slouch Uggs. I can't even think of anything else to say about them, they are so awful. My poor eyes.

Australia Luxe Collective slouch thigh high boots reduced from £280 to £168 (but surely no-one can be so blind as to spend that kind of money on something so awful, right? Please just agree with me or I may want to end it all).

Now let's move on to the most wanted. First we have these pleasingly chunky black suede platform sandals from Marni, a measly £322...

Marni suede platform sandals reduced to £322 from £460

Moving up the chain of desire, Donna Karan shares second place with Maison Martin Margiela, although the Margiela's are actually approaching affordability at £192.50, while the Donna Karan's are still way off in fantasy land at the rather random £312.50.

Donna Karan Linen-canvas platform sandal reduced to £312.50 from £625

Maison Martin Margiela Overlap leather pumps reduced to £192.50 from £385

But top of the list are these. I just want to stroke them and stare at my feet in them. I'd keep them in dust bags and clean them with a special brush and everything (that is probably a lie, but they would definitely be kept in their box).

Thakoon strip-section suede sandals reduced to £385 from £770

Are there any that make your heart flutter? Do tell.

Sales wish list entry number 1 - the Mulberry bag

2010-06-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today it is sunny, my phone bill is about to bounce from my regular bank account and my other bank have infomred me that they will be charging me £300 in overdraft charges this month.
I also have some new followers. Hello!
But let's get back to the serious business - the sales. We have already established fairly firmly, I think, that I will not be buying anything in the sales as I literally do not have the money. Not even a credit card of pretend money, which is probably a good thing. But then I don't get Christmas presents either and I still did a Christmas wish list, so what's to stop us from enjoying a bit of sales-related wishful thinking this month? Do let me know if you have your eye on something lovely, unless of course you're trying to keep it a secret in case it sells out before you lucky people with money can buy it yourselves.
First lets have a gander at Mulberry, still generally my favourite purveyor of bags despite their laptop-related sexism (no, I still haven't forgotten about that).

There are a few rather good things in the sale preview on Mulberry's rather unweildy website - mostly veering towards the less-girly, more utilitarian holdall as a lot of the prettier stuff they've marked down is touched with a tinge of the hideous or impractical.
First there's the Mabel holdall, reduced from £995 to £497. Then there's the putty smudged leopard print version of the Picadilly, basically a giant Bayswater, now £447, reduced from £895. Usually I hate prints on bags, but a grey-scale print on a bag this big and simple I will allow.

Both of these are still rather expensive, but this is a wish list and therefore doesn't have much to do with practicalities.
At the more affordable end of the spectrum there's the lovely Bayswater laptop holder, although this is still only available for 13" mac books so the less said about that the less angry I will be. The Ledbury, although a member of the Bayswater family, is a complete waste of time - it's tiny and frankly ridiculous.
But the one, and there can only be one, that makes the sales wish list is this;

A beautiful burnished antiqute gold Bayswater clutch, reduced to £385 from £550. It's a classic, will take a good battering in its stride and still look great and will go with pretty much everything, adding some relaxed structure to a slouchy outfit and adding a bit of edge to a more polished look. And it won't date, which is pretty important when it's still this expensive even with the mark down.

I also feel I should share with you the details of another event that I would love to be able to buy things at - the Elle MacPherson intimates and Stella McCartney lingerie sample sale. It starts today (16 June) and runs til tomorrow (17 June, obviously) and is at Bendon UK, Axtell House, 3rd Floor, 23-24 Warwick Street, W1B 5NQ. They're charging £2 to get in, which is pretty much all I have in my wallet right now. (If you're feeling generous I'm a 32d / size 10-12.)

In other news, I have now managed to draw on the sewing guides and pin together the pieces for my raw silk skirt. This took about two hours and was aided by a serious dose of 90's nostalgia with My So Called Life and Daria. Next, and most scary, stage - sewing it all together. I have a few misgivings about this, but will hopefully begin tonight. Stay tuned for the inevitable blood, sweat and swearing at the sewing machine.

Pain, pain and more pain

2010-06-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

So the sales have started. I have had in my possession a card-holders preview voucher for the Liberty sale for over two weeks now. It sits in my wallet unused, staring at me forlornly as I fish around for the final 2p coin I need to add to the pile of shrapnel that is paying for my dinner.
In the past week, more that ten sales invites have popped into my inbox. They taunt me with their bright colours and pretty pictures. They talk to me. And they are mean. They say "har de har har, we've come to prod your financial bruises with the sharp stick of discounted fashion things that you have wanted for ages and could actually afford in the sales if you had been paid and weren't a financial failure." (What they lack in brevity they make up for in maliciousness.)
And I haven't even begun to talk about the magazine and newspaper features about what to buy now to take you through autumn, or the best 20 dresses in the sales, or how to get the best sales bargain, or the myriad of other repetative and uninventive sales features that inevitably pop up both in print and online around now. I just can't. It's too painful.
On the plus side being poor has inspired a proper return to some of my more resourceful ways. I'm cooking more and taking packed lunches to work every single day, which is healthy. And even on my tiny budget I can still work on my never ending wardrobe evolution project.
I came back from the car boot sale with a brilliant pair of bright pink Topshop heels with a t-bar strap and a dove grey, buttery soft suede Nicole Farhi coat. On my way back, walking along the main road in Queen's Park with B, we spotted a piece of paper pinned on to a tree advertising a vintage sale in someone's hallway. Of course we had to go, and B, as is so often the way, knew the girl who was selling the clothes who allowed me to take away a black 1940's hat with the promise of paying her when I get paid. I have now given B an old display cabinet my mum was getting rid of and she will pay for the hat. I like this swapping of things, it feels useful.
I am also in the first stages of making a full skirt using some of the beautiful peachy-pink raw silk that I brought back from India and a 1950's pattern I bought off ebay aeons ago. I have cut all the pieces and retrieved my battered old sewing machine, a 16th birthday present, from my mum's house. Now I just need to draw the sewing guides onto the fabric (if I don't it will end up a very wonky skirt). But there are ten panels, a waistband and four tab pieces to do and I have hit a bit of a motivation wall. Hopefully this won't end up as just another project that ends up languishing in a corner reminding me that I never finish things...

One to watch: Kelly Bergin

2010-06-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's miserably grey in London today, but the temperatures have been pretty impressive for the last few days. I am not do good at dressing for hot weather in the city. Especially at the moment as I am having a bit of an 'i-have-put-on-weight-and-now-hate-everything-in-my-wardrobe-that-is-strappy-and-isn't-black' crisis.
In LA they know how to dress for hot sticky weather (although they don't have to contend with even hotter and stickier London underground and therefore the floatiness of their attire seems a bit more practical). However, generally I remain faintly underwhelmed by LA fashion off the red carpet - it's too safe but scruffy, too 'trying hard not to look like I'm making an effort'. After all, this is a place where Juicy Couture and Crocs, the byword for everything awful in footwear, are acceptable clothes for off-duty millionaires.
And it's rare that I like an LA based designers work. But Kelly Bergin is an exception.
Bergin only graduated from LA's FIDM (like the London College of Fashion but less experimental) in 2007 and launched her sportswear* line in 2009.
On her website, Bergin says her clothes offer a "modern, paired-down sensibility" featuring "classic shapes imbued with modern details". But whatever. To me her spring/summer collection says "I'm an easy summer in the city wardrobe, gaze upon me longingly while silently preying for the man with the sweaty armpits pressed next to you on the tube to get off at the next stop".
There are a few things in her spring/summer collection that look either a little aging, too young for anyone who doesn't want to look like an extra from The Hills, or just not suitable for me - but an awful lot of it is rather good...

Visit her website to see the full spring/summer collection as well as her autumn/winter 2010 collection which featured a pleasing palette of black, black and more black. A designer after my own black heart.
http://www.kellybergincollection.com/

*Sportswear is a ridiculous name for every day clothing that the fashion world adopted a long time ago for opaque reasons we are not going to go into here. Suffice to say these clothes are supposed to be of a more hanging out with your friends in the park and not worrying too much about the grass stains nature than most designer clothes, however they are still often dry clean only which kind of defeats the point.

The Lunch Break

2010-06-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

That rarest of things, a proper lunch break on a sunny day! Lovely. Of course, for someone with no money working in a grey, grey building of doom in Southwark, the logical thing was to go to the sadly diminished Borough Market to try things for free...

Hopefully after all the building work on London Bridge station is over Borough will be restored to something like its former glory, because it really is a joyful place to be. Aside from all the tourists who get in your way obviously. And all the idiots like me who only want to try things for free and take pictures of signs.

As an aside, what do we feel about the idea of tattooing stocking seams directly onto your legs? I am both repulsed and impressed - it's a real commitment to easy dressing but she might have wanted to find a tattooist with a steadier hand.

Epiphany

2010-06-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today in Sainsburys I had a very important life moment. One of those moments that tells you all about where your priorities in life lie.
As previously mentioned, I am having a small money crisis. June is not a stylish month for poverty. At least Frugal February would have a nice ring to it. But no, summer is here, I have a special preview to the Liberty sale, I want dresses and sandals and, and, and... sigh.
Anyway, I am taking each day as it comes and trying to spend as little money as possible because I need to make the £100 I have left last til the end of the month and still somehow pay the bills too. Today was a good day because I had a whole £5 note, discovered at the bottom of an old bag. I had a packed lunch and spent 55p on a roll of Fruit Pastels so I still had plenty left to spend in Sainsburys.
But at some point in her life every woman - ok, maybe not every, but a small and important minority - faces a difficult question; Vogue or food?
If I was Carrie Bradshaw when she was only slightly awful (pre season five) I would choose Vogue. But I am not. Thankfully. God that would be dreadful, wouldn't it?
In fact if forced to pick my magazine of choice is more likely to be Elle or something more expensive and harder to find like The Gentlewoman or Lula or Bon or Pop.
However today I realised that my commitment to fashion is definitely secondary to my love of food and the need for toilet paper. So it's hello fresh peppers and tomatoes and other things to make my new best friend pasta taste half way decent and help me deal with the fact that having no money basically forces you to exist mainly on carbs which goes against everything I usually believe in.
Maybe next month when I finally get paid I'll make up for it with a magazine binge...

Paying the rent, possibly only in wellies

2010-06-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

So it's officail, until June 26th I am broke. And not broke in a mangeable, can pay the rent but might need to take packed lunches and no shopping kind of way, which I am usually pretty good at avoiding anyway. No, broke in a holy Mr Kipling what am I going to do aside from invoke the god of easy to find cake kind of way.
I am entirely blaming work and not my ridiculous spending habits and frivolous holidays to South Africa and Wales for this - they've changed the system by which they pay me so I essentially have to wait two months to get paid. I haven't been paid since mid April and on June 9th I have a £1000 bill to pay. There is currently £70 left of my overdraft and the bank card for my secret account for emegencies has stopped working all together due to lack of funds. Oh joy.

If anyone has any (preferably legal) ideas, please do send them my way.
In the meantime let us discuss something far more sartorially interesting - Wellington boots. I have a long-standing love for wellies. I love wellies so much I even went through a phase of wearing them to school when I was in sixth form and suddenly liberated from the strictures of school uniform and dyed my hair pilar box red.
Now, of course, I know that this is a bit odd. But every now and then it is actually appropriate to wear wellies.
No, not those god awful patterned bright pink things that they sell in the women's section of every supermarket these days. More the black or green kind that still have a light dusting of mud on them and are found in large groups in the back hallways of country houses.
Hunters are good, but new ones defeat the point really and if you team them with a white satin wedding dress and fur stole on a beach, as in the adverts on their website, you are possibly a bit wrong in the head - also if you buy Jimmy Choo for Hunter you are dead to me.

Wellies actually look great with thick opaque tights and something very short combined with a big jumper, possibly one that belongs to your boyfriend (or someone else's if that's easier), and a Burberry mac.
Honestly they do.
This outfit also has the added bonus of making you look young enough to get ID'd while buying Welsh whisky (which burns in the best kind of way, but is really the only thing to drink when sitting next to the hearth of a roastingly hot fire). This weekend, spent in a glorious part of north Wales courtesy of B's grandpa who has the perfect ramshackle, floor-caving-in, open fire and lack of electric lighting, warren-like old cottage, was a fine opportunity to sport said look.
On people either skinnier or more confident about their inner thigh area than me, they also look good with a pair of skinny jeans tucked into them.
But reader, beware, wellies are not so good for climbing trees in, going to crowded places where stepping on someone's foot because you don't know where your shoe ends because you're wearing six pairs of socks, or teaming with the hideous 'new' trouser - the Hoolihan, which has the most unfortunate, yet surprisingly apt, name.

If I don't work out hwo to pay my rent fairly sharpish I may have to start selling off my beloved clothes. Buying new shoes is definitely a no-no, so it's a good thing wellies are long lasting as they may be the only thing I have left.

Objects of desire - Mulberry

2010-05-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Before Christmas I posted about how I was cross at Mulberry for being all sexist with the sizing of its Mac book covers. But now all is, almost, forgiven. Why? Well...

These lovely new bags are known as The Neely, come in red, black and nude and are Mulberry's latest offering. For me they tick all the boxes right now; practical straps, simple shape, proper anti-tube-pickpocket clasp, beautiful coloured leather, not too 'it', completely unaffordable (£450 in case you were wondering. The kind of price that makes me cry into my newspaper, along with the smell of anything containing sugar thanks to this ridiculous attempt at eating only protein having read about the Dukan diet in Grazia - today was going well until I found an untouched bag of coconut marshmallows left over form South Africa) and make me a little bit drooly. Yes, I am easily swayed but I refuse to apologise for it this time.

Things I have learnt since my return

2010-05-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Did you miss me? I have returned from my spontaneous and rather glorious two week holiday in South Africa where I visited the lovely EDF and her supremely warm and welcoming, and occasionally a little scary, family. I'm not going to bore you too terribly with the details of my trip, just give you a few edited highlights;

1/ I stroked a BABY LION. I wanted to bring one home with me, but having been involved in a nasty dog/car interface the day before I thought I'd better not do anything further to invoke too much bad animal karma.

2/ Cape Town has the most beautiful pub crawl I have ever seen. I am not usually a big drinker, but that doesn't seem to be an acceptable thing in South Africa and EDF's uncle George is extremely persuasive when it comes to drink. In LA, almost every South African I met would be considered an alcoholic. In London they'd just be those people who you think are really cool because they can hold their drink and be funny while all you can do is try and stop the room from spinning and grin.
George took us on something he calls 'the deep south tour' around the southern coast. I went green and threw up before we finished, but it was tremendous fun and drinking mini bottles of jack daniels as shots while looking at views like these is an unforgettable experience in the best kind of way.

3/ There's nothing like a bit of attention from a good looking younger man to make you feel a bit better about yourself. Of course I would never actually do anything, I am a one man woman, but it's still nice to feel attractive.

4/ My closest friends are some of the best people you will ever meet in your whole life. EDF is one of them. If you ever meet her know that you are in the presence of good stuff. She also makes an awesome mix CD.

5/ If your beloved camera dies, an HTC Desire phone is not a bad alternative. All the photos above were taken on my phone after my Canon G9 died in the first couple of days of my trip.

Things I have learned since returning to London;

1/ Being able to walk around the city is really very wonderful. I don't want to live for too long in a place where you can't amble around aimlessly and have to drive everywhere.

2/ Cheap maxi-tube skirts from Topshop might be fun, but they do tend to go baggy at the knees after half a days wear. It's my own fault for attempting to channel Daisy Lowe in the Vogue supplement I suppose - I'm old enough to know better, but I have decided I need to just dress the way I want to as much as possible while I'm still young enough to wear stupid things.

3/ Topshop makeup is ace. Kind of makes up for the skirt thing. I'm in love with the lipsticks - Narsesque crayons that glide on super easily and don't dry your lips out.

4/ Navy blue suede vintage Celine waistcoats are awesome and surprisingly versatile. Mine was discovered in a vintage shop on Long Street in Cape Town - a place highly recommended for vintage shopping - but has really come into its own with the maxi skirt and the warmer London weather.

5/ The perfect pair of sandals doesn't exist.

6/ Hot weather can be extremely disturbing for someone sensitive to bad clothing choices.

7/ It can also reveal some pretty awful things, like the woman on the tube who saw it as an opportunity to flaunt her toenails which she had grown long and pointy and had painted in a burgundy colour with an intiricate cream pattern to match her fingernails. This is the kind of sight that can scar you for life.

At the Dover Street Market Market

2010-05-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Having been holed up at home for most of the bank holiday weekend with an evil chest infection that is still lingering on, I finally braved the outside world for the promise of affordable Lanvin.
The Dover Street Market Market was really quite something, and possibly goes down as my favourite sample sale yet. The first one took place two years ago at art dealers Phillips De Pury and was basically a way for DSM to shift its old stock in a fun, and relatively cheap, manner. They saved up enough stock to run the sale for three days and obviously did well enough out of it to want to do it again so have been squirriling away loads of Commes des Garcons (of course) as well as some of the other fine designer goods that have failed to shift on, or possibly never even made it on to, the shop floor.
The main bonus of this for me, aside from the clothes actually being vaguely within my price range and the event appealing hugely to my general love of market rummaging, bargain hunting and beautiful clothes, is that the sale takes place in much less intimidating surroundings than the actual DSM shop on Dover Street, which, as we have discussed before, is quite a scary place as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, I was there on the final afternoon and worried that a lot of the best stuff would have gone. On the plus side the queue wasn't too long, on the minus side the queue was outdoors and it began hailing just as I arrived. Of course the sun came out just as I was about to step inside.

The queue

The queue's shoes

The queue jumper

Inside was a treasure trove but sadly my camera battery died so I can't prove it to you.
I spent three hours rummaging through and trying on and more money than I could afford, naturally. No Lanvin, and sadly a number of gorgeous Boudicca dresses were still too expensive even at 80% off. The saddest moment of the day was giving up on a pleated pale chiffon goddess dress by Giambattista Valli which would have necesseitated having a rib or two surgically removed if I was ever going to get it to fasten all the way up. Realistically it was too expensive anyway, and also very very impractical. One of those occasion dresses you fall in love with even through you know that you are deeply unlikely to ever be invited to that kind of occassion (for me this is summer weddings - I have never ever been invited to one but have at least two 'summer wedding' dresses).
But I did come out with a beautiful bright red, knee length, stiff silk YSL for Dover Street Market skirt with round pockets on the front and a tie string waist (£80), a swishy short Alma Aguilar black skirt with a thick balck velvet wasitband tied with a bow (£60) and a transparant, beautifully light and palest pinky lavender Phi (RIP) top (£20), all of which I completely love. And there was no fighting, no flinging of clothes and no elbowing.
I wish all sample sales were as civilised and successful as that.

Bad blogger

2010-05-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I am a bad blogger. I have been to all sorts of places, done all sorts of things and had some pretty heavyweight conversations in the past week, but I couldn't get my head around writing about them.
I apologise.
In my defence, I did get half way through a post about baring legs in the spring weather, but it started raining and suddenly the post seemed a bit irrelevant.
Anyway, here is where I play catch up. In the last week my relationship has gone to the edge and back. Maybe not quite all the way back, but back enough to be able to breathe. There have been some tears and some heart rending moments, but there have also been some pretty lovely moments for the two of us this week as well and things feel generally much better.
Moving swiftly on, I have a rather good story about getting eyed up by Orlando Bloom at the ballet. I shall hopefully be dining out on this for a while because it makes me feel rather better about myself that I have for quite a while.
It is rare that I get any good perks through work, unless your idea of fun is attending a lecture by a semi-world famous architect in your spare time, so I jumped at the offer of two tickets to the ballet at an evening hosted by Audi. Yes, Audi the car makers. No, don't ask me why they invited an architecture journalist to a performance of Cinderella, because I have no idea. But I am very grateful they did. I took JFK as my date and decided to get my legs out in my black Acne sack dress and Topshop heels with my hair scraped back into a ponytail, lots of black eye liner and red lipstick. I even ditched my glasses for the dreaded contact lenses.
We had amazing grand tier seats. We were surrounded by tv celebs of the nicer kind. There were canapes of steak on a single chip and crab cakes and champagne during the intervals and a lobster buffet after the performance, which was fun, but a bit patchy. The principal dancers, cinderella and her prince played by Marianela Nunez and Thiago Soares, were very good in my humble opinion so I was thrilled that they came back to meet the celebrities meaning I could get them to sign my programme. She was scarily sinewy up close, he was a bit of an old-fashioned hunk of the type that belongs on the cover of a Mills and Boon bodice ripper.
And I am fairly sure Orlando Bloom eyed me up. And then gave JFK a wink. So either he is gay, fancied us both, thought I was a prostitute or just through JFK had done well. I'm plumping for the latter as it is much better for my ego. The upshot of all this is, although I have never previously fancied Orlando Bloom, I now have filthy dreams about him.
Last weekend I also had my feet nibbled by fish in a bucket in the name of smoother skin.
Possibly the weirdest beauty treatment I have ever tried, it simply involves plonking your feet in a bucket of warm water with lots of tiny cleaner fish in it which then proceed to eat the dead skin off you feet. It sounds pretty foul, but feels surprisingly ok, especially when administered by a man with extremely nice arms and that traveller-bum thing going on that is, occasionally, more than a trifle attractive to look at (as long as you don't start asking him about his travels because anything he says is pretty much bound to be completely tedious).

(Nibbly fish)

The stall with the nibbly fish is in the newly opened and revamped stables market in Camden. Not what it once was, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I quite liked it. There were some interesting stalls and it had a nice atmosphere and I may even go back. Could this be the re-birth of Camden?
Although Camden makes me feel old, and brings back a disturbing mixture of memories from my teens and early twenties, I do hope it does have a renaissance because I am very fed up of East London.
On Wednesday I attended a Science Museum Late which focused on the issue of beauty. Aside from meeting some very interesting people, including the editor of marieclaire.co.uk and the curator of the museum's new gallery of sustainable fashion, the event was also unexpectedly fascinating. Sponsors L'Oreal assembled an impressive group of speakers for a round table discussion on why beauty matters and what beauty is.
Sadly, the panel neatly sidestepped some of the more interesting audience questions about skin lightening in india and the use of parabens in cosmetics, but there was a lot of talk about the importance of self esteem and identity that got me thinking. No talk about the flip side of course, the feelings of inadequacy beauty can engender in both the young and old, the frankly sinister spectre of plastic surgery or the fact that my little cousin feels that without a thick cake of make-up she is invisible.
Fashion and beauty have also always gone hand in hand, and there was no discussion of how our notions of beauty have changed with fashion or why. But it certainly got me thinking, and I shall be coming back to this at some point in the future.
Other things that have happened - I gave my cousin a make-under and she gave me a make-up, the result being that she looked like a less intimidatingly perfect version of Gwen Stefani and I looked like an oompa loompa that had an accident with the blusher. And today I went to the final day of the Dover Street Market market and spent too much money. More on this tomorrow. I promise.

A suitably manic weekend

2010-04-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

I have recently been worrying about my age. I know this is ridiculous at the age of 27, but I feel like I haven't been making the most of my twenties. I rarely stay out late and don't do very many crazy spontaneous things these days, and I thought that was the way I liked it. But a recent bout of existential crises has made me panic about not getting enough of this stuff in before I turn 30.
Yes, I am aware this is completely ridiculous because there is really nothing wrong with wanting to sleep and eat all weekend instead of going out and taking drugs and being cerrrrrAzy. But never the less I am worried.
So worried in fact that I have accidentally-on-purpose planned an intensley manic weekend of the kind I wouldn't even have attempted at 17 when early morning starts were basically outlawed making it much easier to stay out late for more than one night in a row.
After work tonight I will be attempting to find a pirate costume as later I will be attending Miss L Trouble's night at the Barfly dressed as said pirate.
The night will no doubt be the usual mix of stress on behalf of my friend - who may or may not have bitten off more than she can chew - mild discomfort at seeing a host of old faces, lots of drinking, admiring of people's outfits and, hopefully, dancing like an idiot.
In the wee small hours of saturday morning, probably with my eye patch still glued to my face, I will wake up with a bad hangover and a serious grump on to schlep to my mum's house to be there so my cousin can pick me up at 6am with all our stuff to do a stall at the car boot sale in Kilburn again.
We should finish with the car boot at about three, at which point I will have been awake for ten hours with a hangover.
The plan then is to go home, have a shower and head to Brixton to celebrate little J's birthday before heading to the Royal Opera House to see Cinderella at an event hosted by Audi. I have been promised a starry guestlist at said event, including Jeremy Clakson, who had better stay away from me because in my worse-for-wear state his appearance may make me physcially ill.
After this I will either be heading back to Brixton for a continuation of little J's birthday celebrations, or to bed. Or possibly to another party.
And then on Sunday I have to hold myself together for lunch with mum who will want to know all about my life.
I am terrified of waking up on Monday morning as a slobbering sleep-deprived idiot with a head full of noxious drink fumes. Which is what you're supposed to do in your twenties, right?

Jewellery ideas that are a bit silly but I like them anyway...

2010-04-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have found myself with a few spare minutes this week and am not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with them. There's not enough of them at the right time to do anything worthwhile that won't see me a/ hungover b/ wracked with guilt about how much I've spent or c/ trying to get home from Chiswick, so instead I have been rediscovering some old past times. One of those is reading proper books, which I have been trying to squish in to the tiny free moments I've had over the past weeks fairly unsuccessfully.
Now I have a bit more time in the evenings I'm racing through some of my favourite novels again. The stories in Gullivers Travels may no longer seem at all unlikely after months and months spent reading the depressing or absurd stories that pass for news in the newspapers every day but they are a bit of a relief.
I'm also enjoying some time to rediscover all the blogs I used to look at. Here are two of the silliest/greatest things I have seen on the blogs this week;

Stiletto x Eric Kayser x Mauboussin via viacomit.net
Some bright spark at Stiletto magazine had the idea to put a 7 carat Mauboussin ring inside a loaf of bread by master baker Eric Kayser and then give it away. Nice idea but surely a major choking/tooth shattering hazard? However giving this away to some lucky customer is certainly a good way to get people to come to your new bread shop in its opening week. (This is happening in Paris by the way. But of course.)

Chewed by Tuesday (can't remeber how I stumnbled upon this one)
Chewed by Tuesday is frankly a brilliant idea for people like me who like weird things. Created by Melbourne-based designer Vivienne Gibson and inspired by Brooklyn (the place in NY, not something banal) and stationery, the first range features only two pieces - a solid silver bic penlip and a solid silver bic penlid with a chewed end. Becasue who doesn't chew the ends of their pen lids. Well, JFK doesn't, but then he is very precious about his pens and would rarely sink to the level of the humble bic biro.

(pictures from http://www.chewedbytuesday.com/)

At $250 each plus postage they're more than a little bit out of my price range, but I want one, if not both, very badly indeed.

Lovely things for sale - Chanel, Max Mara and YSL on the cheap!

2010-04-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Moving seems to inspire the urge to cleanse in even the most hoardy of hoarders. And for me it's been like shedding a skin, I've got rid of enough stuff to fill most people's lives already. However, with a clothes habit like mine there's always something more that could go and so it is with these pieces. Sad as I am to bid adieu to designer clothing, they deserve a better life - one in which they will get worn instead of sit in storage or at the back of a sad Argos plastic rail being ignored. Like the not-always-bright person that I am, I have decided to get rid of some decidedly wintry pieces just as it finally feels like its time to start thinking about sandals and flippy skirts. So I thought instead of putting them up on ebay and getting less than they are worth, I would offer them to you, my beloved blog readers, for cheaps with the knowledge that they will go to a good home.
I apologise that my photography leaves a little to be desired and hasn't captured any of the vividness of the colours properly, especially on the YSL, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what each piece is. Please do email me and make me an offer if you can't afford the prices I'm asking. I take cheques or paypal and postage is £2.95 per item. Plus you'll also get a surprise bonus gift (but don't get too excited, it might be a perfume sample you hate).
Also, I promise that all the funds raised by the sale of these items will not be spent on anything at all sensible.

Item 1
Here we have a beautifully thick chocolate vintage velvet pencil skirt by YSL, with, and this is very important to people who like them as much as I do, nice pockets on the hip.

The label says Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche and the size label says 44, which is some sort of code for roughly a 12, although I'm happy to be proven wrong. I'm not an expert on these things, but I'm fairly sure this skirt dates form the era when Yves was still doing the designing and it's cut beautifully.

Measurements when laid flat are; waist 15"/38cm, hips 20"/51cm, length 21"/53cm, depth of pockets (very approximately) 9.5"/24cm
I'm asking £50, but if you fall in love and really can't afford it send me an offer.

Item 2
You know how the 90s are back? Well I can guarantee you that these emerald green and black Chanel shoes were there the first time round and have some pretty amazing stories to tell. They weren't originally mine, but belonged to my best friend B's incredibly glamorous mother who is still incredibly glamorous in a completely effortless Jane Birkin kind of way (no make up required).

They're still in good nick, the elastic in the straps shows no signs of deterioration and the stitched CC logo on the front is perfect with no scuffs to the leather around the toe, but we no longer have the box and the soles are a bit worn.

They're a size 41, which is a true UK 8.
I'm asking £100, and I promise to spend at least some of it on more Chanel.

Item 3
Originally part of a skirt suit that I found on one of my early-morning bargain hunting expeditions, this Max Mara Weekend jacket is a bit of a classic piece, but how many fitted wool jackets does a girl need? It is a bit sad to break it up from the skirt, but that's just how life is sometimes. Unless you are desperate for a matching wool tweed check skirt suit and want to offer me more money accordingly, I'm keeping the skirt.

Anyway, the jacket is a bit of a find. Obviously it's made in Italy (a country that makes great clothes and disquietingly pervy young men), but it's a bit like what would happen if an amazing deisgner saw a Harris Tweed jacket at some hunt in the English countryside and though, I could make that MUCH better in some lovely shades of deep warm brown and brick red. Which I suppose is probably what did actually happen. This also has great pockets.
The label says size 38, which is a pretty true 12 I believe.

Measurements when laid flat are: shoulder to shoulder 16.5"/42cm, chest 18.5"/47cm, waist 16"/41cm, hips 19"/48cm
The asking price is £70, but I will consider swapping for something equally lovely.

All of these together would make an amazing outfit, if you don't mind rocking a bit of a royal family look. Just add headscarf. However, I would recommend not doing that unless you want some pretty odd looks or Scott Schuman or some other hopeful with a camera to follow you around Broadway Market.
If you would like to buy things from far, far away (i.e. outside of the UK) drop me a line and I'll let you know what the postage costs will be.

A friend in need needs Falke

2010-04-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today I got an email from Which? titled 'Affected by the eruption?'
Don't ask me why but I found this completely hilarious.
(For those of you who don't know Which? is a consumer rights and reviews magazine which I subscribe to because occasionally it is useful when trying to choose which fridge/camera/car to buy.)
Does anyone not know that all flights in the UK and across most of Europe have been grounded because of a giant cloud of volcanic ash drifting slowly through the sky from Iceland making flying conditions a bit tricky? Apparantly, yes - at least one person on our web services team had no idea what we were talking about this morning.
There are a few upsides to this situation - my editor for example is stuck on a Spanish island which only has two flights a week anyway and probably won't be back until next week now, which is a bit of a mixed blessing becasue she's stuck in a lovely sunny place but is probably very worried about the likelihood of us doing something awful to her newspaper.
Miley Cyrus can't come to the UK to launch her new film and Chris Moyles was unable to present his breakfast radio show so England actually seems a bit nicer.
I also know a number of people who have been adversley affected by said eruption.
Among them is EDF, my favourite South African Brit and part of my very small group of friends who are so close they are practically family.
She was supposed to be flying home, having spent far too long away from the bosom of her family, and was due to arrive in time to celebrate her birthday. But it was not to be.
What do you do when one of your best friends is so miserable that they have to retreat to Chiswick? You give them Falke.
For girls who like tights, Falke are a sort of secret weapon. Moderately cheaper than the other super-opaques, Wolford's Velvet Touch, Falke's cotton touch tights are difficult to beat. Impressively ladder resistant - they even survive being jumped on and clawed at and licked and chewed repeatedly by a foot obsessed puppy - and soft and as thick and black as they promise to be without feeling like you've wrapped your leg in anti-blood clot bandages. None of this namby pamby M&S pretend-we're-opaque-til-you-put-us-on-and-can-still-see-skin-before-laddering-two-minutes-later nonsense. No, these are serious tights - armour for the legs of the urban woman.
Throw in a Mac eye-liner, one too many fizzy cocktails and a cheeseboard and you have a happier friend and a nice glowy feeling in your tummy like you've done something to make the world a slightly better place... which is much better than the sloshy feeling you usually get after one too many of those vodka and chamapgne and sugary flavouring of goodness drinks, especially if you've had to go all the way to Chiswick.

Acne comes to Dover Street

2010-04-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

I have to confess to having been too intimidated by the uber-coolness of it all to attempt to actually go into Dover Street Market.
I know that for a London fashion-fan this is a bit like being a political journalist that has never voted or a plane spotter that has never been to Heathrow airport, but seriously that place is scary.
However, the street it is on is rapidly turning into an intriguing destination for people like me - sort of like Bond Street's younger sister who has just come back from five years spent moving between Paris, Berlin and the best bits of Scandinavia after a brief stint in Japan.
And now I think it might be about to come my own personal nirvana, because Acne are preparing to open a four storey flagship shop on Dover Street in July. Four whole storeys of Acne. That's four storeys of joy as far as I'm concerned.
Inevitably it will be another scarily cool place, so Liberty will remain my favourite shop as it is the least intimidating, most comforting shop in the whole world and smells of expensive lavender. But I have made a resolution. I will not be intimidated. I will face my fears. And I will even go into Dover Street Market.
This will probably all end in tears of some sort or other. Mr Bank Manager, you have been warned - perhaps you might want to stop offering me credit cards now?

An unhealthy relationship

2010-04-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the radio silence, but I have been busy with life - moving house, a ridiculously demanding job and the small vestige of a social life I've managed to cling on to have taken up all my time.
Moving out of the parental home (years later than I should have) has been a bit of a wrench. Packing all my beautiful clothes into two giant market bags was a bit upsetting too, as is not having any proper clothing storage. I can not convey how much I hate having my carefully curated wardrobe hanging on cheap plastic Argos rails, but at least they are now unpacked.
Anyway, the new house is beautiful. The people we are sharing it with are very nice - let's call them M&S as those are their initials and it is also very apt given we have moved to the middle class nirvana of Queen's Park and there isn't a useful abbreviation for Farmer's Market. They have a lovely puppy and a haughty cat who I am determined to win over. Everything works in the kitchen and our bathroom is so pristine it looks like a hotel bathroom.
Of course, to live somewhere lovely costs money, and sacrifices will have to be made. So it's bye bye high street, bye bye Liberty and bye bye ebay. At least for a little while. Or maybe just until i can't bear it any longer.
Some people would say that my relationship with shopping is a little unhealthy. My mother certainly thinks so. She suggested that I just not buy any clothes for three months to rebalance my finances and if I couldn't do that then I had a serious problem. Perhaps I do. But it's not a problem that is hurting anyone, is it? And as long as I reign in my spending habits a bit, stick mainly to the chairty shops and car boot sales and only visit Liberty to drink tea and gaze at things longingly rather than impulse buy in the beauty department, we should be fine. And I won't want to bite anyone's head off or feel too miserable.
Sometimes mother just doesn't know best.

Ricardo Dourado 2011

2010-04-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

We're not even half way through 2010 and most of us are still waiting for spring to hit, but some designers are already showing their 2011 collections. Fashion is weird like that, but other people have explained the reasons for this, and the problems it entails in these must-have-it-now days of the internet and instant gratification. I can't be bothered to rehash.
Anyway, the important thing here is that one of my new favourite designers, Ricardo Dourado, has shown a 2011 collection in Lisbon and has, once again, created a collection I covet almost painfully. And this time the models look a bit less tiny and fragile (we're talking relativities here), meaning the clothes look better on them. Hurrah!

I would drool over this video, but having only just got my laptop back after a water/tinned peach juice disaster (thank you Apple genius bar for working your expensive but extremely calming magic) I'm scared of getting water on it.

What I love about Dourado is that his designs exude simple quality, but they're not too scarily grown up. Occasionally clothes grab you and make you want them not only because they're lovely but you can also see exactly how they would fit in your wardrobe and improve it instantly by making your cheap things look more expensive with very little effort. Sadly, his clothes are too costly for poor old me, especially because I've just handed over two very large cheques for the deposit and first month's rent on two rooms in a lovely house in Queen's Park. Huge kitchen and adorable puppy - not ours obviously, we wear too much black to actively seek out a small excitable thing that will shed hairs everywhere - included.

Of course, that said, I'm still being a bit naughty - Cos wool sack mini three quarter sleeve dress in the sale, I think I love you.

What on earth is going on?

2010-04-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have just been reading about the American Apparel rummage sale arrests and am slightly appalled. Firstly, why on earth where there thousands of people there? Did AA really have no idea what was going to happen when they started telling everyone and their mum about the event?

Also, why is it that in every other country this mediocre retailer, which relies on soft porn for its advertising campaign, can have this kind of event without sparking a riot? What are we Brits taking that makes us think it makes sense to get up at 6.30 in the morning or earlier to go to Brick Lane, queue in the cold and the rain to buy something already not that expensive at a slightly reduced price out of a cardboard box whilst battling with hoards of other people when we can get exactly the same thing from a nice warm shop for not that much more.

I know the rummage sales are usually fun, I went to the one in Berlin and it was very low-key - maybe 20 people in a square digging through some boxes, and there were a few bargains if you're into American Apparel. Yes, it was fun. But it wasn't worth queuing for. And it certainly didn't merit a scrum worthy of police security.

Can we please start behaving like relatively normal people now? Thanks.

The night of amazing shoes

2010-03-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

So last night I was invited to the launch of Saatchi's new book at the Saatchi Gallery, whicc would, of course, not be attended by Saatchi.
I don't get invited to such glamorous events very often, and in fact was EDF's plus 1. She was invited by her friend F, who apparently has the most incredible accessories collection in the whole world. EDF has been talking about her for ages, but you know how sometimes you have to meet someone to really understand why your friends have been going on about them so much? F was lovely and totally lived up to the hype. PLus she had on an Opening Ceremony dress, a huge Chanel ring that nearly made me cry with jealousy, a great studded black biker jacket, the ultimate Chanel flap bag and these amazing Miu Miu clogs...

In fact it was, generally, a night of amazing shoes. EDF spotted a few pairs of Proenza Schoulers while wearing her not new, but new to her, Chloe boots of love.

There was also some serious Burberry action, courtesy of C who works at Burberry HQ, and F's sister's gorgeous ankle boots.

Plus these rather lovely Russel and Bromley's, which belong to F and were busy crippling her firend who had to give in and take them off.

I drank rather too much chamapagne. The glasses were HUGE and it's impossible to keep track when they keep topping them up before you've had a chance to finish the first glass. I have been suffering for it today. Afterwards F and her entourage took us out for a very lovely dinner, before the sensible among us, which sadly included me, made our way home to bed. Everyone else stumbled off to Bungalow 8.

It was one of those evenings which suddenly make you realise that London can actually be pretty damn glamorous and fun every day if you hang out with the right people. And that those people aren't all vacuous and terrifying.

Unexpected product love

2010-03-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for expensive beauty products. A real sucker. I have a whole bag full of expensive make up that I rarely use.
I go through phases of loving a blusher or lipstick until it is, at most, half used and then deciding it is too pink/peach/orange/red/any combination of the aforementioned and hitting up the Liberty beauty hall for a replacement.
When I am panicking, Boots will also help, but it is less satisfying because the things do not come in stupdily nice packaging. A nicely finished cardboard box or matt plastic container will do wonders for the way I feel, although not so much good for my bank balance.
Sometimes, however, these products really are worth the money. One of those is Laura Mercier's mineral powder foundation.
For a long time I thought mineral powder sounded like it was for wimpy hippies who were scared of parabens, or people with too many allergies (I am actually a bit of both of those but try to give off the opposite impression through sheer force of will).
But then the recommendations started popping up all over the web, and I am also a sucker for recommendations. And honestly, it was worth every single penny.
It takes a bit of working in, but gives amazing coverage and doesn't mess up my skin - no clogged pores, random spots, dry bits or weirdly temporary red patches. In fact, if anything, it is actually helping clear up my skin which, despite being mercifully well behaved during my teenage years, has been bothering me for most of my 20s. It doesn't feel like I'm wearing a mask, which is how I usually feel with foundation. And everyone keeps saying my skin looks really good.
Plus, and this made me do a jolly heel kick in my head, despite my pale, pale face, I found a good colour match that wasn't even the palest option available.
But I have also discovered another product, one that came with no recommendations from my favourite bloggers. And one that is mercifully cheap. Dirt cheap. Poundland cheap.
Let's be clear here, I am not a beauty snob. I swear by cheap and cheerful classics like aqueous cream and Palmers Cocoa Butter.
But I have been on a long and arduously expensive mission to find the perfect shampoo for about as long as I can remember. I have long-ish, fine, hair that doesn't tend to hold hairstyles well. Its lack of volume makes it useless for top knots and it gets lanky and greasy very quickly.
I have tried all sorts of products from all price ranges - dry shampoo, expensive volumising things that make it feel sticky/heavy/crispy/gross, cleansing shampoos that were too cleansing, the very expensive Fekkai and similar products used and recommended by my hairdresser - all to no avail.
Then I discovered Klorane, which is expensive enough to satisfy my urge for lovely looking products (around £6 - £7 a bottle) but didn't seem too bad. And it was good for a while. But now I've found something better.
Alberto Balsalm Tea Tree Tingle shampoo and conditioner. No really, the stuff on the bottom shelf in the supermarket. It's roughly £1 a bottle and is making me ridiculously happy, despite not being in lovely packaging or making ridiculous promises on the label.
I'm going to sound like an advert fronted by a sickeningly well-paid celebrity here, which I am obvioulsy not, but it really does make my hair feel fuller, glossier and softer. And it doesn't go lank after a day. And it smells clean, but not in a creepy anti-dandruff and hospitals kind of way. It's minty and fresh and works as well for JFK as it does for me. I look forward to using it in the mornings, not something I ever though I would say about a shampoo. Or anything else for that matter - I kind of hate mornings and everything associated with them (except brunch).
Anyway, there you are, the unexpected product love.

Two exciting events

2010-03-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, they're exciting if you are me. The first takes place this weekend at the Kilburn car boot sale in north west London. I shall be getting up in the wee small hours of Saturday morning (my inner teenager is reminding me that I used to actually stay up til that time in the morning on a fairly regular basis), loading up my cousins car with enough clothes to fully furnsih two other people's wardrobes and then flogging it all off at bargain prices.
Please do come along. There will be cakes if you get there early, and alcohol if we get cold and bored.
Kilburn car boot is actually where I get most of the super-cheap second hand designer loveliness that I so often talk about on this blog, and there are an awful lot of bargains to be had if you don't mind a rummage. It opens to the general public at 11am, costs a measly 50p to get in, and is actually more like two car boot sales as it is split between two sites, one on Quex Road and one on Kilburn Park Road.
Among my goodies are a vintage camera, a full length pitch black satin strapless evening gown with tiny buttons up the back, dresses, hats, scarves, a LOT of jewellery and a basket full of fabrics and other craft and sewing bits and pieces. Mention you read my blog and I'll give you a hefty discount too.
The second exciting event is one I have told you about before, but the invitation has actually arrived now. Yes, it's the Margaret Howell sample sale. Be still my beating heart.

See that bit at the bottom where it says 'credit cards accepted'? That's the really dangerous bit. Or it would be if I was silly enough to allow myself a credit card.

Anyway, myself and Layers&Swathes will probably be there after we finish our respective jobs on the Thursday and will be grabbing a coffeee somewhere afterwards. Come and say hi and show us the practical-but-lovely things you've bought that we wanted but couldn't afford.

All change

2010-03-11T03:17:00.000-08:00

I know we're only a few months in, but I have to say that 2010 has been resoundingly shit thus far. I don't usually swear, but here it seems appropriate.
Nearly everyone I know has had a tought three months - there have been family tragedies, collapsing finances, businesses in trouble, arguments and infections. Honestly, it's like the 90s all over again, and not just on the catwalk. In my family, the 90s was not a good period - messy parental separation and breakdown, the repercussions of which we are still dealing with, and the deaths of my much loved maternal grandparents who I still miss every day.
When life is a mess and at the beginning of every day you wake up scared of what might happen next, it's the little achievements that keep you going. A lovely dinner with JFK, deciding to get rid of lots of clutter and finding new homes for things you can't bear to sell to a stranger, getting rid of shoes you really don't wear anymore, meeting your work deadlines, getting through an evening without killing your mother. These are all things to feel pleased about.
And, inevitably, I find solace in fashion. The new injection of minimalism in fashion really does appeal right now. When your life is a mess, a few well cut, clean pieces can make you at least look like you're in control. It's also time to start wearing a little bit less black (que sharp intake of breath). When you're miserable, only wearing black doesn't help improve your mood.
To that end, recent aquisitions include a pair of men's Burberry trousers in a perfect pinky-sand hue, soft and worn and perfect for wearing low on the hips and rolled up to sit just above the ankle, rescued from a pile of mens trousers at the car boot sale; a soft, pale grey, long vest from Cos; nude coloured suede ankle boots with a chunky cone shaped crepe heel from the really-quite-good-this-season River Island; A khaki green Rag and Bone cardigan with elbow patches and pockets, another carboot sale find; the perfect, 'difficult' length, Celine-beige, high waisted A line skirt (50p. At the car boot sale again); sand coloured, high waisted, deep pocketed Ralph Lauren shorts (yes, car boot sale AGAIN).
I feel like I need to show you at least some of these, but having spilt tinned peach juice on my precious beloved laptop I no longer have the facilities to do so.

Quote of the week - Alex Fury

2010-03-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

"Celine is so expensive - you can pay two grand for a camel coat - but you look at the camel coat and think, this is the best fucking camel coat I've seen in my entire life."

Showstudio.com fashion director Alex Fury perfectly sums up the appeal of Phoebe Philo's immaculately cut and so beautiful it hurts collection for Celine.

(images via Style.com)

This is the collection that pretty much defines everything about the coming spring/summer season - nudes, camels, navy blues and blacks in fitted, sharp military shapes or relaxed cocoons with the odd soft bow or waterfall drape. And lots of leather. It's going to be one that is super hard to emulate on the highstreet because it relies so much on the quality of the fabric and the cut being so precise.

But that hasn't stopped them from trying.

(Leather t shirt, £75, Wallis)

I've never wanted a leather t shirt as much as I do right now. I won't be buying this Wallis one, obviously, because it is brown, but the general idea is good.

Certain people have mentioned that I have singularly failed to acknowledge the existence of the Milan and Paris fashion weeks. No, I am not pulling a Wintour, I'm just taking my time. There's been an awful lot going in the life of the Magpie recently, and my head doesn't have enough room to process all the shows and decide what I think about them all right now. These thoughts need time to percolate.

Also, A/W11 seems a terribly long way off right now given that we're all still in A/W10 rabbit fur snoods (I wish), huddled up in long coats and layers against this persistent cold weather. The fact that it is a bit sunnier at the moment is certainly helping everyone's mood, but it isn't doing much for the temperature. Even just the suggestion of a bare leg makes me want to seek out 100 denier cashmere-blend tights in Fenwicks...

Margaret Howell and Coco De Mer - London sample sales

2010-02-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

I am in wonderful, snow covered, open fire, big dinner Yorkshire having a lovely time. But if you are in London, my advice to you is to hotfoot it to the Coco de Mer sample sale tomorrow at 108 Draycott Avenue SW3, as it's the last day and there will be achingly lovely lingerie at up to 90% off. If you see any Stella McCartney in a 32d/medium and are feeling particularly generous, you know what to do.

I, however, shall be saving my money by eating other people's food and waiting for the Margaret Howell sample sale in March which I just found out about today and is making me fidgety with anticipation. See you there?

(Margaret Howell sample sale, 25th and 26th March, The Music Rooms, 26 South Molton Lane, W1K)

Sometimes I long to be the Margaret Howell woman

2010-02-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am a fickle fashion fan and can't commit to solely loving, or wearing, one designer. But every now and then I wish I had a wardrobe entriely filled with Margaret Howell's clothes.
Although I missed all of London Fashion Week due to a very sad family loss, I have been searching out the shows I desperately wanted to see in the few spare moments I've had online.
Among them was Margaret Howell. Not a headline grabber. Not showy and flashy and most certainly not 'of the moment', Howell has always operated according to her own rules, turning out beautifully cut and refreshingly modest clothes that are easy to wear and make you feel good in your own skin. These are clothes that can be worn sans make-up on a miserable day and still make you look quietly confident and a little insouciant without even trying.
I currently own three Margaret Howell pieces - the perfect breton stripe boxy t-shirt which was an ebay bargain; a mannish blue wide pin stripe shirt found in one of the pricier charity shops in South Kensington; and one of the most expensive items I've ever bought, a below the knee, black cotton full skirt with incredibly big deep pockets on the hip. The skirt, bought last year at a sample sale just off South Molton Street, has become a cornerstone of my wardrobe - a piece I fall back on in difficult times when putting an outfit together seems like a chore rather than something to look forward to but also something I love to wear that feels like me and is suitable for almost every occasion. Plus it has those pockets. I love pockets. Pieces by Howell are that most elusive of things - timeless.
Plus Howell herself is refreshingly down to earth. Here's an excerpt from an interview with The Telegraph last year;

"Loved as she is, Howell is in many ways the antithesis of fashion. How does she fit in? 'I don’t,’ she says simply. 'We do a fashion show in the shop. It’s sort of all right, though I must say that whole week is an interruption of work.

"To me it is such a lot of time spent on certain areas like hair and make-up…

"I’m better out of the way, really.’

"On the day we meet, before my arrival, she has taken her car to be serviced and read a magazine article in the waiting-room about Anna Wintour, the whip-thin, dark-glassed editor of American Vogue. 'Anna Wintour and all that; that’s real fashion, isn’t it? That’s the world. It’s like when they all come to the show and chit and chat and drop all the names – I don’t know any of them – and “Have you got the right bag?” It’s certainly a clique and you feel outside if you are not in it.’ And do you? 'Yes, I do feel outside.’ Do you mind? She looks thoughtful, fiddles her crystal buttons. Then she smiles, 'Not in the least.’"

I am, obviously, a Howell fan and on the strength of the collection she presented at London Fashion Week for Autumn 2010 I can practically guarantee I will remain so for an exceedingly long time. Am particularly enamoured of the pop of red in the final few looks, which was totally unexpected in amongst the palette of soft greys, blacks, browns and blues... Excuse the ridiculous number of images but I am obsessed.

(images via Elleuk.com)

Today I am wearing a Howell tribute outfit, built around the black skirt with a cropped, short sleeved slate grey cashmere jumper layered over a tucked in grey and black check shirt done up all the way, black tights and crisp white lace-up plimsoles with a vinatge 80's big satin black bow hair clip for a bit of softness.

Beyond the Valley jewellery special

2010-02-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

So, a few weeks ago EDF and I were wondering fairly aimlessly through Soho and popped into one of my favourite boutiques, Beyond the Valley on Newburgh Street, to have a nosey around.

Beyond the Valley is a great place to find small labels and really different jewellery and, although they have an online shop, nothing beats a trip to the shop itself as they always have something new on their shelves. Every time I go in I come out itching to buy fabric and make things. Sometimes I even get as far as the buying fabric bit. Right now there's a small bag of creamy diamante studded tulle, the after effect of our last visit, staring at me from a bedroom shelf and making me feel guilty about having failed to turn it into something wearable.

As ever, this particular trip flagged up a number of great designers I didn't know as well as giving me an opportunity to caress a selection of super soft, fine and witty cashmere knitwear by Kind, which always makes me happy.

Kapow Wow made me want to make things more than any other. St Martin's graduate Mia Morokawa creates crazy ruffled neck pieces that look stiff and hard but are soft to the touch and surprisingly wearable.

(images from www.kapowwowobjects.com)

Also by a St Martin's graduate (they do get around, don't they?) Momocreatura takes fairy-tale woodland creatures and adds some rather nasty gory touches. I loved the more than slightly macabre pierced animal pendants, brooches and bits and pieces. Bit too dark for regular every-day wear, in fact really quite creepy, but I badly want a piece none the less.

(image via www.momocreatura.com)

But my lust-o-meter was really raised by Noemi Klein. Google might confuse her with the No Logo author, but I think I know which one I'd rather be friends with.

I especially like her twig collection, which would go rather well with my twig horseshoe ring by Alex Monroe.

(images via Beyond the Valley)

Her bird skull pieces are also pretty awesome...

That's all folks.