Couture & Crumpets

bittersweet and beautiful

2012-02-13T12:43:00.000Z

this is going to be last post for about ten days or so - hurricane fashion week is coming to town and so i'll be spending friday through wednesday negotiating the cobbles at somerset house, living off espressos and canapés, chasing designers with my dictaphone and generally getting stuck in. i'm covering the event as a fashion writer at time out, so be sure to check my twitter feed (@danielakate) for details about which platform my coverage'll be on! but, before all that, here's some nice homely pictures. i've moved twice in the last few months (and i'll be moving again in april, but that's another story), and not necessarily in the nicest of circumstances. when you have a lot of upheaval in your life, being surrounded by familiar faces and favourite objects is worth it's weight in gold. after all, home is where the heart is. when i moved in to flat #1 in september, the homewares people at urban outfitters hooked me up with some housewarming gifts, and i never got to show you! i'm in flat #2 now, but it's a little less than photogenic, so i'd like to thank the lovely lucy and carrie for opening their adorable, cottage-esque home to me to shoot these lovely items.

i do a lot of baking, so these cake tins were a must-have for me. also, i keep my jewellery that doesn't fit on my tree in them.

i loved the vintage look of this mirror - a proper old school looking-glass. also, for a hot drink addict like myself, this huge, alice in wonderland mug went straight to the top of my list. it's so comforting!

urban outfitters have a pretty impressive selection of homewares, with everything from crazy wall clocks shaped like records to wirey, pretty coat rails and my other love, lomography cameras. the prices are good, too - the most expensive thing was the mirror at £34.00. they have some huge glossy, coffee-table books which make excellent gifts. definitely, check it out!

alabama, arkansas, i do love my ma and pa.

2012-02-06T10:54:00.000Z

i think you probably only need to spend a few minutes in my company to know that i love afternoon tea. i mean, i have an entire running feature that is basically just me eating scones in various corners of london. so when the guys over at next offered to treat myself and some other blogger buddies to a little tea, you can bet i was there right away. the tea itself came at the end of a pretty manic day of running around press events, looking at everything from sunglasses to spray tans (yep, as far as the fashion world's concerned, it's already summer) i'm going to a sort of mega-post of my favourite bits and pieces to look out for - pro tip: warehouse's separates are pretty killer this season - but the tea itself warranted a post of it's own. i knew it was a pretty fancy do, so i wanted a kind of old-school tea dress for the occasion. motel hooked me up with this adorable, floral-print day dress that took me from work to play really seamlessly.

heidi dress, from motel rocks. pumps, french sole. watch, marc by marc jacobs.

the lovely sherin snapped these for me in a fancy looking town house on cavendish square - which just like portland place, is hidden behind the hustle and bustle of oxford street and is completely idyllic, and looks like it should be in a richard curtis film. do you think there's money in a "richard curtis sightseeing tour of london"? from primrose hill to portland place! we're onto a winner here. the afternoon tea was at the covent garden hotel, and i can't recommend it highly enough; everything was delicious, and modern, but still had that lovely classic feel. the choux buns were particularly good...

and to finish up - at the traffic people press day, some amazing hair genius lady managed to whip my unruly blonde mop into this cute 1940's do. what do you think of my victory rolls?

a very french affair

2012-01-30T13:56:00.000Z

ah, net-a-porter. if i wasn't worried about being slightly judged by passers-by in coffee shops, you'd be my homepage. (it's style.com instead) i check their new arrivals at the very least bi-weekly and have a wishlist on there longer than a cringy oscar acceptance speech. so when their january sale rolled around, you can bet your bottom dollar - and mine, coincidentally - that i'd be all over it. a quick bit of trawling, and BAM, i struck gold. i love the french label A.P.C - there's something distinctly parisian and cool about them. they're not try-hard, and they know they excel at basics, but they do them with exquisite tailoring and a cheeky, fashion-forward nod. lots of cool, neutral tones and cute, quirky prints with a very masculine-meets-feminine feel. their collections exude a kind of androgynous cool, yet even a super-feminine dresser like myself feels at home in their pieces because there's just this softness to their collections. this jumper was a steal at £35 down from just over a £100 - it's the softest fabric ever, and my partner in crime kristabel bought one too! pause for the obligatory "twinsies!". all i could moan about was that my order was really late being delivered, but net-a-porter gave me £25 credit to say sorry. goodness knows what i'll buy with that. diane von furstenberg iPhone case, anyone..?

me and my make up bag

2012-01-23T19:47:00.002Z

new look, new layout...how to reintroduce oneself? a lot's happened in the last few months for me; a lot of upheaval and change, some of it good, some of it bad, but ultimately, it's all progression and that's not something to be feared. really, i know change is scary. when my italian grandma so much as painted her living room walls without telling me beforehand there was more than just a lip wobble. but the great thing about change is that it shows just how much you can handle and where your real strengths lie. but, back to basics i thought. i decided to show you my cosmetic DNA if you will; the everyday beauty products i swear by, and also, AA-style, come clean about my MAC habit. oh yeah, three letters, countless beauty counters and a serious dent in my bank balance. i am ADDICTED to MAC make up, and i know i'm not the only one. but, first things first, here's my go-to palette...

pretty much every day, i use MAC's prep + prime SPF 50 base (centre). living in london, i always worry about pollution and general nasties affecting my skin, so i use this to protect my face. i use chanel vitalumiere aqua (far left) which is suuuuper light, but i mix it with the body shop's radiant highlighter (top) to make it even thinner, as i don't like anything thick at all. it just lifts my skin. the chanel product is around £30, but i honestly never buy more than 2 or 3 a year. that's how long they last! if i haven't got much sleep, which is every day, i'll use benefit's erase paste (bottom left), with l'oreal telescopic mascara (right). finally, i've been wearing black eyeliner every day since i was 13 and i've tried every single one. i swear by MAC's technakohl liner pencil in graphblack. it doesn't budge, at all. i've recently started to wear lipstick; before, it always seemed too grown-up, too sophisticated, too much for everyday wear in general. when i came to university, a lot of girls on my course wore it to lectures, and something in me just clicked. i started experimenting, and i was hooked.

my favourite's are MAC's lady danger (really, really red) and vegas volt (coral peachy) and the lady gaga viva glam one for a more fun pop of colour. i picked up the armani one for £1 at the sunday times style sample sale and it's brilliant, too. i tend to give my lips a scrub first with lush's bubblegum lip scrub to make the lipstick sit smoothly and not crack.

christmas, all wrapped up.

2011-12-21T20:55:00.001Z

do you remember, way back in the summer, when i posted about st martin's courtyard? for those of you in need of a quick refresher, it's a totally sublime pocket of london nestled behind the high street in covent garden, almost wholly obscured from street view and almost completely tourist-free. in london, that's bliss! in fact, part of me is always loathe to write about it, for fear it will be "discovered", and lose its tranquil appeal, but some things are too good to keep to yourself. i think what i love - other than the calm - is the mix of shops. there's no real high street heavy hitters - it's more smaller, cult brands. think twenty8twelve, jack wills, fashionista fave COS and pretty ballerinas. there's a lovely selection of lifestyle boutiques too, and a pop-up space that rotates art exhibitions and flash sales. but, not gonna lie, my favourite thing about this place might just be the food. first and foremost, bill's - home of seasonal, honest and delicious food, everything on the menu is worth writing home about. sure, it's ALWAYS busy, and you can be elbow-to-elbow with the table next to you, but that's kinda part of the charm. there's a jamie's italian too, for the moneybags among you, and suda, which is a cool little rice bar. myself, lucy, kristabel and jaime went for a festive wander around the shops last week, when we were invited down. check out a few snaps of my favourite bits and pieces!

a chai mojito at dishoom (restaurant below!)

snaps from the st martin's courtyard magazine

please don't ask me what any of this food at dishoom was as i have no idea - there's some puffed rice and pomegrante thing, other than that, clueless...it was all delicious though

the relax spa, above, and covent garden academy of flowers below

french beauty store melvita, suda rice bar, jack wills and pretty ballerinas.

if the shoe fits...

2011-12-18T10:37:00.000Z

i think if you've followed my blog for more than say, oh, five minutes, you'll know i love shoes. flat shoes, wedges, heels, boots...it's all good. shoe store press days are largely my favourite, and i've been known to getting overexcited at the words "five inch heel". having said that, i'm a big advocate of wearing pretty flats to parties. it was only a few seasons ago that it became socially- and sartorially - acceptable to wear flat shoes to fancy events, which we have to credit to the "cool girl effect". chloe, louis vuitton, marc jacobs, and the fact that everyone's favourite it girl alexa chung rarely wears anything higher than a couple of inches are to thank for the craze for pretty flat shoes for parties. the christmas party season can be kinda rough on a girl's tendons if you're rocking stilettos all the time, so i'm a fan of wearing cute flats. especially, as my mother would remind me, you can get away with wearing something a lot shorter if you're in flats, as it minimises that endless-look-at-my-legs thing you end up with in shorts and heels. viva la diva have the HUGEST selection of wide ladies shoes, from flats to five inches and up. if you're stuck for a pair to complete an outfit, i'd definitely say you should check them out. they've got budget options like schuh, and then luxury labels like michael kors and tory burch. there's something for every pocket, and every taste. i consider myself something a shoe shopping connoisseur (hey, i needed something other than just a collection that'd make carrie bradshaw weep after the amount i've forked out) and i really like shopping through the site. there's a brilliant section, and some pretty sweet prices.

a post in partnership with viva la diva

tick tock, tick tock.

2011-12-16T20:17:00.000Z

the most rapped-about thing of all time (after bitches and cars, i guess) has to be watches. kanye, puff, snoop...they're always bragging about their diamond-encrusted, solar-controlled, generally blinged-out time pieces. and if something being rapped about isn't enough to make you want it, then you're probably a classical music fan. but seriously, watches are one of those essential items that can be used an indicator of luxury. most people wear one, but those with a little more cash to splash will wear a swiss-made, precious-metal covered number. and those with a little fashion forward consciousness will understand they don't have to spend tonnes to get something really special. watches are a really simple, everyday way to make a style statement. it becomes part of the fabric of your outfit, and has to go with everything you own, yet, it's so easy to choose something that reflects your own personal style. it's the ultimate functional jewellery. if you're not wearing one that particularly sums up your style, or not wearing one at all, maybe it's time to treat yourself to a new one. ever since i started wearing a watch earlier this year, from time2, it's become kind of essential to my outfits, and i feel oddly naked without it. i chose something classic, but time2 have a selection of more trend-led pieces, like their vivienne westwood collection, and some real heritage pieces like breitling. for the classicist, they've got bvlgari, and of course, my favourite, marc by marc jacobs.

me, modelling my marc by marc jacobs watch.

vivienne westwood, bvlgari and breitling watches - my favourites from each!

a post in partnership with time2

adventures in lomography, part one

2011-12-12T14:45:00.000Z

the savvier reader among you may have been able to ascertain that i've been somewhat camera-less of late (moral of the story is, never buy from fujifilm) which has probably the worst thing to ever happen to my blog. it's why i've been blogging so much less, as i've been unable to do any outfit shots, or indeed any kind of posting, so i apologise. i'm getting a shiny new baby in time for my relaunch in 2012 (oh yeah, i'm relaunching the site next year to celebrate two years of the blog. new layout, new camera, new everything) so as everything digital's been off-limits, i thought it was the perfectly opportunity to explore something i've gotten super curious about: shooting with analogue cameras. specifically lomography cameras. not only are these cameras totally cute, they capture some really dreamy and ethereal pictures. the guys at lomography hooked me up with a la sardina (or "sardine can") camera to test out. my first reaction was one of squealing delight - the camera is ADORABLE - which soon progressed into lip-biting concentration, as i spent seemingly hours spent under a bright light, trying to feed the film in and making sure it hooked on the sprockets. i'm going to be using the camera alongside my new digital SLR to capture the best of some events and my general day to day happenings as part of an experiment - i'm a complete novice with analogue cameras, so i'm hoping to illuminate some of the pitfalls and show how even an amateur like me can get it right.

first things first, how beautiful is the camera itself?! every single time i take it out in public, friends and strangers alike will compliment me on it and ask to play around. even the official photographer at the made in chelsea party was jealous. true story.

next press day, unidentified press day, food at the diner in soho, london by night, westfield's italian deli that sells the biscuits of my childhood

shooting with analogue is a labour of love: the first roll of film i used came out completely wibbly and purple, and a lot of shots i thought would be beautiful just looked weird (not got to grips with bulb mode yet...) however, it's the most fun i've ever had with a camera, and i'm in love with the results. shooting with film is totally addictive, and i love the pictures it produces. it's a much more real reminder of a special day or time than just an image on a screen.

my favourites yet - shopfronts in mayfair

afternoon tea diaries: quince at the may fair

2011-12-02T16:25:00.003Z

afternoon tea's something of a british classic, but that's not to say you can't mix it up a little. quince, the restaurant at the pretty plush hotel the may fair, have done exactly that, with an ottoman inspired fusion afternoon tea. me and my main boy, tom lincoln, headed across a week ago to sample some of their eastern-fused menu. sure, you get tea and champagne, but the may fair have an incredible range of black, white, green and flowering teas, and serve which ever you order in a transparent tea pot, letting you see all the caffeine-y goodness at its best. the food, again, plays on the classics: there's scones, but with a tangy orange marmalade sauce. there's finger sandwiches, but with baba ganoush and wraps. there's petits fours, but with cardamon, orange blossom and black sesame flavours running through them. i thought it was a seriously cool idea; playing around with the classics is how we've got some of the best and most ingenious food combinations. the savouries were all right up my street - the cakes i struggled with a little. i surprised myself by finding out i'm something of a classicist when it comes to cupcakes, so i loved the mini chocolately one, but i was less keen on some of wackier flavours. tea at quince is a brilliant treat for any afternoon tea, or indeed food connoisseur, who's up for trying something new and fun.

hello, hob salons.

2011-11-20T14:49:00.001Z

what’s the most you’ve ever needed a hair cut? the last month or so has to got to be the most for me. if i hung around outside a tube station for too long, i was worried people would start throwing small change at me. friends and flatmates had taken to politely sidestepping any questions relating to anything to do with me from the neck up. when i said “i SO need a haircut” in social situations, a silence would fall. i was tutting at myself in the mirror. how did it get like this? quite simply, i’m a hair monogamist. i’d been seeing the same hairdresser back in my hometown for going on six or seven years (she even invited me to her wedding. we’re tight.) then two things derailed my seemingly unshakeable loyalty to her. namely, i moved out of my home, and she decided to get pregnant. i took it as a sign; it was time to mix things up. where i wanted to go next, however, was a mystery. a chain? an independent? how much was too much? and how little means i’m likely to get a mullet? in the end, after speaking to some life long londoners, HOB salons were recommended to me. HOB is an academy as well as a salon, and they train a lot of their staff right from the ground up. i popped into their camden branch to get SOMETHING done about my mop (“at least an inch. we will have to take an inch off. when did you last get this cut?” - Luca, my new long-suffering hairdresser). just being somewhere new was difficult - i didn’t realise just how ingrained the practices of my old hairdresser were in my mind, and so when even the slightest thing was done differently - something as minor as sections up so the rest could be coloured - made me want to object. FYI, their method of hair tying up? i looked like a McQueen model circa the atlantis collection. but, the team were so warm and professional i soon relaxed, and began to enjoy what became a somewhat lengthly process. i spent the next two or so hours becoming progressively blonder until we reached the pre-agreed buttery shade (my colourist showed me a bunch of editorials, which we discussed - i’m rocking diane kruger, y’all). i really felt like i was being consulted - even when i said something that must have been blindingly obvious, they listened. when i requested weird things - and believe me, the way my fringe works is weird - they did everything they could to make sure i was happy with it. i’m kinda bias towards my stylist, as he comes from the neighbouring italian village to my family (us italians gotta stick together), but he did a really good job. i described, he listened. he suggested, i modified, and we soon began to agree. he asked a lot of questions about my hair and how i normally style it, so he could make an informed decision. they know their stuff! i loved the consultation with the magazines - it showed how fashion forward they were, and that they were clued up on hair trends. the fact that she weeded out certain looks from the magazine showed that she wouldn't sacrifice what actually suited me for a trend-let style. the salon is totally beautiful, too - big, airy and full of happy noise, like laughing and friendly chatter.

photo courtesy of reena rai. halo courtesy of my inner child.

my colourist, Chloe, and stylist, Luca both work in the Camden branch.

london, i love you, but you're bringing me down

2011-11-13T11:41:00.000Z

i don't know whether it's sudden cold outside, or the darkness that creeps in about at around 4 o'clock, or the admittedly huge amount of work i've taken on recently, but i've been feeling a little run down of late. i do really love winter, once i feel christmassy, and things are lit and bright and festive, but in this little inbetween stretch from the crispness of autumn to the drudgery that is the cold with no celebration, i can get pretty miserable. luckily, i have some lovely people around me who keep me bubbly and buzzing. the lovely vicki of magpie girl sent me this beautiful coat, after she decided it wasn't quite right for her, and i sent her a few little bits and pieces in the return. a week or so ago, my girl susie came to visit myself and sherin in london, and she suggested we make this little video and take these snaps in a beautiful north london park near sherin's house. we had a pretty amazing brunch in this tiny little cafe staffed by saturday jobbing teenagers, and then wandered through the park to crunch through the leaves. the video reminds me of susie's lovely visit, and how bright it was a few weeks ago! here's to the last of autumn.

starworks group press day

2011-11-11T11:52:00.000Z

i think it was always inevitable i'd end up blogging about this. when you have a roster like starworks do (peter pilotto, roksanda ilincic, marios schwab...) your press day is always going to be kinda killer. there were no frills to the presentation, but then with stuff this incredible, you really don't need it. personally, i loved the nicholas kirkwood shoes and the breathtaking jonathan saunders collection. but enough from me; just take it all in.

nicholas kirkwood shoes

jonathan saunders

sophie kokosalai

roksanda ilincic

let's play dress up with very.co.uk

2011-11-06T17:50:00.000Z

you know i have a little soft spot for McCann PR - when they sit you front row at their shows with mcfly, it's hard not to - so you can only guess how excited i was when they offered to let me come and play dress up in some of their new festive party dresses. the office was literally crammed with sequins and sparkly goodness, so the side of me that rebels everything jil sander, margiela and generally good and refined in the world was in her element. they've got some great stuff - i especially like love label - and were kind enough to shoot us in our own mini lookbooks. i'm not sure when and where you'll be able to see that, so until then, here's me, getting giggly in some sequins.

HPR London press day

2011-11-06T16:24:00.001Z

press day season is a lot like a kardashian marriage: over in a flash. while i've got at least another week of previews to go, i'm wondering if the HPR day is going to be my overall favourite already. HPR have an amazing selection of niche and big brand name brands, and their press day housed everything from the dainty and pretty to the fierce and directional. the guys at HPR have some of my longtime favourites (hello, paul & joe sister...) plus some names that were new to me but are fast becoming ones to watch. it's pretty rare at agency press days that there's any kind of cohesion (agencies obviously represent a massive selection of brands, so there's a little something for everyone) but somehow HPR seemed to have this really edited feel. the brands were handpicked and beautifully presented and managed, and you could tell the girls there were so passionate about their work. HPR, we salute you!

the award for most wearable pair of penguin print shorts goes to paul & joe sister

marina quareshi is totally, totally amazing. her designs are breathtaking and so not done justice by my photography.

eugene lim dresses - the peach draped numbers were incredible. kind of obsessed...

winter warmers: cosy cashmere

2011-11-02T22:34:00.001Z

you could call me boring for a lot of reasons. one, i consider a game of scrabble a roaring good time. two, i've been known to make physics jokes. and three, i will happily engage in a post-mortem discussion of the most inane of films. but getting fanatical about finding good basics really isn't that boring: if you invest in quality, you get a good payout. and something that's been on my wishlist for long time is a good staple jumper. now it's getting a little colder outside, i've been after something i can rock around the house for cosy warmth and out and about to stay wrapped up in style. i'm willing to pay a little more than i would for fast fashion, so i'd need it to be super versatile so i could get my money's worth. so maybe it's time to consider cashmere, right? there's a massive selection of women's knitwear at pure collection, which stocks some super soft-looking jumpers and cardigans and dresses to name a few. i wanted to see just how much wear i could get out of one their jumpers, so i decided to see if i could squeeze three different looks out of one camel-coloured, cashmere-cosy jumper. you could totally wear this to a (non-librarian) party: balance it out with some out and out sparkles (see, sequins on the blog! order is restored) and killer heels for a festive party look. or black tights and a leather mini for a day-to-day shopping kind of feel? finally, stick it with a good blazer, resort-hot white trousers and a statement necklace for an on trend and relaxed work look. i chose a butterscotch number, check out what i came up with:

a post in partnership with pure collection. all views and words and wit are my own!

four publicity press day

2011-10-30T12:27:00.000Z

it's full on press day season now, and i'm having to be really picky about which ones i talk to you about, otherwise i could literally have about fifty posts with a hundred different snaps in each. so, in the interests of being concise and edited, i've handpicked a selection of the best press days i've gone to so far. and i'll probably only do posts dedicated to one brand/agency if it was SUPER amazing. note: this was really really hard. a lot of people had a lot of pretty stuff. four publicity's press day in huge, beautiful, airy east london warehouse housed a pretty awesome selection of young designers, cult brands and diffusion lines (MM6 by margiela, anyone?). check it out:

the guys at four publicity had flowers to match the colour palette of each designer, which i thought was a really lovely touch.

dresses by sand, above. all others, MM6

incredible margiela shoes!

like a kid in a candy store: a selection of sherbet shaded jeans at AG.

make up moment: love from kate

2011-10-22T12:39:00.000+01:00

i'm a lipstick newbie, really. flirtations with different shades occurred during my early adolescence of course, but were usually scrubbed off in the mirror before even leaving the house. i've acquired many over the years, sure. but somehow, wearing lipstick always seemed to be a big "going out" thing. in fact, it's only been in the last few months that i could honestly describe myself as a lipstick wearer. not every day; but it is now an everyday thing for me as opposed to being reserved for super-special events. i've tried a whole host of brands recently, and i was kinda surprised when a £5.49 lipstick came out on top for me. the folks at glam media sent me a couple of the kate moss x rimmel lipsticks, and i was bowled over by how much i actually liked them. for a lipstick so cheap, i was expecting the colour to move and smudge, but once i've put it on the morning, it doesn't need topping up for at least a good few hours. plus, it was easy to put on because it was really soft, and oddly, it doesn't seem to dry my lips out.

the 03 and 05 shades - i love the 03!

here's kate, looking pretty, choosing her shades. tough life, eh?

i'm wearing the 05 shade, which is hands down my favourite.

do you wear lipstick? what brands do you like?

this post is sponsored by glam media. this does not affect or influence the views stated above. my commitment to honesty to you is greater than any number of lipsticks.

afternoon tea diaries: browns of mayfair

2011-10-18T13:13:00.000+01:00

one of the brilliant things about running a blog named couture and crumpets is the ability to explore the worlds of both fashion and food. i really don't think there's a whole lot in life better than shoes and cake, and if you have anything that is, i'd like to see it. my afternoon tea diaries series had to give way to the swirling vortex of doom that is london fashion week, but now that things have calmed down on the fashion front, i though it was high time to dive into a little high tea. me and my lovely flatmate suzy headed down to the historic browns hotel on albemarle street in mayfair (did you know the first ever telephone call was made at browns, right from their reception?) to soak up the atmosphere. for me, afternoon tea is not an everyday thing and it doesn't have an everyday price: but when you get treated so well, and have such incredible tea, you can definitely justify the experience. the tea rooms themselves were gorgeous (think pianist playing softly, huge carved armchairs, idyllic view of mayfair) and the service is brilliant, too. everyone seems to have a smile on their face, and in london, that can be really hard to find.

browns have about a hundred and one teas (okay, seventeen) to choose from (i went for earl grey. old school.) and you can also have a glass or two of champagne with your tea. the food itself is a selection of yummy, delicate finger sandwiches, perfectly glazed fruit and plain scones, a selection of chocolatey pastries and there's cake doing the rounds too. browns have really hit the nail on the head with their afternoon tea: by keeping it so quintessentially british, there's no decadence or over-the-top theatrics. browns really know their customer, and what you're after: you're treated incredibly well, and the food really is something special. i think it'd make a brilliant gift: it's an experience, rather than a material thing, and you get to share it! afternoon tea, in a beautiful location, with amazing tea and cakes. what's not to love? a massive, massive thank you to the wonderful people at browns for accommodating myself and suzy.

accessories with M&S

2011-10-09T14:35:00.001+01:00

i think we all need to accept that the lovely four day heatwave we had last week was NOT an indian summer, and was just in fact in a freak heatwave, and move on with our lives. yes, for a couple of days we could wear shorts and sit in parks, but now it's so cold i'm lining my duvet with jumpers to keep me warm at night. winter has got a grip on us, so we might as well make the most of it. i don't think it's a bad thing at all: i love scarves, and gloves, and tights, anything cosy, so i'm slyly excited about the prospect of getting to wrap up warm. a couple of weeks ago, i had a cheeky nose around the accessories that M&S have got coming in for autumn/winter, and they're worth hanging up your hotpants for.

my personal favourite HAS to be those gloves - in a rainbow of colours, made of leather and only £15. that's amazing, seeing as so many places mark up their leather goods so much. i also loved the limited collection bags - sure, they had that M&S functionality, but they were super cute, too.

let's make a french connection

2011-10-01T12:14:00.001+01:00

okay, before we dive into the pretty dress ooh-ing and aah-ing, i need to address a couple of things. first up, the reason i haven't been posting so much, and when i have, comments have been off is largely because i haven't had internet access. a blogger with no net, right?! it's like a fisherman with no...net. i've moved out of home to a place i share with three other cool kids in london, and one of the teething problems has been internet, but it's looking a little more sorted now. the other things are: i started my degree course (which takes up a lot of time), i started doing posts for ldnfashion (which takes up a little time), i now also assist a stylist (which takes a lot of time in concentrated bursts) and i'm also working on a possibly super-secret project, assisting one of the coolest fashion journalists out there. so...it's all go. but i'm back, for now, and regular posting will hopefully follow!

a few weeks ago, french connection offered to let me play dress up with some of their new collection. dresses on the high street are kind of ubiquitous, and the quality can often be pretty poor, but french connection is kind of in a class of its own. the stuff they sent me was beautifully made: we're talking fine pleats and TONNES of embellishment, as well as fitting really well. i think why i like french connection is that they definitely take inspiration from the catwalk, but their stuff isn't disposable. it's not trend-led, so to speak: they manage to make classic items using contemporary inspiration.

this dress is the perfect pleat belted dress.

starstruck asymmetric dress

they also sent me an out-and-out PARTY dress. it's an online exclusive, so you wouldn't see it in stores, but it's so pretty! i wore this to susie's sequin themed leaving do, which you should read all about and get REALLY EMOTIONAL like me. we'll miss you, beautiful!

exhibition highlight: maria francesca pepe

2011-09-25T22:56:00.000+01:00

you all know i'm a serious jewellery nut. my magpie like tendencies are somewhat juxtaposed to my intense dislike of wearing anything on my wrists or fingers while i'm attempting to work (i'm that girl who wanders off from starbucks, laptop in my bag and my watch sitting next to an empty mug), but that doesn't stop me vicariously enjoying some beautiful pieces. the exhibition at london fashion week houses some pretty cool designers, but one that really caught my eye was maria francesca pepe. MFP's been rapidly increasing in popularity over the last few seasons (even lady gaga rocks her stuff, y'all) and her s/s 2012 "veleno" collection is a sure-fire hit with me. veleno, meaning a poison that penetrates and distorts, is manifested with a range of serpentine influences, and references to lust and temptation throughout the collection. pepe's always been big on taking a more subversive approach towards trends, choosing to reject obvious seasonal drifts and attempting to distort more traditional symbols and imagery. this is not at the cost of any wearability, as a gorgeous mix of geometric shapes, architectural rings and cuffs sit alongside real turquoise and gold. pepe's stylised the traditional serpent form of temptation into a seriously covetable collection of edgy yet beautiful and exquisitely crafted pieces. check out my favourites!

LFW highlight: michael van der ham

2011-09-19T20:29:00.000+01:00

you all know i love michael van der ham, from this and this, and you know, my twitter feed. he came up under fashion east, and in the last few seasons he's really been getting into his stride. he's found something that works for him with his incredible jigsaw-style patchwork pieces, and while on a superficial level, it's replicable, there's something about the van der ham method of contrast and co-ordination that renders his work inimitable. no one quite puts it together like him: the pieces, while often haphazardly cut, flatter the female form and draw the eye around the natural curve, just not in an overstated way. it's a confidence in one's own femininity that allows you to wear something seemingly destructured, and that could be the essence of the van der ham woman. this season, michael looked to a largely cool blue palette, with scraps of florals running alongside slightly kitsch-er circular prints and contrasting trims. every single look tied together somehow, with veins of the same colour found scattered throughout each item, somehow bringing cohesion to what could otherwise be a very confused look. think icy tones, think sharp florals, think mixing it up.

LFW highlight: sass + bide

2011-09-19T09:51:00.000+01:00

not only did sass + bide have some of the coolest invites (solid embossed brass, anyone?) but they also had one of the most wearable and yet directional collections. with the likes of paloma faith and hilary alexander front row, the julia sarr-jamois styled collection made a big splash. the duo have been long known for their fondness of pairing together the seemingly haphazard, and their s/s12 collection was no exception. tribal jewellery met burnished sequins, which met neoprene and neon which met polka dots...the collection was a mishmash of diverse influences, coming together with the classic sass + bide silhouette. there was more than a hint towards the scuba jackie microtrend that reared its head around resort this year, with rounded necklines and metallic leather coming together with thick strapped sandals. some of the pieces were a little more wetsuit-esque than others, with seamed, tight fitting items looking a little more swimwear than daywear. thagain, in true sass + bide form, there was a strong element of jigsaw dressing: draping cardigans made up of different, contrasting fabrics, or embellished bustiers with long, silk skirts. bright, plastic neon accessories underpinned the whole collection: acid-yellow spiky bracelets and candy-bag esque mini clutches in a range of geometrical shapes.

LFW highlight: basso + brooke

2011-09-18T23:15:00.001+01:00

the phrase "prints charming" is pretty much cliche nowadays, but i'm struggling to think of something more apt to describe basso + brooke's collection at my beautiful city yesterday. a label long known for their incredible prints (thanks to bruno basso, who designs them in-house), they must feel the pressure when a new season rolls around, as they try to play to their strengths while keeping it fresh. icy, jewel tones featured heavily in range of tropical themed prints, with lilies and other overblown flowers mingling with galaxy-style motifs. the day dresses certainly packed a punch: demure enough with their calf-skimming length to be wearable, but bold enough with their incredible prints to really make a statement. bruno's prints and chris' pattern cutting go together like bread and butter. the designs flowed freely over diaphanous dresses, and hung perfectly on the draped numbers, creating a truly stunning silhouette. a whole rainbow of colours was explored, with an emphasis on purples and blues to add that slightly galactical feel to the otherwise tropical-fused collection. i think the real beauty lies in the genius of their pairing: by putting such exquisite pattern cutting alongside such statement prints, one creates a wonderful paradox of a simplistic piece, maximised by the fashion-forward prints. the woman will do all the talking in the dress, but the dress will have a voice of its own, too.

LFW highlight: felder felder

2011-09-18T22:55:00.000+01:00

with so many brilliant things coming out of LFW this season, i've decided to post about the shows i attended that seriously stuck in my mind. first up, design (and sister!) duo annette and daniela felder have been firm favourites of mine since my first fashion week. while they consistently bring a slightly punky edge to their collections, the twins never lose the feminine aesthetic in their work, and this season is no exception. the bad girl is back, and good form. studs and metallics rubbed shoulders with almost-sorbet shades and ladylike skirts juxtaposed with tough accessories, like skinny leather harnesses. the skater skirts kept the collection fresh and feminine, but the armour-like shoes meant business. personally, i loved the contrast of the rougher, tougher side of fashion with the lighter shades, creating an almost frosty palette and some frocks with serious attitude. a theme of armour underpinned the entire collection; heavy shoes and structured shapes kept that "felder felder" edge of rawness. however, the girls might be a little softer at heart, as with every season, their shapes get a little more ladylike, and palette a little brighter. this is a kind of girl i can get alongside: tough, means business, but looks ever so sweet.

london fashion week: day two

2011-09-17T23:32:00.000+01:00

what i wore: lilac jeans and foil print top, c/o of french connection, topshop leather jacket and mimco bow platform pumps, c/o surgery pr

what i saw: masha ma, backstage at zoe jordan, zoe jordan, the aubaine afternoon tea, the glam media press suite at the trafalgar, backstage at fashion fringe and the fashion fringe finale.

what i ate: pancakes at the creme de la crepe, pastries at aubaine and percy pigs at the suite!

favourite show: zoe jordan or fyodor golan.

backstage at fashion fringe (above) and zoe jordan (below)

london fashion week: day one

2011-09-17T08:36:00.001+01:00

today i wore: leather jacket, topshop. green belted dress, c/o french connection, deena & ozzy shoes, c/o urban outfitters

today i saw: everyone else go into paul costelloe (forgot to pick up my ticket, doh!) jean-pierre braganza, sass + bide, felder felder, basso + brooke and a mad scramble for the pastries around 10am in the BFC press lounge.

favourite show: basso + brooke

best celeb spot: nicola roberts, bonnie wright and the always lovely paloma faith

oddest moment: why was boris johnson there...?

this was before i got my hair done at toni + guy...picture c/o of ted of free the bear photography.

afternoon tea diaries: pearls at the dorchester

2011-09-14T11:39:00.000+01:00

when it comes to events, i don't think i'm difficult to please. usually, there just has to be a hint of free food and i'm there. i apply some selectiveness, (i.e, if i'd never cover the company or their products on here, i'll pretty much just stay home) and obviously i can't attend everything i get invited to, but i'm almost definite that the jersey pearls fiore della notte event at the dorchester this week was my favourite, ever. you all know i love afternoon tea, so when jersey pearls said there'd be tea and petits fours, i was already excited. and then actually getting to hang out in the pavilion penthouse at the dorchester hotel on park lane was pretty neat. and then the food! the food was amazing. as was the company, and most importantly, the jewels. i did a bit of work with jersey pearls a while back, so i knew they were big on not only ethically sourcing their stones, but also on giving back to the community while not compromising on the glamour factor. fiore della notte brings together all those elements: made with recycled blackened gold, carbon-neutral pearls and fairly-mined rubies from tanzania, the collection ticks all the boxes for supporting both humank and earth kind. the pearls were first spotted at the golden globe awards this year on livia firth (yup, mrs kings speech) who's been a longtime supporter of ethical fashion. check it out:

amanda from jersey pearls, myself, susie and jazmine.

raspberry mousse with spice and gold leaf

fashion fastrack: fyodor golan

2011-09-09T14:47:00.000+01:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman one fine day in Liverpool. I’d been up since goodness knows when and bundled onto a train before most people had begun their daily commute, and was huddled around a cup of coffee in the Shop Direct offices while the rest of the world was casually buttering their morning toast. Shop Direct, who own Very, had invited me and a couple of other bloggers to meet the finalists for this year’s Fashion Fringe prize, an initiative set up by the peerless Colin McDowell to support emerging British talent. With preview winners including Erdem and Basso & Brooke, the Fashion Fringe is something of a kingmaker for young designers. Looking back on it, being able to spend the morning in an intimate group of talented young designers and Sir McDowell himself was a privilege that I don’t think I ever could have imagined. But what is greater still is that Fyodor Golan, since then, give or take a chance meeting on the Tube and a frantic email exchange here and there, have been kind enough to keep me up to date with their work and even let me have an exclusive preview of their collection, set to show on September 17th at London Fashion Week.

images from previous collection.

The walls of the team’s Shoreditch atelier are plastered with pictures of Frida Kahlo, an off-duty Marilyn Monore, looking demure and subdued, and images from folklore and navajo prints. There seems to be something of dichotomy in the women they have chosen, but as they explain: “We are hypnotized by women like Marilyn Monroe. She was expressive and sexual in her image and appearance but she was so melancholic and fragile in her life.” This idea of a duality of feminine traits continues in the juxtaposition of their influences. They want to create a collection about the “purity” of female admiration for one another, the platonic love that only allows women to full appreciate other women’s style, yet argue that the “It’s for men and women and everybody else. Women in our collection are very sexual and intend to connect to men on many levels. As our collections always telling a story of a women it is up to a her to apply it on herself or in her own way.” Kahlo is again important to them, the issue of her spine and feelings of brokenness combined with her power through her artistic expression. The unabashed androgyny of Kahlo’s striking look ties in with their playing around with gender expectations, and they seem captivated by her power over her fractured state. This juxtaposition of the strong and the delicate is found throughout the entire collection, dramatic shapes alongside intricate detail.

As well as the exploration of the female heart, there is a vein of folklore and mystery underpinning the collection. Laser cutting has been used to create delicate leaves, bird shapes, and they have even used screen-printing to create their own fabrics with leaf-print like design. Their attention to detail in unflinching; flesh-tone lace used to create the cut outs, zips hidden under the sleeves of embellished t-shirts so the wearer does not need to disturb their hair do when pulling the shirt over their head. They clearly understand their woman - “She is expressive and emotional.” and they have catered to her needs, with prints that draw the eye around the natural hourglass shape. They are not afraid of having to make their work - which is often theatrical and show-stopping - more palatable to the mass market, and relish the challenge of the commercial line. Fyodor says it is “combining couture sensibilities into the commercial” that is the real test of design ability. As young designers, they are passionate about maintaining an authenticity in their work, and so where they can, they choose to create their own texture in their work, by embellishment or embroidery, rather than using pre-designed fabrics.

This idea of organic growth sticks in my mind. Of course, as far as I’m concerned, emerging talent is always something to get excited about. But there is something about the work of Fyodor Golan that gets me even more fired up than usual. They are no novices to the world of fashion - they met while working at Alexander McQueen and Issey Miyake - and yet they have maintained an incredible freshness to their work. They’re my hot tip for the next season, and definitely one to watch.

The collection will be able to view after the runway show on September 17th.

sip in style: taste the trends at the trafalgar

2011-09-06T12:36:00.001+01:00

you're always going to be hard pushed to find green space in london, and for through and through city girl like me, a sea of skyscrapers and flashing billboards is every bit as idyllic as a park or field might be for the rural set. so for me, the newly refurbished vista rooftop bar at the trafalgar hotel is the perfect oasis of calm. towering over the hustle and bustle of trafalgar square, but with incredible panoramic views of the city (think the london version of the arc de triomphe), the bar is the perfect mix of chilled and city. the trafalgar invited me to come and sample some of the their cocktails, launched just in time for london fashion week, as part of their "taste the trends" menu. taking inspiration from some of the season's key looks, the team have interpreted trends into some seriously yummy cocktails. it's all a bit of fun, and the drinks themselves were a little worryingly tasty! when myself and susie (who took all these snaps!) went, it was a pretty mild evening, but the bar is cosy enough with patio heaters and comfy seats that we really didn't feel it. in fact, one of the team told me in winter they hand out blankets for die-hard cocktail drinkers to cosy up with!

i'm wearing a REALLY PINK paul costelloe shirt, from tk maxx gold label

time is our bank manager, tax collector, police inspector

2011-08-28T15:46:00.001+01:00

for at least eighty percent of my life, i'd never worn a watch. they seemed either clunky or childish, or inconvenient or too easy to misplace (i am in the habit of shedding every item of jewellery from my hands the moment i sit down to anything). i had dalliances with watches: there were a few short-lived, plastic, waterproof numbers as a child, and i committed for a full six months to a casio one that cost more to have resized than it did to buy. so when time2 got in touch with me about a watch review, i wasn't immediately convinced it was going to work out. i'd yet to find a watch i really, really liked, and had pretty much consigned myself to a lifetime of checking the time on my phone and - hang on, marc jacobs does watches?! this changed everything. a good perusal on the time2 site showed a massive selection of women's watches, and boy, were they cute. i chose a marc by marc jacobs watch, because it was classic yet not clunky, and discreet in terms of branding. it's not blingy or shouty, it's just a really sweet, bracelet-like piece that you can easily layer with other pieces of jewellery. i'd long read in magazines that a good watch, like a good white man's shirt was a "style staple" yadda yadda, but now i've actually seen good quality watches up close, i see what they mean. i feel a lot...classier with my watch on. and this particular one really is timeless. (pun not intended....)

shorts, c/o of Urban Outfitters.

top and blazer, Topshop.

XO necklace, c/o of farah mansor

i'd also really like to thank my friend tom (no, not the bin-bag dress one) for being kind enough to snap these pictures for me with his super-awesome camera and super-awesome photography skills. do you wear a watch? ps, farah is an emerging, just-graduated jewellery designer with some really cute and affordable pieces. check out her link above!

a little history lesson

2011-08-24T14:18:00.000+01:00

if it's true that you never truly know what you have until it's gone, then few people will ever appreciate just how lovely a good pair of pumps are. the few that will have to without pumps are taylor momsen, lady gaga, and anyone under 5"8 who fancies being on britain's next top model. personally, as much as i love heels, and own a lot of them, on everyday basis, i am a total pump fiend. i'm willing to shell out more for a good quality pair, because i know i'll wear them to death, and on a cost per use basis, it's definitely cheaper to spend more and for them to last longer. last sunday, i caught the last day of the masters of style exhibition at somerset house, that applauded some of fashion's finest italians with a retrospective over some of their most famous creations and campaigns. the whole experience was brilliant (nice to see mr colin mcdowell again, even if it was via a video link..), but one thing that really stuck in my mind was the varina shoe by salvatore ferragamo. i'm pretty sure that the varina, or at least its heeled counterpart the vara, are the archetypal pump. the design dates back to the 70s, when fiamma ferragamo (salvatore's daughter) wanted to created a more elegant choice of flat shoe for women. the label is best known for some of their incredible heeled creations, but this dark horse had a profound effect on the way flat shoes were perceived. dainty yet sporty, sweet yet stylish, the vara and the varina revolutionised the pump world. one of my favourite details to the whole story was hearing that the little grosgrain bow on the toe was a happy accident: it was added to the prototype, and was meant to be switched to a leather one in mass production, but a mix-up lead to the grosgrain being rolled out for the mass market. adorable!

i picked up these classic brogue type pumps in dune this week, to replace my seriously worn-down jaeger quilted pumps. and again, the grosgrain bow and the shape is there! think about the flat shoes you own (and if you don't own any, daphne guinness, i didn't know you read my blog!) how many can you see being influenced by the varina and vara?

so now you know how i love pumps, you'll know why i felt like a kid in a candy store at the french sole press day a little while ago. french sole's pumps are incredible: beautifully made, yet built to last, they're both delicate and durable. all of the shoes i saw there i'd feel comfortable in at a party, or at afternoon tea, or even just running a few errands. take a look!

the little things

2011-08-20T19:40:00.001+01:00

my totally lovely and brilliant friend susie over at take out in couture snapped these pics of me on poland street last week, while sherin looked on in fits of giggles. i'd JUST been given the shoes by urban outfitters, and was dying to try them on! my cardigan is from miss selfridge. that morning, i'd had the horrible moment of having to decide between wearing an embellished cardi and massive flowers in my hair. or this look might have gone a little hippie matador. if you're in the carnaby street area, polpo is totally cute for speakeasy-style cocktails, and antidote on the newburgh quarter is perfect for a glass of wine and a laid-back chat. i feel i should add here: this is not an everyday outfit for me! i went back to flats after the photo op....

urban jungle

2011-08-13T11:54:00.001+01:00

juxtaposition is a wonderful thing. ask any poet. or artist, or dramatist, or even scientist for that matter. to really highlight the beauty of one thing, or show the plain incongruity of two concepts, simply stick it next to something completely contrasting, and watch sparks fly. the reason why you get so many couture in an abandoned warehouse kind of photoshoots (not that i'm knocking them. just, the idea is more than a little ubiquitous) is because it so simply magnifies the delicate beauty of the dress, by showing it next to something so grotesquely bleak. and i think the same principle really easily applies to dressing oneself: nine times outta ten, that cute little floral number is going to look so much better teamed with that beat-up bomber jacket. call it the alexa chung effect, but fashion now openly embraces the idea of playing around with textures and shapes and styles, and well, the more contrasting the better. take all the print-on-print mixing we saw at the resort presentations, with givenchy, prada and missoni respectively. then think back to the frankly meteoric rise of the more-is-more label meadham kirchhoff. now is the time to mix it up a little. this week, the lovely team at urban outfitters invited me to have a snoop around their new season range in their oxford street flagship, and all i could think about was this idea of contrasting. in a shop that sells adorable pins and needles blouses slap bang next to studded bitching and junkfood hot pants, it's hard not to think about contrast, anyway. i saw an edited selection of their a/w range at their press day a while back, but the full range they've got coming in is definitely worth a look. i fell head over heels in love with two things in particular: their lace pieces (shorts, dress panels, shirts, even underwear) and some of the incredible embellished things they have (like THESE shorts.)

dress, pins and needles at urban outfitters, and shoes, deena & ozzy at urban outfitters (items c/o of urban outfitters)

do you aim for any kind of contrast in your outfits? or do you prefer to stick to one vein?

the best fashionable reads

2011-08-11T10:41:00.001+01:00

i think it's fair to say that my first love really was the written word. before i realised that the journals i preferred were fashion ones, i read voraciously anything and everything that was put in front of me. i'd exhausted my primary school's library by the time i was about seven, and it became a running gag among friends and family that i was rarely seen without a book. if reading isn't cool, i'm okay to be a loser, because even as blogger, i love and believe in the power of the written word. family holidays are often largely spent rummaging through second-hand book shops with my partner in crime, my sister, and my shoe to book ratio is probably about 1:20. while on my holiday to bath this year, in the oxfam bookstore in frome, i found a little gem from the 80s: vogue's more dash than cash annual, by the awesome kate hogg. more dash than cash was a running feature in vogue for many years (and i believe they resurrect it from time to time) about "stealing" style: making good investments, shopping in unusual places, making do and mending and customising. gok wan, eat your heart out.

while a lot of the tips in the book are now a little anachronistic, it's incredibly interesting as a time capsule of sorts. it shows how women were thinking and feeling about style and spending in decades gone by. pretty cool, huh?

elle collections is another fave. i've been buying it for years, and i think everything from the art direction to the typography is second to none. it's the most creative and comprehensive round-up of the season, and is indispensable to me. plus, they have some super-cute features and interviews, and sketches from my fave illustrator, john paul thurlow.

luella's guide to english style. the same friend who made me start this blog bought me this book, so we could argue that's he's pretty invested in my fashion future! it's a sweet and whimsical retrospective and analysis on the lasting power and diversity of english style. i've ordered a copy of colin mcdowell's directory of 20th century fashion, after having the pleasure of meeting him and chatting with him at an event recently, but what other fashion reads would you recommend?

better late than never

2011-08-08T12:14:00.002+01:00

i honestly don't know how it's taken me so long to tell you all about this, but there when it comes to shopping in the city, there's a new kid on the block. a cute, charming and concise kid, for that matter. st martin's courtyard, a tiny little pocket of shops and cafes has just blossomed in covent garden, and is well worth a visit. the courtyard itself is hidden down a few little snickets, and i expect most of the socks-and-sandals tourist brigade to go stomping past it, as i doubt it'd feature in any guide books just yet. it's a lovely oasis of calm in the madness that is covent garden these days, and i was lucky enough to go along to their garden party to celebrate their opening about a month ago. personally, i can find shopping in london quite difficult; i like westfield once or twice a season to get wardrobe staples, i loathe oxford street, and i prefer islington and other slightly more out-of-the-way areas for hitting the high street hard. but st martin's seems to combine the idyllic calm of a courtyard with the fashion forwardness of a bustling high street, with brands like twenty8twelve and jaeger alongside eateries like bill's (the hedgerow fizz is delicious!) and the crowd-pleasing jamie's italian.

incredible victoria sponge cakes courtesy of bill's...

strawberries and cream from bill's

sunday girl performing an exclusive acoustic set. oh, and hello lucy...

pimms and hedgerow fizz (sparkling wine with a few fruit extras!) at bill's cafe.

check out more snaps from the event on their facebook page. massive thanks to lauren and the sister pr team for all their hospitality!

incredible outfits made the covent garden floral academy, and runway snaps!

rock your pearls

2011-07-28T17:12:00.000+01:00

alright, i lied. i honestly was not planning to blog at all on holiday, but when this little project all came together, i couldn't wait to show you. so i write this curled up on a (rather creaky) lovely old sofa near Bath, after drinking endless cups of tea (EVERY beverage, hot or cold, should be served in teacups) and doing some wonderful shopping and sightseeing. a little while ago, the lovely PR team at jersey pearls got in touch with me, and offered to let me play dress up with some of their collection. jersey pearls stock a range of classic and slightly more contemporary designs, with prices starting around £40 and working up to a slightly eye watering £5,800. all the pearls are ethically sourced and come with a guarantee of authenticity. jersey pearl were kind enough to let me borrow whatever i wanted - and i felt cheeky, so i asked for four things - and style them for an impromptu shoot. you might have seen similar things on other blogs - jersey pearls are loaning their pearls to a few bloggers to style, and then the team at pearl HQ (which i imagine to be a GIANT OYSTER) will choose a winner. i'd like to thank the totally beautiful and lovely roz of clothes, cameras and coffee for shooting these for me last-minute. roz was in town for a project of her own, but found a little time to snap me on a misty morning on primrose hill. here's how i styled a selection of classic pearl bracelets...

the bracelets i'm wearing are a selection, featuring my favourite, the white freshwater pearl.

i'd never worn pearls before - i don't really own any precious stones - but i was really pleased with how non-flashy, yet still elegant the bracelets were. do you like pearls?

out of the office

2011-07-23T09:00:00.001+01:00

by the time you see this, i'll probably already be gone! i'm off on holiday for a week with my family to the countryside, right near bath. if you live near there and see me, do come and say hello! to tide you over until my return, here are some blackberry snaps from some of the christmas in july press days i've been at lately. see you on the other side! (i'm still shaking fake snow outta my shoes from these...)

adorable mini charlotte olympia shoes at selfridge's press day. selfridges will be releasing an advent calender filled with these gorgeous things.

sneak look at the michael lewis x john lewis line...(i LOVE michael lewis!)

pumps galore at french sole

a legit ice sculpture filled with accessories. river island, we salute you.

shoes and bauble cakes at dune

and finally, all i want for christmas: a giant, Dior polar bear stuffed toy.

the inimitable ms lau (afternoon tea diaries part three)

2011-07-16T17:14:00.000+01:00

this concludes (for the time being, at least) what i hope has been a rather lovely series about the afternoon teas i've been lucky enough to attend recently. i've been happily super busy lately, from being chock-a-block with christmas in july press days, or doing interviews to having (scarily serious-sounding) meetings, (big news soon!) so you can imagine how excited i was when i was invited to have a laid back cup of tea and a giggle with the lovely london based designer elizabeth lau. i met elizabeth at her exhibition last season at london fashion week, and hung around much longer than was really professional after we got chatting, and, well, didn't stop. myself and some other fashion folk, like the lovely kit of style slicker, michelle of who is bobb parris, and jackie of show me your wardrobe (to name a few!) all descended upon elizabeth's paddington studios to soak up a little sun, drink cider from vintage tea cups and enjoy a cheeky cake pop. the totally yummy food aside (and the gorgeous crockery that i was so scared of breaking, i clutched onto like a normal person would a child), it was a wonderful opportunity to have a rifle through the new season collection that elizabeth and her team have been working on. i think what i really love about lau's work is that it's so uncompromisingly pretty. she's found her voice, and that voice is a selection of jumpers, dresses, skirts and what have you that say "yes, i'm cute. and what are you going to do about it?". that's not to say that the elizabeth lau lady is merely a tea drinking pretty young thing: there's this sassiness about her work that i think transcends the obvious daintiness of it. she's not afraid to have fun with her work, and so girls who aren't afraid to enjoy themselves will gravitate towards her collection.

all images courtesy of elizabeth lau

i've added the video lookbook for elizabeth's s/s 2011 collection at the bottom (which i can't recommend enough), but to give you a taste, here are some my favourite looks from the season.

Elizabeth Lau SS11 Look book from General on Vimeo.

dreamy days, and the afternoon tea diaries - part two

2011-07-12T19:30:00.002+01:00

i think i'm having a bit of a pastel moment. i can assure you it's not intentional; i've never looked at my wardrobe and thought "you know what this needs? a big dollop of sorbet shades." and i can't even blame it on the weather, as summer seems to have came, saw and conquered in april. yeah, none of us appreciated it then. we all muttered bitterly through our hot cross buns, when really we should have been getting territorial over an extra inch of towel-space on the beach and considering ice cream a food group (wait, is that just me?) because that was the closest thing to hot weather we'd be getting. recently, i've found the fashion climate a little dreamier: the ever-increasing popularity of the fanning sisters, and their ever-ethereal charms, the hailee steinfeld for miu miu campaigns, the sofia coppola-esque editorials cropping everywhere and even the resurgence of lomography has got me feeling seriously dreamy. i picked up this white full circle skirt in river island (disclaimer: this may or may not be the exact same skirt marilyn monroe was wearing in THAT photo. i'm considering sewing rocks into the hem of this thing.) and i've paired it with so many things. people always seem to think whatever i'm wearing it with is a dress, though! it's called high waisted, guys. my top is from topshop via eBay.

to be totally honest, i think my affinity for pastel shades might have something to do with what i can only describe as the advent of the macaron. this time last year, you couldn't move at a press day for cupcakes. now, the canapé du jour is the macaron (which is brilliant for my fellow gluten-avoiders). in honour of her birthday, i took my bestie chloe to the brand new ladurée tea rooms in covent garden to enjoy some cakey goodness. a fancy tea room in such a tourist hotspot gives the simultaneous pleasure of enjoying something sweet with the horror of seeing a lot people wearing socks with sandals. and fighting off pigeons. enjoy!

a massive thank you to chloe for taking all these snaps on her shiny, brilliant camera.

afternoon tea diaries - part one

2011-07-08T12:30:00.000+01:00

i might be half-italian, but i was born and bred in the UK. and i've always believed in nurture over nature, so it's totally plausible to me that by simple osmosis of growing up in britain, i could begin to prefer scones and tea over pasta and sauce (but PLEASE, don't tell my nonna. i still love pasta. i just wouldn't have it on a three-tier cake stand at 3pm. okay?) afternoon teas may have fallen out of vogue in years gone by, but right now, they're so popular that at pretty much every event i go to now, someone's proffering a dainty cup of earl grey and a fancy looking cupcake. so i thought i'd take the time to take you through some of the best afternoon teas in london, so you can share in the cakey-goodness. first up, bake-a-boo, in north london. this camden tea shop is BEYOND cute. no really, it's so sweet it's probably bad for your tooth enamel. my best girl chloe took me as a birthday present: as you may or may not know, i'm wheat intolerant, which often negates the possibility of enjoying afternoon tea, but bake-a-boo offer a gluten free option. a gluten free option so good, i actually asked the waitress to double check it was gluten free. it tasted like normal cakes, scones and bread! happy girl.

we unanimously decided that bake-a-boo is a bad date location. boys + pink frothy tea shops = chalk and cheese.

the gluten free option has: finger sandwiches, heart-shaped fruit scones, regular scones, cupcakes and chocolate-covered strawberries, and a selection of teas.

oh, and the other lovely thing i was treated to? my friends chipped in to get me this totally rad wah nails manicure at their topshop branch. i give you "breakfast at wah"

perfect prom dresses

2011-07-03T17:57:00.001+01:00

lots of things in the world are a mystery to me. like how to wire a plug, or why ponchos ever caught on for example. things that, despite my great intellect (okay, average intellect: once i tried to blow up an inflatable banana by putting a hairdryer in a funnel and putting that in the spout.) i just can't fathom out. prom is definitely one of them. i come from a family where american cultural imperialisation is treated with the kind of hostility most families reserve for drug abuse. i can still distinctly remember my dad's disgust when a branch of krispy kreme opened near us. i don't watch a lot of american television, and what i do watch tends to be self-deprecating in it's portrayal of the american dream. one tree hill, 90210, privileged...none of those prom-centric programmes were ever really my bag. however, attending an all girls school, and an ever-increasing penchant for tulle has given way to affection for proms in my heart. what i still don't get, is why so many girls are willing to pay so much money for dresses! let's be serious, you're gonna wear this dress once or twice at most, and a lot of dresses are silly by definition. i think it's really bad how british girls are now pursued by this voice telling them they have to spend hundreds of pounds on dresses when really, there are some brilliant things on the high street. there, i said it. if you know where to look, there's some great pieces. and to prove it, i decided to style a shoot exclusively for couture and crumpets of perfect prom outfits, where no item would cost more than £100. i scoured the lookbooks of the great british high street to select an eclectic mix of items. i found that love label at very.co.uk is a goldmine for affordable, and totally wearable post-prom dresses. here's what we came up with....

dress, £75, love label at very.co.uk. shoes, £65, topshop. bag, £55, jaeger.

dress, £55, love label at very.co.uk. shoes, £24.99, new look. fascinator, £55, jaeger.

dress, £55, love label at very.co.uk. shoes, £35, topshop. bag, £55, jaeger.

many thanks to the press offices of Littlewoods, New Look and Jaeger for their kind loan of samples. and as always, a massive shout-out to my photographer, prom date, and all-around most stylish male, the wonderful Tom Lincoln. remember that disgustingly talented friend i have who designed that bin bag dress? he's studying fashion design at uni, and you're all gonna want to be at his graduate show.

armani summer garden live

2011-07-02T10:00:00.002+01:00

if you were reading couture and crumpets (or my twitter, for that matter) a few weeks ago, you probably noticed a whole lot of moaning about studying, and excitement about how much time i'd have to do extra posts in once it all finished. a slightly short-sighted hope, as couture and crumpets isn't my only er, extracurricular. i also work as a freelance fashion writer and stylist, as well as my style column at noir. and all of this meant that i jumped right outta revision, and into writing. so yes, there will be proper posts to follow about the more exciting things i've done, but before i jump into the armani events, i've also been...

running round london collecting and then dropping off samples for a shoot i'd been planning for a month or so (a shoot which happened last week, and will be going up next week), attending a preview of mildred pierce (which was totally wonderful, a little slow perhaps, but visually stunning), up in Liverpool to meet sir colin mcdowell, the fashion fringe finalists and having an incredible trendspotting workshop with the head creatives at very. having a birthday! that happened. at the preview screening of "warrior", a new film starring tom hardy and joel edgerton, interviewing joel edgerton (who was beyond lovely, and VERY australian. and has three phones. now you know. this interview, the ones i've done before, will be available in noir magazine) at the motel press day, then having afternoon tea at bake-a-boo (post to follow), and tomorrow i'm off to the st martin's courtyard launch event in covent garden. and now for the fun! i've been attending armani's summer garden live parties with my main girl, abi. one a week for four weeks, we've been treated to performances by the likes of oh land, wolfgang, plan b, lissie and aloe blacc. as abi pointed out, the fellow party-goers have been a mix of music industry peeps, socialites and general gals about town - as well as a couple of VIP guests, like gemma arterton, julie restoin roitfeld and jamie campbell bower. check out some snaps from the first two events below - i promise to take my own camera next time...

images c/o armani, abimarvel and wire image.

i've hugely enjoyed both these events - good company, good music, and the super lovely PR team (who gifted us a bottle of emporio armani diamonds EDP!) dished out yummy fruity cocktails and generally made sure everyone was having fun. i'm definitely looking forward to the line up next time with polydor!

PS - 1883 Magazine (which i contribute to) is now available in WHSmiths, Urban Outfitters, Borders, Barnes & Noble & independent retailers.

pretty things

2011-06-27T13:14:00.000+01:00

they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but i've always believed it's obstacles to love that make it more ardent. being told you mustn't be together, or knowing that your love is doomed to end surely only serves to heighten your affections. case in point? i've always loved erin fetherston, but since we were cruelly driven apart, it's bubbled over into full-blown halcyon adoration. oh yes, that's right, strap yourself in to hear the modern love story that is why i love erin fetherston and how a social media site tried to keep us apart. i started a pinterest account a little while ago (if tumblr's not pretentious enough for you, i can highly recommend pinterest), and was happily "pinning" away stuff i liked, until i got an email from head office, saying something i'd pinned was too risque, and that they'd removed. cue confusion. and wildly trying to think what it might have been that was offensive. clicked through, and it was THIS.

seriously? she's fully clothed. there's nothing naughty about that picture! the completely arbitrary removal of a totally cute snap, however, did get me thinking about why i love fetherston. and it's not JUST because we used to be fringe buddies (back in the day, i used to a rock a full fringe too, and considered her to be my unofficial fringe twin), but more because i find her uncompromising commitment to producing prettiness to be admirable. this week, i attended a workshop with the head creatives at very, sir colin mcdowell, and the fashion fringe finalists, and one think we kept coming back to was how designers are challenged by the need to produce SOMETHING commercial to make a living wage, and how they can feel a little constrained by pre-determined trends and colour councils. and usually, i'm the first to roll my eyes at something on the catwalk that could be seen in topshop, but with fetherston, it's different. her individual voice is soft, feminine and well, pretty, and she won't bend or try to mould that to try and please people who'd want her to throw in some thigh-high boots and a handful of studs.

fetherston's jaw-droppingly pretty resort 2012 collection. there's so many pictures i wanted to add from past seasons, but i didn't want this to get TOO photo-heavy. and this collection might even be my favourite. go through her archives on somewhere good, like style.com, and you'll see what i mean. i love how she can make things delicate and floaty, and still have some feeling of sassiness to them.

i love that she is confident enough in her (incredible) design abilities to never feel the need to go overboard and make something totally avant-garde. to me, that is the highest possible kind of subversiveness: to look at what it is you love making, and know it's your signature, and to just keep doing it. you don't have to be bold to be beautiful.

lost in translation

2011-06-19T17:23:00.001+01:00

i'm so impatient. it really is an issue. i got so overexcited at the first whiff of resort collections, jumped the gun and did a whole post when about a hundred of my favourites were still to show. cue spending the rest of the week silently cursing the cut, and muttering to myself about how i should have just waited to feature so and so. i'm probably not going to do another resort based post, BUT i am going to link you a couple of things, simply because i was so ridiculously overexcited on twitter when prabal gurung announced he was doing a resort collection (sorry to anyone who follows me...) that i feel i need to show you it. and seriously, it's worth waiting for. unfortunately, impatience isn't my only bad quality. there's the finding my own jokes hysterical (what do you call a peruvian animal that wakes you up in the morning? a llama clock!), and there's my awful memory. while sorting a few bits and pieces out this week, i found a whole heap of stuff i meant to blog about, and just kept forgetting. or i'd remember, and just not really have a place for it that week. but now my exams are over, more posts as promised, so i guess i have time for this sorta thing. firstly, i found this headband after a fair bit of hunting in new look. i was going for the sofia coppola look - hence the dreamy editing - and i think i definitely look ready to drink wine in the bath, swish my hair around and listen to french pop music. non?

also note the necklace - a lovely gift from jewellery designer Ana De Costa, and QVC. coming back to resort collections, i bought these sandals at westfield a little while ago. what do they remind you of?

scuba jackie. michael kors. i can't even. it was PRE-RESORT. maybe we should all stop fighting it and wear lycra twinsets. anyway, here's the incredible prabal gurung resort video: he teamed up with rising music star rye rye to make this totally brilliant collab video for "new thing". check it out:

resort round-up

2011-06-13T19:10:00.000+01:00

i love the resort collections. i really do. i know there's a perception of them being somewhat frivolous, or indulgent, seeing as resort is sort of a season-inbetween-seasons, but if you're in fashion and you're going to call something indulgent, bearing in mind that balmain charge thousands for ripped tee shirts...you know, you're in the wrong industry. anyway, what i love is that you get this summery microcosm of design, a little capsule that best sums up the designer's ethos. you get the micro-trends, yes, but with a smaller collection, every detail counts, and that's when you see designers really playing to their strengths and producing some incredible clothing. plus, it's inherently summery! i couldn't possible cover everyone on here, and many lines i loved (acne, bottega veneta, YSL...) i just didn't have room for, but i'd highly recommend you check them out.

MICHAEL KORS. i feel like i need to comment on this, simply because it's a thing that happened and for me it's all kinds of odd and marvellous and i don't really know how i feel about it, but it happened. "scuba jackie", to quote kors himself, happened. the MK resort 2012 is what happens when you cross a wetsuit with jackie o. seriously. we're talking all your round-neck cardigans, twinsets and ensembles just crying out for that little hat and pearls, but they're all kind of...shiny. and lycra-y. ashley greene wore one of these, adapted from the runway version to the CFDA awards, which i feel better about. it is what it is, though. i like the contrast piping, anyway.

CAROLINA HERRERA. i love florals. not ALL florals, mind. i'm pretty good at saying no to a ditsy-print, but handled well, i genuinely think florals are one of the most effective things a designer can do. it's because it's so ubiquitous that when it's done well, it's eye catching (well done to you, erdem morilioglu!) and for me, herrera ALWAYS hits that grown-up girlie nail right on the head. again, in addition to the florals, check out the use of the contrast piping and the colour red, which is one to watch. it really isn't going anywhere. if there's one underlying message from the resort shows, it's that "colour blocking" won't be gone completely by autumn, but bold colours will be played down by teaming them with print or a softer colour palette.

3.1 PHILLIP LIM red! how good to see you again! and this isn't just pillarbox red, either. there's some really good blends of tangerine, coral and deeper reds being worked through, so if a big old splash of tomato is too strong for you, it's definitely an idea to play around with some of these. the trouser isn't going anywhere either. i personally find a palazzo pant a little much, but i like some of these more tailored shapes, and some of the palazzo-harem hybrids. this was a really good, modern take on the resort theme i thought. very few people actually spend their holidays on the french riviera now, and lim's designs reflect the popularity of more eastern destinations.

MARC BY MARC JACOBS or the power of the print, as it should be called. jacobs has really harnessed the effect of the print, and combined it with the of-the-minute trouser shapes and androgynous tailoring to create this collection, where every items pretty much checks about three trends apiece. i love that he's working with polka dots, too - it's, again, a grown-up alternative to the breton. check out the piping, too.

JASON WU this is just delicate and clever and ladylike and i love it. you can tell he's really had fun playing around with the female form, deconstructing it and putting it back together in this understated sexy kind of way and it's ingenious. i love the use of pockets and contrast trims to draw the eye around the piece. i also love the use of colour and print together; it's a more subdued way of working with colour (jewel tones stuck together isn't for everyone, after all). wearing a piece of jason wu's resort collection says, yes, i am clued up on trends, but i don't need to shout about it.

LOUIS VUITTON okay, jacobs did this too but i'm still running it. it ties in with the jackie nature of the kors collection, and there's some truly wonderful 60s inspired pieces. the use of colour and print is, of course, fantastic AND it makes me very happy to see minis in there, because i never could do that midi-maxi thing. i think it's wonderfully playful and sophisticated, and his use of colour is just wonderful. two thumbs to you, mr jacobs.

what do you think? what collections did you like?

paper planes

2011-05-22T19:29:00.003+01:00

as you may or may not know, the world ended last night at 6pm. well, maybe it didn't for you, but it certainly did for me, as i found out that glee is moving to sky and i only have freeview. seriously, i would've welcomed flesh-eating velociraptors or whatever it was that was being foretold over being separated from my showtunes. however, all is not lost, because just like nicki minaj, no i'm not lucky, i'm blessed. and one of the wonderful blessings i had recently was that you guys were lovely enough to rally around me in the westfield style competition. and prior to this, i'd never won as much as a raffle before, so you can imagine my surprise when a little banner saying "winner" popped up next to my name. the prize was an incredibly generous amount of vouchers for westfield shopping mall, more money than i've ever had to spend in my life before. i was really conscious that if i didn't make some kind of plan, i'd just go into magpie mode and snap up the shiny things, so i made an executive list of things i'd quite like before i went, and i'm proud to say i stuck to it! i bought gifts for my friends, obviously. i'd spotted a pair of shoes in topshop i wanted for prom, and my summer sandals had fallen apart. i wanted a blazer in a light colour, a brightly coloured top and skirt, a summer skirt, a belt i'd seen in accessorize, and some MAC makeup. oh, and i treated my friend to dinner, and i still have money left over. my sister is going to seriously cash in when she gets home from uni. i stuck to my plan and got some staples, so i'm really happy.

topshop blazer and vest, river island skirt, prom shoes by topshop.

head to toe zara, and accessorize belt

as promised, i will be doing a giveaway this summer to thank you all for your support. it should be pretty epic, i'm excited for you! just to clear some confusion over my studies up, i'm still a full-time a level student. i've now left school to go on study leave, and my days are now beautifully regimented into getting up at exactly the same time, doing 5 hours per day of revision, with fruit-and-star-jumps breaks. seriously, if you find revision hard, do some star jumps in your breaks, it gets your body moving and your brain focussed! or maybe that's just me...how do you study?

playing catch up

2011-05-15T16:45:00.001+01:00

oh, press day season. second only to my local starbucks happy hour in my social calender (all drinks are half price between 3 and 5pm weekdays. i get through frappucinos like j lo got through husbands back in the day), press days are pretty exciting time. i think they're a lot of fun to cover for a blog, because one can pick stuff up and move it all around, with the excuse that the pictures need to be good, as they're the ones that will be printed. however, i have no that excuse. as two snaps into new look, my little digital SLR decided it was fed up and wanted to hibernate for the rest of the season. so, excuse the poor blackberry photography (and the generally photo-heavy post, press days are one of those occasions when a picture says a thousand words anayway) and enjoy. in this post, i'm going to share with you a little slice of the wonderfulness that was the new look and rare press days. one thing i couldn't help but LOVE about rare, was that the lovely ladies from lash out lashes were doing complimentary lash extensions. it sounds scarier than it is, but it's basically a semi-permanent set of false lashes. they look very natural, and well worth having lie with your eyes shut for twenty minutes for while fellow members of the press take pictures of you (cheers, abi..) all in all, i did 5 press events in 2 days, which isn't amazing, but i also went to school, took my driving theory test (and passed) and had a dietitian's appointment in that time. my dietitian, by the way, is a totally awesome woman who has instructed me to drink more cocktails and have puddings. doctor's orders...

left hand side: new look's show room, rare at soho house, new look's waiting area. right, canapes at rare.

top set of images, accessories at new look. bottom, top row new look, bottom row, rare.

a gorgeous wrap necklace i spotted at new look, and the most incredible blue bodycon dress at rare. both are on my wishlist!

back on good form

2011-05-08T14:54:00.002+01:00

let's not beat around the bush here: a large proportion of my life is currently irregular french tenses, comparative judicial independence and 16th century love prose, but i have still managed to squeeze in a bit of the old label lusting. i had my first exam this week (on thursday, a french oral, i think it went okay) which is why you've not heard much from me in the past couple of weeks. while what i'm going to do with the rest of life is not exactly fixed, i don't want any decisions made for me. and i don't want the decision of whether or not i attend university this year to be decided by unsatisfactory exam results. so, studying has to be a priority. but, if you want something done, you should ask a busy person. i'm not good a lot of things (blow-drying my hair, cooking, not laughing at inappropriate moments) but one thing i can do is time management. so with a few less parties here, a little more downtime with textbooks there, i'm managing to squeeze some press events still. not as many as i'd like, and it kills me to RSVP no, but hey, the really special ones will always make the cut. anyway, hipsters rejoice! for this week i attended the urban outfitters press day. i sort of expected to be swimming in jeffery campbell litas (i did spot one pair..) not be able to move without hitting a diana, but i was pleasantly surprised with some of UO's new season pieces. one thing i do like about them, is that in age of uninspiring window displays and unintuitive shop layouts, urban outfitter's visual merchandising is seriously on point. their stores are eminently shopable, and it pays in dividends for them that the regular customer doesn't have to do a lot of work to put a whole outfit together there. they do it for you. check out some of my favourites from the event.

this week i was also delighted to receive a care package all the way from hawaii, from the lovely shin at fashion cappuccino! if you'd like to be involved, pop me an email. also, never use royal mail surface mail. turns out that stuff goes on a BOAT. not a plane. a BOAT.

shin sent me: a lovely address book i'm using to house business cards, some yummy chocolate macadamias, a topshop skirt, and a bunny i've named obama. still waiting on his birth certificate, though...

colour blocking for beginners

2011-04-16T12:13:00.002+01:00

if you flick through the archives of this blog, you'll find it's deficient in many things. weather appropriate dressing, perhaps, or maybe sensible shoes. but one massive thing that my blog, and in turn, my wardrobe is lacking? colour. i'm such a colour-phobic! i have an awful lot of blue in my wardrobe, which has somehow become my "safe" colour, my base colour, my goes-with-anything colour. any blue in any shades from petrol to electric to navy. my wardrobe kind of resembles that of a marine. so you can imagine how i felt when i saw what was storming down the runways at fashion week. colour, and lots of it. having never worn colour, i literally did not know what suited me. but i was hooked, and i wanted to try. if you, like me, have never embraced colour, now is definitely the time to start. this season, there are so few rules; the more clashing the better. i'd recommend you set aside a good bit of shopping to just try out colours, and see what compliments your skin tone and what completely washes you out. once you've cracked that, the possibilities are endless! go for bold, bright tones, and if you're still apprehensive, pair it with a simpler tone, until you're bold enough to stack colour on colour.

point in case: bottom, a H&M tomato-red vest, played down with my peachy pink zara blazer and laser-cut, scalloped edge shorts from miss selfridge. almost business like, no? and top: paul costelloe bright pink shirt with lemon yellow topshop shorts. because why the hell not?

in other news, if you ever needed more reasons to check out noir magazine, next issue will have my completely hilarious interview with tom felton, who i met up with this week. expect ferret jokes, the oddness of the superfan and how robert pattinson is really coping with all the twi-hard attention. on monday, at 5pm GMT, voting ends for the westfield style competition i'm in. if you haven't voted, please do, all you have to do is press like or tweet, every vote counts! if i win, i'm going to do a giveaway. you can vote for me here.

keeping an eye on the time

2011-04-10T17:24:00.003+01:00

the arrival of summer (and yes, it is summer. i refuse to acknowledge spring after the elongated punch in the face that is british winters) means lots of things. ice cream becomes a food group, you make cocktails into ice lollies instead of drinking them, and men everywhere start contemplating whether or not they can wear suit shorts. and most decide no, even though they must be baking in a jacket and tie. poor things. all of these things aside, this summer in particular is particularly exciting for me. it's the summer i finish school, move out of home, hopefully start interning, commit more time to my work, start university and oh yeah, prom. gotta love american cultural imperialisation. i can predict that my life will become something of a jigsaw up until september, as i sort a place to live, revise like the hermione granger i always am, keep up with my magazine commitments, dabble in the other areas of fashion i've inexplicably started to try and generally say my goodbyes to life as i've known it so far. so the only thing appropriate i feel, is a jigsaw post, of my past few weeks, and how i see the next few shaping up.

my newspaper manicure (see my video tutorial on how to get it here), my mum's chanel no5 and a behind-the-scenes snap of me, in epic shorts by BITCHING AND JUNK FOOD, from the lovely clare at tweet's photoshoot.

i've always been a believer in quality over quantity. i see very little point to doing many things badly, when you could do a few things excellently. when i started couture & crumpets, it took me a little while to find my direction, and so i experimented (and i will continue to experiment. i have so much planned!), but recently i've been getting into my stride. this is just to let you know that i'm needing a little more downtime with french pronouns, judicial activism in the united states, and 14th century middle english literature in the next few months. i would recommend you buy a copy of 1883 magazine this month; i've contributed to their website for a little while, but some print interviews i did with some models, stylists and photographers are rolling out this month. the next issue of NOIR, too, contains my interview with the oscar nominated director alejandro gonzalez inuarritz, and the subsequent issue will have the fruits of my meeting the lovely tom felton this week. i've also got more shoots in the pipeline, which you'll see soon, a possibly giveaway (westfield competition depending) and a surprise contribution to C&C. watch this space...

accessories: who you need to know now

2011-04-03T16:03:00.001+01:00

i can openly admit that i'm guilty of not wearing enough jewellery. i come from a family with a bad track record with rings (it's genuinely safer for my dad to not wear his wedding ring. least it end up at the bottom of a pool.) and when i wore a watch, i compulsively took it off whenever i sat down to eat, write or in fact do anything with my hands. even after a year immersed in the blogosphere, it's only recently that i've managed to think about outfits as a whole, and marry up shoes to skirts, bags to bracelets, and generally provide some cohesion to what i wear. note that i said cohesion, not conformity. cohesion has somewhat become a buzzword for boring, and i think that's wrong. there are as many links in the outfits of most out-there, colour-crazy anna dello russo type as there in the pared-back chloe girl. i actually THINK about what shoes to wear, as opposed to just throwing on whichever ones i'm able to find both shoes of. and i now have more than one bag! it's often said, but not always enacted, that accessories bring an outfit together, and the sooner you crack that, the sooner your outfits will get a whole lot more interesting. and cheaper, too! with that in mind, i've rounded up the best brands to look to this season to bring a bit of wow to what you're wearing.

the wonderful miss lucy hutchings. a childhood spend rambling in the suffolk countryside instilled a love of all things natural in lucy, and her work is all about using raw materials and twisting them into something uniquely elegant. i personally love how she fuses chunky, tribal elements with incredibly delicate details, such as the cages for the bulky blue beads. some of her pieces are wonderful for that now ubiquitous colour blocking thing we're all doing this summer.

ah, stolen girlfriends club. let me count the ways i love you. SGC are all ex-surfers (and MALE, can you believe it?), and so all their pieces are sort of rugged-cute, which is perfect for someone who tends to use jewellery as a way to toughen outfits up, rather than sweeten them down. whimsical, cheeky messages, plus a handful of old-fashioned charm sealed this deal for me.

athena procopiou. born in greece, raised in switzerland, athena turned her back on life as concert pianist (hey, carpal tunnel syndrome's not for everyone) to become a designer. her range of scarves, inspired by natural elements is the perfect everyday pop of colour. smart enough to be workwear, pretty enough to catch eyes. perfect.

kateryna karmachova is a newly-acquired brand to the robinson pfeffer family, but she's fast become one of my favourites. her line of spike studded, embellished and eyeletted bags (inspire by bats) is fierce deluxe. the two pieces on the left are actually laptop cases. would anyone steal your macbook if it was in one of those bad boys? no. they'd be too scared.

stop trying to make fetch happen, gretchen!

2011-03-27T15:40:00.001+01:00

i've dug out my sugarbomb bronzer, had an ice cream and i'm wearing shorts; all that's left to welcome in summer is a ritual burning of all my 40 denier black tights. you might think my excitement is a little premature, but the italian blood in me just rejoices every single we get a ray of sunshine peeping through the clouds. i'm pretty much throwing caution to the wind and wholeheartedly embracing summer trends. when i started this blog, i pretty much categorically did not wear heels, let alone wedges. fast forward one year, and i genuinely consider anything under 5 inches to be a "low" heel. don't get me wrong, i wear flats to my local shopping centre, school, and tea parties, but other than that, you're likely to see me a few inches taller than nature intended. but summer's heel now, and the spindly stilettos i rocked in the winter months seem a little out of place, and due to my irrational fear of raffia and most wooden heels, the only option available to me was wedges. i don't know if you've ever read the fantasy high street section in elle, but basically they ask various fashionable people to list all the shops that would be in their ideal one-stop shopping location. and usually, the shops are new york to milan to tokyo and back. and you think, well, even if i was ready to part with enough cash to shop there, you'd then have to tack a couple of hundred pounds in plane tickets to that price, right? enter farfetch.com. in what is pretty much one of the neatest ideas i've seen in a long time, farfetch consolidates the stock from fashion boutiques like labour of love and start in london to cute ones in europe and the states. these amazing jeffery campbells came all the way from sunflower in milan. the list of shops reads like my fantasy high street, anyway.

playsuit, vaudeville & burlesque @ urban outfitters. shoes, jeffery campbell @farfetch.com

the jeffery campbells are just one in a massive selection of designer sandals. they sort the designers by level of knowability; personally i like the "cult" section, with lesser-known and slightly under the radar designers and palatable prices. these are actually insanely comfy for shoes, too, and so summery. if you've never tried wedges before, like me, i strongly suggest you give them a go this summer. they're even better for your ankles, dontcha know?

the trend report: tough love

2011-03-20T14:57:00.000Z

while you may be so excited at the admittedly meagre slice of sunshine currently hovering over london that you're digging out the short shorts, there's still a whole lot from a/w 11 fashion weeks to get excited about. let's face it; there are certain trends, that generally speaking, are limited to certain seasons to one reason or another. personally, i don't really wear florals until the shops are full of easter eggs. and i also wouldn't wear a fabric like leather or velvet until we're winding down to bonfire night. these things may be sort of constant and expected from season to season, but it doesn't mean they can't be transitional. at fashion weeks from new york to milan this season, designers showed a lot of tough, shiny fabrics. no skirting around chiffons or ruffles; sleek, hard vinyl, leather, metallic shades and ever so thick. think a kind of 70s esque, disco-age rubber and you're on the right track. fall is a time to embrace your inner bad girl, and let her loose with some tough silhouettes. it can be pretty difficult to rock metallics, especially with all the sun around, in spring without looking like a reject from a tin of quality street, but there are some general guidelines you can work with. this is one trend, that done right, can be made incredibly transitional into the spring period, and then embraced wholeheartedly come september.

at stella mccartney, there was a whole host of golden shades, from sandy yellows to deep, rusty bronzes. the fabrics had just the right amount of iridescence; enough to glimmer and shine, but not so much that they detracted from the tough, thick shapes. you've also got that classic stella anti-fit thing going on; slightly androgynous, but still totally flirty. ten out of ten.

master of minimalism, francisco costa at calvin klein exhibited their standard understand charm, but with some slightly tougher silhouettes. the stiffness of the fabric lends a real resilience to the dress, and completely changes this from an average metallic number to something structural and subtly space-age.

michael kors hit the nail on the head for the transitional thing. keeping in touch with spring by using the now ubiquitous camel colour, kors blended in the fall element with that mock-croc leather. it's the perfect blend between the trends we're rocking now, and those we're looking forward to as the year goes on. so how i recommend you try this now? gently. it's too hot, obviously, for leather (or it will be soon). but that doesn't mean to need to be a slave to pastel shades. try a gentle sheen, or even a matte sandy-gold colour to give a nod to the tough love trend. i scooped up this sample from the (now defunct) jasmine de milo label for £25. paired with a loose white vest top and a skinny belt, it's summery enough to be worn now.

champagne socialist

2011-03-13T15:30:00.000Z

there's something wonderfully aspirational about good styling and great design. the simplest thing, like a well-cut jacket or a superbly heeled pair of shoes can totally catapult you into the realms of kanye-like confidence. suddenly, with the clack clack clack of stilettos, you will walk in like you own the place. or with a swish of that dress, you aren't so mousy anymore; you're loud, and proud. i think it's a complete fallacy when people try to make others feel bad for appreciating good design. in the same way that an iPad is a beautiful piece of engineering, and a celebration of human achievement, a fantastic handbag, full of exquisite craftsmanship is just as much worthy of getting excited about. someone somewhere put quality into that, so it's silly to say that you can let it make you just a tiny bit happy. confidence looks difference on everyone; it might a skirt suit and louboutins for one person, and jogging bottoms for another. whatever it is that makes you feel good in your own skin, embrace it! if someone tells you that your enjoyment of clothes that bolster your confidence is wrong, or vain, please direct them to me. and i'll set them straight. with that in mind, i'd like to introduce you to a little slice of heaven: mimco's whispers and anarchy collection. mimco are an australian accessories brand who you might have spotted on the arms of various saturdays members, or hip young actresses, or maybe in the pages of elle. if you haven't seen their work before, you're in for a treat. mimco sent me this lovely bag from their new collection, and asked me to style it however i saw fit.

i saw the buttery softness of the leather and beautiful detail in the craftsmanship, and thought immediately of gossip girl esque glamour. i borrowed this gorgeous champagne chiffon dress from obakki, paired with my own bargain basement topshop heels, and phoned my local st john's ambulance and asked to photoshoot in their mansion. what follows is the result...

dress, (courtesy of robinson pfeffer) by obakki. shoes, topshop. bag, mimco.

here's a mini film by mimco for the upcoming season; it says more about them than i could in words!

i've been meaning to tell you - LFW part 3

2011-03-07T18:23:00.000Z

there are a few occupational hazards attached to working in fashion. i'm sure there's a multitude of conditions one can give oneself through overuse of the stiletto, or radiation-related diseases that come with constant attachment to a blackberry or iPhone. there are also, the social implications (i am now faintly surprised when people introducing themselves to me don't try to kiss a cheek) and the fiscal (i could write a very long letter of apology to my bank manager. or just set up a direct debit to asos.) but the one that no one really warns you about is how it takes over your life to the extent that you fail to recognise what is considered normal, and what's not. case in point: for the umpteenth time last month, my bargain basement iPod headphones packed in. every sensible fibre in me said to go to comet and just choose a rational pair. my evil blogger alter ego directed me towards a nearly $100 pair of bright red, gem-studded, lady gaga designed pair of high performance headphones. oh yeah, i have beats. do i regret it? not in the slightest. i may look like i'm rocking some slightly odd ear jewellery, but hey, when the bass is this pitch-perfect, little else matters. i never considered myself an audiophile, but anyone who tells you beats, especially the gaga ones are "just an accessory" is wrong. yes, yes they are completely fierce. but they deliver incredible quality.

also in this pic - the bag i FINALLY chose for london fashion week - faux snakeskin topshop number. my macbook fits in and i've yet to decapitate anyone with it. perfect. £45, topshop. it goes with everything.

i often feel that what i see on the runway, especially with young designers, is something of an overstatement of what they can do. the nature of a collection needs some sort of cohesion, so when they get an idea or a technique, it makes sense with them to run with it and make sure it links through each piece. while it's a great way of displaying a technical skillset, it doesn't always equal wearable or even desirable clothes. its lifespan is from one end to the catwalk to the other. it is then the job of the buyers and bigger labels to take the elements that are good, refine them and make them something that translates outside of those four walls - this is not to say that i think everything that we see at fashion week should look like you could buy it in topshop, not at all. i think diversity, variety and showmanship are to be championed. don't make it easy for people; a look copied from a catwalk entirely is either dull (bad designer) or ridiculous (mad dresser) this was totally apt at the brilliant craig lawrence presentation at fashion week; the styling was a little off-beat, but lawrence is clearly technically brilliant and uses a variety of fabrics in a completely exciting way that i just didn't see at other shows. he was actually using the skills of things like knitting and working with alternative fabrics to create some truly beautiful pieces. i think soon he'll be able to present it in a way that gives the spectator room to translate his pieces to their style.

unexplained bruises: LFW part two

2011-02-27T15:45:00.001Z

i don't know it's genetic or environmental, but for as long as i can remember, i've bruised like a peach. the slightest pinch or punch can leave me looking like i've been moonlighting in the WWF. in winter, a pair of black tights usually solves the problem, but come summer i'm faced with the ultimate dilemma; show off my legs and have people feeling the need to offer me an ice pack for that, or boil in a pair of 40 deniers. i'm making a mental note to get into less playfights with my (surprisingly strong) friends and maybe turn on a few more lights around my house, but i think the occupational hazard of wearing heels is always going to result in a few lumps and bumps. post fashion week, my legs were completely and inexplicably peppered with bruises, leading me to wonder if someone roughed me up during the felder felder show and i just didn't notice. (thinking back on, the rugby-esque scrum to get into that show probably accounts for a large proportion of them..) anyway, here's how fashion week AW11 made me want to dress: a bit like a geography teacher, but with a bit of leather and healthy dose of throwing caution to the wind and getting the tube in wedges. ah, life.

head to toe H&M

one designer who showed at LFW who totally bowled me away was the wonderful felicity brown. she's previously worked at lanvin, mulberry and alberta ferretti, before being coaxed into branching out on her own by her brother, henry, who was nice enough to chat to me about the label. felicity's based in abu dhabi, where a local princess took a shine to her and set her up with a studio and a tailor (like a disney tale in reverse..), so henry was in charge of looking after the exhibit. since moving to the emirates, henry says he's observed a change in her work; the total tranquillity of her surroundings and the excessive wealth of the area has lead to an increasing amount of detail and painstakingly intricate patterns in her work. the exquisite, delicate pieces can be seen below. i was floored. one to watch.

all in the accessories - LFW part one

2011-02-21T17:03:00.001Z

it's all in the accessories. we all know it, but do we really make the most of it? a little black dress can easily become THAT little black dress, if you play it right with the shoes and the bag. there's a reason many couture-clad starlets don't make the best dressed lists, even when their dress is stunning and their make up flawless. often, there's just a huge thump at their feet when they choose a pair of shoes that look like a last minute decision. or an otherwise perfect ensemble is ruined by an ill-advised bag. how often do you seriously like what you see on the red carpet, head to toe? well, this season at least there's no reason for anyone to get it wrong. showing at LONDON FASHION WEEK for AW11 was georgina goodman, fashion journalist turned stiletto creating goddess. goodman's shoes have been used by everyone from the late, great alexander mcqueen to a fellow ex-journalist, luella bartley in her eponymous collections. everything was completely delectable. i made myself leave. there is a direct positive correlation between proximity to her shoes and my heart rate.

jewellery designing glamazon lara bohinc isn't going to let anything as small as, you know, having children slow her down. oh no, for the upcoming season she's right on track with a stunning collection of ponyskin bags (leopard print isn't going anywhere, and i'm glad. it's so perfect for AW11), incredibly detailed cocktail-ready heels and some seriously iced up jewels. check out the above necklace, with its almost penne-like tubes of gold dusted with diamonds. that's the kind of piece that would take a dress from zero to hero, and reaffirms the importance of good jewellery in fashion. something that so often gets overlooked and pigeonholed as either classic (tiffany's) or avant-garde (lucy hutchings) that we forget about the subtle beauty of stylish, contemporary bijoux. cheers, ms bohinc!

overprotected

2011-02-05T19:24:00.006Z

every now and then, you're going to have a weird day. perhaps some random man in the street will give you a misguided compliment, or maybe you'll see someone who looks completely identical to you in starbucks. and you'll have awkward days, too, when you'll have to the it's not you it's me conversation with someone. but you what's really awkward, and weird? when you have to tell mary portas's production team that you don't want to dress up as a shark. and then you pretty much run from islington green, retreat to a safe space, clutching your paprika goodie bag and your gluten free red velvet cupcakes. oh yeah, welcome to my thursday. what started as a lovely morning of the made without range from the hummingbird bakery on wardour st (the gluten free cakes taste just as good as the regular!) and an incredible time at the paprika press day soon descended into me wondering if i was on the set of secret shopper or animal planet. the contract i signed on thursday with mary portas's team restricts me from saying too much until the episode airs on thursday, but basically, i denied to be filmed in the end as i simply did not understand what was happening or why people were humming the jaws theme tune. well, i did understand that, and it was humiliating. so maybe couture and crumpets is yet to hit the small screen (i was in the background of an e-documentary filmed at london fashion week last year though!), but at least my pride is intact. sort of. anyone who saw me post shark-gate would beg to differ, probably. however, the paprika press day was fantastic; a diffusion, sister line to the succesful rare fashion company, paprika is aimed at pretty young things under 25. it's sweet, trend-led but ultimately very palatable to the studenty customer for its competitive price points. an embellished, detailed party frock will set you back about £25. a gorgeous, chloe-esque sheer blouse? under £15. beach ready floral shorts? not much over a tenner.

miu miu inspired animal print tunics and club-ready embellished shoulder party frocks

trend spotting: peter pan collars, summer florals. i especially loved these crop tops, perfect for layering in summer, in a range of delicious sorbet shades, soft and looking a lot more expensive than they are.

the whole collection is eminently summery, and joyfully so when outside my window the rain is constantly falling and you need a scarf to get a pint of milk. directional, maybe not, but totally delicious nonetheless.

right through me

2011-01-23T15:14:00.005Z

they say you can tell a lot about a woman by what she keeps in her bag. i'll never forget how years ago, a male teacher asked me to open the purse a younger student had left in his classroom, because it just "wasn't right" for him to check it for some form of identification. of course men should be terrified by girls' bags - the very fact that we need them is a source of wonderment to the male of the species, and that we may carry the secrets to our weird, wonderful girl-ness inside them is positively squeamish. because, between you and me, ladies, i've got a theory that men really don't want to what makes us tick, and know our secrets. it would be an affront to the beauty that is men and women not really getting each other. as far as they're concerned, we could have a mary poppins-esque thing going on, with everything from kit kats and eyeliner to the complete works of shakespeare rattling around in there. one thing's for sure: hermione was on point in harry potter when she got used that undetectable extension charm on her bag for the wedding. once again, fashion week is looming around the corner, and i am in dire need of the right bag to hold all my fashion week essentials: my current bags are simply my zara satchel (huge) and my urban outfitters and vintage evening bags (tiny). i have to fit ALL THIS in:

all this being, cupcake plasters (gift from my mum. if i'm gonna fall over, i better do it in style) hairspray and kirby grips, paracetemol (for fashion show music-induced headaches) my notebook from jamie, which is my personal guide to london, full of bus routes and cafes, sample size moisturiser, lipgloss and toner, plus some powder and the holy grail of lipbalm, carmex. my diary, my dictaphone (for spontaneous interviews), blackberry, iPod, invitations, london at a glance (gift from time out) and some light reading in french for the lulls between presentations. viktor and rolf flowerbomb and cards from my favourites places to eat.

BAHAHAH YES that is my oyster card. go on, have a good chuckle at the picture...if david cameron gets his way, these'll go with EMA and a functioning healthcare system. ah, democracy.

money no object, i'd love a proenza schouler bag from their pre fall 2011. unless i can work an undetectable extension charm on a mcqueen knuckleduster clutch...

at $148, this madewell satchel is a slightly more affordable alternative

or, just live the dream with a mulberry tillie bag:

what's in your bag?

that seventies show

2011-01-15T14:21:00.009Z

inspiration comes from the funniest of places, doesn't it? often, i think, the mind subconsciously pieces together little bits and pieces over the course of days, weeks, months, little snippets of style or ideas from people we see on the tube and in magazines, or nostalgia for the elegance in an old photograph, and then suddenly surprises us with a full-on hit of inspiration as it all comes together. it's like, you see a great, but outlandish outfit, you love it, but can't rock it, so it lingers with you and a little bit of it overlaps that film you see that night which blends into an editorial that blindslides you as you idly flick through an old magazine. and THEN you get the idea. it took me a while to work exactly what it was that was motivating my somewhat atypical purchases this month, until i sat down and thought about it. it would seem, this season, the moodboard that is my mind is channelling the wonderful joanne woodward (particularly as iris devereaux in the 1975 film "the drowning pool" - a classic for reasons not only limited to that peach and lime jumpsuit thing she wears), with a helping of adoration for elle fanning's spread in lula magazine (ethereal has never looked so palatable) and then the respective wonderful collections of marc jacobs's s/s 2011 and the hannah macgibbon-sponsored chloe brand of nude minimalism. so here are the pieces of the puzzle:

marc jacob's s/s 2011 - image via refinery29.com

s/s 2011 RTW chloe - image via style.com

the wonderful joanne above, with husband and co-star in the drowning pool.

elle fanning in lula mgazine.

and here's the weird way i stuck it all together. what do you think? cardigan/kimono is topshop, bag, 70s vintage.

and the love kickstarts again

2011-01-02T16:42:00.005Z

everyone does christmas, and the whole festive period a little differently. each friendship group has it's own conventions, each religion a way of celebrating, and every family their own traditions. so whether it's a christmas eve bellini (my family), a cockatrice on christmas day (my friend edie) or wearing full reindeer costume to do the shopping (someone in the world, surely), we all have our little ways of making the holiday season special. i certainly hope you all had a nice time, anyway! what did you all get? i'm still at an age where christmas isn't totally eclipsed by the stress of getting a large stuffed bird into the oven at the right time, or making sure the mulled wine is the right temperature, and so i'm naively disappointed in people who all moans and groans come december 25th. there's so many things about this time of year that are great, and well, if you hate your family, friends and log fires and things, there's always the january sales! i can be something of a lacklustre bargain hunter sometimes; the topshop sale defeats me before i really walk in (seriously, some kind of order to your rails would be appreciated. size 4 jeans and size 18 sparkly hotpants never belong next to one another.) and i hate how some online stores time you to fill out your card details so they can eagerly take stuff from your basket and put it in someone else's (something that would NEVER happen in store), but i make an effort come january. i will haul myself down to bluewater (westfield is something of a no man's land) at around 8.30 and spent no more than half an hour in each shop, grab some bargains and get the hell out. so, without further ado, here's some of my favourite gifts and best bargains - so far!

one-shouldered leopard print dress, down to £25 at miss selfridge. shoes down to £35 at topshop.

christmas gift nude shirt and buckle ankle boots

TOP SALE TIPS:

sounds weird coming from miss magpie, i know, but avoid statement trend-led pieces like all over sequinned jackets. it's the end of season sale, and something that distinctive will not get much wear out of it in the minimalist-led s/s season.
get there early. sounds silly, but lots of people i know arrive at 10ish and are surprised with how busy it is.
take a friend/sibling, but only if they're prepared to split up quite a lot to go to different shops and then reconvene. it's impossible to hold on to someone in the apocalypse that is the high street sales.
look online before you. you can get a whole lot done with no queues and no one jostling you.

favourite gifts: blue suede bow gloves, starbucks cappucino cup, false eyelashes, luella's guide to english style and the goddess experience.

THOSE sale shoes - topshop, down from £75 to £35.

what did everyone get in the sales?

christmas all wrapped up with couture and crumpets

2010-12-12T13:53:00.010Z

i love london. i can't even use the "hometown glory" argument to justify my abundant and completely unconditional love for the city, seeing as i'm technically just out of the london boroughs (well, until next year...). yes, my dad was born in mile end road, and yes, i did go to london zoo as a child, but i don't think i really got fired up about london until i did work experience with the wonderful people at time out magazine. every day, they would send me alone, out of the office, to bloomsbury to buckingham palace, soho to sloane square, st james' to st alban's. for a girl who used to be a little panicky alone on the bus once it gets dark, it was the ultimate baptism of fire. slowly but surely, i began to build up my own map of the city in my head; that corner in victoria that i know will lead me back to the tube, the boutique near bishopsgate that gets me back onto embankment, and my version of the city began to sparkle and glow with possibility. the work experience ended, but my blog grew, and so i found myself making often twice weekly pilgrimages to the big smoke. so, if you are coming to london this christmas, or considering it, i've put together my guide of all the best haunts, gifts, sights and experiences that hopefully locals and tourists alike will enjoy. oh, if you're in town, say hello! we can get banana bread from the great place on hanbury street.

WHAT TO BUY

the cream of the crop of advent calenders, the "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS" advent calender, exclusively at selfridge's is the ultimate belated gift. with a sample-size perfume or beauty product from a range of the designer brand's stocked at the hallowed halls on oxford street, personally i'd take this over chocolate any day.

enquiries at www.selfridges.com

WHAT TO DO

i might look like bambi on buttered ice when it comes to skating, but even i'll risk my limbs (and my dignity) to swoop around and pretend i'm on dancing on ice at somerset's house ice rink. i always associate somerset house with london fashion week, but once the catwalk's gone, the rink goes down, pretty music plays and cupcakes and charms courtesy of tiffany's are produced. the cutest festive experience this year. the breakfast with tiffany event includes discounted tickets, plus free hot chocolate and a cupcake.

for ticket prices and dates, contact somerset house

WHAT TO WEAR:

up and coming, hot london label irwin & jordan's A/W collection draws inspiration from traditional british heritage dressing with a sophisticated twist. think a pretty jack wills, but with some actual trend-led pieces. i think all the lace creations are perfect christmas partywear, like this dress that zoe of my sugarland was as kind to let me try on last time i was in her shop:

irwin & jordan is stocked at my sugarland, islington. photo of me in I&J courtesy of carrie

WHAT TO EAT

not even my newly recognised wheat intolerance stop me lusting after cupcakes from the hummingbird bakery. all year round these things are yummy, but the festive menu would get even the most sophisticated londoner giggling with glee at the yummy icing and cute toppings. there are three branches across london, from soho to knightsbridge.

store locations and flavours at the hummingbird bakery

WHAT TO WATCH

from january, the british film institute in london will be screening a classic disney film every weekend of the year. fancy dress optional, but highly recommended; i'd let anyone over the age of 12 in full princess regalia sit next to me, for sure. i think this will be one of those lovely sorts of showings where the audience laugh and sing along together, because let's face it, if you didn't like at least one disney film as a child, you're probably about 90% android. just sayin'.

dates, films and tickets available at the BFI

sugarbomb

2010-12-05T13:00:00.007Z

snow is probably the most beautiful inconvenience in the world. you can't get a bus for love or money, your local supermarket begins to resemble a scene from the day after tomorrow with rationed milk and a floor partially covered by strewn rubbish, and local councils go haywire; but oh, isn't it pretty? we could probably forget all things that give our nation that post-apocolyptic overtone if they were a little bit easier on the eye (clegg and cameron, take note. you are only a facelift away from winning back your electorate) but the fact of the matter is that, for the last few years anyway, in england, it has snowed, and every year it somehow takes us by surprise. the good news, i suppose, is that schools were shut all week, the bad news is that i'm actually a bit bothered about my a-levels, and that amount of time in the house led me to believe that it was acceptable to email a picture of myself in about 100 layers to all the PR girls who'd invited me to events that week as an explanation for my non-attendance to their respective events. stir crazy, nice to meet you, i'm daniela, and i'll be here until the snow lifts. however, yesterday i was finally able to get some public transport (including a cloverfield-esque tube journey from victoria to highbury & islington) and attend aussie haircare's blogger's festive market! and boy, was it worth the effort.

i don't know about you, but i feel it's a good day when you get your hair styled for free by a girl who knows how to match the style to your lipstick - i was wearing 50s red, she went for retro curls, nab a cheeky free cupcake, get boxing lessons, catwalk coaching AND some yummy food from down under thrown into the mix. oh, and there were some wonderfully creative bloggers, known as the aussie angels, showing off their skills.

styling at the ready

(and below) gorgeous handmade jewellery from pretty cherished

first, lucy's uni portfolio, then carrie's

note well's heart tunes initiative, a music-orientated charity

so many press events i go are fabulously sleek and sophisticated, so it was wonderful to, pardon the pun, really let my hair down and have a giggle with some of my longtime blogger BFFS. the wonderful cate sevilla did a talk on how to make a better blog, which made me really think about where i see the future of couture & crumpets, and what i'd like to do in the future with it. i can't post as much as i want right now, as i'm a full time student in my final year with big, life-shaping exams looming, and i have other commitments like my saturday job, so it would be silly to embark on the plans i have right now. in future, after may of next year, i see C&C being a twice/three times a week blog with shorter, snappier posts on more events and trends, rather than all in one weekly roundup. i see a more creative, interactive layout, i see more artwork, i see more of my own projects. basically, all the things i want to show you but i can't do right now because of my studies. what would you like to see? i never want C&C to be a picture-heavy blog solely, because, well, i am a writer after all.

"which way do we look?!" "the camera's there!" "no, it's down ther- oh."

thank you aussie! i love lucy.

"everything fred ever did, i did backwards and in heels"

2010-11-28T10:00:00.004Z

the above is probably my favourite quotation of all time, spoken by the wonderful ginger rogers on her life as one half of arguably the most famous dancing duo in history. and cmon girls, we all know she feels. whether it's breaking glass ceilings at work, getting equality in a relationship or even finding an accurate representation of women in a film, we can often feel we have to do everything men do - just ultimately more difficult. that's not to say men don't have that problem too; there's a lot of careers and industries and life situations where men are gonna have to sweat it double and bend over backwards and get zero recognition for it. but what i love about what ms rogers said is that it so perfectly sums just how angry she felt about fred astaire getting all the praise, when she was the one who really had a bit more skill just to appear at the same level as him. not gonna lie, often in life, when i hear people (male or female) moaning about some task they've undertaken, especially one i've done before, all i can think in my head is "backwards AND in heels...". but hey, it takes a lot of grace to just keep quiet, so that's what i tend to do, instead of play the who's-had-it-worse game, cause trust me, nobody wins. so our fate in life could very well be to do countless tasks and jobs not only at odds to the people around us, but with an extra few inches hoisted under our heels. and if that be the way, then we might as well have a few pretty inches for it. this week, the lovely people at kurt geiger invited to their SS11 press day at the brandon & nash galleries, and boy was it a treat. warning: the following may cause serious shoe lust.

the collection was based on yves saint laurent's idea that "at night, women should be like birds of paradise" - hence the aviary-themed display (my poor photography cannot hope to recapture the beauty those genius PR girls had whipped up) and the lashings of exotic feather and delicate-yet-tough touches. the collection is just completely, breath-takingly stunning. my favourite piece was doubtlessly some black suede ankle boots with a splash of orange feathers down the front; something so simple made so pretty in such a unique way. while the KG staples (leopard print etc) were there, on the whole, the geiger gals are definitely making trends this season rather than just following them.

best bit? the goodie bag was a free pair of shoes. yup, you read that right. free shoes. there were about 6 to choose from, so obviously i went for the most outlandish, and have now fallen totally for them. having never owned anything like this before, i'm not sure what to to pair them with - what do you think?

i whip my hair back and forth

2010-11-21T00:07:00.005Z

you know how they say that however good you are at something, however on top of your game you may be, they'll always be someone younger, better and prettier than you at it? imagine how nadine coyle feels. she's madly been trying to get this whole "floor filler" thing down pat, and them BAM, a nine year old with a face that could make even gisele lose a few points on the self-esteem front sings about shaking your hair...and suddenly, no club night is complete with out it. tough luck, coyle. this is undoubtedly true in fashion, i felt that at 17 (16 when i started this blog) i was one of the youngest in the game, but i'm now meeting 15 and 16 year olds at press events and feeling like a grandma. so, forgive me if you think i'm a little premature in dreaming big things about where i want to take this blog, and scheming up fun plans, but in fashion years (which are kinda like dog years), i feel confident enough to try and start something lovely to get people connected. no, i am not the female (and let's face it, slightly more socially skilled) mark zuckerberg. but i'm still proud to present what could very be the only (but let's hope not) instalment in the BLOGGER CARE PACKAGE PROJECT. dreamed up by me, and the wonderful jamie-lee of page sixxx, after we decided we wanted to try food from each other's countries, really. i nearly died with excitement when the package arrived from her:

jamie sent: 2 bracelets, fudge, biscuits, christmas tree decoration, jewellery tree, chocolates and a note

this was the most delicious biscuit of life, and apparently, you can get them in waitrose! score.

since i started my blog, i've been amazed at all the stylish people and places in the world that aren't paris or milan, that aren't big cities and certainly slick grown-ups. i've loved all the food/day out posts i read from overseas, where i see where other teenagers kick it on a weekend, or adults go for a nice quiet drink. i've been so fascinated with everyone's lives, and now i've got a way to share it. if you live somewhere other than england or new zealand, and would like to receive a FROM LONDON WITH LOVE care package from me and send me one too, pop me an email!

here's the other thing i did this week; made my nails look like strawberries! i did a base coat in barry m red, then used a green barry m polish for the stalk-y bits. hairspray (to make the liquid eyeliner cling), then eyeliner for the seeds. lots of clear top coat. i plan to still be this funky when i'm 45.

today's post is brought to you by the colour navy

2010-11-14T09:30:00.006Z

i think the biggest compliment i've received lately came courtesy of my mum this week, when she told me (albeit in a tone laced with mocking) that i was the "complete woman", after my wednesday. oh yes, this wednesday was a pretty important day for anyone in britain concerned about the future of young people or the importance of education. for anyone outside the UK, the new government recently announced that they would "lift the cap" on university tuition fees, which means that universities can charge students as much as they want to attend their storied halls. now, if like me, your wallet isn't as fat as david cameron's, and daddy doesn't do his grocery shopping in harrods, this is a big problem. £9,000 for an education that will actually help society as a whole? yeah, way to shoot yourself in your kurt geiger-shod foot, cameron. so, this week, students from across the nation took to the streets to air their displeasure, myself and my friends being among them.* i spent the first half of my afternoon waving a placard, chanting outside parliament and generally getting my protest on, then casually swagged off to the jaeger press day. yeah, protesting and free treacle tart, all in a day's work for this young one.

playsuit, down from £58 to £20, vaudeville + burlesque @ urban outfitters

belt, £4.99, urban outfitters

a couple of posts ago, i asked you all about style limits (and i really loved reading your answers, thank you so much for that!), but i came to realise i have one big one that dominates my wardrobe without me even noticing it. oh yes, the colour blue. navy, in particular. i just love navy. i can't stop buying navy. just this week, two more navy items were added to the sea of...well, sea coloured items (unless you live in margate, where the sea is distinctly grey-tinged) playing up to a side of my style identity that's been very much swallowed up lately in my surge of heels and trousers, the following are much more of the style i had six months ago, when everything i had was soft, pretty and vintage-esque. i think i just missed that girl a bit. thank goodness she hadn't gone for good. i've also been experimenting with a touch of the 50s - mini beehive, slick of red lipstick. thoughts?

blouse, ASOS.com

what do you think of these looks? and of the situation with student fees?

*i was not involved in nor do i condone the events at millbank this week. the individuals involved have greatly disgraced the cause for the majority.

ready or not

2010-11-07T15:04:00.007Z

what happens when the queen's pattern cutter decides that regal tea parties and corgis at dawn just won't cut it anymore? or when a group of laid back surfers get jilted one time too many? or maybe, what happens when the tube workers decide that really, the best way to get people to sympathise with them is to cripple the most essential and central method of transport around london through means of a strike? i tell you, it looks a bit like my wednesday night. oh yes, armed with just my oyster card, i travelled from embankment to hackney to islington to waterloo, in the space of about four hours, not bothering to stop for you know, food or anything in order to bring you guys the cream of the press day crop. except, oh wait, no tubes, and it's raining. and apparently, the 388 to hackney wick doesn't always stop where you want it to, and you end up walking from bethnal green (for anyone outside the m25, i'm so sorry, that made no sense. just substitute the place names for your favourite pokemon and smile about it.) once i finally found it, the robinson pfeffer press day was an absolute gem. staffed by perky young things, toting coconut water and the possibility of free massages, the hackney basement had been converted into a treasure trove for up and coming young designers. the tongue in cheek range, stolen girlfriends club, founded by the aforementioned jaded surfers, combined witty slogan t-shirts with quirky jewellery, and the kind of funky little numbers cheryl cole would wear if she had a sense of humour. this is the thinking girl's (or guy's) fashion - cleverly cut, definitely flirty, but with a lot of pizazz and come-on-if-you-think-you're-tough enough.

stolen girlfriend's club

tina kavilas, ex pattern cutter to the royal family, and boy does it show. she's got more talent in her little finger than the entirety of whatever crack team ended up putting lindsay lohan's collection for ungaro on the runway have in their entirety. and a whole lotta lovely jewellery, courtesy of the wonderfully kitsch and clever lucy hutchings. (if you're thinking it looks familiar, it really reminded me of mary kantranzou's trompe d'oleil prints)

tina kavilas

lucy hutchings jewellery

i finally made it (with a lot of help from my main girl, abimarvel) to my sugarland's 2nd birthday bash, and man, those girls know how to throw a party! this is what i was greeted with:

om nom nom.

all the staff had the most amazing retro hair and make up, courtesy of nina's retro salon, which i think is the coolest thing in the world. they're a genuine 50s throwback, complete with hood dryers and cups of earl grey tea. keira rathbone, the wonderful typewriter artist, suited it down to a T!

who's that girl?

2010-10-31T12:43:00.008Z

there's a couple of reasons why i don't tend to answer when people call me danielle. the first and foremost being that, you know, it is not my name (i have documentation to this effect. passport and birth certificate available on request) and so in the same way you wouldn't answer to a name that's not your own, i don't. that's not to say i'm mean about it; if someone mishears my name then obviously i'll smile, answer them and politely drop in my real name, of course. but at work, when i wear a name badge, or a teacher who has taught me for years...they can expect to wait until they get it right. the other reason i don't answer, is that for me, my name is a big part of identity. i'm very proud of my italian roots and my italian family, and so i'm proud of the big, outrageous, un-spell-able, wheres-the-pasta name my parents gave me. when someone continually gets my name wrong, i have the same reaction as my nonna does, in my head; that is to scream (in a 3/4 italian, 1/4 east end london) accent "i'm not french, i'm italian!" so if one big decider of how comfortable we feel in our own skin is what we call ourselves, then one big factor that decides how confident we feel in that skin is what we cover it with. and so in a mad moment this week, the formula of being jaded after my boss still got my name wrong, plus a free tube of MAC lady danger multiplied by the opportunity to go shopping, equalled one big epiphany. that really, with the variety of the high street, we are able to reinvent ourselves multiple times and never get too stuck in one look. okay, we all have our staples that we all fall back (you'll know by now i like my hemlines a little north of the knee, and until LFW, i was a card-carrying trouserphobic), but when we feel brave, or even angry, we can try so many different things. and we don't have to be same girl, or guy, twice.

dress, topshop. jacket, H&M, vest top, River Island, jeans, topshop.

shoes, new look.

one girl, multiple looks.

reading a post by the lovely jen about confidence really got me thinking; she looked darling in her playsuit, but said she took it straight off after wards because she just didn't feel comfortable in something that short. this week, coerced by my mum, i got this sweater in topshop. and yes, it's gorgeous, and so directional, and so chic, and yes i think i look alright in it - but i just don't feel confident in it. not at all. i'm not used to having every inch of my neck covered, and not being able to layer. i'm not used to just wearing one simple piece. i have to somehow mix it up. and so this jumper will just find it's way back to topshop, and the thirty odd quid it cost will just go on something else. for me, to feel confident, i need to have some sort of flexibility. i can push myself so far with my style boundaries, but i still need to feel like i know the girl i see in the mirror. i don't think it's wise, or even constructive to beat ourselves up when we find a trend we just don't want to do. knowing what you don't like is just as fundamental to being sassy in your skin as having favourites.

what do you think? where are your style limits?

these are a few of my favourite things

2010-10-24T13:32:00.010+01:00

i feel there are a couple of things i should make clear at the outset of this post; barry m and miss victoria price have not, and probably won't ever, given me any compensation for what is effectively a lot of free ad space. just when i really like something...i tend to not shut up about it. it's why i got kicked out of the library when they finally moved all the twilight books into the pre-school section. (i'm just kidding, that didn't happen. i'd go there a whole lot more if they did, though). i've had a mad week; it might be half term now, but i've completed a personal statement, sent off all my university applications, done a shift at work, written some articles and finished all of the miller's tale and antony and cleopatra and still found time to breathe. but in spite of all the stress, i've also had a week of lovely little things dropping through my letterbox, or into my shopping bag. and some of these things have happened to remind me of some other lovely things i got a little while back, and just forgot to share with you. so i proudly present, an outfit breakdown, with all the delights of dressing like a WW2 evacuee (all i need is a gas mask and tag now, really) and final arrival of a proper british winter.

just for some reason, to me, this looks like i'm about to board the 11.34 to yorkshire to be safe from the blitz. no? just me? i don't care, the interwar period was pretty damn chic, as far as i'm concerned.

(dress - worn as a top - courtesy of rare clothing, skirt - topshop.)

shearling boots. i actually bought these last year in M&S, and my friends told me they were ugly. who's laughing now, huh?

killer nails. thanks to the invention of the greatest thing EVER, we can all be nail artists now. barry m instant effects is an opaque black polish, that you apply over your base coat, and as it dries, it forms different patterns every time, like a fingerprint. i got so many requests that i did seven girls in my sixth form in about 5 free periods like this, and my local boots has sold out, so get it while you can.

the world's cutest bracelet. the lovely miss price makes these to order (prices are up to £8.50 for 5 letters), or you can have a ring. for someone who isn't always down with personalised accessories (i live in a town that has a bit too much love for the argos jewellery section), this is perfect - personal, whimsical and very, very cute.

coco rocha and the best stylish interiors

2010-10-17T15:26:00.000+01:00

so, this is my 100th post. after a president has been in office for 100 days, some nice person will usually write up a report on them and how they've been doing, but apparently this courtesy doesn't extend to fashion bloggers, as the white house representative so kindly informed me. whatever, i can add it to my list of beefs with that government (the others being the fact that they allow the disney channel to broadcast, and the fact that they won't give bo obama the official "first pup" status he clearly deserves) so it befalls to me, daniela kate morosini, to write up my own little report. it's safe to say that myself and my life have changed a lot since i started this blog; not only in terms of professional development but in my own personal style. you all remember the fashion week leopard print trousers, right? i never would have bought them if you guys hadn't egged me on! and yes, i might now be busier than amy winehouse's PR girl, but i discovered a very important thing about myself over the last nine months or so; i love being busy. being industrious, and more importantly, feeling like i've achieved something. and yes, i am very proud of my blog, and so please all have a drink on me if you like reading my blog, i'm glad i can make you giggle. if you have any questions about me or what i do, leave them in the comments and i'll get back to you quicker than you can say shearling boots.

so after stumbling across the ridiculously lovely love den of the ridiculously gorgeous coco rocha on vogue.com, and seeing my wonderful friend lucy's newly jazzed up student digs, it got me thinking about fashionable decorating. i mean, what does your space say about you? while my mum considers taking me to ikea suitable consolation for all life's ills, she is (rightly) not about to dish out cash for me to play changing rooms with, so my room hasn't had a lick of paint since...2004? and the radiators are big and ugly, and the fireplace doesn't work, and the furniture is older than knock knock jokes...but i've made it my own, somehow. and it's one of the things that scares me most about going to uni next year; will my room ever feel like mine when so many others have lived there?

coca rocha's gorgeous, new, $15,000 apartment with her husband. it's so right for a girl like her; it's very stylish and modern, but with tons of vintage accessories and themes...it's the the thinking girl's chic dream. from the (albeit coffee-table hipster-ish) books lying around it looks like she reads, and feeds on stuff other than fashion, but the whimsical touches show a fun loving playful princesses. now if we could just get our hands on her walk-in wardrobe. and this is my room, where i blog (fun fact, with exception of one article for noir, every single thing i have ever written has been written here). i think it says a lot about me; the torn out pictures on the wardrobes say teenager, the stacks of magazines (not even half my collection) say fashion fan, the books say literature lover, the bags say shopaholic, the bible says christian and the gratuitous MAC makeup says goodie bag lover. the macbook just says all-round, awesome, fyi. what's your workspace like? what does it say about you? i call my design ethos "classy cluttering" - ie, tons of random junk, but nicely ordered.

the accessories edit

2010-10-10T14:22:00.000+01:00

as the last bottles of bubbly are poured, and fashion PRs everywhere begin to return a blood pressure in only triple digits, and street style photographers peel themselves away from their lurking spots outside catwalk venues to return to their usual haunts, it's safe to say that fashion week is pretty much done. everyone is now left to return to normalcy (which for me, is sometimes a red velvet cupcake from the hummingbird bakery and beer with my folks on a friday night. party on.), but armed with all the trends for the next season to pore over and select favourites from. i find it's only when i go back and look over all my pictures that i really start to cherry pick my favourites, and while there's a good few of usual spring classics (pastels, florals, yadda yadda), there's definitely a few new kids on the block. like, jigsaw dressing. and the reworked old lady tweed jacket (aviators are so passe, darling). and more importantly, shoes. and lots of them. every fashion week, i always end up thinking there should be a special, separate shoe fashion week where we can go and lust after the beauty of the four inch plus, tendon-shredding, spasm-inducing wonder that is designer shoes. nicholas kirkwood for liberty brought it, louboutin for rodarte brought it last season, but we've got something even better this time round. the first mcqueen collection to hit the runway with sarah burton at the helm is kind of like raiding the collective inhabitants of narnia's wardrobes, but with a bad-girl twist. supernature was something mcqueen basically owned, but i think we can expect to see animal influences a lot this spring, and in more ways that just leopard print. definitely the butterflies, definitely playing with textures and definitely delicate.

miu miu's delicious oversized purses. this is basically the most elegant yet quirky thing i've seen for a while.

one last thing - i always, always wear black tights in winter, so i thought i'd try an over the knee sock as an alternative. love it or leave it? cute or do i just look like i'm half in school uniform, half in my own kit? answers on the back of a postcard... (credit to my lovely friend chloe for the pic + the loan of her bed)

the best soy latte that you ever had

2010-10-03T16:01:00.000+01:00

okay, you guessed it. i've abandoned my couture lover and ran straight back into the arms of my old flame - the high street. that's not to say that fashion week was just the monica lewinsky to my proverbial clinton, and that i expect the high street to bound on and overtake it (although mad props to hillary for not being sarah palin), but for a while i need to reassert my love for the good old british high street. our topshops, zaras, H&Ms and what have you are a lot of what makes british fashion great - i mean, you have you SEEN the stuff that comes out of the US that's not designer? J.C.Penney. forever 21. anything selena gomez wore. the wardrobes of the nickolodean channel. okay, rodarte/zac posen for target is good - but there's a big talent there. europe, but especially britian, has a high street that probably bunks up our tourism levels as much as that sweet old lady who lives in buckingham palace. forget booze cruises, it's all about the topshop trolley dash these days. so i've made a decision to wrap up my LFW coverage for now, in the interests of, well, it was a while ago now and i'd like to stay relevant. i've been invited to paris fashion week but can't go (kent county council school board, watch your back), but more wonderful stuff from me and other people, including some really good interviews, will be in noir this month, so i'd recommend you check it out.

so they say forewarned is forearmed. well, by that logic, i'm about to absolutely smack down winter. because i've been super-organised and got myself a new coat, hat AND bag. okay, my previous coat and bag broke on the same day (i like to call it payday oh-wait-you-need-to-replace-the-two-most-expensive-things-in-your-wardrobe day), but come on, the HAT. that i take full credit for. i had such a dilemma over the coat; mac shape, parka, fur coat, utility, or one of the new jackets..? in the end, i decided to remove myself completely from the aviator jacket scramble because i can't afford a high-end, high street one, and i won't have one that already looks bedraggled for sake of a trend. i'm going back to basics with this really cute, bow detail coat from miss selfridge, this cute little box satchel from zara and the most amazing hat of life, from river island.

one bandwagon i've hopped on has been the whole leopard print manicures one. i'm such a sucker for nail art as it is, and when i saw this tutorial by the very talented and pretty gem fatale, i had to have a go for myself. i secretly love winter, and wrapping up warm, but there is always the whole needing shoes that can survive british downpour issue, which is why i was so impressed with palladium boots latest ad campaign. they've got the oddly charismatic johnny knoxville to visit detroit to make a documentary about how a city once tipped as america's greatest metropolis is now one of the areas worst hit by the recession and so full of crime. as a politics student, the documentary was fascinating, and as a fashion lover, it's very befitting of such a heritage brand to get right back to the heart of a city. check it out here:

what's your hot tip for winter?

love lockdown

2010-09-27T17:42:00.002+01:00

i like to think that by stretching out my london fashion week experiences into a whole series of posts, i'm effectively doing what people do when it's their birthday, and they have like a whole birthday week. you know, like family and cake on the day, dinner with friends another, practising your bambi on ice impression (i mean rollerblading) another, blah blah blah..or is it just me that does this? must be an italian thing. but in between all the free miniature cupcakes and the dangerous levels of gratuitous booze - beware the charming man in the waistcoat with the bottle of moet. he is not your friend, repeat, not your friend - there is some serious hard graft that goes into making the event tick, not least on the part of the exhibitors. they spent all day every day perched in an admittedly gorgeous booth, smiling constantly and fielding questions from rather hapless journalists like me who ask them to tell their bosses how much i love them. not that i did that with michael van der ham's poor intern. they basically have to be charming, witty and eloquent all day, and basically give the best possible face of their brand for the week. and let me tell you, the press can be a cruel mistress. we are noisy, intrusive, fickle and above all, not always very tactful, so massive props to the guys and gals who make the exhibitions as great as they are. my favourite was the NEWGEN launch pad, in association with topshop (complete with barcode reader for your press pass to get you in. these guys aren't messing around.) since 1993, the initiative has given support, coverage and most importantly a launch pad to some of the most innovative and exciting young names in fashion. their roster reads like a who's who of hot labels; david koma, mary kantrantzou, mark fast...here's my choice picks.

michael lewis. remember the name, cause soon you'll be lustin' after it. hot off the success of being the show designer for tom ford's hush-hush womenswear line (one of his sales team told me he was so secretive, she plied him with massive amounts of alcohol and he still didn't let anything slip. kinda reminded me of spies in WW2 who endured all kinds of torture so they didn't surrender the allies secrets, until i remembered that seven manhattans isn't really torture at all. fashion is war.), mr lewis' shoes are lose-your-breath beautiful, which is to be expected from a man who worked at vuitton, burberry and gucci, and you know, consults for versace in his spare time. get a load of his femme fatale inspired collection:

heikki salonen. worth getting your tongue round the extra syllables for, because this young gentleman has a collection of angular, sharp and beautifully embellished pieces that just strike the balance between overtly sexy and dangerously edgy. the juxtaposition of the simple man's shirt, but then emblazoned with studs and pearls, or the run of the mill mini dress completely reinvented with some sharp tailoring, a swash of suede and buckle here and there is clear enough proof for me that this guy is a genius. his collection is a short, sharp shock of muted tones, thigh skimming hems and bad girl biker jackets. one to watch.

pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

2010-09-20T16:44:00.000+01:00

it's pretty much safe to say that my first fashion week was an occasion as monumental as your child's first steps, your daughter's marriage or indeed the first time you managed to tie your shoelaces yourself. if you're not british, or that into catwalk shows and people-watching, the reason why people get so beside themselves about london fashion week is probably as confusing to you as why that mockumentary with the jonas brothers ever got commissioned for a second series (what can i say, i babysit eight year old girls. and yes, they are more articulate than messrs nick, kevin and joe.) but let me explain; where else can one sit next to a woman who's had so much plastic surgery she looks like heidi montag in a microwave? or sample every flavour of vitamin water due to the fact that they apparently provide enough of that stuff to compensate for the melting polar caps? or just generally, witness the wonder, creativity and pure genius of britain's shining lights in fashion, first-hand, and before everyone else? LFW is a thing of beauty. after a very disappointing start on thursday (i won't say what, to be kind, but it was bad), i queued for paul costelloe with a heavy heart, wondering if i'd made a mistake in coming at all. then oh my goodness, the lights go down, everyone shuts the hell up and the lightning bolt hits you. THIS is why i'm in this business again. this is why i spend my days ankle-deep in magazines, writing love letters to michael van der ham, lusting after shoes and writing on this blog. because, really, true, fashion done right is a thing of beauty. i'm going to break my LFW experiences down in to probably three posts, and also you can read more exclusive stuff, including my interview with yang du (!!!) in this month's noir.

day one - mr costelloe. okay, being taken out of the main queue and ushered straight in probably helped, but this old-timer has got a lot up his sleeve. a true master of tailoring and a veteran in fashion, paul costelloe's s/s 2011 lookbook is a veritable feast of soft, icy pastels, structured skirts, beautiful back details and a touch of pure genius in the form of the tweed jacket/bomber hybrid. yeah, you read that right. think scoop backs, bow backs, gently exaggerated party frock shapes, minus the taffeta overload and with a gentle elegance. scalloping, scoops, soft edges, layering of silky fabrics in classic cuts with a modern twist - think the great gatsby with some teeth. i love that costelloe didn't merely churn out a floral overload - he experimented with s/s classics, and boy did he get it right.

ana sekularac's presentation was probably the best one all week - tucked away in the private cinema of the aldwych one hotel, and among mini popcorn cups and no shortage of champagne and jelly beans, we were treated to a special preview of ana's video lookbook for s/s 2011. me and my colleague laura sat there and basically didn't breath for five minutes, the dresses were so wonderful. structured, detailed dresses with feminine overtones, it was frothy frou frou in a sleek, modern way. the pared back dress shapes allowed for the little flamboyant details, but played down in soft, monocolour fabrics and without any attention-seeking bling details. the dresses were more come hither than look-at-me. but you have to look at them. the shapes and cuts are so gorgeous, i really want to see people like amanda seyfriend and zooey deschanel rocking them on the red carpet. i got to chat with ana afterwards, and she told us how excited she was to be showing in london for the first time, and how tentative she was about the the public reception. ana's definitely one to watch for me; delicate, precious, stiletto ready, crafted, her works are a technical wonder. check it out here: