baubles

One way of describing the shopping in southern Spain is disappointing. Or do you think I should have snapped up one of these babies?

i thread the needle through

Beat the Devil's Tattoo - BRMC

Just documented our Sunday stroll through Camden passage for brekky followed by my first dabble in Christmas shopping. And last. Wes and I agreed we will only give little presents this year as we are going to be travelling and every kilo counts! Plus it means we are allowed to buy ourselves a present if something catches our eye in Spain! I think low-key Christmases are catching on. I still got to buy frothy pink things for our two nieces though.

This is also what I basically wore to see BRMC the same weekend. They were really good but played lots of songs I didn't know and a weird pre-recorded voice-over from Iggy Pop. Next on the list are Band of Horses and The Bravery.

Hmm, have I told you about my love of mixing prints? No? Well I really love mixing prints. There.

Lucky we got up early and have finished already. I can't believe people kept joining the end of the queue! Do they realise how many tables are in there? You are actually going to be waiting for the duration of the entire cafe's meals! Then you still might not get in until the next round.

My fab leather (look) leggings and my new boots.

Coat and Breton: Topshop; Scarf and beret: Urban Outfitters; Leggings and gloves: H & M; Boots: Kurt Geiger

someone still loves you boris yeltsin

If I weren't totally broke, I would be going retail crazy right now. With all the winter and 'holiday' collections arriving in stores everyday there are just so many irresistible items I have spied and it is hard imagining getting through winter without them! There are the obvious, of course, like I need a new pair of black ankle boots to replace my old holey ones, but there are a few more fun and frivolous items that have caught my eye...

I think this Whistles muff would actually be really practical given the juggling act I perform everyday when I need to take my gloves off to do anything on my phone, which risks dropping phone or gloves or both. But if my gloves were attached to my neck...drama solved!

Hear me out here!! Well, I actually have no reasonable explanation for this one other than that I have always seen snow boots as completely lacking in any style, and one of those signs that someone has just given up and succumbed to pure practicality with no interest in maintaining their physical appearance. But now I look at them and think, I reckon I could pull it off. These ones are by Rubber Duck and you can get them here.

Matalan is definitely not somewhere I have ever looked for wardrobe-updating staples but that is exactly what I think this dress would be. I have so far completely resisted the obsession everyone has with maxi stuff but I now think it would be an absolutely perfect all-weather layering piece and I think this one ticks many trend boxes. And it's sooo cheap!

You may have noticed that I am finding a bit more time for blogging lately. You would be correct with the main reason being that basically all my friends decided to leave London for sunnier climes downunder and I now find myself with far fewer social engagements to fit into my schedule. Party season? What parties?! I really miss them all, but hope they are all enjoying their new lives xx

A little more for little you

The Hives

I never really got the harness trend that went viral on all the fashion blogs last year. S and M creeps me out to be completely honest and the harnesses strayed too far into gimp territory for me. Perhaps I am mentally scarred because I was too young when I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time?? Anyway though, I found a truly beautiful adornment that would allow me to participate in the trend in a more couture, less coutorture kind of way. Clap your eyes on these babies...

Nocturne shoulder jewellery. Can you even begin to imagine the possibilities?? Little bit exxy but maybe a possibility if you have a really generous relative who wants to buy you a Christmas pressie? And they would translate across seasons, so maybe think about the cost per wear ratio too. I can see it with a simple white vest top in summer as well as with a long sleeve black mini dress for winter. I can't get enough of long sleeve mini dresses!!

new change is the name of the street

Got to check out One New Change yesterday, a week after it opened as London's newest shopping centre, and the first proper one in the City. It doesn't have heaps of shops, but it would be just enough for a lunchtime whip around, which is of course the whole point. It looks pretty boring from the outside but is pretty cool inside which is where all these photos are taken. A major drawcard will be the food, with Jamie Oliver opening Barbecoa, an homage to meat, right across from a new Gordon Ramsey that is yet to come. Barbecoa is open now, and I did quite like the look of the menu if I ever had some poundage burning a hole in my pocket and I felt like a steak. In the meantime, we went to Byron for burgers and I got a proper hamburger with beetroot on it! They are only for a limited time though, as part of Movember which is an Australian fundraising event that has been adopted in the UK. Hence, the Aussie hamburger. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

They have a Topshop, Mango, Reiss, Banana Republic, Karen Millen, Office and Dune all with quite workwear-oriented stock, plus a couple of outdoorsy-stores like North Face which I didn't quite get. Is that what city workers do on the weekends? Mountain climbing?

love is the new feel awful

Dandy Warhols-Odditorium

Wes and I just had the most perfect day ever. We did so much I think I'm going to have to break it down into a few more manageable bite-sized posts. First, the clothes! I am excited to show you these because it's been ages since I've had any time to take any outfit shots, and it's also the first photos I have of my new haircut. It was cut about three weeks ago, I don't love it because I actually got into a fight with my hairdresser about how I wanted it done! I know, it was a totally surreal experience, I had photos of celebs and everything and she just said 'no'. I said 'actually, yes' but after a bit of back and forth, even when she was halfway through, she still didn't cut it as short as I wanted!

And I've just realised that my hair looks even worse in these pics than usual! D'oh! Must be too clean. Dry shampoo & mousse have been my best friends since the chop. Mumsy is not the look I'm going for.

I have had to wait awhile before I could wear my new parka, as it's been way too hot! I know, it is November and London has been 16 degrees for the past week. Awesome. And weird.

Parka and cardi: Topshop; skirt: H&M; shoes: Office; bag: SU London; headband: Accessorize.

and when i caught it you were out of reach

I have been committing some major blog neglect lately. And you know what else is looking sad and malnourished? My shoe wardrobe! I just realised when the sun came out on Saturday that I don't own any sandals. I think I had just one pair in London but I must've given them to charity the last time I was forced to move halfway around the world against my will. Plus, my most favouritest comfy walk-all-day shoes are starting to show their age so I need some substitutes that can stand-in when they are feeling tired so they will live longer, like forever. This is a much more difficult and fine-tuned task than sandals. Sandals are everywhere. Sensible, comfortable, yet not ugly, yet mostly flat shoes are what you might call thin on the ground.

Don't worry, I have not been on a spending spree, I'm just deliberating in that terribly sad, no-fun, way-too-sensible way that I tend to shop now. I cannot decide between these pairs of sandals.

Oh, Swedish Hasbeens, if only I had been quick enough to snap you up of yoox then I might have been able to actually afford you! But you would go sooo nicely with my current vintage obsession.

I'm thinking these will be the summer version of my trusty brogues.

I wanted these so bad my first summer in London 2 years ago (I'm onto you, Office, I bet you thought no-one else would notice) but I hesitated, as usual, they sold out and then all the shop girls pretended they never existed, but I knew they had, I just knew!! See!

But I think I am definitely going to have these shipped from fave Aus store General Pants, considering I missed them first time around at Topshop (yes, exact same boots, am I right or am I right?). If only for the reason they are the only shoes I have found that fill the non-sandal criteria.

she was a sour girl the day that she met me

What is it with pop-up shops now?! Remember when they were sooo cool? Remember when they were this brilliantly elusive and exclusive enigma that the trendiest brands used and only the chosen few knew about or stumbled upon, only for it to disappear before they could even tell their friends? Well, several years down the track the pop-up shop has gone viral. It's in the mainstream, and it seems to be a bit pointless to bother with a pop-up when you advertise it everywhere, and you've got plenty of stores anyway, where people know they can go whenever they want to, not just when you say. This week is particularly crammed with pop-ups. Last Sunday I went to Spitalfields and took in not less than three pop-up shops within a city block of one another. And this weekend Whiteley's, a random shopping centre around the corner from my friends' place in Bayswater that I've never bothered to visit because it seems to have only a H&M, is having a whole floor dedicated to pop-ups (isn't that a department store?). Okay, I may go along to check out the Wild Fox boutique, but I will participate in frequent eye-rolling and make sure to think I am better than everyone there because I knew about pop-ups when they were still cool.

Does it make a difference if you call it a pop-in instead of -up? (Cath Kidston)

And the Most Disappointing award goes to...

Other than fake tattoos and a photo booth there was just nothing in there!

Hmm, I wonder if the location of this shop directly across the road from All Saints had anything to do with Bolongaro Trevor's decision to open up here? (They started the All Saints label and Spitalfields is the flagship location).

I have a week of annual leave starting from...now! So I don't have to work until Tuesday 6th April. I have so much planned for the days off, from haircuts to fixing sewing machines to shopping (surprise surprise). I have tickets to Phoenix and the Cuban National Ballet and I plan to do some special gym training sessions as well. Maybe I will even have some time to blog in there somewhere. I just hope I can cope with all the fun-ness.

Um, yeah, don't tell anyone

Had a client this week who thought he was hilarious when he referred to Hackney as 'Agony' (you have to imagine it with an old-school London accent). Oh, Dad's jokes. I know it wasn't exactly the place to be back in the day and there are still plenty of signs of that, but now the 'cool' spreads further from Shoreditch by the minute. I have developed a real affection for the place as I've been living and working here for the last 2 years. I did get a bit of a shock, though, when I saw this Secret Market feature in a recent issue of Timeout that someone left at work. The first one is around the corner from my house! I unwittingly walked past it last Saturday and briefly thought about going in, but had other errands to run. If only I had known! I will definitely be heading by this Saturday to see if I can pick myself up a bargain or two. I will let you know how I get on...