Hide Nor Hair

What are your thoughts on a headscarf?

I've always been rather a fan.

When I was at uni I used to wear huge African style turbans up top. It did rather raise an eyebrow in the streets of Kensington where my halls of residence were. (Though I rather imagine they are a bit more accustomed to a headscarf these days.)



I had been warned that blonde hair in Southeast Asia might be a bit too attention grabbing, especially for a lone traveller, so I was planning to dye it dark. But I do so love the blonde.

So I thought maybe headscarves would be a suitable solution.

Probably tied like this:



I rather like these:








(Images via Oasis)

Do you think I could carry it off?

Captain Kirkwood

Aren't these absolute heaven?



They make me feel a bit short of breath.



Must remember that I am saving money for my travels...



And that I am unemployed...

MUST NOT WANT TO BUY THEM! AAARRGGHHH, TORTURE!

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Not that the sun is shining, but if it were, I rather think that I would want to be wearing this



And this


(Images via Oasis)

And maybe dirtying it up with these (aka my new favourite shoes).



But despite the fact at is my birthday which should surely ensure perfect weather, it is also Bank holiday Monday which ensures that the weather will be apocalyptic. So these warring factions mean a grey dull day. At least it isn't raining, that would ruin the suede of my clogs. So I'll take it.

Cut Glass

Have you seen Alice Glass from Crystal Castles?









She is quite a bit cooler than most young popstrels, isn't she?











I think I might like her almost as much as Karen O.

Tell Me About it, Stud!

It has happened. The inevitable, that is. I have bought clogs. These ones from Russell & Bromley, in fact. Yes! These very ones! Aren't they the most? It is an honest to goodness love match. And they go with everything! And they are so cool. And I never, ever want to take them off my feet.

Just thought I would share the happy news!

Lucky in Love

Talking of Tilda in I am Love, here are some screenshots.











Gosh! Isn't she marvellous?

Money for Old Rope

Is there something biological happening in me that whenever the sun shines I start to think about a wedge espadrille? I think there must be, because I am not sure I have any control over it. It can't be rational, because I'm not sure I am particularly interested in them aesthetically, but I can't help but want a pair.



I don't think they are that elegant, and they are made out of rope so they are probably too scruffy to keep beyond one summer.

But I watched I am Love recently (it has the fabulous Miss Swinton in it in some amazing clothes) and a chic young slip of an Italian thing was wearing a pair, and it triggered it all off again.


(Images via Jigsaw)

Should I just bite the bullett and see if I like it? I like the red pair but are they are bit too serious, and the red white and blue pair, are they too frivolous?

If I ignore the urge will it just come up bigger and badder and more persuasive next year? If I succumb will in ensure that it is nothing but torrential rain until September? What's a girl to do?

La Vie en Rose

(Image via Polyvore)

I have decided that I don't want my hands to look like a shop mannequin, so I am going to stop lusting after a greige nail and be honest about who I really am. I am a girl who should have a pink nail. I'm not ashamed! And Chanel have kindly come up with this delight, called Riviera. I must have it.

Butternut Squash

(Image via Go Fug Yourself)

Jesus, Jessica! What did your breasts ever do to you? Made you famous, that's what! And this is how you thank them? Well, that's gratitude!

There's More Than One Way to Skin a Cat, You Know

Are my headlines getting a bit convoluted? It's just that this leather trend has been hanging round like a bad smell for longer than I thought it would and I am so utterly bored of using and seeing hell for leather in magazines, or skin deep. Yawn!
Plus that is a lyric in a Nancy Sinatra song that I love, and it is accompanied by a lot of suggestive miaowing, which always makes me smile, so there we go.

Now, where was I?

Hmm, yes, leather...

I have several points to make:

1. Is this really a trend suitable for spring/summer? What are the repercussions of sweat and animal skin? Will the nation start whiffing of a tannery? Plus isn't the colour going to run? It is irritating when your feet are dyed by a cheap pair of shoes, but your whole body?

2. Does anyone actually want their lower half to look as though it has been lovingly fashioned from a block of wood by a man with too much time on his hands and an excess of fine grade sandpaper?



3. Is a leather t shirt really what the world needs? Particularly a shapeless, awkward looking black leather t shirt? That is going to make anyone with more than the most rudimentary frontage look like an unpleasantly butch and aggressive prison warden whose breasts are her weapons and if you give her any lip will have you in a headlock so fast you won't be able to catch your breath or think about all the things you wished you'd done in this short but wonderful life before she smothers you with the damned things.



4. But then I don't have it in my heart to hate the treand either, because it can be awesome. I was at a conference for work a couple of weeks back and amid all the boring suits and generally hideus outfits that most lady bankers see fit to punish themselves with, was a lady in a leather dress. At a banking conference! I know! And I could have swooned she looked so amazing. I cornered her in the bathroom and told her how much I loved it. She appeared grateful, but slightly curious as to why I (a lowly PA and conference hostess) should be telling her like that. And I wanted to shout, "But I know! I know about this stuff. I'm telling you!" but I didn't.

5. This skirt exists in the world:



And it is made of leather. And it is pretty and lovely. And it is demure but a little naughty at the same time. And it makes me think that I could pretend to be Gaga, but in real life, with no actual threat of taking someone's eye out.

6. And finally if it is done right, it can be terribly pretty and feminine, see?


(Images via Handbag.com)

So what is the answer? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it sweaty? The only thing I do know is that if it is lovely it is probably very expensive and so not for me. So maybe I should spend less time worrying about it and do something more constructive with my time. Now, where was that sandpaper?

Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water

Do you ever get the feeling that good taste and a sense of fashion has almost become generic? You know, how anyone can buy a magazine and see a look and then buy every piece and appear, well, decently dressed? It might not be interesting, or unique or stylish per se, but that most people have the tools, even with very little personal flair, to look reasonably ok.

It was almost getting to that stage in London when I thought how depressing it was to see so many teenage girls with a "look" and doing it reasonably well, but with very little effort or thought. I almost felt a flush of nostalgia for when we were younger and most people looked rubbish, and only those who really loved clothes made an effort to stand out from the crowd and look marvellous.

But I have been cured of that. I wondered around Bath yesterday, and boy there were some bad looks happening. One reason was that the sun was shining and there was a lot of flesh on show. All women under 20 seem to have become allergic to any skirt or short that doesn't threaten to reveal a buttock at a moment's notice. Should we blame Gaga? And another seems to be that generic trendiness so evident in the big smoke doesn't seem to have reached the provinces. (Eek, will I be lynched when I step out of my front door?)

When I saw an incredible looking young man (quite possibly a boy half my age) wearing a breton stripe, a rolled up slim fit jean, an ankle boot and one of those haircuts that is very short at the sides but then has acres of loose curls teetering precariously on top, I had to stop myself from running after him, grabbing him by the shirt and weeping with gratitude that style did actually exist, and that everything was going to be ok. Which is just as well as that might have been, well, slightly embarrasing to say the least.

Will(iams) the Wisp

(Image via Go Fug Yourself)

SHRIEK! I love her shoes so much I fear I might pass clean away!

Plus she has my hair, if a little blondier, I can almost pretend that's me looking super hot and snuggling up to Ryan Gosling. SWOON!

Taken Down a Peg or Two

(Image via Asos)

I found the most delectable pair of beigey brogues from Bertie the other day. They are studded with holes and go from a pale beige to a dark brown at the tips. The colour fading makes them look almost vintage, nicely aged.

I like the thought of wearing them with a pair of peg chinos.

But I think I need to be resigned to the fact that to really rock a more boy look it helps to have a boy body. But the various projecting bits of me (boobs, hips, bum) do rather stand in the way of elegant androgyny. Which irks me somewhat.

I wonder if I made the top half more feminine if I could get away with it, though.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Darling, I know the weather isn't suggesting it particularly at the moment, but the feeling of summer is entering my blood and I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to only wear white dresses.

And run through fields with the sun glinting down, creating a glorious yellow sheen over the world, making everyone look prettier and thinner and more intelligent... you know...

But am I just going to look like a little girl?