Going to Hell in a Hand Basket

(Via Asos)

I have only three things to say about basketball/varsity jackets:

No.



No.


(Via Topshop)

No.

Model Behaviour

(Via Spex in the City)

Hey, my modelling debut! I tried on some glasses for Spex and the City in Covent Garden and they've put me on the website. Fame is surely a mere moment away...

Swan Song

I went to see Black Swan at the weekend. And apart from having permanently scarred me because it was so disturbing I now find that all I want to do is look like a ballerina.



There's clearly nothing like a hideous psychological breakdown to inspire a wardrobe choice, huh?

I'll Knock Seven(ties) Bells Out of You

I can't confess to ever having been a massive fan of the Seventies look. I can appreciate it from afar but it isn't something I'm really interested in trying out.



Except, as the new season stock is dribbling in (seriously, let's finish up with the sales and get some new stuff out there, huh?) I have been getting quite excited about the Seventies feeling footwear.



Wedges? Platforms? With a flared trouser?


(Via Kurt Geiger)

Hmmm, yes, I think so!

Tote(m) Pole

(Via Karen Millen)

I am quite interested in a tote as an alternative shape of bag for spring/summer. But do totes invariably mean that you can never actually find anything? The combination of depth and a slimness tend to find me in the street up to my ruddy armpits, scrabbling around to find my purse, Oyster card, lip balm etc.

So actually, strike that, I think I've worked it out for myself...

Chalayan Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

Hmmm, possibly a bit convoluted there...

Anyhoo, isn't this awfully pretty?



I love Hussein Chalayan. But from a design/art point of view, rather in a "Oooh! I'd really like to wear one of his frocks that is also a piece of furniture" way. You know? Terribly pedestrian of me, I know.


(Via Browns)

But this dress is both quite structural and utterly beautiful.

I have a wedding in a year's time that I want to wear something fabulous for. Is it too far away to justify buying a dress now?

What's that?

Yes?

Oh. OK then.

Humph!

Waist Not, Want Not

(Via Miss Selfridge)

Why are so many shops ruining perfectly nice dresses with elastic waist bands? I'm quite sure they can't do anyone any favours, figure-wise. And if you want a dress with a waist why would you choose the wishy-washy, gathered, can't be bothered to have an actual waist look that an elastic waist gives. You have to wear it with a belt, and the waist invariably doesn't sit where it should so that even with a belt round part of the hideous gathering always shows.

Why do it? Let's stop this right now. OK? Good, I'm glad that's settled.

Pale and Wan(g)

I was, rather marvellously, given a Selfridges gift card. Now that is the kind of gift a girl could get really excited about. And maybe it was just sales ennui, but I was utterly uninspired by what was on offer. I know, I should be patient and wait until the full ranges of s/s are in stock, but sometimes I just want to shop. Like, now. Like right this minute. You know?



This Alexander Wang dress was the one saving grace. It is lovely. The only down sides being that I don't think it would keep the essentials covered. That chest holster looks liable to only hold the daintiest, ahem, weapons. And I think I might ooze like melted bree out of the hip cutouts. Nice image, huh?!


(Via Net a Porter)

Doesnt' stop me loving it though. And I could always do with inspiration to get down to the gym more often.

Picture Perfect

(Via Style)

Have you ever seen a dress so perfect that you thought you just had to have it, regardless of the price?

I hadn't.

Then I saw this Peter Pilotto dress and it is love. Love I tell you. Not a school girl crush, but deep and abiding love.

What can I do to make it mine? It isn't in the shops yet so I don't even know how much it costs. But I know I want it.

I'll keep you posted...

I'm a Barbour Girl

I live on the edge of hipsterville. And I have to say that I quite enjoy seeing the odd Hackney Farmer. As a look it offends me less than those hipsters in neon brights and white framed glasses. You know?

But surely the whole appeal of it is that it is entirely incongruous. These people would never have had a scrap of muck on their skinnies and Chelsea boots.



So, to the young lady who was wearing her padded Barbour jacket with what looked like johdpurs and riding boots with a silk scarf triangle around her neck, I think some irony is required to carry it off. At least in an urban environment. Unless of course you are tripping out of your Chelsea tractor and don't know that there is such a person as a Hackney farmer, because honestly, for you, there is no reprieve. It isn't even worth me talking to you, because you'll never change.

The Upper Hand(bag)

A new season? Hmmm, I feel a new handbag is needed. Well, wanted at any rate.

There are two that are making my heart go pitter pat. The Marc by Marc Jacobs one above. The colour is just darling. But the shape is probably a bit blah. Know what I mean? Yeah, nice and all but not awfully exciting.


(Via River Island)

Then I also really love this pale orange one from River Island. Lovely texture. Super cheap but doesn't look it. I wish it had a shoulder strap rather than a long strap and whittled bamboo handle.

But even for that I think it gets my vote. Plus it is a colour but is still fairly neutral and so should go with most things. Winner!

Stick Your Neck Out

(River Island)

If a girl, you know, just a friend, was trying to be sensible and save some pennies, was trying to be an actual, real-life grown up, then spending £25 on a perspex necklace probably wouldn't be the best place to start, would it?

Or is it worth it?

Come on guys, help me out here...

A Woman of Substance

(Via Topshop)

Surely fashion that celebrates the bountiful female form should be able to deal with curves. Unlike this dress that attempted to flatten my baps to English muffin proportions. No seriously, flat as a pancake, and that takes some effort.

Which is a shame as the dress is otherwise delightful.

Oui Happy Few

I have just developed my first fashion crush of 2011. The Chanel Oui ring. Isn't it just the very, very most? I'm sure someone will rip it off soon enough. And then it will be mine. Ha, ha! Yes! It will be mine! (Evil cackle...)

As Good As Gold

(Via River Island)

How incredibly divine are these shoes? I just want to put them on with my leopard print disco dress and hit the dancefloor. Hard.

Know what I mean?

Woo, yeah!

Tickled Pink

(Via Cosmopolitan)

I fairly urgently want to start rocking a pink lip. I would usually go for something loud and fuschia, but I think this more subtle shade really works on Kate Bosworth and I might take my cue from her.

Well Fit

I am referring, of course, to the fitted nature of Mr. Gosling's clothes.



Not perving at how awfully pretty he is.



I am totally above that sort of thing.



Obviously.



Not often you see a man in such a snugly fitting pair of trousers...


(Via GQ)

Dude, you've got it all wrong, it's all about the clothes. Honest.

White Knuckle Ride

Having steered away from my beloved colour this season I was pretty sure I would be right back with it for spring/summer. And there are some seriously bright colours out there, and colour blocking. Eeek! So exciting!


(Via Glamour)

So the suggestion of white was going to have to work pretty hard to lure me away. And you know what? It has.

When I saw Kirsten Dunst in her white dress above I lost my heart. Sure, it might be ever so slightly nurse-like, but I can live with that. It is just so awfully pretty.

Then there is Celine:



Rocking the white in quite a clinical way. Might be a little too hardcore for me. I'm looking for something a bit softer.



Which Chloe is definitely on the way to supplying.



There is nothing more romantic than skipping around in summer with a lovely white dress on, is there?



Ahhh! I can feel the warmth on my skin already.



With a lovely pair of flat sandals and a straw hat, cloth tote and some pretty, delicate gold jewellery.



But the white I like the most has to be from Dolce & Gabbana. While their black lace dresses are far too sexy for my comfort zone. But they are transformed in white. So much sweeter and prettier.



Gosh, aren't they lovely?



I could faint clean away.



Hmmm, for once I might actually be looking forward to summer fashion.



Will wonders never cease?



Except now I have truly the impossible to achieve - wearing white and not spilling on it. It's not that I am particularly mucky but I can't keep from dribbling down a white top for love nor money. I don't know what it is.


(Via Style)

So, New Year's resolution number 1: LEARN NOT TO SPILL!

Don't Scrunch Up Your Nose (Except, Maybe Do)

For women of a certain age (ie. my age) the scrunchie is so evocative of a certain time. A time when we were truly young. And in fact it was only our youth, surely, that excuses our lack of taste in sporting such a horrible item.

That picture above could be me (minus the fags, they came later) when I was 11 or 12. Sad to say I too used to wear them around my wrist. Not as jewellery per se, but in between bundling my hair up in a messy bun.



So why, in 2011, when we should know better, is the scrunchie attempting to make a comeback? Inspired by the return of Take That? Since the brief resurgence of grunge fashion is the 90s ready for a revist on all fashion fronts?



Because, honestly, if this is what 2011 has in store for us I'm not sure I hold much hope for it.



Will people actually start wearing them? I would assume that no one who had worn one the first time round would revisit. There is nothing better than making a girl feel old than a trend coming round the second time.


(Via American Apparel)

Apparently we have Catherine Zeta Jones and Sienna Miller to thank for this. Surely Catherine you know better than this? And I think yours might be velvet, which is absolutely the worst case scenario.


(Via Instyle)

Ladies, get a clue.