Rain Rain Go Away!

I know it's raining, I know it's not very nice, I know that holding an umbrella while trying to navigate busy streets can be a bit demanding. But there is no excuse for walking around with an umbrella hat.

Unless obviously you are Gaga, coz I don't think she is trying to protect herself from the rain so that makes it all ok. OK?

Now is the Winter of Our Discontent

Wow, it got a bit brisk, didn't it? It was a bit of a surprise considering how mild it has been. I was in a lightweight jacket barely a week ago and now it is all storms and plunging temperatures.


(Via Whistles)

Did I tell you about my utterly hideous sartorial disaster from earlier this year? I was moving house and had things in plastic bags, with a pile to go to the doorstop charity collection. But somehow all my winter coats got into this pile and away they went never to be seen (by me) again. I was distraught. Particularly as one of them was an Aquascutum. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

So I bought one from COS to tide me over but as the cold weather closes in I think I need something a bit more heavy duty. But then also I walk to work so maybe I should hit up the more practical, outdoorsy, waterproof version.


(Via Cotswold Outdoor)

Which is infinitely more dull but then also probably infinitely more sensible... What to do?

Sink or Swim

Oh! If only it were summer. And as you know that is not a sentiment I often express. But how cute are these cossies?








(Via Geekologie)

Put Your Hands Together

I have been very scathing in the past of collaborations. Particularly the H&M ones. But I am willing to take it all back because I have just seen the Lanvin collaboration. And there are some beautiful things.



It is going to be the most almighty bun fight when it gets launched. I envisage hair pulling and sharp elbows.



Because finally a collaboration has produced some truly desirable clothes. I just wonder whether they are let down by cheap fabrics as is often the case.



I think I am willing to get involved in the crush though, if only this dress could be mine. Isn't it delightful?



Wish me luck!






(Via Handbag)

Fight For Your Right to Party

(Via Net a Porter)

Net a Porter have kindly just sent me an email letting me know they have set up a "Party Boutique". Honestly, I'm sure not sure there are that many combinations of words that could set off a little trill of excitement in my chest in quite the same way. Superficial? Moi?



Coz me? I love a party dress. And in this, the run up to the party season, I love to trawl the shops in the hope that the most perfect dress exists out there.



Even though the reality is often that I have a problem with fit, things that fit at the hips gap at the top. Fits at the top? Cutting off circulation at the bottom.



And while the fifties look is in this season I don't necessarily want every dress I own to be fit and flare. It can be slightly limiting.



But despite the difficulties and inevitable struggles that lie in my path hope springs eternal and I will soldier on sure in the knowledge that this is a battle that can be won.


(Via Reiss)

And you never know, one of these Reiss dresses might just fit the bill. Here's hoping!

Charm Offensive

Can anyone tell me what the appeal of these charm bracelets is? I find them unattrative and the idea that they seem to be promoting through their advertising that you document the significant moments in your life through an additional charm manages to be both overly sentimental and entirely prosaic.

When it was just Pandora it was one thing. One thing I couldn't understand. But just one thing. But now copycat companies are springing up at all angles to cash in on the success and it is starting to upset me.

Twitching the Nets

(Via River Island)

I have to admit, I am a little bit wary of lace. It can look really cheap, and a bit trashy and bedroomy, or (worse case scenario) like you have run through blackened cobwebs - maybe while goths go for it.

But a little touch, on a pretty top?

The other quandary I have with this top is that it is very sheer, and I'm not about to just wear it over my bra, but the back is split and a flash of flesh would be appealing. Also, I think getting just the right underlayer is vital otherwise it just ruins the whole thing. Maybe a flesh coloured item, so you aren't distracted from the top itself. Any thoughts?

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

(Via Grazia)

Oh look! It is Kate Moss's new collection for Topshzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

BORING!

And anyway, didn't she used to be stylish?


(Via Glamour)

I know... miaow! Saucer of milk? But really! It is just B.O.R.I.N.G.

Needs Must

(Via Elle)

Well clearly I need to have this dress. It must be mine. We are MFEO.

Keira Royale

(Via Go Fug Yourself)

I love this dress. The colour is just beautiful and it's so elegant and grown up and pretty. Sigh!

Put the Boot In

(Via River Island)

Man alive! Aren't these boots amazing? Nay, dazzling?!

I think the "going nuts in the haberdashers" look is really going to be a major trend this season. And honestly, in these days of belt tightening and budget cutting maybe some obscene over-embellishment is just what we need to lift the spirits. No?

Goody Two-Shoes

I know that these Miu Mius look like a child has been let loose with a glue gun in a haberdashers, but I kind of like them.



On another note vis a vis Miu Miu. Miuccia really bucked the trend with regard to worshipping a bountiful breast with these dresses.






(Via Style)

Any more than an B-cup and it would all be out on show. Kind of like this:


(Via Holy Moly)

Are you au fait with Ice T's wife, Coco? Not one for subtlety normally, I grant you, but those things look like they are about to burst. Man the lifeboats!

Actually, on further inspection, they look like two freshly baked wholemeal split tin loafs. How weird... Probably not the look she was going for.

McQueen's English

(Via Net a Porter)

I love Alexander McQueen. I was saddened by his death. I would love to own something he designed. It will never happen. I understand that people will want to snap up items from his last collection.

But I don't understand why, or how, this dress costs £12,420, particularly when it looks like the model is protecting her dignity by hiding the fact that she doesn't have any knickers on behind a black satin lampshade.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

(Via Zadig & Voltaire)

I am intrigued by Zadig & Voltaire. It seems like a shop that is totally out of my league. It is achingly cool and Parisienne. It seems quite rock'n'roll. One thing that I rather suspect I am not.

And then they started using Alison Mossheart in their advertising. And that definitely appealed. That girl is so damn cool.

I was aware of the Kills (even before La Moss brought the media glare to bare down on them) but wasn't really much of a fan. But when I saw Alison on stage at Glastonbury (from the comfort of my front room, as I said, not very rock'n'roll) with the Dead Weather I got butterflies. I think she might almost be up there with Debbie Harry in terms of pure, hardcore charisma.



I mean look at her!

And boy, does getting the right person on your advertising have the desired effect (or maybe I'm just easily led). Coz it lead me to their website. Where this drove me away directly:

The brand introduces the new opus for its advertising campaign starring music duos. After Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Marc Ronson an Joséphine de la Baume, Zadig & Voltaire are now moving on to Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, alias The Kills. Since the release of their first album "keep on your mean side" in 2003, the singer and the guitarist have been playing their rock-style riffs throughout the independant music world. She is a pretty and cheeky brunette, he is a nonchalant and charismatic dandy. Together, the duo poses once again in front of the camera of Olivier Zham, artistic director of Purple Magazine in the Parisian gardens of parc Monceau. The result : a set of unique, poetic photos shots in black and white in which we get a glimpse of the sheer complexity of the Kills. With characters which combine rebellious, melancholic and playfull aspects, these Rock legends take over the brand's codes. Black blazer and skinny-fit denim jeans for him, military prints and officer-style jacket for her. to be continued...

Do you ever get the feeling that some things are better left unsaid? Or that a thousand words could destroy a good picture?

Tan Your Hide

(Via Aldo)

I've always loved a brogue. And I can't help but notice that the tan brogue seems to be the shoe of choice for many a young fashionista girl about town. Particularly with a cropped peg trouser. And it looks lovely.

But try as I might I just don't have the right figure for the masculine look.

Much as I would love to look this this:



Or like this:



I realise that I should really aspire to this:



Which honestly is no bad thing. So, I'll just put thoughts of a tan brogue on the back burner and go about my feminine, waisty, hippy, booby way instead.