Red Raw

We're hopefully moving to a new flat soon (goodbye Westfield, boohoo!) and I've been spending a lot of time contemplating the nearing of the shedding of a huge amount of clothes. But. With shedding is the inevitable sorting, and last night I found this dress. I've only ever worn this a handful of times because whenever I look at it I think Chav. With the asymmetry and sparkle detail - and it will be well short if I was of a normal height. I do like the bat wing type detail though and it reminds me of a better place - I picked this up backpacking in Asia. Through the stuffy markets in Cambodia, I found this. It cost less than a McDonald's meal and its an easy transitional item into Autumn. Very useful given the weird hot September weather London is experiencing this year.

And of course red is amazing. Its got power, drama and automatically gives you confidence without even giving a gaze or opening your mouth.  Conversely Red can seen as a fattening colour. That's why every woman should own a pair of red shoes. Feet don't have fat days.

The Swarovski DISCOVER YOUR LIGHT treasure hunt

 On Saturday 24th Sept we went to the Swarovski treasure hunt day. I was so excited for the chance to win a holiday in Florence and Austria with some spending money and the idea of running around London afternoon - sweat droplets and all - excited me beyond the acceptable amount.

The afternoon began with a gathering at Victoria's Royal Horticultural Halls & Conference Centre around lunch time while we pranced around in the September sun waiting for the event to start. This was the first taste (below) we got - a Swarovski encrusted Mini. Silver swans head to dead to make it look like butterflies or flowers and a giant union jack flag in crystals on the roof of the car. Very spangly.....

We were then ushered into the hall which was like a bit of a disco with a stage at the front where there was a massive silver Swaroski encrusted sofa and a couple of chandeliers. The walls were lined with curtains of crystals and all the sparkle made me more aware of the competition bubbling up inside me! (Free holiday!)

Goody bag: DVDs, leaflets, promotional magazines and a really cool swing neck tag with a hood tucked into the strap in case it rains! Clever

When it was time for the competition to start we were out the door and sprinting to our first destination. The afternoon was a mad scramble around central London kissing policemen, playing detective and sweating profusely. It was a desperate struggle to win and when we returned to the after-party and winner announcements I was ready to fall into a ball whimpering from the pain and dehydration. But instead we got drunk.

We didn't win. Not even close to winning. In fact. I think we came in the bottom half.

Lessons learned - fashion over function is not fitting to this type of event, running shoes are favoured and wear as little as possible preferably. I also learned that I'm a hard loser - I need to work on this. And finally, despite brilliant team effort and extensive love for my teammate - I should have put my foot down when I watched her leave my flat that morning in heels...

The Team before the race and sweating began......

The day was amazing even if we didn't win anything. And the event worked - I'm shopping online and I've made my list :)

Friday's Wish List

cLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SHOP THE ITEMS!


AQUA DRESS 
TOPSHOP UNIQUE COAT 
JOHNNY LOVES ROSIE NECKLACE 
OFFICE SHOES
ASOS BAG

Knit Theory

Woah, this outfit is entirely old season Primark today. This Woolly dress is one of my favourite pieces in the winter as its so warm, snugly and  pretty predictable - and you can wear whatever underneath and no one has to know!

I'm also wearing strappy, cross-front stiletto sandals in cream with pink, sparkly open-toe socklets as its probably a little too cold to go bare feet and full on boots is a little too soon for me.

Knit List

1. Cooperative Designs Long Knit Block Skirt - £345
2. Dagmar Knitted Jacket With Leather Trim Sleeve - £635
3. Hanie heart Jumper, Boohoo.com - £20

4. Knitted Pony Jaquard Cardigan, Topshop - £60

5. Cooperative Swan Intarsia Sweater, Urban Outfitters, - £45

Mongolian Lamb

Autumn is certainly upon us with the distinct chill in the September breeze and calling for AW accessories gets me so excited. I'm wearing a black silk shirt and a non-exciting velvetine tube skirt with some purple legwarmers and my favourite Faith Solo black wedges. They've got the gold leather straps, are dead comfy and it hurts to know they went into administration so I'll never get another pair like them again.

I have some new leather mittens - they're elbow length so perfect for cycling. And better, there's a zip around the wrist so I can wear them sans sleeve or just wear the sleeves as leather cuffs. I love multi-functionality! 

Now the star piece of my outfit is this Mongolian Lamb's wool scarf. It was a special gift acquired very recently from Philo-sofie. Its soft and so so warm. I no longer worry about poor baby lambs in the Mongolian mountains freezing to death. 

Seriously though, temperatures can reach as low as -50°C and among other factors, the skin and wool of the sheep and goats that bring us beautiful cashmere, also protect these creatures from freezing to death. 

Kemp - hair with hollow shafts - is the morphological adapation to protect the animals from strong winds, snow, the cold, and rain. The air within these shafts have low thermoconductivity thereby acting as insulation for the body. Gosh adaptation is so clever!

Levitation Tricks

I came across these amazing pictures on a Japanese fashion blog this afternoon by Natsuimi Hayashi.  All of her images have a sense of movement  about them which makes them look really arty and of course they have been heavily photoshopped. Many of the 'highly hyped' users of Lookbook.nu also use this technique to bring a new edge to their photos and I've always wondered  they did it.

 

I've now found a really great youtube video (which is more technical than fashion) that shows you exactly how to do it! 

Soon you'll be watching me levitate around the streets of London once I get my fingers fiddly on Photoshop!

Check out the video, its fascinating! 

Burberry Prorsum SS12 LFW!!

My favourite Christopher Bailey showcased SS12 Burberry Prorsum this afternoon at 4pm at LFW in Hyde Park.
Catwalkqueen.tv recorded the whole thing and its beautiful.
The collection feel fresh  and exciting. Lots of pencil skirts, deep plunge necklines and fine silhouettes this season with a new take on riding hats with a bobble on the top keeping it truly British. Shoes are high and wedged - chunky contrasting the fine wovens with an almost tribal sense.


Here's the link:
http://www.catwalkqueen.tv/2011/09/watch_the_burbe.html

His creativity makes him so hot, or it could be his massive nose - I like those too :)

I'm not so convinced of the trench this season - there's been better in the past. Have you checked out The art of the trench where users can upload an image of themselves rocking a Burberry Trench? Dead cool. Especially if you're looking for a slice of luxury-fame pie...

Magazine Launch After Party - LFW

Yesterday evening I went to the after party of the launch of magazine Twenty 6.
TWENTY6 is an online quarterly magazine covering fashion, beauty, art and lifestyle. It's got some pretty amazing pictures and have that modern art-fashion mix which everyone always bangs on about.

I went with fellow Blogger HarriHearts (http://harrihearts.blogspot.com/) who also represents part of POP PR (http://www.poppr.com/intro.html). This is us below enjoying some free drinks :)

 We got some goody bags - because life is no fun without them....

Firefly drink, magazine, pastcards, two finger ring by Cooee Design (www.cooee.se)

If you want to check out more of TWENY6 's online magazine the link is here:

http://www.twenty-6.co.uk/

Look Lounge! at Westfield Exclusive Bloggers Event...

So I didn't win the Look Magazine Bloggers Competition but I was invited to take part in this event. I arrived having sat along almost the entire central line to get here lugging my wonderful camera - which by some strange miracle made people think I'm with the media and will later try my luck in the media suite and meet some famous, beautiful people.

Right now, I'm blogging right here from the Look Lounge and its sweaty hot. Dribbly perspiration bubbles kind of hot... But that's from the pure excitement of being here! There's sofas and magazines and a desk full of computers next to a rail of clothes. Blogger's dreams in here and Tom Vek playing in the background. Blogger's sweaty - I shouldn't-have-worn-leather-sleeves-and-multiple-layers-faux-pas kind of dreams....I say.

Take a Look at my pictures anyway :)

Innocence and the Axe

I've mentioned before that S has chickens (which seems to be the highlight of my Germany trip) and he might also have the best garden in the world, with the best stuff to look at and explore in the world. This axe has been tons of fun this weekend and much heavier than my strong arms show it.

I

I'm wearing a Grecian style dress in white (mind the grass stains) - the asymmetry and drape attracted me to this dress and I hunted it down for several weeks until I got it in my size...

These pictures have been taken by an amazing photographer M Pliszewski  and if you want to check out any more of his amazing work, follow the link below!


http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/mypics/480643

The Oldest Second Hand Store in Europe

This weekend I visited the oldest second store in Europe. It was truly amazing - better than any second hand store I've seen in the UK. Now I don't mean charity shops with a mish mash of strange fleeces, old shirts and the occasional hidden gem that, with a quick dry clean could be pretty cool... No, this was was rather awesome from the get go. 

Situated just off the main road at Münchner Freiheit, Munich you walk into the store which is a large room with clothes hung along the three walls and glass cabinets/displays in the centre. Sparkly dresses on the left, winter coats and leather jackets, MORE dresses! An eclectic mix of vintage and simply second hand  apparel - literally every piece was an outward gem and I couldn't stop touching everything! 

Then a small doorway to the designer labels....! I was delirious with excitement and fortunately unlike UK shops,  I could take pictures as many as I liked! 

As we were about to leave and feeling quite overwhelmed with the recent spur of emotions, I spotted another small room tucked away in the corner of the store - a room FULL of shoes arranged up the walls in their abundance by colour. I managed to get a single shot whilst being dragged out the store by S who was sweating for pizza. 

If you ever want to visit, the address is: Second Hand Agentur Monica Arens 

Siegesstraße 20, 80802 München, Germany+49 89/392023 ‎
And there's a video too! ...in German though :)http://cms.cityguide.com/detail.jsp?itemId=101103102227136363&lang=de&cty=DEUTSCHLAND&feed=pub&view=listorhttp://bcove.me/hohr5a4m

What a day :)

Garden Party

We're in Germany for a long weekend eating as much German bread as possible and enjoying some sunshine. Today I'm wearing a mullet hem peachy patterned dress and a chunky gold necklace.

S has an amazing garden - A giant cherry tree which you can reach from the bedroom window, great sunflowers growing in the corner, a vegetable patch for salads and vegetables, and chickens laying fresh eggs every morning for breakfast. What a great life.

Marriage Made in Heaven

On 3rd September 2011 we celebrated my beautiful cousin's marriage to her new husband. The day was emotional, stunning, joyous and the food was absolutely amazing! Obviously the best part for me was the bride herself - she wore this divine dress (below). A short train fell elegantly from her lower back where the the luxurious material gathered around to the base of a t-bar backless intricately beaded design which made the dress absolutely breath-taking. 

 From the front of the dress you can see how the back beading continues along the front panel into a flattering v-shape where the material crosses and gathers to cleverly accentuate her body.

....It also helps that she's got super model proportions... 

Her head dress was a pearl chained piece which gracefully sat on her curls and the veil finished the outfit which made her look angelic.

Other wedding sartorial triumphs which made the list were my other cousins and the Funke. Turn up jeans smartened up with a blazer, red tie and brogues is one of my favourite looks for men this year as well as retro shades to hit the simple mix of old and new which is a massive trend for both men and women now and will continue through 2012. 

S loves an accessory and looked a little too comfortable in my oversized enveloped mock croc clutch.

 I wore an H&M dress, UK size 16 - I picked it up in the sale for £10 almost 8 years ago but haven't really worn it until last year. It's far too big but the excess material is amazing as it makes it look more expensive - the oversize issue was easily overcome by a belt and some clever knotting/pinning on the has-been halter neck.