Resurrection Mark Ten Zillion

It's once again been a while since I touched this blog, and every time I get pulled back to it I wonder why I left it, whether I'll really be able to get going again, whether I really want to... But this blog has kept me going through some rough patches, and I just can't seem to let go of it.

So today, I'm turning over a new leaf. As I said, it's been a while, and quite a bit has changed. I'm no longer a student, no longer struggling to get through a depressive fog day to day, and I'm happily settled in a relationship, house, job etc.

My wardrobe has, I must admit, changed focus...

My weekend clothes are mostly the old favourites: a couple of Etsy and charity shop dress finds, an old pair of far too big jeans, some moth-bitten jumpers. All things I find comfort in. Because now weekends are about running around, doing errands, and spending time relaxing. Mainly as I'm still living in Cambridge, but a little further out than I used to be. Thus, I wander around the house with a book, while one of the boys builds something in the back garden, and the other programmes some "useful" thing on their laptop. Ah life.

My sartorial comfort zone now lies in my work wear. Having never before been chic and pared down, I have moved a little more into my mother's style of dressing. Simple jumpers with smart trousers, plus a few silky, smart dresses which share a teensy whisper of my previous life with my new one...

I have been converted to a well cut pair of trousers, and have three pairs from Jaeger on endless cycle. I definitely need more. Jaeger trousers always fit me, and are always the right length... Yum.

And I have become obsessed by knitwear. Particularly, John Smedley Geranium scoop neck sweaters and N Peal cashmere V necks which I have been scooping up at Cocosa's rather excellent sale prices. (John Smedley stuff is currently on sale on Brand Alley, but I hate their delivery policies - it takes far, far too long, so I'm passing on the "vibrant pink" jumper... Sob!)

Oh, and then there's my irrational, crazy, head-over-heels crush in the rather lovely oversized Stine Goya oversized grey jumper that I know, unfortunately, that I'll never own, no matter how long I yearn... Sad times. Seriously though... HOW HOT IS THIS ENSEMBLE?!?!?!

And then, there is my winter coat... It is my belief that an awesome winter coat is the foundation of a good day at work. Walking along in the morning, striding out against the biting wind, my coat protects me, it shelters me, and, catching a glimpse of myself in the window of the shops I pass, it surrounds me in a slightly princessy, slightly businesslike, slightly mysterious cocoon of mink softness... Paul Costelloe is the make, bought a few years ago in a sale in Peter Jones, the King's Road branch of John Lewis. And I adore it. It's got cute details like the double rows of stitching and the bracelet cuffs. The lining is secure and silky, and it still looks beautiful despite a few winters' hard wear.

Last year, I flirted with a gorgeous furry thing, that still makes my heart beat just a little bit faster when I wear it out, but it's always this one I come back to for warmth and great lines when it's really getting chilly. So now, I'm thinking about the next one. Paul Costelloe has made a couple of my mother's winter coats, so I now they last and keep their fit as she's had both of hers for years. So now I'm coveting one of their long riding coats like this one... (Though I have to say, on both John Lewis and House of Fraser's websites, they look really scruffy and crumpled! Ick.)

I guess I'll have to wait for the sales again though... Sigh.

Men Can Accessorise too!

Seeing Cassie post again on the same day I received my new watch gave me new drive to pick up the camera and get snapping. Of course without my normal subject of Cass, I've been forced to introspect. Well not quite introspect, more just turn the lens around. Of course I can't take photos of myself, because I'd fear for my lens, but I can take them of my stuff.

Today, an introduction to what I find I need to combine with my generic suits and shirt combo for the average day of working hard in the Finance mines of the city of London. I've recently realised that I've taken on a sort of Tom Baker meets Ted Baker style and quite like it for the winter months.

These are my daily essentials currently. Shoes (obviously), scarf, phone, watch, bag and overcoat.

The iPhone is pretty self explanatory. I'm a nerd first and foremost, and I need my nerdy shinies, so I load it up with games, apps and comics (don't judge, they make perfect tube reading) and chuck it in my pocket. Keeping a charger at work and home means I don't have to worry about it dying on me and the Belkin skin has kept it impressively undamaged over the last 6 months.

Next in the heap are the shoes, from our good friends at Blue Inc. I started off honestly not too keen, because the soles were pretty much frictionless, but after a couple of weeks these are my go-to work shoes. They're just so comfortable and go with most of the suits I've got without being too plain. Also the lack of laces makes life easier at 6am when I leave the house. These make me especially happy because of how difficult it is to find shoes in the canoe-like scale I need for my size 12 feet which don't leave me hobbling like a giant with back pains.

Moving along to the pile of colour, that's a hand knitted 9ft long scarf made by my loving mother a few years ago for a Tom Baker Dr Who costume. It was abandoned for all but fancy dress until this winter when I realised it was both awesome and incredibly warm. Now I rarely leave the house without it. This has lead to people humming the Dr Who theme while walking behind me and a fair number of questions about TARDISes (TARDI-I is clearly not the proper form but sounds funnier...) I honestly wear it because I enjoy walking around with a giant scarf flowing in the wind, made more fun when wearing my huge jacket. The over-coat was randomly found around my house, no doubt inherited from some cousin or relative, but it's a solid jacket and incredibly warm and sturdy. It also allows me to wear it with a suit on, but never creases the suit underneath, a useful feature of an overcoat. The ridiculous length of it also means that people often ask to try it and end up looking like they're wrapped in a large black duvet.

Possibly my favourite item in the pile is the bag. At first glance it's not too special, but on further examination, this Fuchs messenger bag is made of fully waterproofed felt (it's survived monsoons with lecture notes in and not a drop on them), with a really awesome design using velcro that means it can be dis and re-assembled to varying sizes, very useful if like me you end up either having one bag thats always too big, or two bags that never quite fit everything. This bag at full size can easily hold a laptop, slr, a couple of books and some water. The fold over top also means that on the tube I know noone can get in and nick my stuff. I've only ever seen this bag sold on www.charlesandmarie.com (a fantastic site), but not sure if theres any left in stock, if you've got the cash, I'd recommend it, 1 1/2 years of daily use and not a scratch on it.

The last and newest item is my new watch. A Nixon Spencer

For some scale, here it is lined up with my other recent watches

In order, A TokyoFlash Scope, Nixon Spencer and a Fossil watch I forget the name of.

As you can probably tell, I like large watches with something a bit different about them. The Fossil one is a kinetically charged watch with half the face missing so you can watch the pendulum spin. The Scope is frankly just shiny and cryptic and the Spencer is beautiful and has the dual analog-digital time. I'm sure I'll find a new one I want soon enough, but until then, this makes me very happy.

So those are my accessories on the typical work day, but this leaves out the biggest and best one obviously, my lovely lady;

Although most of you would probably prefer her accessories....

(by the way, I've still got some stored pics from food trips/restaurants I can write up if anyone's interested...)

Artistic Leanings

Yes, I'm still a very peripatetic blogger... Dropping in now and then, scattering whimsical thoughts in my wake! ;-)

Lots has happened lately; lots of ups, a few downs, but at the end of the day, I appear to be Very Happy. Right Now. Which is what matters!

I have just waved goodbye to the wonderful Claire of The View From Here, who was up visiting for the weekend post-her law exams!

Awesome times.

We baked.

We went to jazz.

We wandered.

We had coffee.

We talked boys.

We talked clothes.

We watched Star Wars.

We dressed up as Bears.

It was excellent!

In other news, I also have a dress to (very belatedly) review... The lovely Ceri from Blue Inc sent me this hot little number:

(Wearing: Blue Inc. dress, Eley Kishimoto shoes, M&S cardigan, ToyWatch.)

I absolutely ADORE the painterly pattern, and considering it's only £19.99, it's really well made and a good length for going out - though I will be wearing it with thick black tights!!!! (I just didn't have any to hand at the time, and thus we get my awesomely large and white thighs on show... SORRY!!! ;0D)

I would say that the top bit has a tendency to fall down, but that may be because my boobs are a little large so fall out at every opportunity. A bit of tit tape or the sewing in of straps or a strapless bra will easily solve the problem!

Hopefully I'll be going out a few times in the upcoming weeks, and this dress is a perfect addition to my party outfits!

Right... I must be off. Tonnes of admin to do and parentals turning up in about half an hour. Woop!

More soon. Xxxc

The Weekend of London Lovliness Series - #1

As I said... This weekend, at the boat race, we did a photoshoot.

Although I said the photos would be in limbo, T-B has come through for me, and since there are a few different aspects that I want to show off, I'm going to break down the shoot-posts into three 5-picture parts... # 1 is the photo shoot itself, # 2 is inspiring images of the surrounding area and # 3 is detail shots.

I'm going to do them interspersed with posts about my former life as a costume wench at the ADC theatre in Cambridge, so bear with me this week! Hopefully there'll be plenty for you to enjoy feasting your eyes on, and I'll try to find interesting things to say about it all ;-D

So...

Step 1) Ignore boat race. Hug instead.

Step 2) Go home and dance in the streets

Step 3) Admire motorbikes.

Step 4) Have fun with reflections

Step 5) Strike a pose. In. Vogue. (Well, almost...)

It was a great day, and thanks to all involved in that. Not only was the exhibit in the morning one of the best museum trips I've ever had, but my friends at the boat race were on top form, and taking T-B to my childhood-home bit of London - Chelsea. 

We moved to a more suburban area when I was school age, but due to friends and family, most of my formative memories are here... It's where I am most comfortable. Our flat was above a quite famous pub on the even more famous King's Road - where Vivienne Westwood had her SEX shop...

In a Susie-Bubble-esque shops-googlemaps-venture, on a smaller, much more personal scale, I created my London Life-Map (1 - Chelsea). Hopefully I'll do some more soon, but here's for starters... 
View Larger Map 

- when you click to a larger map, you need to go up and to the left slightly if you can't see any of the pins or the KR - for some reason it sometimes decentres... -

Going back in the midst of stressy dissertation time was a breath of fresh air.

Anyway... on the day I was wearing Adidas patent basketball shoes - bought in Paris with my mum on a girlie holiday last year, the Topshop tights, the purple leather skirt from Rokit, blue GAP tee, GAP shell pink cardigan, scarf from charity shop in Rochester, Toy Watch, purple leather flower cuff from ARK, Rodchenko and Popova exhibition brooch (detail forthcoming in #3), Dolce and Gabbana red patent clutch bag, Paul Costelloe coat...

Oh, and my AIDS day ribbon that I refuse to take off. I'm Cambridge's student's union executive Sexual Health and HIV Awareness officer, so wearing it is part of my job description as well as being for a cause I really believe in. It's so so important... Have a look at CAMFED - a campaign to educate girls in rural Africa and help them gain economic independence after leaving school in a bid to end their poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS. It's a really amazing cause!

Until next time chicas!

Xxxc

Love affair with simplicity...

Charles Anastase... Will you make my whole wardrobe?

The collar detail is just immense!

Loving those boots with the blowsy shorts... And the chain belt. It's like something one could buy in a hardware store! :-D

not usually an animal print fan, but...

the palette's jut so fresh and clean...

love the velvet. and the floppy hat. and the big coat.

sigh... wish i could stare at these all weekend instead of having to go back to my essay...

ick.

xxxc

Runway runway runway... Show #1 - Anna Sui

Ok... So I gave in... I looked... Quickly... At four shows... (And didn't go to a seminar because of it... Oops!!!)

Up first. An old-time love of mine. Anna Sui; channeling Victoriana-Floral-Russian-Doll-meets-Cowgirl!

All images from Style.com

I always go to Anna Sui for cocktail dresses... There are two in my wardrobe that get brought out time and again. Any of 1, 3 and 6 would do me! Number 2 is there for the gorgeous colour and the slightly billowy arms... 4, for the velvet coat with puffy shoulders... 5, just because I look at it and think "hard ass Luella 08-09"! Hehehe.

More to come...

Xxxc