Floating awaaaaaay...

Does anyone else rather love Noa Noa? I think I've posted before about how much I love their catalogues every season, and this is no exception. Lots of yummy sherbert orange, aubergine purple and grass green...

The website is singularly unhelpful in providing me with many pictures of the pieces I found in store today, but these two beauties are indicative of the rest of the collection. Yum! Not many shops on the internet either, but I am rather in love with this skirt:

Also, I've been spending waaaaaaaaaay too much time on Etsy lately, and here are a few of my "if only I were a different size" picks...

OH GOOD GOD HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS DRESS?!?!?! And it comes with a fluttery matching shrug... Oh darn silly large breasts!!!!!

(The measurements are 35", 28", free hips in case you're interested!)

If it were still winter and if I had any room for more coats in more wardrobe, I would be first in line for this gorgeous wool cape coat...

Ooooh! This dress is one of those things that I should hate, because it reminds me a little of Carry On Nurse, but that I actually love, because it reminds me a little of Carry On Nurse... And all of those vintage Mills and Boon about Doctors and Nurses I consumed as a teenager!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! This little jumper is so cute and unusual! Me being so darn clumsy, I'd probably drop tomato or something down it in a second, but... IWANNIT!!!

And these are just some of the bits I can't countenance buying due to fit... There are so so so so so many more in my favourites, waiting to be reperused and agonised over!

Hope everyone's enjoying their Tuesday evening. Boy is cooking me-friendly pasta with tomato, bacon, goats cheese and mushroom. I am hungry. This is awesome.

Xxxc

Hosiery Chat

I am afraid I am relatively dull at the moment... Trying desperately to get over the work lull that comes with spending far too much time at the theatre, and not doing essays when I'm supposed to. Like now.

However. I have been on a bit of a vintage binge of late. (Details of some of my finds to surface in posts sooooooooon!) And to go with my vintage things, I have been feeling in need of some shaping and spicing up!!! All of my hosiery at the mo is thick and large and either black, brown, navy or pastel (with a few bright purples and reds thrown in for occasional-wear!

Yet, I used to be the Stockings Queen of my school in Sixth Form. I would wear them most days and pride myself on the fact that I barely laddered a pair a month of the beautiful silky things... I would spend my Sundays investing in a new pair or two, and enjoyed finding new and exciting pairs in vintage shops as well as in Debenhams, Selfridges and online.

So... In a mad moment yesterday, I decided enough was enough of my tights laziness. Alright when I'm wearing coloured tights, but when I'm doing black or brown or nude, I should be taking advantage of the fact that stockings are far more fun and far far better with many many outfits! (None of the under-dress muffin top that comes with a few extra pounds and a pair of short waisted tights that don't quite sit right...)

I ordered a pair of nude Pretty Polly nude holdups from MyTights.com... And now, to wait! I had a bit of a browse around MyTights, as it is a site filled with hosiery-yumminess, but I just never go on, as I'm stuck in my Topshop/M&S tights rut. But no more! I also noticed that they are stocking the awesomely awesome Spanx which everyone went nuts over a while back and which, I must admit, saved my May Ball Dress of last year from a tummy-attack! Hehe.

I shall try to post an outfit and comment about the stockings as soon as they arrive!

On a different note: Surprise of the Week was me actually loving some of the pieces from Alexa Chung for Madewell's collection... Seriously. This long peachy skirt is MINE!!!

(Picture from Refinery 29)

Xxxc

Dumdumdeeedum... Skipping Along to Another LFW Show!!!

Short post this evening... Might be something to do with the huge lack of sleep I've been living on lately ( - I'm a massive insomniac - ) and also work being really quite hectic at the mo. Oh, and the lovely, and slightly expensive, very merry evening out I've had. Sigh.

Anyhoo... As you may have noticed if you read the lovely Claire's blog, The View From Here, we went to another fashion show on Monday evening.

Claire - Glam as ever...

Moi straight from work... I look like a small child hehe. (Take note of the velvet hair scrunchie... I am newly obsessed!!!) Wearing: vintage Escada wine silk shirt, Luella bag, Cheap Monday self-studded jeans, M&S sandals, Boots bordeaux velvet hair scrunchy.

It was the Maaike Mekking show at CAMP near Old Street - very East London, very too-cool-fash-un... Claire and I had a great time commenting incessantly on everyone's ensembles, and yumyumyumming at the red velvet cakes that were on offer. (Not so much at the wine though...)

The show, which annoyingly started almost an hour late, did present some rather cool clothes, the stand-out ones of which I attempted to get good photos of in poorly lit conditions on a poor camera. Like Claire, I felt that a lot of the clothes were let down by some rather shoddy modelling. If you're going to have non-professional models, then at least brief them on how to walk, the speed at which they should go, and that they should STOP at the end of the runway. I missed some photo ops on my favourite pieces because a couple of the girls moved far too fast and didn't even pause for breath at the end of the white carpet... Sigh.

However, I did appreciate several elements of this collection. Aside from the cupcakes, I rather liked the oriental details, the cut outs and the subtle definition of the girls' silhouettes behind both structured and loose clothes. The show was simple, but by having them walk against a wall, the shadows emphasised the free-flowing movement which made several of the pieces rather interesting. Saying that, one of my favourite pieces was a rather stiff white dress, so maybe I should just shush! ;-D

This floaty pleated trouser and white top with bra-as-outerwear thing going on was rather special and I was sad not to get a better shot... I think the collection, with it's muted but striking pallette and hints of lovely pattern-creativity was overall good. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as Saturday as the crowd was a bit too hip for little ol' me, and the lighting and models - annoying, niggling details - really put me off.

Adore this dress... Great brocade-esque details.

Scary China Doll look... Love the shirt though!

But maybe the cupcakes and the white dress, cute white shirt and pleated trousers may have been worth the adventure into East-London-Land for me...

Night All!

Xxxc

This Fashion Life

Well, as everyone knows, it's mid-London Fashion Week...

At work, the only reasons one notices this fact are that my boss keeps leaving in the middle of the day dressed to the nines and we have had to stuff thousands of party invites including one addressed to "Ms Anna Wintour"!

However, Claire (of A View From Here) and myself have been a *little bit* fashion-week-y this weekend...

First up: Yesterday, we went to the lovely Romina Karamanea show (part of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout schedule). We have made it a policy to always try to get a plus one, so we both get to go to lots more stuff as we tend to get invited to different things! Yay blogger mates!

We got all dressed up... Of course!

Claire wearing her AMAZING sample sale JP Braganza dress...

Little Ol' Me wearing: H&M lace and ribbon jacket, H&M charcoal tee, vintage belt, H&M skirt, H&M crushed velvet leggings, ToyWatch, vintage (mother-acquired) "Chelsea" boots and Luella black leather bag (just seen).

The Romina Karamanea show was just so cool. We were queuing outside Freemasons' Hall for fecking ages, and again inside the venue, but it was great for people watching and architecture-porn-spotting!!!!

Freemasons' Hall is so kitsch and really rather fascinating to explore... Claire noticed the pentagram on the front step, and I was rather enamoured with these light fittings and all the autumnal colours of stained glass!

These two girls really fascinated me. I adore these bird headbands that have done the blogging rounds, but had never seen anyone out and about with one on... Too cute! She had this great asymetric haircut too. I went to my hairdressers after the show and showed this photo to two of the stylists. Hilariously, one of them had seen the same girl, with the same crow, only two days before at Victoria tube station! Yay for fashion freedom! Love the bleached look of her friend too... They both just looked so perfect and out-of-time - they made me cheer for London's ability to nurture and celebrate such quirkiness and confidence!

Anyway... On to the show!

Romina Karamanea - Ready-To-Wear - Spring/Summer 2010

presented at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London as part of Vauxhall Fashion Scout LFW September 2009

Thoughts???

Mine: Amazing Square Shoulders... Shoes that seemed harder to stand still in than walk... Lots of graphic, block printing... Easy flowing fabrics and much more structured pieces mixed together to create a quite cohesive and interesting show. The notes spoke of a collection inspired by "engineering and industrialisation, everything is linear and robotic. There is a theme of disconnection..." Quite like the times we live in eh! The pre-show video sequence was also amazing, detailing the corsetry techniques, speaking of destruction and construction, and celebrating the form of the model lopping her long black hair off to reveal the monochrome laced clothes. All in all, a great show that struck the right balance. Not all of it was stuff I'd wear, but there were certainly enough pieces in there that had me salivating to ensure I keep a close eye on what this girl gets up to next!!!

More to come on our LFWeek-end exploits soon!

Night!

Xxxc

Secretary Chic

Gosh I'm bad at this lately... But I'm crossing fingers that I'm going to get my mojo back as I'm starting to get excited about styling again. I've had a good week and have made a select few purchases and started thinking dreamily about the return to the gilded spires of Cam.

Don't get me wrong; I adore London and my people in it, but working where I do has in some ways stifled my love of fashion even as I've been immersed in it. Odd eh!

Something about the worthless feeling that comes of interning. Not for me really.

The rest of the office have spent today organising an event, while I *miraculously* was not called upon to work said a-list extravaganza, and had an extremely fun and fashion-filled day despite non-work-involvement. Woop! More to come on today's adventures in a later post...

Firstly, however, I want to do some catching up!!!

Here is a photo shoot that T-B, his lovely assistant / girlfriend Becks and I did in his set pretty much the night before before I set off home for the summer... So mid-June time. Yikes! Haven't I been a bad blogger this summer!!!

Peeping, Laughing, Not Yet Sleeping...

Wearing: Face a Face glasses, vintage mustard blouse (bought from The Stylish Wanderer), ICB silk skirt, Kate Kuba navy suede shoes, ToyWatch, Vintage silk scarf (bought at Ark Vintage in Cambridge) and vintage navy suede belt.

I went to T-B and Becks' for (yummy scrummy) dinner tonight... Their new flat is AMAZING but it's wierd to think when I return to Cam in a fortnight's time, they'll still be in London. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! They're both grown-ups now!!! Or maybe not... Hehe.

Right. Off to sleep with me... Early rising tomorrow!!!

Xxxc

Yo.

Short, low maintenance post today, for a number of reasons, none of which are really bloggable. I Have had an absolutely lovely day on the whole, as I had two little social occasions that were uber nice.

Skipping out of the office at about 2.15 ( - we have late lunches due to starting late and finishing late - ), I went to meet the beautiful Claire from The View From Here, fresh off the train from Paris, for a lovely sushi lunch, sitting in one of London's myriad grassy, tree filled squares/parks... She had even brought me Jalouse Magazine and MACAROONS!!! Love the girl :-D

- How sophisticated does she LOOK! Despite the heat, poised and elegant ;-D

- Then we have me... A little bit of perspiration, a little bit of crumpling in the clothes department, a little bit scattier than my So-Parisian-Chic-It-Hurts friend ;-D (Wearing a TopShop playsuit, TopShop oversized tee and M&S sandals... The sandals are one of my best summer buys. I have them in black too. So comfy and so so useful! Who'd'a thunk it?!)

It was great to have a gossip and hear all about the Parisian sales and her Immense purchases... One in particular I was particularly excited to hear about, but I'm sure she'll be blogging about that herself soon enough and don't want to spoil the surprise! ;-)

But all too soon, it was time to return to work... (Whoever invented one hour lunch breaks was a mean old sod who obviously had no social life!) The office was boiling, but we have developed a Starbucks habit for Frappes - make mine a berry one - late afternoon... Delish and uber-cooling. Yum. This heat certainly makes you a little lazy... Though today it wasn't too much our fault as, having had most of the day sans computer or printer/photocopier (don't ask), we had a massive rush in the last hour to get all our sendouts and emails done before home-time!

Upon leaving the office, us three press gals and our photographer friend rambled for a London-Heatwave-Post-Work-Thirst-Quenching-Pub-Drink (£4.05 for a G&T?!?! Feck!), round the corner from the office... Was supposed to be going to see Transformers II, but had decided this morning that as much as I love my home mates, I wasn't shelling out £8 for a crappy film lol.

So all in all, a nice day, but a sleepifying one...

Will try to get around to a more interesting post tomorrow; but until then; a couple of Look Book images:

- This girl reminds me a bit of Louise Brooks crossed with Daisy from The Great Gatsby... Loving the autumn leaves too. Crunchy looking!








- Want her hair!!! And that back drop...



(Really Loving the Black and White aesthetics at the mo...)

Xxxc

Polka-dotted exam-crazed girl...

Since it's been pretty much a week since my last post, and it's pretty self-evident that I'm being a crappy blogger whose spent the last week in the library, I'll just put up a few photos and not make any excuses. Promise!

So... Today's photoshoot:

Pleated Prettiness! Run, Run, Run!

Anyhoo. This outfit is a work-in-progress, of the Susie Bubble school of not-quite-happy-with but posting-experimentation (though her "not-quite-happy" would make me happy enough to cry ;-D).

And this work-in-process outfit is made up of: "Surprise Inn, SW3" teeshirt from the mothership's wardrobe, navy polka dot pleated skirt from Love Miss Daisy Vintage, peach tights from Topshop, Kate Kuba navy suede heels, Toywatch and my Maptote Cambridge (the Massachusets one ;-D) bag.

My life now revolves around archaeology, not clothes (sob!) so my sartorial instincts are a little off... But I'm IN LOVE with this beautiful "new" (well, vintage) pink, pleated, navy polka-dotted skirt that plopped into my pigeon hole from Love Miss Daisy Vintage last week, along with the aforementioned cocktail dress and a beeeeeeyoooooooteeeeeeeful scarf that the lovely Laura included in my parcel. Oh I Adore that site. Sigh. Not sure about having teamed the mildly unflattering teeshirt with the skirt, but never mind... It was comfy ;-D

On that note, I really need to get back to the library. I've had an hour's more break than I should have and am sleepy, so needs must, or I'll not get anything more done before bed. I will try to post more frequently, as I have another photoshoot, some Amnesty Fashion Show stuff and other bits and pieces to show you as well, but the blog's had to go on the back burner until after finals... Do keep checking in though. I may even post on the weekend... You never know!!! ;-D

Xxxc