If only I was older and wiser...

I'd maybe be able to act on some of my fantasy wishlists!

Today, I've been yearning for Jonathon Saunders' acid brights, up now on Net-A-Porter.

Quite bright, I must admit... But I feel that it would be suitable for the spring days ahead!

(Jonathon Saunders dress, Crumpet cardigan, Proenza Schouler bag, Aurelie Biderman bracelet, Marc by Marc Jacobs bracelet, Lanvin brooch, Lanvin ballet pumps)

Ah to be able to afford even just one of these cute things!

Xxxc

Pondering Investments...

In our house, one thing that often comes up is whether saving or spending is a better idea... While I like saving, and do so regularly, my best friend is a spend-now-save-later type who doesn't always understand why I like to save a third of my (not substantial) monthly income rather than spending it on going out and items that I have a momentary yen for.

I may be a fashion blogger, with a wardrobe obsession that many think must equate to a large number of clothes, but really, I don't spend on new things very often. I tend to enjoy "rediscovering" my own wardrobe... And my mother's wardrobe... And my grandmother's wardrobe...

I tend to spurt buy charity shop bits and pieces when I'm feeling in the mood for the buyer's high, but my internet shopping habit often leads to spending more on returning items than those I keep! My boyfriend finds this slightly odd, but - thank goodness - puts up with it...

My style is more dependent on treating life like one play after another that requires sets of costumes, than on fashion trends - though I do enjoy fashion week's spectacles, and take note and inspiration from the stories they tell and the ways other people interpret them... 

I am also an inveterate magazine buyer, though once again, it's the stories spun, and the interplay of colour and light an texture that attract me, not the "current"ness of an outfit. Not that being fashionable is something I look down on. On the contrary, I wish I could make my costuming a little more directional sometimes! ;]

For me to actually buy something new, physically in person, it is usually presaged by at least a week, up to a couple of months, of musing and mulling over any gap in my wardrobe and debating quite how much I love, and would wear, an instant style crush... Case in point: Sophie Hulme for ASOS Pigeon cardigan:

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping when I'm in the mood, but I do tend to go through quite a guilt complex process with buying things for my wardrobe. It often equates to it being easier to not buy something than go through the annoyance of beating myself up for it after and have to spend time returning a week or so later.

Odd huh.

However, at the moment, I'm battling with a conundrum. Do I save my savings from the past couple of months, or do I spend on one thing I've been yearning for for a while now...

A Mulberry Bayswater bag, in yummy chocolate brown, that will enable me to abandon the less-than-chic tote bags I relied on throughout university and that still do for day-to-day when a smaller handbag just isn't practical...

 

I've been thinking about it for ages, and I think that after Christmas, I might just about be ready to take the plunge. But is it worth the uncomfortable feeling I'll get having spent the money I'd been putting aside for my own security?

What do you guys think?

Xxxc

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

Dancing With Glee!

Okay, so I probably don't have to explain what the Glee phenomenon is right? It's awesome... And pour little ol' moi, one of the best bits about this awesomely amazing tv show is the outfits that Emma Pillsbury wears!

So imagine my happiness when I stumbled across *this* blog today... What Emma Pillsbury Wore.com

They have challenges, and this week, it was to put together an Emma Pillsbury outfit using a Nanette Lepore green cardigan!

So, here is my outfit I put together:

(Nanette Lepore cardigan, Marni dress from Browns, Bottega Veneta handbag from Browns, Christian Louboutin pumps from Barneys and vintage daisy brooch from RockinRubyVintage on Etsy)

I'm not cool enough to have mastered Polyvore, so it's a Paint mashup... But still!

And HOW CUTE is the Marni dress?!?!

Xxxc

Pretty, Sparkly Things

I Love Christmas... Seriously... I love the cake baking and big wooly jumpers and jangling bells and midnight mass SO DARN MUCH! Christmas present shopping is also AWESOME. There's something so satisfying about finding that present, or baking something that will make someone smile. And best of all, I love the excuse to dress up and wear sparkly jewellery; something I don't really do at any other time of the year!

So, as part of the altruistic urge to gift, and the mahooosively irresistible urge to look at sparkly things I can't really have, I ended up jewellery browsing online. Noooooooooooooooooo! So much I want! (I have a feeling there are going to be quite a few posts like this... No money, no photographer, LOTS OF YEARNING!!!)

How cute is this?!

A reindeer pendant from Astley Clarke, purveyor of all things fine and designer jewellery ish. I think this range is just so adorable... Shame I don't have £225 quid to spare as it's SO GORGEOUS!

Now who wants a pair of ludicrously expensive diamond snowflake earrings to see out the Winter season?! I have to say, I probably wouldn't say no to a man who bought me these for Christmas, but it might seem like selling my soul for Tiffany's...

And how adorable are these Links of London charms?! I DEFINITELY want the mitten one... At £45 each, they're slightly more attainable, but not really on my current budget. Recession bites, eh!

Ok, so I can't afford any of these very very pretty things, so I think I might make my own Christmas earrings instead...

WOOP! CRAFT PROJECT! I'm very excited now...

Jewellery is one of those things for me which only really comes up when I find something really special. I have my watches (woo, bright orange bit of plastic on my wrist!!!) and my name necklace, and a few bits of vintage painted goodness, but most of the time I find jewellery a faff. My ears are pierced, but they rarely see a bit of dangly metal, mainly as I'm far too lazy to coordinate! Do you girlies have any bits of jewellery you always wear? I get a bit panicky if I'm not wearing a watch, but otherwise I tend to find it all just a bit of a nuisance! Except at Christmas...

Right, now, I must be off to perfect my christmas cupcakes! ;-D

Night!

Xxxc

Look-see-smile...

As some of you may have noted, I do love a sample sale, and browsing Fashion Confidential for them has always been a favourite part of my London-based weeks. Remember the Eley Kishimoto shoes???

When I’m in Cambridge, I tend to avoid it and all mentions of shiny shiny designer clothes I can't afford, for fear my heart may be broken by the news of a Kane or Kirkwood extravaganza happening just near enough to be possible yet just far away to be prohibited by the next impending deadline.

So of course I was delighted when they got in touch with me to see if I liked their new magazine-like format and revamped other-than-sample-sales content, which I'd never really paid much attention to before... So after I had finished my last supervision essay yesterday afternoon, and after today’s actual supervision (during which I had a very satisfactory argument about Foucault – woo panopticon!!! ;-D) I have spent a good hour or so compiling a couple of fantasy wish-lists and reading their articles (like this quick interview with a very chic Parisienne). Oh gawd, something else to keep an eye on. Not sure how I’m going to cope!

Also, normally, I also ignore any shopping emails that arrive in my inbox. Net-a-porter, Browns, Cocosa... GO AWAY I HAVE NO MONEY!!! (Possibly my own fault due to impending theatrical extravaganza and a trip to Stockholm in January...) Yet I have to admit to having loved the cute, purple-themed "stocking fillers" feature that popped up this afternoon. It's not really the products themselves - though I quite fancy a copy of the Camilla Morton book and that Aubin and Wills purple top... It's the adorable way it's all been put together. I'm really one for a slick piece of graphic design, and FC have, of late, been producing some rather good layout-porn!

Fashion Confidential has always, for me, been part of the pleasure of physical shopping, as it has pointed me towards some of my best sample-sale scrummages. Yet now it tempts me with yet another avenue of internet shopping: the best of the sales online. Arrrrrrrrrgh! Who could resist a page filled with those crossed through ridiculous prices, followed by red massively reduced ones...

Shame I'm "economising"... But doesn't mean I can't look!!!

Aren't these pretty... (Can you tell I'm procrastinating from academic work again? ;-D)

(Philip Lim and Roland Mouret from TheOutnet)

(Marc by Marc Jacobs from Matches)
(Aubin and Wills and Elle McPherson Intimates at Net-A-Porter)

If only I had money... Sigh. Silly recession.

Xxxc

Quick fantasy...

Short post today, honest! I'm trying to be on a shopping ban (and failing miserably, as I keep needing "essentials" like moisturiser and exfoliating gloves and new mascara... EPIC FAIL!) so am keeping myself happy with fantasy shopping... Like fantasy football, except more fulfilling methinks!

Creatures of Comfort, as ever, yields much inspiration... (Yes, I'm still yearning for *this* Bernard Willhelm dress...)

The PAM Zanbil Dayglo dress... For crazy moments when I want to run and jump and shout!

The PAM Geo Phantasm tank dress... Because sometimes it's going to be crazy warm and I'll still want to run and jump and shout in a crazy moment! 

The Sunshine and Shadow Purple Lights tank dress... For slightly more sober, probably at work, moments, when I need purple dashes in my life, but also need to be taken SERIOUSLY!

The Sunshine and Shadow Green Culottes... Because I haven't had a pair of culottes in ages, and want to feel like a Girl Guide again... ;-D

Each and every one is, of course, well out of my price range... But, hey, isn't that the fun of it??? ;-D

Until tomorrow!

Xxxc

Trying to find a new watch...

Don't get me wrong... I adore my ToyWatch. I wear it day-in-day-out, regardless of whether or not it goes with my outfit. The 'Atomic Orange' colour makes me smile every morning when the satifying click into place occurs, and in honesty, I wouldn't trade this beauty for anything...

But.

In the interests of propriety, and with a number of black tie events coming up, I'm not sure I can always get away with wearing a neon orange, massive, plasteramic watch with silky swishy cocktail or full-length dresses - as much as I'd like to.

So began the search for the perfect dress watch...

My ideal watch has always been my mother's. Slim, metal, discrete. Classic and classy. It's beautiful. Steel and gold band, champagne face, late 1970s Rolex. 

*Basically like this one but with a smaller face and slimmer band*

*Think this is the men's version*

And it has an ace story. Basically, it was thrown at her head by her partner at the time - a Brazilian diplomat - in the middle of an argument... (That's cutting a long, very scandalous story very short... It was the 70s. 'Nuff said.)

Anyway. That's not exactly attainable any time in the near future... Or ever really. And I'm not going to wish for mother to pop her clogs just so I can get her watch lol.

So the search goes on.

First, I tried a gold-chain-with-silver-clock-charm watch, from Bex Rox... But it was far too annoying to have the charm slinging around my arm on far too big, far too tangly, far too tacky (considering the price - £79 and massively reduced in a sample sale) to be a feasible option.

I had also been debating getting a small, pink, version of the watch I already have...

But that would've been cheating... 

And then I was emailed by some lovely ToyWatch people, about their new range... Looking at these "mini-metals" I might just have found a new, exciting alternative!

They apparently aren't stocked in the UK at the moment, but we should be able to get them from the ToyWatch USA site. They're otherwise stocked all over the world - look on the website here.

I'm rather partial to the gold and rose gold ones myself... The silver isn't really me. They're so very pretty, and despite the clear-acrylic bit of the band, which is probably an aqcuired taste, these are rather beautiful, classic watches from a brand that prides itself on bringing classic designs with a twist in materials to a mid(ish)-range, price-point-wise, market. I'm not sure what I think of the diamante-y bits on the watch-face - I don't do bling really - and I'd probably have to see them on to make a final decision... But these are looking like a very attractive watch option.

What do you think?

Woop! Short post! ;-D Don't forget to enter the caption competition from yesterday's post!!!  

Xxxc

hypothetically...

I'm putting off online purchases for a while...

This of course means just making my wishlist longer...

Choices choices...

1) Purple or Red?

2) Luella or Marc by Marc Jacobs?

3) Marc by Marc Jacobs or Stella McCartney for Adidas?

Please understand that this is therapeutic wishing. 

I am hoping that by abstaining from buying I will forget about them.

Yes, I am That Much in denial.

Both of the pairs of Melissa shoes are from coggles.com

The teeshirts and bags are from net-a-porter

On another note...

I'm going to try and just do one post a day for the next week or so.

I have 4 essays and a presentation in before Monday, a jazz night I'm bar managing on Friday, an alumni conference, reception, museum tour and black tie dinner I'm organising on Saturday, and the parentals are here on Sunday as I'm reading in chapel, and I've a piece of coursework due a week Friday... 

That's a pile-up even in Cambridge terms, and I need to spend less time online.

At least that's what I'm saying.

Shout at me if I post too much.

Clothes are my escape.

I need to not escape.

No time.

However... 

In the interests of content per post... 

I'll probably just amalgamate several trains of thought in one. 

Like now...

Have you guys seen Hedi Slimane's Courteney Love photos? 

I think they're in LOVE magazine.

Rave reviews but haven't read it yet.

These photos are up on his site though...

This one's my favourite:

I really do love Hedi Slimane's photos, for all he gets criticised in the 'hip' press for his use of pretty white boy models and oversexualised imagery... But I think they always make a visual impact which is hard to deny or ignore. I love the use of the veil in these photos. Especially when she's depicted with the "rocker"... Literal and tragic LOVE. Doomed marriage. Sex, drugs, rock n roll etc. Fit. I love CLove for her chaos and ability to put across her fire even through mascara-misted-all-nighter eyes... If I looked that good strung out with no sleep, it'd be a miracle. (Ok, ignoring the blatently obvious skills of a very talented MU artiste on occassion... ;-D) 

Right. I must stop blogging now. 

3 minutes to midnight. 

Sugar.

Xxxc