Pastel...

Trench: Burberry
Top: Zara
Bag: Cos
Shoes: Asos
Dress: Topshop boutique

Lack of technology has forced me to beg, borrow or steal a few moments on friends and family's computers... I am also inundated with Uni work, all this has resulted in my lack of posting, so apologies all round.
For now I will leave you with a bit of a pastel party...As we ascend into warmer climates (supposedly) I am finding it harder to accept that our summers are getting shorter and shorter. So in light of this, I have taken it upon myself to wear my Spring/Summer wardrobe anyway (I'm sure a lot of you have adopted the same attitude.)
With sherbet colours dominating collections, it is all you can do not to get tooth ache whilst imagining all the different ways you can wrap yourself in sugar spun hues.
Channeling a Lady like/sporty highbred take on pastels, donning my old faithful Burberry trench (which has to have been my all time best purchase in the price per wear stakes) my bargain bag and a last season shoe with a pop of yellow on the front and back insole.
I cannot wait for the sun to finally slice through the frost and the streets to become awash with all manner of pixie stick shades and impossibly perfect chiffons and silks.

Blossoming...

Spring/ Summer inspirations

Sacred Heart...

Suit: H&M
Shoes: Dune
Top: Zara
Bag: chanel

Paris was simply wonderful. I have over 1,000 photos to go through so please excuse the delay in posting them.
This was one of my favourite days, the Sacre Coeur is just divine, so peaceful and situated just so on the summit of the butte Monmartre, it serves as a beacon of beauty and sanctuary in a chaotic world.
This suit is one I brought before Christmas and have been waiting for the perfect place to wear it, and if Paris isn't the perfect place then where is?
An unashamed homage to the Celine SS12 floral perfection- its the type of suit that makes you feel as though you should be in a Mario Testino spread (I am bypassing the fact that I am neither a super-model nor wearing couture... but it's a dream, so I'm aloud to pretend.)

Two things...

Mermaids and nymphs...

Riccardo Tisci's SS12 campaign featuring Gisele Bundchen and Mariacarla Boscono, photographed by MERT & MARCUS.
I love Gievenchy campaigns- ever since being the first designer to use a transgender supermodel- Lea T- in both a campaign and runway, Tisci has proved himself an innovator through and through.
This season is no disappointment- club tropicana meets mermaid, meets armadillo, meets dessert nymph.
Bundchen looks divine - she never ages that woman! And Boscono is a dream!
These heels are just my champion shoe at the moment, simple, beautifully made with just a little bit of edge in the way of a heel tip- exactly where the stilleto wearing woman holds her powers.

Hello lover...

Bag: Cos

I didn't end up getting too much in the sales this year (in fact almost everything I have bought recently has been full price) but this bag was one little steal I am very happy with.
Ticking all of my SS boxes - by that I mean fresh, practical and a washed out acid/pastel highbred- I am pretty much channeling Parisian 'Laduree' macaroons this season.
A dead ringer for the Kurt Geiger 'Humbug' clutch from the most covetable high street SS collection I have ever seen ( seriously, this collection is enough to send me into premature, crippling debt) it has a hidden zip compartment in the front- I love little details like this, they always make me want to have business cards, just so I have something to put in them- and was only £25. Bargain of the year so far.

Ah Paris!

Packing for Paris is not easy. Especially when you only have hand luggage. The wonderful boyfriend is taking me to Paris for four days and I am tackling the mammouth task that is a 'streamline' wardrobe. The problem is I never know what I want to wear until the day so this is taking a lot of forward planning and mood predicting (also a game of clothes hokey-cokey 'in-out-in-out'). A few things I am sure of however, are my flight essentials: Vogue, reading glasses, jumper for the inevitably cold aeroplane, notebook, diary, Nivea lip balm, Nivea hand cream, Chanel perfume, eye drops, mobile (for music) and an over-read copy of Hemingway- a movable feast (to get me in the mood for Paris, good and proper!) Au revoir mes amis, see you on the other side!

I want never gets...

Dolce and Gabbana SS12 But if I ask really, really nicely...

Liya doing Bottega Veneta...

Liya Kebede for Bottega Veneta SS12 shot by Jack Pierson- The Bottega clutch has been on my wish list for a few years now and it shows no sign of letting up-I love the unique woven, metallic finish of the bags, workmanship that's very difficult to replicate. If there ever was a shot that screamed fashion in spring then this is it: Graphic brights, wicker bags and pastel hues...Liya is one of my favourite models, she has otherworldly limb range, lean and poised like some kind of beautiful preying mantis, and her face just looks so inviting and nymph like. I am looking forward to seeing her featuring in a lot more campaigns this year a' la H&M SS12.

Donatella me she's done it again...

Not barely two months since the fantastically successful Versace for H&M collaboration dropped (and crashed the whole website I may add- I know this because I acquired finger cramp whilst trying to purchase a shirt for a friend- my refresh button has never seen so much action) Versace are now releasing a SS12 cruise collection available in H&M stores on January 19th, that's one quick turn around in the Versace house! This collection is perfectly kitch whilst remaining fresh and completely covetable- Cherry's, melons and cupcakes appear in convoy across playsuits, half bras, bodices and mini dresses-all very 50's Miami beach/ pool party. Versace, as ever, stays true to its brand identity- Making a bold statement whilst having fun with fashion. The men's pieces have a positively Jame's Dean-esk feel, with huge turn-ups and T-s with the classic Versace maize emblazoned on them- and we all love a bit of vintage branding. This collection is so well put together, it really feels as though you are investing in a piece of Versace apposed to just someone putting their name to clothes- you get the feeling there has been real thought and put into the design and making of it. Seeing this collection makes me yearn for Summers past and Summers to come- with 70mph winds at the moment it is all I can to escape the January blues.

Balancing act.

I know, two posts in a day, I'm getting a little carried away here... but this Chanel ss12 shoot featuring Saskia de Brauw and Joan Smalls, shot by Karl Lagerfeld and styled by Carine Roitfeld- my ideal adoptive parents- was exactly the kind of shoot I wanted to see in the early days of a new year. Fresh, inspiring and just a little bit retro chic.

Authors who once knew better words now only use four letter words writing pros...

Hat: Mango Jumper: Zara Skirt: Topshop Shoes: Jimmy Choo Bag: Milan Gloves: acessorize This outfit urged a boy walking past me to proclaim, 'What the f*ck is she wearing?!'- charming young man he was.. This happens to me at least twice a month (I shan't mention at this point what the boy in question was wearing- trying to be the bigger person and all that) I don't blame him, not everyone can fathom why anyone would want to dress any other way than what they deem as 'the norm' it's not a point of trying to be different, in fact it's quite the contrary- it's an expression of your mood or feeling. You see, I have a problem. I am an unashamed book worm. Now this in itself poses no problem, the issue is that I tend to channel whatever character from the book I am reading at the time. You are just as likely to see me dressed as a character from a book as you are channelling a designers collection. Inspiration takes many forms and big one of mine is in literature. Language is becoming a lost art, reading is one of the few times when you can steal a few minutes for your imagination - often turning into hours... I am currently reading 'The Paris wife' This is about Hemingway's wife Hadley and their life together in Paris in the 1920's-I have an innate love for Hemingway and were he still around, I am pretty sure I would be a groupie. In light of this I find myself unknowingly channeling 'flapper chic'- I know, I know, its being going on for a while and fashion is loving 'the roaring 20's right now- maybe I am being inadvertently influenced by trends or I just happen to be lucky with my era of choice? Chicken and egg scenario. Either way, I find myself on a daily basis thinking 'What would Hadley do?' I think that's a sign I need to finish this book, and soon. You can probably guess what a lot of my christmas presents were this year...