COCKATOO

 Wearing: Topshop shirt and skirt, Camilla Skovgaard shoes.

Another look from the MyDaily set ‘How to wear print’. Totally obsessed with this skirt, amazing colour clash going on. Also this barbie pink lipstick I stole off Lexxi. I think it’s remained in my handbag ever since this shoot! And I do think I look like some kind of insane tropical bird, hense Cockatoo.

Photos by Lexxi 

PERFECT SUMMER DRESS

Wearing: Dress by Topshop, shoes by Nicholas Kirkwood, Sunglasses by Versace

This dress is without a doubt my perfect summer dress! A beautiful contrast between some hard ass leather and some light summery pleats. Ever since I saw it at the Arcadia press day I knew it was meant for me. Worn to this afternoons spectacular Dr Martens event that I’m still feeling a little tipsy from. It’s all in the name of work right?

Photos by Alexxsia

EDITED BY

Some covetable Topshop pieces from their last press day, which means it must be in stores now (wahoo!) How often online do you see something which is available to buy right away? I definitely need to take a trip into Oxford Street soon, also because for the next few weeks the Regent St side entrance of the store has been turned into Edited By; a mini Tophop with all the best pieces hand picked from the main store by a different editor each month. The first is Dazed & Confused’s Katie Shillingford and will give a true insight into one of London style visionaries. Not only will the clothes be hand picked by Katie but also the music in the the space itself as well as a selection of books and magazines that are inspirational to her. I tend to get a little nauseous when shopping in the huge flagship store, so this mini store filled will all the best items hand picked by Katie Shillingford? It sounds almost too good to be true.

Edited By will be open from August 2nd and will feature a new guest editor each month for a two week period.

TREND SETTERS

The new Topshop jewellery collection from the A/W press day and bloggers Love Aesthetics, 5 inches and up, and Style by Kling.

BACK IN BLACK

 Jaeger Hat, Limi Feu Coat, Topshop Dress, Twisted Helmut Lang Top, Alexander Wang Mules

I’d been fantasising about this hat ever since I saw Abbey Lee Kershaw rocking it in the London Eye Jaeger ads. As luck would have it, I found my beloved head wear on the Jaeger press day. They only ever had 5 in store and I got the last one! The hat is a Noel Stewart for Jaeger design; beautifully crafted, and to be honest the first serious hat I own.

SEEING IT CLEAR

Topshop perspex wedges for S/S 11

Found through morning blog-of-the-moment Seamless.

How insane are the middle pair? Buckles, straps, braid; I’m loving it.

They really border the line on pure gross and pure hot too, which just makes me love them more really.

TOPSHOP MOVES TO OLD EUROSTAR TERMINAL FOR SS 11

This year the Topshop show space has moved… to an old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo!

This is definately their most exciting show space yet.

Suuuuper excited!

Alongside Unique, designers Michael Van Der Ham, Peter Pilotto, Meadham Kirchhoff, Richard Nicoll and Mary Katrantzouwill be showing at the space.

Vintage with East of Eden

Last Saturday I was invited on a little Vintage shopping excursion with Emma, star of the Summer Glaceau Vitamin Water campaign; “show your vits”. Blog crew and Paul Valentine from Exposure PR met with Emma for brunch at the Nude cafe just off Brick Lane.

After much fun drinking tea, hearing all about Emma’s new Vintage shop ‘East of Eden’ and gabbing all the latest blog gossip, we headed over to Brick Lane to start hunting for treasures.

Isn’t she a beauty? All the ads feature real people (you may have seen these ads as you descend into the depths of the tube) and have been picked based on the brand personality. Emma is Miss Revive – “a party girl with a twinkle in her eye, she is often hitting the tiles in her 1940s get up, painting the town red – specifically east london, where she runs a club night!”

She is also a university lecturer, vintage shop queen AND afro-cuban choir singer! Wowzaaa what a star! Her vintage shop ‘East of Eden’ will be opening on Balls Pond Rd in Hackney, Ldn. I can’t wait!

I’m afraid this isn’t the best picture, but it does show the whole crew, and Emma’s insanely awesome outfit.

From left to right we have Amy from Wolf Whistle, Leigh from Style Canteen, Cyrenea from Freak Delux, Emma ‘East of Eden’, Charlotte from Style Cartel and Paul from Exposure PR.

Alexxsia from My Labyrinth was with me too!

I must say that Paul told us that he would be wearing a purple jumper and would be easy to spot, so we went right up to a guy in purple at the nude cafe and introduced ourselves, turned out not to be Paul. Cringe!

In Hanbury Hall Vintage Market where I bought a few treasures.

So wanted this emerald green velvet dress! It wouldn’t even slip past my hips, boo!

Totally awesome bag in the Brick Lane indoor market, the bag flap was two uncut raw pieces of leather, very Ann D!

Incredibly beautiful 1940’s pink crepe maxi, I wanted to try it on but I got my hand slapped just for touching it. Woops!

Anything that delicate isn’t for wearing.

We finished off at a shop selling Vintage by the Kilo round by the bus stop (Really don’t know my way around London yet!), it was pretty manic in there but I managed to pick out a nude skirt (was totally on the hunt after seeing a girl in a floor length nude skirt), brown leather lazer cut belt and few silk tops. All for £6!

The lace silk shirt was my favourite buy of all, the lace goes up the sleeves and down the back, a really rare find. I’ve always wanted a cute russian fur hat too!

My Topshop bag came today! I’m definately happy with my decision. It’s beautiful and brown suits me down to the ground.

DILEMMA

Which one should I get?

Brown fur and leather or ‘Taupe’ sheepskin?

Both from Topshop. Their new stock is killing me already.

I think I am veering more towards the brown fur… as it would go with more outfits.

TOPSHOP A/W 2010

Seriously going crazy over Topshop’s new A/W lookbook, I can’t wait to get some of my hands on these pieces! The shearling coats and sheer skirts are a must.

The shoes have taken on a much more ACNE vibe too (rub hands together with glee!) Although i’ll have to think fast as they never ever seem to half my elephant foot size 8’s in stock.

The A/W 2010 has three separate running themes with ‘The outsiders’, ‘Art nouveau’ and ‘Out of the wild’.

OUT OF THE WILD

The ‘Out of the Wild’ warrior girl invites you to take a trip into a post-apocalyptic world, where fashion survivors battle the elements in fur, bondage-style strapping, disheveled fabrics and patchwork. Ragged chamois-style leathers have unfinished hems, crochet pieces are tattered and cobwebby, and fake furs appear pelted and pulled apart. Textured knitwear and mixed MATERIALS are central to this trend, with pieces that appear knotted, laddered, or adorned with feathers and fur.

Not only was my platforming on trend but it appears fashion is now getting the apocalyptic vibe too!

DARK NOUVEAU
Topshop invites you to return to the dark ages, mixing inspiration from the sinister fairytales of the Art Nouveau movement with Beardsley’s illustrations for Oscar Wilde and the Banshees created by Neville Page for Avatar. There is a tough medieval feel through-out, appearing in fierce studded corsets and cage-like skirts with harness detailing. Leather is a key fabric, and is often decorated with hand-crafted, heavily-encrusted studwork. Footwear has strapping and harnessing touches.

Sounds AWESOME.