It’s a sad day for British fashion. I have been keeping this news under raps since first thing this morning when Grazia tweeted the revelation. Not wanting to admit to tweeting in the office I kept my lips sealed (and held back the tears). Then about 3.00pm a girl from the fashion team ran over to our desks and gasped ‘Luella’s gone bust!’
‘Noooooo!’ cried the features writer. We all felt her pain until we realised that her upset was of a more selfish disposition, ‘What about my feature?! I was supposed to be doing it on Luella’. Bad times all round then. It is indeed the very same features writer who hangs her beautiful navy, velvet trimmed Luella blazer on proud display every morning. Not for much longer I’m guessing.
But if we pan out from the panic of the fashion magazine and take a look at the bigger picture, it really does deserve some thought and consideration. Over the last decade Bartley has built a cool, credible brand that is distinctly British. British fashion was once so very cool. Biba, the Mods and the punks were part of creating a rock n’ roll solid rep for London. Bartley continues that tradition: her clothes are edgy, they are playful and they are cool. Just like the Bartley brand – the working mum who loves nothing more than surfing in Cornwall and spending time with her gorgeous family. We bought into it all – so why do people want out?
After the features writer had digested the news, she sat back down and picked up the papers that had fallen on the floor in her rage. Just like the long line of cut features and bankrupt fashion houses, another one bites the dust.
Hurrah! I landed in London last night! Those fuckwits Easy Jet however forgot my luggage. SO ANNOYING. Should be arriving this eve or tomorrow. Quite a good excuse to arrive at the Halloween party this eve not in costume, but the truth is I like getting dressed up. Off to raid friend’s wardrobes this afternoon.
But despite my best clothes and moi being cruelly separated and panicking about the whereabouts and welfare of my favourite dresses and leather jacket, I’m in high spirits. I love this city.
I saw this morning. Young couple and bright lights. How can standing underneath grimy Southwark bridge feel so romantic?
I just got a wonderful parcel in the post. I LOVE getting post. (I realise this might be an annoying thing to say to all of you who are suffering from the Royal Mail strikes) When ( and at the moment, if) you receive post it is so exciting and so charming, I almost want to ditch my facebook and twitter accounts, rush out and by some beautiful headed paper.
The parcel was from one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Amy. Amy sent me two books. And really it was the perfect gift. Firstly, I love books. It’s always a dead cert with me: give me a book and I’ll love you for life. The first book she gave me is Christian Dior’s The Little Dictionary of Fashion. This is a beautiful, beautiful book. First published in 1954, the book contains charming illustrations and wonderful nuggets of advice that are now hallmarks of an era of grace and propriety in dressing. Utterly delightful and gorgeously presented, it is a killer gift.
My favourite letter of Dior’s Alphabet is probably ‘Z’ for ‘Zest’
He writes:
‘Anything you do, work or pleasure, you have to do it with zest. You have to live with zest…and that is the secret of beauty and fashion, too … There is no fashion that is good without care, enthusiam and zest behind it. Zest in desgining…zest in making …and zest in wearing your clothes’
The other book Amy sent me is called Once Again to Zelda, Fifty Great Dedications and Their Stories by Marlene Wagman-Gellar.
This includes dedications in novels by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Truman Capote.
So Amy gets it right again: a book about clothes and a book about books – two of the things I love the most. Thanks Ams – I love them and you!
Mulberry and Apple have got together, My Fashion Life reported today which apparently they nabbed from Grazia’s website.
Firstly, I want a black patent Mulberry Bayswater whether or not it’s laptop friendly.
Secondly, I’m a big apple fan: I desperately want an iPhone and a mac but, alas, I am poor.
So what the hell could be better? Is this not THE ultimate Carrie accessory brought to life? If I owned the above and carried my laptop in that bag, and popped my iPhone in the pocket and slipped my headphones through the cleverly designed eyelet holes that allows easy access, I would be one happy girl. Move over Big, this kind of luxury is far more exciting.
I’ve just spent the day with my french friend. Her style can be stated in one word that to me embodies French chicness; effortless. She always looks so cool and stylish but somehow so uncontrived and as if she would never bother wasting a moments thought on clothes or even a second in front of the mirror. Her petite frame is draped in loose boyfriend jeans and a beautifully fitted tweed blazer or her A.P.C duffel coat hangs over a red pinafore dress. When I turn up in my oversized costume jewellery, my clashing prints, or my sequins I feel so…well…English. I don’t feel chic, I feel overdone – a bit like wearing too much blusher. There are lessons to be learnt from this girl: simple, effortless and understated. She aches cool in a way my English/London inspired punk/rocker heritage simply won’t compute. My love of leather and studs as well as 70s flamboyance, not to mention deco detailing, gets in the way of me ever being effortless or understated.
Today she was wearing the perfect example of her typically French (or what I personally associate with French) chic. It was this Zadig & Voltaire jumper (A French label, bein sur). When sitting opposite with her over lunch, it looked just like a black jumper. Although I did notice a line of light blue stitching on the inside of the seam, but it was very slight. Yet, when she got up to pay, on the back of the jumper in the same light blue stitching is the word ’Elvis’. It’s cool, charming, it makes you smile and it’s so lovely how it’s on the back. You might never see it, but that’s not the point. The jumper is indeed effortlessly cool: it is simple and it is easy to wear. It requires no thought or careful planning.
What I admire most I think is how she dresses so much for herself: she is utterly uninfluenced by what magazines/blogs say we should or shouldn’t be wearing. Perhaps her style is so apparently effortless because it is such a natural and honest expression of herself.
A chill in the air, the onset of the sniffles, leaves falling off the trees and X Factor beginning to take over life as we know it. This can only mean one thing…a new season has begun.
While I love having a natural tan, there is something immeasurably comforting about winter and wrapping up warm. The economy may be turning for the better, but my finances remain unchanged. In the absence of a brand new Autumn / Winter 09 wardrobe, what do I own from last year that can pass off as in vogue this season?
I only own one winter coat and thank god the powers that fashion be have decided that tweed is in this season…
For some reason most of my clothes are grey, a colour that has lived to fight another season. However this A/W I plan on combining my grey coloured staple items with vibrant colours. Imagine the below look with an injection of a vibrant purple.
Other recurring items this season include anything cashmere (that fabric is winter’s friend), my old velvet blazer, a dog-tooth print scarf, cableknit cardigans and sparkly shoes. But not all at once.
And to prove that not all last year looks will make the grade, here is AMS and I in outfits that are unlikely to be repeated this year…
On Monday I turned 24. The boyf took me out for posh nosh and lovely wine. I wanted to look nice but not old, I am still young after all! What I realised was that as I may be getting older, I’m certainly not getting any richer. I teamed years old M&S ankle boots, with a playsuit found at Camden Passage Market in Islington, also from years back. The only new item was the black wool Paul Smith jumper – which was a birthday gift. (There is a market near Great Oldmond Street that has a stall that sells labels for a quarter of the price – amazing – this is where this jumper was purchased).
So this was my posh dinner but ‘I’m still young – you won’t find me in black linen trousers just yet, no sir-ree!’ outfit.
And then I realised I was light-years away from dressing ‘old’ or ‘grown up’ when I tried on the hat I bought from H&M for an amazing 7 euros.
I look like Rod Stewart.
But it was my birthday and so I’ll look like Rod Stewart if I want to.
Just when you thought that this city couldn’t get anymore surreal, giant elephants of all different colours have been scattered throughout the city. They are due to be sold at Christies at the end of November and all proceeds will go to Elephant Family – an elephant charity in Asia. The different elephants have been designed by dutch artists. These delightful elephants are opposite my flat.
It took approximately 30 seconds for Dannii Minogue to become a national hate figure and to alienate most of the viewing public. Her crime? A bizarre comment on the gender splicing of a song to X Factor contestant Danyl Johnson. Skip to her comment at the end of the video for the offending item.
Dannii for all intents and purposes outed and humiliated Danyl. This specific attack is made even more bizarre considering that most of the male contestants / judges are in fact gay. The comment was without question hurtful, unnecessary and in bad taste, however in the rush to persecute Dannii I feel that the bigger picture has been missed.
Through his own admission (and from personal knowledge that he hosted gay karoke at London’s biggest gay bar) Danyl’s sexuality is a shade of grey, or more likely a shade of pink. Despite this the producers of X Factor decided that they absolutely had to change the gender in the song, because otherwise all the viewers would spontaneously turn gay?! The song was inappropriate enough for Danyl and changing the lyrics to make it ’straight’ was like trying to make Boy George less gay by putting him in sensible trousers.
This issue comes at a time when Obama talks to the nation about gay rights, and on International Coming Out Day. Let us not burn Dannii at the stake, while I am not a diehard fan of hers it is true that she is clearly very gay friendly. She is a Minogue for pete’s sake, its in the genetics. Her poor taste comment may have actually shone a light on a bigger prejudice, and that should be the talking point.
On top is Anna Wintour and below is Mireille Guiliano, spokesperson for the Champagne Veuve Clicquot for over 20 years before starting her own company Cliquot, Inc. When not existing in the glamorous world of expensive bubbly, she also happens to write best-selling books. Most famously is her wonderfully titled, ‘Why French Women Don’t Get Fat’. Her latest novel, which was just been published, tells us why she is slim, well dressed AND has had an incredible career, not to mention her jet-setting lifestyle between Paris and New York.
A biog of Anna is not needed here. But, clearly these women have had similar lives. Successful and glamorous careers, flitting between one great city to the next and have managed to stay in great shape. But just look at them – look how similar they look! The light brown bob – Anna’s trademark (or is it Mireille’s?!) , feminine style and neutral colours suggesting ‘I’m feminine anda business woman!’ Is this look the uniform of an exclusive club of powerful women who hold the secretes to living the lives the rest of us want to but have no idea of how to? I think so!
My long, messy and wavy hair suggest I have a very long way to go.
Everyday we will bring you our top 5 and 3/4 of what we think is genius, unforgiveable, glamourous, on trend, off trend, mentalist, outrageous, fun and generally worthy of comment.
We will never sit on the fence.
Sometimes we also might just take a 'sip' of Sparkling Whine: a single thought, idea or musing.
