LFW: The Big One

Last night was the Burberry Prorsum Spring/Summer 2011 show. This is a big deal.

For me, fashion means two things: Chanel, and Burberry Prorsum. Chanel means elegance, femininity and style. Burberry means Britain. I don't know if that's the reason that I love it so much - because it epitomises London and England and British style - but I love it nevertheless. Ever since Christopher Bailey took over, the collections have been getting better and better, and Burberry Prorsum is always the show that I look forward to most during fashion week.

Last year's S/S collection featured some of the most ridiculously beautiful clothes that I have ever seen. I watched the live streaming and just sat there gasping every time a new outfit came on. And the models were amazing, too. Lily Donaldson, Tatiana Cotliar, Freja Beha Erichson: all my favourites.

So last year's collection was a hard act to follow. But somehow he managed it. And while it wasn't quite as good as last year's, it still blew me away.

There was leather. Lots of leather. And spikes. And skintight trousers. And shoes that almost none of the models could walk in. It was fantastic! The leather trenchcoat is going to be next season's shearling aviator jacket. Those silver trousers are going to be the Topshop-copycat-version that I invest in. Those shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shooeess. I fell in love with Burberry all over again.

My favourite pieces:

I'm digging my leather jacket out.

And cutting the sleeves off it.

Perfect. Just perfect.

Oh myyyyy.

I love you Christopher Bailey, you beautiful, talented, babe of a man. I LOVE YOU.

NYFW: Anna Sui, You Diamond

Of the few collections that I have actually looked at from New York Fashion Week, Anna Sui's Spring/Summer 2011 is my absolute favourite. It's perfect! You just know that if you were wearing these clothes you could feel like Kate Hudson in Almost Famous - and let's face it, that is never a bad thing.

I don't want to talk too much about it, because it has just gotten cold enough here that wearing lace shorts and floaty dresses is impossible, and that makes me really sad, so I'll just post the pictures and we can all imagine ourselves sitting in fields, wearing headbands and watching Led Zeppelin. It's the 1970s again!

She's so cute!

Pretty Thoughts, but only Thoughts

Today I realised how fast the future is rushing towards us. This time next year, I won't be lounging on my bed, drinking tea and reading Shakespeare; I will have to be doing something proper. Something real. It will be the end of this lazy, hazy life I've settled into, living with my parents and writing stories on the backs of appointment slips at work. Taking photos of my dogs and garden and shoes. Wouldn't it be nice if time would slow down, so that this year lasted forever? I want to live in a library. I'll stay up at night and wait for Henry DeTamble to show up; it's bound to happen sometime. Maybe - and now here's an idea - I should open a bookshop in a little country village, and I can live in a cottage with big windows that let in lots of sunlight, and have an armchair by the fire and a big garden that I can sit in during summertime. My only company will be characters in novels, and Renard, the pet fox that I will most certainly have. Doesn't that sound better than the future?

Weekly Review: 13th-19th September 2010

I almost immediately regretted my decision to start these only vaguely interesting (and that only to me) posts, because it made me realise with startling clarity that I do absolutely nothing. But never fear my darling readers, when uni starts again and the October tour season commences (gig time baby), things will pick up a little. I'm hoping.

This week it was my mum's birthday! On the 16th, to be precise. This, of course, meant BAKING!That's a cat iced skilfully by me.

My dog loves birthday cake.

My mum is a champion cake-baker, so as a family we like to let her bake her own birthday cake. I'M JOKING! I love my mum more than anything in the worrrld, so I helped her out with the icing. Lemon cake is the best, almost as good as my mum. Happy birthday!


This week also saw me finally finish Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon. One of my dad's friends recommended this series of books, about a police chief who lives and works in Venice. He let me borrow the first few novels in the series, but I've been so tired recently that I've only been mnaging to read on my lunch break - and that is only for half an hour a day. However, I finally finished it, and I really enjoyed it. It isn't especially fantastic writing - in fact, it is fairly standard, but the plot is great, and the fact that I have just been to Venice, and that it is one of my favourite places that I have ever visited, combined with the fact that when you're reading this book you really feel like you are walking the little canal-side streets of Venezia, made it incredibly enjoyable. I would highly recommend it if you want something to just delve into whenever you have a spare moment.A couple of photos from my trip. The lower one is me on a funny little bridge in Venice. The top one is the most venetian photo ever taken; I'm very proud of it, ha.


Next up on my ever-extending reading list was To Kill A Mockingbird. Somehow, through all the thousands of books that I have devoured in my lifetime, I have managed to miss this one out. But then my dad bought it for me a couple of weeks ago, and now after finally finishing Death at La Fenice, I could move on to it.I can't believe that I have never read it before. It's like there has been a huge gap in my education. I read almost all of it today - I still have 30 pages to go, so don't spoil the ending for me! Atticus is my hero.


The only 'new' film that I saw this week was Sean Penn's Into the Wild. I enjoyed it, but not, I think, for the reasons that you are supposed to enjoy it. The scenery was stunning; I loved that. And the sense of adventure that it awakens inside of you is frustratingly exciting. But am I the only one who found the lead character an absolutel tool? Am I the only one who thought that he was cruel and selfish and rude? It's all very well reading Jack London writings and jollying off to Alaska, but you could of at least send your sister a postcard, you inconsiderate bastard. But other than that, it's a pretty amazing film - visually, at least.

This week also saw the start of London Fashion Week! For me, this means only two things: Burberry Prorsum, and Alexa Chung. The first has already not disappointed:
And I am certain that on Tuesday, when Christopher Bailey's new collection is streamed live, that will not be disappointing either. I think we all remember last year's Spring/Summer collection...
Probably the most beautiful clothes not designed by Karl Lagerfeld to ever grace the planet.


Finally, thank you for all the lovely comments on yesterday's post! You guys are the best. You make my constantly dwindling self-confidence shoot right back up to normal levels, and for that I thank you. I will finish off with another little DIY project that I did:Sorry it's blurred, but that is a name necklace! The beads were 20p each from the craft shop near work. I would have done my full name, but I only had a couple of pounds, and I have to be sensible and make my money last until pay day. The comforting thought is that this necklace at least goes half way towards making me worry less about waking up with amnesia and not being able to remember my name.

Not Made(very)Well

Because I am a rebel, a 21st century anarchist, a complete non-conformist, I have decided to do an outfit post! What a novel idea of mine.

I love outfit posts because I love seeing what other people wear. I love the seemingly neverending combination of ways that people can put their clothes together. It's quite inspiring. I have never done one myself, though, because I spend almost my entire life either wrapped up in three layers of jeans, shirts and hoodies (to stay warm) or in a black skirt and white top (for work). But today I actually went out into the real world (to go shopping with my mum and aunty), so I had to wear clothes suitable for public viewing.Black DMs, vintage leather bag, tweed coat from Salvation Army, black scarf from my dad and black velvet dress.

The dress is a bit of a DIY job. Because I neither have access to, nor can afford, anything from the Alexa Chung for Madewell collection, I decided to craft something of my own.I want, please.

I started with this dress, from Argos Additions (far cheaper than Madewell!)I then cut the collar off an old blouse that I bought from ebay years ago and have never worn because it didn't fit. I have a habit of never returning things, thinking that I'll use them eventually...luckily, in this case, I was right.I safety-pinned the collar to the dress, et voila! An averagely made rip-off dress. Plus, this way, if I one day decide that I don't want to look like I'm heading to Sunday School, I can simply unclip the collar. Versatile is my middle name.

Danger Days

I love My Chemical Romance. I am not ashamed by this fact. I. Love. Them. LOVE THEM. I have done since I was 13. Frank Iero was and still is my ultimate poster boy. I adore this band, I adore everything that they have ever said, done, worn, recorded, filmed, created or been any small part of. They make you feel like you are a part of something, something bigger than everything around you. Helena is one of my absolute favourite songs of all time. The last time I saw them, I was right at the front, and Gerard and Mikey Way both stood square in front of me, and Gerard knelt down and started singing that song...seriously, that will go down as one of the Great Moments in my life. I used to keep a scrapbook of all their magazine articles and pictures and stuff...but we've all, at some point, been obsessed with stuff, right?

But enough gushing (I fear I may have lost a large portion of my followers after that). What I'm so excited about is that...drum roll please...THEY'RE BACK.



They've kind of swung back to their original sound, which I loved and still love now. That raw, 'I wrote this in my basement' sound. Plus, Frank is thin again. Wins all around.

I've waited three years for this. I'm not disappointed.

P.S. Don't abandon me, blog world! I am actually slightly above the average level of cool!

Ralph Lauren S/S 2011

I've not really paid attention to New York fashion week this year - mainly because I've been working all week and by the time I get home I'm too knackered to look at beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes and generally being beautiful. Plus, it really feels like winter has suddenly smashed into England (er, excuse me? What happened to autumn? Are we not having that season any more?), so looking at light, floaty, summery clothes makes me incredibly depressed.

But then I saw this:

Ralph, babes, how do you do it?! How can you make my mind whizz forward through six months of freezing and shivering and hating my life, so that I am imagining myself in the early summer sunshine, wearing a white lace dress? You, sir, are good.

Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2011 - the collection that made me realise that all the best things are worth waiting for.

P.S. Is anyone else super excited for the Burberry Prorsum live streaming on Tuesday?? Christopher Bailey is fully my favourite.