Hats off to ya!

I really want this hat. It's awesome, it's reasonably priced and I've seen plenty of bloggers, people, women on the street even, look great in tiles of its type. But it's here that I have to confess my complicated relationship with hats. See, I've bought them, I've lined them up on shelves, hung them off bedposts (literally, not like a promiscuous cowboy) but I never wear them out of the flat. 

I think my issue comes down to confidence. To step out of the house in a hat that isn't purely functional, and let's be honest, a fedora serves no function except making you look awesome -- says something about you. It says: 'I'm choosing style, completely, over substance.' And that, my friends, is my problem... this behaviour has been known to make me irrationally angry. 

***

There's a girl who often gets on my morning train who has worn what I like to refer to as the nonchalant beanie, in the way only someone who roams east London can, for the entire summer. And I don't mean the last two months of summer which weren't, in fact, summer, but an evil ploy by the high street to make me buy a load of shit in July I never got to wear. She wore it in the heady days of April, when we all thought our barbeques were going to get a hammering until November. Every time I see her it makes me angry. "Who are you fooling lady? You're clearly sweltering under there. Suffering doesn't make you cool! It makes you sweaty!" 

And that's the crux of it -- I'm just never truly comfortable in a hat. Once you get indoors, you look foolish with it on. And then you take it off, and if you're me, your hair looks flat. And I always ending up checking in windows whether it's pulled down enough, and is enough hair is visible so I don't look bald, and can I see and OH GOD IT'S GOING TO BLOW OFF IN THE WIND!

***

Hats are frivolous in a way that, much as I want to, I can't get on board with. And they're right there on your head. Jewelry is fine - it's dotted about your person, not on top of your face. The hat is a statement. A statement I don't think I'm ready to make. 

Hats are supposed to look cool, and you can't look cool when all you're thinking is: "There's a hat on my head!"So, I will probably not buy this hat, but if you have the swagger to, go forth, look awesome and I will feel a pang of jealousy every time you walk past me in London Fields. 

Incidentally, here are my three hat don'ts...

The tiny little beanie placed at the crown.

The tiny bowler placed at the crown.

Any other type of tiny hat placed at the crown.

UPDATE! 

I bought the hat. Granted in the sale. So far I've had the comments: "You look like a Kardashian." (AWESOME) and "You look like a detective." I'll take that.

Zoiks

I'm aghast.
When did Frances Bean Cobain 1 - get so skinny 2 - get all that artwork 3 - potentially get work done on her face?
All pics shamelessly stolen from www.hedislimane.com
Go there now for much more mindblowage.

Terry's gold

Despite the controversy surrounding Terry Richardson, and I personally think there's too much evidence to suggest he isn't a dick for it to all be a big misunderstanding, he has a knack when it comes to capturing celebrity. And let's be honest, that's what he does. This isn't art, but these images of Liza are the perfect example of when he's good, he's great. Source: Terry's Diary

Roll with it

Moxi Lolly Roller Skates , UrbanOutfitters.com

How undeniably amazing are these skates? I say undeniably because 1 - I always think the people skating or blading through the parks of London are douches, 2 - I can't skate and 3 - they're three hundred flippin' dollars.. yet I still think they're all kinds of awesome.
I spotted these babies on xojane.com and had to share them, not only because they are supercool, but because xojane.com is the greatest website I've ever read and want everyone else to get on board too. I'm sure the works of Sassy and Jane mag will be totally familiar to most bloggers thanks to a huge Jane Pratt love-in across the internet, but as neither publication ever hit UK shores, the launch of xojane.com was pretty low-key over here until Courtenay Cox jumped on board and the Daily Mail splashed with her beauty recommendations. Anyway - check it out. If you're a regular reader of this blog I'm sure you'll appreciate it.
You know what else is supercool? My eBay sale! Click here.

Shoot me now

Clockwise from top left
Ash JALOUSE
Topshop PSYCHIC
ASOS ANGELES
ASOS AGGIE

I'm not sure that pun on the dreadful shoe-boot amalgam 'shoot' will have worked for anyone except me - whatevs. Sometimes I find myself funnier than any comic, and I should seek help for it. Anyway, the issue at hand is helping me choose some bloody footwear, much of which I've been coveting for a while and some of which I can't afford. (Seriously Topshop - £120 for shoe boots, what the fuck?!)
Anyway - leave comments a-plenty telling me what the heck to buy with my ebay money... speaking of which... CLICK HERE FOR BARGAINS
(You see what I did there?)

Bag a bargain

I'm having an eBay clearout, so if you're a size 12, 14 or 16 make sure to swing by and grab a bargain. Seriously, most of this stuff is worn once and cost a bomb from Topshop, and the prices are low, low, low, low... you get the idea.

!!click here click here click here click here!!

Croatia countdown continues...

I'm hoping my hair will magically turn this amazing shade of ombre caramel on holiday... Best get the lemon wedges out.

1//2//3//4//5//6//7//10//11 H&M
8//Miss Selfridge
9//12//Topshop

This time in two weeks I'll be enjoying near-30-degree heat in Rovinj, Croatia. I've wanted to go for years, so it's safe to say this is a highly anticipated (and much-needed) break.
For once in my life I've attempted a space-saving capsule wardrobe - the week will be spent on the beach, visiting Venice by ferry and sightseeing; comfort is paramount.
The polish is Topshop's limited edition Moonshine rose gold. It looked ace at a wedding I went to last week, where I completely forgot to take any pictures, so an outfit post will come in the form of spreading clothes on my bed at some point.
In other news, how well is H&M doing at the moment? I can't stop spending in there. I won't go into their ridiculous delivery policy of courier only, and no option to choose an address other than your billing address. That will completely put me off shopping online with them in the future, but the online selection has exploded since its pitiful launch last year. Ah, seems I did go into it.

Spring into action

We really can't start talking about Spring fashion until we've watched this perennial fashion advice now can we? If you're planning a capsule wardrobe, look no further.

All that glitters aint gold

I'm a sucker for bargain jewellry - ask my boyfriend, who has to put up with rings, bangles and necklaces strewn all over our shoe-box flat. So when I was invited to Gogo Phillip's new Westfield concession I couldn't resist checking out the offerings. Having been a fan of this brand for a while, a chat with Gogo himself cemented my enthusiasm. "I want to recreate that feeling of finding a great piece of vintage - but make it affordable," he said. And his designs have definitely captured that. You'll be hard pushed to find a piece for more than 12 quid, and some of this jewelry is incredibly intricate.
The man has a real passion for bling, having inherited the family trade from his father, who owns a factory back in Italy, where all the Gogo Phillip wares are handmade. This is a brand with a lot of love behind it -- it's not often you find that at high street prices.
Gogo -- ever the charmer -- took the opportunity to create a one-off for Miss Ashanti there, who I met for the first time at the event. I also had the chance to catch up with lovelies Jazmine, Amy and Ellie... and pick a couple of Gogo Phillip treasures for myself - the beautiful floral perfume bottle necklace and turquoise effect ring, which I haven't taken off since.

The sequinner takes it all

This baby isn't appropriate for a wedding is it? You're sure? Oh ok then... must find another excuse to buy it.
Also, I apologise for my increasingly terrible puns.

You won't show me lifts, I'm not sure of turns, and I'm doing all this to save your ass...

... when what I really wanna do is drop you on it.
The Alexa for Superga images are great... until you get to the shoes. The problem is, I struggle to see Alexa as purely a model - her personal style is so iconic and her celebrity so great that her shoots become more like endorsements, rather than mere modelling assignments. Whether she too sees this project this way I don't know, but the styling just doesn't ring true. I don't believe Alexa would pair any of these outfits whoth those trainers in real life, so the campaign seems like a bit of a sell out.
That said, this particular looks works for me because it reminds me of Dirty Dancing, and sometimes that's all it takes.

Satchel and the city

This is the nicest version of the ubiquitous Cambridge Satchel Company offering I've seen, after the hot pink one. It's in the 14 inch size, and exclusive to ASOS. Nice work AGAIN Asos.

Salon selective

 

I'm slightly obsessed with the ASOS Salon collection, especially since a few of these babies were restocked in my size. With the aforementioned up-coming wedding, I'm hunting early for something pretty and affordable. Any of these would work for such an occasion (although option one might be a little brave!)
In other news, I recently bagged the beauty below for a friend's birthday at the excellent Proud Cabaret. We had a groupon voucher, which made the three-course dinner, entry and entertainment a snip at £20 each.

All I'll say is, I ended the evening like this...

Lucky Louis

In another excellent runway-to-high-street move, ASOS has produced this beauty as an 'homage' to Louis Vuitton. This is either an excellent pick for a Spring wedding I have lined up, or a terribly cliched choice, and one that I've based entirely on my new-found and predictable love of Mad Men. Discuss. Should one dare to be different at a wedding? I tried that last year with a Kate Moss maxi, and I'm not sure how well it worked. It's a thinker...

Arty farty

Anyone else find this ASOS ring a bit, ahem, derivative? Nice work team.

Hell for leather

Girls, this baby is half price today in the Toppers Flash Sale. It's sold out in both my sizes, so someone else has to buy it instead. I know, I know, it's the wrong time to be buying leather. But our summers last mere days anyway and this is an investment!
PS - can someone tell me whether they can see my links? I can't work out how to make them visible!

On Rockie ground

 This week's excellent weather (lessons outside anyone?) gave me my first opportunity to crack out my Topshop Rockies. I am in love with these. If they don't need reheeling at least twice this summer I'll eat my sun hat. (PS - my nail polish was NOT chipped in these pics - heaven forfend - it's the light.)
Hope everyone's enjoying Spring - I'm off for my first Starbucks Mango and Passionfruit frap of 2011.

Elizabeth Taylor brows out

My obsession with eyebrows has graced these pages before, so I was sad to learn the owner of the best in the business - Dame Elizabeth Taylor - is off to that big beauty parlour in the sky. This image from the archives of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof shows Liz at her very sultry best. What a fox.

Tie die for

The layout above is a bit of  mess due to four hours of failed experimentation on Picnik, but these are some snaps from my lovely Saturday in the sun. It was an incredibly typical Saturday for us, up, breakfast out and a trip to Broadway market, where all this vintage loveliness was captured, before a wander along the canal to Dalston. Sadly, somewhere along the way, my phone was pickpocketed. But I refused to let that spoil the fun.
The market has a great vintage clothes stall, where those ace tie-die tshirts, excellent printed midis and ridiculous silk harems were captured. Sadly they were too small for me, but I saw a stylist snap them up along with a whole armful of other goodies just moments later.
I was so close to buying about three of the tshirts, but although they were made with vintage, they were mostly of the heavy fruit of the loom variety, rather than the well-worn paper-thin vintage t variety, so I didn't feel they'd hang very well. Will definitely keep my eye out for more in the future - they were a snip at £8.
My outfit photographed terribly, thanks to Jon's apathetic 'one-shot' approach - literally, he would take only one photo - but I was pretty chuffed with it for what felt like the first day of spring.
Scarf - iOffer// Skirt - Old Topshop// Shirt - Topshop// Brogues - Topshop// Bag - Lush

Not for WAGs

Last night I skipped along to my first blogger event -- a wee gathering for EMU, at their pop-up shop on Lamb's Conduit Street. I learned a lot, like EMU don't just make boots. They also offer apparel, the quality of which kind of blew my socks off. Butter-soft leather and machine-washable Merino joins their sheepskin staples. Check out that grey jacket above - it was perfect. But it was the history and integrity of their brand that I enjoyed more than anything.
Their ugg boots (and that's a style people, not a brand) are offered in beautiful earthy hues -- no gaudy pink or diamantes here. Their apparel also offers covetably soft and well-made loungewear -- anyone who's seen my pyjama cupboard knows I like to be comfy.
Their sheepskin boots are also water resistant (proved with an incredible waste of champage by the lovely Frankie of Cube PR) and have a fibreglass heel plate to stop that terrible ugg slouch that happens with cheap models.
For a while I've wanted a pair of sheepskin boots for the hungover days when I just need comfort, but shelling out up to £200 on what is essentially loungewear seemed a little indulgent on my budget. But after trying on a beautiful pair last night I am now well and truly converted to EMUs. (Unfortunately the crazy cute animal-themed kids pairs are, in fact, only for kids and not my size sevens. Damn.)

I also had the opportunity to finally meet my twitter pal, the lovely Jazmine from Jazzabelle's Diary, and  chatted to awseome IsabelleOC. Another highlight was meeting Alex Loves' Chanel bag!
Thanks to all at EMU and Cube PR for having me.

True blue

This is what I wore for a recent night out in Swansea for a friend's birthday. This is about as dressed up as I get, nowadays, unless I'm going to, say, a wedding, so I was completely astounded to realise that, trotting down Wind Street, I was literally the only woman in sight wearing trousers (and I do not use the word literally lightly). I spent the rest of the evening trying to spot a kindred spirit - surley all Welsh women can't get their pins out every Saturday on the streets of Swansea? But it appears yes, yes they do.

Shoes - Primark// Jeans - Topshop Jamie Blue/Black// Top - Topshop Tall// Bag - borrowed// necklace - Primark//

Cod almighty

My dear friend Lucie bestowed upon me two perfect dainty presents last night, in celebration of my recent birthday.
The first pays homage to my famous (and much maligned by Lucie) love of owls. How awesome is this little bracelet?

The second is an absolute staple, and something I've been after forever - a necklace to wear every day. This teeny locket has a T engraved on it, and shall never leave my neck from hereonin.

Both are from Urban Outfitters - bracelet here and necklace here.
Thanks Luce! In return I made her Jamie's Tasty Crusted Cod. It was bloody lovely, and I can say that because I'm complimenting Jamie, and not myself.

Rust haves

By hook or by crook I will get outfit posts up, so forgive me for these piss-poor iPhone-in-the-work-toilet snaps. This sweater is incredibly soft, and has lovely white flecks in the fabric, shown better in the detail shot. And yes - I have bought even more H&M cheapo bracelets.
Top and suedette bracelets - H&M// Trousers - Topshop// Brogues - Topshop// Badly-painted nails - Topshop 'At World's End'