Capes

Ever since I saw this red cape featured in the 'Red Riding Hood' ghd ad campaign I've been looking all over for a similar cape. I've previously purchased sweater-type capes, but have been looking for something more substantial to keep out the winter chills.

And so to ebay I went, and was lucky that my search revealed this gem from Tin Roof Vintage. After a not-so-furious bidding war, I am now the proud owner of this little beauty, and actually looking forward to venturing out in the cold. Now all I need is some leather over-the knee boots, but i think I'll pass on the axe.

Photos from Tin Roof Vintage

Sheer lace print top

Whilst its obviously fun to go shopping and pick out outfits for yourself, it can often be even more exciting to receive unexpected fashion gifts. not only are these items free (yipee!) but they may have been things that we did not notice in the shops ourselves, or something we would not have necessarily chosen / could afford / bothered to try on.

And so then, a big thank you to my beloved for the top which he gave me. I've been drawn to all the sheer items that are around at the moment (yes, even in this cold weather) and so was delighted to receive this sort of floral/lace print top from Urban Outfitters. Desperate to wear it today, I had to team it with some pretty heavy duty additions to keep out the cold. These consisted of a very thick and long (I had to roll it over 4 times) ribbed, knitted snood/scarf from Reiss that i received as a Christmas gift  two years ago, and a thick leather biker jacket, also coincidentally from Reiss fall '08 collection.

Much as I love the Winter, especially the Fall/Winter collections, footwear is a bit of an issue in the chilly weather. I was initially wearing these McQueen platform peep toes (bought in a sale last year at a ridiculously reduced price), until I ventured outside for about half a minute, ran back inside and had to put on some 'sensible' shoes.

P.S Being my first 'outfit' post, I never realized how difficult it is to actually capture pictures of oneself. After much propping up the camera on piles of magazines and shoe boxes, and then running back in place before the timer went off, these were the best I could do!

On My Feet Today #8

Well, actually worn out this evening, as I spent most of the day chilling at home. Zara shoe-booties purchased over the Summer. They are very comfortable despite the very high heel, but a bit chilly on the toes at this time of year.

Remnants of Christmas

I love Christmas (as if i haven't already said that before) and I always get a bit sulky post New-Year's when the tree has to come down and all the decorations get put away. All the stores lovely Christmas windows also seem to disappear straight after Christmas, and are replaced by ugly, boring red 'SALES- 50% OFF!!!!!' signs filling up the store fronts.

With this in mind, I was delighted when shopping in Denver on the first few days of January to see the beautiful Christmas windows of jeweler Tiffany & Co. still there, and still clinging on for dear life to the last few days of the festive season. The windows were a multi-layered paper-crafted delight, and you had to get up close to see all the detail. All the diamonds and other expensive finery were draped over the paper models and scenery, although a special mention has to go out to the sleigh-driving elf, who is really working the whole ring-as-a hat look.

Trompe L'oeil

Having never previously been a fan of Reiss before, I was surprised when last Summer I was in their Islington store, killing time before a haircut, and found a bunch of stuff that I was drawn to. Half an hour later (was nearly late to the hair salon- oops!) and several trips in and out of the dressing room, I came away with quite a few items (and a much smaller bank balance), one of which was this top. It looks great with a pair of skinny jeans, and leather jacket, and I would post an outfit photo but I ate too much while I was feeling ill and sorry for myself, and the skinny jeans are just waaaaaaaaay too skinny.

Anyway, back on point.. This top, with its faux chain necklace (see detail above), got me into the whole trompe l'oeil thing, and I've since collected a couple of other tops with trompe l'oeil necklace decoration prints, and am always looking for more. Imagine my delight then, when Susie on Style Bubble posted about the (then) upcoming trompe l'oeil range for Oasis by designer Rosalind Keep. It has now been available online for several weeks, and my post-crimbo finances have just about recovered enough to allow me to splash out on the dress (in black) and trench coat T shirt below. Now all I have to do is contain my excitement until they arrive, and then wait for the weather to warm up so they can get an outing. Happy New Year to me!

You can never have too many, shoes, bags...or gloves...

.....especially if you are talking about these gorgeous leather gloves from Cordwainers graduate Gemma Johnson. Whilst browsing the web, I chanced upon her site and I fell in love with the pleated fabric around the cuff of the glove, going down into a 'V' shape point on the top of the hand. Check out her website also for leather molded bags in a variety of angular/geometric shapes by the way - the perfect accessory to accompany these gloves.

It must be the chilly weather, but i've found myself purchasing several pairs of gloves already this season (see below), so I think i'll have to put any more glove purchases on hold for now. Unless I happen to find any bargains in the sales of course!

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

As I'm typing this, I'm looking outside at the big, fluffy snowflakes falling from the sky and I was wondering how long it will last until, it warms up slightly and we find ourselves in a downpour of rain again. I'm terrible with umbrellas, in terms of actually retaining them, and not leaving them in various shops around town, or worse still, getting them blown inside out, so I found myself looking online for something a bit more unusual than the tiny fold-up black umbrellas that I have relied upon for many years.

I stumbled upon an online Umbrella shop by Japanese textile design Yoshida Iida, who makes beautiful handmade umbrellas for props, styling and also his own exhibitions. All umbrellas are made in his own atelier, from handmade printed textiles. Unfortunately, it seems they are rather difficult to actually obtain, although, he does sell individual umbrellas at his bi-annual exhibitions.

Being so beautiful, I'm not sure I'd actually want to get it wet, but it would be a great parasol.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.....

....or more specifically some of Maison Martin Margiela's home decor pieces from their 'white objects' range. The first interiors collection by the label features minimalistic lamps, plain Russian dolls, cotton calendars, and feather pens to name but a few. All in , yep! you guessed it, white.

Here's some more of the pieces from the collection:

Russian Dolls

cotton calendar

The label recently hit the news earlier this month, when it was announced that the somewhat reclusive designer Martin Margiela is leaving the fashion house, and will not be replaced. The label will continue (yay!) with the same creative team, so we can expect yet more quirky-cool clothes , and hopefully more interiors.

(sorry for the interiors heavy posts over the last couple of days, by the way - I just found out I'm moving in the new year, so seem to be creating my 'fantasy' shopping list for the new pad. Now all I need is a big bank balance to bring it all together)

Anyway, back to my point. The MMM label has always been famous for having unusual elements to its catwalk shows, be it sending models with their faces covered down the runway, or their 'hoof' like shoes.- remember them? Here's hoping that this will continue despite mr Margiela's absence.

P.S. Looking on the website, and found this photo of hoof shoe-prints leading to one of their stores. Love it!

P.P.S Also love, love, LOVE this cuff by the label's jewelry line, which is essentially an enlarged cygnet ring.

Billboard bracelet vs. Patricia Field bracelet

Fashion inspiration can come from the most unusual of sources. Take this Billboard for example, which I took a photo of during my recent NY trip whilst taking a taxi ride from JFK to the hotel. The advertisement which is for Grand Marnier, features a lady (with gorgeous shoes) reclining in a chair and offering her cocktail glass up to be refilled. What drew my eye however was the chunky gold chain bracelet engulfing her small ladylike wrist. Consequently, over the next few days (and still continuing now..) I found myself searching Manhattan and the internet for a similar bracelet.

Sadly, during my stay in NY I didn't get to find a bracelet like this one, but did however find a totally different (but equally pleasing) one in the Patricia Field store.

 The search continues.......

Scissor Scarf, Winona Dress, and Alien Monkeys with lobster hands

With the Chilly Winter weather in full effect, I find myself building upon my (ever-expanding)collection of scarves. Looking at the Snoozer Loser website I was instantly drawn to the Scissor print scarf. The scarf comes in a variety of colours, but I found myself drawn to the grey/black and grey/yellow versions.

Other lovely pieces on the site included the 'Winona dress' - a linen dress with brass pyramid studs, and the Veruca Pepper twill hooded coat. (see photos below). I loved the styling on the website, and the prices are pretty wallet-friendly. All items are made in the USA, and the label also has some great arts projects.

Best bit of their website has to be, without fail, their 'Saudade Saudade' promotional video for their 2009 fall/winter line. Directed by Johnny Woods, the captivating short film is described as ; " The tale of a girl who escapes the urban jungle only to find herself amongst magical friends in an alternative universe", and is every bit as weird, wonderful, and magical as it sounds.

The abridged version (for those of you that can't spare a whole 12 minutes to watch the full version) consists of a girl and two alien monkey creatures with lobster claw hands. Throughout the film, they engage in various activities, including; playing in the park, attempting to BBQ a rubber baby alligator, playing basketball, having a tea party with a strange looking man with a ponytail beard, and paper crafting. They then conclude the film by walking off hand in hand, into the sunset. Its certainly worth a look, and i've pasted the video clip below. In the event that i've had a technological malfunction, you can also see the video on their website. Hope you enjoy!

Snoozer Loser Fall/Winter 09 (excerpt) from Mathematical Park on Vimeo.

Not your usual Christmas jumper

Hurry to Whistles now to grab one of their Christmas sweaters, and help out the charity Shelter at the same time. For every one of these fabulous sweaters that is sold,  25% of the purchase price will be donated to the charity, so there is even more reason to get involved in these festive fashion statements.

The dog on the above sweater is actually the pet of one of the Whistles' staff members apparently, and I have to say, that out of the set, this has to be my favorite. The other sweaters include one by stylist Fran Burns which features a Reindeer illustration (see below, top picture) and a snowflake print sweater which is the work of Christopher Simmonds, art director of creative agency Partner & Partner (see below, bottom picture).

Get them while you can, as they have been online for a while, and are selling out fast. Must be the fact that Christmas is around the corner - yippee!

Pictures from Whistles

Wild Thing Necklace

Whilst rummaging around a junk shop a few weeks ago, I found this rather tacky, yet quite cool leopard pendant. At only $5 (which is only about 3 GBP) I instantly decided to get it.

Whilst we're on the subject of leopard jewelry I'd like to point out how much I'm loving the Panthere de Cartier ring, below. It is often seen adorning the glamorous, super stylish fingers of Rachel Zoe, and sadly due to its $14,000 or so price tag, I don't think it will be coming anywhere near my hands anytime soon.

As if the ring itself wasn't already bling-tastic enough, it also comes comes covered in diamonds, for that extra-luxe touch.

Slightly more budget-friendly however, yet equally worthy of admiration, is this different leopard ring from Kenneth Jay Lane, available from net-a-porter. There are also cheaper versions available at ASOS, and other high street stores, so I think i'll be heading there to get my big cat jewelry obsession in check.

Here's one I made earlier (very badly)

Another favourite shop which I discovered during my recent time spent in New York is M&J Trimmings which has every kind of ribbon, tassle, bead, applique, stud, buckle, lace, sequin....(the list goes on), that you can imagine. Sadly, whilst I was there I was so overwhelmed with the sheer vastness of the collections there (and I had to hurry back to the hotel to go and get ready for a swanky dinner) that I only made a couple of purchases, one of which was the black applique above. I shall be attaching it to the neckline of a boring plain tunic dress that I own, but for the interim, I found a gold chain lying around, sewed it on, and bingo! I now have a big, bold necklace.