My fabulous lifestyle

Well, you know, this blog isn’t all about A and I wishing we had stuff we can’t afford and photos of us in pumpkins. It’s also about our amazingly stylish and trendy lifestyles that you only wish you could emulate.

So, here are my tips for living up to my fabulousness:

• Get sacked. Seriously, it’s the new having a job.
• Spend three hours of your day in the jobcentre because, in the words of the kindly manager at Wandsworth “Jobcentre Plus”, where you went wrong was not giving your form to Susan. You know Susan! She’s the one you give your form to. Sorry, you’ve now been deleted from our system.
• Get toothache, go home and have a sad.
• Remember you now have a cat living with you and feel weird that it can see you sitting on the sofa with no trousers on.

The only good thing about today is that Igot to carry my new Marimekko bag around with me. Had you forgotten this is a fashion blog? Here it is in all its mustardy glory. Luckily, despite having no job, I have a lovely Finnish grandma who gives me Euroz and I spent them all in the Marimekko shop (not pictured: new additions to my napkin collection) (oh my god, I really do have one).

I think a whole other post should be dedicated to my learning to buy and apply makeup as I am not really that skilled at it. Magazines have never addressed how to make up a face whose most important feature is the cheeks.

S

TV on the Radio

A and I went to Brixton last night to see TV on the Radio, who I’ll happily admit I hadn’t heard anything by before but who were wicked. While we were waiting to be strip-searched and have all our possessions thrown away by security, we took some hurried photos of our outfits. I got the good wall but A has a better face on.

Speaking of faces – the evil pollen is back. I thought it was over for the summer? When can we start wearing corduroy again?

Rocking the black and navy workwear. This is my Dilophosaurus jacket – by rustling the frill I strike fear into the heart of those who would steal frozen dinosaur embryos. High-speed bag closeup:

I’ve finally escaped the tyranny of massive bags with my lovely little apple-print canvas Marimekko bag. I’m going to Finland in two weeks and will hopefully score a new bag from there. I have so many of them, I should do a post on them all.

A looked brilliant in real life too. Her eye-makeup matched her dress you know.

S

Owl

What the… a three and a half thousand pound crystal owl-shaped handbag? WIN.

There nothing more life-affirmingly quirky on earth than a bag that performs almost none of the functions of a bag and is shaped like some seemingly random noun.

The bag has sold out on Net a Porter, so I’m afraid, dear readers, you cannot buy it. Should have been quicker off the mark I suppose.

S

Cycling bag

I’ve had these cool Eley Kishimoto for Eastpak bags on my mind for a while now. I like their functionality – “oh, I’m just off for a cycle ride, as I often am” – combined with the awesome lightning strike print. Now that I am likely to be doing actual activities, like cycling on the new bike I’ll hopefully soon have, I feel like I can justify the purchase of this rucksack, now gratifyingly on sale at Hanon.

S

Sparks

Where are this lovely Balmain-esque silver jacket and tropical feather-embellished bag from? You literally cannot guess.

If you frown at the idea of buying clothes and accessories from Marks & Spencers, I hope this little collection, piked from DisneyRollerGirl’s roundup of her recent press day adventures, will change your mind. It’s sometimes awkward posting M&S things on a fashion blog because people tend to think: knickers, sandwiches, suits.

There is a lot to like with the M&S Limited Collection. The quality is high and it’s cheaper than a lot of other high-street shops, including Topshop a lot of the time, because it’s the definition of mass-market, catering for everyone old enough to have a full-time job. Crucially, it does an actual variety of sizes and doesn’t relegate 14+ women to another part of the shop as if being the average size for a British woman (16) is a terrible aesthetic crime.

I don’t know why I’m so feverishly loyal to M&S but it’s probably in part because they do decent underwear for mutants like me who can’t wear those dainty little triangle affairs and have no need for padding. Also, that crayfish and rice salad thing is delicious.

S

p.s. We are sadly missing beloved blog buddy A for the next few days as she is jetting off on one of her regular holidays abroad. She does the Disco, I do the Nap.

Travelling Light

I am not very good at travelling light. Even on a day-to-day basis, my handbag gets heavier with each second that I think about what else I might need that day.

This ‘need’, or whatever you might call it, was a particular issue for me this weekend as I went to Cologne for a couple of days for a ‘mini break’. And instead of being mini, it was a full-on lovely break. Cologne itself has a small ‘old town’ tourist centre where we got trapped on the first day but by the second, I was following my stylish friend R’s instructions and reached the fun ‘Belgian Quarter’.

Anyway, back to the all important issue of luggage. I can never get it quite right. It took me an hour to pack for a 3 day trip – this is a little bit silly. But then again, I was going from Europe to Europe and you can never be sure if you’ll need boots or sandals at this time of year. Thankfully, I erred on the side of sandals and this paid off in the 20 degree sushine.

But seriously, how do people pack well? I was bored of my chosen outfits by day 3, had stained my white ‘fail safe’ vest and my Topshop pumps were making my feet ache. And all because I had tried to pack lightly this time. Next time I think I’ll revert to my natural default ”more is more’ option.

A

House of Fraser

I generally do not go in House of Fraser unless it is to seek out the Benefit counter, partly due to a brief but traumatic experience working there. I was vaguely aware it sold brands and I think I went into the one on Oxford Street looking for Elle McPherson lingerie a while ago but in the main I give very little thought to HoF.

But with some time on my hands yesterday before meeting friends I went and had a look around the one at Bank and Monument and it turned out to be awesome! It must be new because it is small but perfectly formed, with a sort of art deco vibe. I scooted round the beauty hall and will have to come back for some supplies that ran out while I was jobless, but the best bit was a really excellent clothes department, which basically comprised the obvious Coast and Oasis sections as well as designer bags from Chloe, Marc Jacobs, Anya Hindmarch and Mulberry, and then a D&G, See by Chloe, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Day Birger and Mikkelson section. Joy! Just my level, especially if they have a sale… Shoes came courtesy of Kurt Geiger and French Connection.

I now have a little shopping list of things that I shall enjoy buying in this mini-HoF, which was the perfect amount of busy, i.e. just enough people to distract the perfume ladies but not heaving.

• Benefit Coralista blusher
• Lancome Adaptive foundation
• Black bow sandals from KG
• Yellow ultra-padded wooden heels from French Connection (I need a manicure before I can enjoy wearing either of these new sets of shoes)
• And this perfect white summer dress from Day Birger, which fulfils all my frolicking in the pastures dreams. When you see it in real life, it is that perfect white cotton dress.

S

p.s. I have not been able to find a picture of the bow sandals so this is my MS Paint interpretation for you.

 

Assistance please

Do I want this bag? It is the Ymail bag I have been lusting after for infinity and it is in the sale at mytheresa.com at what is quite a reasonable price for a practically-sized YSL leather bag. But guys, it’s not the black with gold lettering…it’s the gold with black lettering. I just don’t know if I feel the same way…help. I just got some unexpected money and if it was the gold I would probably buy it as I have had too many near-misses with her, my dear Ymail.

I think I’ve answered my question during this post, and decided that gold bags just aren’t me anymore. That money should stay in the account until some hideously expensive purchase I am certain about pops up. Keep thinking: APC trench; Ferragamo flats; Miu Miu bag that isn’t gold. Okay, I am calm. I will post this ramble so you can see what happens to my brain when it comes to Ymail. I know it’s wrong but I just can’t walk away.

S

My 2009 bag lust

I have decided which bags I am going to fruitlessly desire all of this year and I’m going very simple after last year’s Ymail “address” bags, for which my heart still whimpers once in a while.

Instead, I am looking at bags which, on the deeply theoretical day when I buy them, I could then use every single day of the following three to fifteen years so it would receive as much love as it really deserves. A beautifully designed and executed leather bag that doesn’t stand and say “hullo! I am expensive.”

I’ve had my eye on various versions of this Marc by Marc Jacobs bag for almost a year and I love this new paler blue colour. I was planning to buy the dark blue when it went on sale but when I got to the shop (I was planning to buy it at Heathrow duty-free) it was sold out. Sad face. The Miu Miu bags are the perfect non-brown designs and look solid enough to deal with being my bag. I would probably buy the blue but I also love the pistachio, even though I hate pistachios.

S

Miu Miu bowling bags £680.

Marc by Marc Jacobs shoulder bag £328.

Wistful listful

Now that I have a job I can once again start my favourite hobby of daydreaming about stuff I want to buy. Ranging from the expensive dreambuy, through to the little treats, this is my list.

£££

• Ferragamo Varina flat pumps (£225!)
• A brown leather Miu Miu bag. Even if I could afford this ever, they don’t seem to have any pleasing dark brown leather ones at the moment.
• New GHDs.

££

• Lancome Adaptive foundation.
• Clinique facewash.
• Shu Uemura eyelash curlers.
• A haircut that will make me look exactly like last season’s Balmain catwalk models.

£

• Organic semi-skimmed milk. The drink of the gods.