Brooke Roberts

We have a lot of love for Brooke Roberts at DiscoNap and A has been sporting her sparkly spangly leggings for some time – my fellow Disconapper is at Bestival this weekend so gushing duties fall to me.

I love these necklaces from Brooke’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection, which are apparently inspired by brain scans – they also make me think of the cross-sections of plants and beetles. When I first looked at it I thought it was lots of weird people dancing. I do like jewellery that provides you with fun as well as beauty.

I particularly love big bold necklaces because they make my inability to wear anything except t-shirts and jeggings at the moment look like I’m doing it on purpose and not just mega lazy.

I am extremely loyal to rings and tend to wear one for years before suddenly taking it off and never touching it again. Between the ages of 15 and 22 it was a cool snake ring and after that a twisting flower on a vine. Both of these were great for fiddling with during long physics lessons/trips to the jobcentre etc. At the moment I have no ring, so maybe this spinning ring will be my next long-term digital relationship.

You can turn it and it makes new shapes. Excellent.

S

Asos outlet

How did I not hear about this? I’m not a dedicated Asos shopper but recently I have been hearing more and more about it and I eventually cottoned on the fact that it is BRILLIANT – the whole concept of slavishly copying celebrity fashion appeals to the stylistically lazy part of me that just wants to be able to copy a beautiful person’s look and therefore somehow paste some of their beauty onto myself.

It has also been made clear to me that they have a designer section, but I didn’t know they had an outlet – essentially a sale section, where 70% knockdowns on their designers, for example Twenty8Twelve, Splendid, April 77 etc, can be found.

On a tangent, I was snooping around this new Outlet when I accidentally tripped and fell into the jewellery section and was overjoyed to discover they have the necklace I have been thinking about for weeks after an “I saw you” moment – it was around the neck of a mannequin in Oasis of all places. I have ordered it, despite serious lack of funds, because when you have been thinking about something for weeks and then it suddenly comes back into your life and only costs £16, this is an OMEN.

S

Signposts

• Susie Bubble went to the Topshop press day and supplies oodles of photos of what to expect. It straddles that line between ” disgusting” and “wearable”. Some of my favourites are the cage skirt, satin bras and studded denim shorts.
• Apparently lowkey Paris label Isabel Marant is going down the luddite route and insisting people travel to actual shops to buy their wears. It’s stocked at Liberty if you are a fan but I often wish labels could run their own web shops where you could buy every single item from the collections and weren’t at the whims of the buyers. I know it’s not possible but it would be handy.
• Sparkling Whine has found the most amazing charms designer Miss Bibi, and runs down their top 5 favourites from her “boutique en ligne”. This is mine:S

Smocked necklace

Look at this cool textural necklace from Etsy designer Tinctory. I am really into plain but structured black blouses at the moment and I can just see a nice statement item like this resting on top being monochromatic.

Jacey Withers Jewellery

Waterfall range - One of my favourite necklaces from the range

A friend introduced me to her friend, Jacey Withers, jewellery collection. Jacey was exhibiting at London Fashion Week and here are a few pieces from the collection for your viewing pleasure. I particularly like the mixture of aggressive imagery with traditional materials and finishes.

A

The Sample Sale

I went to the Vivienne Westwood sale on Friday night – I arrived at 7 pm (I couldn’t get out of work much before 6.30) after hotfooting it down to Battersea. There was already a queue and, as I felt the first raindrops on my cold head, I wondered how long I could be bothered to wait. The only thing that kept me going was the sight of so many contented shoppers hurrying away with shopping bags. I finally got inside after 45 minutes and I think it was worth it. Don’t get me wrong, there was bargains galore especially on the shoes and jewellery – £40 for a necklace, £60 for shoes, £40 for a belt – but the rude sales assistant, who had obviously had enough of Westwood and life, definitely put me off. And the scrum was intense – I had to jostle for 20 minutes before I got to the jewellery counter. I walked away with a necklace, which I love, but I wonder if I’d put myself through it again. I definitely wonder how many of those smug early shoppers were heading home to put everything on Ebay!

 

Outside

 

 

In conlusion, my necklace was worth it but I think these events are made for tougher people than myself. Or perhaps I would feel differently if they’d had those heels in my size? Top tip – take the afternoon off work and queue if you want the decent stuff. I think I will be more selective about which designers I’m willing to do that for in the future; if there is a Marc Jacobs one there, I know I’ll be taking the day off work.

 

The Scrum

 

 

Purchases

 

And finally, a well deserved dinner.

A