Kate Spade

A and I went to have a peek around the new Covent Garden Kate Spade shop last week and we liked what we saw. I described it as “a bit like LK Bennett”, which isn’t going to set any hearts alight. But it’s much more cute and brightly-coloured than that – I think the London shop has had a more brutal edit than the US ones because the website reveals that the brand can be quite twee while Covent Garden’s stationary hit buttons on the whole scale from Smythson to Paperchase. It definitely hit my Glamour-reading funny bone as well with its many, many bows. I love a bow, and would have fallen ravenously on the handbag above if not for the hefty for the high-street price tag. And we LOVED the shop design, although the girl was right there so I was too shy to photograph anything. I know, I’m a bit of a crap blogger.

Intrinsically Florrie was a bit braver than us and photographed a lot of the shop but tragically missed out the best bit: the amazing cerulean corner with the perfect mid-century desk with sparkly shoes under it. It was the home workspace of our dreams and we have literally since been exchanging messages about what we would keep on it. I would keep a glass of milk on it. And the glass would magically refill when I’d drunk it all! And on the top would be the manuscript of the book I have written in Perfect World. It’s called something like “S Disconap: How I Achieved Lots of Respect in My Chosen Field and Made Everyone Like Me”.

I just checked and this stationary appears to come in every letter except…A. In your face blogbff!

Salut,

Shops bulletin

S reports back from the shops of London, after a whirlwind Christmas shopping trip.

• Anthropologie is half twee tat and half amazing stuff I would exchange A for in a heartbeat. I really recommend going to have a look; the much hyped plant wall is very nice and oxygenating. When I have loads of money (everything is very pricey) I am going there to buy Ella Moss lace slips, perfect girly dresses and probably some aprons or something.
• Urban Outfitters designer sale currently has half-price APC fleece-lined parkas and little coats. If you can scrape together £180 RUN to the Covent Garden branch and nab one. This is what I would do if I had £180.
• I spent money in Cos even though I don’t have it and justified it as a work expense. As of 1pm this afternoon, Cos remains the best shop ever, edging out Anthro because non-millionaires can afford its goods.
• Liberty is the best department store, hands down. So civilised and with such a nice selection of things, especially the Liberty-print things. Pure class, and all the customers look cool.
• The busiest shop in the whole of London (I have checked them all today) is Cath Kidston, where I dropped a few pennies myself buying things for my lovely sister-in-law and my mum. At this stage, everyone knows it’s the tweest, most middle-class brand on earth and we are over feeling embarassed about it. ***MUM DO NOT READ THIS NEXT PART*** I will not knock any shop that sells cool Nintendo DS covers, for that is what my mum is getting for Christmas. Photos to follow next time I have a day that doesn’t involve 13 hours of work.

Life and Liberty

I decided to go and have a wander around Liberty department store yesterday, which I haven’t been to in years. Partly it was on the continued recommendation of Style Bubble and partly it was because I had seen on the website that there was a sale on and I know that they stock Acne and APC – when I got there I saw placards announcing a sale but there weren’t any reductions.

Just as beautiful and quirky as I remembered, Liberty is the opposite of Selfridges in some ways – it has small, low-ceilinged rooms and doesn’t carry huge amounts of stock, but all the lines were really well-selected. They have a “contemporary floor”, for which read, the stuff you will be interested in: See by Chloe, APC, Twenty8Twelve, Splendid, Luella, Marc by Marc Jacobs etc. They also have a lovely cosy bag and accessories room where the displays include lots of little bits and pieces, including a really good range of products in the signature Liberty prints – small floral patterns in warm colours.

There was a rail of Cacharel for Liberty clothes and I’d forgotten how much I like Cacharel. I especially liked this blue background camisole top with a flower pattern. I saw similar things in Topshop later in the evening  but they were nowhere near as nice. You get what you pay for I suppose!

Cacharel top, £65.

I felt a bit underdone and underdressed as the main clientele were glossy girls younger than me, some with their mums. I wasn’t hassled by sales assistants or made to feel uncomfortable but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was having a good hair day (I went straight to John Lewis afterwards and bought a hairdryer).

My ambitions to buy only mega-bargains from now on and make them look a million dollars simply through the power of my amazingness took a hit when I compared the quality of the items in Liberty to those in Topshop and found that they really don’t compare. Sorry bank balance.

S

p.s. I road tested the Acne t-shirt and it’s much less neon in real life – more of a bright berry pink. Efforts to find a budget replacement failed. When you’re standing looking at a £45 t-shirt you think, I could find something like this for half the price but  CAN YOU? A quick sift through Topshop and Miss Selfridge reveals that you cannot.

You can, however, buy jeggings.

Picture courtesy http://www.londonamigo.com

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.