A Shoe Sort

Apologies for my lax blogging of recent; it is not for lack of inspiration, but rather a moderate but active social schedule involving much wine and complaint about life. Better things are to come, for I cannot afford anything these days and evenings at home with TV for company will ensue…

Anyway, this week I was late night active (much like a rodent) after a lengthy nap in the afternoon; I decided to spend my midnight tidying my shoes. I am a notoriously messy girl. Aged ten my Gran bought me a wooden plaque saying ‘Sarah’s Pigsty’ to mount upon my bedroom door. She found this hilarious. I didn’t but had to agree that it was indeed an accurate welcome to my room..

Still I cannot keep a tidy house and even when I do try and have a ‘sort’, it still looks messier than the average being’s dwelling. So here, in London, with a personal foot fetish, this is how my room looked:

Yes, shoe littered. Hundreds of pounds of foot strewn across the carpet. Patent heels sticking to dust and odd shoes everywhere. Not good. I’m not sure where the idea stems from, but for me the ideal shoe storage involves glossy Polaroid. The idea of indulgently marking your shoes for easy access has always been my ultimate ideal, a luxurious and exhibitionist way of storing shoes yet showing them off; I got my camera and started snapping.

Of course this method is not without problems, Firstly I haven’t keep all my shoe boxes so some shoes must brave the bedroom air. Also, I realized that not all shoes are worth of a Polaroid; do I really want to waste pound- a- photo Polaroid film on grotty Topshop kitten heels. No not really.

I concentrated on the most expensive of my shoes, and the ones most liable to damage and this is the result. I love the oraganisation, and actually it has been pretty easy to maintain so far.

Whilst sorting my shoes I also found

2 pairs of shoes that aren’t mine (sorry B)
2 pairs of shoes destined for Ebay
1 pair of shoes for the bin
1 missing shoe
4 pairs of shoes that need re-heeling
A pair of insoles

A very productive midnight indeed!


(PS. I am well aware that my 'tidy' room is still extremely messy!)

Scary Faces

This MAC Halloween look is fantasically scary! I've just discovered that they have a youtube account that has make-up tutorials, this look is on there should you wish to create it. Although this make-up is amazing, I always kind of want to look nice on Halloween, scary but hot. Is that cheating?

B Never Too Busy to (try to) Be Beautiful

Sundays are for sleeping. This is my general rule and I never break it, but today I did venture to Oxford Circus in the rain to inquire about boring mac related things, and on my journey to the bus stop I noticed that the new B store on Oxford Street has opened.

B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful is one of my favourite shops; it contains everything make-up, rainbow coloured cream eyeshadows and lipglosses and vintage scents, all packaged in the prettiest pots and bottles.

Rowenda Bird, Co-Founder of B spent months researching packaging from around the world and India and Morocco were the biggest inspirations for the bejewelled pots. Everytime I buy something from this shop I am just excited by the phyciallity of the product as by the make-up it contains. Even better everything is Animal Friendly, helpful for those who have a concious.

The Oxford Street store is ultra glam and has a Cocktail and make-up bar which I intend to visit very soon. I took some photos but got stopped by an very bitchy (but well made-up) gay who informed me with a flourish 'you're not allowed to take pictures in here'. Good job I had already taken 3 then wasn't it? Ha sucker.

MARRIAGE Bungalow 8

I am a bad blogger, of that I admit...

Last night we went to Bunglow 8 for Faris Badwan's night MARRIAGE. Interesting. The club is fairly typical of London members clubs, trendy decor, trendy crowd and drinks you can't afford. Still, it was fun, a young fashion crowd were there this eve and the music was good (not that anyone danced-far too cool).

We left at a reasonable hour and I saw that one from Fall Out Boy in the hotel lobby. Probably he was with the rest of the band but I wouldn't recognise the others. Isn't Ashley Simpson about to have his baby? Why is he in the lobby of a hotel?

We walked the wrong way to the bus stop and met a man and his dog. It was a bull dog with a spiked collar but the friendliest animal ever. 'Looks hard but is soft really' said the bald man holding the lead, 'like his owner'.

Cake Therapy

I have perhaps never been so much in need of a cake as I was after work today so it was lucky my colleges and I had made a 'cake date' with the Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington This wondrous place has trays of colourful cupcakes piled with sugary icing and is literally heaven for cake lovers like myself.

Alas, the tubes were against us and delays on the Central Line combined with the Circle Line deciding to hang out in tunnels for no apparent reason meant we were pushing it to arrive there by its 7pm closure. We ran through the station almost knocking over a blind man (of this I am not proud) and got there in time for our cake fix. We were only allowed to take-away at such a late hour and happily scoffed them down Old Brompton Rd before re-boarding the tube.

Christelle and I then stopped off in Soho and had a bottle of Rose and some nibbles (not to be confused with nipples-inside joke) served by the cutest Brazilian gay guy ever. Indulgent but sometimes life would not be worth it if you weren't.

(stolen photo from a fellow cake loving blogger -no hands to use my camera eating cake down the street)

Patent Pleasures

I love black shiny patent.
I love a chunky heel.
And I love Dr. Martens.

So I was so excited to come across these shiny patent, chunky heel Dr. Marten boots in the window of their Covent Garden store. New from the A/W 08 collection, they are yet more evidence that Dr. Marten are moving with the times and producing shoes that are less punk and more fashion.

Sadly, this purchase has rended me bankrupt until pay day...but I would really rather have these boots than food!

I wore them to the Diesel party at Matter in the O2 Area (I still remember it as the Millennium Dome when it had a massive body in it) and we had a good night together.

The party was interesting. It takes so long to get to Greenwich I was ready for sleep by the time the cab pulled up, but in we went and I saw Paris Hilton, which actually impressed me more than I wanted it to. I don't care for her in the slightest, but she is such a mannequin!; a vision of perfect airbrush make-up, sleek hair and expensive clothes. She did a little dance on the chair for her cameras, and pouted. Wow got to give the girl credit, she doesn't do much (anything) but she can do the socialite thing well.

Mark Ronson performed but there really is little performance when you are a DJ. They put the decks centre stage but the songs sounds identical to his cd. In fact he could of put on his cd and done some mixing gestures and none of us would have been the wiser! I really enjoyed Patrick Wolf's set though, he only did a couple of songs but he is so OTT you can but stare with wide eyes as he writhes around the stage.

It took too long to get a drink, but all in all a good night. We got into a lift with Rosin Murphy which was beyond exciting! She was wearing an amazing YSL safari look peachy thing, and one of those little hats...can't remember the term, they are like the hats that monkeys wear with a little tassle?! Kudos to Rosin!

I forgot my camera this eve but took a photo of the wristband on my wrist the next morning. I thought it was better than nothing, but it probably isn't.

Links A La Mode: The IBF Weekly Round Up

Links à la Mode : October 16th

• A Few Goody GumDrops - How To Wear A “Love Quotes” Scarf!
• Add Bubbles To Taste. - Interview with Society Of The Spectacle’s designer, Julianne Hoang.
• Being High Maintenance, not Bitchy - Dishes on Hot Coats for Cold Winters
• Clutch 22 - Avelle is the new Bag Borrow or Steal…So perfect for personal style bloggers who want to incorporate luxury bags, jewelry and sunglasses in their outfit photos without the high cost. Yay for variety!
• Dirty Laundry - An exploration of the explosive effect that the Maison Martin Margiela shredded jeans had on the fashion world and the blogosphere.
• dramatis personae - Such Great Heights…
• fashion in my eyes - Equus, something nice for the girls with Chad White, hihihi
• Fashion Pulse Daily - Fashion Pulse writes about its favorite music played during fashion shows this spring/summer 2009 season.
• Fashion Therapist - Designer Denim for the Vertically Challenged…FINALLY!
• Flights of Fab Fashion Fancy - reminds us to get our mammogram!
• greystrawberrys - Style Inspiration; Fashion Scarves
• Independent Fashion Bloggers - How to do good blog interviews
• Little Black Book - Issue: Recycled Fashion and Global Warming What you can do to make a difference
• Logical Harmony - Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Holmes, Victoria Beckham, and Heidi Klum : Crazy For Boyfriend Cut Jeans
• Mademoiselle Robot - Stylish Halloween costumes ideas, so you’ll never have to wear Sexy Bees costumes again.
• Or False Glitter - Gran Fan: Taking fashion advice from the elderly
• Retro Chick - Step by Step to Smoky Eyes
• SwanDiamondRose - Maybe I should buy NEW SHOES! And buy less shoes.
• Tainted & Sweet… - Everyone can use a little..Poison Ivy
• THE COVETED - Age of Innocence, be unapologetically girly…
• The Life and Times of a Problem Child - It’s about how in tough times, creativity goes a long way with how we dress up and how we consume fashion.
• Your Style Star - Illustrated sketches of Spring trends

Gran Fan

I was going to write about the star studded Diesel party today, but Paris, Mark and Co. can wait, I wish to write about my Gran.

The only welsh thing about me (apart from being 100% nothing exotic Welsh) is that my siblings and I call our gran ‘Mamgu’ the welsh word for gran We affectionately shorten this to ‘Mang’ or ‘titchy’, and today the titchy one, mother and sister Sian descended to London in a whirlwind of train ticket trauma.

After a feast, Sian and I dragged Mang and Mum to Topshop-god bless the late opening hours- they sat on two chairs whilst we scooted round. I picked up this pink shred effect jumper and anticipated that its transparent holey surface would draw disgust from a bemused aged 70+ Mang. Not so.

‘Are you going to wear it with something underneath, or your body underneath?’ she asked wisely

‘Just my body’ I replied, wanting to shock a Welsh grandma with obscenity

‘I used to have a top very much like that’ she commented ‘I used to wear it with my body underneath and I got lots of compliments, I had a good body back then and I wanted to show it off!’

ha, I found this wonderful. I think titchy Mang used to be quite the party animal back in the day, and she still dresses well now. Although she is not a Chanel wielding, black glasses old lady, she is always matching. I like this. She recently had a clothing clear out and I took one of her jackets that she used to wear on cruises. I wore it at fashion week and a fashionista complimented me on it.

I got the jumper in the end, and I will always fondly think of a young Mang when I wear it. For the record, I will be teaming it with patent leggings and a black vest, I’m not quite bold enough to wear just my ‘body’ underneath it!

Here is the wonderful woman, fully clothed, in a smart pink suit.

Getting the Chop

I have long hair. I have always had long hair…Sometimes in a fit of Britney style angst, I feel like chopping it all of to spite everyone and myself (not sure how that one works?) but I am always too much of a wimp to do anything but ‘trim’.

I think that in some way I am worried that to cut my long hair would relinquish my femininity, a stupid notion that people such as good old Aggy Dean have proved wrong. Also, there is such a risk in hair cutting, I don’t mind my hair now, but I know that if I got a style I didn’t like I would be devastated! Hair is the accessory you can never take off.

This is why I am in total awe of my favourite French ever Christelle, who yesterday got a fabulously dramatic haircut. We agonized over it for quite sometime over a lunch in work; she wanted to go for an extreme bleached very short cut. She realized that there was a lot to go wrong, and worried about orange hair, green hair, lesbian hair, looking like a boy hair, but in the end took the plunge and booked an appointment at the stylish salon Visions, which is just off Brick Lane.

She was terribly nervous on the day of the cut but boldly did not relinquish her bleach dreams. The results are stunning!

Christelle before:

Christelle after:



Her bone structure is perfect for such a short cut, and the bleach goes with her colouring flawlessly.

Taking such drastic hair action is always a risk, but, as Christelle has proved the risk is worth taking. As a young person, now is the time to experiment and play with our looks. A hair cut can not only modify your look, but modify the way that you feel about yourself. It is a fresh take on yourself.

I am so inspired by Christelle that I may take the plunge myself and go short, well shorter. I’ve had long brown hair for as long as I can remember, it feels like time for a change.

Links A La Mode: The IBF Weekly Round Up

Links à la Mode : October 9th

• Agent Lover - Satanic Schoolgirl Style: A guide for those who want to cross over to the dark side of knee highs.
• couturee yourself: - Just cant get enough Givenchy
• Dirty Laundry - How to revamp tired, old, boxy t-shirts into stylish, wearable tops.
• Fab Fashion Blog - Wearing slouch boots-here are some fabulous looks!
• fashion in my eyes - Natalia Vodianova in Numéro phothographed by Karl Lagerfeld
• Fashion Pulse Daily - Fashion Pulse reviews the latest Dolce & Gabbana collection recently shown in Milano.
• Little Black Book - DIY:bracelet, its just so easy!
• Logical Harmony - Fall Fashion From Rachel Bilson
• Mademoiselle Robot - An interview with The Cherry Blossom Girl celebrating the launch of her first collection, By Alix.
• Or False Glitter - Holy Hosiery: Wearing tights Rodarte style
• PONY RYDER - exclusive interview with fashion model kathleen burbridge.
• reLYME - A post featuring my boot picks for fall, and hopefully, a forum to features yours, too!
• Retro Chick - Can Earplugs be cool?
• SwanDiamondRose - Does this look like my Louche? Small businesses, copyright, & crafting.
• Tainted & Sweet…: - Fly Girls of the week we all want to be like…
• THE COVETED - Easy DIY trends.. the whole hearted half skirt

Holy Hosiery

I love tights, after working in Tabio I have a huge bag overflowing with nylon and almost everyday my outfit contains some sort of hosiery item. The idea of laddered, holey tights is nothing new; last season Rodarte showed shredded legs, teamed with killer spiked heels.

However, it was not until browsing the Sartorialist today that I remembered my love of the broken down hosiery look. This Valentino show go-er has works the look perfectly, and made me extremely curious.

I arrived home and rooted through my collection to find some old tights, complete with one accidental ladder. I grabbed some scissors and away I went!

I whipped some holes through the fabric then pulled and stretched to let the ladders run. It is extremely liberating to deliberately butcher tights after spending daily life trying to avoid nails and zips catching on the delicate fabric. I must say I enjoyed the process! Uh and I got a little carried away as well…you may notice that I went a little further than the sartorialist girl. Personally I love the look, but I’m not sure others will get it. Today I wore red eyeshadow to work and got asked if I had an eye infection, I can only imagine their bemusement if I turned up in these!

Feeling Ruff

Flicking through some Paris S/S 09 photos, I was particularly drawn to the Moschino show and its use of ruffles. The layers of gathered fabric make for a look that is feminine and romantic, old fashioned and edgy circus-esque all at the same time.

This evening I stayed in (heavy karaoke sess yesterday) ;after happily watching X Factor, I was unlucky enough to accidentally see a man being blood splattered again a fridge in ‘Mid Sommer Murders’ and I decided to play with some ruffles as distraction. I have a well-known love of the Elizabethan Ruff, and for my 21st Birthday, ex-fashion student Bianca kindly made me some ruffs on her sewing machine.

The first is made from a vintage nightdress we wore to Doombox last Halloween. The gauzy fabric gives an ethereal look. I tried out all ruffs over a Topshop jersey cape this evening, but on previous occasions I have worn them over dresses for a night out.

This second is heavy and has a denim base with a finer over fabric. I love the clown look it gives and as London has suddenly turned arctic, it could also double as a winter scarf.

This ruff actually is a winter scarf. I bought it in All Saints a while ago, entranced by its lengthy ruffled fabric. Tightly wound the neck it gives a historic ruffle look, but it can also be loosely draped to create texture and interest.

After reading the fashion blogs of beautiful Swedish girls, I am really embarrassed about the quality of my photos, but with only a Nikon ‘Cool Pix’ and a dusty mirror (and a round face) these are the best I could muster!

Links A La Mode: The IBF Weekly Round Up

Links A La Mode 2nd October

• a sense sublime - Make Do and Mend: Brilliant boot fair fashion finds!
• Add Bubbles To Taste. - Nikki gives Beautiful People Purple Eaters their fix.
• Clutch 22 - DIY: Bow Headbands (in seconds)
• Debutante Clothing - Vintage Vogues Go To Auction
• Dress Me Up Dollie - Seeking closed-toe wedges!
• Fab Fashion Blog - Skirts Tight Knee Length Almost Pencil Skirts Looks Fall Winter 2008 2009 Trends
• Fashion Architect - Athens Fashion Week is coming!
• fashion in my eyes - a great editorial containing the twelve most important regal women in history!
• Mademoiselle Robot - Let your style age with you.
• O.M.O. Writes - Fashion Icon: Dynasty The fashion sense from the 80s soap opera is seen all over Spring runways! Get style tips on how to make the look your own!
• Or False Glitter - How far do the opinions of others dictate our fashion choices?
• PR COUTURE - Fashion PR Call for Media Kits; Get Featured on PR Couture
• respectfully yours - is fashion taking itself too seriously?
• Retro Chick - The Boyfriend Blazer: Hot Picks
• ShopDiary - ShopDiary gets a piece of Eairth.
• Tainted & Sweet… - Old School Fly Girls!!!
• THE COVETED - Do you ever wear clothes intended for kids?
• The Life and Times of a Problem Child - Rediscovering a forgotten icon of architecture and turning it into a fashion occasion.
• The Ongoing Project - Developing your personal style, part 2

Hard Candy

No, this is not a reference to Mistress Madonna’s latest slice of pop pie, but rather a plate of delicacies at a Fashion Week party and I am not talking food but rather lip gloss!

We went to the Erdem party in the Soho hotel during fashion week; canapés are often thin on the grounds at these events (well it is fashion), so when we spotted a circular silver tray sporting delicious looking chocolate truffles we were delighted and eagerly reached towards the platter.


We were intercepted by a sheepish looking suited man at the bar, “They’re not real, I just tried to eat one!’. The bar at the Soho hotel was dimly lit and it was a very easy mistake to make, I was glad I had not been too greedily hasty myself. We inspected the truffles and discovered that they were in fact lip glosses!

You can buy packs of these mini glosses in Urban Outfitters, and they are the perfect party take-away treat as well as a cute decoration. They looked so pretty on the plate, and I think if I ever threw a bash I would copy this idea.

And all was not lost, further down the bar was a stand of REAL mini cupcakes. Delicious!