NYC Swag

A blow by blow account of all the things I bought while in New York would be boring, but the edited highlights are shown below. The shorts and top I bought at the Opening Ceremony sample sale, and were certainly worth queuing for an hour in the punishing midday sun for. I was so pleased to find a Peter Pilotto piece too, adding a little slice of hype to my wardrobe. So nice to be able to wear pink again now my hair is blonde! It was also satisfying that the two pieces work really well together as well as on their own. Now I'm back in rainy old London the summery colours don't work so well.

The cuff is a little souvenir from Trash and Vaudeville , which I was really looking forward to but found what was inside a little disappointing, and probably much more expensive than the equivalent in Camden market.

Finally, the book of the Alexander Macqueen exhibition at the Met. I haven't been to such a brilliant exhibition for a long time, and felt quite moved at times, realising that the show must have been being planned for quite some time before his death. So, I thought it was fitting to buy the coffee-table tome to take home with me, despite the fact that I'm sure it almost tipped me over my baggage weight allowance.

Shorts - Opening Ceremony
Top - Peter Pilotto
Cuff - Trash and Vaudeville

Plastic Seconds & Secret Danger Sister

A few weeks ago Secret Danger Sister collaborated with Plastic Seconds to shoot the collection for the lookbook and Maria's ASOS Marketplace collection. After much brainstorming, some serious clothes shopping, and an extremely early start, we did the shoot around Bethnal Green. Miraculously the weather held out and it all went swimmingly. This was the first SDS photoshoot, so we're pretty pleased with the results. Shuna, the model was incredibly patient while we changed her outfit a million times, and gave her a tent as a dressing room. Stay tuned for the "blooper" highlights, which involve Jenny chasing after a fly-away tent.

For the first part of the shoot we kept the clothes minimal and white, focusing on shape, silhouette and the contrast between the colourful jewellery and the plain white fabric. As you can see, the light got better later in the day, as the morning light was very blue and harsh, particularly against all the white.

These are some very edited highlights - there were so many lovely shots but it would be ridiculous to post them all at the same time. Keep your eye out for more in the future!

Credits:

Jewellery: Maria Papadimitriou

Clothes: Cos, Zara (white shirt is Isabella's, shoes are Katie and Jenny's)

Model: Shuna

Photography: Katie

Styling: Isabella and Jenny

Hair/Make-up: Katie

Plastic Seconds and Supermarket Sarah.

Supermarket Sarah is a supercool web shop. A bit like a pop up shop full of weird and wacky and good stuff. She has a "wall" on the ground floor in Selfridges, where she sells a range of items, but I think her website is actually way cooler because each seller gets to make their own wall and each has the seller's style stamped all over it. You might have spotted her recently in the Guardian doing a "How to stay chic after three days in a field" feature in their festival guide and, although I don't expect to care much for a ruff after a weekend of being cold and wet (as is inevitably going to happen to me next week at Glastonbury if the weather doesn't pick up), I do wholeheartedly agree with her anorak, flip-up sunglasses and bum bags vibe. Check out her website here.







Pay particular attention to the Plastic Seconds wall, which features the lovely Maria Papadimitriou's upcycled jewellery. These two necklaces are my favourite items from the shop. As well as making jewellery, Maria does loads of cool internet stuff like blogging from here and illustrations for Amelia's magazine which you can read here. These are a few amusing collages she made for greetings cards sold at the ICA.



We did some exciting work with Maria recently which we should be ready to show you very, very soon!

Awsome party.

Don't you just know that if all these people got together the resulting party would be the best party ever?

You go to the pub and these guys just happen to be hanging out at the bar...


You get chatting and they say they they know of a party round the corner and should we all go?
"Yeah" you say. So there you are on your way to to a party with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson, you know, and these guys open the door...



Jeeze, it's only Terry Richardson and Obama's party!
Gwynnie is the first to spot your arrival and leaves Stella McCartney and Tom Ford to continue chatting about whatever it is they are chatting about to come and say hello.



You look round and spot that there are loads of cooler people around who you would much rather meet. There's Errol Flynn and Awesome Welles with their respective wives...



Dali and Coco in one corner...



Humphrey Bogart with Lauren Bacall (that voice!) and Marylin Monroe in another...



Old blue eyes and Grace Kelly are having a laugh playing with an old camera...



Then, "Oh my God it's Frida Kahlo!" Luckily, Josephine Baker looks just as star-struck as you at meeting her so you don't feel like a fool...



The Pauls stumble past you, already wasted and falling over...



Whilst Keith, Tina Turner and Bowie are getting more rowdy...



Suddenly, you hear voices from outside and everyone runs to the window. Hunter S Thompson, John Cusack and Johnny Depp have just pulled up outside and it is obvious from the state that they are in (and the blow up doll) that the party really has arrived.



Hours later, you wake up on a couch with the taste of stale party in your mouth. Other people are beginning to stir, some are already clearing up. You head for the kitchen and stumble across this...



It really was the most awesomecool party ever.

All these photos were lifted from this tumblr which I found the other day. I picked out some of my favourite shots and made a story. Head on over and make a story of your own.

Satchels in the Guardian.

The Guardian did a quick stop, chat and snap of me the other day when they spotted my satchel. I come across as a right fool (visitor services host?! and I definitely didn't actually use the word ubiquitous) but I'm posting it anyway because it is one of those very rare "look Mum it's me in the paper" moments, and I never got one of those in Primary School.

Here's a link to the article online, as I realise my scanning skills leave a lot to be desired, if you wish to waste 5 minutes reading it.

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90s slut not 90s schoolgirl.

I have been a little obsessed with 90s slut fashion recently. I'm using the term 90s slut fashion to differentiate between the style that Monica from Friends or teen drama schoolgirls might have favoured vs the things I imagine Drew Barrymore or one of "the supermodels" would've flung on for a party. It involves more black, more skin tight stuff, more tight, high waisted jeans, more slicked down centre partings, more big hair in big waves rather than a tight perm, less knee high socks, less neat plaid (because there's such a thing as scruffy plaid which would require a whole different post entirely), less vest tops layered over tshirts more cut outs and cropped tops. It's sexy 90s not quirky 90s. So, here are some images that are really inspiring me right now...





Compare to these images below. With the machy-matchy plaid and woolen tights there is a definite lack of slut about them. (Note the girl behind Brittany in the 3rd photo- POWERFUL look there).



I wish I felt comfortable going out in this outfit in it's entirety as it is laid out here- but unfortunately I'm not. Instead I wear some of the items but then cover up a bit more with say, some black palazzo pants rather than the cycling shorts, or a big, black tshirt over the shorts rather than the polo neck top. The belt is actually my old belt that I had to wear for the Polish scouts (harcerze) when I was a kid but I pulled it out of obscurity a few year ago and I wear it all the time.



American Apparel top and cycling shorts, Dico Copenhagen shoes, old belt and topshop nail varnish in parma violet.

I also really want these beauts...



Givenchy shoes. Bra top, dress, tie dye shirt and shoes all Monki (Why do you not open a shop in London Monki?! Why, Oh why?

Unfortunately these are all impossible for me to attain either because of prices or location. Katie has just bought a black Carin Wester skirt with a big slit up one side though which is my next dream buy to go with my 90s slut obsession. That and some lip liner.