A is for Aristocrat.

Remember when I posted the paper doll photos that I took with my friend Lauren? Well, we have decided to make it a regular, ongoing project. We're going to work our way through the alphabet making a scene to represent each letter. We completed 'A' the other day. Everything you see (other than my face obvs) is made of paper. Every time I laughed the whole jacket bobbed up and down, and having a papier-mâché balloon on my head made every rustle of the paper sound like a thunderstorm in my head. But it was SO MUCH FUN.

Party trousers.

Ever since Vintage Weekend at Southbank where I saw one of my colleagues wearing a pair of cocktail print trousers- I have wanted a pair of cocktail print trousers. Considering the scarcity of cocktail print trousers I never expected to find a pair. Then, last Friday, something incredible happened. I went to the East End Thrift store in Whitechapel and I found a pair of cocktail patterned trousers. But these were no ordinary cocktail patterned trousers. These were lovely, black silk cocktail patterned trousers. They were the absolute perfect fit pair of cocktail patterned trousers. They had the cocktails embroidered on them with little beads as decoration. AND THEY WERE ONLY £15. Basically, I found the ultimate pair of cocktail pattern trousers. I got to wear my new party trousers to a party on Saturday. They made me so happy.

Old photos: działka.

It's probably necessary to put these photos into context slightly. They are from around when my Mum was a young woman and I think most of them are taken at the summer house just outside of Warsaw. Summer houses in Poland are not what you would expect-I once had a friend telling his parents he was going to stay at my "villa" only to find that, although it has running, hot water and a basic kitchen, it was essentially a large hut in a forest. Poles tended (and still do very often) to holiday within Poland. It was cheap, the weather is normally good and there are a wealth of different geographical types of locations to choose from: the mountains, the seaside, the hills, the lakes. Many people bought small areas of land just outside the cities and would build summer houses on them so that they could take the children away for weekends. These are called działkas and my działka is still my favourite place in the world.



I'm not sure why anyone felt the need to wear those awful hats.









Although my Mum was never a girly dresser and always felt like a complete tomboy I occasionally come across a picture of her looking so at ease and wearing things which make her appear so laid back that she conveys a kind of comfortable grace. I love the rolled sleeves to just the right height and the jumper over her shoulders in the first picture. The second photo must have been taken after she had already come to live in England because she is already wearing her fake Manchester University jumper!

Acne Boots

Finally bit the bullet and actually got the Acne Pistol Short boots that I have wanted for years now. I've become almost obsessive in the search for the perfect pair of boots and every year is the same story - each pair is somehow either too high or too flat, too clompy, or not clompy enough, etc etc ad infinitum. Suede lets the water in, and is easily damaged (tide marks in the rain) Proper leather solves this problem, but can be tough and uncomfortable - I have been bruised before, by a pair of particularly unyielding Dr Martens.

I worked out that last year I bought 3 pairs of boots, all of which cost between £80 and £120. Two of them simply fell apart after a few month's use - and when the sole is held on with glue, there is, sadly, not much to do once this happens. The others are just a bit too high for every day use. Shoes that are stitched rather than glued together, can be more effectively repaired, and therefore last much longer.

Old photos: young Mum.

As promised, here are a few pictures of my Mum when she was a little girl in Poland. The first picture is her and my Babcia, her Mum, in the snow. My Babcia is my absolute hero and wore some amazing clothes back in the day. What's great is that although she is shorter than me, I am pretty much the same size that she was when she was younger and I can sometimes find the most amazing clothes in her wardrobes, which she quite readily surrenders.



Mum is on the far right. I think she is meant to be a snowflake if I remember correctly. Too cute! Wish I could get razor sharp pleats into my skirts like the girl in the middle has.



One year later and little Ula has progressed to playing the part of a bigger snowflake- looks like she is wearing the same dress but has grown a few inches! I think she preferred pretending to be a knight as on the right. She was such a tomboy in reality.

Topshop boutique.

So excited to go and see the new Topshop Boutique items! I practically live in their cashmere mix vests. Seriously lusting after all of these- what can I say? I have a black/white silk obsession. Topshop's blog just posted some behind-the-scenes pictures of the Boutique shoot. So sad I didn't spot them whilst I was at work as apparently they were doing it all on top of the Hayward gallery.





Particularly excited by the black dress with the slit in the middle at the back.



All clothes are Topshop Boutique, photos from Inside-Out.

MR. DANNIJO

Bloggers representing brands is no new thing, but we have yet to see many creative ventures between those authors and designers. This beaut is a piece from the Man Repeller x Dannijo (the MR stands for Man Repeller) collection, and it's officially on my list. It also comes in oxidised brass, but for some reason there's no picture available of that one. Get it here (I actually might).

Old photos.

Whilst I am at home in Manchester I have been going through some old photos. I will do a proper post when I get back to London but here is a little taster of what to expect. It's my Mum in a tree when she was younger and still living in Poland. Get ready for lots of photos of Polish people in really 70s clothing coming to a blog post here soon!

The countdown begins...

In September one of our favourite Scandinavian brands arrives in London. Here's a couple of my favourites from their A/W 11 collection. See you at the front of the queue!