Lust over Lulu

I cannot describe how much I love this Lulu Guinness vanity case.

You can pick one up for £195 they do a bigger size too, the website has sold out at the moment but check the stores.

Pure Groove - the new store

I swung by the Pure Groove Records Friends and Family night on Tuesday (a bit tired from Monday night's Durrr!) and got to have a sneak peak at the new shop in Farringdon. For some reason I was expecting the epic proportions of Rough Trade East but instead Pure Groove looks like a proper record shop, complete with a permanent stage which, for the F&F night was graced by Your Twenties, Gabriel from Metronomy's band.

The instores coming up in the next month or so look fab - Mystery Jets (did I mention that's my favourite album of the year so far?), Jeremy WarmsleyLykke LI, Ipso Facto, Metronomy, Health and loads more that you can fin out about here

The shop opens on Monday and the address is 6-7 West Smithfield, EC1A 9JX for all you Londoners. Woop.

I love Little Boots

And maybe a bit more for this:



You can find more out about her here:www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

Sample saled out

I have been to two sample sales in the last week, the designer shoe sample sale in Central London on Thursday and the Comme Des Garcons sale in Victoria today so thought I would tell you about them.

There is a real knack to doing the sample sales and it mainly involves getting there before the doors open and queuing behind other keen bargain hunters before racing in and snatching anything that catches your eye. I never said it was an exact science did I?

The designer shoe sample sale was a bit disappointing as I had to go in my lunchbreak and by that time the best things were sold out. There was the occasional pair of Gucci / Marc Jacobs 'teeterers' but not enough to shout about, lots of Ash shoes there and some particularly lovely gladiator sandals but I was not prepared to spend the £100 minimum on a card so came away empty handed.

Today, I wasn't really sure what to expect from the Comme Des Garcons sale in Victoria and arrived not armed with a huge amount if cash - as usual. The sale was held in an auction house so you could have a good old rummage there was lots of of the wall CDG designs which aren't really me. However, there were other brands on sale too, with 70% off CDG and 40% off the rest (I think I got that right, hmm). I did fall in love with the above Blue Suede Pierre Hardy shoes - down from £500 to £180, alas, it was still too much so I picked up a Fred Perry CDG sweater for the boy and exited.

Tim Walker - my hero

"I am very childlike in my feelings about things, and the way I look at the world" (Tim Walker)

English Vogue did me proud this month by introducing me to a photographer that I had never heard of and yet has instantly become my favourite. Tim Walker is renowned for making his photos look like they have come straight out of a fairy tale and make you wish that when you went to the theatre the stage designers could re-create something this beautiful so for that short period of time you can be lost in your own paradise.

Tim currently has an exhibition at The Design Museum, which I hope to check out this weekend, here is an extract about Tim Walker straight from the press release:

London based photographer Tim Walker has established himself at the cutting
edge of fashion photography. His images capture a sublime moment in time,
evoking a sense of epic drama and beauty. Stunning sets and lavish locations
juxtapose the everyday with the absurd and the fabulous, to create captivating,
original photographs. Tim’s evocative images are full of textured nuance and
intriguing detail. His innovative photography is amongst the most imaginative and
exuberant being produced today.

According to Vogue, Tim lives in Shoreditch, I am quite tempted to find him (not in a scary way) as his flat looks beautiful





Vogue say 'His is an Englishness of "bus stops, Exeter St Davids, Victoria Wood as the lard covered Channel-crossing swimmer, a friend who refers to him as 'Poppet', Little Chef roadside restaurants, kindness, Marmite and Mandy Rice Davies"

And for that, I love him even more.

A sad day

I have to admit that I am a bit geeky - oh you've guessed already? Ah. I spend a lot of time reading other people's fashion blogs and checking out their outfits, at the moment I am a bit too shy to post photos of myself in my favourite clothes. Maybe when I buy some more dresses, hmmm.

Anyway, this post is dedicated to one of my favourite blogs, Vintage Darling I have to say, I do not understand any of it apart from the bits that are written in English at the end of each post as the rest is written in Swedish.

Some of the best outfits are worn by the beautiful hostess of VD, so imagine my horror when today she announced that she was taking a break from her blog, heart breaks.

So I thought, in homage to Vintage Darling, I would show you all some of the best outfits I have seen on VD recently...note bows in her hair, perfectly fitting skirts, her ability to make the Primark dress look like it really is Miu Miu, I could gush forever but instead I'll show you the pics....

Primark perfection (yes, I bought it after seeing this)


Great dress


And again


Getting snapped in the street


Vintage Darling, don't go away for too long!

They Cannes

Some great outfits from the Cannes parties - pics from Style


Devon Aoki in Alberta Ferretti

I love Gael Garcia Bernal, even with the dodgy hair



Goldie looking ace, ditch the sunnies much? Wearing Gianfranco Ferre



I have no idea who this woman is - Paz Vega - anyway she looks STUNNING



Do I like Mischa Barton's look? Hmmmmm

Do we like this?

The new Justice video is causing a stir, some say its the best thing since sliced bread, others (me) think its a bit violent and scary.

What do you think?



Directed by Roman Gavrais who also did the Last Shadow Puppets epic video as well as Simian Mobile Disco's I Believe

Because we all love Bjork

As a religious reader of the fantastic Style Bubble I could not resist posting about one of Susie Bubble's recent finds the headgear designer Thelma Not only does she create headwear for Bjork as seen above but she has an awesome AW08-09 collection coming out so you too can make like Bjork and adorn your head with some of her super designs.

Below are a few of my favourites from the collection - thanks to Susie Bubble for alerting everyone to Thelma's designs:

Neverloveyoumore.muxtape.com

I sometimes get asked by friends to make mixtapes, of course I always say I will and never actually end up doing it so I have finally got round to making a muxtape that is universally available to everyone who wants to check it out.

You can find it here

Tracklisting is as follows:

Teenagers In Tokyo - Very Vampyr
Sportsday Megaphone - LA
Yelle - Je Veux Te Voir
Mystery Jets - Half In Love With Elizabeth
Hot Chip - Sensual Seduction (Snoop cover)
The Shoes - Knock Out!
Stricken CIty - Tak O Tak
Dead Kids -Fear & Flouride (Lillica Libertine's Tried & Tested remix)
Ladyhawke Back of the Van
HEARTSRevolution - Choose Your Own Adventure
Soko - I Will Never Love You More

Do have a listen, it took forever!!

Back to Black

I'm having a bit of a break from Brighton fun - the boy is watching the football and I have no idea who is playing.

Mira from Ladytron is one of my most favourite people in the world, she oozes style and sex appeal dressed in her usual military black outfits. The band have a new album out at the moment, however, this has not prompted me to write this post, oh no, instead it was prompted by a rather lo res email I received from PartyNoire.comthe website for Romanian born designer Alina Cosma, I got invited to have a sneak preview of the site before it goes up for all to see.

Alina was a finalist in Fashion156 & Brittique.com's Fashion star competition to find a brand new womenswear designer to feature on Fashion156 and be sold on Brittique.com, of Cosma they say:

"We loved her 'Darkshines' dress for its military-gone-futuristic bent and the on-trend zip fastenings."

I had a look and chose my favourites from her debut capsule collection 'DEBUT. Talking Dresses' and to me they screamed Ladytron and made me think of the lovely Mira.

Cosma's designs are adorned with zip details and sharp angles,her dresses are structured yet pretty cool, take a look and see what you think...

Last night's party, and the night before's and tonight's

Oh dear, its all getting rather hectic in NLYM's social calendar and this weekend is one fueled by energy drinks, crisps, vodka and some dancing - oh yes and some work too somewhere down the line.

Stag & Dagger festival on Thursday night was great fun, we caught Tubelord (awful name but good), Natty - I don't like Reggae, I hate it. Shame that the queue was so huge to see Diplo that we didn't even attempt to get into the Hoxton Bar & Grill venue so after a bit of drinking in the street we headed on down to Cargo to check out A-Trak.

For the uninitiated A-Trak describes himself like this:

When I was 13 I took my bar mitzvah money and bought myself some turntables and a mixer. I practiced for about 18 hours a day. Then I came out of my basement, packed my lunch and won a bunch of world championships. Joy! I formed a DJ crew called the Allies with Craze and friends. We toured the world for a while... I guess I've been touring for the last 11 years. Time flies.

2 hours of dancing later and then a bit more to Bang Gang DJs then its home time with the boy.

Next morning we head to Brighton for The Great Escape Festival to check out some more bands including the fantastic French DJ duo The Shoes, you may have heard the remix they did for Wiley's Rolex - it was tops of all the blogs.

Remember how excited you were when you first saw Justice? Get ready for that feeling to return when you see The Shoes, they even had a 7pm Barfly crowd dancing.

Now? Now we're off to see Dead Kids play a secret show, more later ...

On a Summer tip again

Its going to rain in London now, I just know it, I have been completely obsessed with the Summer over the last few posts, so if where you live it isn't so warm and lovely then I do apologise. I'm also going on holiday in June so am super excited about that too - especially when work can sometimes be so hardcore.

Anyway, enough about me and more about these Ksubi sunglasses. Ksubi as you may or may not know is an Australian fashion house and pretty trendy at that. These 'Bayliss' glasses are the perfect shape, after all who isn't over those Raybans? The new shape is more Andy Warhol but still big and the colour, oh the colour make me swoon. You can get them in black too - they cost £155 and quite frankly I'm pretty freaking tempted.

Will you ride tandem on my bicycle?

French fashion store Comptoir des Cotonniers is launching a retro style bicycle range this summer, including single bikes (does that make sense? You know what I mean) and tandems. So there is no excuse not to get your shorts on and jump on a bicycle this summer.

I first discovered CDC in Nice where I purchased a lovely slouchy gym style bag, they have nine shops in the UK including London stores on Marylebone High Street and South Molton Street. The chain is not cheap and often use mother and daughter models to display the versatility of their outfits.

No its not cutting edge fashion but its well made Carla Bruni style tailoring will leave you looking and feeling impeccable and for that I can only applaud them.

Best swimsuit of the year?

This Gucci swimsuit, featured in June's issue of Vogue is simply stunning. An asymmetric design features a bow on the shoulder (slightly obscured by the catwalk model's hair)

This is a combination of colours I wear quite frequently, however the costume is £265, gulp.

Karen Walker

La Garconne's mailout alerted me to these beautiful Karen Wakler tortoise print sunglasses and I simply cannot stop thinking about them. $170 from La Garconne.com maybe these will be the glasses that I can wear without shoving my fringe into my eyes?

Headband lust

Yes this Miu Miu headband is incredibly similar to my Marc Jacobs headband but who cares, its beautiful and I want it

£55 though, hmmm

I love this look

Complete with Black Lips bag, what looks like a vintage shift and American Apparel skirt. Girl got style

New Mogwai single...

...will be one of the loudest, most gigantic singles of the year. Having just seen the band at Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank I can report that the live version was loud, very very loud and simply brilliant.

I think its called Bats? Or it might be Back or it might be nothing like that as my ears are shot and I am not very good at deciphering a Scottish accent.

In the meantime, below is a YouTube video of Friend of the Night when they played the ICA at the best Mogwai gig I have ever been to even though tonight was pretty special. I'm a bit deaf now...

Sex & The City Premiere

An inevitable red carpet post, ooh its such a guilty pleasure. Do not expect me to dissect the casts outfits however but instead to admire Daisy Lowe who looked the best, as always.



Celebs on the red carpect included Keeley Hawes from Ashes To Ashes in a white frock, Michelle Ryan rocking a purple slightly bridesmaid style gown and Adele who wore her signature black.

SJP's hat was very Carrie Bradshaw



Oh go on then, we might as well have a look....



All dressed as their characters, SJP's hat nearly makes up for the lack of talkability of the other outfits.

It's been a while

Ooh it has been a while since i blogged, service will resume as normal, I promise

It's been pretty hot week in London, which is rare for the capital so I thought I would show you what has been rocking my world this week....here goes:



Album: Vampire Weekend
Shop: Hoxton Boutique

Accessories: H& M flowers - these are so versatile as you can wear them as a hair band or they also have a brooch pin on the back so you can wear them as flower brooches, I have both the red and the yellow as at £1.99 you might as well buy both.

Dress: Topshop's brand new pink short jersey dress

Shoes: I had to work an event last week which involved me running up and down lots of stairs so I invested in some new ballet pumps from Faith, at £25 they were just about all I could afford yet are so comfortable I don't think I'll be taking them off all summer.

H&M flower pic taken from Flying Saucer

Agyness sings

Five O'Clock Heroes featuring Agyness Deyn - i didn't expect her voice to sound like that I have to say, however, she looks ace and sounds ok, long may she reign

Agent Provocateur

In this weekend's Sunday Times Style magazine Agent Provocateur co-founder Serena Rees stated the following:

'I don't own any bad pants. I've always had a fascination with lingerie, it's next to the most intimate part of your body'

I decided to check out AP's brand new collection and choose my favourites.



Lets start with the Carolina collection, here is what AP have to say about this young sexy look:

Effortlessly stylish with a modern punk twist. This feisty range is created in the finest semi sheer silk with a rebellious black and green leopard print. It features contrasting burgundy silk bows with petite centre rose detail.

Bra £75
Knickers £40
Suspender £55

Next comes the Cherry range - apparently you won't be able to move for cherry emblazoned 50's style underwear this summer.



A deliciously sheer range in vibrant aqua blue tulle. Tantalising red cherries are cheekily embellished onto the flattering design which is edged with a subtle pink zigzag stitch.

Bra £55
Knickers £30

Finally the Marie collection which is my personal favourite from the new range



Timelessly innocent Marie in charming white cotton broderie anglaise. This graceful summer range features floral inspired embroidery with elegant cotton frills and light pink taffeta bows.

Bra £80,
Knickers £50
Corset £195

(Just) Cavalli

Teen Vogue's gladiator sandal special made me swoon, these Just Cavalli sandals are just gorgeous. Yes, ok $705 worth of gorgeousness but I can dream.

Not generally a Cavalli fan - Victoria Beckham's label of choice, yeouch. Also, that range for H&M was pretty inexcusable but these sandals make up for it all (nearly)