A Hat (or Two) For Valentines

Heart Shaped Hats by Topsy Turvy (modeled by me) and Burdekins (modeled by Kelly Marie)

So it goes without saying that I love a good hat. I also have a love for ’special occasion’ hats. I have Easter bonnets, Christmas fascinators, and of course Valentines ones. Most of my hats are vintage, but for Valentines ones I find Esty has the best to offer. Here are my two favourites:

Last year I bought myself a hat from Topsy Turvy Design (thats me wearing it on Valentines day last year above). Topsy Turvey is a labour of love for milliner Kim Brown-Dye, who is based in America but happily ships to the UK. There are so many amazing hats on this site I really must get around to buying another one soon! She no longer makes the heart shaped hat I own however there are lots of fun heat shaped versions including leopard prints and my personal favourite The Sweetheart, which reminds me of a perfect vintage Valentine card. She also does a doily and chocolates fascinator called Sweets for My Sweet Valentine, its lovely too but for chocolate hats no one does it better than Burdekins.

Burdekins is new to Esty, but Kelly Marie (the lovely lady behind the label) has been making fantastic hats and pins for years now. Kelly Marie creates each individual ’chocolate’ by hand and they are made from recycled Satins and Nylon taken from vintage garments and lingerie. Vintage feel and environmentally conscious. Does it get any better!? Last year I was lucky enough to receive one of her yummy chocolate pins for my birthday straight from the lady herself.

My Burdekin Chocolate Pin. Completely hand-made and so delectable!

Hopefully these pins will be added to her Esty soon too. In the meantime be sure to snap up one of her amazing and delicate fascinators in time for Valentines!

The Perfect Summer Boot?

These might be the perfect summer boot. Totally cute with mini dresses and very 90’s with denim shorts. Also very 90’s due to the crochet paneling. I actually owned a crochet waistcoat in the 90’s and I wore it with everything. Serious. True story. Might even see if I can find a photo…

From London With Love

Today I had the change to meet with the lovely Becca from brand new blog ‘From London With Love‘. She wanted advice on blogging and fashion but judging by the stunning design of her site and interesting writing style she hardly needs my help! I’m so flattered to be featured as one of her ‘Every day it-girls’ and will definitely be making her blog one of my everyday reads.

Picture courtesy From London With Love

Also Becca mentioned it but it’s worth repeating, Revlon’s Black Cherry lipstick is a must!

2010 And Still No Flying Cars

Bones and a bow tie, ideal for Saturday night!

Well I took a slightly longer then planned New Years break from blogging but I’m back and feeling refreshed and excited about the new year and new fashion! I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, I make plans. Part of my plan is to write on here more often. 18 days into the new year and it’s my first post. Errr…not the best start haha. But never the less here we go!

I’m also turning 30 this year and unsurprisingly so are many of my friends. I attended my lovely friend Helen’s 30th birthday this past weekend and decided to follow through on another of my new year’s plans. That is to get back to taking more street style photos. So without further ado, the best of the Saturday night ladies:

Deer Oh Deer!

So some of you may have noticed the sweet little deer who have appeared in the upper right hand corner of this blog. Those little darlings live on my dressing table. I bought them from a jumble sale last year. They were dusty and unloved but a little TLC and they were good as new!

My deers in their natural habitat

I’d always wanted ceramic deers (no idea why) but had never been able to find nice ones at charity shops or jumble sales before these. I even liked that they are a planter instead of just ornaments. Anyway today I decided to have a poke around Esty to see what other little woodland deers are out there and was tickled to find a slew of vintage deer/doe planters!

Clockwise from top left: Doe a Deer Planter from Ameliar Rose Retro, Sweet Bambi Planter from The Kitschy Kitchen, and Mid Century Deer from Vintage Goodness

Also while I’m on a deer tangent I though I’d share these wonderful images from the beautiful Thrifties Flickr Set by Happy Meat:

How great are those colours!? The little green guy is my favourite : )

Christmas Round Up

So I’m back in London after a lovely little Christmas break in Kent. Well rested and full of (a lot) of good food, cheese and chocolate. I actually meant to post this picture before Christmas but better late then never, thankfully, as I am always late:

My self done Christmas manicure

Also I was lucky enough to receive many lovely gifts this year (thanks family and friends!) including the space kitty tee(!) courtesy of my thoughtful Boy. My dad, as always, sent money for me to buy myself something nice:

The Ashish for Topshop leopard boots are pretty nice right? They sure make me happy!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of nice things too!

Size Matters

Helmut Newton’s diptych Sie kommen! (They’re Coming!) -  an erotic metaphor for the changing image of woman.

So without really getting into the reasons, certain circumstances this year brought about a lot of changes in my lifestyle. Good changes mind you, I drink less, excercise more, eat better ect. However the changes also brought about rapid weight loss. I should say up front that I was happy at my old weight and am happy at my new weight. I think I looked good both ways and am not that fussed as long as I am healthy (which I am).  So now that my new weight has stabilized I have the mostly annoying task of rediscovering what size I take in clothes. When I first moved to England I had to figure out my UK size (as opposed to my Canadian one), now I’m doing it all over again. The strange thing is I seem to be a different size in different brands? Also my upper and lower half seem to be different sizes!? If it’s a small/medium/large option the small almost always works for me but as soon as you get into numbers it’s all different. At Topshop my upper half is a 6 but in shorts or anything like that I’m a 10. Unless its denim shorts or jeans, then I’m a 6 again. What? Does anyone else have this problem? When it comes to dresses I split the difference and buy an 8. I love shopping but the size thing is starting to make me mental! At least my feet have stayed the same size. Good old feet. Size 4 wide and size 6 long. I just cram them into a size 5 and call it a day. Maybe I’m just funny shaped all around? Oh well, it all seems to balance out nicely in the end…

Santa Baby – Gifts for the Girls

Oh dear. Where have the weeks gone!? Like a lot of people I’ve spent the last several weeks working like mad and Christmas shopping whenever possible. Shopping on-line is officially the way forward. Although I love working (really) and love shopping (defiantly) it has left my beloved blog (and readers) neglected. Sorry!!!

Ok, so before I venture out in an attempt to finish said Christmas shopping I though I’d try and help out those of you still looking for gifts for the lovely ladies that populate your life. Here are some ideas from some of my favorite places to shop and inspired (or made) by some of my favorite ladies:

An East London goth girl like Ellie deserves this hot 5.16 Mesh Panel Maxi Dress from ASOS:

Vintage Vixens will love lingerie from Lou Lou Loves You or What Katie Did:

Got a grunge goddess like Rachel? This Floral number from Des Moines would be perfect with an oversized Kurt sweater and beat up boots:

Speaking of boots Urban Outfitters has these superb Chloe style Jeffrey Campbell Embellished Ankle Boots:

And finally for the eclectic dresser like Gala or any accessory lover pick up the Starling Skull and a Hawk Talon from Talonalia and wear them together:

Now hop to it, only 17 days to go!!

Lace Up Boots – The 40 Quid Difference

I’ve wanted chunky black lace up boots for quite a while now. I debated over these Topshop ones for ages before deciding that I just could not part with £95 no matter how amazing they are (They are amazing). So I was beyond pleased when I found these in the Peacocks in Dalston for a mere £30:

I love them. They are super comfy. They go with everything. I wear them everywhere. Including on a recent shopping trip in central where I saw them in the window of Miss Selfridge FOR £70!? Yes, the same boots, from what I can see the same in every way. You can check out the Peacocks version here and the Miss Selfridge version here and decide for yourself. Me, I’m sticking with my Peacocks ones. Also if you go check out the jewelry, I picked up this ring there and it’s getting a lot of wear too.

Happy shopping!

Streetfoot

My Streetfoot outfit: Hat – H&M’s men’s section, Cape – Asos, Gloves – Topshop, Bag – Winners, Socks – H&M, Boots – Peacocks

The lovely JC and Richard took my photo on Brick Lane recently for a street fashion feature which

will be published in the December issue of Streetfoot. Streetfoot magazine is only available in

Korea, Japan & Hong Kong but you can check out the website here.