Look 1 Boyfriend Fit Cargo Trousers – Uniqlo, Jacket & Bag – Zara, Shirt – YesStyle, Shoes – Sam Edelman

Look 2 Trousers – Uniqlo, Jacket – Vintage, Furry Bumbag – ASOS, Sweater – YesStyle

Look 3 Trousers – Uniqlo, Knitted jacket – Topshop Unique, Leather Jacket – Alpine Stars by Denise Focil, Shoes – Topshop, Necklace – COS, Shirt – American Apparel, Polkadot top – Motel Rocks

I say 3 different looks but I do realise that when you lean back a little and squint it’s really just one outfit, or one big ball of minty marshmallow-thing. Hey at least it’s healthy, this pastel obsession. Because erh… mint is a herb? I digress. I’m back on my favourite collaboration project with Uniqlo and will be posting many many many marshmallow outfits into Uniqlooks via Facebook, join me in on the fun! This is actually fun because I genuinely like Uniqlo and would’ve happily sold all my possessions for some extra fine merino socks anyway! Best improvement about Uniqlooks is the fact that they made a ‘share on Facebook wall’ an option so all my hipster ‘2-kool-4-skool’ Central Saint Martins buddies on Facebook from don’t need to be updated what eyebrow-raising things I do in my spare time.

Thank you hubby for your photo services x

Florence, Lungarno Collection Suites; Patrizia Pepe show & dinner; Boboli Gardens; Jacket – Zara, tropical cardigan – COS, Fluffy skirt – Topshop, Jeans – C/O Raw Denim Bar, shoes – Chloe Sevigney x Opening Ceremony

Dear Florence,

May I call you Flo? I feel like you and I are buddies already and I’ve only really seen you twice; well I did Google you a few times but don’t we all nowadays? I also have a flattering pic of you in my phone, but surely that’s not creepy… Yes sure, I can call you Ms. Florence Italy.

The first time I met you with the hubby I remember we tried to find somewhere nice to eat off the beaten track, maybe a snug little trattoria that’s slightly tacky but one run by an old man the locals call papa and knows the secret to every pasta dish. Of course, we took that wrong (or right? we’ll never know) turn and ended up redrawing your maps for 4 hours before we gave up and ate in the hotel (that we somehow managed to locate). So the next time I saw you, courtesy of the lovely Patrizia Pepe‘s invitation, I knew the streets and landmarks as if I’ve been living there for 20 years. Alas, I was also able to concentrate on other lovely features of yours: the beautiful nose bridge you call Ponte Vecchio and a very well groomed garden called Boboli down south.

I do wish to see you again soon. Perhaps when the weather is warmer, a down-jacket in a suitcase to Italy is what the fashion girls call soo-not-in.

Gotta Boogie,
Shini

p.s You have really weird street system.

Floral jacket – ZARA, Shirt – Motel Rocks Wallflower shirt, Jeans – MiH Jeans, Shoes – Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony, Bag – Cambridge Satchel Company via Mybag, Downvest – Uniqlo, Down jacket – UC of Benetton

I’ve just managed to extract myself from a corner where I’ve been ironing shirts for the past goodness-knows-how-long hours, the least I can say is that the sun was up when I started and now it’s fizzled away into matte charcoal – at least now with the low light the hubby won’t be able to spot the ‘SOS‘ I’ve written with blade-sharp creases under the arms until much later. My new mission is now to starve him so his shirts collection does not collectively equal a football stadium in fabric acre and we won’t have to spend our entire savings on electricity bills owed mostly to ironing. Yes, this has nothing to do with the outfit – I just had to ramble somewhere,  hopefully during his toilet break at work he will spot the SOS  while passing a mirror and in the same hour also read this post while sipping economist coffee. I love you! I promise!

Start London (Part of FarFetch boutique network), 42-44 Rivington Street, City of London EC2A 3BN

Right, I will now embark on a mini quest with the objective of sussing out cool shops/boutiques in London; if I can’t get my rear lumps to a gym this Olympics of a year then I might as well power-jog (or bus it, whatever) to places where I can actively practice the art of wallet-ry restraint and tone my forearm with the beast that bears the name of Canon.

Where else than START London to commence on such majestic quest? On my pre-Christmas visit I buckled for this little Charles Anastase polkadot number and decided it wouldn’t hurt to try it on, for what good is restraint when there is no direct challenge, non? I stepped out onto the dressing room landing to scrutinize myself in the mirror – the too-tight sleeves embossing polkadot craters on my arms (think it was two sizes smaller, come to think of it) –  clearly not a pretty sight as the shop advisers all scurried away to attend to a very un-straight shoes-display. As I was twirling, drunk with denial, the mirror suddenly wedged open and Mr Philip Start clambered out from what apparently was a stock room, and for a second I saw myself as a dapper man in an especially well-tailored suit (hello, Mr Start) and peed a little. Guess that was my own special inaugural starter pistol for the quest, so to speak.