Château de Fontainebleu

Neoprene Jacket, H&M trend. Jeans, Levi’s. Scarf, Alice & Olivia. Sunnies, Jeepers Peepers. Oxford Shirt, hubby’s Ralph Lauren. Chelsea Boots, Topshop

So… remember that giggle-and-titter trip to Disneyland from a few moons past with Jen, Fred & hubby? Believe it or not, there was quite a journey before we reached happily ever after in the land of dreams – no I’m not referring to the Eurostar ride. I’m talking about the shuffle into van and drive down towards the gleaming castle and towards a distant, yet still squeaky-clear, melody of ‘it’s a small world afterall’ and everyone hoots – even the boys – then driver takes sharp left and continues down 45 minutes through French countryside and passengers sulk silently type of journey. Later we found out the Vienna International Hotels team had so gracefully planned an extensive itinerary, which involved of touching four corners of the Disney experience, where three don’t sell princess dresses. Disneyland was first corner, naturally; second was Paris – an hour van-ride from the Dream Castle Hotel, where we got tipsy and watched boobies jiggle on stage. La Vallée Village was third, the outlet shopping village (think Bicester Village) two minutes from the hotel where I was denied purchasing a certain pair of Céline sandals marked £190 by hubby who pulled the leash (mostly expressing disgruntle over unfulfilled one-in-one-out policy). Fourth and last was Château de Fontainebleu, home of many, MANY Kings, Queens, Emperors and Empresses’ over the past eight centuries. Let me first apologize for the amount of photos you’ve had to scroll through and here’s a Gatorade for your fingers. (Olympic spirit!) By the third chamber I gave up with the tourguide and lagged behind, it felt a crime to simply brush by the breathtaking details of each room – the brilliant colours, intricate patterns and rich textures… Heck, I know this sounds oddly grown-up and therefore incredibly unlike moi but I’d actually like to visit Disneyland again and dedicate one whole day checking out the 9/10th of the palace we missed. Dibs on the palace if I ever become King of France.

One piece, Three looks: Knee-length chino trousers

Wallet, Chloe

Look 1 (from left to right): Mint Sweater, H&M. Patterned blouse, Zara. Shorts, Uniqlo. Sandals, Camilla Skovgaard, Straw Bag, Chloe
Look 2: Jacket, Barbour. Checkered blouse, Motel Rocks.Shorts, Uniqlo. Bag, Marc Jacobs (via Monnier Freres). Shoes, Kate Kanzier. Headphones, Urbanears. Belt, JHYoo. Cat-eye Sunnies, Beyond Retro
Look 3: Bag, Bottega Veneta Initials. Shoes, Coii.kr. Sleeveless blazer, ASOS Africa. Checkered Top, stolen from mummy. Shorts, Uniqlo.

You know how summers go. Vacations, festivals, family reunions, hairplugs, cider by the river, breast reduction surgery, sample sales, that one trip to the zoo where you swear off children forever… I know you know what I mean, you’re BUSY, so, what blog? Well. None of those happened to me in the past postless week so sadly no point getting excited (do we count slamming chest-on into a shelf ‘reduction surgery’? YES/NO). In fact I was home the entire week working 9-to-5 in my suit (suit for super-cool stuff like sleeping) migrating from desk to bed and occasionally the postbox for Dominos Pizza flyers. ‘Tomorrow!’ was the battle-cry, and this blog was the victim in one. Hey, I’m back now, with chino shorts (what an odd thing to comeback in) – I bet you’ve never seen anything like this in a glossy magazine before! In fact I’d fold them neatly and place them in a box with the power drill and a jug of motor oil, marked ‘Utility Stuff’. It was fun though, the challenge of trying to style one, and since I was on a roll of NOT blogging this is a pretty good brain teaser to help reverse directions and roll the other way towards a land of bountiful motivation and cakes, lots of cakes…

Many thanks to Kitty Kat for helping with the photos

Above: Two example photos treated with the Chloe App

Dress, vintage. Belt, DIY rope-belt from sailing shop. Bag, Chloe. Floral garland, DIY by Kit

 L’Eau de Chloe; shot at Trent Park, London with favourite meadow-frolick partner Kit Lee. Editing done by Park & Cube.

I know what you’re thinking, especially if you’re one of the lovely folks who follow on Instagram/Twitter and have been subject to insta-spamming these past few weeks… (Not that if you don’t you’re not lovely. Just cuddly. And out of harm’s way, actually) If anyone has a brochure to Chloé Anonymous pleaze do pop one in the mail, or else I’ll resort to spritzing my pulse points with Listerine to rid of this addiction. Hear me out, L’Eau de Chloé embodies the smell of summer, and because we’re having a complete lack thereof in London right now, I am obsessed with it. It’s just like how I used to be obsessed with a bottle of Jelly Bean tutti-frutti perfume I had shipped from the US because Jelly Beans weren’t available in Poland back when I was a teen… Anyhow, for the past three weeks I’ve analysed black cloud patterns (‘is it going, I think it’s going, no it’s coming back, CURSE YOU SKY‘) and cried into rain; until last Friday a spell of sun was spotted in the horizon and Kit and I blasted out the door to meet at Trent Park in North London and got these shot. Oh yeah, milked that sun, we did. The ground was still slippery under the meadow grass, but in lieu of the horrid weather I have full confidence to say it was due to rain, and not the three German shepherds that weaved by us sniffing…

For a chance to win Chloe accessories and perfumes make sure to check out the competition that’s running until the 1st July – download the photo-editing app, apply a filter to a snap or two of your favourite light & breezy summer moment and submit to the lookbook!

Thank you Kit for the massive help in snapping these photos and general field-frolick-age.

Dior Nude ‘Beige Safari‘ Nail Polish, Rings, mummy’s old

One goopy nude-ish varnish that resembled melted baby-doll plastic and one messy bottle of are-you-sure-you-studied-art colour concoction later (red, pearly white, bit of brown… OK this is pearly poo), I’ve finally found the perfect shade and consistency in the Dior Beige Safari polish. It does make my hands look like Barbie fingers but I think it gives just the right amount of clean and classic like a pair of nude heels would. The consistency is just watery enough to glide on a few coats and finish with an Essie ‘Good to Go’ top coat (my preferred) and it feels like the day you got your braces off. (This may or may not mean I lick my fingers every ten minutes)

As seen in H&M Magazine Summer 2012 feature

Worn with: Blazer, Maarten van der Horst for Topshop. Sheer tunic, Zara. Fringed bag, Barbara Boner. Shoes, Patrizia Pepe. Belt, Louis Vuitton via Vestiaire Collective

I highly recommend watching this video before you even contemplate raiding the scarf drawer for a victim, because I personally made a mistake of not consulting the mighty internet (one does not simply walk into DIY without an appointment with Dr Google) and ended up with – I kid you not – three disfigured DIY ‘silk’ trousers with half-crotch/inside-out-seams/uneven legs*. Thank goodness the scarves were about £7 each from H&M, I’m filing that as ‘sewing-and-general-logic’ lesson fee.

• If available, it’s best to use a pattern (for lounge pants or PJ bottoms) since then you can’t go wrong with fitting, but you can also be a renegade and go freehand of fashion dummy like moi (and possibly pay 3 scarves worth in lesson fee)
• The length of the trousers really depend on the size of scarf you can find – even with a small-ish scarf you could use to make a pair of silk summer shorts (or cellu-lightning-frightening butt shorts, I like to call)
• Taking a fine material as silk through the sewing machine might prove to be quite difficult in the beginning, so do few practice rounds with the left-over scarf bits after cutting out the pattern. Although I guess by then it’s too late to turn back and you might as well butcher the poor scarf

Good luck!