Pleased to meet you, NYC

Distributing fingerprints on every surface at the Marc Jacobs SoHo boutique

Marc Jacobs Daisy

Marc by Marc Jacobs FW13

Wearing: Shearling leather jacket – Muubaa Aurora. Contrast-sleeve jumper – Topshop. Quilted orange skirt – Topshop Boutique . Geometric print skirt – YesStyle. Bag –Kurt Geiger Shoes –Givenchy.

This post was drafted the day after I’d returned from a trip I still suspect was only a dream, one of those sickly-sweet ones you get when your bed linen are freshly washed and you’ve just jumped in from a hot bath. The photos were edited ten thousand feet above the pond, then strung together in a sequence once home, I was drunk with fatigue, but my head was still in the clouds with fresh giddines. I decided I’d leave it at that to pick up fresh the next day, which was the day I read the infamous piece by Suzy Menkes on the circus around fashion weeks and the general integrity of bloggers. Now, to be clear, this is not a rebuttal, or even a commentary. I’m not in the bleachers when it comes to  the street circus game – I’m neither a ‘peacock’ (not that I choose not to, but learnt early on that I do not have the tailfeather(x) -factor), or a ‘black crow’ fashion industry member shuffling through to do their job at fashion week. But it did make me halt because that blogger in paragraph twelve who accepts ‘trophy gifts and paid-for trips’, does refer to me too – in fact, isn’t this sort of post exactly one of the latter? A few days later Leandra wrote her two cents, and then Susie, both gracefully agreeing and disagreeing with Menkes’ points, but also undeniably displaying an attitude of self-reflection which I also found myself to adopt on reading the article. The only difference was, I couldn’t find a suitable response (preferably backed by stellar writing talent) or even the balls to ignore it completely, especially having this post lined up. So every evening since returning I’ve been arguing with myself whether to man-up and post, or seek refuge in the Winchester with a pint and wait for it all to blow over… and this went for two weeks. Who was I kidding, this was not going to ‘blow over’. Echoing what Leandra wrote earlier, we are indeed entering an era where bloggers will not be able to show preference without having our motives questioned. So here I am, withdrawing myself from behind the oh no, will they judge me too wall, with a small promise to you that I will be as honest as I possibly can when it comes to the content of this blog, and that quality control will come before any amount of kebab-money.

With that said, I’d like to thank the Coty and Marc Jacobs teams for the opportunity for an amazing first-time experience in New York, and a privilege to learn more about Marc Jacobs fragrances through #MJDaisyChain. Stay tuned for more!

Will instagram for food, I kid you not

Jenny from the (Swiss) block (of cheese)

(All instagram-style additions in this post shot with the Samsung Galaxy Camera)

Military coat – Zara. Jeans – James Jeans. Shoes – Isabel Marant. Scarf – Highlands tartan scarf. White cashmere turtleneck – Uniqlo. Travel wallet – LV Mon Monogram; Thank you Jen for the shots of moi!

Last weekend my life turned a corner… correction, my crusade for a hyperglossed online representation of my life turned a corner. Berlin had won the Most Photogenic City as part of Samsung’s Life’s a Photo social campaign around the new Samsung Galaxy Camera, and I was part of 45 bloggers that were invited out in celebration. Guys, this camera changes nothing, and absolutely everything – I’m having a whole new instagramming experience with this. See, I’ll still pause a perfectly civil dinner to do Taichi moves over the food with an image-capturing device, but those photos will be crisp and juicy in colour. I’ll still look like a complete douche-baguette fondling my phone at the dinner table but this time I’ll be editing my photos instead of flipping between filters that make the chocolate dessert look like cold poop, or hot poop. I will still get pinched nerves on my shoulder thanks to weight in cameras (nothing replaces the Canon beast), but I’ll have agility with this beauty tucked in my sleeve. And get this, I will still overshare the mundane things of my life, but I may or may not use the 21x zoom to shoot the better looking food across the room because haven’t you heard, bragging about stuff that ain’t yours is the next level, yo. See – nothing, yet EVERYTHING.

On an unrelated note, and I’ve spoken about this before, there it was again – the odd sense of comfort when travelling with a bunch of bloggers where an eyebrow shrug towards a corner means outfit shots, now, and collectively tackling snow in four inch heels until we’re reduced to communicating in 140-character grunts, mostly using words like feet, hurt, hungry, cold, hotel. There were many, many bloggers/photographers/instagrammers (I’ve never seen that many MEN in a press trip) at this event and at the end of the day we were inevitably sat around a round table having to make small talk and seem normal. Of course, being bloggers and inherently introverts – we all kept our head dipped and noses in this amazing new apparatus, affixing clip-art party hats on photos of eachother using the editing software, silently laughing at jokes that was never heard past the salt & pepper shaker point on the table. The waitress thought we were in group-prayer for the entire evening. Best party ever, really.

Also, Most Photogenic City in the world? Discuss.

Uniqlooks January: One item, three looks – Dotted silk blouse

Look 1: Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Shearling leather jacket – Muubaa Phoenix. Khaki pants – Uniqlo. Shoes – Zara. Bag – 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli. Hat – Gap.

Look 2:   Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Sleeveless trench – YesStyle. Leather shorts – Vintage. Shoes – H&M x MMM. Puffer vest – Uniqlo. Bag – Kurt Geiger.

Look 3:  Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Shearling leather jacket – Muubaa Aurora. Bag – Reiss. Skirt – ASOS. Lace-up booties – Sam Edelman. Headphones – Frends @ Avenue32

Hello, what’s up? My dog ate my keyboard. Once again I got an overwhelmingly positive response for a post and this time I just had to take a step back and bask in that momentary bliss, shedding the occasional hot tear that would fall in the wine glass that I’d drink from while bobbing my head to Alanis Morissette. (Fact: it is actually impossible to bob head to AM) Recycle-chic, you saw it here first. Let’s get back with the program, shall we – and what better way than to let trusty old Uniqlooks to press the resume button! Over to you, dotty blouse. Wish I could fake it and pretend this was shot relatively recently but snow in London – the kind that stays white below the ankles – is so rare that we all know these looks were shot that particular day over a week ago. Not sure which day it was, but I’m pretty sure it’s the one where lots of babies will be born exactly nine months down the line because heck I’ve never seen a city that doesn’t actually clean the snow. Hands up if you live in London and own a snow shovel? Of course, yours truly is out in the streets with the hubby only getting as intimate as getting a snowball in the face. Oh the things I write in this blog to keep it PG-13… (apparently thirteen-year-olds are the key to blogging success, hey)