Cardigan – Massimo Dutti. Denim skirt – ASOS. Shoes – Nike x Liberty. Bag – Couronne. Top – Topshop (US). Watch – Sekonda. Necklace – Rue Gembon. Ring – Michelle Oh

This is one of those ‘where are you looking, my boobs are down here‘ tops that I own, I get very tactical with my clothes sometimes. That’s from growing up with braces and bony legs (where did that go), I guess; I had a ‘Please be my friend’ t-shirt at one point too and I’d wear it when I’d feel particularly desperate, or when all my Regina George tank-tops were in the wash. Anyhoo. This was shot just before the weather turned a corner to coldsville, in fact, it was this particular day when Kit and I huddled up under her tiny black umbrella outside the British Museum with jumbo icecreams from Baskin-Robbins. That’s what I love most about being an adult, the fact that you can choose be a kid anytime. Like yesterday I swam in the bathtub, or the day before when I wailed for half an hour in Sephora because I lost my mother near the YSL counter. But I do my own taxes, I swear.

The Gilbert Scott, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

Elderflower blended with raspberry, tarragon and lemon

To start, brown and Forrest smoked salmon on a platter

Chicken schnitzel

Lake District sirloin steak with brandy mushroom sauce

Chocolate mousse, marshmallow, walnut ice cream

Wearing: Blouse – Zara. Wide-leg trousers – ASOS (similar ASOS). Heels – Lucy Choi. Bag – Couronne. Glasses – YesStyle.

If I may interrupt the fashion week service – not that there has been much of a ‘service’ going on (this blog is becoming a bit like MTV… no Music, just other random stuff) – I’d like to show you where I had a wee lunch the other week.

I must admit, there are still some ‘public’ places that I’m frightened to enter in London, after nearly seven years of snooping around town. Not in a lone-light-basement type of frightened, but a sort of intimidation you feel in a completely ‘non-you’ surrounding – a Cartier boutique, for instance, or anywhere I ask for a pedicure, really. The St. Pancras Renaissance hotel was one of those few, until I had lunch at the Gilbert Scott with Kit the other week, and realized I will have no use for the couture gown I stuffed in my purse. It does look like a palace, doesn’t it? And get this, you don’t need to step out of a Porsche (so I had to return that the next day…) I’ve obviously played this through in my head a few too many times – soundtrack from a Bond movie, Bond girl that needs a diet…etc. In actual fact, the hotel is one of the Gothic beauties designed by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1866 who also designed the Albert Memorial and the Victoria & Albert museum. I sure don’t have problems entering the V&A, heck, I’m regularly kicked out for hopping around taking photos. Despite the size and grandeur, the interior is welcoming, what with all the elaborate lines of Victorian decor and the gold leafing, all casting a warm glow in the corridors. The Gilbert Scott restaurant does a surprisingly down-to-earth, hearty fine-dining, championed by Marcus Wareing, and although the price bracket still puts it into a special occasion, the whole package is there. Ask for a custom mocktail that would wake your appetite, and you must end with the chocolate mousse, toasted marshmallows and walnut ice cream dessert. Forget the diet, just do a couple of zig-ah-zig-ah‘s* before you leave.

*Spice Girls’ Wannabe music video was filmed in the hotel in the year 1996.

The Mademoiselle C screening at the Mayfair hotel

Carine Roitfeld

Wearing: 18ct Gold Choker, 18ct Gold Earrings and Waterbead 18ct bracelet – Wright and Teague. Dress – Opening Ceremony. Shoes – Next (similar). Coat – Zara. Watch – Sekonda. Prep photos with help of my love Kristina of KrisAtomic at the Apartment.

As a web designer, I find it rather odd that the fashion industry – what with our life-or-death attitude towards façade and outer beauty – doesn’t boast more amazing website design. Most tick the right boxes – typography, graphic design, user experience, but not many seem to inspire (some of my favourites include Kate Spade Saturday, and Ermenegildo Zegna). I stumbled upon LoveGold a few weeks back and was positively tickled – in fact, if not to the point of peeing a little – over the design of the site. It’s effectively a library/collection of all things gold and the celebration of it, focused mainly on gold jewellery, sprinkled with subtle shopping suggestions and held together by stunningly edited stories (particularly loved this one of Du Juan). I’ve been hoping to work with them ever since.

Well, this is a quick little something we managed to organize and shoot over LFW – accented by a couple of handsome pieces from Wright & Teague – before the screening of the new Carine Roitfeld documentary (a Fabien Constant production), Mademoiselle C. Not yet too sure about what I feel about the film… it was inspiring to learn more of her personality and how driven she is by her passion for image-creation, this someone that I’ve only come to know through the gaps between the throng of streetstyle photographers during Paris Fashion Week. But all-in-all, it seemed to avoid a lot of the sensitive issues around Carine’s departure from Vogue Paris and later their rebuttal to the CR fashion book, things that I feel like, if included, would have made for a truly in-depth documentary. If anything there is a scene Karl Lagerfeld pushes around Carine’s grand daughter in a pram and that scene alone is gold.

Mademoiselle C is released in UK cinemas today, and the DVD/download will be available on September 28th (trailer).Collaborative post with LoveGold.

Stumbling through NYC | New York Fashion Week SS14

Wearing: Sweater – Zara. Jeans – James Jeans. Heels – Lucy Choi. Bag – Couronne. Tartan shirt – Motel Rocks. Thank you Cup of Couple for helping with the shots of moi!

Well, it’s official. My champion all-nighter days are over. Now come the era of hot, crumbling mess under restaurant tables, desperate to catch a snooze between courses that are technically being served at 3am in the morning. It didn’t help that I never bothered to change my watch to NY time, so throughout the evenings every glance at the wrist was met with a mini heart-attack. Largely because normally by 11pm the hubby would be out by the door with a Sharpie and a pair of suede shoes, threatening with a game a tic-tac-toe on a pair of Chloés, but also because it really felt like all the lights were off in my body except the stomach into which I was shovelling dessert. (PARTY UP IN HURR) It was all very confusing. I returned to the hotel after each consecutive late night, reached for the laptop slurring I nee to update de bluuuuuuuug, then wrote some incoherent ramble before planting my face square onto a corner of the keyboard, typing a 25-page blogpost consisting of just Q’s, ~’s, @’s and W’s. I guess it stopped when I eventually rolled myself into bed, which let me tell you, felt like diving into milk. I guess jet lag is the closest thing to a drug I’ll ever experience. I do apologize for the radio silence, and the avalanche of posts on stand-by, soon to clog up your Bloglovin’ feed. For now, here’s a couple of shots from NYC/NYFW to get started.

Hope you’re having a wonderful week and enjoying the fashion month so far. 

Wearing: Sweater – Topshop. Skirt – Zara. Heels – Valentino. Bag – Nina Ricci ‘Ballet‘.

For those kind, brave-hearted folks who follow me on Instagram will know that I’ve recently taken on a 6-week beginners’ ballet course at the City Academy, all part of a personal ‘spring clean’ campaign brought on by a sudden onset of severe eczema a couple months back. It’s still a bit of a battle, although the flare-ups are much less aggressive nowadays… I’m still trying to adjust my lifestyle and work towards curbing it, accepting it can’t be completely cured. A spot of ballet every week seemed like a gentle, manageable solution to get myself back to being a little physical, while revisiting something I loved doing imitating when I was a kid. Coincidentally, a week into the course, I got an email  from Nina Ricci to work on a video to coincide the launch of their new bag, named Ballet. It felt natural, so I accepted. We shot the video in Frame, my preferred dance-studio in Shoreditch (long time-followers will also remember this particular Black Swan-inspired barré class 2 year ago), and while I was hoping to explain the connection to my personal initiative, we decided to keep it light and frothy (+ squeaky). Thankfully, the bag isn’t all that fluffy and airy in character, it’s actually a very solid construction of beautiful, supple leather met with suede; golden metallic detailing that hint on a bit of maturity and luxuriousness. If anything, it”s the size of the bag that gives away the personality of the owner, carrying a little more than what’s necessary, perhaps hiding a secret or two it the interior. Hope you enjoy the video!

Collaborative post with Nina Ricci.