Leather shorts – Vintage, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang viaVestiaire Collective, Trench – Uniqlo, Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Stripe Top – Uniqlo, Last pic necklace – DanniJo

Let me just answer that tickling question – did I peel off my striped-top and give it to Carrie while she waited topless on my bed? No. Not in that order anyway. I mean, no. We just happened to bring one top and they both happened to be striped – but picture us walking around Milan looking like girls who ran away from mime-school; amusing is one way to put it.

Anyhow. It always feels wonderful to be back in Milan, the intensity and… ubiquity of sunlight is really something here. Whenever someone tells me how a country’s climate make all the difference in a person’s temperament, I like to wave my cynicism stick at them (shaped like a frantically-purchased, over-priced corner-store umbrella, naturally), but in Milan I always stand corrected. I stood, in fact (but no miming, I swear), in awe of the well-dressed, well-groomed men and women, while happily soaking in the beauty of the sun-kissed city. It wasn’t necessarily hot or anything, but I loved the fact that light was so abundant until one moment around 9pm you look up to realise the sun has just quietly melted away. Whereas in London the sun is really just a matter of abruptly switching it ON or OFF – at  7pm the sun goes OFF; in October, the sun goes OFF. Sometimes it does disco-hour and does ON-OFF-ON-OFF for half the day, like how we all played with the light-switch when we were seven or eight. I tell you, if I find that kid who’s behind this perverted weather I will put it in a box and send it to Korea.

Thank you Ykone and Bottega Veneta for the much needed break away from cold & wet London; thank you Carrie for the shots of me.

More to come in Part II & III with Bottega Veneta Initials concept and a peek into Salone del Mobil!

(Left-to-Right)1 Leather Coat – Gift from mummy (Massimo Dutti), Stripe Top –Uniqlo, Jeans – Replay, Khaki heels – Primark, Necklace –DanniJo, Cross-body Bag– ASOS
2 Black neoprene jacket – H&M, Parachute Dress – All Saints, Stripe Top – Uniqlo, Bag – Barbara Boner, Necklace – Brook & Lyn, Booties – Missoni
3 Leather shorts – Vintage, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang via Vestiaire Collective, Trench – Uniqlo, Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Stripe Top – Uniqlo

Boys, look away, go play with the lawn sprinkler please. Girls, should I be afraid the Uniqlooks monthly

recap is synchronizing with my release-the-Kraken time of the month? Like clockwork! I hate you! I love you. Nowadays this seems to be the only thing that helps keep track of time… this and an evil pile of bills that clog up the mailbox but never-mind that because I don’t believe they exist, realllllllly, it’s just a fantasy. (Hubby says he’s got it, such a man) Anyhow, just a quick one for today – the classic striped top that just about goes with anything, done up in three ways. Mind, I might’ve butchered the fail-safe classic with the parachute-dress, but right now that floats my hormonal boat so please let’s just call it an outfit.

1    Cotton Shirt – Uniqlo Men, Jeans – Zara, Shoes – Friis & Company (via Zalando), Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Boyfriend Watch – ASOS
2    Black trench – Calvin Klein (gift from mummy!), Cotton Shirt – Uniqlo Men, Trousers – Uniqlo, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang via Vestiare Collective, Diary – Filofax Enigma
3    Leather Cap – Ebay, Cotton Shirt – Uniqlo Men, Dress – ASOS, Jacket – H&M, Leather trousers -ASOS, Shoes – Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony

The irregular geography of the warehouse conversion that is our flat lends a lifestyle not unlike a 11-year-old’s birthday party held in one of those kiddy indoor-playgrounds with rubber obstacles and plastic-ball pools that generally smell of feet and pee. OK, the latter probably not so much – on most days, at least – unless I once again decide to be clever with the pantry arrangement and place a melon on the top shelf and then 5 weeks later find out it’s leaked pee-like substance throughout the entire shelving unit. Rotten melon reeks of sweaty feet, why naturally! Anyhoo, from the mezzanine level I have a sweeping view of the entire flat, so by default anything that needs to be taken down to the lounge, or the general direction of the exit, is simply thrown down over the rails. With an accompanying ‘weeeeeeeeee’ noise at that. Said items either land on the bicycles or squarely on the couch, which is in fact where a haphazard pile of junk now lives – aka my new closet. Consisting of this Uniqlo Men’s pink cotton shirt, a few crumpled ‘silk’ tops, two pairs of jeans, a jersey dress, four jackets for the daily season-change and of course socks of unknown cleanliness sprinkled in between… these are things I’ve been pulling out for the past how many months I’ve had the day-job. If I’d known growing up was to be this messy I think I’d have followed the boy out the window when I had the chance, but then again looking at the state of the flat I’ve clearly convinced him to marry me and sign Neverland over in a prenup. From time to time I slide down the stairs’ handrail fireman-style and wail siren-noises to alert the hubby that I’m hungry.

Please do check out Uniqlooks to see what I’ve been up to and join in on the Uniqlo dress-up fun! Thank you Kit for helping with the first outfit and hubby for the rest!

Favourites at KCD Pressday SS12

I may report trend like BBC weather forecast the next 24 hours (a slot machine of weather icons running on 50p coins, more like) but it sure looks like a pastels trend gale is brewing in the horizon. Not that I should mind much, everytime I spill my face-mattifying loose powder on my lap I become a pastel monster anyway, might as well be trendy this time round. I will get those Marant sneakers though, so hide yo kids, hide yo wives, and hide your husband.

Jacket – Horace, Tee – Alexander Wang (2 years ago in a crazy sale!), Trousers – MM6, Shoes – Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony, Clutch – JHYoo, Necklaces – Arielle de Pinto & KD2024, Bracelet – COS

For an inherent night owl I do have a painfully day wardrobe… Guess I’m the kind of owl that rearranges all the rats and bunnies by size and colour in my little hole in the willow tree, and writes a blog, instead of going out to dance with the bats. I guess it’s also not really surprising that I packed a Uniqlo men’s plaid shirt to wear as a skirt for the Campari party in Milan – that’s the extent of my creativity, second to wearing the right shoe on the left foot and vice versa. So arty farty… ridiculous, right?

So I got some help from WOK boutique in Milan, introduced to me by Farfetch, for a look a little more presentable. It’s not the usual frock-the-size-of-a-handkerchief look but if you look closer the OC boots do tease with ‘stripper-boots’ platforms so I guess that made it all appropriate for the evening. One thing I didn’t realise, is that Farfetch is not really one huge e-retailer like I thought all along, but actually a hotpot of quirky small backstreet boutiques all around the world… talk about accessibility!