Coat – H&M. Skirt – Next (Similar). Boots – Zara. Bag – Kurt Geiger (Similar). Turtleneck – American Apparel.

Clocking up nearly eight years in this city and having seen the fantastic variety of elements the sky had for offer (and spewed down regardless of preference) across any given season, the only way I’ve found – so far – to tell apart the damn seasons, was the flower market on Columbia Road. Granted, it’s still a pretty shoddy technique, because I’ve seen snow on sunflower petals, rainwater dousing a perfectly fine barbeque… and so on, but it seems to estimate better than anything else. Anything else, namely, being the date we’ve nominated ‘the official first day of Spring’, which I find basically as credible as me declaring: ‘From now on, I will blog diligently’. It’s Christmas-degrees on the ‘first day of Spring’; 2-week blog hiatus because of jetlag… = same unreliable shebang. At the flower market however, the tell-tale signs are in the flowers: the species, colours and sizes. While I won’t dare to boast I know my flowers, the familiar superstars coincide with the season’s traits: Daffodils, daisies and tulips quickly ensued by the sweetness Springtime; Sunflowers and Dahlias with balmy weathers of Summer… and so on. After a couple of weeks of indecisive selection of evergreens and rust-coloured hydrangeas, last week the market was suddenly flooded with yellow Billy balls and multicoloured tulips, so I picked up a bunch in the name of finally teasing the sun out from behind the clouds… now let’s wait and see if the theory sticks, shall we?

And speaking of Spring…

Looking forward to going back on this potion that always takes me back to NY. Which reminds me, the Marc Jacobs Daisy pop-up store over NYFW was apparently a wild success. As I’d imagined, the #MJDaisyChain hashtag currency overpowered the $$, an innovative social media twist that really made this campaign all the more special. Like I said before, I’d have happily tweeted my tails off for a top-up of Daisy or a piece of Langley Fox Hemingway’s Daisy-themed artwork… or a Marc Jacobs Wellington bag (DAMN). Click on the arrows to navigate the slideshow! In collaboration with Marc Jacobs Daisy (conclusion).

Instagram @parkncube

Coat – Cotton (Korean store). Sweater – Zara (similar). Black jeans – James Jeans. Boots – Kurt Geiger. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Rings – Monica Vinader. Bag – 3.1 Phillip Lim. Luggages – Samsonite Cosmolite.

Working my way back slowly through this MA-HOOSIVE backlog and realizing that, while I’ve now officially earned the Worst Blogger in History title (I’d like to thank the hobo academy for the consistent support and encouragement…), it really is a pleasure to re-live some bits from the past few months through mere snaps. Bits like, the giddy first 24 hours of travel where you arrive at the airport, clumsily hustling three Samsonite rolling trunks that contain a clever edit – or so you think then- of your belongings, unsoiled and expertly rolled. You’re in some 4-inch heels too, because comfort isn’t particularly an important currency at this stage – well, aren’t you sitting for the next eleven hours? I always travel in heels. At the check-in desk the bags are fared well, and in exchange you receive a slip with promises of grand adventure, and secretly hope the guys at border security don’t mind that you’re smuggling in butterflies in your stomach.

I’m blowing off the layer of dust on the rest of the Seoul photos, so watch this space for more from my January past. Let’s Benjamin Button for a couple of weeks, shall we? 

A huge thanks to Samsonite (x Fashiolista) for the adventure – do check out how I packed for Seoul, and a short visual diary on Fashiolista if you want a head start.

Three ways I wear Nike LunarElite Sky Hi

Look 1: Lace dress – Zara. Sweatshirt – Nike. Shoes – Nike LunarElite Sky Hi. Clutch – Chanel. Sunglasses – Mango.

Look 2: Coat – Nanushka. Sweater – COS. Skirt – ASOS. Shoes – Nike LunarElite Sky Hi

Look 3: Cardigan & skirt – Peter Pilotto for Target (via Net-a-porter). Shoes – Nike LunarElite Sky Hi. Bag – JinYoo103684. Bag – Kurt Geiger. Turtleneck – Uniqlo. Puffer Vest – Gap.

I don’t know what it is about my late twenties but boy am I working up a collection of trainers, each bought with the same reasoning technique that accounts for the thirty bags of jumbo peanuts in our pantry: THIS MUST BE HANDY DURING THE APOCALYPSE. It’s odd because 1) I am a hamburger when it comes to exercise (i.e I do not put the ‘train’ in ‘trainer’), and 2) I held a crusade against flats all throughout my teenage years and stuffed tissues, not only in my bra, but in my trainers as well for the wedge effect. So I came across these Nike LunarElite Sky Hi‘s, I reasoned that yes I needed another pair of trainers because APOCALYPSE, but also revelled at the fact that it was my teenage crusade manifested (Waterbra? check), in perforated neoprene and all the essential lightweight, cushioning technology of a classic Nike running model. Plus, neon yellow because I’m biologically hazardous like that.

Gilet – All Saints

Fluffy gilet – All Saints (on sale!). (DIY Slashed) jeans – Supertrash. Bootes – Kurt Geiger. Bag – Couronne. Silk & mohair sweater – Hoss Intropia. Watch – Lasson & Jennings. Rings – Monica Vinader. Silk bracelet – Hermes Petit h. Gold bracelet – Kenzo. Thank you Kit for helping with the outfit pics!

So… I may have skipped out on the annual rumble with desperate last-minute shoppers by finding gifts earlier in the month, but turns out none of that mattered because I was that person with the bulging Santa sack at the post office on the very last working day before Christmas begging for stamps. I don’t even get points for joining a 50-strong queue that snaked around the building because none of the gifts will arrive on time anyway. I was also the person fighting a lady with three kids over the last orange in Tesco’s thinking if I don’t buy this now we will get starve and DIE over Christmas, or get scurvy, then die. Oh, and the girl that got carried away buying winter essentials as if preparing for a snow disaster, and by essentials I mean fluffy gilets from All Saints (on sale, no less) that probably aren’t very practical for any disaster, really, unless I’m doing a style-off with the snow. In any case, I do hope for a bit of weather drama over the next few days, just so I can blame it for the gifts not arriving on time and hope no one will check the date on the stamp, or this blogpost. Oh I’ve screwed up this year, haven’t I.

Since I’m probably getting whips/handcuffs again for being naughty this year, let me know if you’re as bad as me with Christmas and maybe we can start a business together by selling them all. What do you think?

Plus, the winners for the 5th Anniversary giveaway!

White coat – Charlie May AW13. Leather trousers – Topshop (similar Topshop). Shoes – Kurt Geiger. Sweater – H&M.

I’m a simple person, not minimalist simple, just tea in a mug, juice in a glass type of simple, in fact, I may be one of society’s flock of sheep that buy things with louder packaging. I’ll even add a beeehhh while I’m at it. Is it just me, or minimalist simple seems a somewhat superior form of lifestyle – I mean, how do you deal with so much white with all the food flying around in life? I have orange bedsheets for when I feel like taking my Spaghetti Bolognese dinner to bed, for example – which is every day except curry day. Curry day is green sheets day. I pinched this coat (Charlie May AW13) off Charlie’s studio the other morning when I’d arrived completely underdressed for a coffee date, and given my history with food/drinks and how famously it orbits the massive body that is, well, me, naturally I was hesitant to take it out. Alas, it was freezing and eventually I convinced myself that since I’m craving a flat white anyway it could as well be fine. I don’t know about the chocolate brownie though.

Thank you so much to those who entered the 5th Anniversary giveaway. Here are the five winners by random selection, congratulations!* Additionally, I’ve decided to pick 8 extra winners because I figured that’s the least I can do for the beyond amazing response I’ve had in the past week. I’m sorry if you weren’t one of the 13 to be picked, but if my love is worth anything you can download some here.

*Winners will be notified by email, please make sure you add shini@parkandcube.com to your contacts so that none of them end up next to ‘you win £3 million’ emails by Nigerian princesses, I can’t compete with that.