Coat – Max Mara ‘Manuela’. Suit – Dagmar. Clutch – Loeffler Randall. Turtleneck – ZARA.

Alice inhales a bag of potato crisps between each motorway exits on the M4, West out of London. My hands are on the wheels (11-2, I swear, Brian) and concentrating on juggling the gearstick and the clutch. Due to an unexpected delay to our journey we, quite literally, are riding into a golden sunset, and I can’t help but sneakily press a button to peel the roof off the Jaguar F-TYPE and put on Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator’. Yeah, I’d like to think I’d have done well with the girls had I been a man.

It’s another escape, although this time more an escap-ade, with Alice Gao of Lingered Upon, to celebrate her first time in the UK. Like I said before, this is my preferred way of throwing parties: borrowing handsome (read: sexy) wheels and nipping out to the countryside. (It seriously is the best way to spend birthday money, given all requirements such as age/driving experience are met) Screw elaborate, expensive soirees where you end up frazzled by small-talk/up in a closet – borrow a car, grab a versatile camel coat (like this Max Mara beauty called Manuela from Selfridges) and honk from your friend’s doorstep. Roof down, of course.

Our destination? The road. And eventually, Bath – town set in the rolling South-West England, much better known for its natural hot springs and 18th Century Georgian structure. And home to Cereal Magazine, a visit to which is also on our agenda. In the meantime, a thick milky fog settles and we wade through – mostly with trepidation as the road gets narrower – but gabbing about everything and anything, music purring away gently with the car.

Coat – Max Mara ‘Manuela’. Turtleneck dress – ASOS. Clutch – Bally.

Coat – Max Mara ‘Manuela’. Skirt – Dagmar. Trousers & top – ZARA. Scarf – Jayley Cara. Bracelet – X Jewellery

Inspiration: Fabergé Eggs, Mary Katrantzou AW11, Max Mara gold-encrusted sweater on Vogue UK August 2012

I’ll be honest, this ‘inspiration’ does not stem from some encyclopaedic knowledge of art history, or anything remotely similar… in fact I had to google it at first and on spelling it ‘faberze’ Dr Google gave me all sorts of buying choices for Febreeze. Yes I’m shallow like that, and guess what hubby, we’ll never ever run out of air-refresheners, your clever wife just bought fifteen boxes online! And while I’m confessing and all, over the weekend I watched Ocean’s Twelve where George Clooney, Brad Pitt et al try to steal a Fabergé egg – and you guessed it – that’s where this idea comes from. I’m so deep it hurts sometimes.

A few tips:

• If the nail pen is difficult to control when doing your right hand (or left, if you’re right handed) (screw you if you’re ambidextrous, you superior person), try pushing out a dollop onto a scrap paper, then paint the lines on by ‘leading’ a bit of polish using the tip of the pen. You can also advertise for a flatmate for this nail-do then evict her/him out once you’re done.
• For the criss-crossing pattern, start from the inner corner of the nail and draw to the opposite mid-point, that should set a good angle for the rest of the lines. (Or else you’ll end up doing something like my left hand ring finger)
• If you have flower/star-shaped glitter try making bigger criss-cross pattern, and then add the glitter into the diamond a la Mary Katrantzou AW11

With the lovely Harel and Joanna (Style Digger)

Areta’s Jill Sander-esque shopper bag from H&M

Dress – Bohoboco, Shoes – River Island, Zipper dress – H&M, Orange/Furry bag – ASOS; Matte Yellow nail polish by Inglot; Thank you Areta for the outfit shots!

I’d expected this visit home to be short and sweet, thick and firm, opaque and gooey…whatever, but today marked the third week since I arrived straight after fashion week. That opaque and gooeyness has now thinned out into texture of watery old lotion and I’m looking at

still another two weeks here. Worst thing about this is that both my parents have left to Korea and the whole sense of home is a sanctuary has been perverted into home is a SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. Although it’s not exactly that I don’t have anything to do, the fact that I’m here alone fending for myself is just very foreign. AND THE BOREDOM, wow. Yesterday I put together an outfit and ended up just checking the mailbox. So this MaxMara event that Joanna invited me along came at a good time, I had just started to greet my reflection.

I personally love MaxMara – not butt-kissing (whose lucky butt?) or anything but it’s been my mum’s favourite brand and at times like this when you pack for a week’s journey and end up staying a month, you really start appreciating your mum’s taste. After, a dinner with Harel, Joanna and A helped recharge my social bar, I think I can last another three weeks with this if I do enough ‘call neighbour’ and ‘chat online’… if not, I can always try going steady with the social bunny. I promise I haven’t been playing the Sims.

In love with midi dresses this season.