Westfield Stratford

 I went to the new Westfield shopping mall in Stratford on Wednesday. It's absolutely huge, I feel like I didn't manage to see all of it. Quite a few of the shops weren't open yet, but all of the ones that were all really busy (apart from Topshop, which was dead).

At the Jamie's Italian for cocktails and dessert.

The Khiels store gave me some lovely samples, and the Zara and Topshop had some great pieces (several of which I bought). There are a lot of high street stores, even a Primark, but all of the shops are well designed, more modern, and look great. 

I wore a Topshop jacket, Whistles trousers, Office ballet pumps and an H&M bag.

I'd definitely recommend a trip, but not until the hype has died down slightly - I was there at 7:30 on a Wednesday and it was heaving. 

Has anyone been to Westfield? Are you planning on making a trip in the future?

What I Wore: Stripes

Couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to wear vertical or horizontal stripes, so I wore both, justified by this outfit Carrie Bradshaw wore in the final episode of Sex and the City. I got my skirt from ASOS about three months ago, and it's still available online. I wore it with a Zara top, Ray Ban sunglasses, Toms and H&M bag. 

Alexa vs Tillie

Ever since it was released, I've always had a soft spot for Mulberry's Alexa bag. But I've always liked bags like that - I carried a satchel to school for years and my Dad has a very beautiful Simon Carter briefcase I have always coveted. 

Last week Mulberry released the Tillie bag. I thought that I couldn't be swayed from the Alexa, but I am tempted by the Tillie. 

The Alexa is a modern classic and I love it's slouchy leather, but I could see everything I put in there getting bashed about and crumpled. The Tillie is much more structured, and looks much more like a classic briefcase.

Bike ride.

It was such a beautiful day today that when I got out of my last seminar of the week (TGIF!), instead of going home and doing my reading there, I hopped on my bike and rode down to the river, and did my reading there instead.

It really did feel like a summer day, sitting in the sun, but the trees clearly show that autumn is well and truly here: 

 This is my bicycle - isn't she a beauty?

She's a mountain bike with 18 gears, but I love her basket most of all. The bag hanging from the handle bars is my current school bag - a Christopher Kane & Style magazine tote my dad picked up for me at London Fashion Week (as a consolation prize because I couldn't go). 

Flo x

What (Grace and) I Wore To: Sit on a bench

Grace is wearing a Topshop jacket with an H&M top and skirt.

I'm wearing a Topshop dress and jacket (that belongs to Grace), with Office boots and my vintage bag. 

Flo x

What I Wore To: See Inception

When I headed out to the cinema it was cooler than it has been, but it was still warm. When I left the cinema it was raining, biblical-style. So I had to hang around at the cinema for ages because there was no way I was running through the rain in this skirt - it's my mother's favourite vintage skirt. I wore it with an H&M t-shirt, Zara belt and Converse. I use this bag all the time, but it never seems to feature in my pictures - I got it from the Marc B concession in Topshop Oxford St. My necklace and charm bracelets are vintage and my watch is Marc by Marc Jacobs.

What do you think about the skirt? It's longer than a lot of the stuff I usually wear, and what a lot of stores are stocking at the moment, but hemlines are coming down for A/W '10, so I thought I'd stay ahead of the trend (that and my mother is several inches taller than me). My little brother thinks I look like a grandmother and "a bit formal". Any further developments on that? I do agree with the formal part, but I think the Converse and the t-shirt make it more casual.

Read my review of Inception here.

Flo x

The Ball (part deux)

For my school ball, I didn't want my dress to be the same as anyone else's, meaning that I couldn't go to high street or get something from the internet, and nothing vintage or from boutiques ever fits me properly, which left me with one option: employ my mother's degree in Fashion Design and get her to make me one. 

We bought a Butterick dress pattern and then took several trips to Broadwick Silks to get the perfect material. After deciding on pink silk with plain black net, my loving parent spent several days putting it all together. We then took a trip to the Swarovski Crystallized shop and bought some pale pink crystals to put on.
To get the shape of the skirt, we bought some net from a little fabric shop in Whitstable, and created a petticoat to go underneath.

 I love this dress - it came out so perfect - and it was exactly what I wanted. I would happily wander around in it all the time, if only I wasn't so worried about getting something on it and staining it (I nearly cried when I thought someone had got red wine on it).
Worn with my vintage bag and heels from Office (in the sale!)
Flo x

Gloria has returned....

Gloria (my camera) is completely over her diva moment and is ready for action.
When I went to London with Grace for the American Apparel rummage sale epic fail, I got two excellent vintage bags, for £16 each, from Absolute Vintage. I don't normally like vintage things (I'm not opposed to the idea, but I like vintage things to be in excellent condition and not to smell weird).

I got really excited when I saw this bag - it was sitting on a shelf next to a Chanel and I could see it's tag said "£18" and I thought, just for a second it was Chanel too. But no, it's just a cute little quilted bag, that is surprisingly roomy. It can handle the pressure of my purse, lip balm, phone, iPod, sunglasses and notebook without breaking a sweat.  

It's a better shape than most of the clutch bags available on the high street at the moment and it's real leather, so I think it's going to last for quite a while. 

The other bag was I bought twas the snake/croc skin bag (on the left). It's really stiff and sturdy so I can bash it about a bit without worrying about it breaking (i.e when I run for the bus, because even though I've passed my test I still have to catch the bus). I haven't used it much yet, but I think it will become my new school bag. 

The bag on the right is a bag I bought this time last year from Topshop, and is affectionately known as the Lovely Lucky Bag. I can see in all seriousness that it saved my life. I don't use it much, because the strap is a weird length, but it will always have a special place in my heart.

Flo x

P.S. See the scarf hanging multi-coloured scarf hanging behind the vintage back? I knitted that myself. 

Up on Vogue Mount

Here are a few more of my purchases from the weekend. Apologies for the plug socket in the picture, but living in suburbia means that every wall has a socket on it somewhere and Vogue Mount (as it is affectionately known) weighs quite a lot and I am too lazy to move it. 

The bag on top of Vogue Mount is from the Marc B concession at Topshop and I love it. I reminds me of a See by Chloe bag from last season, and it's the perfect size - it holds my school books and my make-up. The picture doesn't really do the colour justice. I was wearing my new red coat with it today, and because it's such a great red, it didn't clash like I thought it would. The scarf I put in the bag used to be my mum's and she got it in the 80s, when she still lived in London and it's actually part of a sari. I love it to pieces, and I wear it with nearly everything. 

The boots are from New Look and they are some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. I am actually quite embarrassed to say that, but New Look do have some good shoes this season, but THEY NEVER HAVE SIZE FOUR! The boots, which remind me of some Tony Burch boots (below), are actually the last pair of size 5s; I had to steal the lace for one of them out of a pair of size 6s. 

And finally, the book, Dracula by Bram Stoker, was one of six book I bought from Foyles. I haven't bought that many books in ages, but Foyles had such a great selection, that I couldn't resist - my local Waterstones is seriously lacking on the "good book" front. The other books I bought were:

The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote

Nobody's Girl - Sarra Manning

but I will write about these later. Right now I'm off to read Vogue. 

Flo x

Tony Burch boots image via: Net-a-porter.com

Bag Lady

The one item I always have trouble buying are bags. With the limited funding of an A-Level student, I can only buy one decent bag per season, and I tend to make the mistake of buying a bag too early, or waiting for too long and not buying a bag in case something better comes along.

Here are my current favourite "It" bags that I would invest in, if I had the money: 

The Marc Jacobs "Stam" bag. The design has been around for ages, and there have been many high street spin-offs, but I love the zig-zag pattern on this version.

The classic Chanel 2.55 has been my ultimate bag for a long time. I have a Mark B copy, but it's not as good as the real thing, and has biro doodles drawn all over it from when I got bored once in a Psychology lesson. 

I have big love for this bag. I think it's gorgeous and combines everything I want in a bag - secure, can be worn on the shoulder and be carried on the arm AND I bet it has loads of pockets inside. I fear it will sell out before I gather the funds to get one, but there's always sample sales. I considered getting a Bayswater, but as someone just told me, everyone has one, and I shouldn't sell myself short.

Normally I hit Topshop, H&M or ASOS for my bags, because of price limitations, and they also have good designer copies. Normally, I don't like River Island's bags - I always think they are too gaudy or too patent, or just not quite right, so seeing this bag while in town with my friend, made me realise that sometimes they get it right.

  

It reminds me of a Chloe bag I saw on a blog (that sadly I can't remember the name of or find the link to). I really like the idea of nude snakeskin (great trend combination) and at £34.99, it is within my price range.

I may have to buy it when I make my trip to London this weekend.

Flo x