Summits and supermodels



The Fashion Summit 2009 is fast approaching on 17th November and I went to its reception drinks last night. What the eff is the Fashion Summit, you ask? Good question. In a nutshell it’s a two-day conference where fashion industry players from Sir Stuart Rose to influential bloggers will share their wisdom and discuss the future of fashion. I’ll be in attendance on both days and hope to blog about what I see and hear. At last night’s soiree, I chomped beef skewers with William Tempest (so lovely), Daisy de Villeneuve (hot-topic: fashion freeloaders), blog buddy Rebekah Roy and hubby Chris, Aquascutum’s Michael Herz and Courtney Blackman from Forward PR who also runs FBC.

Willliam Tempest and Rebekah Roy

I also caught up with Martyn Roberts and John Walford, co-directors of Vauxhall Fashion Scout. John Walford managed to shut me up as he reminisced about the days when he used to direct Linda, Naomi, Christy and Helena at the shows and take Helena and Linda record shopping. Wow, what did they buy John? “Helena was all about the singer-songwriter and indie bands while Linda was more easy listening.” Ooh, like Neil Diamond? “No, not that easy listening. I got her into Nick Drake.”
[Pic: Christopher Dadey]


Trouser Trauma




Oh I’m in such a bind! My recent acquisition of various jackets, tops and shoes means I now have a shortage of bottoms to fill in the gap and I’m not quite ready to embrace the trend for GaGa pants however much Miuccia wants me to.

What I need: No more jeans but a tapered or slim-fit chino or a not-too-baggy peg pant (a demi-peg?) to go with my buttoned-up-to-the-neck denim jacket. Gap’s chinos had potential but weren’t small enough (I seem to be a UK size 4 in Gap. Wtf?) YMC has some that are on my list to try on. COS – nothing. Acne’s chinos were too tapered resulting in puffy-butt syndrome….Not chic. I’m rather drawn to these Net-a-porter Vanessa Bruno Athé trousers (above) but they’re fuller than I’d like and don’t exactly spell ‘everyday’ do they?

A cigarette chino is what I really want, one that stops shy of the ankle (remember, I’m short petite, so length is an issue). It really needs to be black, grey, khaki or dark beige although red could be nice. Uniqlo had nothing to offer and I don’t do high street as a rule, but if there is something of unusually good quality and well-cut then I’m willing to give it a shot.

Any leads? Budget is £100-£120 max … unless it’s amazing.



Zoe & Morgan for Breakthrough Breast Cancer



Another one for my overflowing trinket box. Zoe & Morgan have designed a special necklace for Breakthrough Breast Cancer featuring a swallow with a pink sapphire. I’m quite fussy about charity stuff but this passes my ‘would I like it if it wasn’t for charity’ test. Plus Zoe & Morgan’s Zoe Williams once told me that she’s a rollerskate fan and her first ever charm was a rollerskate. I’m sold!

£125 exclusively from My-wardrobe.com with 20% of sales going to Breakthrough Breast Cancer



Paris calling




I’ve been so mega-busy I haven’t had time to blog about my recent day trip to Paris. Zut alors! Ah well, it’s timely that I’m doing it now I s’pose. On this occasion we took things very leisurely. After petit dejeuner in Place Vendome, we went to Faubourg St Honore followed by a quick stopover in Les Halles (to worship the Keith Haring sculpture at the Saint-Eustache church) before finishing at the Merci cafe in Le Marais.

What did I buy? I was totally bowled over by the rockabilly vintage at Noir Kennedy in Le Marais. Brothel creepers lined one wall, aged Converse lined another and a choice selection of reconditioned baseball jackets (mainly with Canadian emblems bizarrely) caught my eye while I was looking for a just-shrunken-enough denim Levi’s jacket. I didn’t find the Levi’s jacket, mainly because D ushered me away from them (unbeknown to me he had already bought me one on Ebay for my birthday – bless). Instead I snapped up a green vintage baseball jacket which I’ve been wearing with turn-up Levi’s, stompy work boots, a little black sweater and an Hermes scarf. I was only allowed to take one photo but I was sneaky and took two.

Not wanting to shop for the sake of shopping, I managed to keep a lid on my spending (if you discount the food and coffees… €5 for a capuccino – yikes). I was sorely tempted in another vintage shop, Studio W whose bourgeois bags would look rather nice dangling from the shoulder of my Burberry trench, Lauren Hutton stylee. William, the owner, didn’t speak much English but we gleaned that this was a high-end vintage shop, something of a little black book secret to fashion insiders but not by the general public. He graciously let me get snap happy with the Lumix.




We stumbled upon The Kooples as we were leaving Le Marais. It’s one of those of-the-moment French labels that channels sexy-grungy rock chick with a tailored edge very well. The Kooples is owned by the sons of the people who ran Comptoir des Cotonniers. We were told they plan to open five London stores by the end of the year which is pretty impressive considering we’re in the last quarter already. I liked the quality of their jeans but couldn’t be arsed to spend half an hour trying jeans on so settled for a wafer-thin white T-shirt with a zip at the back instead. Not cheap but the quality seemed worth it. I’ll give the jeans another shot when they arrive on UK soil.