Shopping

Yasmin Sewell curates Beach In The East



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That photo above is from the Disneyrollergirl archives, AKA a pile of scrapbooks and box files containing years worth of photos, cuttings, and ephemera that I’ve held onto ‘just in case’. Yasmin Cho was a late ’90s shop on a first floor in Poland Street, an out-of-sight destination that you had to want to find in order to visit it. Run by Yasmin Sewell, it stocked a curated mix of under-radar labels like Susan Cianccolo, Carol Christian Poell, and Rick Owens. You had to press a buzzer to get in and the sign on the door was made up of coloured sticky dots. Fast forward 15 years and Yasmin Sewell’s early concept has come full circle with a Shoreditch pop-up space called Beach In the East. (more…)



London-Boutiques.com relaunches



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Today sees the relaunch of London-Boutiques.com, the London-centric marketplace that does a similar job to Farfetch but on a London-wide scale. You can shop by product, store or designer, plus the editorial has been boosted with insider contributions from London tastemakers and the store owners themselves who recommend their favourite local haunts and finds.

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I have kicked off the blog with a piece about biker jackets. Not just your classic black leather biker but all the newer, lightweight permutations too. The West London biker of choice is a creamy wool or khaki cotton biker shrugged over neutral cashmere and denim or a vintage faded-floral dress. You can read the whole piece here

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In line with more and more etail sites, London-Boutiques offers free returns, picked up from your address by DHL. If there’s one thing that puts me off online shopping it’s the faff of returning unsuitable items, so this is a point worth flagging up. Here are some of my favourite biker-style buys from London-Boutiques …

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Clockwise from top left:
Helmut Lang jacket/MIH shirt/IRO jacket/360Sweater cashmere jumper



Beauty snippets: La Roche-Posay, Chanel, Scholl, This Works, Lipstick Queen, Space NK



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MY HOLY GRAIL EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER
This Tumblr blog, ‘Shit Bloggers Wear’ is cheeky – but spot on. I didn’t realise everyone was raving about La Roche-Posay, but I’ve finally found my holy grail eye make-up remover and its name is La Roche-Posay Physiological Micellar Solution. ‘Micellar’ is the magic beauty word of the hour (micellar waters contain microscopic oil spheres that gently suck dirt off the skin) and this works brilliantly. (more…)



Buy it now: Top banana!



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Ah at last, the mad but highly irresistible banana print separates from Topshop are now online. I shot the skirt (£38) a while ago on Andrea from Union Models and we all cooed over its cheeky wit. It comes in a thick denimy cotton which means it’s equally suited to black opaque tights and boots as jelly sandals and ankle socks. (more…)