If I had a million dollars...

As a rule of thumb, I generally avoid the sales. Fighting a 15 year old for the last size 8 black dress in Topshop is generally not very dignified and certainly won't help my current bank balance. Nor will it get me any closer to my dreams of a stream lined wardrobe. Guides always advise having a list of items to look for and constantly reassertions of remaining focused but funny things can happen to a girl when presented with row upon row of alleged bargains and before you know it, you've bought a lime green lycra catsuit that's a size too small.

But browsing over on Kabiri's sale today on a whim during an afternoon lull, I came across this fabulous Wendy Nichol bracelet:



Down from £210 to £105, it's beautiful enough to have me seriously considering parting with the pennies. And that's why online sale shopping can be just as dangerous as a wander down the high street these days, hopefully minus encounters with brightly coloured lycra...

Hey, Fatty! Day Two

If ever there was a thing to get in the way of a diet (or thinning, as I prefer to refer to it), it's a press event and today, I had two. I started the day with a breakfast event on the roof terrace of Soho House and ended it with the press preview and shopping event for Barbara Hulanicki for Topshop. Both had plenty of scrummy delights and led me to temptation. Oh and inbetween, who could forget that it was also Ben & Jerry's free cone day, coinciding with the hottest day of the year so far - 21C. Damn them. Now, onwards with my (shameful) food diary for today:

Breakfast - large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, quarter of grilled bacon sandwich with a smear of ketchup
Mid-morning snack - small portion of green and black grapes
Lunch - 3 carrots, 2 tbsp tarmasalata dip, small beetroot/pepper/lettuce salad with balsamic vinegar
Afternoon snack - 1 scoop of B&J cookie dough in a waffle cone (BAD but yummy)
Dinner (at Topshop) - 1 1/2 small portions of salmon on brown rice with pomegranates, 2 bites of thai style halibut with rice, three slices of chicken breast, 3 small lumps of mozzarella. 1 shot glass of Dime bar cheesecake, 1 bite size chocolate fairy cake, 2 1/2 glasses champagne

Although my dinner may look like I ate a lot, the food portions were no more than a few forkfuls so I don't feel guilty. I do, however, feel guilty about the champagne. Bad bad bad.

While at the Barbara Hulanicki event, I bought the little aomeba/leopard print peach coloured skater skirt. The dress version literally sold out in about 10 minutes, with people stalking around trying to find cast offs. Among those in attendance that I saw were the ever present Jo Wood, Christopher Kane and OMG, Cilla Black. I promise to post photos tomorrow.

In the meantime, please check out the awesome Salad Club, a blog about yes you guessed it, salads and run by a girl I went to University with.

Without further ado, I bid you farewell - I'm off to pack a lunch and do some form of penance for my (minor) champagne guzzling.

LFW AW09: Sunday part deux

It's been over twelve hours since today's adventure began and I've just arrived home at close to 10 o'clock. To say I'm tired is an understatement. All of my friends think it's terribly glam and yes, sometimes it is but there is also a lot of standing around in the cold, waiting for the clipboard bitches to declare you worthy of entering the venue.

Anyhoo, now that I've aired most of my bitterness, let's get to the shows, shall we? I promised you photos earlier from Betty Jackson this morning, I believe. First up, the front row:




And now, some clothes:







My personal favourite item was the handbag-backpack bag, which was a fun piece but I'm not sure how it would translate to every day life. Either you'd get pickpocketed constantly or end up tripping over on the backpack straps. But fun nonetheless.

After Betty Jackson, I had a little break and whizzed over to High Road House in Chiswick for brunch with my previously mentioned and much neglected friends before heading back for a blowdry at Toni & Guy's onsite press salon. It's a little oasis of calm where you can lie back and enjoy a little bit of follicle pampering. I also love it as it means that I don't have to wash my hair tonight and because I'm slightly unhealthily addicted to their Resurrection Style Dust. Seriously, I'm not being paid to say this, ever since I discovered it a few weeks ago, I love it.

From the salon, I had to run to Eley Kishimoto. From the second I saw the invite for this, I was curious. Styled like a retro boarding pass with an indian print pattern, it was very true to the show which featured lots of 1960s style air stewardess references from the cute skirt suits to the felt hats worn with lots of different outfits, as well as their signature graphic prints. Pre-show, they also had sound effects featuring tannoy calls and other airport related noises which were fun but made it difficult to make the usual fill-in calls as I waited. Anyway, enough gabbling, let's have some photos:







After the show, I made a mad dash to the press lounge to check my emails for all of thirty seconds and literally barely made one of the last buses heading to Aquascutum, where a guard of dishy men in suits and black overcoats lined the way. The wait was pretty long and the cold was starting to creep in, which made people slightly irritable but all was forgiven once we got inside and the show started. While I was waiting outside, I spotted Alexa Chung and Anna Piaggi heading in and must say that Alexa has the skinniest colt-like legs I've ever seen.







On our way out of the show, I couldn't help but be tempted by a photo of the dishy men and after very little cajoling, my colleagues leapt between them for a photo op:



We had a little time before Jaeger so went to grab some dinner at the cheap chinese round by South Ken station and then headed back to the BFC tent once more for our final show of the day. We got there in the nick of time and grabbed our seats. Front row for the show featured Alexa Chung (again), Erin O'Connor and Tamsin Egerton, I couldn't see any more as we arrived so late. At least this year we weren't as late as last seasn, they slammed the door in my face.







After Jaeger, owing to the fact that we only had tickets for PPQ's party and not the show, we hopped in my car and headed off to the Met Bar's pink drinks party for a quick mingle. It was a truly awesome affair with mini chorizo hot dogs, mini chips and tempura veg in cones, candy floss and lots of other tasty treats. However, the cold, tiredness and the fact that I was driving (and a little bitter from lack of tickets) meant I headed home rather than continue the night at PPQ's pose fest.

And now it's almost midnight and let me tell you how glad I am to be lying down right now, before it starts all over again at Ossie Clark at 9am tomorrow. Before I finish, here's what I wore today: Blazer - River Island, sequin tee - Kate Moss for Topshop, Jeans - Topshop, shoes (replacing leopard print Office ones which ripped open my feet) - Topshop, clutch bag - Bodhi, skull ring - Butler & Wilson.



At last, to bed. Hurrah!

LFW AW09: Saturday

It's been another busy day in the land of LFW and now as it's ten to one in the morning and I have to be up at eight, I hope you'll forgive me for what I hope will be a short post. Let's work our way through chronologically, shall we?

I started a little late this morning owing to my exhaustion from yesterday so I didn't get to the tents until John Rocha. By way of happy accident, I ended up front row for this show. By way of another happy accident, I ended up sitting next to Jessica Brinton from Style magazine, who is quite possibly one of my favourite fashion journos. She ended up grilling me about twitter after she saw me tapping away at my phone while I waited for the show to begin. I explained that I twitter from everything from the shower breaking to who I see at shows, which I think she found quite bizarre but hey. I always gabble when I'm put on the spot like that.

Now, some photos:






From John Rocha, we pottered over to Topshop's Unique show which is held in a disused underground warehouse behind the University of Westminster. This is always one of my favourite shows and this year, I was fortunate to have my own ticket rather than a cast off. The invite itself was pretty cool - I'll scan and post at a later date. Less gabbing, more photos, right?







Sadly, I had to miss Nathan Jenden but it worked out pretty well as standing around outside trying to figure out what to do and where the hell my lighter was in my bottomless pit of a bag, I happened to come across Pixie Geldof, Daisy Lowe and Susie from Style Bubble (one of my favourite fashion blogs). Unable to find my lighter, I chanced my arm with Pixie and her giant cooker-lighter, who was more than happy to trade a flame for one of my fags:



Susie from Style Bubble


Everyone leaving Unique's venue:


Then, it was a little break and catch up with a friend before we all trekked to Holborn for the Basso & Brooke show at Bloomsbury Ballroom. I got there in the nick of time but not quick enough for a seat so I plopped down on the floor by the photographer's pit. We all couldn't help but notice that it was a particularly spring-like collection for Autumn-Winter. Judge for yourselves:







Then it was another quick break before the biggie, oh yes. VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL! Spotted in the audience: David Walliams with Erin O'Connor, Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud, Alfie Allen with Jaime Winstone and Lily Cole. And those were just the ones we could see although the catwalk was equally as glam - Jo Wood, Alice Dellal, Jourdan Dunn and Daisy Lowe. Unfortunately, it was at this point that my camera decided to go a little mental and refuse to focus properly so these are a little bit of a mixed bag:







I have lots of video from today but I plan on doing one giant post with all of the footage at the end of the week. Well, I've got to keep you hooked somehow, don't I?

And finally, what I wore today. I look like a bizarre midget in the photo but please try to look past this. It's late and I'm tired so this will have to do. Anyway... Shrunken leather jacket - New Look, white and grey striped oversized shirt - River Island, black zipper edge top/dress - Topshop, grey tank dress (underneath) - Topshop, grey butterfly and skull scarf - Alexander McQueen, Safety pin clutch - Bodhi, black quilted pumps - Office.



And now, it's almost half past one and I have to be back up and out in less than eight hours. I swear, I don't know what I'm running on these days beside Vitamin Water and cigarettes.

Can't change your spots

As I mentioned on twitter, I really shouldn't have gone to Topshop. What started off as a tipsy wander around with the mantra that I wouldn't buy anything ended up in a serious bank account bashing. One of the things that I bought was this printed dress with a leopard on it.



As we all know, I'm more than partial to a little animal magic so I fell irrationally fell in love with this straight away. The print goes all the way round with a tail and all on the back and for £18, it's recession friendly too. Unlike the rest of my purchases but more on those another time.