Outfit: The Good Time Gal Divorcee

Something I wore recently. My luminous green-yellow H&M jumper with my trusty tasselled trousers (which came with this matching palm and pineapple top, no less) and a pair of earrings I picked up in Glasgow.

I call this my 'good time gal divorcee' outfit. I don't know why the 'divorcee' style reference is one that I return to, but there's something about the tasselled trousers and large earrings that do it, something about the pairing with an angora jumper that make me think of a fabulous blonde with an infectious guttural laugh having a great time at a drinks party, being the right person to stand by if you want to share some jokes that are close-to-the-bone or share deep emotional chat and a cigarette with on the balcony. Me in an alternative universe, I suppose. I remember reading a really moving article just after Natasha Richardson died, written by one of her friends, and she was described in this way. Lychee cocktail-drinking and pool party-throwing, but always kind enough to ensure that when they met up she'd be wearing the bracelet her friend had bought her for a previous birthday. That bit really stuck with me; wearing the things your friends buy you, regardless of whether you like them, is one of the most selfless, important acts of friendship. I need to do it more. I'll have to dig that article out, I remember cutting it out a few years ago.

Pink Things

1. This is one of the corridors in the Student Union. It's lined with offices with big open windows and painted a brilliant salmon pink, and there are tables for working. So not only is it great for voyeurism and people-watching purposes, it is also "colourfully" pleasing. May just repaint my bedroom in salmon..

2. I bought this nail varnish a few days ago and I can honestly say, hand on heart, it is the best glitter nail varnish of all time. (It's Milani nail varnish in "Disco Lights", I've never heard of Milani before, so it may just be an American brand. Very possibly a Barry M equivalent, i.e., loved by teenage girls and shoplifters alike.) The glitter spreads on really liberally, so it looks like you've just tipped your nails into a pot of it. I always wanted to give using 'real' glitter a go, going over the top of it in clear polish, but the faffy-sounding process always put me off a little bit. This nail varnish has pretty much the same effect though, and it's bordering on silly how happy it's been making me since I first put it on. "Dude, it's nail varnish." "..I can't help it."

3. You know the deal, I often rattle on about something that's on my 'wishlist' for a good while before actually buying it. This isn't something I necessarily like about myself as it's probably a long-term side effect of all those Alvin Hall money programmes I used to watch with my Mum when I was little. But as my last set of headphone have just given up the ghost, I finally bought a pair of Koss Porta Pro Stereo Headphones after I saw a girl last year wearing a pair on the bus in Manchester and looking all Natalie Portman and 'deep in thought'. It's like a revelation wearing these headphones! I hadn't realised I'd been previously subjecting myself to shoddy quality music listening. "Have you heard of this new band? I've been listening to them all week. They're just so unique and, and..tinny.." Alas, no more tinny music, no more..

Outfit

Gung huh ahh. I have new clothes! Yeahh. Today I took a trip to Goodwill and managed to find some pretty damn nice clothes with which to reinvigorate my pity state of wardrobe funk-dom which has involved wearing roughly the same 5 outfits since I've been in the States. Picture it if you will; me walking out of Goodwill with a grin on my face, strutting through the lot, two bulging plastic bags in hand with the sweeping chords of Chaka Khan's 'I'm Every Woman' playing.  

I also stopped into a great little hospice shop that I was passing on my way back. As soon as I stepped in I felt like I was in some sort of ode to the Golden Girls with lots of older women shouting across the perfectly arranged shop (which seemed to be a house, with different departments in different rooms) saying things like 'Oh Rhohnda, whadda you getting today?' or 'oh, sweetie, those are selling like hawtcakes!' as I perused a couple of cute rainmacs. When I told one of the women browsing the same rack as me that I didn't know about this place but loved it already she just smiled and said 'oh, you'll be back', half like a threat but also like an invite to an exclusive party that happens every weekday and includes only those who are wise and over 50. 

So among my loot I left with one of the raincoats, in a teal colour and with a fantastic whale print lining and a great little tank top from Goodwill in pastel pink (not a colour I usually wear) with black piped seams around the neck and shoulders. Which is pretty perfect because I've been thinking lots about Diner waitresses and 1950s blouses with black piping over the past few days.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to spend a few days visiting some of my best friends in California. I'll be in Berkeley for a couple of days before driving down to Santa Cruz (preferably along the coast listening to Burt Bacharach-that might be a long shot though) so i'm particularly looking forward to boogieing with my crew and actually feeling semi-presentable in some new (to me) clothes. 

outfit

Today's outfit: Top, Uniqlo. Skirt, H&M x Versace. Trainers, Nike Dual Fusion st2. Coat, Berghaus. 

So much for the caribbean splendor, back in Amherst, the temperature is flirting around the freezing line. Out comes the puffa again. 

camouflage

Ah yes, 'bathroom portraits' are a part of my life again now that I'm back living in halls. This weekend I made the most of the President's Holiday by spending 3 days in Brooklyn. It was so lovely and as much as I'm enjoying living in Amherst, it made me realise how much I'm missing city life. 

I got to catch up with some people I met when I couchsurfed across America a couple of years ago and also got to finally meet Siri. She took me for a delicious brunch at Teddy's -I had the Rancheros, she had the Strawberry and Blueberry Pancakes- and we talked about her tiny home island in Washington and the perils of deadlines. She also introduced me to Toby's Estate Coffee, a really good coffee place which has recently opened, with a big industrial coffee grinder in the corner and lots of coffee related classic design pieces on display but a joint I think to be taken with a pinch salt as it really is a hipster palace. I've never seen so many handsome haircuts, leather boots or well-selected sunglasses under one roof.

I went with a very clear ambition of buying a few additions for my wardrobe as since arriving I've exhausted everything I brought with me to the States and reached a '5 outfit' block. I picked up this camouflage coat in the mens section at Beacon's Closet (which I must say I was disappointed by given it's reputation.) It has fantastically deep pockets for furrowing my hands and my possessions into and is nice and thick so it's a practical substitute for the puffa jacket which I've been wearing day in and out. The sun was shining on campus today and wear it felt good. 

I also picked up the latest copy of Apartamento, one of my favourite magazines-I know I never stop banging on about it- and a pretty little gold signet ring with an 'S' engraved into it. And then on the bus back home I lost my absolute favourite pair of sunglasses, my transparent cat eyes that I wear at any sign of sunshine. At first I wanted to cry. And then I wanted to high-five myself and kiss the floor as a thank you to the world when I found them still available online over a year after buying them, which reminded me how important it is to buy two pairs of an item when you really, truly love it. I didn't, but you know, it reminded me that it's a good idea. One of those grown-up things that I'll do someday.

The Faith

I've been eyeing my friend Jack's Northern Soul sweatshirt for ages and given that he's going to China for a few months and I'm off to America I figured now was the time to buy it without having to fight him for 'wearing rights' in Manchester. The inside has that 'soft as a baby's bum' fleecey quality to it, sure to disappear after a few washes but lovely to stroke for now. It's also refreshing to actually own a jumper that isn't a solidly hot commitment of wooly knitwear. Instead I can relish it's sweatshirt material and chuck it on oversized with skirts and mood dependent, hardy heels or trainers. 

Christmas Wears

What I wore yesterday (A Christmas Day special):

Vintage shirt from Uncle Sam's, freshly unwrapped American Apparel High Waist Jeans  (I always used to tut at the price tag but I'm not going back, ever; nothing will make me return to that Topshop denim department which lacks anything truly high waisted and only ever leaves me weepy and uncomfortable and marginally self-loathing in their dusty tumbleweed strewn fitting rooms) as well as my super glittery and favourite ever new Barry M nail varnish in 'Hologram Hexograms' which sounds like the name of the brilliantly shit band you might have been in when you were 15. 

I ate, napped, guffawed at the Downton Abbey Special and performed my annual 'custard undercut' on my Granny's christmas trifle-the bountiful custardy layer is the best bit and you really have to scoop under and cunningly steal more than your fair share for the full impact. It's a given that by the end of Christmas Day the trifle will always have collapsed in on itself and I'll be lying in a supine position on a sofa, satisfied and slightly dying after three portions.

Have A Nice Dahlia

My Stepdad designed this awesome t-shirt! He's a gardener at the Botanic gardens at the University of Bristol and has come up with a load of 'plant pun' t-shirts to raise extra money for the Garden. He brought a couple home to show us and I've now claimed this as my own, proud to wear something created my Stepdad, King of crap jokes and now rather unexpectedly..T-shirt design? Yeah!

On George Clooney's shirt and au naturel make-up

Today I received this fantastic Burberry shirt from Sarah at Edie Mac; she has fantastic memory as she'd remembered me featuring something similar in this 'Style Notes for the Guys' collage at the start of the year. Now I may spend my days drifting about feeling sexy like George Clooney in One Fine Day. Yeah!   

In news that seems in a way significant to the blog; I am now the owner of a Macbook Pro! Cue just about repressed shrieks on my behalf while my clammy hands tap away at a gloriously shiny new machine and I venture into the world of blogging from the Mac camp after 5 years on Team PC. The laptop is an early 21st birthday present from my super generous Granny-sort of apt seeing as how over the past 5 years she's been a bit of an honorary figure in the background of the blog; forever my cafe visiting comrade and all-round influencer.

For the last week I've stopped wearing mascara and it feels really good. The sans-mascara look is something I always thought was reserved for other people. I'd read profiles of people on Into The Gloss in which they'd profess their au naturel approach and I'd usually retort with a cynical wave of my hand "Bullshit, you're half-french and beautiful, of course you don't need to wear make up, but some of us aren't so lucky.." Well, that in turn is also bullshit and was all down to my own approach; toning things down make-up wise is liberating and I like that it's one less thing to think about in the morning that actually benefits me in that I no longer associate mascara as some kind of 'confidence tool'. In other words I don't feel 'naked' without it. Instead I'm extra dedicated to eyebrow brushing (yes, it's true, I brush my eyebrows in the morning with an old toothbrush..) and a bit of lipstick as my skin is always at it's palest and most in need of colour this time of year. After wearing my Mac in Morange more over the autumn, I've returned to my more punchy and faithful Chanel Rouge Allure in Passion which was my first ever red lippie and is just about holding out, with the tower of red a smidgen lower every time I twist it from it's fantastic gold case.

Palm delight: Versace x H&M

I really never thought I'd lose my cool over the Versace for H&M collection. And now I say this like one half of a smarmy couple, holding hands across the table and retelling their dinner guests a 'Benedict and Beatrice' tale of the love that wasn't meant to be. When the collaboration was announced last year I took it in, but wasn't too affected, I was born too late to appreciate the Gianni heydays and have never been someone that into 'gloss' which is how I've always viewed Versace; gloss and gold and things outside of my domain. However Donatella threw a serious curveball by including a smattering of palm prints in the collection. And not just any old palm, not a hawaiian print, but one of those luscious House of Holland types, very particular and tropical with wide leaves that nod to Henri Rousseau and wave to Balenciaga S/S 2003. I've been unashamedly slobbering over such a print for a while and with no luck to be had on eBay or Etsy which is why when I actually had a little look through the Versace for H&M collection I was happy indeed and plumped for the tank and pleated skirt.

The parcel arrived this afternoon and my flatmate looked at me blankly while I stammered and ripped at the packaging before returning to Toby making some terribly inspiring point in a moral monologue on The West Wing. (Nanon watches West Wing so much that sometimes she'll make an excellent contribution in a seminar and then cringe upon realising that it came word-for-word from the lips of President Bartlett.) I scurried to my room. I've quickly assigned a 'favourite' title to the top which surprised me by being gorgeous and smooth and made 90% from merino wool and 10% from cashmere (ooh) as opposed to a plain stretchy jersey which I'd just assumed it would be. The skirt is also lovely with the tiny little gold clamps clinging onto the edge of each pleat and the absolutely brilliant crocodile print on the back of the skirt which was also completely unexpected. Overenthusiastic excitement over, I'm off to lounge beside a palm. While eating parma ham. And listening to Robert Palmer.

what I wore

What I wore yesterday- my friend Nanon's grey school jumper (I find myself in a 'better late than never' school uniform habit at the moment with my Marks and Spencer pleated skirt also thrown into the mix) as well as my Marc by Marc Jacobs 'I Love You' charm (I'm sure most people who ever visited the cheapy Marc Jacobs store on Bleeker St in New York own it?) on a thin gold chain received from my Mum on my 16th birthday. I also found this 'so awful it's delightful' Paris signet ring in a drawer when I returned home last week. I'd completely forgotten about it and now I like to wear it closing my eyes and pretending that I am in fact wearing the Martin Margiela version that I've been hankering after. Yes..

I seem to have an increased interest in jewelry everytime winter comes around, it's one of those subconscious lusts that hits when Christmas is around the corner and when luxurious items are a million times more appealing; cashmere and puppies and perfume and piles of fluffy untouched snow all combining to create the ultimate seasonal dream with Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman romping in a corner somewhere (optional). 

window shopping

Some 'window shopping' snaps from the last month. I am aware of the irony of following a post in which I talk about how I don't want style inspiration to always go hand-in-hand with the notion of 'needing more stuff' with one full of 'oh, I want this, and I want this..' high street porn. But when the store I'm walking into contains clothes with attainable price tags, I don't feel quite as strongly. And besides, I saw the Zara jumper in the first picture, fell in love, and then put it back. Because those America funds to finance my time studying in Massachusetts from January aren't going to start themselves. So this is a liberated dream scenario, if you will. I came, I saw, I stroked and I put back. And only 10% of this post contains any shred of denial about that turn of events.. Ok, I purchased the jumper in the middle picture. From River Island! And it doesn't have an ounce of diamante on it! I really never thought anything from River Island would take my fancy but it looks rather jazzy in a primary teacher sort of way when worn with my Marks and Spencer pleated school skirt and Mens marl socks. See also the Unique Dalmatian Bomber jacket. I know I've been doing an awful lot of Topshop hankering recently but I've been completely seduced by their stock this season. Plus the jacket is made from ponyhair and mohair (a real treat for the fingers) super snug and super unattainable. "Hooray?"

outfit

What I wore yesterday (also known as 'sneakily stealing my housemate's laptop for photobook purposes in a moment of "agh, all of my technology is crap!" madness.' She doesn't know I did this. Ashling, I love you and I will buy you a steak.)

Vintage Liz Claiborne Dalmatian shirt from Blitz London and dark denim dress from Florence.

And some renewed appreciation for Stevie Wonder's 'Living For The City' after the deceivingly enjoyable first lecture of our 'Jamestown to James Brown' module which included 8 solid minutes of musical brilliance with The O'Jays' 'Ship Ahoy', James Brown's 'Say It Loud, I'm Black and Proud' and Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers 'It Won't Be Very Long' as well as some Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and uh, Sister Sledge. 

outfit

Today I'm wearing: Top from Cos, Second hand jeans and dalmatian print nails.

outfit

This is an outfit I've been wearing a lot over the past week. Something simple for the summer which is easy to throw on in the mornings with little thought process yet without the slumminess that early morning outfit nonchalance can sometimes lead to. The top is secondhand Marimekko and has little poppers leading up to the neckline that remind me of when I used to absolutely love clasping together the poppers on my little sister's babygrow with the same enthusiasm reserved for bursting bubble wrap. The skirt is from Colours in Berlin and doesn't come with any kind of gimmick but I can live with that. 

the week

 Some snaps from the past week:

1. My much loved kimono dressing gown.
2. Birkenstocks from eBay which are unfortunately too big-boo!
3. Lunch and Mark's Bread which is one of the best things about returning to Bristol.
4. Sleeveless denim dress.
5. American breakfast pancakes.
6. Brand new sandals from here, after my old ones gave up the ghost.
7. Me and Edward Cullen.
8. Sitting at the Bristol Docks.