greystones

Sweet little short film with Melanie Laurent in Greystones, Ireland talking about how the sea plays a part in her morning routine all the while looking laid back in a big North Face anorak and a tempting stubby platinum ponytail. The film is part of a collaboration between Creme de la Mer and World Oceans Day to encourage preservation of the world's oceans. The perpetually cool Rinko Kikuchi also stars in one of the videos and leaves me craving the chilly kind of sea swim that refreshes you-but only after knocking the wind out of you until you must swim like a maniac to counteract the cold. Then again a less sadistic splash on the warm Ibiza coast like Rinko wouldn't go a miss either..

what I wore

What I've been wearing, eating and sniffing for the past week:

1. Second hand Hawaiian shirt, suede skirt and new straw market bag I finally found this week after a year of looking, all worn for tonight's 'farewell curry' with friends at Islamabad Grill before we all return home for the summer.
2. 'Window Shopping' at American Apparel. Peach striped top and cord shorts.
3. The most deliciously succulent Mango, enthusiastically demolished in a couple of minutes.
4. Pineapple sunglasses, gold rollneck top (which impressively and deceptively adds 2 stone extra when worn) which I wore to Parklife Festival.
5. Peonies!
6. ..And unwrapped and on the desk.
7+8. Topshop sunglasses, second hand button down skirt and backpack and old shirt from All Saints.

looks to warm the heart

 

Looks I like: 1. Drinking milk in the city via Turned Out 2. Kate Foley via Refinery 29 3. Nike Felldin's floppy hat 4. Veneda's outfit snapped by the Anywho girls 5. Socks and sandals look reminiscent of Meadham Kirchoff via Mr Newton 6. Kirsten Dunst in Stella McCartney button down dress, 7. Woven Mexican belts 8. Miriam's Korkease sandals.

bleak summer

1. 'A Life Less Ordinary' by Paolo Roversi, Vogue UK May 2010. Styling by Lucinda Chambers.

2. 'Ultraviolet Garden' by Craig McDean, Another Magazine Fall 2007. Styling by Marie Amelie Sauve.

A couple of images to represent the mellow and slightly dazed 'what now?' feeling that is hanging in the air now that exams have finished. Cars are pulling up outside, cardboard boxes are being loaded in and the summer holidays are officially starting for those leaving now. I've been wandering around the flat in leggings and sandals, doing the laundry, buying peonies and sitting outside on the grass (rather than an old car seat) but with an equally vacant expression. 

On a side note, I bought the new issue of Apartamento Magazine (the price has hoiked up the £12-ouch!- but it's still worth it, I think) and recommend the piece 'Loss of Appetite' by Chiara Merino which describes an old love affair, the food they shared-the walnut pancakes, the grilled fish, the cuba coffee and dirty martinis, and the way her ex-girlfriend's body smelled of anise and bread.

the weekend

 

Some pictures from this weekend. My fantasies of lying in the sunshine and reading were slightly scarpered by chilly weather most of the weekend but the sun came back out yesterday just in time for a walk along the River Tyne between Prudhoe and Wynam before going on to Newcastle. Beware of awkwardly overenthusiastic 'I'm going to take a picture of myself now' photos. Also note the backpack which I picked up for £2 from the Hexham car boot sale from a man who described himself as an 'ex-teacher, holistic masseuse, cross-continent cyclist, woodworker, recovery driver and husband of 40 years' and looked just like Jeremy Beadle. I kid you not.

Occasion-appropriate clothing came in the form of an h and m dress, sunglasses from topshop, new balance trainers, margaret howell cardigan, second hand army coat and rucksack.

weekend away

Picture, Kate Moss, Harper’s Bazaar November 1994 by Peter Lindbergh. Via Florence.

Freedom! Exams are over and I've decided to take a train East to pay a visit to my Gran who I only get to see very occasionally. We'll spend a couple of nights at her caravan and I'll probably spend a day pottering around Newcastle (where I lived until I was two) and maybe pop into the Baltic before returning to Manchester. Packed into my lesportsac are a couple of pairs of high waisted cotton shorts, some airy tops (breezy armpits are important in this hot weather!) and my trainers as well as some reading material. I'm really looking forward to taking a couple of days to chill out in the glorious sunshine and finally read something for pleasure rather than for university (I'm finally going to start Teenage: The Creation of Youth by Jon Savage -which I posted about a while ago in relation to it's adaption into a film)

What will you all be doing/reading/watching/wearing this weekend? 

june wishlist

A few items on my current wishlist. Note wishlist contains both attainable and unattainable items. Sigh..

House of Holland leaf print dress, Kanken Classic in 'Brick', Adidas Originals Gazelle OG.

Also on my mind, latest issues of The Gentlewoman and Apartamento magazines, (still) the perfect polka dot dress, teva sandals, some pottery crockery for my new house in September, Linda McCartney photography book, Koss Porta Pro headphones.

style icon: lobster men

Just 24 hours left to crawl through and I can be done with these tiresome exams and gallop around singing Alice Cooper's 'Schools Out'. Woo. Even though the knowledge that in a couple of weeks I'll have to box up my little room and schlep back home for the summer is quite bittersweet; I can't believe my first year of University has wrapped up already.

So to bide time, a collage of lobster men, the true purveyors or maritime style. The matching yellow trousers that came along with my fisherman mac are still stowed under my bed as I haven't really known what to do with them. But to be a true lobster fisherman it's the amber overalls that are the ubiquitous uniform- a guy who lives upstairs in my block actually wears cotton fabric overalls like these and looks brilliant. 

It was Alison who inspired me to post this, as after going through my archives and finding this old Q+A post (which I'm going to recreate soon as it is alwas interesting to hear what everybody is wearing, watching, reading, crushing on) and her definition of her style icons as 'lobstermen and pioneers, with the spirit of Michelle Phillips and James Dean' was probably the most perfect sentence I've set eyes on all week..

Here's to baseball caps, waterproofs in a thousand shades of tangerine and style on the seven seas..

mood

clockwise from top middle: ponyskin coat, kasia struss in the prada lookbook fw10, cross-body bag (eleanore from ytligheter), koss portapro headphones, two-tone orange handbag from zara, lovely sunglasses via hardcore unicorn, pleated school skirt.

things on my mind: 

blonde, blonde hair a la kasia struss. a combination of impending summer and itchy feet has left me craving a big change and dying my hair blonde. I'd really love to have the same caramel colour as when I was younger, before my eyebrows darkened and became two large giveaway barriers.

techy headphones. I noticed a girl wearing these headphones on the bus the other morning and she looked so chilled and in her own world as she looked out of the window that she reminded me of Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation. I quickly asked her the brand name and she told me 'Koss Portapro'. 

cross-body bags. (not to be confused with body bags..rather less morbid) remember back in 2006 when the way you wore your it-bag was just as crucial as the bag itself? the 'resting in the crook of your elbow' model carry look became the order of the day but I much prefer the unfussy 'cross-body' way-leaves your hands free and arms un-achey. see the supercool eleanore from ytligheter. also jen brill. and alexa chung.

chloe sevigny in twin magazine

'At home with Chloe Sevigny' style editorials have become a bit of a genre in their own right. There was the Apartamento feature that painted an image of cottagey serenity in the heart of New York as she sat at her wide kitchen table with a Chinese tea set and bedded down under a duvet and a cover of streaming sunlight. There was the House and Garden set, a glossier affair paying attention to the clashing wallpapers and flowering garden. There also was the candid Tim Barber photographs with Chloe looking at her records and squatting on the sofa in a ragged t-shirt. On the one hand this concept feels a bit old hat, and I wouldn't mind well, 'a change of scenery', but it's also kind of cool that a bit of a series is developing with different approaches, stylists, photographers (and Chloe's varying haircuts) dictating different results.

This latest editorial comes from Twin Magazine, aptly titled 'Kick Ass' with styling by Michelle Cameron who managed to source a great double screen-printed jumper that marries together the Nike and Chloe logos to proclaim 'Chloe America's No 1'. Amen to that.