mood

On my mind: Peeking PVC skirts and dreary days in Hawaii.

If there is one thing that Winter is really great for, it is it's ability to take a mildly obscene item of clothing, add an obligatory pairing of woolly tights (hello high count dernier), some choice knitwear and instantly tone down the previous sex appeal of the object simply with the necessity of keeping warm. This girl snapped by Mr Newton presents a summery take on the idea with her sliver of pvc, but swap the bare legs, throw on a mohair jumper, (and keep those fantastic cat eye sunglasses) and it would be perfect.

Also occupying a small corner of my brain: Hawaii. Maybe it's connected to the fact that I can't stop thinking about pineapples (yes), but I think it's mostly because of these photographs taken by Erin from Calivintage which make me wish firstly that I own a drivers license and secondly a white jeep for cruising around the gawping at the waves. 

tom waits on kathleen brennan

I love these two quotes from Tom Waits talking about his wife Kathleen Brennan. He eloquently and romantically describes his partner and collaborator and at the same time creates a template for the 'universal rad woman.' 

  "I'm Ingrid Bergman and she's Bogart. She's got a pilot's license, and she was gonna be a nun before we got married. I put an end to that. She knows about everything from motorcycle repair to high finance, and she's an excellent pianist. One of the leading authorities on the African violet. She's a lot of strong material. She's like Superwoman, standing there with her cape flapping."

"She's a shiksa goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck...she's outta this world...she's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you."

november wishlist

fluffy jumper, reality studio at topshop, leather skirt, carven, signet ring, martin margiela, purple stone ring, topshop, silver brogues, zara, kiehls lip balm, metals by feist.

I've already mentioned that for me Winter is a time when a reliance on material objects that are that bit more luxurious becomes stronger. It is when the urge to go to Space NK and spend ludicrous amounts of money on pleasingly packaged beauty products reaches its peak (hello dry skin) and it also explains how a leather skirt from Carven worth over £500 has made it's way onto my wishlist. At the moment all I want are shameless and shiny items of clothing, grown up jewellery and simple outfits ideally involving mohair and leather. I feel myself developing an affinity with magpies, shiny items must simply be a developed coping mechanism from bygone winters. And quite appropriate when it comes to alloy-lust, Feist's new album 'Metals' has been on repeat in my bedroom while I ponder what defined masculinity and femininity in American antebellum slave culture and hammer out word after word in what feels like a never ending cycle of essay-dom.

Note Feist's awesomely outfitted backing singers, like folksy Rosie Riveters in peachy tops and the cool hand-in-pockets stance topped off by those bleached jeans! (Reminds me of these..)

happy corduroy day!

It's 11.11.11! The holiest day in the corduroy calendar. 

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). 

winter fantasies

Jourdan Dunn, Joan Smalls and Hailey Clauson covering i-D Magazine Winter 2011. Simultaneously boosting my Christmas excitement (how can rollnecks, sports thermals, puffa jackets and the cosy title 'warm up' suggest anything else?) and looking like they've stepped straight out of the Bobbie Brown Teenage Beauty book I used to own, with nude faces and eyeshadowed lids and all-round healthy countenances. These three covers are winter fantasies-they're what the cold months would be if central heating didn't try skin out. As the 'Winter Warm Up' issue it's also packed full of feel-good mantras Jane Fonda would be proud of, imploring exercise, endorphins and toothy grins. "Keep it loose and breathe deeply!" "Early to bed, early to rise, keeps you healthy, happy and wise!" Whether this well intended tone is put into practice or treated as a voyeuristic calorie burner there is one thing we can all agree on, I'm sure. Jourdan's eyebrows. Those eyebrows..

home

A five day break back home in Bristol was just what I needed. The mid-term University fatigue has kicked in, with a piling workload and seasonal colds synchronizing for minimal production. But catching up with my Mum, eating well, wrapping up for the huge bonfire on Bonfire Night (which ended up looking eerily like some sort of 'villagers come out to witness witch burning' ritual with the vast circular crowd surrounding the fire), going to Mark's Bread on Saturday morning for a french stick warm from the oven and enjoying the late afternoon pink light from my garden were some of the simple pleasures which have energized me now that I'm back in Manchester and balking at the combined work count of my essays with 'I'm His Girl' by Friends playing on a reassuring loop.

bonfire night!

red beanie, alexa chung for madewell, metallic nail varnish, fur trimmed mittens and spotty jumper all topshop.

 It's bonfire night! Tis a night for warming your face right up close to the flames, gobbling hog roasts and toffee apples and swaddling yourself in knitwear while you 'ooh' and 'ahh' over the fireworks. I really, really love bonfire night and I'm home in Bristol to celebrate by doing all of the above in the park next door to my house. 

on rotation

1. Jumper, River Island. Dress, secondhand. 2. Le Monde top, Zara. 3. Parka, Urban Outfitters.

4. Shirt, Urban Outfitters 5. Top, Zara. School skirt, Marks and Spencer. 6. Snakeskin shirt, denim shorts and Birkenstocks all secondhand.

Some items I've had on seri-ous rotation recently. Serious rotation as in verging on a "is there nothing else to wear?" crisis but for now still in positive territory. During my stay in London last week I met up with Charlie from Urban Outfitters and was allowed to choose a few items. The old 'like a child in a sweet shop' idiom may be cliched but in this case it is wholly appropriate. Afterwards I padded quietly out of the shop, mentally executing a self defence strategy to deal with the security guard I was sure would pounce at any moment and wrestle me to the floor. Luckily all was okay and I managed to avoid any Peaches Geldof shoplifting skurmishes (haw haw haw). Instead I left with a couple of pairs of boots to fill my wardrobe's shoe void, a pretty lace bra, a shirt and a big parka coat which has been sheltering me from the Manchester chill since.

 Also getting lots of wear is my Le Monde top from (who'd have thought?) Zara. It hangs so well which is something of increasing importance these days as my boobs have jumped a cup size in the last year and I've learnt about the daily trials of maintaining any sign of silhouette. (Don't even get me started on wearing knitwear) I've been wearing it lots to seminars, tucked into my Marks and Spencer school skirt or with simple black Topshop jeans and Birkenstocks.

On a final note, it's taken me this long to realise the joys of the coat hood. 20 years! Why has it only just clicked? But during a relentless period of rain last month in Manchester (about 10 days!) it was my saving grace against the downpour and also a cosy insulator which is particularly welcomed as I'm not a hat person at all. The parka count is steadily increasing around Manchester University, the sea of khaki green is reaching laughable levels. At first I wondered if it had been added to a 'must have' list of items distributed to Freshers along with reading lists, a sort of 'You're in Manchester now, so make like Ian Brown, FAST!' conspiracy, but now I understand, we all know about the powerful warmth of the parka hood.

tis the season

While waiting for my train at the station earlier I had a little mosey at the magazines in Smiths and was bowled over by the Vogue UK December issue in all it's glossy glory. A sexy head-to-toe shot of Gisele as the bearer of the news "Tis the Season!", this is exactly what I want from a Christmas cover; 90% glamour, 10% tackiness in that early noughties, Carrie Bradshaw sort of way. If it's Christmas, I want balloons and metallics and something that screams 'party!' with a nod to vaguely trashy decadence. Hurrah!