What's in a name

I'm going to be updating my little old book or rather produce a new version.

It needs to be updated as things have changed so much in a year - not least what I've learnt by publishing a book. Doing it all yourself and I mean doing it all, writng, editing, proofing, type setting, graphics, cover, setting the price - agh! Really, I totally admire publishing houses.

For a self published baby with no advertising or distribution it has sold well.

There are lots of good things about the book (writing style 'ahem', the energy) and lots of things to be improved (all of the above minus the ideas, writing and creativity!).

Also the world of blogging has injected so much learning and sharing of people's views, imagination and lives that some of this needs to be recognised. I want to include blogger interviews. Susie Bubble gave me a great interview about thrifitng and of course Enc of Observationmode has to be included for her six month Self-Imposed No-Clothes-Buying Moratorium. (With their permission of course)

I hope to re-publish in September (please god if anyone knows an agent or is a pubilsher help!!) and I want to keep Make Do and Mend in the title but am going to change the overall name....so I'm looking to you lot to help define the new title.

Here's two options to get you going and I look forward to your suggestions in the comment box.
1. How to Make Do and Mend to beat the Credit Crunch
2. Make Do and Mend: how to beat the credit crunch and still buy a designer handbag

Protecting the purse strings - beauty products

Summer wardrobe, check. Holiday booked, check. Bikini bought, check. Euros, a few...Money saved for A/W clothes, zero, zilch.

OK, that gives you June, July, August and September to put some pennies and pounds away. I always think that October is the perfect month to make ones purchases. It is easy to be beguiled by the new items filling the shops late August and in September, but if you can sit tight for one more month then some real gems appear from October 1st. You also get a real feel for which way the trends are going - embrace or reject as your views dictate.


One area you can make great savings is with beauty grooming products. It requires effort, a plan and determination. No salon treats!


Essential ingrediants are body scrub, body lotion and self tanning products. A razor, shaving gel, wax products and oil.


None of the above have to be expensive. Supermarkets and Pharmacies stock a great range often with special offers and two for one deals. If you go online to Veet you can get a free SATC beauty guide plus a 20% off token for Figleaves which is valid until 31st December 2008!

Use wax for bikini line and underarm. Use Aqueous cream to sooth skin after waxing and the same for after shaving legs. I prefer men's razor and shaving gel to get a great smooth finish. If you find your legs getting dry then rub in some olive or rapeseed oil.

If you're self tanning your legs or using products such as Johnson's, Doves or Nivea's body glow gradual tanning lotion, make sure you exfoliate before applying. Any body scrub will do - go for a cheap and cheerful one or make you own with Maldon sea salt and some olive oil, it's very easy just mix together.

If you do undertake a mega grooming session then just add a hair treatment product, again you can get sachets from £1.45. By the time you've finished your grooming you can rinse it off and have lovely soft hair to boot.

One other treat is a scrub and buff for your feet, particulalry needed if padding around in ballet pumps and/or flip flops. Use the scrub to invigorate the feet. Soak in hot water with lemon and then apply Scholl Footcare's deep moisturising cream. To get super soft feet apply oddles of the cream and put on a pair of socks for an hour or so.

One salon treatment for all these thing is about £110 verus an initial outlay of £25 - £30. Put the money you save towards your A/W clothes fund and don't forget practice makes perfect. My first bikini self wax was rubbish but now I could give myself a Brazilian at a push!

The continuing love....

I was truly disappointed with The Sartorialist photos taken in London, except for the John Lobb trio. The disappointment lies in the fact he takes such vibrant interesting shots in NY and everything, the look, composition and lighting I enjoy.

At first I thought it was the quantity, I wanted lots and then I realised that London looked flat, stereotypical almost drab.

Was it the locations, the look or the composition? Dunno but something doesn't seem right or reflect the London I know and see.

So I reference my photographic icon, Norman Parkinson - Phonebox, London 1963. I realise I'm not comparing like for like but it is the essence of the city that is real here as well as the focus on the fashion.

image: vogue art group

The Answer

Do you remember the blog post that wanted to know about certain clothes in SATC:The Movie...well I now have the answer.

It's a book! "Sex and the City":The Movie by Amy Sohn. The blurb reads like a blah blah blah until the bit which says 'including notes from costume designers that guide readers through the movie's two-million-dollar fashion closet'. Oh yes.

Get it for £11.99 at Amazon .co.uk or $19.77 from Amazon .com.

Wish you were here....2

Continuing with my Norman Parkinson obsession, here is another stunning photo of Jerry Hall, this time in Russia.

I wish it was me about to dive into clear blue sea or a lake for today the sun is out and I have to hot foot it to Oxford Street and work.

Image: Vogue Art on Demand

Lazy blogging...

Due to work pressures over next three days i.e. full on busy I'm filling a gap in my writing head with two posts by Everybody Says Don't.

The first one is a piece on the new design collaboration for Fit Flops - whadda ya think?

The second is a fabulous visual feast of the A/W 08 H&M collection - it looks very promising.

Zips

I have a fascination with zips and it's completely in a saucy minx way. I love asking my husband to zip up a dress for me. However he is complety impervious to my James Bond fantasy where the zip never really gets done up! One day we might be late for an evening out....

Zips are a great way to change an item, to add zing. I have a cheapie Zara shift dress that I'll wear again come Autumn but it has an insipid cloth zip so I intend to change it for a fierce YKK heavy duty metal zip.

Zips from Calico Laine.

Wish list...information

Hm, not the greatest of images but I lack a certain apptitude when it comes to digital enhancing etc. Not my fortay. I've been helped in the past by the wonderful Observationmode and made much progress indeed.

Now I'm looking for help of a different kind - identfying SATC items. Jen from Mahalo Fashion is usually whizz at this.

I'm being dreadfully lazy and have made some effort to trawl style.com, but what I really really want....is to know the designer of a couple of evening style coats Carrie wore during her personal assistant period and brunette hair. One is picture above and the other is equally divine with its wide 3/4 length sleeves. Help pretty please.....

R.I.P YSL

It is sad news indeed that after his retirement due to ill health in 2002 that Yves Saint Laurent died late yesterday age 71.


"To be beautiful, all a woman needs is a black pullover and a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves." Yves Saint Laurent

Quirkily tagged

Given my exhausting weekend as a host to guest, I'm quite glad to have been tagged by Observationmode otherwise I might have bored you with my trifling last 48 hours.

Instead I will reveal my 6 quirks (that I'm aware of!)

1. I nearly always wear a pearl necklace, I have 5 of varying quality and length.

2. I've worn sunglasses since the age of 5. I have blue eyes and used to squint them up in the summer sunlight so was made to wear sunglasses and have been addicted ever since. Except now it's all year round and even on the tube, I'm such a poser.

3. I can't abide drawers being left open, even the wardrobe door. I'm forever closing drawers.

4. I love raspberries and eat them every morning at breakfast.

5. Lists - love making them, for shopping, things to do, places to go and the perfect clothes list, ref project top 50 post!

6. Long argyle socks over the knee. This is now a quirk to go.....

And I tag Delicious Industries and Charponnaise