Make Do Life Laundry week - fashion forward

Given I've now recovered from my Valentino shock (thank you The Outnet) I thought I'd best return to the theme of the week. I've been looking forward to doing this post and I'm sure the Francophiles will be very pleased.

You know I've been struggling along a fashion journey (a three year one to be precise!) and I'm on the final hurdle. A year long style challenge to buy only quality and designer ones at that. The reason I think I got to this place is due to a reaction against more and against the pace of trends. Then of course I had a MA to undertake and fund so that challenged my resources as well.

What I'm trying to achieve is a step away from my high/fast fashion penchant of old towards a more considered, luxurious and classic yet stylish wardrobe. In short I'm over rad and killing it.

My favourite Coco Chanel quote is 'innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.'

And do you know what she is right. There comes a point when you need some satisfaction and stability in your wardrobe. Which leads me on to a stalker-ish confession. I'm a very observant person. I never forget a face and I always take in what people are wearing. Whilst dropping off the petit garcon at school I spotted a French women at 50 paces. Everything about her style said French.

When I finally did my 'hi I'm a stalker but these days we get called bloggers' bit it got better. This is the coolest response ever to 'Are you French?' Her reply 'Well yes, well actually I am Parisian (but said in French the Parisian bit), not that I'm a snob' Then she laughed. I actually just wish I had La Belette Rouge on speed dial so I could do a transatlantic *sigh* and share the moment.

If that wasn't enough to make me wish I could say that to someone, I then asked her name which is Melusine. Melusine is one of the most magical names ever! She is a legendary figure in many European, particularly French and German folk legends. Melusine is a fresh water spirit of sacred rivers and springs.

The reason I had been 'observing' Melusine is because she does and has achieved the style nirvana of quality over quantity. Her Max Mara coat worn with flat black patent boots, a quality orange scarf - sometimes with her Louis Vuitton shoulder bag, sometimes not coupled with perfect grooming is a winner. She stands out not because she is fierce fashionista but due to her classic but stylish air. It is the perfect example of why fashion forward is about simplicity but style. Why it doesn't always have to be about new or innovation.

Ah the surprise detail!

The wardrobe life laundry seems to be well under way and in the right direction. If you are starting with a wardrobe sort out then you can check out my post on this here

Meanwhile I'm lying in a darkened room practising my French faining a Parisian accent stylishly of course.

Stella v Phoebe

Oh er it was the battle of the old mates at Paris (do you notice how one doesn't have to add 'fashion week')

Simplicity, good cutting and clean lines, that'll be cutting it wars between Stella and Phoebe. It's like graduate week at Central St Martins College of Art and Design

Stella McCartney

Phoebe Philo for Celine

(all images:style.com)

I feel like the need for team McCartney or Philo t-shirts coming on.

Two euros is all you need

I made two purchases in Paris totalling 2 euros. One on a copy of Grazia and the other on 3 Eiffel Towers - a bargain at 3 for one euro. The Eiffel Towers were to decorate my item that blew my budget a gorgeous bag which is a collaboration between Ally Capellino and Toast the Nairobi shopper
I love the simplicity of the design and the fact it is a fair trade item. I think it makes a change from the lure of the designer worship. I also love my little towers n'est pas.


My other big spend was on a copy of French Grazia, I was slightly amused by their love of Lily Allen, seriously the feature on her was a different angle to our media. In fact the many choices of photos of different celebrities only proves that we are only informed by the images and stories chosen.


The preview of LFW was of interest too. The pictorial choice - will we always be defined by the Union Jack? The rest of the article choose Henry Holland ( Le plus decomplexe - the most uninhibited), Marios Schwab ( Le plus glam - obvious), Christopher Kane ( Le plus actuel - the most current) and Luella (Le plus aristo - obv again) as the best of LFW designers to look out for. Interesting!
However my treat of the week was a super size Sunday Times Style magazine. Not only was Shane Watson occupying her usual position but it included Julie Burchill too. Now next week it will return to its usual insipid ordinariness but I have to say when will publishers get that the texture and size of their offerings are worth it. I love a decent magazine and this edition and the Harper's Bazaar edition in March was wonderful. I always wish someone would be brave enough to do the same all the time.


I will be fighting for a Jade nail varnish, I'm a serial collector of Chanel nail varnish so watch out!

Paris and the petit garcon

The start of the day

Yesterday, the MDS's decamped en famille to Paris for the day. It was a glorious day in respect of weather, food, drink, browsing and style watching. I have to concede Paris does it better. We can debate London cool for ever and a day but somehow the femme of Paris whatever their age just have the edge. It is even down to the discreet one shopping bag whether Dior or Zara, you just know they bought perfection!

I'm not sure who was the star of the day Paris or the petit gacon. It was his first visit to the capital although his third visit to France. He loved it!

in the flea market

Climbing at the Louvre

Eating olives

Hanging out at cafes

More climbing on the left bank of the Seine

Prize possession an Eiffel Tower from street seller

Asleep on Eurosar

Yesterday, the MDS's decamped en famille to Paris for the day. It was a glorious day in respect of weather, food, drink, browsing and style watching. I have to concede Paris does it better. We can debate London cool for ever and a day but somehow the femme of Paris whatever their age just have the edge. It is even down to the discreet one shopping bag whether Dior or Zara, you just know they bought perfection!

I'm not sure who was the star of the day Paris or the petit garcon. It was his first visit to the capital although his third visit to France. He loved it!

(More photos on autre blog Fashion & Film)

If you love Paris...

...then the new release of a book called Fashioning the City: Paris, Fashion and the Media by Agnes Rocamora is, if this blog was Coco's Tea Party, the girl crush of the month!

Agnes is herself a women who exudes an easy chic associated with the streets of Paris, and a French je ne sais pas conveyed by the shrug of the shoulder. The book conveys a cultural and historical investigation into the space, the comments and the construction of Paris as a city of fashion, if not the fashion city.

If you long for a complete understanding of Paris, the literature, the construction of the city and it's perception and portrayal in the fashion press then Fashioning the City will take you on a tour via Balzac, Proust, Vogue, Le Monde and the Eiffel Tower itself.

The writing is intelligent, somewhat academic, but this in itself is refreshing in the day of attention grabbing subbing with little to fulfill the expectation. The discourse is punctuated with images that remind us of our own love affair with Paris and the fashion of Paris. The rich historical referencing to the space and use of the city is supplemented with Paris as a city of pleasure. Rocamoro reminds us that 'In the nineteenth century, Paris became increasingly perceived and fashioned as a center of pleasure, and amongst the pleasures it offered the visitor was sex...A particular kind of prostitute, the 'courtisane', became particularly associated with the French city.' And later in the book the imagery from Vogue Paris, August 2006 titled 'Nocturn Parisien' photographed by Mario Sorrenti remind us how sex still smolders with a glamorized image of a model suggestively posed as if she were a prostitute.

Somehow love, sex and fashion make interesting bed fellows but this is only one facet of Paris and Fashioning the City takes you on a full and in depth insight to the boulevards and side streets that reminds you of your favourite Parisien films, paintings and books and maybe evokes a heady parfum too!

The shrine of conspicuous consumption!

In the days of my travels to New York, Paris and Milan , rarely thank goodness for the fashion shows. I have to say New York was and always will be my favourite place to shop. My first luxury lust was in Paris but then I was a poor fashion assistant journalist who had no money and when I was that person with money, I was working hard in Paris with no time for shopping! Although, somehow I always fulfilled the family beauty orders. My mother's sister is addicted to Guinot, which is only sold in beauty salons in the UK. I am addicted to BioDerma's Crealine H2O so always stock up in France.


My first designer handbag purchase was at Gucci in Milan - a beautiful leather old school small hobo. It is as chestnut as the best racehorse and the leather is sheer bliss. My best fun in Milan was always in Prada's shop in the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele II, for some reason I reverted to a silly schoolgirl messing about on a Saturday afternoon in Dolcis and used to try on loads of shoes there in the downstairs and never buy a single pair. Mind you I'd always been having a lunchtime tipple with friends in the Piazza del Duomo.


But it is in New York that the experience moves into another bracket. The service is unforgettable. If its bad you can have a good old ding dong and be satisfied! My best argument was in Starbucks in Trump Tower and it was extremely satisfactory for both me and the girl serving. I'm surprised we didn't high five after it! I do like the rudeness factor in New York - its all give and take, whereas in London, stroppiness is one step away from a straight jacket.


And just when the memory of your NYC trip is fading you get a little card from Gucci or Bergdorf to thank you for you custom. Sometimes even a Christmas card. Not only have you got the goods but you've got a keepsake of the moment you bought them. Mind you it is only the shoe and bag people that do this.


Except for one of my Bergdorf excursions but for good reason! I couldn't get my size shoes in the Manolo shop on 54th street so went to Barneys, then Bergdorf. In Bergdorf not only did I have fun with the rich old ladies who take their dogs out in plush pushchairs to shop, but I encountered the only straight guy in the store. If it has been an episode of SATC, I would have channelled Samantha and had fun in the store cupboard. Being more like Charlotte, I bought the shoes but it really is the only time I have ever flirted with a sales assistant and the only time I didn't get a card -shame!


In these times of doom and gloom I decided to create my shrine of conspicuous consumption a la NYC, and bow down to such good times!

My New York footwear and bag purchases. I realised I left my half insole in my Manolo!