nautical themed miami vice...
Spent the whole day sailing and thinking that I was channeling a bit of a Miami Vice vibe. When asked if I had ever actually watched the show I had to sheepishly respond 'No' and then be told that in no way was I rocking a Miami Vice inspired look. Oh well, to me these glasses have an eighties West Palm Beach sort of feeling... even though I have no idea what was going on in West Palm Beach in the eighties. Slightly problematic. Anyway, to avoid turning this into a philosophical 'if a tree falls in the forrest and no one hears it' sort of musing lets move on. The photographer and scientist, otherwise known as Mr Crusader, picked out these glasses at Monki for himself yesterday but kindly let me wear them. I'm seriously impressed with them because the lenses are so clear and really protect your eyes from the sun unlike most High Street sunglasses that run about 15 quid (ehemm... Topshop & Urban Outfitters). Plus, they even have a cheeky little message hiding inside...
hey there cheeky Monki...
After much anticipation, I finally made it over to Monki today... only to walk in and realize I had been to the shop plenty of times before when visiting Sweden, but just never remembered the name. Oh well, that didn't kill my buzz. The shop was a bit sparse for sale stock but I managed to find a little black Anna dress that I had been eyeing up on the website and a little florescent orange tube top (gasp!?) to wear under it. The back is quite low, racerback, and sort of mesh - all of which work to rule out a conventional bra. I also grabbed a grey and white stripped t-shirt dress contraption that has a massive pocket, a detail that seems to be a trademark of the shop. I then sauntered over to Weekday where I fell head over heels for a fringed suede jacket... it was still 70 quid after being reduced by 50% and since fringed suede jackets are normally my thing I thought that maybe I better think about it for a few days. But, seriously, how gorgeous is it?! Then headed into a shop called Solo where I found the coolest leggings with leather patches on them by Made in the Shade... am thinking they are going to act as the springboard for a new futuristic inspired look.
Ah, holiday goodies... how happy you make me.
a swedish montage...
While everyone else seems to be tweeting about their near run-ins with Alexa at Glastonbury I've been living the simple life in Sweden. I struggled to fall asleep last night as relentless singing kept going on in my head. It was midsummer and the neighbors were loudly singing drinking songs until the wee hours of the morning... a tradition I definitely will be bringing back to the UK. We hit up a traditional pole raising event where everyone wore floral dresses, flowers in their hair, and danced around a massive cross - all the while singing songs jovially about frogs with no tails?! Slightly bizarre but entirely enchanting. Anyway, in all honesty my high-fashion run ins have been slightly curtailed as I haven't had much contact with the outside world these past few days... so instead I'm just bringing a little montage of the last few days which have been spent sailing, playing scrabble (where I felt pretty impressed with coming up with the world 'trilby' - I'm rubbish at words games), lying in the sun, eating copious amounts of cake, reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and wandering around deserted towns where every shop is closed thanks to midsummer festivities (Monki will have to wait until tomorrow)...
Wearing: Mouille swimsuit won in a giveaway from Miggy - which, by the way, I totally love and would highly recommend. It feels totally lush and is lovely to wear.
p.s. I'm currently contemplating a blog re-jig... so watch this space.
'everybody look at me 'cause i'm sailing on a boat...'
Spent the whole day sailing yesterday. It was pretty much perfection. Sweden is unbelievably beautiful, so quiet and peaceful. The perfect place for me to tuck into Grazia and a massive bag of sweets. But, this scenario of spending all day lounging in swimwear begs a question... how do we feel about posting photos in bikinis? I'm not a swimsuit model (duh) and I probably haven't ever felt 100% at ease having my photo taken while wearing a tw0-piece... but I'm not entirely averse to the idea. I gave it a shot yesterday... some came out alright but then I started wondering how I feel about posting photos of it. It reminded me of a conversation I had with another blogger who said, 'the less you wear the more traffic you get.' Obviously not in the context of, 'hey, let's strip down and boost our numbers' but rather that it wasn't really the sort of thing we were in to doing. So anyway, I know the clear answer is probably, 'Listen Jen, if you feel comfortable doing it and you want to then do, if not then don't.' It's simple right? But basically I'm not too sure at this moment... and I'm curious about what you guys think about this. So tell me, what are your thoughts on blog posts featuring swimwear?
p.s. if you follow me on twitter you may have heard that I was very excited this morning about going to Monki... sadly, it's bloody mid-Summer's eve so literally every shop is closed. Bummer... Monki will have to wait for another day.
this bike has no breaks!
Yesterday was my first full day in Sweden... I spent most of the day lying by the lake dozing. I also rediscovered the wonders of cinnamon and sugar bulle and read i-D magazine for the first time. Does anyone out there read it? If so, what are your thoughts? I'm wearing the same outfit I had on a few posts bellow but it wasn't very visible in the last set of photos so I thought I'd give it another twirl... plus, I'm not going to lie to you: all I want to wear right now are these d.i.y. denim shorts. Alright, must get out of bed... am spending the day on a sail boat and people are waiting for me to get my act together.
Wearing: Jigsaw Junior cardigan, Zara cat print dress worn as top, Levi 501 d.i.y. shorts, Cabbages and Roses plimsoles and Topshop sunglasses. p.s. I never wear any makeup on holiday so get used to my 'fresh' faced look... or come back in two weeks when I'm back in London.
every little thing that we do...
Played dress up last friday in Daniella's closet. Listened to Ja Rule and then ran all over East London dressed up like wild cats... luckily, no one got (too badly) hurt in the process.
photos borrowed from the f blog.
go on, give me a snog...
Hung out at Snog in Soho on Friday afternoon. Ate gorgeous yoghurt littered with strawberries, bananas and oreos. Chatted with the wonderful Jill, Natayla, Kit and Shini. Tried on kooky Rayban sunglasses. Ran outside to photograph England football fans. Tried to keep up with the games via Shini's phone. Laughed about the copious amounts of allergy medicine that Kit carries around in her bag (literally about 20 differnt potions). And posed outside the scandalous 'exotic' shops that line the streets of Soho. A word or warning: if you're planning on bringing your kids to one of these frozen yoghurt venus I'd advise choosing a different location... this one sits amongst a throve of sex shops.
I wore Jigsaw Junior Cardigan, Zara Cat Print Dress worn as a top, Levi 501 denim diy shorts, Michael Kors belt.
p.s. am just heading out the door Heathrow to Sweden (baby!)...
Happy father's day...
Pictured above with my sister back in the early 80s, I'd argue my dad is and always has been seriously cool. Ever since I can remember he has had a beard. He shaved it off once when I was 19 and it totally freaked me out... he didn't look like my dad and luckily he very quickly grew it back. He also has only ever worn Rayban aviators... the big ones that are totally black and curl around the back of your ear. He's totally laid back and I think if my mom hadn't come along and forced him to buy some new clothes he'd still probably be wearing the same tennis shoes (which notoriously had holes throughout them so his toes could poke out the front), worn out jeans and Members Only jackets. Now he's a Tommy Bahama polo shirt and Italian loafers kind of man.... I guess some things have to change over time. But, beard or no beard (bucket or no bucket).... he's still the same dad underneath it all. He's spent his adult days working in the desert in the Middle East and as a result always has the best tan. Once he came back from Turkey and had let his hair grow out long and I swear he looked just like Indiana Jones. He loves computer games, must have over a thousand dvds, and always has the coolest and newest electronic gadgets. My brother in law waited in line overnight in the middle of the winter to get him the Nintendo Wii when it first came out and his name was one of the first on the waiting list for the i-pad. Even though my friends swear that he's a secret agent (there's even a facebook group in honour of the conspiracy) he is a pretty big softy. He's my identical hand twin and I'd argue the best dad in the whole world...
Happy Father's Day Dad!
wild cat...
last night i played dress up over at daniella's. she has the best costumes... masks, tiger heads, acne wedges, leopard print jumpsuits. what more could a girl ask for, right? i need to knick photos off the other girls so i can show you some of our ludacris (or was it ja rule?) outfits. for now, let's just say i tore up east london in a mad leopard costume. p.s. check out some more bizarre and yummy photos of our night over at my other blog Team Inglis. theres a shot of me in the kitchen of the restaurant with the chefs...
at least i've got one on my wall...
so, before i share with you all the wonderful adventures of my post-exam celebration i just wanted to show you this beautiful little baby that arrived at my house today. i won it in a giveaway over at Alex's blog Alex Loves and it's by an artist named Jamie Ball of Little Kingdoms. i absolutely love it and hopefully it will inspire me to save my pennies until the day arrives (and yes, it will arrive one day) when i can purchase my very own real and utterly timeless chanel bag. thanks jamie!
p.s. i know a few of you have mentioned that you're trying to find the print online. so to spare you the searching... it's available here.
the streaker....
happy friday everyone! i am officially finished with exams and am off this morning to spend the day with polka dot, shini and kit in london... and then to party the night away with daniella and jackie. so to celebrate this joyous day feast your eyes on this gorgeous Rare Opulence dress. needless to say, i so am not a size 8 and so this sample dress was unwilling to zip up... hence my awkward pose to avoid flashing the world. enjoy! hope you have a great friday filled with awkward but ridiculously fun moments.
this many incredible shoes? it's Rare...
I have to give a big shout out to the incredible Almina over at Rare. She is the first PR girl I had ever met and was the first to invite me along to a press day. More than that, she's a girl after my own heart. The first time I met her she was rocking an incredible yellow Mulberry Alexa bag and gushed over my green Kate Kanzier brogues (she's been trying to get ahold of them ever since but, sadly, they've been sold out in her size). Since that first encounter we've become twitter buddies (if you too want to be my buddy just go here), she's gotten engaged, and has just bought a house next to the ocean. To top it all off she threw the Rare Autumn/Winter press day the afternoon before my final exam and promised that I could bring along my notes to study in the corner if need be. Well, my notes were definitely in my bag but there was no way I was going to be looking at them while I was there. I won't go into the whole collection now but, instead, just mention something I am very excited about. Rare have started doing shoes! Yes, that's right... girls this is something to freak out about a little. Two pairs, respectively dubbed the Almina and Jennifer (by, that's right, Almina and yours truly), have made it onto my wish list. The first is pictured above on the lovely Jazzabelle's foot and the other, my oh my the other, is an absolute stunner and I very adamantly shoved my size 38 foot into the 37 sample because there was no way I was leaving there without trying it on. I'll have to mooch a picture off someone of it to show you... I was drooling a bit too much to photograph it at the time.
Anyway, okay, all this to say that the Rare shoes (which you can spot in the background on the above photo) weren't the only incredible ones in that room on Tuesday. All the girls that had come to check out the collection were totally decked out in the coolest footwear. Check it out below... in order of appearance you've got: Abimarvel, Deepa, Jazzabelle, Saskia, and Jess.
p.s. Almina snapped my photo is an incredible Rare Opulence dress that was a teeny bit too small and utterly embarrassing (I look a bit like a streaker), but I'll show you if you want to see....?
love at first spike...
Ever since I spotted Tiffany Hsu at London Fashion Week sporting the Givenchy spiked headband my mind has been filled with dreams of spikes adorning my little head. Months have passed though to no avail... there seems to have been a drought in the supply. Then, I spotted it... at Topshop. The one, the only, the perfect spikey studded headband. I had to locate mine on ebay because all the black ones had sold out... it arrived today and was sitting at the top of my steps in a perfect little package. A great present to celebrate my last exam. I think it's a sign that it's time for me to put aside my geeky study-girl guise and release my inner rock chick.
p.s. I have cloaked myself in an amazing Union Jack that I received today from my dear friend Emma because I am wearing a hideously and embarrassing exam outfit... but more on that later.
when i grow up i want to be...
There is no doubt about it, Cindy Crawford was the single model that made an impact on me growing up. I used to walk around saying, 'When I grow up I want to be 5'10 like Cindy Crawford.' Turns out she isn't actually even 5'10? She's 5'9... so my stubby little 5'7 isn't as far away from her height as I always feared. I'm not really sure when or how this fixation occurred. But if I had to pick the ideal look it would definitely have been hers. Tall, dark hair, big lips, strong brows, an inherently all-American fresh faced look. Geeze, she even has a mole. That probably sealed the deal. Can you believe it, for her first Vogue cover in January 1987 they removed it?! What a catastrophic mistake that was.
For me, she's the ultimate supermodel... one part of a monumental force that no longer exists. Glamour, power, force, strength. These girls embodied an era and a mentality. The whole insanity that developed around Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford raised the bar of success to new heights in the modeling world. Has anyone been worthy of the title since? Some would argue England's own Kate Moss has... she certainly represented a new type of model dubbed 'heroin chic'. A look that took on such a force that even the then President Bill Clinton felt the need to speak out against it. Surely such emaciated and chid-like models gave rise to the outlandish use of photoshop that we are still recovering from. Clearly our sense of 'beauty' is an ever evolving concept. For me, it's all about being healthy instead of all emaciated and gaunt like... plus, who am I kidding? I like food way too much. What do you think? Have any models made an impact on you?
Think you've got a face that deserves to be on the cover of Vogue or a body that will inspire girls to want to be just like you when they grow up? Well, Next is currently running a modeling competition and all you've got to do to enter is upload your photo on Facebook for your chance to win. Click here to find out how to enter.
p.s. That's right, I've included a little Facebook 'Like' button. There is a little blogger competition going to help promote this Next modeling competition... whoever gets the most 'likes' wins. So, be sure to click 'like' if, in fact, you like it... Images sourced from here.
oh lordy, so unnecessary...
For a mere 9.95 you too can have the lust-worthy asset that made Jennifer Aniston so famous in Friends. Yes girls, that's right... nipples. And no, they aren't natural. Nor are they being sold from a sleazetastic shop. But, your very own upmarket Selfridges is selling 'Nipple Enhancers' that you simply stick under your bra for that constant perky look. This is one trend I can adamantly say I will not be buying into. Surely some poor soul will have them go slightly askew under their top and wind up looking nastily lopsided. That's one fashion-don't I really really cannot wait to spot.
So the question is girls, will you have this secret little black bag stored in your handbag this summer?
