Tablet – Lenovo Yoga. Envelope pouch – Smythson. Heels – Bally. Headphones – Bower Wilkins.

London Fashion Week SS15: A visual diary

Hyundai i20

Hunter SS15

Charlie May SS15 eyewear

Mary Katrantzou final walk

Max Factor Skin Illuminator Foundation & Colour Corrector Stick

Topshop Unique SS15

Topshop Unique SS15

Food on instagram because proper photos on DSLR? Ain’t nobody got time fo that.

Wearing: Top – COS. Trousers – Zara. Bag – Marni. Shoes – Tibi. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Rings – Monica Vinader. Cross-Ring – Elizabeth & James (via REVOLVE)

What do they say – Give a woman a house, she’ll make a home? Well, give a woman a Hyundai i20 over Fashion Week, and she’ll make a Death Star on four wheels and one 22-year old driver very, very uncomfortable. This, like many things in life – including adding soy sauce to everything – I blame my mother. Growing up, mornings were a battle of which sibling can out-stupid the other one, starting with putting shoes on before trousers, smearing toothpaste all over our faces and pretending to shave… you get the gist. This led to my poor mother having to shovel us into the car every morning along with 2 x cereal bowls, school outfits, homework, toothbrushes… (at one point I believe there was a pillow fort in the car), and she’d drive with one hand while the other ‘conditioned the air’. Fast forward to SS15 LFW, I inhale a plastic container of scrambled eggs in the car while deciding on an outfit, and with each day a new pile of clothing spilling out the passenger door. At the end of Day One I attend a makeup session at the Apartment with Max Factor discovering the new Skin Luminizer Foundation, and from that point on I use the tinted passenger window to accomplish the ‘dewy look’ in the ensuing mornings, just how Caroline Barnes instructed. My 22-year old driver awkwardly avoids using the rear-view mirror (apparently a touch worse than drink-driving) during my changing room sessions, but we somehow manage to make a split-second eye-contact just when my head is halfway through a sweater. Thankfully this Death Star is all about efficiency (close that hatch…) as we slice through morning traffic, and I arrive at the first show of the day with a Aquafresh breath and lotion behind my ears.

Stay tuned for some of my favourite collections so far!

Huge thanks to Hyundai UK for, gee wow, a car with my logo on it (!), and allowing ‘5 more minutes, mum…’ to happen. Please forgive me for any coco puffs found between the seats. 

Bag – Bally

IFA Berlin with Samsung

Announcing the newest member of the Club des Chefs

Michel Troisgras

Davide Olandi

Doina of The Golden Diamonds

Davide Olandi, Michel Troisgras, Elena Arzak and Christopher Kostow

And a fridge about the size of my first London flat.

Wearing: Bag – Bally. Top – Uniqlo. Jeans – James Jeans. Boots – Acne Jensen.

I will be the first to admit that I am exactly who they call a bad worker, someone who blames her tools for flaws in skill. I burn tea because the “kettle is old”, or, my scrambled eggs are on fire, because the stove just doesn’t… understand me. Also, I suck at blogging because my laptop is SO DAMN SLIPPERY. Yes, they call me the creative one. Lest we forget, the more you complain, the more you squirm to find a tool that will do your job better (or entirely for you). This particular ‘bad worker’ goes to IFA Berlin (trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances) and comes across a particular Samsung oven that won’t burn cookies to ash – an oven that gets you – and discovers features that will allow her to bake a perfect batch of peanut butter cookies, but also a sloppy lasagna on another shelf – all at the same time – and screams WHAT? NO WAY, SHUT THE FRIDGE DOOR. Now imagine, what a good worker brings to this equation – innovators and diligent thinkers. Like Michelin starred chefs, seven of whom Samsung have appointed into a superhero club (Club des Chefs) and borrowed the passion and expertise to produce a revolutionary new line of kitchen appliances (namely, the Chef Collection). Samsung took a couple of us out to Berlin to experience this first hand, which included a cooking demonstration in the Samsung Premium Lounge by four of the chefs themselves. The good workers bustled about, marrying cod with chorizo, negotiating temperature with the oven (the one that gets you). In the meantime, the bad worker blamed my fork for slow eating and resorted to shovelling in as much Michellin-blessed food with my hands. It was kitchen magic, a keen partnership of master and machine – finished with a fairy-dust sprinkle of crispy shiitake mushroom shreds.

A big thank-you to Samsung for a deliciously refreshing experience!

Stop terrorizing the playground, make your own indoor swing

You may have seen these colours on the high-street, lining the windows in technicolour lattice of one much-adored brand of the people… Uniqlo! (Although I’d have taken McDonalds for an answer too – McCheese-strings can totally be a thing.) Celebrating their 100% Extra-fine Merino Wool collection, Uniqlo had their windows bedecked in an installation that involved meters and meters of elastic strings – seven boxes of which ended up in my cave of a flat early last week for a rather exciting upcycling collaboration.

Now, don’t let the breezy number ‘seven’ fool you, because the boxes held over four hundred rolls in 65 different shades, which is naturally 64 more than my hamster brain can compute. Mind-boggled, I called Gyu (a CSM knitwear graduate, who, for long-time followers should be familiar from previous posts) for advice. ‘Oh jeez we can build an Oompa Loompa village with all this‘ was her greeting when she stepped into my apartment blanketed with a layer of awkward-shaped rolls of rainbow strings… We flirted with ideas like tents, trampolines and canopies, and tested the strings with various tension swatches (double-crochet, knitting, weaving, braiding…). Finally deciding on building a hammock, she left me after a few lessons on macramé techniques (promptly forgotten the moment she was out the door…)

Turns out one needs a company of veteran knitters to accomplish anything as big as your body. Well, I should’ve known, I have troubles applying body lotion.

So that’s the story of the swing.

Gyu testing single-crochet in a swatch

Extra-strength yarn (I used three colours – 1 skein of the main colour and a bit of the other two) · knitting needles (appropriate for the choice of yarn, I used 6mm) · crochet hook or yarn needle · 7 meters sturdy rope (before purchasing, make sure to determine length by measuring height to ceiling) · 2 x stripwood (cut to 25cm long. Make sure they’re wide enough to fit the rope with enough room around) · 2 x D-rings · Optional and depending on method: Sandpaper · drill · 2 x ceiling hooks.

Now, I really do recommend testing elastic tension for the swing seat by knitting up a square swatch before starting the project, and putting your entire weight on it. You might find that your yarn, or even knitting tension calls for some mini problem-solving/improvisation. Alternatively, this project can be done with cotton fabric, which can easily be sewn around the stripwood.

The best way to determine how high the swing should hang is to measure it about an arm’s length higher than your normal dining-room chair. That way, the swing seat will extend to a natural hanging-length. Adjust the rope knots for length if too long. Depending on the type of rope, you will need to secure the edge with duct-tape or seal with a flame. For mine, I wrapped a bit of yarn in a different colour over the duct tape for visual effect. Consider adding tassels or wooden beads to your swing if that’s how you roll.

I personally live in a flat with a mezzanine so I hooked the D-rings to the upstairs bars and let it hang it that way, but do purchase a strong ceiling hook if you wish to hang on the ceiling. Alternatively, skip the D-rings and simply loop the rope around the hook or bar.

In collaboration with Uniqlo; Photography – Park & Cube aka tripod

Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

A Skinny Latte at monmouth Coffee

27 Monmouth Street, WC2H 9EU

Coffee-connoisseurs the world around swear by Monmouth coffee – witness how proper lattes are done and don’t forget to take home your own bag of coffee beans to sniff when sad.

Trench coat – Burberry. Bag – Saint Laurent ‘Lulu’. Top – ASOS. Jeans – 7 For All Mankind. Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

oysters at
the delaunay

55 Aldwych, WC2B 4BB

Sure, they’re known for wieners. Lots of different type of wieners. In fact, go for wieners, but the mittel European vibe at the Delaunay is not complete without oysters on ice to start.

Burgers at Shake Shack

24, Market Building, The Piazza, WC2E 8RD

Dress – StyleNanda. Denim Jacket – Pinko (Similar). Bracelet – Monica Vinader. Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

Your search for the best burger is over. The cheeseburger topped with Niman Ranch all-natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and ShackSauce goes famously with a side of crinkle-cut fries and a pint of Oreo shake is match made in heaven. And, as one Sheldon Cooper would say, the burgers come with a satisfying meat-to-bun-to-condiment ratio. (Avoid peak hours unless queuing is a hobby)

burberry beauty box

2A THE MARKET BUILDING WC2E 8RF

Burberry’s first stand-alone beauty store, with looks straight off the catwalk. Try the radio-frequency identification-enabled platform that matches your skin tone to a colour, preeeetty fascinating.

go for a run on victoria embankment

victoria embankment, WC2R

One of the best running routes the city has to offer, the riverside embankment. Opt for an early morning jog when the streets are bare from tourists. Up one bank and back the other, follow signage, or not. I usually follow the smell of breakfast. Beats views from any gym treadmill.

All clothing – Adidas

In collaboration with Adidas UK; Photography – KrisAtomic. Layout & Art Direction – Park & Cube

Blazer – Zara (similar). Culottes – ASOS. Shoes – Gianvito Rossi. Belt – Vintage LV

Necklace – Amulette de Cartier

Necklace – Cartier. Top & Trousers – Louis Vuitton Icon. Scarf – Zara. Bag – L.K.Bennett. Shoes – ASOS.

Necklace – Cartier.

Above: Hat – Chanel. Sweater – Zadig & Voltaire. Necklace – Cartier. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Heels – Malone Souliers

There’s an urban myth that flight attendants look for neatly-dressed passengers in Economy to upgrade into Business class in order to balance the weight of the plane when the flight is under-booked. That, of course, is not the reason I wear heels when I travel. I am the passenger that has breadcrumbs all over her chin and sweater before take-off because I genuinely believe that I will starve and die before they bring out the food trolley. I’m also the passenger that is virtually invisible because she’s reaching under the seat for a fallen Skittle.

ANYWAY. I may have briefly touched up on this before, but the more I travel, the more I realise how much I’m addicted to the first 24 hours of a journey: the flurry of packing, pre-flight jitters, and the view out the plane/train window, then finally landing on foreign soil and cataloguing new scents and sounds into memory. From a certain point I started to dress up for it, like I would to any anticipated event, like a good show – figured I’d be sitting for hours in the plane anyway. While I don’t think I’ve yet fully mastered the art, so far these tricks have worked for me: Frothy cashmere, a great pair of heels you can easily slip out from, and single, fuss-free jewellery like the Amulette de Cartier that won’t bring down the entire airport.

In Collaboration with Cartier; photography by KrisAtomic; Location: Booking Office at the Renaissance Hotel.