Above: Two example photos treated with the Chloe App

Dress, vintage. Belt, DIY rope-belt from sailing shop. Bag, Chloe. Floral garland, DIY by Kit

 L’Eau de Chloe; shot at Trent Park, London with favourite meadow-frolick partner Kit Lee. Editing done by Park & Cube.

I know what you’re thinking, especially if you’re one of the lovely folks who follow on Instagram/Twitter and have been subject to insta-spamming these past few weeks… (Not that if you don’t you’re not lovely. Just cuddly. And out of harm’s way, actually) If anyone has a brochure to Chloé Anonymous pleaze do pop one in the mail, or else I’ll resort to spritzing my pulse points with Listerine to rid of this addiction. Hear me out, L’Eau de Chloé embodies the smell of summer, and because we’re having a complete lack thereof in London right now, I am obsessed with it. It’s just like how I used to be obsessed with a bottle of Jelly Bean tutti-frutti perfume I had shipped from the US because Jelly Beans weren’t available in Poland back when I was a teen… Anyhow, for the past three weeks I’ve analysed black cloud patterns (‘is it going, I think it’s going, no it’s coming back, CURSE YOU SKY‘) and cried into rain; until last Friday a spell of sun was spotted in the horizon and Kit and I blasted out the door to meet at Trent Park in North London and got these shot. Oh yeah, milked that sun, we did. The ground was still slippery under the meadow grass, but in lieu of the horrid weather I have full confidence to say it was due to rain, and not the three German shepherds that weaved by us sniffing…

For a chance to win Chloe accessories and perfumes make sure to check out the competition that’s running until the 1st July – download the photo-editing app, apply a filter to a snap or two of your favourite light & breezy summer moment and submit to the lookbook!

Thank you Kit for the massive help in snapping these photos and general field-frolick-age.

Dior Nude ‘Beige Safari‘ Nail Polish, Rings, mummy’s old

One goopy nude-ish varnish that resembled melted baby-doll plastic and one messy bottle of are-you-sure-you-studied-art colour concoction later (red, pearly white, bit of brown… OK this is pearly poo), I’ve finally found the perfect shade and consistency in the Dior Beige Safari polish. It does make my hands look like Barbie fingers but I think it gives just the right amount of clean and classic like a pair of nude heels would. The consistency is just watery enough to glide on a few coats and finish with an Essie ‘Good to Go’ top coat (my preferred) and it feels like the day you got your braces off. (This may or may not mean I lick my fingers every ten minutes)

As seen in H&M Magazine Summer 2012 feature

Worn with: Blazer, Maarten van der Horst for Topshop. Sheer tunic, Zara. Fringed bag, Barbara Boner. Shoes, Patrizia Pepe. Belt, Louis Vuitton via Vestiaire Collective

I highly recommend watching this video before you even contemplate raiding the scarf drawer for a victim, because I personally made a mistake of not consulting the mighty internet (one does not simply walk into DIY without an appointment with Dr Google) and ended up with – I kid you not – three disfigured DIY ‘silk’ trousers with half-crotch/inside-out-seams/uneven legs*. Thank goodness the scarves were about £7 each from H&M, I’m filing that as ‘sewing-and-general-logic’ lesson fee.

• If available, it’s best to use a pattern (for lounge pants or PJ bottoms) since then you can’t go wrong with fitting, but you can also be a renegade and go freehand of fashion dummy like moi (and possibly pay 3 scarves worth in lesson fee)
• The length of the trousers really depend on the size of scarf you can find – even with a small-ish scarf you could use to make a pair of silk summer shorts (or cellu-lightning-frightening butt shorts, I like to call)
• Taking a fine material as silk through the sewing machine might prove to be quite difficult in the beginning, so do few practice rounds with the left-over scarf bits after cutting out the pattern. Although I guess by then it’s too late to turn back and you might as well butcher the poor scarf

Good luck!

Favourites from Miss Panda at YesStyle

Yellow fly-front Long Jacket

Cable-knit vest, Chiffon blouse, Dolman Sleeve Cardigan, Knitted dress, Shirred Long Skirt

Single-button boyfriend Jacket

Cable-knit sweater, Belted Trench Coat, Mustard knit dress

Linen Long Jacket

Miss Panda at YesStyle

Frustratingly when it comes to ye old Asian shopping sites the experience can be described in one word, millefeuille. Very literally at that, as I peel back pages chock-full of frills, chiffon and generally cute ‘fluff’ like girly frocks and sequined cardigans… then something more ‘edgy’, shall we say, glistens in the corner and that’d be a successful session. Gosh golly, to think if I’d channel that kind of dedication elsewhere perhaps I’d have achieved something for mankind, like auto-dispensing cheese machine? I apologize, world, for my inadequate use of time. Anyhow, the needle-in-haystack hunt in YesStyle is thankfully a little less wearisome as they do seem to tailor to a slightly different audience, and boy does the stationery section tickles the 10 year old in me. Usually I tend to avoid basic pieces that I could get for much cheaper in the UK, but the styling (*cough*pretty model*cough*) of a particular mustard coloured knit-dress caught my eye, and that’s how I stumbled upon Miss Panda. Slouchy wine-coloured cable-knit sweater, slinky peach trench-coat, boyfriend blazers… all solid basics that I’ve been reserving space in the wardrobe for, in one shop! Safe to say I won’t be shopping for the next few months.

Truely majestic hospitality: Plaza Athénée, Paris

Bag by Marc Jacobs

Necklace, DanniJo

Dior Institut au Plaza Athéné

The Courtyard

Dinner at the chef’s table at the Alain Ducasse restaurant

Head chef, Christophe Saintagne

Neoprene Jacket, H&M Trend. Knitted pleat-dress, Maska. Stone-Stud heels, Zara.

Breakfast!

Thank you to TCS and Hermes for the lovely trip.

As I’m typing this my husband and I are sitting side by side at our white £39 IKEA desk, with our favourite lamp lit dimly behind us – favourite because it has an energy-saving lightbulb that is kind to the monthly bill, and the fact that it takes about 3 gazillion years for it to get to maximum brightness so at least in the meantime it sets a moody light while we randomly slot a few bites of our swirly-pasta dinner between our online game/Sex & the City marathon (him/me). I’m also editing these photos, and realizing what a world apart it is – so much that it seems that the photos don’t entirely seem mine. These shots are from a night at the Plaza Athénée during the Hermes trip in Paris – might be familiar to some as the hotel that Carrie and her Russian ‘luvv-er‘ Aleksandr Petrovski stay at in the last two episode of the SATC series. The five-star Plaza Athénée defines hospitality, where the attention is so subtle yet omnipresent it almost feels natural to be catered to such level of service, it’s like they think ahead what might be comfortable before you even have to ask. (Although, they didn’t appear at the door at 3am with a pizza and marshmallows, but I suppose one can’t expect too much) Also, I found a total of five closets in the room, and while I had only brought a dress, another pair of shoes and pjs I separated them into the closets  just so I had a reason to use them all.  Dinner at the three-star Michelin restaurant by Alain Ducasse leaves you speechless, simply for the fact that you’re busy devouring seven courses that roll in seamlessly, and if you’re with good company consider yourself sitting for the rest of the night… in fact we departed the table well past midnight! The Dior institut is like an underground extension of the couture house from across the road on Avenue Montaigne, except, couture in Beauty. See what I mean by world apart? These rare hotel treats spoil me rotten (last one at Hotel de Crillon Paris courtesy of Dior), but thankfully I’m usually back home in my Dalston warehouse-conversion flat before I even have a chance to say ‘boy, I can get used to this’. And at least I’m left with beautiful places to share with you all.