WISDOM

"Women were very important in Byzantium. They had a way of even dominating men. A man who was not handsome could not succeed,"

- wise words from Mr Lagerfield on the inspiration behind the Chanel Byzantine collectin.

kiss.

WAH!

Our WAH of the week isn't nails more a blank canvas for you to create your own piece of WAH nail art magic.

So allow all those returned Christmas presents and get yourself (sorry your friends, family and lovers) a gift voucher to get themselves all WAHed up for NY, trust me if I got a WAH nails voucher (s) I'd be more than made up (hint, hint la famile).

kiss.

VOGUE.COM IN MY CLUTCH

Vogue UK dot com has undergone a minor but noticeable change in it's appearance. At first I aligned the change with a one day push on the Bottega Veneta clutch bag sometime late last week but today I have noticed it is Dior that the twinning of colours, texture and background is related to. It's all very bloggy to me in the sense of that 'scroll down but background stays stationary thing' that blogs are very good at doing.

Anyway this leads me nicely into the subject of clutches. Ooh, I love a good clutch, from childhood my love was cemented by the carrying of my mothers cream leather and gold gilded clutch that signified an elegance, class and style that no other bag (nor my young years) could muster up. This love has returned more recently to me as a way to get over the giant bag syndrome that has haunted me the last few years. Give me a space and I'll fill it - often with useless and trivial items (endless satchets of ketchup lifted from Wetherspoons anyone?). With the clutch I am forced to edit and select my junk to a few key pieces.

In a direct weird moment of coincidence Susie recently posted about her return to the iddy biddy bag and cue another moment of feeling like I've walked into a secret party. Frankly, if it's good enough for Style Bubble it's got to me good enough for me. And with all this talk of this I'm gonna' be naughty and let you know that one of the projects I'm working on soon involves Susie herself - my dear how far we have come since being fired ay!

But I digress.

If you wanna get all 'fashiony' I guess this all ties in with the return of sophistication, glamour and minimalism that is awash with design houses and SS11 collections. But that all sounds all too 'fashiony' for someone who has a deep obsession with Fried Eggs and Britney Spears so I turn to my point earlier the smaller the bag the less junk in my trunk.

So far I have ...

crackberry, YSL Touche Eclat (which I didn't realise did it's magic on dark skin tones too - very pleasantly surprised), Oyster, uni and debit card, keys, baby Soap & Glory hand food and tiny Book of the New Testament & Psalms.

Sorted.

That aside there is a definitive list of clutches I'm swooning over right now. I guess as with 'It bags' there are a bevvy of 'It clutches' to which we have the Alexander McQueen, Lulu Guiness, Proenza and Bottega Veneta leading in the league of clutches.

But until I obtain employment enabling bank account to swell past £ ... (well £0 would be a good starting point) I will have to suffice with Primark studded envelope clutch and a perspex box clutch I've spotted in the ASOS sale.

kiss.

SNOW WHITE

They (the weather watchers aka the weathermen/women) claim the snow is due to make a come back this week so ahead of all the obligatory pictures of people's snowmen, snow covered cars blah, blah, blah, here are some actual pretty snow scenes courtesy of Lomography.

kiss.

SO ...

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

kiss.

NICHOLAS KIRKWOOD

Jeesh it's been a pretty long minute since I last blogged - I feel so bad. But not so bad as I have a new pair of Nicholas Kirkwoods to ease the guilt. So Susie as usual gave us all the heads up on a bevvy of sample sales and although I didn't make it to Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane - I got paid just in time to make the owning of this pair of Kirkwood's a reality and for that I am a very delighted woman.

I've even managed to overlook the fact that the weather is so cold I turn up with severe frost bite of the big toe every time I so much as head past the front door. I've even overlooked the fact that I have gained another heap of unwanted pounds. Bloody cosy hot meals. All this seems small fish compared to my new stunners.

You like them?

I've taken to looking at them every few hours and tucking them to bed alongside my pile of Bazaar's, Vogues, iDs, etc.

So as I begin to make up for lost blogging time take a chance to look around and see what sample sales might be out there (psst a little birdie tells me Saloni might be one to watch out for) ... see you there!

kiss.

DESIGN OVERTIME

As I have subtly dropped hints about for the last week or two a special event presented by Sketchbook magazine and hosted by the Design Museum hit the shores of the Thames, overlooking Tower Bridge, this Friday night.

And reporting the night after the night before is yours truly. The event itself was just the perfect mix of insider knowledge, joyous workshops and social gathering. Alongside inventive Sketchbook staff were the designers themselves and tucked into this mix where the illustration gurus, add a delightful handful of art and fashion students and enthusiasts and sandwich between the ever helpful Design museum staff and you have a night to remember.

The night featured what I describe as magazine brought to life with live interviews with Richard Nicoll, Fred Butler, Bora Asku and Amy Moleyaux. Simply smashing.

And with a twist that brought back my college days there were live workshops to help us all relearn the fundamentals of fashion sketching and collage with Gabriela Mot, an illustration workshop with Tomomi McMaster, fast paced drawing and a celebration of the energy of live fashion illustration with Stephen Stone and a live performance by installation/performance artist Jan Goodkin.

I got to meet part of the Sketchbook team and had our Gemma on hand to give me the inside guide to who's who - seriously I can't wait to get to work as a Sketchbooker.

In other parts of the night I took the chance to peruse through the Drawing Fashion (hosted by Grazia magazine) exhibition on the 1st floor and took great interest in the way fashion illustration has developed over the decades. A magical journey through its history and definitely a must see for any illustration or fashion enthusiast.

I will post my reports from each of the designers who spoke on the night during the week as I don't want to bombard you with all the delights in one go. But for now here are some pictures from various points during the night (excluding the interviews) to tickle your fancy if you will.

kiss.

NEWS

It's been a hot second since my last post mentioning Sketchbook and their talented team well guess who's hopping aboard their team.

Yes me. Jaw hits floor. Okay have we composed ourselves ... now let's let out a whoop. I'll be writing for their first book and I'm so smiley faced to have the chance to work with the lovely Gem. How simply extra super that I bring you THAT interview (which thus far is our most popular post my miles) and then not long after I step into working on this far out project.

And to tantalise you I've seen the plans and samples for the book and by Jove it's nothing less than the hottest port of all things fabulous. You guys are gonna' go mental when it drops. Eek! So excited.

Until the next time people and hopefully it'll be sooner than you think - in fact in 3 hours time at the Design Museum for a Night with Sketchbook.

I got some other bits and bobs to tell you all about but my mum is dragging me to Lidl to buy peanut butter ...

See ya.

kiss.