New York Fashion Week Fave Looks

This post was inspired by the lovely Vintage Society Gal. I have really enjoyed looking at the photos that the Facehunter and The Sartoralist have posted over New York Fashion Week and thought I too would pick my favourite looks. Here they are:
This is just gorgeous, it looks a little like Agyness Denn...? The dress is so light and breezy and the bike is the perfect accessory. Also, after seeing this pic, I want to die my hair blonde!
The key thing here for me is the bag - I just have to have it - it makes the outfit.
This dress is lovely - the graphic print against the white is just perfect and the glasses are just too cool...
This is also one of Vintage Society's faves - I just love the red dress really!
She has the best glasses and the most gorgeous legs, I too would wear my dresses this short if I had legs like hers!
Great layering here, the trapeze dress and the denim waistcoat, then the cool boots and red sunnies, she's too damned cool for school...
I love the belt here, which is why I chose this outfit. It just kind of elevates the look for me.
I'm not a fan of dungarees, but this girl just rocks them. The hair, the awesome shoes and well, the smile is just lovely.

Photo credits - The Sartorialist and Facehunter

Drinks and a fashion show of sorts...

Last night my boy and I went to a friends for dinner and then for drinks to L'Umbracle, an outside bar under the magnificent curved walkway by Santiago Calatrava - part of his complex for the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. It was the first time I had been since the bar had opened and I was amazed. The place looked gorgeous, three cocktail bars, a stage, a huge dancefloor and countless places to sit or lounge, or escape for a cuddle! It really was quite stunning. We were lucky (or unlucky as it turned out) to be there for a fashion show to open a new chevignon store. Unfortunately they hadn't decided to splash out on using actual models and had asked friends and family to model instead. This resulted in a bit of a shambolic affair, with models who were attractive but nothing like professionals and it all felt a bit half-arsed. Thankfully there was also what they call in Spain a "spectaculo" where there are dancers in costumes up on podiums and on stage to encourage people to dance. The theme was Little Red Riding Hood and they all looked fabulous. As we were leaving, and due to a few too many drinks, I realised that I hadn't taken any photos. Therefore the images here are a result of my pissed boy and I trying to get a decent pic of my outfit - enjoy!

Interview Outfit

Yesterday I had two job interviews for teaching English in Language schools. It's been 9 years since I stood infront of a class and taught and about 4 years since I've been to an interview so as I'm a great believer in the whole first impressions count thing I decided to do a little web research to help me decide what to wear. This is what I found:

Do’s and Don’ts for Interview Dress
Do wear a skirt or dress whenever possible. Pants (I'm guessing here they mean trousers and not knickers as I definitely always wear knickers to an interview!) are not the best choice for a job interview, even in a casual working environment. If pants are worn, they should be slacks that have a crease. Never wear stretch, form fitting or denim pants.
Don’t wear jeans, denim outfits, tank tops, shorts or other very casual clothing.
Don’t wear it if you are in doubt about wearing it. (This is actually good advice - we usually know if we look ok)
Don’t wear anything too short, too tight or too sexy. If your clothing or lack of clothing distracts a business associate, they may have trouble taking you seriously. Skirt length should be no more than two inches above the knee.
Don’t wear your skirt too short. (ok, I get it - no short skirts!) Even if short is fashionable, you don’t want to draw attention to your thighs.(I know I don't) Keep your skirt length at or below your knee. Sometimes opaque hose can mask a too short skirt. (Oh - so I can wear a short skirt...)
Interview Tip: Avoid crossing your legs, especially if you are wearing a short skirt. (huh?!)
Don’t show too much skin. This means cleavage as well as arms. So this means staying away from low-cut and sleeveless tops and also sheer fabrics.
Do wear traditional daytime fabrics. Don’t wear satin, velvet, glittery or leather fabrics.
Don’t wear iridescent or neon colors.
Do wear pleasant colors (what the F**k is a pleasant colour?!) – women have a wide choice in beautiful colors. Most are acceptable on interviews.

Taking into account all this advice - I ended up wearing this. Not too short, no cleavage, no denim and definitely pants! I was travelling on the tube at the hottest part of the day so I had to wear something light and something that wouldn't crease. I was pretty pleased with it at the end. I added a cute little over the shoulder vintage black leather clasp handbag and although you can't see my head (bad face-sorry) I wore my hair in a pony-tail. It must have worked though as I was offered both jobs! Didn't take either in the end as the journey time was too long but nevermind!

Once more unto the breach...

Back from the beach and sunny London (the only sun they've had all August I think). The break was good and it was fantastic to catch up with friends and eat non-Spanish food - I love the food here but I miss my Thai and Indian restaurants. We also went to a fabulous Lebanese restaurant on Borough High street which was great. I had also been missing all my favourite shops; Topshop, Primark (yes, I am a cheap slut!), New Look, Uniqlo, Reiss, Urban Outfitters, H&M, blimey the list goes on and on, anyway I thought I would shop my heart out. Unfortunately I was so uninspired by the new season stuff... It feels like fashion hasn't moved on since last year - where was all the bodycon stuff that I've seen in the mags? Why are there still wedge shoes in the shops? Why are there still smocks in H&M? Many questions. I ended up buying virtually nothing. A little dress and some over the knee socks in Primark and a crochet beret in H&M. Admittedly as I'm not working I didn't have much money but Jesus, something should have tempted me! I guess I'm going to have to stick to Zara for my fashion fixes. And just so this isn't just a text post, here are some pics of a few of my summer outfits (not properly showcasing the outfits as I haven't gotten used to that pose thing yet, sorry!)

Summer break....

Am off to the beach for a couple of weeks - See you back here in September!

Spanish Christening

Today my boy and I went to the christening of my friend Yolanda's little boy Gael. To the left is the happy family; Yoli, Sammi and Gael - how gorgeous are they? Sammi is Mexican and his four sisters, his Mum and two aunts came over for the event. The whole family was just gorgeous, the four girls had the most lovely long eyelashes - I was very jealous. The service was really fun and afterwards we went to a restaurant on the beach where they proceeded to almost feed us to death! This picture of what I wore was taken on our way home so if the dress is straining a little, it'll be coz I ate too much... This is one of my favourite dresses and I don't wear it nearly enough. I bought it from a little vintage shop in Stoke Newington called Ribbons and Taylor which is one of my favourite shops in the world! The shoes are from Ebay and they are so comfy. I took them travelling with me and everytime I needed to dress up a little, out they'd come!

Matchy matchy, clashy clashy...

I cannot seem to resist the match! All my favourite fashion images stem from the clash yet I cannot seem to integrate it into my own style. Susie Bubble is the queen of the clash, but I love all the streetstyle sites too as they have lots of cool clashing outfits. Above and to the left are a few old images where I couldn't resist the match... If it's not the scarf and the gloves, the arm warmers and the shoes, the scarf and the shoes it's something else - it must be a compulsion! I can be getting ready and I'll put some stripes on with a leopard print belt and then at the last minute, just before I leave the house, I'll look in the mirror and stick on something to match the leopard print, whether I want to or not - is there something I can do to remedy this...?!

The trapeze dress

This photo from the Sartorialist really stood out for me this week. I don't like the outfit but there's something particularly lovely about the image that I can't quite put my finger on... The hair is great - I love the the gamine cut offsetting the girliness of the pink dress, the cardigan is lovely - the vintagy grey wool works nicely against the sheer fabric of the dress, the pose is perfect, and the shoes are cool, but the dress, or what I can see of it, does absolutely nothing for me. I'm not a huge fan of trapeze dresses as they do nothing for a woman's body, but often they can look stylish and modern. Perhaps here it doesn't quite work though because the cardi is a little too long. The thing is, even though the outfit doesn't quite work for me, there is something special about this picture!

La Redoillon

I was at my mate's house waiting for a friend of hers to come and sort out my hair after a rubbish haircut from my usual man and I saw she had the new La Redoute catologue. I have been burnt many a time by La Redoute (the clothes never look as good in real life as they do in the photos) but as I lazily flicked through the pages, I came across this gorgeous photo shoot featuring Lou Doillon and her Mum, Jane Birkin.
Other than the fact that the two of them are just too gorgeous for their own good, I want everything in the pictures! The clothes are just lovely, slightly quirky yet wearable and so, so cool and the pictures are beautifully set up. I had never seen the attraction in Lou Doillon before, but in these photos she looks stunning.The image that really made me take a good look was this one on the right. I think this is the perfect winter coat, it has a slight vintagy feel to it with the bracelet sleeves, but the proportions also make it feel really modern. Maybe it's the double breasted cut and the mannish cut. I think this would be such a versatile coat. Here in the image it's worn over a floaty dress but I can imagine it working beautifully over skinny jeans. The coat is by Isabel Marant, whose clothes I've never really noticed before but who now I will be watching like a hawk! The jeans in the photo to the left are fab too. they are by a company called Used who I don't know, the cut is super skinny and rock chickish. I think Lou looks gorgeous in this photo too, very much the hipster that she is, she looks very natural, and shit, I'd kill for her legs! The last photo I've picked are these lovely tan sandals. I am constantly on the look out for the perfect tan sandal and I think these might be them. They have an almost bondage feel to them but paired with the thick grey speckled socks in this pic, they look almost schoolgirlish. I've always thought tan looked great with grey ribbed socks but this takes it to another level. Check out the rest of the shoot in the catalogue!

Vintage in Valencia

Valencia is a pretty conservative city stylewise. Every so often you catch someone wearing something a little different, a little out of the ordinary, but the sightings are rare and far between. I find myself checking out the Satorialist (although he is quite conservative in his tastes too, but the clothes are so gorgeous), Facehunter and Stylescout as they're so inspiring and I just don't get inspired by the clothes I see on the street.
Shopping in Valencia is also quite conservative. There are the usual high street shops such as Zara, Massimo Dutti and Mango but there is no H&M and no Topshop which are favourites of mine. If I'm being honest, I alo love a bit of the old Pradamark! So anyway, i've been searching for some good secondhand shops for a while now, and although I've found a couple on the web, when I actually look for them physically I have no luck. Which is why I am so excited about my finds this morning. Every Thursday, near where I live, there is a huge street market. It sells all your average street market stuff, kind of like chapel market in Angel or Ridley Road in Dalston, but this morning my sister and I ventured down a particular street that we hadn't been down before and came across a veritable treasure trove of a market stall selling the most wonderful clothes from the sixties, seventies and eighties. I swear my hands were shaking from the excitement. Between the two of us we found 9 dresses, 2 shirts and a skirt and the stall holder let us have it all for 50 euros. Incredible! Bring on next Thursday, I say...
The photos here (sorry for the bad pictures) are three of the dresses. A few things need taking up and hemming but the clothes are as beautifully made as you expect from the decades. I'm actually kicking myself for not buying a denim high-waisted jumpsuit which my sis talked me out of. I can't wait to wear this stuff out on the street, the Valencianos won't know what's hit them! This weekend I'm going to FIB (a music festival in Benicassim) with my boy to see Peter, Bjorn and John and The Arctic Monkeys and I'm sure something will get an airing, and now I think of it the yellow dress is perfect for a Christening I've been invited to - blimey, the possibilities are endless, now I just need new shoes...!
P.S. Comments on the bright red lipstick would be appreciated - can't decide whether I love it or hate it. The boy finds it scary!

Inspiration from Mejico!

Having lived with an architect for a good nine years now, I am quite aware that architects are very good at building their client's houses but never their own. An architect can live in an unfinished house for years and years. I seem to be at our flat almost everyday letting in builders, calling electricians, getting quotes etc and I find it so demoralising seeing this empty shell of a flat. I'm sure it will look great eventually but I'm terrible at imagining the end picture. To help me visualise, or maybe just so I feel like I'm doing something, I've been buying lots of decorating magazines and cutting out images which I like the look of. It's been really interesting as it's made me take a good look at all the things that attract me, and has helped me find a way of putting everything together in a way that might work! It also reminded me of how inspired I was by a recent visit to Mexico, as you can see that the rooms I picked out all a painted with fresh colours. I loved the way the Mexican people used colour for everything, from the brightly coloured pinatas, to the bright green beetle taxis in Mexico City. Mexico's most famous architect is Luis Barrigan and we were lucky enough to visit a couple of his houses. Two of his favourite colours were fuschia and gold and after seeing his use of the colours I am determined to have a fuschia bathroom! To the left is the outside wall of his house, as you can see the colour is just gorgeous and looks wonderful with the green. We also visited Frida Kahlo's house, it was so beautiful and vibrant and she used colour in such a wonderful way too.
The thing that I took away from visiting her house was the kitchen. The floor was painted in a sunshine yellow and all the wooden furniture was painted the same colour which looked stunning. Unfortunately I don't have a picture as we weren't allowed to take any photos inside. Other inspirations were the places we stayed; to the right are photos of the small B&B in Merida. It was an old colonial house with two interior patios, one with a pool and one filled with verdant plants. Each of the rooms were decorated in a Mexican style and we were lucky enough to have a suite. Our bedroom had no windows out to the exterior but the skylights did wonderful things to the colours in the rooms, and kept them nice and cool. I love the orange in both these pics but for some reason I don't dare use it in the flat, it's one of those colours I just don't trust - does that sound strange? Maybe I should try wearing it first... Anyway, so this isn't a post just about my flat, to the left is a picture of what I wore today. I was actually inspired by a post from the Vintage Society where she was talking about "what a difference an outfit makes" and she had on a cute waistcoat. It made me pull my old one out from the cupboard. The boy wasn't too sure about it though!

Magazines

Yesterday I went shopping for a new phone. I was in a flowery kind of mood and so pulled out my trusty colourful primark tunic. Once on though I realised it was pretty short and would probably be indecent on the bike! So again I had to resort to wearing leggings.
I've never really got the whole leggings trend - it seemed to me that if it was too cold for a dress by itself then why would you leave your ankles and feet bare? Or, if it's too hot for tights, why cover up in something that's even thicker? I guess now I'm eating my words. Coz right now, leggings are the perfect biking gear for me - they let me wear my favourite dresses whilst preserving my decency and keeping my vajayjay (God, I love that word - thank you Addison from Grey's Anatomy!) covered.So anyway, I never realised how many phones you could choose from! There are at least 60 of the bloody things! LG, Samsung, Sony etc... Eventually I chose this little one you see to your right, I bought it in blue though as I can't abide girly phones. The poor boy behind the counter at phone warehouse (the Spanish equivalent of the Carphone Warehouse) was very patient with me but I'm sure he was glad to see the back of me too.
After my purchase (which must have taken a good 45 minutes) I thought I deserved a coffee, so I wondered to the magazine shop where I bought this month's Spanish Marie Claire to read. In Spain, at this time of year, actually now I think about it, all year round, they give away presents. Yesterday's gift was a rather fetching pair of sandals (which I promptly broke when I tried them on later that night). Sorry, I've digressed... The whole point of this post was to muse on the fact that every June and July the fashion magazines insist on editorials with super skinny and gorgeous models wearing bikinis. Now, I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but for me there is nothing more discouraging to the purchase of a new bikini than seeing page after page of the aforementioned stunning models (lucky tarts) looking amazing. It makes me feel large and I'm not particularly self-conscious. Don't the fashion industry realise this? I'm sure it can't help them sell swimwear... For me the best bikini editorials are of the bikini laid out, or the ones that tell you the best bikini to suit your shape - the American mags are best at this I reckon, as they actually use readers with different shaped bodies looking fab in all kinds of styles. Ok, rant and post over as my husband is on my back to get off the computer...

Colouring my world...

Spent the weekend at the villa as Jon and my brother-in-law had to paint the pool. The weather was unbelievably hot and sticky! Saturday Jon and I took my nephew down to the port of Valencia to see the first America's Cup race. Unfortunately Team New Zealand were absolutely thrashed by Alinghi (they did manage to equalise on the Sunday though, thank God!) We went down on the bikes which was nice but very sweaty.

On the Sunday I spent the day dreaming about colours for the new flat. I am a person who cannot live with white or cream walls, everything needs to have colour and warmth. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I am married to a minimalist architect who cares nothing for colours and would quite happily live in a white box surrounded by books and drawing boards. He will humour my ideas up to a certain point but I doubt if I'd be allowed to have anything like these photos above (which I got from a Marie Claire). Let the battle begin...

Yesterday was a good day...

It seems that my blog moans were heard. Yesterday I received an email from one of my publishing contacts here in Spain offering me a trial - wahey! Basically I will have to read a manuscript and write a report on it - plot outline, my opinion, etc. I will most probably be given a young adult novel to read which is great as I still feel like a teenager at heart and I have a huge soft-spot for teen novels. This is me having a cold shandy to celebrate...
I have always thought that Children and teens are a much harder audience to please than adults; if a child doesn't enjoy one page of the book, they often won't turn the page whereas an adult is far more likely to give the author another chance. It always bothered me when I worked at Hodder Childrens' Books when people asked me when I would progress into adult publishing, as if one were better than the other!
This is the full length photo of what I was wearing. I never usually wear leggings but I so wanted to wear this dress yesterday on my bike and the last time I did this without leggings was very embarassing - never wear button through dresses on bikes! My husband took this photo.

Clever sis

My lovely sis, on the left with me, studied fashion design at college. She initially studied Business studies but when she was a skint student she started making her own clothes to save money and discovered her true calling. She now has three kids and as they are all in school she decided to get back into doing what she loves best, designing clothes. She sourced some fabulous African print fabrics and is now selling her stuff on etsy.com; http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5087881 and on ebay. The dresses are gorgeous, my favourite I've shown here, and they fit lovely. I can imagine this one layered up over a stripy tee in winter, with woolly tights and boots or just on it's own with some little gold flats for summer. There's also a lovely short green full skirt which I really want as it would just fill a hole in my summer wardrobe. The only problem is she won't let me buy anything off her - very annoying!

Waiting on an email...or two

Not sure if I like being a lady of leisure all that much... At the moment I'm looking for freelance or project work in publishing as a reader or translaor and I've sent out my CV to a few people. I spent 5 years working in Foreign Rights, first at Hodder Chldren's Books and then at a literary agency, Ed Victor Ltd. I gave up this job when we decided to move to Spain. It was basically my dream job but I figured that if we wanted to have a family it would be better to be in Spain. Now I'm not so sure...

Waiting for responses to CVs is a horrible thing; every day I log on and as the computer chuggs into action my mind is in overdrive - "please, please, please let there be an email for me..." Then the dull thud of depression when there's nothing there. I know I should chase up with a follow-up email but at the moment I'm trying to put that off. It's probably the worst time to be looking for work anyway at the moment - the Spaniards are about to close up for the holidays - ok, I'm finding excuses now.

Instead I'm spending my days pottering and sorting out the flat. Last weekend Jon and I went to the Rastro, Valencia's huge flea market. We were incredible lucky and found this beautiful bathroom dresser. It needs a bit of work but I think with some loving care it will look stunning. The basin actually has a drain so we'll be able to plumb it in and use it as our sink. Just have to find some nice taps. We can change the tile at the bottom for one with a bit mor colour - I'm planning on having fuschia tiles on the wall. Sorry about the photo quality; I have the world's shakiest hands!

How to start a blog….?

After 5 years in London, my husband and I decided we wanted to start a family and move to sunnier climes to be nearer my family. So we sold our lovely one bedroom flat in Stoke Newington, North London to our best friends and moved here to Valencia.
This is where we lived. Outside the huge window you can see my beloved Beetle Bernard (second name Butler after the guitarist from Suede!) Bernard was a seventeenth birthday present from my sis, and the beautiful racing green paintjob was a bribe from my father to get me to move back from New Zealand! Bernard is 40 years old now but he's still going strong and we drove him over from the UK. We did however get the ferry to Bilbao coz although he's in good shape I didn't want to put him through such a long drive! The second pic is my old bedroom. On the wall is a thirteeth birthday present from my husband Jon, a limited edition print by Natasha Law. I found Natasha's work when she did the illustrations for a book by an author my old agency used to represent. The book was "How To Walk in High Heels" by Camilla Morton - it's a lovely book and I fell in love with the images in it - so delicate and pretty. I was completely chuffed with my gift to say the least. Also in the pic is our apple Mac without which I would be lost.
These pictures show what we've bought here in Valencia: This is the lounge - we fell in love with the huge bay windows not really realising the work needed to get them looking good. The wood underneath all the layers of white paint is actually rather lovely but I have yet to find someone who will do the job. The first thing we did though was to get rid of the doors... The light now is much better but the place is a building site! We've done quite a bit of work already. What used to be the bathroom and kitchen has had a wall knocked down and is now just the kitchen. As you can see the floor is beautiful and it's given me lots to play with colouur-wise! Very exciting - now all I need is electricity, water and windows...