Harmless fun...

Reading and writing about fashion on blogs is my escapism, I love to learn from everyone else, and use my blog to catalogue my own clothes, mainly on reread, my reaction is 'what was I thinking?' But it is all harmless/pointless fun.
And then I read this story
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2510641/Cruel-truths-angora-fur-trade-revealed-shocking-video.html

It's one of those awful features that you know that you don't want to read, but feel that you should, so that you are informed about what is going on in the world. I haven't included pictures in this post, as unless you choose to see it, some of these images you will never want to have in your brain.

There was a time when when on reading something like this, we would all feel futile, we know it is awful but in the scheme of things what can we do?

On the positive side, H & M and Acne have already withdrawn all of their angora products.  Imagine the power of the blogging community, if the thousand or so people who pass by me, were to write about this or email the big retailers and request that they stop buying angora products and the 10 thousand or so people who pass by each of  them email the big retailers with their opinion (and Bourbon and Pearls that's a direct appeal to you to get back to the keyboard baby!)

If you read the feature, there IS ethically sourced stuff out there, but an outfit would have to cost thousands to have that provenance.

I used to be in a big corporate, it takes less than 100 direct contacts from the general public to make it into a management meeting discussion.  The general idea is that it is 1000 to 1, so for every 1 person who does contact directly, 1000 are thinking the same but just don't bother.

It's the season of goodwill, do something to spread this message, we have so many choices, we can say 'no' to fluffy jumpers that are the result of these horrors.

Camel and chocolate...

I wrote about a new blog which looks at how to buy and wear clothes rather than just buying more a couple of posts back.  I read this post on I won't wear sludge brown about rules for colours.  I don't know anything about colour analysis, but when I put this outfit together (sticking to the rules for my 'soft' type) it definitely looked a lot better with the sludge brown scarf than with the colourful pashmina that I had planned to go with it.  Looking distinctly manly in the second pic, but the brown blends with the hair and skin tone and makes my complexion look more even without makeup.  Here is previous pic of said orange scarf and skin looking pretty drained and pale (despite tons of make up).

What do you think? Have you had your colours done? Do you shop with your colour swatches?

Fundraiser....

For me blogs are like glossy magazines, the fun place to get away from the humdrum and real world.
But when this happens...

It feels beyond pathetic to be thinking about Christmas and clothes.
I have seen a great fundraising activity that is so easy to do and can be started within a couple of hours. I have got my gym to take part, it took about 30 seconds to persuade them.

Simply sell a small bottle of water, and once the water has been drunk fill it with coins and return.  All funds are then donated to DEC.  I saw it first at my son's school, but it's so easy to do, you don't need the labels on all the bottles. Just one poster.  Does anyone know someone at Starbucks or Costa that they could hassle to do this too?

Dressing the tree...

I persevered with a real tree, but it was so unpopular, little needles sticking upright in the carpet, showers of pine every time I did any hoovering, dogs feeling sorry for themselves with splinters in their paws. So this year I bit the bullet and bought a fake. It looked lustrous and snowbound in the pics. The reality was a little more paltry.  Do you remember the story of the little Christmas tree so ugly and unassuming next to all its beautiful neighbours? As with all ugly ducklings, my heart went out to it and I am determined to make it a sight to behold.
Bella helped, but first she had to take out the penguin....

We filled the tree with woodland folliage, fruit and flowers....

Then added lights and fun things to cover the base....

And then hearts, baubles and goodies...(complete with the angel on the top)

All sorts of random bits make it on to the tree, from first shoes, to loved toys and old crackers that were too beautiful to throw away.  The great thing is, at this time of year, when tidying, if I find something that I am really not sure what to do with, it quite often ends up hidden in the Christmas tree?

If you like something a little different on your table at Christmas, check out Frou Frou and Thomas, it is where the crackers below are from, they are works of art!

Do you work to a super stylish theme and do you think it is too early to be setting up for Christmas? Should I have been out trying to bag some Isabel Marant instead?!

Getting back in the game....

I've been going with the flow over the last few years, after 20 years of doing what I didn't want to do, I have been able to decide that I am only going to get involved in things that enrich my life and don't demand sacrifices that I am no longer prepared to make.

I am lucky to have the chance of working in with great people in an interesting environment that will allow me to stick to those principals, the salary is about 10% of where I was before, but life is about so much more than the numbers.

So I packed up my Neverfull and headed off to the first meeting, and indeed true to its name, it contains at least 3 magazines, laptop, folders and it is not even close to being full.

I would never normally wear this shape top as with my giant shoulders, wide rib cage and non-existent waist, I thought that V necks were the way forward, but I read Iwillnotwearsludgebrown, which is not just a 'buy, buy, buy' blog, rather one that is about how to wear clothes, and thought I would give it a go.  £1 cheap polyester (New Look) from the charity outlet shop. And overall it was not bad, I might upgrade to a better quality one in a similar shape that will hang better and be less stinky when the room gets hot!  

I put it on with an old pink coat, the pink coat thing is probably a fashion fad that has already had its day, it's funny though, when it was totally not the look du jour, I wore it quite happily, but now it is 'in' I feel self-conscious as if I fancy myself as some kind fashion person, which I am  most definitely not. The jeans are Reiss Dolly jeans, who can forget that name? And they were £4.99 from Ebay, still with their labels!

 We are thinking about office spaces so I have been dreaming on Pinterest...

I love this one where it feels like you are disappearing into a CS Lewis adventure...

 Pure fantasy...may be more for a boudoir than an place of work....

 I have never been called a minimalist, but the discipline of this quite appeals to me, as long as I don't have to live there...

 Black and white always works....

 Bit of modern country....

 Totally organic....

 Black on black is quite cool....

 Great way of having your own space....

 This is both cosy and tidy...

 Quite an eclectic look of old and new, I would never feel bored here...

Which would you go for as your office?

Harrods Christmas Windows...

This year's theme is the Harrods train, and it is quite a work of art.  All of the windows continue with the train theme with tv screens showing moving images as if you are on the train, it's all stunning and sumptuous and well worth a visit (although I have yet to check out Fortnum's to see who has done it best this year!)
The ChristmasWorld (decorations) is a bit of a let down, the local Cotswold garden centres are doing it better. It is a fraction of the normal size and all the really glamorous Katherine's Collection stuff, which must be heirlooms for the future, have been replaced with cheap tat.
But the fashion and shoes are as spectacular as ever!

 Some of my favourite's from this years Katherine's Collection, but I am not sure where they can be found in the UK now....

We had intended on coffee and cakes in Harrods, but the atmosphere was a bit flat, so we headed to Nespresso to buy our biannual haul and tried lots of free ones, so it was a frugal trip to Knightsbridge.
I wore Zara leather jacket, Joseph cowl neck top, Zara coated jeggings, and very old pointy Dior boots (now back in fashion again thanks to Gianvito Rossi, who I had never heard of and suddenly seems to be everywhere).

 I carried my knock-off  H bag, which is so convincing that I was offered 6000 euros for it in a vintage accessories store on Rue Dauphine in Paris....although I still skulked through the Hermes concession in Harrods feeling like a fraudulent pleb, so may be it's not worth it!

Do you have any regular haunts that you visit to get you in the Christmas frame of mind?

Twas the night before Christmas....

On Christmas eve we collect up as many random characters as we can and host a cocktail party that starts at about 5 in the afternoon with tea and mince pies, progresses to cocktails and then finishes with tea and mince pies at 3am.
We used to head to the nearby church for the kid's nativity play, but the teenagers are no longer too keen on donning their halos and tea cloths.
Our regulars include an Italian count, a film producer, a lady of the night, a famous interior designer and some lonely bankers along with anyone who is at a loose end on the eve of eves and would like cheery company and buckets of booze.
This year, I was going to up the ante and host more of a Yule Ball, with a black tie dress code, we might head to the midnight mass for a few carols, but the kids would rather check each other out under the mistletoe than carry the star.
I have too many ridiculous dresses to count, but hey, an excuse for another one is always worth a browse, which of these fantasy dresses (courtesy of Asian Rumpelstiltkins) should I go for? And which colour? I am thinking to go for the classic red?  They are all priced around £150-£200.