Love these too much: Christian Louboutain leather ankle boots

I’ve been staring at these for far too many days in a row. It’s not healthy…

[Christian Louboutin leather ankle boots: £315 at Browns Sale, available in tan size 35H]

If only these were available half a size up, or if only they were slightly wider around the calves, if only they still had them in that bright orange colour instead of tan, and if only I had £315 to spare… then they would be mine.

But that’s one if-only too many.

So I’ll stick to sighing over the brighten-up-your-winter colour, the elegant laces and the trademark red soles.

Time for a merge (change of direction in blog)

I’m having a bit of trouble keeping all my hobbie blogs separate, so there’s going to be a merge, and I’ve decided to keep this one as the all-in-one blog, so from now on, there will be an invasion of book and anime stuff, so the tags will probably come in handier than before.

Thanks for reading!

Hiatus and world fashion

First of all, the hiatus: changed internet providers at home, and everything was fine, then completely went to pieces because of not opening my IP address or something. Being one of those people whose touch makes machines fizzle and go spat, it took me a while to realise that the problem can actually be fixed just by typing a bunch of numbers into a box, and doesn’t need to involve dragging things to a repair shop and hoping that there’ll still be enough cash to resole my favourite pair of shoes after it’s all over.

The lack of the net does mean that I’ve had a bit of time to finish off a few books that have been lingering on my desk, my bed, my sofa and my shoebox (not sure why there was even a Dorothy L Sayers in my shoebox, but I’m sure Lord Peter Wimsey can tell me). One of them was Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah: chick lit with a hijab-wearing girl. The book itself is nothing special, and (always a bad sign) I felt like I was being beaten by some sort of a moral baton as I progressed, but it did make me feel stupid for not considering the head scarf can be an item of fashion as well.

[Cover of a 2007 issue of MSLM, Source: Hijab Style]

This is still my favourite photo of hijab fashion. Not really fond of any specific item, but all together, the image is so striking. Muslim Girl seems a bit closer to Sugar than Dazed.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is I’ve been noticing the pretty head scarf fabrics around here, and have been quite impressed by some (and horrified by others). It doesn’t stand out quite as much as kimono fabric, but may still be worth getting some and incorporating it into something else, or just ruining it with my limited sewing skills.

But what I’m really trying to say is I’m not making much sense today, and am possibly still on Beijing Fashion Week high. To think that this is where the local ‘Madonna’, aka Wei Wei, wore a pink monstrosity to the Olymics ceremony…

More on that later, after I stop hyperventilating. (Qi Gang, I love you. And the make up contest is like a dream…)

Things I like: Ted Baker Duffel Coat

Since it’s Paddington’s special day today, it’s time for a good old Duffel Coat.

This one from Ted Baker, which you can get for £150 on Oli.

It’s a good length if you want to do the summer downstairs look without looking like you’re just wearing heels and a coat.

Being 95% wool, it will definitely keep out warm. And, being a (sadly) previous owner of a Ted Baker coat, I believe it will keep you warm for many years to come.

Invisalign Diaries (Week 4): the buttons are on

Buttons, finally…

But before I go into that, have to say I’m quite happy to be rid of my old aligners (Pair #2) because being a bit of a tea addict, and someone who likes coffee black, I managed to get them quite stained no matter how much brushing there was. It doesn’t show once they’re on, but when you take them off, they don’t look too pleasant, especially near the back.

Anyway, buttons. Mine only got put in on Week 4, but this seems to vary from case to case. Buttons are basically bits of whie filling that get attached to your teeth, and the 20 minutes that it took to attach mine seemed the most dentist-like experience so far. And by dentist-like, I mean the smell of fillings, the taste of the water/sucking machine and the zzzzzz of dental machines. But no, thankfully, pain.

I lay back on the chair, mouth propped open, very stylish pair of orange goggles on, and bits of fillings got smeared onto the front of my teeth, then the dentist would shine a special light on the fillings (I guess) to make it set. Once the top half was done, the dentist wriggled the new aligners on, made the fillings set some more, took the aligners off, and did some sanding down of the fillings. Then the same for the bottom row.

All the buttons were attached to the outside of my teeth. Which tooth got it and which didn’t made no sense to me, as not all my sticking-out ones did, and some of my sinking-in ones did instead. But I guess it works by the over all angles and making the aligners tighter and so on.

None of my central incisors/front teeth got buttons stuck on (I don’t know if this is always the case). This is probably a good thing, because the position of the buttons correspond with the blobs on the new aligners. Yes, now my sets of aligners are not just smooth and teeth-shaped. They have blobs on them, so I guess if you look closely, it will look like some of the teeth have drops of water on them. Or are just weirdly deformed.

It was slightly more difficult taking off my aligners for the first time with buttons, but it was pretty easy to get used to. And eating with buttons isn’t as uncomfortable as I expected at all. I didn’t experience any pain or rubbing, although it did feel slightly odd, like there’s always a piece of cabbage stuck on your tooth.

And this is probably the worst thing about having buttons: they are bits of filling, therefore the surface isn’t completely smooth, so bits of food is more likely to stick. But never mind, I’m pretty glad to be complaining about this rather than a bleeding mouth.

Why, why, why? Office Agent Weave ankle boots

Think peep-toe boots are stupid because they make your toes freeze? Well, the guys at Office must spend their time watching Little Mermaid instead of listening to your cry, because…

This is what happened when Little Mermaid drinks the potion while caught in a net.

The perfect autumn/winter boot.

All those people complaining about sweaty feet in boots, what are you waiting for? They’re waiting for you here, for a very reasonable £70.

Oh, you can get them in gold too.

Marc, please don’t make it happen: the men in skirts trend

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, lived a prin…

Basically, during a certain fashion week the other side of the Big Pond, MJ (that’s Marc Jacobs, not the King of Pop: I would be very disturbed if it was) brought out, and also wore, a range of kilts.

The purple skirt thing is the one that stayed with me [Photo from the above link], partly because he’s accessorised it with Posh. (If you shrink this photo, chop off the bottom half and squint, how many seconds do you need to tell MJ from VB?)

I remember thinking at the time: Oh Marc, what’s that on your feet?! Why? Why, after all the weird but nice footwear you’ve designed, this?!

After seeing two men dressed in purple skirts today (and I don’t think either of them was Marc), I’m thinking: please don’t let this become a fashion trend. Seriously.

Or if it must, and Topman’s going to stock a range of skirts from now on, I’ll have to beg a certain regular skirt-wearing man with legs that make me hide my own to do instruction videos on Youtube about applying the razor to the leg as well as the face.

Because I really don’t need a hairy leg poking into me on the Tube. Thank you.

Green fashion: Sindhu’s talk at FaCshion and sewing class?

[Stock photo of sewing equiptment]

Sindhu Venkatanarayanan’s talk at FaCshion set it all off again, and by ‘it’, I mean thinking about ethical fashion. There she was, after the runway show, in a space that used to be a warehouse (therefore doesn’t have the best acoustics in the world), speaking to rows of emptying chairs while there was nothing to block out the buzz from the stores.

Last time was that Panorama program about Primark. After that, I stopped buying from Primark. Perhaps there’s no easy way to stop child labour, but I’d like to buy clothes from companies that could feasibly, at least, pay them a reasonable wage. I can’t see how super-cheap places like Primark can do that and still make a profit, as a company must.

Sindhu’s talk addressed that issue, but also the green issue. Yes, throw-away fashion is not doing the environment any favours. It was strange listening to her talk and thinking, “I should have thought about it before.” See, I work in the publishing business (I’m not a copyeditor, so if you spot a spelling mistake or two, don’t worry…), and have sat through a fair number of green talks in the last few months. I recycle, and compost, etc, etc, but I never really considered clothes. I mean, I’d give them to Oxfam, but I knew at the back of my mind, having worked in an Oxfam shop before, that there was a fair chance that they’d get binned.

Fashion’s gone crazy. As Sindhu rightly said, it should be about style and not trends. And: if you’ve gone off something in your wardrobe, set it aside for 6 months; after 6 months, she can’t guarantee that you’ll like it again, but can guarantee that it will be back in fashion.

Of course, the sensible thing is to buy less. If I could swap, say, 10 items in my wardrobe for this dress at DeviDoll (Sindhu’s ethical boutique), would I? The answer is probably yes. Well, if I add up how much 1 items must have cost me, it isn’t much less than the price of that dress.

Having said that, right now I’m still not mentally prepared to pay that kind of money for one dress. Perhaps it will take time to adjust to the idea that clothes shouldn’t come cheap. Perhaps it’s because on my current salary, I’d then only be able to afford a new dress a year. So instead, I’ve joined a sewing class.

Next week, I’ll (hopefully) be customising a boring grey dress that doesn’t fit very well into something for keeps instead of for Oxfam. And if all goes well, I’ll be keeping an eye on Oxfam in the future, as there are plenty of things I don’t quite like, but may be able to work on.

But it will still be fun to window shop!

A sliding scale of shoes

A shoe that I love (but can’t quite afford just yet)

The Lotus Long Vintage Panelled Boots is a pretty thing, no? It’s £190, and seeing as it’s a Lotus shoe, the quality is probably worth saving up for. It will come in handy every time you need a little something to brighten up a boring outfit.

There’s a black and gold one too on ASOS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shoe that I like (and can afford)

I’d have to see it in person to know for sure, but the Brown Lois T-Bar Shoes from Monsoon look like the perfect thing for a night out: not too high so you’d be walking back barefoot, yet still very elegant. Affordable too, at £55.

 

 

 

 

Shoes that make me scratch my head (and I can’t care less that I can’t afford these)

Yes, I know I wear mismatched socks a lot, but…

Would you pay £420 for these Charlotte Olympia ‘Siamese’ Animal-Print shoes? You can do at Browns.

 

 

 

 

A shoe that makes me say, ‘Why, why, why?’

So now that there are plenty of triple strap Mary Janes around, Office thought they’d up the game and throw in another two free.

Thank you, Office, that will be £60 I won’t be spending on your Ping Pong Grey Leather shoes.

Soless heels: Aminaka Wilmont and the net

Yes, I know you’ve all seen these by now. Those poor models that had to walk in Aminaka Wilmont’s soleless heels…

When I saw them, my first reaction was, ‘Oh, those viral pictures again.’ And I was informed, ‘This is in London Fashion Week’, ‘What viral pictures?’ ‘Are you sure you’ve seen soleless heels before?’ and ‘Maybe you saw them in your dreams.’

It’s taken me a while to prove that while I do dream about people with see-through skulls, my mind is not twisted enough to make up soleless heels.

But these? They went round a few weird photo sites at the end of 2007. I can’t seem to find more details about them, so please enlighten me if you know where they’re from.

(I seem to remember someone somewhere say they’re from Japan, but don’t quote me on that.)

So you see, warped minds think alike.

Which makes me wonder… Are we ever going to see this or that photoshop horror on the catwalk? No?