Category: Autumn
NYFW x
(All pics Vogue)
Laters, Kate x
Bimba Y Lola x
Soft structure, long lines and great cutting make Bimba Y Lola a go to label for the pieces that matter.
(All pics Bimba Y Lola)
The hardest decision is choice.
Laters, Kate x
Bare Necessities x
The weather in London isn’t brilliant making it easy to feel nostalgic for soft, comforting layers.
EPSON scanner image
(All pics Pinterest)
The hunt is now on for the perfect oversized slouchy eighties-style sweater.
A classic for any wardrobe.
Laters, Kate x
Taste Wars x
First day back to school after the two week half term holiday and bizarrely it’s Halloween…an oxymoronic combination which will probably leave the rest of the week in tatters with the children trying to recover juggling routine and school. But hey, at least we gained an hour this week… it’ll be put to good use carving pumpkins and slapping on the grease paint later. Sigh. But leaving blood dripping knives and the prospect of tired kids aside, I need to actually write a post so I’m going with something that struck a nerve whilst we were away in Hastings.
We stayed in a little wooden lodge that was very pleasant….but didn’t look like anything in these pictures. Which has become a bit of a bug bear – in England, when you go away to a resort setting, chances are you are either paying a fortune for a properly imagined rustic aesthetic (casing point: Soho Farmhouse) or you’re having your tastes dictated to by a narrow number of bulk buying, short sighted, cheap loving, tight fisted suits that think modern always means good.
But the rub is rustic isn’t about expense. It’s roots lie in making the best use of the materials available in the best way possible, given the space available.
It’s about finding elements that are both practical and will stand the test of time, yet still look good: Re-using, re-thinking, re-energising.
It’s not generic canvas’s from Ikea but vintage pictures from a charity shop. Not ready made velour curtains but re-imagined blankets and kantha quilts. Not shiny carpets but wooden floors and battered rugs.
Does taste cost more? Sometimes…but mostly it just takes a bit more thought.
And how often is it that those thought out things cast the longest shadows?
Laters, Kate x
Rachel Comey. Homie.
Rachel Comey stirs the spirit, lifts the soul and happily shakes it.
Take her Ready to Wear 2017 collection which she staged, in celebration of 15 years in the business, on the streets of NY in reference to her very first catwalk show.
How apt: The source of inspiration part of the realism.
With garments in different shapes and sizes reflecting reality.
Modelled by real people of all genders, age, figure type yet still sewn together with a signature style.
It’s a gauntlet.
Laters, Kate x
Sunday Shopping x
You now what you’re meant to do at the start of each season: Gatecrash the party and scoff all the canapes. But somehow it never happens like that. Take Sunday afternoon with it’s languid air of relaxation when sofas become blankets and fingers lazily skim across tablets. And light upon the dream dress. OMG!! That’s it!!..
It’s just like that dress that’s been lying in my great dresses folder in Pinterest for 2 years. OK..not exactly the same..the pockets are missing..the pockets are fab..pockets can always be added. I love the white, but there’s only the option of blue, red or black. Red could work. But it’s a summer dress. You need autumn clothes. But I’ll need summer clothes next year and WHAT?! Just £45?? It’s in the basket….and do they have any more bits of heaven?
Oooh Palazzo pants..THEY could be transitional combined with all the shirt dresses purchased this summer…
(All pictures and purchases from SilkFred)
And talking about shirt dresses – Oh my! It’s pure lust. The credit card doesn’t stand a chance.
And not a jumper in sight. Sigh.
Laters, Kate x
New Weave x
The summer has broken here with a bang; I think we’re having the full whack of autumn rains today. We walked into school, avoiding some of the puddles and laughing at everyone gridlocked in their cars, all nicely showered but still afraid of water! It was chaos.
It’s brought fall dressing to a head though, and there’s nowhere better for browsing transitional classics than Toast. This group of clothes is from their OAS range, which stands for Ordinary Attire Studio and are also the three letters at the heart of Toast.
The design aesthetic of simplicity, durability and wearability at it’s core.
It’s workwear reinterpreted for easy workday wear in the modern world.
It’s everything you want in your wardrobe really.
Laters, Kate x
Fast and Furious
What represents a classic is a nebulous subject given to much prowling and column inches. But the timeless biker jacket has to be up there enthroned in a glowing light – just the heat it lets off is thrilling.
It plays like a whisper on your shoulders – something casually flung over a light as a butterfly silk dress..
Or worn with nonchalant macho power and high voltage control.
It’s a well oiled machine and I’m surprised I haven’t got one.
…Doesn’t mean I’m not looking..
Laters, Kate x
The Inbetweeners x
If we Brits are obsessed with the weather it’s with good reason: On Friday it was a barmy sixteen degrees..on Saturday, it snowed (OK it didn’t hang around but it wasn’t a figment of a vivid imagination either..) which possibly explains why we’re all so preoccupied with layers and wearing coats that remind us of beds.
Because the quilt is having a quiet spin in the limelight, perfect as a stand alone or working it’s magic as a sartorial hot water bottle under a top coat, it’s one of those under-the-radar-winter-must-haves.
And Amsterdam based Company Scotch and Soda have some of the best…
Casual or smart.
Often reversible.
They’re adaptable, transitional and just a little bit different.
Another addition it to the winter uniform list of lust.
Laters, Kate x
Man-spiration..
There’s no way to select life with silver tongs – no matter how much you want something, it doesn’t always happen. But you can always react to it. For instance, the Husband’s work has been a turdstool since forever, with it being even more ridiculous in the last few months and no sign of change. I did suggest we saw this as an opportunity to throw life on it’s head and middle-class caution to the wind and head off in a camper van to the deep, dark unknown.
He said, ‘Seriously Kate…’
And I said,’Yes, seriously..the window of opportunity to take the kids out of school is closing and if we don’t do it soon, we might never be able to..’
‘No, I meant, seriously Kate, who’s mid-life crisis is this?’
So I haven’t got the keys to the camper van just yet, but that hasn’t stopped the constant thoughts of simplicity providing a goldfish loop of white noise in my brain space, whether it’s interiors, clothes, people or life.
Maybe that’s why these outfits are so appealing – they’re not big, brash and laden with special effects.
(All pictures from Pinterest and Browns)
Just clear and present. Simple.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 