Category: Designer Brands
Monochrome Magic x
There’s something about a black and white striped pencil skirt (This one from Burberry Porsum)
But then it doesn’t look bad in blue and blue either….
Laters, Kate x
True Love x
The best designers speak in code and invent a creative force to be reckoned with..weaving ideas through every Collection like white silk ribbons through a babies bonnet.
The See by Chloe Resort 2015 is simple with a punch, demanding attention with subtle references and feminine flair.
Is that a Chore coat I spy there?? And the trainers are to die for..the width of the stripes = perfection.
Soft detailing, easy structure..
A geekiness that brightens the eye.
Red, white, and blue for the patriotic…but balanced with coral and black. Cunning.
Like a go faster stripe on a trouser? Why not on an elegant puffed sleeve?
Urban cool and easy living..romancing the margins.
A Collection so smart it makes your head happily spin.
Laters, Kate x
Joy x
If I see something I like that flutters the gut I follow the trail back to see if it was a one off or a true love. Sometimes there’s only time to scribble a name down..then tracking it down is a bit like a treasure hunt wondering what will turn up. So it was with Joie – a name in my notebook, a diamond in the dust.
What first caught my interest were the shirts with their easy nonchalance and natural grace.
In many ways similar to Zadig and Voltaire except more accessible, less edgy. Although much of that is the contrast of styling. Look at Joie as individual items rather than a whole look and it would be easy to add the urban edge.
Made with quality materials, there’s nothing faddy – they’re the type of pieces that will live on in the wardrobe, adapting and morphing with the times.
Smoothly integrated, wearable, honest.
Key pieces painted in broad strokes.
With a joy of simplicity.
I could say I didn’t like it. But it would be a lie.
Laters, Kate x
Rose Tinted x
(Women welders from World War II)
There are some clothes that my mother hates…but I love – Utility wear comes under that heading. I suspect it’s a generation thing..my Grandmother hated brass beds associating them with poverty, the Husband’s mother hates our wooden floorboards preferring her perceived luxury of fitted carpets. Then there’s the ongoing discussions between the benefits of a free-standing kitchen rather than a fitted one. We definitely see things with different eyes depending on our subliminal associations.
I love a good Chore coat, like this one from Toast. But my mother would see small, grubby, repetitive work with a touch of coarse. Clothes reduced to their bare essentials with aprons and housecoats abandoned for their practical purposes because the undercurrent of domestic containment is just too strong.
But for me there’s an intrinsic quality – I embrace the practicality, the structured comfort, the soft detailing, the wholesome vintage charm. Instead of servitude and drudgery it represents a time when we took pride in making things from scratch..when it seemed there was more space to breathe.
(Also from Toast)
(By Sisters by Sibling SS14)
Of course, you could just see them as brilliant coats, perfect for layering in this bridging the weather time till the lazy days of summer truly hit…
Laters, Kate x
End of the Week.. x
It’s been a pretty mad, bad week from the lows of a long dentist appointment (oh the joys of a periodontal clean due to impacted wisdom teeth..6 injections later..) various meetings and visits to the vet with a very stressed dog..to a fabulous Book Club night (the above is my reminder for the next one..)
And a wonderful day out at the Spirit of Summer with lovely mate Galliana. I will confess: we did initially think we’d got the wrong venue..and date..
My Wardrobe.com had a stand and I succumbed to this little number from new label Christophe Sauvat..it was the boho vibe and the pop of neon that sold it..(and the fact is was the last one left..)
Christophe Sauvat is one of those fascinating characters..He started in the 80’s designing clocks and watches..
Then moved to Brazil where he made and exported thread bracelets, selling over 8 million.
Before co-founding Antik Batik in Paris.
Now he’s in Portugal where he’s started his own label based on his love for the gypsy-style woman who still feels at home whether in London, Morocco or New York.
It has my heart.
The day/week ended with a Mum’s Night Out to ‘Supper in a Pear Tree’..a pop-up restaurant with a difference…Run by two sisters, Annabel and Charlotte Partridge the evening starts with a glass of wine and a Drawing Class around a nude model with supervision from Charlotte. We had NO idea it was going to be a rather fetching male model..there was much tittering and flexing of charcoal from behind our easels…
The evening finished with a three course supper cooked by Annabel..including foraged herbs and homemade sloe gin…
An event to remember…
Laters, Kate x
Urban Boho..
Haunted by a bohemian spirit? Your idea of sexy = doing cartwheels on a beach? Love Isabel Marant but need something different?
Perhaps Zadig and Voltaire is for you..
They’re lifeblood is louche, artisanal cool and mixing the unexpected..like this tee with it’s letters in sparkly Dolly Parton sapphire blue..
Eluding and including..
It’s about unleashing your inner off-duty model and embracing all things hip..without getting too serious. Me likes.
Laters, Kate x
Beach-Chic x
As fast as lycra came in towelling went out..but surely it’s time for a resurgence?
These gorgeous throws by Lisa Marie Fernandez are like a retro cocktail on a beautiful beach at sunset.
A total change in tone from the normal summer lightweight cotton…
The heavier, softer material only adds to their natural charm and gravitas.
This one reminiscent of Grace Kelly..just add big sunnies and a head scarf for a barefoot stroll into another life..
Who thought towelling could be so alluring?
Laters, Kate x
If I was a Beach Babe..
And had no boobs, I would indulge in delicious and saunter the golden sands in one of these little numbers..
Held together by an exotic brew of neoprene, crochet and skill Kiini bikinis are designed to embody the bohemian beach babe vibe.
Handmade, each bikini is unique and lovingly named after friends and their daughters (HOW lovely?)..
For something so small, they are an assault course on the eyes – original, mysterious and effortlessly hip.
Perfect for magical, eternal summers…would you need anything else?
I lust.
Laters, Kate x
And the livin’ is easy x
The beautiful wrought-iron gates of summer, with their warm, lilting voice are slowing swinging open. I can no longer bear to wear socks, but I’m still shocked my feet can blister each year.
MiH Jeans have captured that mysterious, lazy time where clouds disappear, clocks stand still and insects quietly buzz.
Where clothes are worn for nostalgia, comfort and love. And yet you look your best.
Loose, casual layers, ready to be peeled away as the heat rises. Or returned, when the sun sinks slowly away. Cosying up to glowing fires and the rich smell of smoke whilst holding a glass of something wonderful.
Do I want to be there?
The answer, my friend, is Blowin’ in the wind…It’s gently blowin’ in the warm, sultry wind.
Dreaming, Kate x
Button up.. x
Pheobe Philo has done it again. With her Fall 14 RTW Collection, she’s stood outside the circle and injected that tiny little something which like the flapping of a butterflies wing, goes on to rock the very foundation stone of perceived style: Should buttons by symmetrical?
I’m a symmetry girl me: Don’t get me wrong – I love the unexpected, I embrace the fun…but buttons? Don’t they look like a mistake if they’re out of alignment?…or not…? (And there’s that one earring thing to contend with too..)
Quirky or subverted? A quiet act of rebellion or just plain wrong? A new signature out of the trap of mediocrity and a new escape route from containment?…or does it actually make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end?
Or is this the phase where you first look in horror…then slowly digest…before finally realising it’s the best thing since sliced bread? (those shoes!)
Or are their some things that even the great Pheobe Philo can’t change…?
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 