The pick of the sales | Summer time shoes

The weather might be a bit iffy but the sales are still HOT! I find it oh so very hard to resist a price tag which has had the red-pen treatment. You know, £345 crossed out, then £185 crossed out, then £125, then a tantalising £75 only…  But many, many wardrobe mistakes are made in the sales, so be on guard, try things on with care and attention and only buy the pieces you know you’ll make good use of.

My favourite summer sales:

A shoe from Toast is always a beautifully made, wonderful piece of art.  Take a look at these breath-taking sandals from Chie Mihara via the Toast catalogue. Ruched raspberry suede… need I say more? What could be more wonderful  than ruched raspberry suede? I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry.  I’m thinking raspberry coulis over a chocolate mousse, or plump berries beside a chocolate cake… yummy. Hands off! I’m buying them because they are better than half price and they will make me happy for the rest of the summer, even if the weather never cheers up again.

Toast shoes are always beautifully made

If you’re inspired, take a little peek at this lovely website from Chie Mihara and drool over polka dot shoes and sandals cut so beautifully that your size eights will look like dainty size fives. Also she promises her shoes will be just as comfortable as they are adorable.

Polka Dots

 

Harvey Nichols is a sales must – because the discounts here are dazzling. The longer you can bear to wait, the lower the prices will go… but will they have it left in your size?! I like to pitch up just a day or two before the final curtain (July 17^th this year) Then everything looks like a steal. I’m already hovering over a D&G tuxedo jacket because it’s a classic: a totally useful, totally gorgeous classic. Reduced from £660 to £220. Ed, please look away now.

Finally, and I know it is very naughty and I know I definitely shouldn’t: but there are some gorgeous, gorgeous things for children at Children Salon. And if they’re in the sale… Obviously I’m not about to wrap the twins up in Dior and Chloe every day, but a little touch of Petit Bateau or Oilily is very hard to resist.

All hail the plastic hat!

 

 

One day, one single day of gorgeous balmy weather and then what do we get? Ping pong balls of hail. Ping pong balls!!

I like a fashion challenge, but hail stones? What can we wear in a hail storm?

The plastic hat, my darlins, we may have to resort to the pac-a-mac and the plastic hat.

Not a chance of looking as lovely as this girl here. Surely her many talents are wasted modelling for the collapsable rainwear catalogue?

Chilled out dressing

Phew! The temperature is up at 33 degrees in central London today and if we don’t want to look as sweaty as Andy Murray in a tight fifth set, then we are going to have to wear breezy, cooling, chilled out fashion.

Take tips from the slickest New York fashionistas. It’s broiling hot all summer long in Manhattan, so these girls know just how to keep their cool.

Long, floaty midi and maxi dresses that create a light breeze when you walk. Keep the straps minimal, or go bandeau top and have no straps at all. No sleeves please, sleeves will just show how much your pits sweated on the tube and who wants that?!

Keep your hair tied up in a loose ponytail or chignon and let your feet breathe in a chic pair of flats. If you’re going New York stylie, then you must, must, must accessorize with a pedicure in an exciting new colour, plus lovely necklace and chic bag, preferably Coach.

Bare shoulders are for the street and the cocktail bar only. At work, in the soothing blast of the air con, you slip on a light linen jacket so you’ll still look the business.

I’m not a fan of linen trousers or linen dresses, they wilt in the heat and go from smart to sacky quick as an ice cream melting in the sun. But a linen jacket with just the right amount of crumple is perfect Italian Riviera chic.

Don’t moan for one minute about the heat my lovelies, you know just as well as I do that it’s going to be right back down in the 20s tomorrow and probably back to cloud cover and rain a few days after that – so sip a frappucino and enjoy!

Does Osprey make the best purse in the world?

 
As you can imagine, I carry a lot of cards. I used to have one credit card for every day of the month, but I am a completely reformed character now and just have one for every day of the week.
Then there’s cash… I like to carry plenty of cash, change for the Underground, receipts, receipts and more receipts, the swipe card for the gym (stop laughing Dinah, I do go – sometimes), business cards, sticks of emergency minty gum, plasters, Boots card, Nectar card, Costa coffee card…
My life used to be one hideous, disorganised mess. I used to open my purse and coins, cards and bills would explode out and scatter on the floor. Until… until the wonderful day when I discovered (OK extensive internet research until the small hours of the morning was required) the Osprey Large Gaumont. See http://www.ospreylondon.com for details.
This, my darlings, is the prince of purses. Inside the sophisticated mock croc exterior (four colours available and the zip around is completely sturdy) there truly is a place for everything and it is a joy to keep everything in its place.
Now at the checkout, I zip open my Gaumont and give the happy sigh of an organised person as I reach effortlessly for the right card or £2.68 in exact change.
I even keep stamps in there and know where they are! Plus photos of my children, my travelcard… trust me, there is a handy little home for everything. It is the mini tardis inside my handbag. (And many friends now have one too).
Yes, it does cost almost one hundred quid but mine is at least three years old and looking fantastic. Croc leather, like a stylish Italian gentleman, ages very well.

So just what is a wardrobe essential?

I’m obsessing… what is essential? What can you not live without in your wardrobe? Which ten trusted items would get every girl dressed, out of the door and looking lovely every morning?

My  Ines de la Fressange book Parisian Chic arrived (see homage to Parisian style goddess blog post  below) and it gives a wonderful glimpse into the life of a stylish and tres minimalist Parisian. Complete with an insider’s address book for Paris. Fabulous!

Ines recommends just SEVEN essential items:  a blazer, a trench, a navy sweater, vest tops, a little black dress, jeans, a leather jacket … and that’s it!

Once your French basics are in place (and everything of course must fit, flatter and be of beautiful quality) then she suggests spending your time and money accessorising to make your look unique.

I once heard that the secret to Parisian style is simple: French girls have bijoux antique wooden armoires in those gorgeous Parisian apartments so they have to edit, edit, edit  their clothes to perfection.

When I look into my heaving, multi-coloured, overloaded Ikea cupboards, darlings, I sigh for the seven items of perfection, I can tell you.

Let’s face it, most of us have way too much wardrobe overflow rammed into the sagging flat-packs. So maybe it’s time for a clear out, time to ditch the baggy, saggy, also-rans and make space around your best items. Let’s be tres Parisian and wear the things we love all the time! Get the creative juices flowing and think of a brand new look for your most tried and trusted items.

I have a lovely cream leather blazer which I don’t wear nearly enough. I’m getting it out tonight… maybe slung over the LBD… with footless tights, high heeled brogues, jangly earrings I’ve not had out of the box for years. Very Left Bank, non?

The top ten best wardrobe items ever?

A trench (Burberry or Aquascutum)

A wool coat (maybe Maxmara or Jaegar).

A cashmere sweater or cardigan (how about Brora?)

A suede skirt

Perfect jeans in blue and in white.

A white shirt (loving Anne Fontaine)

A silk shirt (thinking D&G)

Boots (Jimmy Choo and no less)

A dress (La Dress or DVF)

A serious bag (Mulberry, Louis Vuitton… Hermes?!)

Well, we can all dream, can’t we?!

How not to wear an H&M bikini

It’s that time of year again, when H&M take out billboards on bus stops up and down the land showing just how stunning supermodels can look in £9.99 bikinis.

Their hair is mussed, their waists are teeeeeeny, their hips are slinky, their luscious hooters strain at the lacing and their tans glisten to perfection.

Don’t fall for it!

Only a girl with a million dollar body can rock a £9.99 bikini. If you are less than Greek goddess perfection you may be sorely disappointed by that little whisplet of fabric in the H&M changing room.

All the very best advice on buying swimwear that flatters is in a book called 40 Over 40 by one of my style heroines: Brenda Kinsel.

Read, enjoy and laugh hilariously at this little extract:

‘I don’t know of any other two words put together that scream ‘terror’ quite like bathing suit. I was in a dressing room, having selected bathing suits for my client to try on. I was unclipping two-pieces from the hanger. She stopped. Her face went white. Her words came out despite her held breath: ‘Trying on bathing suits makes me suicidal.’

Trying on bathing suits is scary, depressing, awful – like getting food poisoning.’

Don’t panic, Brenda’s many tips for finding a great swimsuit include: elastication!

You must look at the label, ladies. You want a high lycra, spandex or elastic content: 15 per cent, 25, even 30 per cent. You want to be hugged tightly.

Shiny is bad, patterned is good.

Thicker straps and underwiring for ample hooters.  Halternecks and a little padding for the not-so-ample.

Brighter colours on the parts you like. Darker colours on the areas you’d rather shade.

Some accessories will distract the eye of the beholder:  a large sunhat, drop dead gorgeous sunglasses, wedge-heeled sandals, a matching beach towel, a fabulous light as the breeze kaftan, because all that fussing and knotting of sarongs… who can be bothered?!

When wearing a swimsuit please hum: ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it,’ under your breath a lot and wiggle a little.

Marilyn Monroe rocked a swimsuit and she was not anywhere close to size 8 waif-status.

Give yourself a dressing down this summer

Mmmmm… I’m loving The Outnet’s edgy summer look. Linen blazer and shorts with Converses, sunglasses and a killer clutch. If you have skyscraper pins and an office in LA, then this is sooooo what you should be wearing right now. The rest of us could maybe translate it a little. Linen blazer, white jeggings, heels and a killer clutch anyone?

Annie’s summer essentials:  brand new stretchy vest tops, knee-length flowery skirts, cropped jacket, peep-toed wedges, v posh sunglasses and lashings of Factor 40.

Svetlana’s summer essentials:  more diamonds, Gucci white swimwear, an extra session of lipo, a 40-foot yacht with crew.

Carmen’s (Scottish) summer essentials:  above the ankle jeans, comfy flats, cotton cardis, cotton scarves, nice raincoat, lashings of midge repellent (!)