Let Them Eat Cake

Bag: Orla Kiely
Trousers: Orla Kiely
Cardigan: L.K Bennett
Blouse: Vintage 1960s
Coat: Vintage 1960s
Shoes: Topshop velvet ballet flats alternated with Salvatore Ferragamo pumps. (Still breaking the narrow width in.)

On Sunday I made a flying visit amid frantic essay writing to enjoy high tea at The Randolph in Oxford with a handful of lovely vintage interiors, craft and style bloggers. It was such a pleasure to enjoy one of the most delicious lunches imaginable in the company of such creative individuals. Unfortunately, Cat of Take Courage blog was too poorly to make the day which gives us even more excuse to arrange a similar event in London soon.

Natasha, Hannah, Vicky, Zoe, Dina - thank you for inviting me and my peppermint handbag! What can I say? That bag commands an attention ALL of its own.

Favourite things

After years of hunting Etsy I finally have a pair of the much coveted Salvatore Ferragamo Vara pumps.
 

I also have a heavenly peppermint Mabel handbag from Orla Kiely. Isn't it lovely?
 

Not to mention these Come Fly With Me capri pants!

(Ok, enough shameless commodity fetishism and back to my university work.)

Matfen Hall

Coat: Mod Human Vintage
Gloves: Accessorize
Bag: Charity shop
Shoes: Beyond Retro
Velvet bow headband: Jess James Jake Vintage

On a snowy weekend at the end of March, Jian Wei and I journeyed to the Northernmost reaches of England to attend the wedding of a school friend. We spent two nights at the Barrasford Arms and enjoyed beautiful views of Haughton Castle from the two bay windows in our lovely bedroom.

The wedding took place at Matfen Hall, a nineteenth century country mansion situated in rolling countryside, and it was great fun. It was only after we had returned home to London that we discovered the Hall's more macabre history:

'A number of ghosts have been spotted around the hotel; the most famous being the "blue boy" who at midnight has been spotted around the hall crying out and moaning in agony or maybe fear. The noises could be traced to a spot near a passage cut through a ten foot wall. When the bloodcurdling wails die away a soft halo of light appears around an old four poster bed. Anyone sleeping there (room 14), even today, can see the figure of a young boy dressed in blue, and surrounded by light. Behind the wall the bones of a young boy and fragments of blue clothing were discovered.

Another ghost, Mary, the wife of Philip de Ulcote, searches for her husband, who ran off with her sister. She appears desolate and broken hearted living in the castle by herself with only her baby girl as a companion. The rustle of her dress can be heard as she passes you by in the turret stairs.' [source]
 
Whether or not Wikipedia is to be trusted is another matter.

My Orla Kiely SS13 staff uniform

Here are five of my chosen pieces for my SS13 staff uniform. The other three pieces were not to be found on either Polyvore or the Orla Kiely website but are still available in store: the coral stripe v-neck merino wool cardigan, the seaview print silk ottoman cropped jacket in sea green, the cotton shirtwaist dress in navy and - fingers crossed - the mabel handbag in peppermint. (The seaview ottoman jacket and the mabel handbag are both pictured in the campaign image below.)

I feel so lucky to have a job I love at my favourite brand! Outfit posts to follow as soon as the weather improves - we currently have snow in the ground here in London.

What would you have picked from the SS13 collection?