Classic Nautical Breton Tunic - Large
Oversized Anchor St. Tropez T-Shirt - Large/UNISEX 
Adorable Red Polka Dot 1980s Peep Toe Dorothy shoes. UK 5.5, Us 8
White Cotton Broderie Anglaise Crop Top - Medium
If you simply can't wait for this Alexa Chung for Madewell sheer blouse to go on sale, no doubt for at least sixty pounds or so, how about this vintage gold polka dot one? Just tuck into a pair of tatty high-waisted denim cut offs or leather shorts, some ribbed socks and chunky platform heels and you're ready to go.
Sheer Polka Dot Blouse - available at The Sweetest Vintage Clothing Company
Dress: Retro Rehab, Manchester
Retro Rehab is a really decent little vintage shop in the Northern Quarter in Manchester. It's very boutiquey and all the items smell luscious and are in immaculate condition. There's no real need for rummaging here as the stock is minimal and high quality. The staff are smiley and enthusiastic about the delightful dresses, how could they not be (!), and it feels great to support an independent business with such a passion for the joy of dress-up. I bought this dress on a grizzly wet Mancunian day last winter and have only worn it once before, to a house party. At £24 it really deserves to be worn more and so I am going to have to make more of an effort. Incidentally, it's really the perfect outfit for the scizophrenic English summers with its long sleeves and thick fabric, plus it takes a millisecond to complete the outfit with no expense of aplomb!
(He also bought me a lovely 1950s hand-painted cake stand but I think I must've left it in his car last night as I can't find it... When I do it shall be photographed for your collective viewing pleasure.)
Here are some of my favourite pictures of him. Among other qualities he makes a great model...
How utterly divine is the gorgeous Karen Elson? She makes fellow Brit, and wannabe redhead, Florence (of the Machine) look like a haggard beetroot when compared with Elson's creme caramel colouring and porcelain complexion. Not many people know that she's actually from Oldham, Manchester...
So anyway, Heat magazine informs me that at a recent free gig held by Elson's hubby, Jack White and his band The Dead Weather, guests Alexa Chung and Liv Tyler were too cool to appear to be having a good time. This enraged Jack White so much that he singled them out screamed into the microphone, 'F**k you, you hip motherf**kers! Maybe I should go grab those free drinks and shove them down your throats.'
This caused me to wonder if Karen Elson has been training her American husband in the fundamental rules of the great British North-South Divide? I personally feel torn between my allegiences to my two most revered ladies!
A big thank you for helping me to reach fifty followers! You all contribute to making blogging such a pleasure and I love being able to share a tiny insight into my life with people from all over the globe and vice versa. Here's to the next fifty! x
I did some baking and modified a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook to incorporate rasberries instead of strawberries. The addition of my mother's crockery and kitchen utensils greatly increases my desire to slip into an apron and whip out my sieve! When I have a kitchen, 1950s cake stands and T.G Green Cornishware will adorn it from floor to cluttered ceiling. Bliss.
Recently conquered territory in my parents' house perfectly adapted to my needs.
I shall be spending a lot of time in here over the coming weeks, especially once the box of thirty-something books for my core reading list arrives. I am particularly excited about the three Faber tomes ordered: Ezra Pound, T.S Eliot and the new Seamus Heaney. Even if they hadn't have been prescribed I would have, sooner or later, had to have invested. They set the benchmark in literary chic and few publications can compete with their understated simplicity and elegance.
This photo makes me feel sad because it embodies all my disappointments with this year's blustery and damp summer.
The picture was taken by Jian Wei on the train to London for a blissful four days of gallery-hopping and art school degree show mocking discovery. We stayed at his house in Haringay and every morning we'd have a cup of tea in his weedy, overgrown scrap of garden and apply our sunscreen - sunscreen! - and listen to the planes coursing overhead, brimming with optimism and enthusiasm for our impending hot, hot summer.
Alas, upon return from our holiday in Spain, it was time to pack away the flimsy white broderie anglaise dresses and notions of day trips and painting and langourous reading in sun drenched gardens. Jian Wei was press-ganged into a job as a shelf-stacker in Tesco, working six days a week in conjunction with Weekend evenings at Top Chef Chinese takeaway. (The best Chinese in King's Lynn, order the Malaysian Style vegetable satay: it's mindblowing.) The weather broke and Christmas began its advance.
The Daily Mail tells me it won't stop raining until November.
In four weeks time I will be trundling back to Manchester, a journey that marks the ascent of the winter months and extinguishes any last hopes of day trips and sunshine. However, in an extended burst of doom and gloom my thoughts turned to next Summer and the grim yet incredible realisation that I will never have another three month long Summer holiday erupted into the realisation that this is because I'll have graduated, moved to London to live with Jianners and will be... an adult!
I just love this elegant floral blouse, made entirely of silk, from the Cath Kidston Autumn Winter 2010 range. The cuffs are so pretty and the print so unassuming that I'm tempted to splash out the sixty-something pounds and invest! It's the sort of garment I'm convinced would turn me into a sophisticated literary type as opposed to a slobbish pyjama-clad student, and therefore would have to be paired with tweed Oxford slacks and pointelle cardigans at ALL times.
This dress is so exquisite and Pre-Raphaelite inspired that it's making me long for Autumn. The velvet bodice and dark, fairytale floral prints make me want to channel Rapunzel.
Both available at Cath Kidston.
Black Patent Leather Mary Janes with Chunky Heel - Uk Size 4.5, US Size 6.5 
Beyond Blue Peter Pan Collar Blouse - Small to Medium 
Chic Chanel Style Leather and Houndstooth Ballet Pumps - UK Size 4, US Size 6
These are just two little pictures of minor purchases from yesterday's shopping binge in Cambridge. However! As the majority of items bought were intended as birthday presents for Jian Wei, to be stowed away and hidden and only brought out mid September, and a few others were savvy sale buys that will make thrifty yet impressive Christmas presents (i.e Topman socks at 75p a pair), these two will have to suffice for now. I've also hidden a dress or two in the thronging midst of my clothes rail so as to avoid a derogatory glance or comment from Wendy, my mother, who believes I do nothing but shop. (I also do not want to give her the impression I have as much as I do in case she then sees it as her birthright to enlist my help in paying off her credit cards.)
The lipstick is my first tentative step into the worl of Topshop make up. I've been wanting a seriously dark, Adam's Family, beyond red, blackberry shade lipstick for a while now and this fits the bill perfectly. The shade is entitled 'Vamp' and I, although am the antithesis, appreciate and am comfortable in the dramatic hue! It has a great texture that can be layered to intensify the colour almost to an opaque black and has a subtle scent of blackcurrent. I am more than satisfied.
I also found a strange mustard yellow blouse in the same charity shop I bought the loafers in. It's an old Topshop Premium range number and I was instantly drawn to the vintage feel of the intricate fabric and the severe Peter Pan collar. It was only £4.
I fastened a bow between the collar with a kirby grip as a little experiment. I will probably use a pin next time...
Blouse: Charity Shop
Velvet Leggings: The Dead Shop
Loafers: Charity Shop
Lipstick: Topshop (Vamp)
