We Used to Wait…

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Rachel

Arcade Fire are in my ‘can do no wrong’ box right now. Their new video for ‘We Used to Wait’ is really intriguing; just because it kind of pushes the boundaries of what a video actually is these days.

It’s an interactive film called ‘The Wilderness Downtown’, (which is a lyric from the song) in conjunction with Google Chrome. You know, the spangly new browser that you probably should download but can’t be arsed.

You type in your childhood address and then let the magic technology take you on a trip back there using Google Earth and Streetview wizardry. It actually left me a little moved.

The video starts up with this kid running, and then it takes you on a pop-up journey (literally… pop ups everywhere. But in a nice way) where he runs through your actual street!

So there you are. The house I was born in! I don’t live there now. I also did the video with my actual house now and you can see my dad’s car and a Tesco van outside :P Which amused me.

And then you get to write your younger self a postcard. Which was kind of cool. You’ve got a little bit of time to do this and then the video continues… but you have to watch it to find out what happens next. It’s cool.

You get to finish the postcard off after and send it off to The Wilderness; I think there’s a possibility it can get used in a tour projection or something.

It’s a really lovely concept; but Arcade aren’t shy to this sort of thing, their video for the song Neon Bible was an interactive number. I remember hearing that they didn’t want to release any videos at all for Neon Bible th album but I’m not entirely sure why. Possibly a statement against the PR/Promotion machine that bands are a slave to but who knows.

It definitely seems to me that in the age of super-interactivity, sharing and social media, music videos broadcast on our tellys seem a bit… outdated. Can you think of any other bands using new media as a means of music video? There was one where you manipulated the flow of ‘ink’ which ebbed and flowed with the song but I can’t for the life of me remember it. Irritating.

Go check out The Wilderness Downtown. And if you can see them live, do not hesitate.

Posted in interactive, music, new media, video | Leave a comment

Festival Fever of the Reading variety

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Rachel

I was supposed to post this before I left but you know… packing and such. So it’s a ‘this is what I did’ rather than a ‘this is what I’ll do’ thing. First off, new hair:

This wasn’t supposed to be like this. Well, the fringe was (yay hello fringeness my old friend) but the faint tinge of blue…. wasn’t. It was supposed to be a streak but I got impatient and did it while wet having just done my roots. Bad times. I’ve been dying my hair for 10 years and this is the first disaster; the statistics were against me. HOWEVER even though I screamed a little when I got out of the shower, after a while it didn’t look so bad. And then when my mum stopped laughing, I quite liked it. And then 3 days later it was gone. Soo… I sort of want it back! Watch this space.

And then I couldn’t decide what nail varnish to use (Nail Inc’s ‘Greige’ or Topshop’s Big Easy?) so I had both. In this kind of weird half effect. Nail varnish at a festival you say? Well yes. It covers the grime that inevitably embeds itself under there. Handy.

And then of course it all descends into madness and not caring how you look. This was my mother’s trusty Mary Quant (no less) poncho/rain mac and it saved me from the downpours. VINTAGE baby.

Rain-tastic.

Volunteering at the bars was hard work but so worth it. Can anyone say free ticket and free food? Yu-huh.

So so many bands were seen but here’s Hayley a la Paramore. A mediocre set I thought but there you go. Kids in Glass Houses killed it, Arcade Fire of course were legendary, Alkaline Trio made me feel 16 again but Blink… oh Blink. You did me proud.

Travis not only did his mental drum solo he always does but he went UPSIDE DOWN while still drumming. He’s a crazy.

Not really any words.

Oh yes, the face painting.

And then I got tired and ill. The end.

Til next year, field of dreams….

Posted in festival, music, nail varnish, random, reading, tired, vintage | 2 Comments

Found: The Perfect Satchel Bag

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Rachel

Remember my epic post about hunting down all the satchel bags out there, and finding the perfect one? Well, on my recent shopping trip I went and found most of the ones I posted about. Here’s my conclusion:

They’re all too damn small.

Dimensions on a website are reeally hard to visualise. These are the ones I was disappointed with:

H! by Henry Holland Black large satchel across body bag, £35.

Couldn’t even find it. Is it not in stock in stores yet? Hmmm. Not in Ox St. Nor could I find:

H! by Henry Holland at Debenhams Tan ‘Quentin’ large satchel, £65.

Which is disappointing as it was a massive contender. It wasn’t in MK Debenhams either. Sigh.

Topshop Leather School Satchel, £55.

Tiny! Like an A4 sheet of paper. Not big enough at all.

Topshop Medium Leather Buckle Satchel £50

Again, too small. But other than that, I love it. Which leads me on to…

Topshop Buckle Strap Leather Bag, £85.

This is the one. THIS IS IT. In pictures it’s not inspiring but in person it’s amazing. Especially the tan colour:

It’s the only one I’ve seen that’s the right size; i.e BIG. It’s floppy, slightly beaten up, the gold is just the right gold, and it’s BIG. I need it big, to fit all my crap in! The drawback?

It’s £85 =/

I have £35 of topshop vouchers.. so realistically its £50. I just don’t know! I really really want it. I’m going to have to wait until after payday at least though. I’ve gone over my overdraft limit again. Even then I shouldn’t: I’m moving out very soon so will be very poor.

The other option is to go down Spitalfields market; I’m told there’s a good leather stall there. Hmmm.

On another note, for all you satchel-searchers out there, there’s this EXTREMELY good Alexa Mulberry rip-off inspired Satchel at Internacionale, of all places:

My friend took this photo and sent it to me; I was in MK at the time, hot-footed it down there; alas, it was also too small! £16.99 though. They have it in tan as well. It is soo close to the Alexa isn’t it? But not for me. I suggest you hunt it down though, tres good!

So. Topshop. I seem to have met my match. I just hope to god it doesn’t sell out in 2 weeks! Sigh.

Posted in aw10, bags, coveting, review, satchel, topshop, trends, vintage | 1 Comment

Here comes A/W… And some Birthday buys

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Rachel

In my previous post I talked about my epic hunt/experiment with AW trousers. You know, trousers, remember them? They’re back, and in a big way. During the hunt, I also bought some AW stuff, in a quest to not waste my money in the stuttering and faltering sales on things I don’t actually need. Also because it seems to be raining, a lot, and summer might be over =/ Here they are:

Is this the Perfect Satchel? No. It’s quite small. And not leather. BUT. It’s £8. And I’m going to take it to Reading Festival; could be the perfect festival bag, it’s fold over, zip and stud so quite safe, and did I mention it’s £8? Primark. I expect it not to return.

Another Reading Festival only purchase, ie I dont care if it gets wrecked. £5, Primark. Will go great with my pink spotty wellies and massive Blink 182 hoodie dont you think? Heh. People who take fashion at festivals too seriously shouldn’t be allowed to go to festivals. If I see any girls in heels I will slap them. I’ll do a Reading post tomorrow but it’s basically old denim shorts, tshirts and the least amount of makeup ever, aka one eyeliner pencil. Again, I see any girls in fake eyelashes, they’re getting a stern talking to.

I told you I spent a lot of money in Primark. This was £6. Now… now. Fringing. I’ve avoided it for as long as I can. Embellished shoulders is a massive trend this AW, as is khaki military, as is fringing. So…. you know. This should be a season-long look! It actually looks pretty good on:

It’s sort of loose and baggy and I like that. Maybe a belt would be cool? This is layered over the New Look body from earlier. LOL at my face. What is that? Face.

Alright, alright, these aren’t trousers. But LOOK. Amaze. These were £8 I think. You knows I love shorts. And watch them…

Shorts: Primark, leggings: Meh, Boots: Primark, Lace top: Primark, Bra: Urban Outfitters, Bow: H&M.

That’s a lot of Primark right there. I’ve decided to surrender; it is what it is and there’s no point being snobby anymore. It’s cheap because a) They’re unit quantities are ridiculously high, about 250k of each piece I’d image b) they have NO VM, at all, c) They probably pay their retail staff minimum wage c) they don’t advertise, ever, or have any real PR plan. That’s the main reason the clothes are so cheap. Ok, they may pay their factory workers who make the clothes a paltry wage. That’s bad. But so do most of the high St stores! They are no better, trust me. The reason Topshop charge so much is not because their suppliers live in mansions, it’s because they spend millions on VM, millions on promotions, and make a lot of profit. I’m not defending Primark; it’s mass produced consumerism and I will see 20 girls wearing exactly this; but I accept it for what it is and that’s ok with me. I choose to buy clothes. I choose to be part of the machine.

Check these bad boys out, the boots from the picture above. I’m so pleased with them. For aaages now I’ve been coveting some good strong flat leather boots to get me through the next 6 months. Even though its still august (and summer, apparently), I wanted to get these now as they will no doubt sell out by the time the rains come. I’ve been looking at ones in New Look, River Island, and seeing a lot of really good vintage ones too (never in my size! And ‘spensive too) and then suddenly saw these. £30! And real leather. They may not last that long, but we’ll see. I love the strap round the ankle and they’re really comfy. They had 2 left in the Ox St one; loads of brown left though.

Bracken likes them too.

I also got other things like a hat for Reading, a snood (yes! a snood! Not really worth posting though), socks (you need socks…), quite a good haul really. I didn’t even spend all the budget!

I also did find The Perfect Satchel. That’ll be another post.

Posted in aw10, bags, boots, fashion, outfit, shopping, trend | Leave a comment

Trousers are dead. Long live trousers.

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Rachel

I’m a dress and tights girl. All the way. Or shorts and leggings. Basically, I never wear trousers, or even jeans. My last pair of jeans wore out about 8 months ago and I haven’t replaced them. I basically only wear them in the winter anyway; but this year I want to be… less scruffy. As soon as I put jeans on, all style goes out the window and its basically a t shirt and cardigan, ahoy. And I’m so sick of that! Just cos it’s cold doesn’t mean I have to look like I’m 12. I’m also quite sick of tights. They rip a lot, fall down, and apparently cause cellulite?? Wtf. I’m not sure if I believe this but seeing as I’m prone to it, maybe I should step away from the nylon leg incarcerations. And don’t even get me started on leggings. I wear them too much, it’s such a safe choice, and choosing safe means choosing dull. I also hate the whole ‘look at me, I’m wearing leggings as trousers, woohoo’ thing; no love, I can just see your knickers. Not cool.

So. Trousers. Eeep. I haven’t worn trousers, proper trousers since… school? As in, school uniform. Yeah, pretty sure. But, I’ve decided I need to branch out my wardrobe, and I’m so excited about pretty much the whole of AW and all it’s ridiculous mini trends that I feel like I want to throw away all my clothes and start again. Obviously, I won’t. About a month ago it was my birthday so I went down to ol’ Oxford St (mainly as I had vouchers, it would be nice to do Spitalfields/Portobello soon), for a shopping trip that was to serve 3 purposes:

1) Spend £120, in a non BUY EVERYTHING YOU SEE way, only buying things I need, i.e Autumn stuff. I don’t need any more floral dresses, no no no. What I do need, is boots, and some AW-vague things that can transition me.

2) Scope out the Perfect satchel. This is a hunt that has taken me in some interesting directions.

3) Try on as many trousers as possible in 3 hours, in as many different incarnations as possible.

This is what happened. (Warning, photos of me, looking a bit silly.)

Hello. Tis me. This is what I wore FOR the shopping trip. It’s not particularly amazing but I like it and it kind of illustrates the leggings example. Safe. And not in a ‘safe bruv’ way.

Cardigan: H! by Henry Holland, Marilyn Monroe dress: La Senza (yes, it’s a NIGHTY, omg), Lace overlay top: Primark, Belt: New Look, Scarf: Vintage Primarni (irony…) and Leggings: Somewhere. Who knows. Oh, Shoes: Babycham. I liked how the belt covered Ms Monroe’s eyes. Belts over cardigans is a good look, an old look but a good’un.

This is why I don’t do outfit posts all that much. PLUS: Taking pictures of yourself in a changing room is reaally difficult when said changing room is the size of a chaffinch and the curtains kept getting opened by the charming girls next door.

Anyways. I liked these, so I bought ‘em. New Look, £24.99, and they come in a slightly more purpley shade a more creamy one too. The body was £7 I think so I bought that too. A good off-khaki shade, that’ll be an autumn staple.

The trousers of A/W all have a slight nod to the hareem, or to the masculine. So you have to get over that straightaway; but it’s ok because they’re mostly quite flattering, practical, and will go with a lot of things.

They’re kind of hareem, but kind of not. This is a key shape; pretty much all the trousers out there are like this, and I’m definitely warming to them. What I liked about these is they’re tapered and rouched at the bottoms, calf length, and the zip detail is nice. They’re of a fabric that makes them look more expensive than they actually are. Got to be worn with heels though:

Like so.

Heels: H&M (bought a while ago, not on this trip), top: New Look about a year ago, Satchel: Primark (£8!!) Two exclamation marks!

Other trousers I tried on…

Also from New Look. A good fit but I wasn’t sure about the corset-detailing. You can’t see my feetsies but they’re cropped like the previous ones.

On to River Island. These were kind of weird. slightly hareem, but more flattering than usual… had an elasticated waistband and a stupid removable velvet bow, which you can’t really see unless you look at the official River Island pic here. That would come off straight away, not a fan at all. The t-shirt however, I really loved. It’s £19.99 which is not a bad price, but once I had it on… not sure. Apologies for the purple bra, that’s either a fail or a statement. Might go back for it.

These were nicer and I very very nearly bought them. £29.99 from River Island again – see here. Really flattering on me, incidentally, but I’d already spent quite a lot in Primark (more on that in a bit…) and so didn’t. Hmmm. I want them though. They don’t go with the jumper, clearly, you’d need to wear them with a fitted vest or something, but I had limited time. The jumper is immense. It’s a cable knit which is (apologies) like SO IN right now, and the back was chiffon and see through.. a little je ne cest pas! Aha. But at £34.99… I just couldn’t. Not when it wasn’t perfect; the only qualm I had was the sleeve length. What is that? Off the shoulder? Who knows. It didn’t flatter my arms (which are in need of toning) so I didn’t. Get a look here though, River Island Light Grey Chiffon Back Cable Top. Want it though. Hope it doesn’t sell out.

Lastly from RI… these babies. Slightly regretting not buying them but I have to be good; need money for RENT not CLOTHES Rachel. Dark grey peg leg turn up trousers- £29.99. They’re so flattering, a really quirky length (imagine these with brogues and checkered socks!) and I loved how the zip is at an angle, you can’t see so much but it fits with the pleats really well. Sigh. Maybe after pay day I can get these. Maybe not though, I’m supposed to be moving house =/

I also tried on some ridiculous leggings/ski/wetsuit-esque things, can’t even find them online so maybe River Island have BURNED them all. I hope so. They were so bad. It felt like trying to get a wet suit on, but just the bottom half. I don’t know what they’re thinking. Trousers+wet suit=bad. That’s the end of the spectrum I’ll be avoiding. I didn’t even take a photo. Terrible.

So those are a pick of some of the best trousers I’ve found so far. I’ll still be looking out; but I’ve got to get my hands on those Peg Leg RI ones.

I’ll post about the other things I horded on my epic shopping trip next….

Posted in aw10, bags, fashion, shopping, trends, trousers | 4 Comments

AW Trends: Yumi

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Rachel

As I said in a previous post about Yumi and our AW lookbook, I promised I’d post the trend boards for this season. Mainly because I curated and designed them! So these should be up in my Portfolio soon – I need to make a ‘Graphic Design’ subsection. I can’t publicicse most of the work I do at work; contractual reasons and all that, but things like trend boards are for promo reasons so they’re already in the public domain. Technically the copyright remains with them though. Anyway I’m quite proud of them! So here’s a few:

The grunge/biker trend is going to be massive and there are so many ways to wear it; distorted monochrome prints, ripped knitwear, studs, fringing, and of course the much coveted biker jacket. I can’t wait to get my hands on that Tara dress – it’s reminds me of painted over newspaper. So awesome.

Eyelash dresses sounds a bit weird, but the fabric is amazing and it will keep you so warm at Christmas! I know it’s silly talking about cold weather now with the sun blazing outside, but you have to be prepared… Just wait til you feel these dresses.

What party season wouldn’t be complete without a bit of sequin-goodness? There are dark gothic undertones at work here, and that sequin fur bolero is AMAZING on (perks of the job – I get to try proto samples on!) and it’s so soft, I’m definitely buying it in time for cold weather! This is one of my favourite trends we’ve got actually, really sumptuous and glamorous sequins but stepping away from he gaudy bling we’ve seen of previous years. As soon as the Sonia Sequin dress drops; it’s mine. Staff discounts are so useful ;) Mwaha.

Intarsias are going to be one of those mini trends that you’ll see cropping up everywhere and then… bam everyone will be alpine all over the place. It’s quite a specific look but the prints are so cute and you’ll feel so cosy.

Embellished shoulders are one of the main trends this season… you can see it already, all the high street stores have got beads and sequins coming out of their proverbial ears. I like it though, it’s a more subtle nod to the power shoulder/shoulder padding look and so a bit more feminine. Last but not least…

This is more of a Yumi trend than a universal trend, but with Chanel’s crazy fur-laden AW collection you’ll see a hell of a lot of ‘inspiration’ from Chanel this season. Yumi has gone more classic though; pearls and monochrome, the signature of Coco herself. I think it’s a cute look, should be popular.

There’s more to be seen on the Yumi blog , we will be posting a new trend each day until the collections drop so you can see more of my handiwork over there!

Oh and btw, Yumi is pronounced You-me. Sooo many people call it Yummy. No no no. Tis tres annoying! So now you know.

Posted in 2010, aw10, copyright, fashion, grungy, high street, insight, lace, looks I love, marketing, new work, portfolio, shopping, trend, uttam, yumi | Leave a comment

Exciting News: Introducing HOUSEcollective and PopUpHouse

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Rachel

I’m a busy girl, you know. As well as working as a full time graphic designer, freelance illustrator, blogging here and from september on Mindbubble (will talk about that later), I’m also part of a creative collective called HOUSE collective.

We all met on the Immersion course I did at St Martins – I blogged about it at the time, have a read here. It was an amazing course not just because of what I learned about my ambitions and my potential but also because of the people I met; it was so good to meet other graduates who were in a very similar position, not quite knowing how to go about doing what you want to do, or needing to learn some business skills, or basically just needing to improve your employability beyong ‘I have a degree’ (because let’s face it, EVERYONE has a degree).

It was one of my ambitions to be part of a collective and it never really occurred to me that I’d be able to find people who also wanted to be in one, and then suddenly, here I am. HOUSE is in it’s early stages but it’s really exciting, and our first project is opening a PopUp shop in september! We’re coinciding it with the London Design Festival and it’s looking to be pretty amazing.

You can find out all about us on our spangly website here, but in a nutshell:

“The aim of HOUSE is to foster collaborative thinking and provide a platform that not only showcases innovative art and design, but also creates an environment that enables an exchange of knowledge and skills.
In the current economic climate, with cuts in funding for the arts, the creative industry needs to focus on becoming self-sufficient and sustainable.
We recognise the issues faced by starting up in the industry and acknowledge the importance of networking and collaborations to develop meaningful ideas. We believe that an open-access, freely available hub to facilitate this is needed to nurture entrepreneurial spirits within the industry.
HOUSE’s vision is to foster an alternative environment that empowers emerging artists and designers to create their own opportunities and dictate their future.
We embody this through our agency structure where we host events, curate and produce spaces and provide a retail platform connecting and exposing the outside world to the creative stars of the future.”

It was my task to come up with ideas for the logo we would use for the PopUp project as well as generally for the collective in future. It’s a very versatile identity, and simples too. We didn’t want to go all crazy fancy in your eyes. After a couple of us submitted logo designs, we settled on the logo, by moi and the typeface which Luisa brought to the table. Everyone else threw in their opinions, et voila. A truly co-created identity, embodying the spirit of PopUpHOUSE itself.

I wanted to show you a couple of the original ideas and then the final versions. After meeting lots with the other guys they decided they wanted to go for something as simple and representative as possible; I originally wanted to steer away from using an actual house in the logo as I thought that was too obvious, but everyone liked the simplicity of it so away I went.

What I was going for in this one was the use of the ink and hand drawn feel of the text, to symbolise the ‘creative’ side of things; it was agreed though that it came across as too cliched and ‘arty’. The next idea:

This one I preferred less than the others but everyone liked the pure simplicity of it and how versatile it could be. We switched the typeface with one Luisa suggested and it was suggested to hand draw the circle to make it less clinical.

What we wanted was a logo and identity that could easily be reproduced in the cheapest way possible (we ain’t got no moneys), therefore it has to black and white, and also we liked the idea of having a stamp – meaning that we could turn any scrap of paper into a business card or promotional material. Much like how A.Golds cafe in spitalfields do; using old vintage postcards and stamping over them:

Found via What Katie Does.

So after showing my idea, and Luisa hers, we decided to go with my idea but use the typeface Luisa had found, but do it all in a hand drawn style. I found this gave the identity so much more energy and made it look a lot less ‘corporate’, thus reflecting how HOUSE operates.

The use of the circle means it fits into the O of HOUSE well, so both logo and brandname can be used independently of each other. I’m quite pleased with it, considering it was a very quick project, and I think everyone else likes it too.

Hopefully when I get it made into a stamp it’ll come out looking pretty good :)

Our location for the PopUp House is pretty great: Number 1 Berwick Street in Soho! Here’s a few images of the site at the moment:

Once we get the keys and move in it’s going to be ACE. We’ve got a great programme of events, including workshops, talks, a shop/boutique, coffee and meeting place with wifi, (hopefully) and lots of other things soon to be finalised!

We’ve got a twitter feed, and you can also subscribe to our blog for updates on how we’re doing; it’s going to be a lot of hard work but I can’t wait.

Please tell all your friends and feel free to blog about our project, if you need a press release or images then just email us :)

Posted in Graphic Design, house collective, immersion, logos, london, new project, new work, popup | 3 Comments

In Search Of…. The Perfect Satchel Bag

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Rachel

This A/W, a key trend will definitely be the Satchel Bag. Why? The Mulberry Alexa, obviously.

Everyone wants a piece of that, but most can only afford the high street versions and all their incantations. Everyone wants in. And I really want in. I lug a lot of stuff around with me so I’ve invariably always chosen big, slouchy bags with no detailing on so they don’t get ruined while squashed within an inch of my life on the tube. I think a satchel could definitely be the answer to my accessory woes; I love bags and they are the one thing that I would be happy to spend money on as they are so key, but commuting in and out of London carrying trainers, lunch, purse, diary, ipod, makeup every day takes it’s toll. See what I mean about big bag? Then I always have to get the ones that don’t have zips for some strange reason, which really isn’t safe, or they fall apart because tube barriers like ripping them open.

However; I have some good news! This september I will hopefully be moving into a house in South East London (YAY) so the trainers will not be needed every day – I’m a few mins from the tube. I’ll still need a sturdy bag to hold everything else, and the satchel seems to be the answer. On trend, utilitarian, sturdy and long-lasting, if it’s leather.

There’s a plethora on the high street right now; everyone’s bringing out their AW collections and I really can’t decide. These are the ones I’ve found online and are in the shortlist:

Betty Jackson. Black. Tan ‘Clove’ across body bag, £55.
A good-looking satchel from Betty Jackson Black at Debenhams, with great zip edge detailing. As with most of these bags, I’d probably want to buy them in person so I can see the size, this says 23 x 28 x 10.5cm so a good size from what I can visualise. A good price for real leather too, £55 is around what I’d want to pay, no more than £60 I think. looks soft too.

Betty Jackson. Black. Black large satchel bag, £65.
Another Betty Jackson bag from Debenhams, I like the ‘doctors bag’ feel of this and that you can sling it over your arm as well as over your shoulder. I haven’t quite decided on the whole black vs tan – in my mind satchels should really be tan so I’m veering towards that. This is a great size at 25 x 30 x 14.5cm, real leather, possibly slightly out of my price range.

H! by Henry Holland Black large satchel across body bag, £35.
Ah Henry. You’ve done it again. The H! range for Debenhams is still one of my favourite high street collections (I have sooo many things from the SS range) and this bag is cool as. It’s not leather, hence the price, and it’s black, BUT it’s so deep and looks really useful, with zip pocket and space for your mobile. It’s 32 x 32 x 10cm which is a great size, and a comment left says that the interior lining is purple. Zing! Most of the clothes I bought from the H! collection have a purple theme so this would slot into my wardrobe very easily. A definite contender.

H! by Henry Holland at Debenhams Tan ‘Quentin’ large satchel, £65.
Until I saw this one. Could it be, that this is the one? Tan leather, great dimensions, 26 x 25 x 9cm, with those zip pocket and mobile pockets again… the silver buckles are slight tooo silver maybe; burnished antique gold would have been better. I wonder if the lining is purple with this too? At £65 it’s a bit out of my league but I’ve got a feeling when I see it in the flesh I may fall in love. Henry is awesome.

Miss Selfridge Tan Leather Satchel Bag, £22.
If I didn’t have to carry so much stuff I would buy this in a heartbeat. I still might, it’s so good, just for days when I’m not going to work. At £22 and real leather it’s a bargain, it’s smaller at Width:19cm, Height:16cm, Depth:5cm but it’s really special. Yes please.

Miss Selfridge Tan Leather Studded Barrel bag, £39 reduced from £49.
Get this quick if I were you. It’s reduced, real leather, and a decent size: L:22cm W:29cm D:14cm. I’m definitely considering it. I like the antique gold studs and the ‘barrel’ aspect is something a bit different; although not technically a satchel, I wanted to include it anyway.

Miss Selfridge Tan Lilly Day Bag, £35.
Not leather, which is a shame, but a great colour and a good size, as well as a good price. L:32cm W:32cm D:14cm. Will be checking this out in person, I’m really liking it. Will it survive the harsh streets of London Town? Hmmm. Comes in black too.

River Island brown embossed barrel bag, £79.99.
River Island always do great bags. And they know it too, which is why they can charge so damn much. This again is a barrel bag so not quite a satchel, but I love love the embossing detailing and the pockets at either end, like a PE bag! It only says ‘width 33cm’ which isn’t very helpful, and even though it’s leather, I dunno if I could really pay £80. I’ll check it out but this is more of a covet than able to actually afford.

River Island beige distressed cross body satchel bag, £36.99
Again, not leather. And I’m not really loving the colour. Studding and buckles are good though. Width 33cm, comes in black too.

Topshop Leather School Satchel, £55.
When you think of satchel, you see this, right? Well done Topshop, this is pretty damn good. Looks too new though, I’d want mine scuffing up a bit maybe. It’s a massive contender though. The only thing I’d say is that it looks a bit thin; no dimensions though so couldn’t tell you. Will hunt it down and inform you. I don’t know if it’s as good as the H! one, but it is £10 cheaper. Argh.

Topshop Buckle Strap Leather Bag, £85.
An interesting colour on this one, and a really decent size! H29cm L:33cm D:9cm. I’m slowly falling in love. Real leather, but at £85, there’s no way I can afford this =/ Topshop, feel like letting me test one out? You know, for durability. User testing! Er, yeah. Testing.

Topshop Medium Leather Buckle Satchel £50
That’s more like it! To be honest, Topshop have hundreds… there’s too many to pick out. This one’s particularly good, ticks all the right boxes. Leather, in my price range, good size, H:21cm L27cm D:10cm, and tarnished gold. I think I’m giving myself too many options. I sort of want them all….

Very.co.uk Leather Buckle Hobo Satchel, £49
I like this because it’s called Hobo. Anything hobo is good in my books. It’s quite simple and big enough but it’s drawing me in with it’s classic looks. Height: 27cms, width: 34cms. Unfortunately as it’s Very you can’t see it in person… buying a bag without touching it is very (haha) hard indeed. Hmmm.

New Look Mini Satchel, £8.
When they say mini, what do they mean? At £8 it must be tiny! Cute though. I’m going to check it out just because of it being mini. Totally pointless but also necessary :D Eeee.

Have you seen any great Satchels out there that I haven’t? Have you already got one? Do they actually get really annoying with all the buckles and straps and you’ve got back to a good ol fashioned over the arm handbag? Do tell!

Posted in accessories, autumn, aw10, bags, coveting, cute, debenhams, fashion, high street, satchel | 3 Comments

Discoveries: Trailer Happiness Cocktail Bar in Notting Hill

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Rachel

On friday night, I went out with the girls from work for one of their birthdays, and it was suggested we check out this bar called Trailer Happiness in Notting Hill. One look at their website and we knew it sounded amazing: “Trailer H is a retro-sexual haven of cosmopolitan kitsch and faded trailer park glamour – cork tiles and shag pile, love songs and vol-au-vents, Lynch prints and Tiki drinks.”

Retro-sexual? Trailer park glamour? Tiki drinks? We were so there. And, we were not disappointed.

We got there quite early in the evening (about 8pm) and so got this prime spot right in the back corner, this was our view out onto the bar before it filled up later. See the uber-60′s curtains, hawaii-kitsch art and amazing retro furniture? Yeah, it was just so fun. Here’s a better shot of the corner seating area we sat in, not taken by me:

The bean bags were a cool touch, I was slowly slouching into mine quite comfortably :D

Slightly blurry picture which is a shame but there I am on the left, with my (really cool) boss who is also called Rachel!

Now, there are so many reasons to love Trailer Happiness, but the reason it’s so great is it goes above and beyond it’s amazing interior. As soon as we sat down a really lovely waitress came over to take our drinks orders (so many to choose from!) and it carried on in that vein all night; never having to go to the bar, always checking to see if we needed anything more, but not pressurising at all. She was really knowledgeable and was great at suggesting things if we didn’t have a clue.

The cocktails were some of the best I had ever tasted in my life. No kidding, they were unbelievable. So fresh, so tasty, with amazing concoctions and really reasonably priced considering how good they were. The menu was stacked with variations, and was a work of art in itself really:

A lovely thick heavywight matte paper with foil blocking; I was as engrossed in the design of the menu as I was the actual cocktails within! What was even better was the encouragement to ‘please steal this menu’ – which as you can see, I did!

The typeface is gorgeous and the brown and orange colour scheme of course fits in perfectly with the decor.

£6.75 for a cocktail is so decent in central London and they really were excellent. What I (and everyone else actually) thought was a great touch was the symbols to show you what shape of glass each one comes in – a really simple idea but brilliant – sometimes you don’t know if you’re ordering something which will go down in one sip or that you’ll get a bucket of. If you’re watching your funds (as I was) you prob want to go for big long drinks that will last a while, but if you’re just there for a quick drink you might want something in a standard margherita glass. It was great because a few of the girls said that they hated when they spent loads on a cocktail and it turns up in a teeny glass.

This was one that I had – check out the amazing Tiki face glass! And the straw dead centre in what I think was mango sauce. This one was called ‘Colada Neuva’ and is described as ‘Our house secret blend of fine rums & other delicious elixirs blended with pineapple, passion fruit, mango & coconut’. It was a bit Pina Colada-ish but way tastier. I also had ‘Atomic Punch’ (that went down in 2 seconds, so amazing) which had rums, peach and passion fruit topped with champagne (was a bit like lilt, remember lilt?) but the best one I had was definitely ‘City Rickey Royale’, made from ‘Beefeater 24, Cointreau, pomegranate and lime juices and a splash of elderflower cordial, topped with champagne’. So amazing. So alcholic! I was left comfortable numb and really not wanting to go home… but as I still live in Bedfordshire I had to get the 11.25 from Euston.

The toilets were unisex; bit weird at first but you get used to it. This huge painting was on the wall, I remember this acutely from Uni, one of my closest friends had this on the wall in the flat she lived in, she was so into her kitsch, I was a bit dubious but she loved it. I know she would go crazy over Trailer Happiness, it’s just her thing.

And finally, something that got me a little over-excited; Thunderbirds wallpaper! Amazing! What could be better?

If you’re ever around Notting Hill then get yourself down to 177 Portobello Road; it really is a true find and I will definitely be going back.

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Coveting: Fifi Lapin’s What Shall I wear today? Book

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Rachel

If you don’t know Fifi Lapin, then you’re missing out; she’s a super stylish, super illustrated, furry fashionista! She’s got her own blog where she draws what she’s been wearing (usually some kind of amazing designer concoction), and now she’s got a book coming out featuring all her amazing outfit illustrations.

Fifi wears Luis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and more…

The thing that I love most about Fifi (aside from her perfect anonymity, genius), is that she’s more than just a ‘what am I wearing today’ fashion blogger, the fact that she illustrates what she wears means that she can represent herself however she likes (ie as a cute bunny) and also her outfits can drift onto the realms of ‘what I wish I was wearing today….’ without anyone really knowing any better. There are a few others out there who draw what they’re wearing but none in an anthropomorphic style! Pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to illustrate what I’m wearing more but things got in the way; mainly work and life. Maybe I’ll start it up again, it’s way better than photographing what I’m wearing, I’ve tried but I’m really not the kind of person to be all narcissistic about myself. If you draw yourself you can a)make yourself thinner (no not narcissistic at all!) and b) you don’t have to do your make up. A good idea all round.

So Fifi’s got a new book out soon called ‘What Shall I Wear Today? Style Secrets of a Furry Fashionista’ and it looks amazing; I want it so much! I’d love to see more pages but it’s not out until the 16th September, so will have to wait til then! Fifi has posted a few spreads on her blog though so here they are:

Bit of blurb:

“This is a style book like no other.
Inside are the answers to one of life’s big questions – what shall I wear today?
Whether you want to perfect everyday chic, be an irresistible date, look casual without looking crumpled, get a pay rise or go for hold-the-front-page glamour, Fifi Lapin can help. She has spent years looking in the mirror.
Of course, what looks great on Fifi won’t necessarily work on you. Not everyone has long ears, a flat chest and a generously padded tushe but by following her golden rules of style, you too can feel fabulous from Monday to Sunday.”

I can’t wait til it comes out, it looks great. You can pre-order it on Amazon here, for only £8.99!

All images copyright to Fifi Lapin :)

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