Showing posts with label Christian Louboutin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Louboutin. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Chic and Seek

I have mentioned numerous times of my love for Vintage Rose, a shop on Richmond Hill that sells second hand designer wears and gives a slice of the profits to the original owner of the items.  Thus far I have picked up a Sonia by Sonia Rykiel Trench, some Alexander McQueen shoes and yesterday an Alexander McQueen coat as well as having to painfully avoid the place over certain items as I have suffered 6 months of frugality in the hangover of the big move down South and my wedding.  This period of suffering is nearly over however, and just at the right time a new love has entered my life.

A friend's sister has just started working for the website www.chicandseek.com and told me I had to check it out.  Funnily enough upon entering the website I remembered reading an article in a magazine or newspaper about this site when it was a start up business and I have already visited the site in its early days. When I first visited this site a few years ago I was of the mindset that I only wanted to buy designer items brand new, but a few years down the line and I have a completely different outlook on the whole 'vintage' trend and I think it is even more exciting to be able to buy one off pieces that others may not be wearing and work them into the current season's trends.  Furthermore, there are also items on here that are this season or transcends seasons such as the Mulsberry Bayswater and, now that I own a mixture of new and vintage items, I can only see the benefit in buying good quality, second hand pieces at a more affordable price.  I say more affordable but some of the items on the website (such as the Hermes, Birkins) are in no way 'affordable' but offer you the chance at owning a piece of fashion that may not be accessible to you by normal means.

Here are a selection of my favourite items currently listed on the site:

At an eye-watering £18, 500 there is no way I could ever afford this Ostrich  skin blue Kelly Birkin but I am sure you will all agree this is a rare fashion find to die for!
These tan leather Louboutin's are in my size, in excellent condition and a bargain at only £215.  If you are going to purchase red soles second hand make sure you see a picture of the underneath.  If you are buying pre-worn Louboutin's you have to accept that there will be wear on the red soles but you can always get them repainted (I don't know where in the UK but I had a pair I'd ruined done in Las Vegas and they looked new again!)

These Prada black leather gloves are an absolute steal at £70 and also affordable if you want to own a piece of Miuccia's fashion brand without breaking the bank.

And finally...if this Marc By Marc Jacobs purse (£50) is still available on payday next week it will be mine as I need a new purse that won't break the bank! Don't be getting in there before me!!

This website is great if you are just a bargain hunter looking for a fashion fix or even better if you live somewhere where these kind of things are not particularly accessible!  Check it out at www.chicandseek.com

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Harrod's Christmas Stocking!


 On Saturday I braved the christmas shopping crowds of Oxford Street and Knightsbridge in order to show my inlaws, who had not visited London for 30 years, what they were (or were not) missing out on!  My Mother-in-law is obsessed with Christmas decorations, her tree contains over 600 baubles that pretty much tell her life story and so she was desperate to check out Christmas World at Harrods.  Me being the total opposite to my Mother-in-law and a bit bah humbug about Christmas
was a little reluctant to drag myself through the hoardes of people desperate to buy a bauble just so they can have a green Harrods bag but on arrival I did get into the spirit of things and was soon picking out lots of stuff that I wanted to make my new flat festive (although I think the fifty foot wreath I fell in love with was properly better suited to the mansion down the road than my tiny little abode!)

I did, however, fall in love with this Christmas stocking.  I honestly don't think there could be a stocking out there in the world more apt to my tastes, unless Monsieur Louboutin himself did a range.  Unfortunately at £99.95 I reluctantly had to put it back and walk away before I did something silly!

 
I am wearing: Snood, gap / Cape, Ella Luna / Jumper, topshop / Jeans, Abercrombie and Fitch

Sunday, 18 November 2012

Pollen Street Social Club


I've been a little quiet on my blog of late for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have been working pretty long hours and so have not had time to write about much and secondly, because I have been working such long hours I have not really been doing anything interesting to write about. My husband and I have also decided it is about time we should start thinking about getting on the property ladder and so have been trying to save rather than splurge, easier said than done when you live somewhere with so much choice in terms of places to shop, eat, drink and entertain oneself!

We did however have the chance a couple of weeks ago to meet some friends for dinner at the Pollen Street Social Club just off Regent's Street in Mayfair. For any foodies out there, Pollen Street Social Club is the flagship restaurant of leading chef Jason Atherton, the ex-Gordon Ramsey employee who oversaw the opening of Maze and his restuarant offers an exclusive à la carte dining experience at equally exclusive prices.

Of course, a new dress had to be on the menu in order to enjoy our evening out and, having spent the last few weeks eyeing up the dresses in the window of Cop Copine on Richmond Hill every evening on the way home from work, I thought a new LBD would be perfect for a night out dining in Mayfair.  As I have previously mentioned (I cannot remember whether on here or Twitter), I have been really impressed by the quality of material and cut of the clothes I have seen and their French/Japanese influences are pretty evident when you see the quality and structure of their clothes.  I tried on a few dresses but decided on one with a halter neck detail that went over the body of the dress and would do a good job of carefully disguising any bloating that may occur after enjoying a large meal and a few glasses of champagne! 



Dress: Cop Copine / Necklace and Earrings: Maje / Opaque Cashmere Tights: Marks and Spencers / Rings: From Qatar’s Souk / Bracelet: H&M / Watch: Gucci / Shoes: Christian Louboutin Bianca’s



I teamed the dress with some Maje jewellery, which I am still so glad I purchased in Lille earlier this year and my wedding shoes as I don’t have many an opportunity to wear them at the moment. I absolutely loved the outfit and I think I will wear the same for a press launch I am attending next week, although I may swap the Loubs for my Jeffrey Campbell sparkle boots.





The dinner at The Pollen Street Social Club was delicious.  Unfortunately for my figure I can never resist homemade bread and butter which were served before the starter, for which I had Cornish crab salad, avocado, wood sorrel ice, crab toastie.  It was a taste sensation, the ‘wood sorrel ice’ gave the avocado an unusual texture as it was so cold but it totally worked.  If you’ve ever had a meal where weeks later you are still thinking about the taste of something then you know it is good! For main I went for the roasted red mullet with Spanish prawn rice, cockles and samphire.  I had never tried red mullet before and it is quite a strong flavour but the Spanish prawn rice complimented it nicely.  My husband and his friend shared the 1kg of beef with duck fat chips and his wife decided on the roasted sea bass with celeriac truffle.

1kg of beef with duck fat chips
After the main courses were finished we were invited over to the bar for dessert where we were given a number of tasters to try, from lime cheesecake sorbet to little petit fours straight out of the oven.  I shared the cheese board for dessert whilst the other couple shared the 70% chocolate ganache.  We were then invited for a tour of the kitchen which, whilst spotlessly clean was ridiculously hot and I didn’t want to risk my makeup melting on my face so made a pretty hasty exit.  Not before being shown a truffle the size of a small rock but worth over £600!  It never ceases to amaze me how something which is grated over your food can cost the same as a precious metal, but people are obviously willing to pay for it!!


Red Mullet with Prawn and Cockles






I think, possibly the best thing about moving to London so far has been the fantastic choice of restaurants here that come in all shapes and sizes and for all budgets.  Although The Pollen Street Social Club definitely would be classed as a rare treat for us, next week we are trying out somewhere with a fantastic reputation at a price that won’t break the bank.  I’ll blog about it once we’ve been so watch this space.

 
 

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Shoes!

My number one passion in life is...shoes! Shoes glorious shoes! Here are some of my favourites on my shoe shelf at the moment.