Ideas on a Postcard

How so very exciting!

Here is a very interesting article where I first heard about it, but I don't get why all the fuss is about JK. I am super-excited about Margaret Atwood's contribution.

Now just to get my thinking cap on...

A Life Outside Blogging?

Some recent stuff such as a comment linking to a goodbye post on Faking Good Breeding (God that name is AWESOME!) has made me wonder exactly how dedicated one must be to have a blog. I don't know anyone IRL who has kept one up, citing a busy lifestyle as the reason most times.

I post fairly frequently, although you can see that the amount of my posts in the (very short so far) lifespan of my blog has been reduced from a crazy 4 to a more subdude 1 or 2 a day. The reason for my mad activity in the first couple of days was simply boredom... I was procrastinating about revision. I do find I get more 'inspiration' when I have a reason to procrastinate.

However I don't think the posting is very much of the reason that people find blogging time-consuming. Surely it is the commenting on other blogs, the reading of them, the photo taking, and also very likely the dealing with advertising, e-mails and moderating comments when they start to get nasty.

And I have to say, I am lucky enough not to have to deal with the last three duties and I find that I was reading and commenting (anonymously) before I started this blog, and the photo-taking is actually one of the thing I love about it. I never used to take photos before but now I'm finding myself enjoying it hugely, even with my shitty old digital camera.

So I suppose what I'm saying is that right now, I'm finding blogging a pleasure which is not reducing my happiness in other areas of my life; it never takes more than 20 minutes a day, and then little 2 minute slots whenever I'm free to read and comment. I'm not sure what I'm doing right, maybe it's just because I'm new and then I'll have to keep up starting new blogs every month to maintain this contentedness. Actually, no I won't... but I will say thank-you to all the lovely people who have written lovely comments and all. Now I'm going to leave before I get unbearably soppy, to have a life I presume.

Intellectual Film Review

...or not.

I'm just back from watching Sex and the City with some friends, opting out of the late evening showings because we were too lazy to book tickets.

I think the main point here is that it's 2 hours 25 minutes long. That's very long. Despite this, the time went by soooo fast. Probably too young to have been caught up in the TV series hysteria, I found myself dry-eyed despite numerous 'warnings' that the film would reduce anyone to tears, and we all laghed, a lot. Although I'm not sure the humour was always intentional.

I was also left quite surprised by the amount of fuss that has been generated about keeping the details of the plot a secret. For example, at one point, Carrie was trying to figure out the password her assistant had set to open some very important e-mails... my friend and I knew it straight away. Can you guess what it was? Love!

My point is: the film was a tad predictable. But a riveting storyline was not why I went to watch it anyway, of course it was the fashion. I (and I think most of the human population) already knew every minute detail of all Carrie's outfits worn in the first, say, half an hour of the movie due to countless magazine spreads... Eiffel Tower bag, Balenciaga heels, floral dresses, over the knee socks etc etc etc etc.

But there were still plenty of stylish treats, something I did not doubt for a second with Patricia Field of 'The Devil Wears Prada' and the original series as stylist. Actually I don't think Carrie ever wore the same outfit in two scenes (apart from her wedding dress) and I've never seen anyone look so stylish in pyjamas.


PS the photo is courtesy of glamour.com via google images. And I just watched an episode of CSI and guessed the plot twist... before the CSIs!! Totally irrelevent but go me!!!

How to Shop

OK, so we've established that there are those items which, whilst left unworn for a while, can still become well-used parts of our wardrobes. However there's no guarantee of this, and I still have many more pieces I don't wear, than rediscovered ones.

This made me realise how hard it actually is to shop, how many different ways there are of going about it, and how there are problems with all of them.

Take list-making for example. I have done this in the past, but it never works for me. I can NEVER find exactly what I'm looking for and will always find it once I've stopped looking. All my well-worn basics, bar jeans, were spur-of-the-moment buys which turned out to be very useful later.

The other type of shopping is far more fun; going out there with no idea of what you want and picking up whatever you fall in love with. But this is a major problem when (true example here) you fall in love with a dress, maybe discounted but still not hugely cheap. You can't bear to leave it, although you know you have nowhere to wear it. Fast forward six months and it hasn't been worn outside the home.

Is this the charm of shopping, the unexpected element, or are there things to do that can avoid it? I truely don't know, but I'm posing the question anyway.

For example, you can use the rule of '3 different outfits, 3 different occasions' before buying something, or the one I've been trying to employ as much as possible: 'is it entirely perfect in every way?'. But these 'rules' are SO difficult to stick to, and can also mean missing out on real gems.

Looks like it's over...

I have so far refrained from posting about Agathe from Style Byte's disappearance, but it finally appears to be over:

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Something Old, Something New

You know when you buy something, or get given it, but then end up never wearing it? It's one of the worst things about shopping, because it's so hard to predict...

Luckily, there's hope for these unworn garments, because sometimes all they need is a bit of time. Thanks to the lovely Francis at Mud on My Teadress here is a slideshow of some of the pieces in my wardrobe, left unworn before being rediscovered and becoming staple items. Please excuse over-use of alliteration.

Eclectic 'boho' - one of my first 'me' purchases from Accessorize circa 2000 these earrings were abandoned in favour of sweet studs. But the stunning colour combinations have wooed me back...

Leopard lining - I have no idea what the label says; I can't decipher it! Given to me by one of my relatives, I didn't wear it for several years because it was too 'far-out' but kept it because of the beautiful leopard-print silk lining. But recently I have discovered its versatility, it can brighten up pretty much any basic outfit and fits like a well-fitting glove.

Scruffy satin - bought when I was a LOT younger and girly, I soon realised how impractical satin is in rainy London and then how prissy it looks in the safety of the evening. Scruffed up with some lack of care, they have become a lot easier to wear.

Lovely layering - too tight, mickey mouse, sheer... not for me. But the gorgeous colour and texture looks perfect underneath looser layers.

I want a donkey!

Don't you just love something so much more when it was a present?

The problem with presents is that either you don't get exactly what you wanted, or it's not really a surprise so it just feels like someone else paid for your purchase. The best type of present is when someone knows you want something then they go buy it for you... a complete surprise!

If you get this too often, the gift looses its value, and since no-one I know is particularly big on surprises I don't get them too often, but today after travelling an hour to pick up my little sister, I was greeted with this fabulous bag which I had been lusting after just the day before!

I must have looked rather odd the rest of the day, walking around with both my bags... but it couldn't be helped, I was too excited. It really reminds me of the bad boys who get turned into donkeys in Pinocchio. As soon as I got home, I looked up the label of the bag: Insight. I couldn't find my donkey on the website, but there were plenty of other clothes to look at. What surprised me, is that there was nothing I particularly want... the whole 'Insight' style is very much un-me.

A leetle bit too 'nu-rave' for me, which is probably a good thing, since I'm hoping for my next gift to be a pony...

ETA yes I do realise I have posted in the future... quite cool I think and not at all by accident

Beauty in Words

I have already written about my unashamed love for books. I almost constantly have a book or two on the go, but this past month I was finding myself unable to get further than the first paragraph of anything. But right now I am reading The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy and I am engrossed.

Most of the books I love, I love for characterisation that makes the characters alive, and one of the most important things for me is that it inspires emotion; laughter, sadness, whatever. But with this book I'm just enraptured by Arundhati Roy's writing, which is as stunning as any piece of art. What is the book about? The blurb of the book says it 'explores the tragic fate of a family' and goes on to use a quote from the book: 'tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how'. Doesn't this line sound like something from a poem?

Adding to the poetic feel are similes, a technique which I grew to detest through over-use in primary school poems but which add so much to the book: 'Baby Kochamma...closed her face like a cupboard'. There are other devices, such as certain phrases written in capital letters, 'She used her windows for specific purposes. For a Breath of Fresh Air' and beautifully, wonderful little rhymes within sentences.

'She had a special child-sized coffin.
Satin-lined.
Brass handle shined'

'Not old.
Not young.
But a viable di-able age'

Normally, when I read a book containing words like 'posterity' 'incipient' and 'pernicious' (i.e. words I need to look up!) I have a tendancy to dismiss it as pretentious or verbose, but with 'The God of Small Things' I don't.

I am just in awe of Roy's mastery of the English language, and a little sad because I'm already almost halfway and when I finish this book, she hasn't written another one yet.

Every girl wants a pair of...

Red shoes!!!
I'm pretty sure there's no exception to this rule, and I'm more sure it's down to Dorothy of the Wizard and Oz. Not sure if I should be admitting this, but myself, I have a whole section of photos stored on my computer of red 'Dorothy' shoes. In reply to Pamcasso's post, asking 'which would you want and how would you wear them?' I think I'd plump for these stunning Westwoods:

I'd wear them with frilly white socks and a short blue gingham shirt dress in slutty modern homage to Dorothy Gale.

The Shopping Experience

Many people love Primark. Admittedly, it does feature some fairly nice pieces, but in truth, I have gone there once (buying t-shirts for a camping trip) and have never been tempted to go again, however many 'gems' people have told me are from Primark.

Even going up a couple of steps to Topshop, I rarely buy anything other than accessories. The Oxford Circus branch I frequent most is just too frantic and I often forget to wear the right clothes required to have a trying on session in a less busy corner, because the queues for the changing rooms are just too long. In fact, most visits to Oxford Street result in a drained, tired feeling, leaving me unable to enjoy my new purchases as much as I should.

The alternative, however is even worse: suburban shopping centres. I do tend to visit my local shopping centre fairly frequently, however it is unusual for me to find something special there and my shopping centre purchases are pretty much limited to essentials; toiletries, stationary, underwear etc.

The reason for this is unlikely to be choice; I am sure that any shopping centre has a similar selection of clothes to one on Oxford Street. For me, it is the atmosphere. Surrounded by unispirational people, the clothes laid out in a boring, uninspirational way, I never seem to get the same buzz of ideas (ooh, this skirt would look great with this top...).

Perhaps this is just me being lazy; I am not great at vintage shopping or 'thrifting', finding it too much like hard work in London's saturated market. In fact, my best vintage buys, thinking about it, all tend to be garments I saw on a mannequin in a shop window, or displayed prominently.

How highly do you rank the shopping experience as a factor when shopping? I have been left fairly convinced of its importance to me, which leaves me with the question: what is a good shopping experience? The place always called to mind for me is Selfridges. I view Selfridges in a similar way, I think, to the character of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's views Tiffany's - it is that place where I can't imagine anything bad happening. So what if 90% of its stock is out of my fiscal reach? For me, a huge part of shopping is not the acquisition of goods, it is the feeling and experience, and for that reason I will always prefer to spend a few extra pennies...pounds...hundreds! on an overall more enjoyable trip.

To stress my point: yesterday, after a particularly weary and depressing shopping experience, having come out with nothing but gifts for other people and a book, I went to Selfridges. Immediately, I saw a very pretty top, so went to the changing rooms, where there were no queues, tried it on. When I decided it was the wrong size, the shop assistant passed me another. Once I had decided that I liked it, I was free to wander around, leaving the boundaries of the shop where I had picked up.

Upon paying for my top, the kind man at the till (okay... it was probably a mistake, but it still makes me feel that he was kind) gave me 30% off of my purchase. I'm not sure if morally I should have notified him of his mistake, but in my mind, this sort of thing is part and parcel of a happy shopping experience.