Sunny Days in Greenwich Park

View from Greenwich Observatory

The sunny skies, the warm air, the shorts on every person walking down the High street; surely this is not London in the autumn!

I am out enjoying the weekend in the country, but I thought I would leave this panorama and some photos of a sunny day last month in Greenwich Park: 

Pro tip: if you are too poor to pay entrance to see the Prime Meridian at Greenwich Observatory, you can sneak around a gate in the front and see a portion of it. Though as my niece shouted at some American and Japanese tourists: "What are you taking photos of? It's just a line! YOU ARE SO SILLY!"

Hope you have a great weekend! Are you planning anything special?

Birthday Wish Lists on Pinterest

Pinterest Birthday Wish list

My husband is refusing to getting me a puppy (again) and is stuck on what to gift me for my birthday next weekend. Neither subtle nor very obvious hints make an impact on him, so Pinterest has been a saving grace this birthday-through-holiday season.

The above is a sampling from my Pinterest birthday list. Clockwise from left:

• ASOS Dress
• Hummingbird Bakery Pumpkin Whoopie Pie
• ASOS Dolce Vita Patent Leather loafers
• NARS lipgloss in Striptease
• Balenciaga Paris perfume
• Hand knit socks from Milleta's Etsy
• Zara Plaited Leather Shopper
• ASOS 'vintage' watch
• Butter nail polish in Wallis (sold out but a girl can dream)

I unintentionally picked out a lot of soft and cozy colors- I am so ready for fall weather! There is also some yummy chocolate, winter accessories, and a few other bits on the list. Check it out here.

Do you use Pinterest for wish lists? What is on your wish list now?

Wordless Wednesday: Pac Man Dress

Pac Man Dress by Giles Deacon in the V&A Museum

The Cow and Astornaut of Barnes: A Mystery

or "Moooo-ston we have a problem"?

On my jaunt to Barnes this weekend I noticed two neighbors on prestigious Thames waterfront properties were playing the most interesting game of Keeping up with the Kardashians. 

In my mind one neighbor threw a tacky piece of art on their balcony and -not to be outdone- the people next door bought the first life size art they could find and plonked it down on their balcony.

Evidence here:

Cow sculpture in Richmond

Astronaut statue in Richmond

After some extensive google investigation, I found that this Salt Cow of Barnes was part of the Cow Parade in 2002, and was sold in an auction in October of that year. The sculpture is officially called "Salt Beef".

One thing that annoys me that the sculpture is clearly of a bull, but is mysteriously called a cow. I may only be annoyed because I was a blue-jacket wearing, card carrying member of the FFA  (that you probably know from Napolean Dynamite). But maybe I shouldn't get caught up in bovine gender identity issues when there is a greater mystery at hand.

The Buzz Lightyear Aldrin homage remains an enigma, as no amount of searching turned up a background. This leads me to believe that the Salt Beef was the first quirky statue on the block and the astronaut was a hasty addition.

Have you seen the 'Cow' and Astronaut of Barnes? Do you know their story? Share!

Celebrating Autumn with a London Walk in Barnes

The beginning-of-autumn-in-London weekend I had planned in my mind went out the window, but I managed to go for a walk in the more suburban part of the city to see the colors starting to change.

Though I had planned on going to Richmond Park, line work on the train had me walking around Barnes instead. Barnes has a real small, rich village vibe, though it is still in London. Some of the larger streets with detached houses, driveways and wide sidewalks feel almost American, which help soothe my autumnal homesickness. 

Thinking I was going to Richmond, I hadn't planned out a route for Barnes and ended up walking 4 miles more than intended. So here are some photos that prove- though we don't know our final destination, it can be a beautiful journey along the way.

Weeping Willows in Barnes Common

Flats behind Barnes pond

Rowers on the Thames in front of Hammersmith

Close up of Hammersmith Bridge medallion

How did you celebrate the first autumn weekend of 2011?

Gratitude

Well it is been a WEEK. Crazy work schedules, busy nights, stomach bugs and insect-bugs in our drains (yuck). I feel behind and so tired. As I keep on glancing at the gorgeous autumn day outside and my sick husband inside, I keep on thinking "Why us this week? We were supposed to be out enjoying the beautiful weather not laid up on the couch/ fighting off drain flys".

So I sat down and watched my favorite YouTube motivator Marie Forleo talk about what to do when life hands you a 'shit sandwich':

And then I remember gratitude and everything I have to be thankful for in my life.

This week has brought something to be extra grateful- New Orleans fashion blogger Kim from SassyUptownChic has awarded me with a Leibster blog award!

An award given to bloggers with less than 200 followers in order to help them
connect with more people.

I am so happy that this blog has opened up a chance to get to know more awesome bloggers like Kim in just a few weeks. I can't thank her enough for her comments & tweets and of course nominating me for this award!

I'd like to pay it forward and nominate some of my favorite blogs:

• Faithful Luxe- new UK fashion blog, with hot runway to real world fashion finds
• Miss Raj- an blogger with epically inspirational posts
• Sybil Virgo-UK fashion blog with great takes on the catwalk shows
• The 25 Year old Liz- tumblr friend turned blogger buddy chronicling a year of her life
• to ELLE and Back- Louisa blogging about London life & a fellow Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lover

Thanks again to Kim for brightening my week and please show her some love over on SassyUptownChic!




The award suggests *Post the image on your Blog, *Choose five bloggers you want to give it to & comment on a post letting them know you have chosen them, *Show thanks to the person who gave you the award by linking it back to them.

Cheap Chic: London Fashion Weekend Discounts

Somerset House during London Fashion Weekend

Did you miss out on all the catwalk action earlier in the week and want to inject some style into your weekend? You might want to head to Somerset House, where you can sit front row on the runway, sip champagne and buy deeply marked down Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 trends directly from designers at London Fashion Weekend.

If, like me, you are spending September recovering from summer indulgences, I've rounded up voucher codes for discount admission- less than £12 a person. Now you can spend that extra savings on some spring trends!

Check out these links for codes:

• 25% off Fashion Weekend from My daily
• 20% off Fashion Weekend from Vintage by Hemmingway
• 20% off from Suzannah
• 1/2 price ticket per ticket bought by ELLE magazine

You can find out more and book tickets directly from the London Fashion Weekend website.


Tired of seeing Somerset House this week? There are plenty of other things to do in London this weekend!

The Power of Making London Design Festival at the V&A

The V&A Museum has installed an impressive welcome to London Design Festival with their "Timber Wave" sculpture by Amanda Levete Architects in front of their main entrance.

The huge wood spiral is made of good ol' American Red Oak and just immense.

Though it looks nice during the day, the lit-up curved wood at night is absolutely beautiful.

The V&A has some special design exhibits for the festival, but I recommend their Power of Making exhibit, which highlights how traditional craft-work can be seen in everyday objects and technologies.

Don't forget to check out the temporary House of Annie Lennox exhibit while you are there!

Sweet Dreams at V&A's Friday Lates: The House of Annie Lennox

Last week I went to the V&A Museum's Friday Lates, where the special exhibits stay open until 10pm accompanied by cocktails, DJ's and unique events.

We headed up to see the temporary House of Annie Lennox exhibit in the film & theatre wing which featured awards, clothes, music, video, and writing of the Eurythmics lead singer.

Entrance to the House of Annie Lennox
(ignore the Rhino)

inside the mini house was a usable desk filled with Annie's writing

one of Annie's signature outfits on display

My favorite bit of the exhibit were the cubby holes you stuck your head into. While looking down at some artifacts from one of Annie's albums, your ears were filled with it's signature sound.

my favorite cubby hole

The V& A is also selling some Annie Lennox tee's and badges (pins) but I am a disappointed thy are not having her disco mouse ears headband in the shop.

The House of Annie Lennox is a must-see for any Annie Lennox/Eurythmics fan, but BE WARNED: your husband WILL be singing "Sweet Dreams are Made of These" for the next few days.


You can visit a virtual exhibit on Annie Lennox's website or find out more about visiting the V&A House of Annie Lennox on their site.

Stay tuned for more V&A Wednesday

The Playboy of the Western World at The Old Vic

Being a Kevin Spacey fan, I have been looking to visit The Old Vic for quite awhile. Though I missed out on seeing him starring in Richard the Third, I jumped on the opportunity to see his theatre and Robert Sheehan (the hilarious Irishman in Misfits) perform Jolhn Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World.

image from The Old Vic website

Sheehan plays the titular character, a young man in County Mayo, Ireland, who is on the lam for killing his father in self defense. So taken with his elaborate tale, the oft-inebriated locals offer him refuge, while the local lasses offer him a bit more. A surprise visitor to the town later in the story puts the Playboy's life and love in peril and circumstances spiral comically out of control.

When the comedic play first opened in 1907, they bawdy references and seeming worship of ill-behavior led to riots on the streets of Dublin. Four years later, when it was performed in Philadelphia, the entire company was arrested for putting on an immoral show. Even in China five years ago, the mandarin version sparked a dispute over the ensembles short skirts.

With all the controversy this play has caused over three continents, last Saturday's biggest emotional outburst was a few bouts of laughter and polite chuckles. The show seemed to struggle to get off the ground at the beginning, as the audience had a hard time with the entirely native-Irish cast's diction, the early 20th century slang and the pacing of the speech. By the second act, the cast seemingly had better timing with the jokes and we all got used to the accents and there were plenty of laughs to the end. 

Sheehan was typecast as yet another lovable scamp, would say I'd like to see him do something else, but in truth, he plays that part pitch-perfect and I keep wanting to see where he takes the role.  The Widow Quin played by Niamh Cusack and Kevin Trainor's moral townsman, Shawn, definitely stole the show with hilarious portrayals of their characters. It's good to note that I saw the opening night performance and the rest of the cast could have caught up to the high standard that Cusack and Trainor set.

The Old Vic is worthy of a visit alone. A tiny but impressive Victorian building, tastefully decorated, even with a gratuitous photo of Kevin Spacey on the wall. It is very cosy though, and if you are over 5'5" I highly recommend springing for the Stalls, because your legs will NOT have enough room in the upper circle.

The Playboy of the Western World runs only until November 26th, so I'd get booking now, as Sheehan's starlight is sure to get the teen girls collecting playbills.

Have you seen it yet? What were your thoughts?

London Fashion Week: a few of my favorite themes

We're halfway through London Fashion Week and though I am not ready to commit myself to a favorite collection (though Basso & Brooke is close) there are a few common themes running through all of shows that I enjoyed:

Black & White Architecture

While the Anne Sofie Back Ateljie was heavily structured black & white, some of it felt a bit like old Calvin. The sheer black shoes and menswear themes were right on trend though. At the Jean Pierre Braganza show, this drop-waisted number recalled 1920s Chrysler Building glamor with its graphic skirt.

Nude Jumpsuits

Designers have declared that jumpsuits will still be around (and we will still be trying to figure out how to pee in a public toilet while wearing one) next summer. Nude, sleeveless, trousered numbers were featured both on the Julien Macdonald and Vivienne Westwood runways.

Photographic Prints

The photographic print was featured heavily on the New York catwalks and continued to pop up along London ones this week. My favorite use of this trend for Spring was definitely by Basso & Brooke who integrated loud, fun color into the print for some exciting, fresh fun.

Soft Creamy Pastels

The ice cream man has arrived, quite literally at the Mulberry show, and brought the smooth creamy colors from his ice cream stand to LFW. Jonathan Saunders had the most delicious color story, while Julien Macdonald needs to win the Most Red-Carpet-Worthy award for his pale green gown. I would head-to-toe wear the 60s cream look from Mulberry's collection straight off the runway.

Retro Palettes

The yellow ocre and indigo blue palettes from Jaeger and Peter Jenson rocked my world. I want to paint a masterpiece with the colors used at those shows.

Vivienne Westwood Styling

I know it is supposed to be about the clothes, but the Vivienne Westwood show was most certainly about the hair and makeup for me. The lash to brow neon eyeshadow and unnaturally rosy cheeks were fun without being too garish. The hair was a work of art recalling elaborate Marie Antoinette do's, but adding modern scarves, braiding and dip dyeing with a sense of fun that only seems appropriate in a Westwood collection.

Though I left out the ubiquitous sheer trend, these are my takes for top trends so far. 
What have been our favorite trends at London Fashion Week?

*images from style.com, edited and put together by me.

London Fashion Week is here!

Happy London Fashion Week, Everyone! Hope everyone with tickets remembers to enjoy the moment, and everyone else enjoys stalking the web for catwalk updates like me.

WIW today: not channeling LFW, more like Fall in Paris 1960

I am excited to see the collections from these designers:

Friday
Preen
Sass & Bide

Saturday
House of Holland
John Rocha
Vivienne Westwood
Jonathan Saunders

Sunday
Nicole Farhi
Matthew Williamson
Acne

Monday
Erdem
Louise Grey
Temperley London

Tuesday
Roksanda Illinic
Danielle Scutt

Wednesday
James Long
RAKE


Agree? Disagree? What collections are exciting you?

PS- I entered a LFW competition.  If you 'like' for my bag on Jaeger's facebook- I could win it!

London jawn 15-25 September 2011

 

Here are my picks of fun Londontown happenings for the next 10 days:

Thursday 15 September 2011
• The House of Anne Lennox opens at the V&A

Friday 16 September 2011
• London Fashion Week begins at Somerset House! Tickets are for industry only, but catch up on style.com
• London Open House Weekend begins. Go inside of London's most famous buildings for free.
• Pop-up Champagne & Oyster bar in Sloane Square from The Botanist all weekend

Saturday 17 September 2011
• Battersea Park Food Market festival is open
• The Playboy of the Western World opens for its limited run at The Old Vic

Sunday 18 September 2011
• Catch the Museum of Everything exhibition at Selfridges before it closes on Oct 25.

Monday 19 September 2011
• Check out the Chanel World at Harrods before it closes next week.

Tuesday 20 September 2011
• Learn to knit at beginners knitting class in Drink, Shop & Do

Wednesday 21 September 2011
• Free Film on the banks of the Thames at The Scoop: The Illusionist
• Celebrate 180 years of Youngs at The Dukes Head in Putney. Beer specials, a birthday brew and cake! On the other end of the High Street, The Green Man in Putney is also giving out coupons for a free beer.

Thursday 22 September 2011
• London Design Week is here! Check out the Origin Craft Fair in the Spitalfields starting today.

Friday 23 September 2011
• Nomad Cimema is playing Some Like It Hot in Fulham Palace

Saturday 24 September 2011
• London Fashion Weekend! Get tickets to shop designer trunk shows and get a chance to sit front row on a catwalk.
• Secret Prohibition Party is happening somewhere in the West End

Sunday 25 September 2011
• Vintage Open House to benefit Wiltons Music Hall. Tea, cake and Barbara Windsor: Win!
• Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair- Vintage clothes & accessories, pin-up salon and tea room

What are you up to?

Bizarro World of Chanel at Harrods

With some time to kill on Tuesday before meeting up at Drink, Shop & Do, I decided to see the Chanel installations at Harrods, "Une Promenade".

Though I was sad they took away the antiques shop for this event area, I was excited to see this much space devoted entirely to Chanel. I remember quite clearly my grandmother taking me into Chanel when I was 9 and it forever became the epitome of style for me.

Walking into Une Promenade, we were greeted and moved through a beaded curtain of oversized pearls to step into a Wonderland-esque all white french garden in a circular room, featuring a Karl Lagerfield designed gold Camilla tree, where I found out quite quickly there were no photos allowed. The ultra calm, wintry-feeling room had Chanel wellies and quilted black leather handled gardening tools.

Don't I wish this was my 2.55 bag!
It's actually a vintage knockoff produced by Bloomingdale's

Someone must have slipped me a vial of "Drink This to Make you Smaller" potion because the next room to the left had me walking into the inside of a classic black 2.55 shoulder bag, completely leather quilted with an over-sized zipper pocket wall. Featuring videos of how the bags are made, I found this room very fascinating to see all the craft work that goes into each individual bag.

Through to the next room, which was a little (or big) girls dream of Chanel-clothed bears coming out of an advent calendar and a Chanel dollhouse.


My favorite part is the "Haute couture" room, featuring some Chanel couture dresses and the gigantic boxes in which the dresses are delivered to the lucky few able to afford to wear such beautiful pieces of art.

There were truly throwaway rooms: the No.5 with huge bottles and an endless reel of the current commercial and the tweed room, with wall panels of Chanel tweed. Nothing really exciting in these.

The library featured some nice furniture and a voice over from Mr. Lagerfeld, but my favorite part was the larger-than-life Karl light. Can I have one, please?

I was a bit disappointed the walls in here were covered in wallpaper and not real books, as to make it easier to pretend I was in Karl's actual library.

 

The final room before the exit was the giant jacket and 2.55 bag covered in pins (badges), placed inexplicably in a poker theme. Knowing that it is supposed to be an homage, it still comes out a bit on the tacky side.

Overall, I found the installation entertaining, but found some parts, especially the last room to not fit in with Chanel's ideal of: 

"luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity. Vulgarity is the ugliest word in our language. I stay in the game to fight it."

However, I do feel I want to see this again before it closes the week of 26 September to fully soak in everything and see the gorgeous Haute Couture room again.

Have you seen the Chanel installation at Harrods? What do you think?

Drank, Shopped, and Did @ Drink, Shop & Do

With holidays, work and family obligations, life can get pretty hectic in these parts. A month went by before I could get together with some girlfriends, so on Tuesday we met up for some much needed friend time at King's Cross' Drink, Shop & Do.

Situated just near Kings Cross station, it is the perfect place to meet up with my commuter friends before they traveled back to the home counties for the evening. I have been trying to make it to this shop for more than a year now, so glad we finally made an excuse to go!

A vintage boutique, a craft shop, a restaurant, a tea room, and a school are just some of the services they offer. Normally, an idea like this would come out like a mess, but the ladies of D, S & D, put it all together with charm and style to create the perfect ladies night out atmosphere.

We sat in the Dome room in the back of the café, which can be rented out for private parties, and ordered a bottle of wine. I ordered a Lemon Drizzle, a delicious little lemon bar.

Everything, and I mean everything, in the restaurant and shop is for sale, from the vintage table & chairs we sat on to the plates we were eating off. I am wishing I had a bit more space in my flat to accommodate for some of the lovely mid-century chairs sitting in their café.

 

The DO part of Drink, Shop & Do comes in on their daily rotating list of activities: Scrabble Tuesdays, tutorials on pin-up hairstyles- to lectures on fashion illustration.

Tuesday nights are Knitting group nights, and you can reserve a space at the beginners table where they will teach you the basic knitting techniques. Their store offers all you would need to start your knitting adventure here.

Our Drink, Shop & Do experience was a success and we are definitely headed back here soon. I am thinking for their Dolly Parton- listining, clay-molding night!

Where are your favorite places for Girls Night Out?

Anna Mae's Mac 'n' Cheese Moment

The Mayor's Thames Festival took place this weekend and the banks of the river from Westminster to East London were filled with food, craft stalls and performances.

On Saturday I braved crowds and a few rain-filled clouds to try out the Southern street food pop-up Anna Mae's, my second London pop-up in just as many weeks. A London-based company, Anna Mae's serves up the increasingly popular American comfort foods: Pulled pork sandwiches and macaroni 'n' cheese.

Cooked up on location in huge cast iron pans in 'stove top' style, their mac'n'cheese is served with 3 choices of toppings. Though I was tempted by "Kanye Western"-a hotdog & mac combo- I went with the traditional mac with a bit of BBQ sauce.

The cheese blend was a nice flavor, and included Monterey Jack, which is sorely missing from a lot of British mac n cheese dishes. The BBQ sauce was nothing special, I would be interested to try something more flavorful or with a kick, so I would suggest leaving it off of your order. 

Even though I am a Kraft blue box girl at heart, I can attest that Anna Mae's is the best stovetop mac I've tried in London and my eye is on their future events to see when I can try Anna Mae's pulled pork sandwich. Or pulled pork on mac'n'cheese - because that would be amazing.

The other notable foods from the Thames festival were the free Kimchi pancakes from the Korean mini-festival, the traditional ice tea from Pause for Tea, and coconut water straight up from the crazy man who chops the coconuts with a machete.

What is your favorite place for Mac & Cheese in London?

Game Day at Bodeans

 Moving overseas, it isn't always easy to support your favorite US sports teams, especially in the UK, where American football and baseball aren't even played. Some of the big games are shown on ESPN and it is possible to purchase your favorite NFL team's games streamed live to your computer with the NFL game pass. However, for the best "American" sports bar atmosphere in London, I go to one of the Bodean's BBQ Restaurants.

The Tower Hill Bodean's

Bodean's has 4 locations in London, but the best for sports watching are the Tower Hill and Clapham Common locations.

On Sunday I put on my throwback Jackson jersey and headed down the Clapham branch to watch the Eagles' opening game with some friends who were Rams fans. Which was unfortunate for them, since the place was packed with other Eagles fans!

Clapham on Game Day

The Clapham branch features 6 flat screens featuring MLB, NFL and NCAA games listed on their schedule.  They stream the games live, so you get American commentators, music and commericals, which is very exciting for those of us used to the British ESPN presenters.

Get there early on game days, as the seats tend to fill up fast and it gives you a chance to eat some BBQ before kickoff. On days listed with games, you can order their Game Day Special, where you get wings, baby back ribs, fries, coleslaw and a beer for £15!

Pulled pork, chilli cheese fries, A&W Cream soda

Personally, I'd order the pulled pork and burnt ends, as they are both the best I have had in London. They also offer an excellent selection of American beers and whiskeys. If you go to the Tower Hill location try the Rock & Rye and the Cowboy Martini cocktails for something different and delicious.

We spent about five hours at Bodean's on Saturday, sampling the appetizers, meals and beers. The desserts were the only menu items I was underwhelmed by, but the Eagles win was the sweetest finish to the night, anyway.

Have you been to Bodean's for a game before? Is there any other good sports watching locations I should know about?

L & M: September

Just taking a little moment this weekend to reflect on the Philly jawn I miss and reasons I love London this September.

Love:

• Vogue's London Fashion Night Out / Fashion Week activities
• Eagles games Bodean's BBQ
• Chanel World at Harrods

Miss:

• Labor Day weekend 'down the shore' with friends
• Amish food at fall harvest festivals
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes

 Looking over these, it seems I love London for fashion, while I miss Philly for friend time, but my love of food is universal!

What do you love about September?

London's Fashion Night Out- Forget Black Friday, this is the best shopping day of the year!

Last night was Vogue's Fashion Night Out in all the major fashion capitals of the globe. FNO is an event where stores stay open until about 10pm, usually with DJs, bands, designers, giveaways and drinks as bonuses. Though I usually style.com the hell out of NY's FNO, this was my first (real or virtual) experience with London's version. I grabbed my fashion-industry friend Kerrie and we hit the Regent & Bond Street events.

6:30 pm First stop of the night was at Jaeger, where we were treated with tasty fro-yo with fresh fruit from Yoo Moo and glass of bubbly as we cruised the new season wares. I am loving their olive and blood orange swatch.

these colors, amiright?

We also had a chance to color in a Hastings bag for a chance to win one of our own.

Here is my fit-for-fall "creation". (Just use your imagination cap and picture that yellow as mustard. Lush, isn't it?)

vote for it at http://tinyurl.com/6gy6bnc

7pm: Next we hiked up to Liberty of London and were greeted with lovely orchid corsages from Wild at Heart. There was a Vogue cover competition on the ground floor and a pina colada bar on the 1st floor.

On the second floor there was a Luau party with Hawaiian tunes, and Mahiki coconut rum served in actual coconuts, which I think should be the new breakfast drink of champions, or at least me. Jonathan Saunders was (allegedly) there, but we didn't see him, and didn't want to spend the entire evening at one event, so definitely an incentive to return next year! Waiting for the designers did allow enough time for a bit of a mirror-coconut fashion shoot though, result!

Wearing a plain sheer white GAP tee, Topshop wideleg jeans, and leopard print platform heels, with my granny's old rhinestone bracelets and some crystal friendship bracelets from my sisters and mom. I planned to wear a more fashiony outfit, swear, but the boiler man was working in our flat when I was going to change and I think throwing off my clothes just then would have sent the wrong message. Sorry for wearing my work clothes, fashion world.

7:30pm: Wandered into Hoss intropia unplanned, but I was drawn in by a dress in the window. As soon as we walked in, there was a bartender not making drinks but spinning, flipping and tossing some gin bottles, like he was auditioning for Tom Cruise's role in Cocktail. It was fine that he wasn't making drinks though, as we were handed these pretty little martinis made up of gin, apple juice and elderflower, served with a tiny rosebud garnish. Precious & delicious.

Precious & delicious is also a good way to describe their collection. Take the coat below. Netting with each chenille patch woven into the netting, and the little shimmery areas you can make out? Hand sewn beads.  I love this store, and with prices comparable to Hobbs, I think its a lot more fashion for your pound.

I die.

8pm -ish (hey I am on my 4th cocktail, time starts blurring together): Starbucks stop! No not to sober up (there was champagne), but for FNO. Of course Starbucks is a Major Fashion Brand, because what fashionista, or Olsen twin, is ever photographed without a green-mermaid emblazoned cup? Having read Liberty London Girl's blog about her event, we got there just in time to see her announce the Central St Martin's student who won the Starbucks cake box illustration competition.

The illustration chosen was that of a lady dressed in a black dress with Starbucks green details. Kerrie and I were quite pleased LLG picked this design, as it was our favorite, too! We received one of these boxes in our event gift bag, definitely a keepsake (except the cakes, my husband already ate those).

Joseph Larkowski was the illustrator of this box design. Besides being the Starbucks FNO winner, he has already interned at Alexander McQueen. Don't be surprised when you hear his name in fashion journals a few years down the line. (PS- Joeseph, if you just googled yourself & read this, can you make us that Starbucks dress? I am in love with that skirt and collar!)

Joseph Larkowski & Liberty London Girl

8:30pm: Had to stop in Vivienne Westwood & Vivienne Westwood MAN. Although it would have been nice to actually see the clothes, it was fun semi-celeb watching while drinking Ciroc'n'cranberry and snacking on chocolate covered strawberries. See the photo below to play our favourite game of "Guess that celebrity who allegedly gave me stink eye when I almost -but didn't- bumped into her?"

Didya guess? Put your answer below in the comments!

8:45pm: This is where it became so crowded on Bond Street I traded taking photos for not getting knocked down as we headed into Burberry, which was filled to the rim with people and nearly impossible to find where the champagne was coming from. But there were lovely Burberry body samples. Fashion blogger Hannah from Bow Dream Nation was there just a bit after me and bumped into the Kooks. I am very devastated as the lead singer is (cover your ears Damen from Vampire Diaries) my imaginary boyfriend. Well, maybe we aren't meant to be.

Next we went to Miu Miu which wasn't doing anything fun, but I just wanted to covet some shoes for a bit. We went outside to watch some Hermés bangle bowling and get wel-jeal of the ladies and lads who won.

We stopped to pickup a FNO tee made by the GAP and get a free cup of Starbucks. Did I meantion that FNO is actually a good, charitable reason to get champagne drunk while trying on £2,000 coats? All the proceeds from t-shirt sales went to Kids Company. And they were pretty much sold out by the time we got to the shirt kiosk. Go London fashion lovers!

9:30pm: DKNY was a bit cray-cray on the first floor, with a mad rush for the fruity cocktails, but we were there to spray on some of their Golden Delicious perfume and check out some sales. Would have taken some pics of the madness but I was too busy falling down the stairs in front of 200 people. Oh well.
I did get this shot of me with the authentic NYC yellow cab that did make me a teensy bit homesick.

Unlike real NYC cabs, my cell phone was not lost in the back seat of this one

9:45pm- In the queue for Alexander McQueen. Checking out some style stars of the evening.

Work it!

9:50pm- Into a packed McQueen, though they ran out of drink a bit before. We were told that we missed the key giveaway, where you got a key to check if you won a bag, by ages, so besides seeing some red-carpet-worthy gowns up close, it was sort of a wash.

 

Though this year's FNO snuck up on me and I didn't really make a plan, I had do much fun and can't wait til next year! It was also so nice to go shopping in stores I don't typically get a chance to see. Unlike the States stores in London typically close early (around 5-6) on weekdays, so us working gals don't get much of a chance to shop, and try getting my anti-clothes-shopping husband to sit around and wait while I browse the best of Bond Street (seriously, someone please try).

Did you participate in any FNO events? Let me know where you went & how it was!