The battle of the Brits

As a homesick Brit (by adoption from Australia) I miss newspapers almost more than London's clean restaurants. Even the most high brow of broadsheets seems like The Sun compared to The Times. And don't get me started on US Vogue... a larger UK Glamour? I think so.

But then I discovered the New York Magazine and The New Yorker. Fabulous publications that manage to be intelligent, gripping and educational all at once. When I eventually move back to London, I won't be giving up my subscriptions to either publications.

Today I read the Lisa Armstrong article "The Brits are coming, so let the battle commence" about how designers tend to become rather Americanised when they show at NY fashion week starting with the teeth. She then continues that NYFW is pretty much a week of the same with only a few stand outs and you need to come to London for originality.

Normally I would agree wholeheartedly with Lisa, and tend to think of American fashion as quite samey. But then I saw the picture here of Nadia Livingstone shop girl from jeweller Alexis Bittar from the NYmag's "Ask A Shop Clerk". Although on the skinny side (let's assume that it's natural) she looks incredible. I love the way she's teamed the patterned leggings, which sit a the perfect length on her calves, with the tight body-con dress and large belt. The shoes and jewellery all add to the inspired outfit. This one picture makes me actually want to stand up and say that there are pockets of ingenuity in New York, you just have to know where to find them.

It's all about the waist - instand wardrobe updates

You can read this full post at my guest blog on Sheerluxe.com:

Autumn is now here after a very average summer in Britain so now what to wear? I chose a terrible season to be pregnant, it’s all about the waist. It’s perfect for those of us who (normally) have a curvy figure. You can easily update your look with one key piece – the corset belt...

Louise Amstrup for Brittique in Observer

I've long been a fan of Louise Amstrup since I first saw her collection. Her clothes are actually made for me with everything fitting my small waist and large bum perfectly! Today's Observer Magazine did such a fabulous feature on her silver bow top.

It's a stunning top and the one shown here is actually my personal one that I had to send in for press. So I'm looking forward to getting it back from them so I can wear it again. I generally team mine with my Camilla Staerk skinny jeans, Gil Carvalho Saturn sandals and a Wilbur and Gussie clutch.

Amazing Preen-esque dress

While browsing through a couple of my fav blogs I came upon this amazing creation by Michelle at KingdomofStyle. She painstakingly created this dress in 13 hours (and has bruised knees to prove it).

While Michelle didn't necessarily come up with the full inspiration for the dress herself and readily admits that it's a Preen/Kane take off, she did put her own take on it with a beautiful result.

In my late teens, early twenties, I spent so much time sewing that in my first ever job I didn't wear the same outfit twice for 9 months. Sadly I had to leave the sewing machine and overlocker safely packed away in storage in London because the US is on a different power wattage and it wouldn't work here. Might be the right time to buy another one.

Quick style tips from me for IGNES

Too hot to work so here's my contribution for today - Going out in style: some quick style tips from me for IGNES Hangbag's newletter.

Diamonds a girl's best friend? Not mine!

I often silently muse over how many girls want to get married for the "happily ever after" with their man/ woman or for the big diamond and fairytale wedding. Having no desire for either, I often wonder what I would like instead.

I rarely leave the house without a big sparkly ring that comes all the way up to my knuckle, nothing expensive, but it's my signature. So if my man was crazy enough to pop the question, I would look really weird with a smaller (relative) diamond on my finger. And I think I would get sick of it. Not to mention the decision of white vs yellow gold and my outfit choices...

Now I have an answer to my dilemma - these Dior rings are stunning!! Why would any girl want a "plain" white diamond when you could wear a bright, colourful and happy ring like this! No problems matching outfits with this - it goes with everything!

random ramblings from the mags

A long weekend gave me the chance to digest the pile of magazine teetering on my desk. I don't read magazines, I just flick through scanning for things of interest. And this is what grabbed my attention.

Maria Grachvogel looking pretty in pink at the Laurent-Perrier Pink Party.

As some of you know, I have ethical issues against the High Street and don't shop there at all prefering to pay for genuine, quality designer clothing with sound manufacturing processes. I also didn't buy into the M&S "celebrity" advertising not being one for celebrities. However, I like the new Next ads. They're clear, clean and sleek. Still doesn't tempt me though.

This dress and the white wedges by Marni do tempt me though! I love her dresses - the floating romantic feel that still doesn't come across as girly.

Ann-Louise Roswald is one half of the design duo Lou Lou and Law. I've always been a fan and I'm glad we finally stock something by her on Brittique. Nice to see she shares my love of surfing - although I'm not very good either.

Preen clothing is very unique and inspired. Lovely to read the inspiration between these partners in life and business Justin Thorton and Thea Bregazzi.

Having tried on the full collection, just be warned that the clothing comes up a good size too small so order up a size.

Invitation To A Summer Style Event

Join Brittique.com and Ignes Handbags at the Innes Lounge, London at 6:30pm on Wednesday 23 May for a summer style preview event.

Enjoy complimentary massages, makeup tips, sessions with a personal stylist plus huge discounts on the new season collections. You will also leave with a fabulous goodie bag!

Places are limited so sign up here now.

Warning - this is addictive!

Don't say I didn't warn you, but this site is incredibly addictive! Even if you don't have the budget to buy your perfect outfits, with Polyvore.com you can create them, find ideas for outfits and share them with others. All the Brittique.com collection has been loaded and I'd love to see the outfit ideas you come up with!

sucker for a sample sale

I've gone and done it again. It being buying too much at a sample sale! Brittique has a couple of rails at Secret Sample Sale so I popped in yesterday just to see how the sales were going. That was fine and I left, but then some force made me go back inside and look at everything for sale.

That's when I found the Katarzyna Szczotarska rails again. This time was no different. I fell in love with everything. I bought these four items and could have bought so much more.

I don't know why I don't stock her label and I must do something about it for next season.

Picture 1 is a lovely sports inspired jacket

Picture 2 is the Katarzyna Szczotarska dress with Gil Carvalho Avon shoes and Anya Hindmarsh bag

Picture 3 is an amazing gold silk sheath dress with wrap straps and again, my Avon shoes - I'm getting a new gold clutch from my friend Maria from Ignes Bags that will work well with this for the evening.

Picture 4 is a pinafore wrap dress that has these loose front pockets that drape over at the front. Shown here with my vintage scarf, Camilla Staerk red flats and Bally handbag.

Tata-Naka in Grazia

As you may remember from my letter to the editor (published under the wrong name!) I have been banging on to Grazia for a while about the need to support new designers. It seems that they're finally taking note. Tata-Naka's signature print swimsuit featured in the 2 April edition.

It's no secret that the Georgian twins are among my favorite designers with a unique, fun and quirky style. While I don't have this swimsuit, I loved this print and so we have the sweatdress, strapless bloomers and scarf all in the muscle men.

The right foot forward for Kylie

As far as I'm concerned, my fellow Aussie-living-in-London Kylie Minogue can't put a foot wrong in the style stakes. She always manages to look so sophisticated but not in a contrived way. Just elegant and quite natural.

This look is one even I would wear despite feeling like I'm trying to be 12 on the two occasions I've ventured out in leggings.

I was particularly excited to see her wearing these Gil Carvalho Ivy ankle boots because you too can own a pair - they are now available on Brittique. I already have limited stock, so be quick!

Directional fashion leaves men cold

I had a little chuckle when I read the article in the March UK Vogue by Alex Bilmes "What's sexy now? Directional buys may impress your stylish girlfriends, but be warned - they may leave most men cold". How true is this!

Last weekend I put on my new sack dress with some bright red tights and black wedges ready to go into the bf's office with him. He looked me up and down in astonishment and said "are you really leaving the house like that?" I laughed and said yes, of course. He then agreed that working in fashion now means that I do need to be more directional with my style. But I could tell he really didn't like it. So back into the bedroom I went and put on some jeans - the safe option!

The Vogue article goes through a number of trends men don't get including chunky platform shoes, cocoon shape dresses and the adroid look. Men are missing the point though. As Alex points out that when we wear more directional fashion we're not actually dressing for them, sorry, we're dressing for ourselves. And what's more, it feels great when you can pull off an up to the minute style. That said, I like to add my own touches so it doesn't look like I am a complete slave to fashion or have spent hours delibarating before stepping out.

Secret Sample Sale Spree

Bored with working 24/7 a friend Anne and I decided to hit the Secret Sample Sale at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.

Having been to so called designer sales before, I wasn't expecting much, but it was a nice opportunity to catch up with Anne having not seen her in a while. What a pleasant surprise we had! On first inspection there wasn't all that much by the way of bags and shoes. There were some nice Gucci ballet pumps but they were reduced to £150 from £299 and still didn't seem like a huge enough discount for me to justify.

I then started flicking through the clothes and my oh my! I fell in love with Katarzyna Szczotarska. Her dresses were stunning and so different. I bought two (the grey tunic with white collar and shaped shift below shown with the Camilla Staerk hip belt). I also bought a lovely coat with a big bow detail (below). As soon as I tried them on I knew I wanted everything.

During my SS07 buying, I actually went to visit Katarzyna Szczotarska and saw her collection. But unfortunately it was my last appointment and my budget had already been allocated. Having seen the way her cut just fits I will be paying them another visit for my AW07 buying.

Also on the list is a purple wool sack dress by Pia Hallstrom and another two sack styled dresses from Bluestone. It was all in the name of research naturally!

One thing that all the dress I bought have in common is that they are sack dresses! Which means that my non-fashion forward friends will be asking me "When's it due?".

My Style Scrapbook

As the temperature starts to rise (not that it ever really dropped in London) I'm starting to think about what I want to wear this spring summer.

Normally I rip out pictures from magazines that inspire me. This year it's different because I have so many inspirational garments hanging on rails around me. But I've gone a little further afield to international designers and (shock horror) the High Street.

I'm really feeling the tunic dress for this season. Having never stepped into Monsoon in my life, I might just take a look at their website after seeing this lovely bright tunic (source: Grazia Magazine). It makes a welcome change from the grey/black of my winter wardrobe and screams confidence and merriment. This Alessandro Dell'Aqua animal print coat is just calling to me too (source: Dazed and Confused February 2007).

Not having the legs of a supermodel I'd wear them with opaque tights until it gets too hot and then with relaxed fit white linen shorts.

Personal style dilemmas

Seeing these normally well dressed women in the most recent InStyle magazine (UK version, Feb 07) brought home the importance of defining your personal style. InStyle seemed to think that Jemima, Sienna and Mischa all looked good in these outfits, but I think they're not being true to their style and as a result look wrong. Jemima in generally elegant and sleek but she looks completely wrong in this Wheels & Dollbaby dress which would look great on a Hoxtonite type with a blunt fringe. Ditto for the other two.

But personal style is really difficult to define. I'm going through this dilemma right now. When I worked in corporate offices of a large fund manager in Belgravia I worked that look well with elegant suits, pencil skirts, pussycat bows and very high heels. Now I work in East London in fashion, wear ballet pumps and jeans everyday and I'm completely lost. The suits have long ago been sold on ebay, and now I just don't know what to wear - despite having some of the most beautiful clothes hanging around me (although I guess I should sell them and not keep them all for myself...).

My old boot cut deniums look very out of place during my coffee break and meetings at Coffee@ but I'm a bit too well thighed for skinnies. The main problem is that I haven't given myself time to really think about my personal, now more casual style and what it is I want to wear that fits in with my new life and most importantly, looks good. I know what I'll be doing this weekend. I'll welcome any help!