Holiday

I’m off to Greece for a couple weeks! Will post when I return late July. In the mean time, check out my tumblr.

Allergic to the Sun

My boyfriend is taking me to Greece this summer, and as much as I’m excited to go, I’m having a bit of a wardrobe crisis. As someone who HATES the heat and refuses to spend more than five seconds outside if there is a chance of encountering sunlight, the idea of Athens in July is a bit daunting. My first impulse was to find a hat like this Valentino SS08 one…

…and live under it. And maybe install air conditioning in there. Then I started to think it might be a bit impractical as I don’t want to come back from Athens having seen nothing but my feet on the pavement and the inside an absurdly oversized hat. This led me to my (equally unpractical) second impulse, which was to hire people to fan me with Jean Charles de Castelbajac hand fans 24/7.

 

For obvious reasons, this is not going to work out. So now I’m all out of ideas. How does someone who hates sandals, sleeveless things, and white clothing dress for hot weather?

 

Geneva Pt. 2

Here are the rest of the photos from our Geneva trip.

Una enjoying a kir in front of Agent Provocateur…how amazing is her McQueen wallet?There was a super cool antique shop full of old lenses and cameras and mysterious bottles…reminded me of what I imagine Borgin & Burkes to look like (Nerd alert: That creepy store on Knockturn Alley in Harry Potter).

Below is “Emma cow” and “Una cow”. Emma cow, (obviously), is the clown, and Una is the posh one with the pearls, hahaha.

Pretty buildings!

I fail at reading maps, so Una was in charge of navigation while I was in charge of taking silly pictures and ordering wine.

The end!

Geneva Pt. 1

I’m back from Switzerland! I thought I’d share some pictures from the trip…my friend Una came along and we took the train from Lausanne to Geneva for a day.

Visiting designer stores is WAY more fun in Geneva than in London because people treat you like you are going to buy things rather than following you around and glaring at you like they often do on Sloan St. Of course I can’t afford anything but its nice to pretend that you can :D

There was this hilarious moment when a monk was totally staring into the Rolex window! I tried to be all sly about snapping photos but it looks like he caught me…

Una and I got our snack on to recover from all the pining over designer clothes.

We went to this boutique called “Septieme Etage” which was amazing. They had a Mad Men display downstairs (I had to try the typewriter) and heavily discounted designer pieces. We both got Phillip Lim blouses :)

Afterwards we decided to be terrible carnivores and have some foie gras (terribly unethical, I know…don’t judge me please. What happens in Geneva, stays in Geneva!)

Geneva is a really beautiful, clean city with gorgeous parks and a rich, comfortable vibe to it. I’d probably die of boredom living there since I love London too much but it was definitely an amazing visit…

More pictures to come!

Still in Switzerland

I’m still in Switzerland and won’t be back on a regular blogging schedule until I get back to London at the end of the month. In the mean time, here is an amazing Prada bag and some Lanvin trainers I saw at a boutique here in Lausanne for you to drool over.

Swiss Sun & Margaritas for Days

My friend Una and I have been on holiday in Lausanne, Switzerland for the past week, enjoying the sun and drastic change of pace from crazy London. She brought some cool vintage Lomography-style cameras she got on eBay and took loads of fun photos, which I will vainly repost here. Trains, margaritas, fountains and touristy t-shirts…if only it could never end!

Totally hipstery? Perhaps. Awesome? Yes.

Newbury Street, Boston

I visited my sister in Massachusetts for the Holidays and she took me to see the main shopping street in Boston with all the luxury brand stores. It has such a different vibe from London’s Bond Street! Check out the sneaky Marc Jacobs shop trying to hide from the camera;

There was a school of fashion design right on Newbury;

I loved this window display. Even though the styling is kind of uncreative, the teddy bear heads are such a cute idea. It reminded me of the bad guys in teddy bear suits in The Avengers;

I found this great D&G skirt at one of the branches of the vintage store “Second Time Around”, but didn’t buy it because it was $80. There are three branches of this store on Newbury Street, each with a different vibe. In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten the skirt because the print is so great and thats a fairly reasonable price for vintage compared to the prices in London.

Oops :(

One of the “Second Time Around” stores had a bunch of vintage Chanel shoes;

We also went to Betsey Johnson and Sephora. We don’t have Sephora in the UK so I was really excited to check out the Tarina Tarantino collection and so forth. Starbucks, Sephora and Betsey Johnson; Three American classics :)

Spitalfields Market, London

My gorgeous friend Una and I spent our Thursday doing “research” for “college”. Non-fashion students sometimes like to call that “shopping”. Whatever you want to call it, we chose to check out the vintage and antique stands at Spitalfields Market. People were selling anything from spoons to shearling coats to sewing machines…there were racks and racks of fur and so many antique cameras and photographs.

Una found this fox fur that by some miracle was dyed the exact same colour as the coat she was wearing;

These shoes were so fun. They were way too big for me but I hope someone buys them and loves them and wears them everywhere;

Thought tempted, we resisted the pastries.

We then hop-skipped over to Brick Lane for an epic hotdog, photobooth photos at Rough Trade and some vintage shopping.

How genius is this cookie monster sweater? Pretty fucking genius. Beyond Retro has a tutu rainbow;

Overall a very productive day. I love Brick Lane during the week when its all empty and gray :) Its one of my favorite spots in London, even though the vintage is super expensive. I ended up getting a super ridiculous pink and black parachute jumpsuit, (which Una said she couldn’t wear with a straight face), and some little bloomers I like to wear over tights. I’ll post pictures eventually if I have a day where my hair doesn’t look like a ginger dandelion.

Real Men Wear Clown Noses

Just sayin’. Richard Pier Petit’s “Clowning by Numbers” featuring Michael Catarama and styled by Eugene Ong. More on FashionIndie.

P.S. I’m currently blogging on the Greyhound bus in Canada, on my way back to Boston. Oooh technology.

Happy Holidays

Hey all,

I’m flying to Boston to see my sister in a few hours. Just wanted to wish you all happy holidays and safe travels :) Things will be slow on the blog for a bit while I’m in the States, but I will leave you with this epic spread from Dazed & Confused.

Peter Gray hair via Dazed Digital. See the rest here.

Galliano Ladurée

Happy Thanksgiving! I spent my Thanksgiving weekend in Switzerland with my mom. The day I got here was the first day of snow; Winter is coming early this year. As a California-grown person, I find it really difficult to dress for the cold weather we get in England and Switzerland…I’m going to have to learn if I want to survive another long winter. Here’s view a from the living room;

Lausanne isn’t exactly a fashion capital but we do have some cool shops here. At iconic French pastry house Ladurée they had a Galliano window display, I snapped some phone pics;

I didn’t get any because they look prettier all together like that, and I’m not a huge fan of macarons anyway, they are too dry and sweet. I’m flying back to the craziness that is London in an hour…goodbye snow.

Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving! Did anyone go crazy for Black Friday? I’ll admit I sort of ignored it this year.

Interviewing Bryan Boy

I can’t believe I forgot to post this but here I am with my friend Neil interviewing blogger Bryan Boy. This was after the Kenzo menswear show this summer. I hate hearing my voice and I was really nervous, but it was so cool meeting Bryan Boy anyway :)

Doshaburi Barcelona

I finally got my photos back from my trip to Barcelona, they had gotten lost in the mail. I love the grainy, spontaneous, haphhazard nature of disposible camera photos, they always turn out more fun. All photos Drooling Isn’t Photogenic.

The number one place I wanted to see in Barcelona was Doshaburi, the independant fashion boutique that carries some of my favorite designers like Jeremy Scott and Daniel Palillo. The store was hard to find, in a little tiny winding street, and you had to ring a doorbell to get in. Here you can see that awesome Ground Zero dress, next to a Year Zero shirt;

Inside is just two rooms, one with this red wall and the other with chalky stone walls and archways. There are mostly horizontal racks for the clothes, and a small assortment of shoes and accessories, including the Bernhard Willhelm nail polishes. Here you can see the Flinstones-inspired pieces by Jeremy Scott and some shoes in the background (Melissa, Shoe Biz and I think Mini Market).

I was so excited to get to see some Daniel Palillo pieces in person, it is impossible to find stockists! I also died over some Jeremy Scott troll-print biker shorts but I didn’t exactly have hundreds of euros to spare. I left empty-handed but really stoked to have gotten to see the shop and all of these awesome clothes in person!

Gone Fishing

Hey all, just a quick post to let you know that I am on holiday in California to see friends and family. Won’t be posting much for a couple weeks but expect heaps of updates in August! Happy summer :)

Lace Museum Part Deux

Here are some more pictures from the “Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais” which will henseforth be refered to as the Lace Museum because SHEESH that is an unnecessarily long title. Once again all photos are by Drooling Isn’t Photogenic.

I really can’t believe the amount of patience and detail-oriented work that went into the 17th century hand-made lace. Whereas I pretty much have a panic attack every time I attempt to thread a sewing machine, these people had to juggle hundreds of threads and somehow make intricate little flowers and patterns with them.

To Lace or Not To Lace?

I am officially moved in to my place in Paris and back to my regular blogging schedule! When I moved out of London, we took the train to Calais, a French town known for its long history of producing luxury lace. There we visited the Lace and Fashion museum which is in an authentic lace factory.

The museum showed examples of hand made lace, some of which were over a hundred years old, and the incredible craftsmanship involved in lace making. (All photos by Drooling Isn’t Photogenic.)

More after the jump…

Tied Eye

This weeks top five, in photo blog form.

Chanel Particulière and tie-dye. I’ve been rocking a lot of tie-dye lately as a tribute to my hometown…I’ve been missing the San Francisco Bay. Also, I totally have grandpa hands.

This is an “Emma’s eye view” of my creeper shoes which I will continue to wear despite my fellow fashion blogger Elle’s protests and threats to burn them if I don’t start wearing something else.

Also sporting my new purse from Zara’s fancier collection. I’ve been looking for a new bag for ages, and I was pleased to find that it was real leather.

Here of course is the little camera necklace I’ve been obsessing over.

Camden reminds me of Haight Ashbury, so of course I feel at home there, despite the overabundance of confused tourists.

Last but not least, my new Alexander McQueen scarf that I got as a graduation present :) I think its been making me lose weight as I wear it all the time and refuse to take it off or eat in it, lest I get croissant crumbs on it. Bonus?

I can just hear Tyra Banks yelling “There’s no life in your eyes! Smile with your eyes honey!” about this photo but she can suck it because I’m not a model. The scarf can speak for itself.

:)

I’m Back!

Hullo dear readers! I’m back in London, with a vengeance! I have tons to post, but first, about my trip to Switzerland. I didn’t take a ton of photos but here are a few;

I got a ring that looks like lime jello and contains Unicorn urine (for good luck):

I finally got glasses so I don’t have to squint to read subtitles and so on, and I found the most deliciously nerdy kinda retro frames by Hackett London (haha I had to go to Switzerland to get UK brand glasses). They remind me of Percy Weasley…I especially asked to not have the lenses treated for anti-reflection because I think they look better with the nerdy glare.

This isn’t at all fashion related but I’m really hooked on these “Petits Perrier de Villars” chocolate fluffy things…I had to bring a box back!

Anyway I have tons of awesome posts coming this week so get ready, and DO tell – did you have any awesome fashion finds this week?