A Reformation Affair

New brand discovery! I am currently having a love affair with The Reformation. I saw a jumper on the lovely Rumi from fashion toast and the inspiration began. The Reformation is a New York based environmentally sustainable fashion brand that takes vintage/surplus materials to create an incredible collection of minimal, yet edgy clothing. Think midi dresses with unusual cutouts and low backs. It’s completely versatile so you can wear anything from day to night – like the dress I’m in below.  They ship internationally at pretty reasonable prices AND they have a sale right now – so check it out before it all sells! Outfit and some of my favourite pieces from the brand below..

1. The Reformation Ozone dress

2. Ray Ban oversized Clubmaster

Whiteout

If anyone knows me well, they’ll know that I’ve completely transformed my wardrobe to white this summer. It’s just so clean and impeccable that I can’t get enough of it. Forget monochrome and black, white is the new black. I plan to carry this into AW13 too, despite defying all the laws of labour day. Anyway, below is a white/cream outfit from Portugal. Oh how I love that IRO skirt – I have gotten SO much use out of it. The necklaces are from possibly the CUTEST little shop in Lagos. I don’t know the name of it but I promise you will come across it in the old town – you can’t miss it. A tall, skinny, 30-something-year-old man owns this shop and it looks like a complete mess but has so many hidden gems that can be turned into necklaces/bracelets/centre pieces, etc. Let me know what y’all think!

1. Topshop cami

2. IRO skirt (from last season unfortunately so no link)

3. Croatia bracelets

4. Necklaces from Portugese store above

Soundwavin’ 2013

Enjoyed some sunshine and music at Soundwave Croatia in Tisno (just outside of Zadar) this weekend! Highlights were definitely Riot Jazz and Craig Charles. The majority of the festival was jazz, funk, soul, and brass bands with some top 40 and classic hits thrown in (even a bit of Fleetwood Mac). I had no idea what to expect for this weekend with regards to the music and I must admit it was by far the best festival I’ve ever been to! Tickets weren’t too expensive and we booked pretty last minute. Our apartment was incredible (pics below) and only 25 pound/night each! HomeAway also has great Croatia apartments though so we may look into that option next time! Everyone at the festival was really chilled and there was no pressure to party all the time (although we did hehe). Some pics below, mostly of the calm before the storm and a bit from the festival but just wanted to give a taste of Soundwave and how beautiful this little town was!

1. American Apparel shorts

2. Asos top (similar here)

3. See by Chloe bag

Carven Craving

Summer in London is at it’s finest (literally 28 degrees every day) and to celebrate, I purchased these colourful/crazy Carven wedge-forms and they were 70% off from Matches – steal! What more could a girl ask for? My trip to Southeast Asia was incredible and ever since I’ve had the travel bug – so I’m off to Croatia Wednesday for Soundwave music festival. I’ve got lots of beautiful SE Asia pictures to post so stay tuned! I would also highly recommend checking out Matches sale, Net-A-Porter sale, and The Outnet because there are still some amazing deals on. Spotted some denim skirts, Opening Ceremony sandals, and Mary K/Current Elliot pieces for 70% off!

1. Minkpink dress

2. Carven shoes

3. Freedom by Topshop necklace

4. Rings from Stories and Made Her Think

Monsters in the Park

The weather in London was incredible before I left, which  called for lots of park time. Luckily I live walking distance from both Hyde and Regents park so I often go after work or on the weekend! My ideal day is renting bikes in the park, having a picnic, listening to some good muziiic, and reading a book.  Some say that London has no summer but I think the past week or so has proved quite the contrary, plus they say this summer they’ll actually have one! I agree it’s not typical weather for the summer months, but it’s definitely at least spring. I’ve mentioned House of Holland being one of my favourite brands, and the monsters shirt below is one of the most interesting pieces I own, in my opinion. I do think it’s quite man-repelling though — men just don’t understand why I would ever want monsters on my shirt. Items in the below outfit are.. shoes – ebay, dress – boutique, necklace – freedom by topshop, sunnies – ray ban.

Black+Blue

Went to the Selfridges x Attitude event tonight showcasing mens swimsuits, underwear, and socks haha.. totally not what I expected. Literally, my friend and I were the only females there. It’s no surprise really, as Attitude is a men’s (if ya know what I mean) magazine. I probably should have googled that pre-event. Great fun nonetheless.

1. Karen Walker sunnies

2. JW Anderson x Topshop baseball jacket

3. The Kooples blouse

4. Zara skort

5. Acne bag

6. Vintage & YSL rings

Into the Leather

If anyone knows me, they know that I LOVE LEATHER. It’s an addiction that I simply can’t resist, but one that’s worthy of bringing up since I’m sporting my favourite h&m leather trousers in the below outfit. This weekend I visited Cucumba spa and was lucky enough to enjoy their facial and manicure quick fix. All in all I would recommend as they do a number of treatments at pretty reasonable rates i.e. Wahanda sells most for 40% off! It’s a pretty sweet deal. I also tried Barry’s Bootcamp on Sunday and I am officially addicted. I was fortunate enough to have had access to a personal trainer for years but living in London just didn’t allow me to do it anymore (TOO EXPEEZ). I heard about Bootcamp through a friend and did a bit of research, tried it and now I can’t stop. It’s about 1/4 the price of a personal trainer and the workout is way better. I think it’s the group dynamic that makes you want to work harder since it stirs up a bit of (healthy) competition.

1. Zara embroidered knit and jacket

2. H&M leather pants

3. Etsy necklace

4. Toga pulla boots

5. Alexander Wang bag

6. Made Her Think and Stories rings

Soleil

Here’s to some more sunny days in London! I pitched to WGSN this week which was really exciting. Would be incredible to work for them.The fashion dinner on Thursday was a big success. We had Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Timberland, Roland Mouret, Myla and more attending – it was so much fun! My colleague and I spoke about digital insights in the fashion industry and what brands can do to succeed in 2013. The 3 main trends shaping the fashion industry at the minute are 1) curating and crowd sourcing 2) making fashion week accessible (i.e. Topshop live streaming their catwalk show with options to click to buy the look as it came down the runway plus download the music and share with friends) and 3. Social entertainment (i.e. previewing your new collection over Pinterest before it hits the shops). This weekend I’m going to enjoy the sunshine, shop, blog, and try to find a new camera lens. So happy it’s a long weekend!

1. Stories dress

2. Rings from Made Her Think, vintage shops, and YSL

3. Alexander Wang mini rocco bag

4. Office shoes

5. Ray Ban round sunnies

Manic

…is the most fitting word I could think of for this post. Work has been mental — in a good way though. Got a Selfridges event tomorrow that I am helping to run (mad hatters tea event at the Sanderson hotel!), fashion dinner next week (where we’ll talk about digital insights in the luxury fashion industry), and starting with Jamie Oliver and Sweaty Betty as new clients next month which is A-W-E-S-O-M-E! I am actually in love with Sweaty Betty’s workout gear. I’m not gonna lie, being Canadian and all has sort of made me biased towards lululemon but after attending Sweaty Betty’s press day yesterday I fell in love. They really embrace fashion in workout/dance/yoga gear. I’m eyeing a layered crop tank at the minute and their dip dye (obviously) capri leggings which are already sold out online. Bummer.

On another note, I am really embracing this sunny weatha. I thought I would take a few outfit pics while it lasts, which, in London usually isn’t for very long. These were taken on the weekend around Portobello road and in Chelsea after brunch at Bluebird cafe. I do love a good brunch.

1. Karen Walker Sunnies

2. Acne angora knit sweater

3. Zara monochrome tee

4. Rag and Bone aztec trousers

5. Celine bag

5. Zara armour collar

6. Acne Pistol boots

 

Icons

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the H&M new icons collection. So I waited outside H&M the day it launched to purchase the below jacket. And necklace.

1. H&M new icons jacket + necklace

2. Zara sweater

3. Samsoe & Samsoe skirt

5. Acne pistol boots