CAMILLE
If there ever was a girl to wear my biker jacket, it had to be this girl. AMAIRIGHT? I think we all wish we could dress a little bit more like Camille, her seriously easy going French sense of style rubs off on all of us through her delicious insta feed, which in itself sounds kinda like a ready meal from the future, no? Nothing makes me happier than seeing my collection translated through another’s personal style; how I love all these emerging Charlie May girls!
I’m seriously happy with the biker jacket in cotton, I’ve done leather jackets every season and despite the transitional London weather patterns, I still think cotton was a great choice for SS13. I’m currently evolving a new lightweight biker for SS14, which is I’m sure is going to blow everything out of the water, but that’s in many many months time, so let’s just ogle Camille’s kick ass loveliness for now.
ANTWERP TRAVEL DIARY
I wanted to keep this travel diary fairly short as those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time will have seen enough already! See example here, here and here - see what I mean? Time to visit some other countries I think..
The stock sales have always been kind of a tradition amongst us since we were at uni, buying fabric for our collections and a few pairs of shoes on the side. It’s amazing being able to buy wools and silks created by Ann Demeulemeester or Haider Ackermann themselves, never even used and marked down to crazy town. This time it was more of a holiday with lots of shopping and over indulging in general. It was Michael‘s birthday after all so we started as we meant to go on..!
I promised I would talk more about our hotel crate on the harbour; owned by the same company as our second night stay at Hotel Les Nuits – super chic; black laquer walls; cocktail bar, spa; I couldn’t recommend it more if you’re heading to the city! Sleeping Around is a compact, transportable, luxury hotel room that has been recycled out of sea shipping containers. The crates regularly move around the city making it a real life pop up hotel. It was an amazing experience to wake up on the harbour side, looking out over the water; it felt like being on a dessert island somewhere, especially as the weather was so HOT. Perfect.
Thanks to travel buddies, Louisa, Lexxi and Michael, and shopping buddy, Ivania!
SPORTS FOR MINIMALISTS
Loving this new Volstrom editorial featuring the silk wrap skirt and the high cut shorts from SS13, worn with some beautiful Kirsty Ward & Hugo Boss tops. The sportswear vibe feels so right paired back with the minimal wrap skirt; this is definitely a look I want to replicate for summer.
I was sad the skirt never went into production, despite being popular in Marie Claire and with you, dear readers, sometimes pieces slip through the net! This season I’ll be making sure that doesn’t happen as I’ll be ordering for my own e-commerce store, expected to launch for August, so watch this space!
WEEKEND FEELING
Maria Black necklace, Husam el Odeh ring, Frends headphones, Stella McCartney sunglasses.
Gearing up for the weekend by seemingly adding furiously to my wishlist. I’m completely obsessed with this BLK DNM leather wrap skirt, I’ve mentioned it a few times already but it’s perfection in my eyes. Not sure if it’s a little OTT to pair with a white bustier top, but throw a silk shirt over the top of that and I think it’s acceptable. Now off to Notting Hill to meet Shini and Camille to enjoy brunch in the sunshine – have a good weekend!
BASICS
There probably couldn’t be a larger contrast between eveningy in Antwerp and slumming it down on the farm, but there we have it, now my versatility is laid bare for all to see. The truth is this is a sort of birthday present to Michael, always begging to see me in my “farmer blue jeans” when I’m visiting Devon, and this is as close as he’s going to get.. unless he comes to visit.
Shooting with Camille last weekend, I was adoring her new Sandro jeans, the perfect slouch “I wish I looked good in jeans” I said, to which she replied “Everyone looks good in jeans! That’s the point!”. Maybe growing up where jeans are what you adorn to drive the tractor and muck out the sheep has put me off a bit; then again it’s still exciting to me that I can wear white in the city and it more or less stays that way. So for now these old Levi’s* stay at home on the farm waiting for my next return, whilst I enjoy my own softer wardrobe choices.
*I’m aware these “Boyfriend jeans” are more akin to MC Hammer pants, and I believe they originate from the 80s era instead of 90s, so that explains it.
SLEEPING ON THE WATER
This was the view we woke up to from our crate hotel in Antwerp on Thursday. It was crazy surreal as there was a horse show going on just next door; there we were looking equally out of place, stood harbour side in towel robes and slippers, whilst the horses stretched their legs and the jockeys pretended not to see us. Quite the experience, which I’ll go into more detail later.
For now I wanted to show off purchase numero uno from the Ann Demeulemeester stock sale. This white shirt from the super tassle collection of Spring/Summer 12. Most of the pieces were a bit OTT for me, so I settled for this beautiful crisp white shirt with one single white tassle hanging from the centre back. The beautiful little box clutch was pinched from Michael (still with tags on!), I’ll be ordering this little guy ASAP I think.
Photos by Michael
A SNIPPET OF SUN
Just finished uploading the hundreds of photos from Antwerp over the last few days. I got back late last night and thought I would share with you a snippet whilst I’m getting some rest!
Off to meet Michael at Bistrotheque for lunch, hope you all are having a great weekend!
SUNNY DISPOSITION
At this point I’m almost certain that I have one of those sunshine disorders, as I am just ridiculously happy when it’s hot and the sun it out, like today! Maybe it’s just everyone in the UK that has this but it’s reaching about 20 degrees here in London; which is nothing to scoff at considering that I practically have webbed feet from all the cold, wet weather we’ve been having.
I’m now back in London for a measly 24 hours before heading off to the Antwerp stock sales tomorrow with Michael, Louisa and Lexxi. Also excited to be meeting up with Ivania too in the city. We’re staying tomorrow night in this pop up hotel Sleeping Around, luxury bedrooms in traveling crates along the harbour(!). You can follow me on twitter and instagram where I’ll be updating regularly throughout the trip as I doubt I’ll have too much time for blogging. See you laterrr and enjoy the sunshine!
PACKING LIGHT
Where would we be without all our accessories? I actually managed to pack light for once realising that just because my suitcase is large-ish doesn’t mean I have to fill it to bursting, especially when I always leave Devon with an assortment of delicious homemade jams and chutneys (super mum alert!).
So here are the accessories I can’t quite live without at the moment. The perfect assortment of shoe types and various coloured metals, meaning I only needed to bring a tshirt and trousers. WIN! Have a good weekend and if you want to see more from my Devon roaming, you can find me on instagram under girlalamode.
NEW CUT
So you may have noticed my hair’s a little shorter, I’m gradually working my way up to Daria Werbowy crop for the summer, although I’m quite liking this awkward length too. I wanna be all hanging out by the pool in my furry Céline-stocks, constantly in a flash of Juergen Teller light.
I’m down in Devon for a few days appreciating the sun in the countryside, heading to beach over the weekend and generally saving those pennies until Antwerp next week! So happy Spring is finally here and legs can be out etc. Now all I need is a tan plz!
