What larks

God knows what my workplace has done to my Internet access now, but it took me all day yesterday to find a way around the new hoops that needed jumping through I now have 10 min's to write and post! . Don't they understand I need this for my well being? Miserable Fuckers.

We finally got our dog back last night. What did you not know we lost him? No nor did I until on Sunday I got a phone call to say he had been found and handed in to the council. They had taken him to a dog pound in the back of beyond and would not release him until I reported him lost! So I did. We could not work out how he had escaped but it transpires that having mown the handkerchief of lawn at the front of the house I had left the side gate open. We always leave the back door open...(Hello burglars!) and so he had obviously made a bid for freedom. So where did he go? The park? The woods? The streets? No our dog, the Muppet had gone to the station..did he think I would meet him there? So the kind people managed to entice him into their office and phoned the council. He does not wear a collar but he is chip and pinned so that is how they found me.

He was released last night and amazingly delivered back with no charge, which makes me think some free bed and board might be on the horizon..... only joking.

I have slowly, and I mean very slowly begun to clear Daisy's bedroom, harsh I know but hey I need a room. It is finally cleared of all her paperwork plus various sundries. Moving a chest of draws I find the wrapper of a maids outfit! Good to know my hard earned cash has been spent wisely
The room is now clear of all her detritus and I am now free to turn it into a studio. Most of my painting stuff is at school so I will now wait until half term to collect it which will give me time to plan what I need.

I have manged to waste two days scanning my paintings the file of which kept crashing my computer. It transpired that I had scanned them at a somewhat forensic 4,000KB! each, twice the size of a photograph. So today I will sit and do it all over again after perusing London fashion week of course, third time lucky.

Camille Miceli

Two excellent fashion supplements hit the deck this weekend. Whilst many of the magazines recycle the same 5 outfits over and over and over again the supplements can focus on less that's aspirational and more that's affordable. Of course they don't and the same bloody Prada dress is there again.

However although both the Observer's 'O' and the Telegraphs 'ST' featured Dior's accessories designer Camille Miceli I was able to compare their viewpoints. two very different images but featuring one gorgeous necklace. Le sigh!

Slim Pickings from NY fashion week

It used to be that the high street followed fashion week, but I think you will agree that Michael Kors may have been shopping in COS! photo from cos

Can you believe the above and below outfits came from the Michael Kors show! I was stunned, I always had him pegged as one of those who ONLY did body con clothes for size zero and below. The Stella McCartney effect has permeated everywhere it seems. Oh and there is that COS top, I am not being facetious I really enjoyed his show but you must admit it lacks a certain originality.

The same of which cannot be said of Phillip Lim who's whole show is a slice of heaven.

I think wide legged trousers are on the increase, not that they ever went out of fashion but I have seen a lot during NY fashion week

Those colours are divine and do I detect padded shoulders creeping in?

A bit random I know but she does capture the zeitgeist

And on the theme of lusting after grey knitwear for which I surly have the biggest collection ever. I found a copy of the jumper above from Dries van Noten in Next of all places.

.Rest of the photos via style.com

Take one Jil Sander for Uniqlo skirt

I am a serial purchaser of black skirts, I love skirts full stop, probably because they fit. It is so much less stressful to pull on a skirt than try and squeeze into trousers the sizing of which is less reliable than buying a lottery ticket. The down side of skirts is they are less comfortable since you have to decide to freeze without tights or cook with tights because where I live the temperature rarely stays the same all day.
In my good ol' eBay days buying a skirt was a sure fire way of getting something that fitted with the added bonus that skirts don't date like trousers do. A skirt is a good way to inject some pattern and colour into your wardrobe without looking like a circus act and so I have I confess a substantial catalogue of skirts, many of which I have had for years, this is my newest purchase bought at the end of spring yet....which I still until this week hadn't worn. It is more structured than normal and requires a shorter than usual cardie if I am layering. There is a big bow at the front which gets in the way, yet I like it there. perverse I know.
In the end knowing I was going to post some photographs of it I wore it this week, and do you know what? The bloody thing drove me insane! It rides up, and not knowing this meant I wore it without a slip, seriously NOT a good look. Lesson learned I will try again but as the weather is deteriorating rapidly tights are looming. Again apologies for the useless photographs.
From left to right:
Worn with a really floppy COS top belted, it works a treat,
Both the next two worn with a Massimo Dutti top (which is dark grey) elasticated so it sits on the bow. I like the acid yellow with the grey although you can't see it so well here.
Worn with yet another COS top, a silver grey this time and finally
ANOTHER COS top.
I need therapy, I clearly spend way too much time and money in one place. I would argue it is a testament to how well they fit and how much I love their designs and colours. Oh and how lovely the fabrics are...Maybe I should try a whole post without wearing COS, now that would be a challenge!

I think summer is most definitely over

This from the guardian

and this from here

I hope it is larger when clicked on, otherwise visit the website

Some fabulous house porn

I have nearly completed my pyramid of paperwork, it has been relentless since I returned to work.

Daisy left on Saturday and amazingly has got a job interview today for a part time waitress in a very pleasant restaurant, so fingers and toes crossed she will be solvent this year. Before she left she quite literally bled me dry, to listen to her you would have thought she had not a stitch of clothing to her name. I did point out that she was taking a suitcase full of cocktail dresses of which she has more of than t-shirts! I was informed that they were essential to a successful freshers week! Her initial packing consisted of those, plus a blanket and 2 towels!! WTF, so I explained that in this miracle age of Internet shopping I could get such basics sent and maybe she should focus on bras, knickers and jeans. The case was the size of her and weighed in at twice her weight, this plus 3 extra bags was bundled on a train to York, I was so stressed I forgot to cry, but I had cried all week , the house feels very empty now we were once 6 now we are 4.

As a parting gift I gave her my beeeautiful Mandarina Duck red laptop bag sigh.

I have managed to keep the best tidy fairy in the world* though because last night I came home to a roast chicken dinner plus a clean kitchen and all the washing folded (we don't iron) I may have to nail her arse to the floor if she thinks she's ever leaving home.

* Kitty of course

The colour green

I love the colour green. blue I love to wear and live with but to look at the most wonderful colour is green. Scotland is full of green in a myriad of guises and I love mixing the colour green to paint with. Recently I have come across some wonderful fashion photography and this months cover of Vogue has to be the best ever. The dress maybe more acid yellow than green, but I love it mixed up with pinks and oranges.

This image is from this weeks Saturday Telegraph Fashion supplement, a fine production as is their new fashion website

Based on Mad Men the photographs are brilliant, and thanks to illegal down loaders we in blighty have Mad Men earlier than originally anticipated and having caught up with the first episode of series 4 I can say it is better than ever. Every frame is a slice of perfection and Roger Sterling is just so funny.
I think the Times has made a BIG mistake making their website available only to subscribers. The Telegraph site is really good and embraces what makes the web so wonderfully inclusive. Sadly my favourite fashion writer Lisa Armstrong writes for the Times, she is head and shoulders above the rest so I try to purloin the Saturday Supplement to read her instead.

This image was scanned from the excellent free publication Pigeons and Peacocks that you can order via the London College of Fashion website

This is an advert from Oska whose dresses I frequently covet not such a glamorous image but I did love the green mixed up with a steel grey a refreshing change from the black and camel combo that has permeated every fashion spread this autumn. I was really looking forward to buying some camel/caramel coloured pieces this year but it clashes hideously with my olive skin, in stark contrast green works beautifully only it is currently pretty scarce.