Style Speaks Louder

I've been looking for a cute day bag for a while now and I've toyed with satchels and totes until I saw this Topshop Quilted Jersey Duffle Bag.

There was just something about the soft jersey quilting on this bag that spoke to me, and the fact that its not oversize or too small for all my essentials. AND its only £35!!!

In fact quilted bags are having a bit of a moment at er...the moment. Ive seen this really funky quilted chain bag at Urban Outfitters for £38 (see below) in bleached denim which could be a possible contender for the Topshop Jersey Quilt. Hmm decision decisions.

I was out shopping on Saturday with a friend in Brick Lane and by sheer luck we stumbled onto a sample sale - imagine our excitement when we realised it included Luella!!!

We had to pay a £2 donation to charity, but the hall was rammed with gorg designer goods from Armani and Luella - obvi we headed straight to Luella.
They had a great selection of last season jackets, coats and trousers. Also blouses and silk dresses and hundreds of bags all marked down by over 70% - For example the Luella bat man printed clutch was £75 and jackets were £30.

I was more excited by the cool Luella t-shirt I found for £10 - there were not many t-shirts left(we found three in total)but I couldn't resist this cute and creepy Luella gargoyle batman printed tee - which is 39 0f 50 made!!!!

Unfortunately I didn't have enough cash to take full advantage so I only got the t-shirt. My friend got a very cute tweed green Luella jacket for £30 that she had wanted for a while so our Saturday bargain hunt was a triumph and i love my new tee.

Luella sample sale was hosted at The Truman Brewery,The Boiler House, Bricklane - check the website for future sales.

I've been looking for the perfect pair of boots for a while now and i think i might have just found them. Last week at the ASOS press day these biker beauties popped up and made me immediately want them. And if you are thinking that they look familiar you are right, because they are an almost exact copy of the Chloe flat studded biker boots that were very popular and very sold out last year.

Now i don't normally like a copy, they are usually poorly made and don't even compare to the real thing and believe me if I had a spare £800 lying around to buy the original Chloe boots I would have in a heartbeat, but I don't. And these ASOS boots look so good I can forgive them for their lack creativity and at £100 they are a lot nicer to my bank account and I can have them and still be able to pay the rent.

Although it still feels like I am making a bit of a fashion sin by buying them and even more of a sin by blogging about them, as no doubt they are already going to be popular enough and I just pray I don't see them on the feet of every indie kid and fashionista within the M25. But it is the credit crunch and a girl has gotta have her boots.

Now i just have to wait until they are available to buy, which will no doubt in a couple of months (sorry I don't know the exact date). I guess in the meantime I will just have to look for the perfect jeans/skirts to go with my future studded boots. ASOS if you are reading this I'm a size 7.

Shoes! I need more shoes for summer. Fact!
On analysis of my summer shoe collection and after trying several summer outfits (yes i know its only April but this might be all the summer we are getting in the UK)I have realised that i am in severe lack of appropriate shoes.

But i feel that the shoes i seek/need do not exist - please tell me if you have seen them. They have to be summery, black, flat but in a pretty way and be comfortable. Easy to put on and easy to walk in. hmmm...
I though I had them in the form of a pair of cute leather and patent flat pumps but i quickly found out my feet are too flat/skinny and do not have enough foot to hold the shoe on - resulting in me sticking my foot into the pumps with tape.
All my other shoes are too hot (trainers or boots) too high for the amount of walking i do (high wooden heels and wedges) or they dont stay on my feet.

I will tell if you i find the elusive shoes but until then i think i am going to invest in double sided tape.

TIP if you have trouble keeping your shoes on your feet stick them in using double sided tape! or buy new shoes

Looking for hair inspiration I uncovered a whole SS09 twisted 'up-do' hair trend that was secretly hiding within the SS09 shows. Scraped back,tightly twisted,shiny immaculate and highly groomed hair (sounds painful)is going to be hot hair news for summer.

I love the models hair at Todd Lynn, with their sleek rolled twists on top of their heads, snaking around to create a sort of twisted knotted pony tail trailing down their back. Which is a new way to do a pony tail, especially for a party and also the perfect way to disguise a fringe that you are trying to grow out.

I also love the large double bun effect at Philip Lim, which doesn't really seem like hair but is quite striking and weird looking. Some may say it looks like she has something growing out the side of her head, others may say it is hair art, I would have to agree with the latter. The hair at YSL was also inspiring with a modern take on the beehive, which looks so chic and minimal but no doubt would take hours to construct.

Hair was also amazing at Valentino's SS09 Couture show. An elegant slick of the model's hair creates a very twisted and taut knot on top of the head. A little extreme for an everyday look but i love the way it look glamorous and alien at the same time.

I will definitely be trying out a few of these looks this summer when it gets too hot and my long hair starts to stick to my neck and risks getting the chop. As I quite enjoy having long hair until it gets to summer and it all gets a bit too hot and heavy and i suddenly decide i want really really short hair and have it cut off.

So thanks to the hair team at Todd Lynn and co. my lovely long hair will be spared the scissors this summer.

Through the winter months I have come to love the winter skirt or dress, after all who wants to be stuck in trousers all winter long, and i have to admit i have a bit of a tights fetish. I particularly love my AW08 Urban Outfitters Gothic lace tights but i find every time i put them on i spend about half an hour pondering them in the mirror before swapping them for a pair of opaques.

Dont get me wrong I'm not a lace phobic - i love it - i love my little black lace top, my Topshop lace dress and lace layered up, but when it comes to lace tights I'm stumped. Here is the problem:

No.1 I am tall so i have longer legs and therefore more leg flesh to be seen through the lace.
No.2 Most of my leg baring winter wear are either short dress or shorts themselves - coupled with lace tights creates quite a trashy 'look at me look'. Not quite what I was going for.

I also think layering lace tights over coloured opaques to be also a bit too much esp if the opaques are bight and the lace is black.
Bright tights + black lace tights = TRASH ALERT

So far I have not seen anyone who can work the lace tights. If you think you can do it with style please send me your suggestions or pics and i will happily put them up. Until then I think the lace tights will be restricted to Halloween outing only.

We may be stuck in winter gloom but one look at these beautiful Louis Vuitton (on the right) sandals should spring you out of the depths of January misery. These ethnic/tribal inspired sandals may be a little loud but they are screaming SS09, as summer is setting up to be awash with tropical prints and tribal references.

Alexander McQueen has used prints to the excess with a skeleton motif and colourful crystal patterns reminiscent of his colourful feather dress of SS08. Whereas Peter Piloto's prints are delicate prints of butterflies magnified to create some of the prettiest prints i have seen.

However it was these Louis Vuitton beauty's that first caught my eye. The crazy mix of leopard print, snakeskin, suede and tasseled embellishment on shoes is one way to tap into the look of summer with out going too far.

However if Louis Vuitton sandals are a little out of your wallets range, and lets face it they are out of the range of everyone, then fear not as the likes of Topshop and River Island have come to the rescue.

The pair above(on the right) are from River Island and in my opinion are the closest the high street can get to the original Vuittons. So make sure you are first in line when they hit the stores this summer.