Sick and Tired of the Sales?

Just when you're going off on holiday, everything's on sale or the shops have only got winter stock! Our favourite website, with items hand-picked by Tara, can guarantee some fabulous pieces for your holiday are still available (as well as some great sale offers)! See the examples below, but meanwhile check out TaraLacey.com...

The Swish List...

The Big Swish™ was in full swing this week! 

For those of you not in the know: “Swishing is a growing trend, where a gaggle of fashion-loving women get together, feast on nibbles, guzzle wine and swap their clothes. Eco-fabulous recycling at its best.” BBC News

I was lucky enough to get one of only 25 V.I.P tickets to Tuesday’s Big Swish™ at the Long Acre in Covent Garden. I was given a goody bag, as well as a five minute head start on “swishing” , 2 for 1 cocktails all evening and a year’s membership to the world’s no.1 clothes swapping site, Big Wardrobe (usually worth £12.00). An absolute bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree!

The only condition for attending the Big Swish™ is that you bring along up to 15 items (in good condition) from your own wardrobe to swap for someone else’s former favourites. Just like the clothes on the Big Wardrobe site, there was a good range of high street and designer items up for grabs. It wasn’t all about clothes swapping though, there was also a prize draw and gorgeous makeovers taking place courtesy of the Big Swish™s team of stylists.

After huge success with similar events during 2009, Big Wardrobe, in association with stylist Lupe Castro and eco-mag Daisy Green Magazine, began a roadshow of clothes swapping events – don’t worry if you didn’t make the London events. The Big Swish™ will be making it’s way to Newcastle on 7th October, with more events to follow!

Clothes Show London

The second annual Clothes Show London kicked off on Friday 25th June in Earl's Court. I was able to attend the show, and it was so much fun! The consumer show is aimed at showcasing fashion trends and beauty brands that are on the market today. Many of the companies promoted themselves by giving away freebies, so I walked away with a bag of goodies!


The highlight of the weekend was the show itself, taking on an around the world theme this year. Featured cities included New York, Paris, Rome and, of course, London. Lucky for me, I got a front row seat! Each scene was choreographed very well, with the models and dancers interacting all while wearing fantastic clothes from many different brands. I was able to take photos of a few of my favourite outfits during the show. 

Children Desperately in Need ...

April Fools Day!  From sunny Spring day to snow in the blink of an eye.  And on the eve of Easter.  But what a minor mote in the eye compared to the suffering of so many on the other side of the world....
Spent some time this afternoon forgeting fashion and talking to Katy, a young Trustee of a new UK charity (already established abroad), the Cambodian Children's Fund which has undertaken some amazing and rewarding work in Phnom Penh where many heart rending children - and their families - are living in abject poverty.  Children as young as 4 years are working on the stenching rubbish dump outside the city to earn a living for their families and many actually live on this seething mountain of refuse.  Take a minute to check out the charity which has just gained UK Charity Status and join up as a UK supporter.  I don't think I'll be eating any Easter eggs this weekend as a result ....

TaraLacey.com lanching soon!

Hello All,

Just heard about a fantastic new online fashion boutique called Tara Lacey that's about to launch. It's going to have some amazing designer labels including Olivia Rubin and Fiona Paxton. The site is going to specialise in fabulous designer clothing, bags and accessories... can't wait!

These are some of my favourite looks from the latest Olivia Rubin collection:


I saw Fiona Paxton jewellery at London Fashion Week back in February. I've been a fan of the label for a few seasons now, and am really excited that the best pieces are going to be on Tara Lacey to buy soon!




It's launching next week, so sign up to the newsletter at www.TaraLacey.com and be the first to know when it goes live!

x

In Need of an Inspiring Break in the Sun

Following a plethora of exhibitions (London Fashion Week, Pure, Top Drawer, Bubble) our feet, eyes and minds (and not necessarily in that order) are exhausted and in dire need of a rest as well as some cultural input. Sometimes we simply feel like catching a flight and buzzing off to the sun on our own but the idea of spending more than one full day stretched out doing nothing is anethma to us. So we're delighted to have discovered Les Soeurs Anglaises http://www.lessoeursanglaises.com/ a delightful 'boutique hotel' in South West France offering some really interesting and inspiring creative workshops that last from 3 to 5 days. As well as knitting, textile and bookbinding workshops you can spend three days with the famous Roger McGough and learn to write poetry, or five days under the leadership of a screen writing expert. Food is home cooked (much of it organically home grown) and the wine is picked by an expert to complement both the region and the food. Am booking my flight now! to either Bordeaux, Angouleme or Riberac to make sure I get a place .....
Some sites that have written favourably about Les Soeurs Anglaises include Cornflower Books and The Reader. And to learn more about the region, Daunts has customised a great reading list specifically designed for anyone signing up for the workshops http://http//www.dauntbooks.co.uk/readinglists.asp?TAG=&CID==
Meanwhile, for those more interested in fashion and a birds eye view of London Fashion Week check out http://www.fabfrocks.blogspot.com/ where it was covered on a day to day basis from a bloggers perspective.

It's Finally Friday

Hello All,

This week has been filled with non-stop birthday celebrations and I'm exhausted! With four seperate friends/family/boyfriends to provide with presents,cards, cake, my glorious presence etc all in one week, I've been somewhat looking forward to today and the start of the weekend.

But lo, I managed to squeeze a quick Facebook session in inbetween singing 'Happy Birthday' (surely the most tedius and uninspiring tune inflicted upon humanity) and realised that it was one of my close friends birthday celebrations in Oxford this weekend... I'm beginning to forget what I looked like without my party hat on.

One good thing about so many birthdays is that I get to go card shopping (which I love for some strange, slightly concerning reason) and pass on the genius musings of my favourite illustrator, Edward Monkton.

I think I'm going to give this to the boyfriend for Valentine's:

On that note, my new favourite site - Style Compare - have just launched yet another competition. They're giving away over £1000 - yes, over £1000 - worth of Valentine's themed prizes, and again all you have to do to enter is sign up to the newsletter.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

x

Give me the giveaway from STYLE COMPARE!

Ohhh, we love a good giveaway!

And Style Compare are giving away this fantastic pair of Mocking Bird brown leather boots from Clarks (worth almost £100!) to one lucky person who signs up to their newsletter...

...where do I sign...?

I ♥ Goddiva.co.uk

Hello All,

Sorry for the lack of posts! Hectic start to the New Year as well as a double dose of flu, so have been a little tied up!

Anyway, as fashion waits for no man, here's a gem that came to my attention while feeling sorry for myself in bed. Goddiva.co.uk have come up with a GORGEOUS dress with the cutest cut-out heart shape inspired by the fantastic Luella SS10 collection. Move over Alexa Chung...

I LOVE IT! It also comes in red - perfect for Valentine's Day - and a really gorgeous cream colour. I'm going to have to get all three. Sigh...

It's a New Decade!

So it's 2010, a new decade and a new begining.  Christmas officially ended yesterday, January 5th, so hopefully all have taken down Christmas decorations although with the snow falling heavily now it is more Christmassy than Crimbo was! 
Shops seem to have done tremendously well and anyone interested in fashion or shoes should have picked up some amazing bargains.  Personally I bought a classic LBD from the wonderful Zara (one of my favourites) reduced from £90 to £50 and hopefully it will be a staple in my wardrobe for a couple of years - despite the Star Trek shoulders!  Six days after purchasing a pair of Paul Smith cigarette shaped black trousers (you can see that I tend to purchase staples in the sales) from the website my-wardrobe.com, I was let down badly with a phone call to say they had sold out!  Meanwhile I had lost the opportunity to purchase black cigarette trousers elsewhere.  My-wardrobe will remain on my black list for some time to come whilst my favourite new shopping site, http://www.stylecompare.co.uk/ saves trawling the shops for hundreds of brilliant bargains. 
Of course I am saving my pennies for the Designer Warehouse Sales which take place at the start of February, my other favourite source for bargains http://www.designerwarehousesales.com/ where I am told there will be several exciting new American designers such as Zahra Saeed (see image),

Haven't had much time for the movies but managed at last to see Twilight on DVD (oh so behind the times) - which I loved!  Horror is not usually my genre of film but I am a convert.  Am waiting to see Nowhere Boy and White Orphan.  Meanwhile, at the weekend am visiting my favourite Lexi movie house for the opera being transmitted live from the New York Metropolitan Opera - not quite sure what to wear to this as it starts at 6pm ......  And have just been given tickets for Three Sisters at the Hammersmith Lyric with Romola Garai, one of my favourite your stars.  Roll on February as I traditionally give up all alcohol during January.

Culture?

OK ... so saw the Coen Brothers' new movie, A Serious Man at my bijoux cinema club, The Lexi Cinema, and not really sure what I felt about it as - it just ended!  Literally ended as a tornado was about to hit a school.  Seemed to be about all the ghastly things that are Jewish and none of the good.  Found the lead character pathetic in the real sense of the word but otherwise full of very unlikeable people.  Feel the film fails to qualify as 'entertainment'.  The cinema is showing Biba next Saturday, a film about the wonderful Barbara Hulaniki (?) and I'm sorry I shall miss it (second time around) again as I shall be watching a production of The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre at the time.  Meanwhile, last night witnessed some great entertainment at the Chocolate Factory Theatre in South London - Sweet Charity.  Amazing, energetic performances on a tiny stage.  Great singing, dancing and acting.  Would not have been my choice as I hate musicals but I was treated alongside a group of other guests as a Christmas jolly.  Joyous and highly recommended.

Christmas Crackers!

December 1st and only another 24 days to go until the big one! Unbelievable. So Christmas shopping is high on my agenda and two of my favourite 'places' are enticing me with some very special offers. Style Compare has joined forces with my-wardrobe.com to offer one lucky customer the chance to win £150 to spend on the my-wardrobe site - simply by signing up to the Style Compare newsletter and then signing on to the my-wardrobe newsletter. The draw will be made just in time for Christmas. And my favourite of all time Sales, the Designer Warehouse Sales start this Friday offering an amazing selection of items to choose as Christmas gifts - from all sorts of cashmere bits and pieces, leather notebooks. some spectacular jewellery and, last but not least, fab Christmas designer dressing and all at really affordable prices. Check out both and enjoy spending this Festive Season!

On a totally different (and higher!) note I bumped into a very pregnant Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth, preparing herself for a swim on the day she was due to give birth to a baby boy! She is just as stunning in reality as in her pictures but was not amused when I warned her not to give birth in the pool ..... also watched Glorious 39 at my favourite local cinema club, The Lexi in Kensal Rise, North London, followed by a Q&A with the Director Poliakoff (spelling?). Romola Garai is outstandingly beautiful but the last 20 minutes of the film are dire and I felt very sorry for the actors. I was too embarrassed to pose any questions .....And last night, my first attempt at Tango dancing. Ended the evening doubled over with laughter. Such fun, great teachers, more men (sort of) than women, and partners changed for each futile attempt. Am a sucker so will go again. Loved the teachers Leandro and Romina of Tango Soul

AMAZING NEW FASHION COMPARISON SITE!

Have today discovered an exciting new fashion comparison website Style Compare which allows fashion lovers (men and women!) to choose by label, price or description and to compare over 600+ labels in the process! I hear on the grapevine that the leading fashion website (guess who?) is coming on board within the next couple of days which means the days of trawling through numerous websites or tramping up and down the high street/Bond Street in the rain are a thing of the past. And they are going to offer a host of Special Offers each week too! They have also joined forces with my-wardrobe.com to offer one lucky shopper who signs on to both the Style Compare (http://www.stylecompare.co.uk/) AND the my-wardrobe.com NEWSLETTERS the opportunity to win £150 to spend before Christmas! The red Vivienne Westwood Anglomania dress (pictured) from Style Compare is definitely on my Wish List ....

Time Flies ...

Three weeks since our last blog but we have been busy so forgive us! Went to the premiere of Harry Brown with the wonderful Michael Caine (playing a dangerously dangerous Michael Caine in Elephant and Castle). Not quite all it is cracked up to be but with the Murdoch family in the marketing background it is bound to be hyped to the hilt. Fear it might encourage violence rather than deter ...

Meanwhile I predict Alan Bennet's new play at the National will not be as popular as the History Boys but is equally good in its own right and, regardless of what the critics might say, deserves to be a big hit.

And the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy is a must for anyone even vaguely interested in sculpture. The polished steel pieces should bemuse and intrigue even the most hardened cynics even if the gigantic red wax river 'floating' through three huge rooms, or the cannon shooting huge blood red wax cannon balls, do not. Enough about culture and now for something completely different:

I have set my sights on a unique new watch (see the picture above) for my better half and have already started putting my pennies away in the hope these investment pieces will not all be snapped up before I am up to speed. It is a limited edition Rolex designed by a new website company, Project X Designs, which takes new Rolex's (Submariners and Daytonas) and customises them so that there are only 24 of them in the world! However, if I wanted an even more unique watch I could ask the company to make up to 19 changes to a new luxury wristwatch - their 'bespoke' watch service. Although I intend to purchase one for hubby I secretly plan for it to be adorning my wrist within days of being gratfully received by him! Can't wait until the end of the month when the two new limited edition PXD Rolex's are being introduced ....

A Hard Days Work ...

So, I spent my day yesterday hard at work, trotting (or teetering… my choice of footwear may not have been entirely practical) around Notting Hill Press Day previewing the Spring Summer 2010 collections. A day spent pouring over beautiful garments ahead of their release…it’s a hard job but somebody’s got to do it.

With more than twenty previews to get to it was a hectic day but the calibre of the garments on show from boutiques such as Anonymous, Question Air and Emma Hope was excellent.

Highlight of the day though had to be fashion agents Studio 13; showcasing designers I already knew and loved as well as some new ones for me to lust over. A great new label on show there was Seneca Rising. This American brand is sure to be a big hit in SS 10 with their use of fine mesh knits and delicate fabrics, toughened up with on trend studs. Favoured already with stars such as Nicole Ritchie, Nicky Hilton (above, in a previous Seneca Rising piece) and Leighton Meester, I’m sure that the collection will fly off the rails when it hits Harvey Nichols this Spring.


Another label I hadn’t encountered before was Christopher Fischer. The Spring collection featured lots of soft draped cashmere pieces, which were laid back without becoming sloppy, perfect for layering. I can’t wait to get my hands on them and I am counting down the days until I can buy myself the belted cardigan . At least by the time it hits the shops the weather will have warmed up enough to wear it. Sadly I can't get hold of an image of the belted cardigan but to the right is their gorgeous 'Iman' cardigan which is available now.

Clutching my goodie bag full of gorgeous Nivea body products and with my head full of ideas and wish lists (courtesy of the whole day), my aching feet began to carry me home . One thing is for certain, I will be wearing more appropriate footwear to this weekend’s Designer Warehouse Sales event… only 2 days to go!

TFB x

Technorati ...

Simply attempting to sign in with Technorati ...jas9k2wx54

Sweet 18th ...

October for me means one thing - the single most important day of the year - my birthday! As the clock struck midnight I was showered with champagne in the back of a glossy black stretch hummer. It was a scene that resembled New Year rather than just my 18th birthday, but I don’t do things by halves. I spent the night teetering in my favourite patent platforms and loving every legally allowed to drink second.

I spent weeks agonising over the age-old question, what on earth to wear? I’m partial to (a lot of) Topshop but I would say the prices are far from intern friendly. Our fashion insider told us that Alesha Dixon’s dress for her opening on Strictly Come Dancing was by an online boutique called Goddiva – and since then stylists have been falling over themselves to dress their celebs in the celebrity inspired dresses.

pictures from http://www.goddiva.co.uk/ and BBC Strictly Come Dancing

I had to have one … so I bought three.

The range is beautiful with ‘just fell off the celebrity’s back’ designs. I was back to square one (because I had to chose between sequins, shoulders, long, short, strapless, body con, the list is endless), except instead of having to face the cold I could see it all from my computer! Most of the dresses are around the £30 mark, so the glitzy clutch bags are a cosy companion instead of a guilty indulgence.

They say the best part of going out is getting ready – and in my perfect iridescent Goddiva number I felt like a princess before I’d even blown out my candles.

TFB x

Dedicated Followers of ....

With so many new men's websites and magazines around it seems strange that genuine designers sales dedicated entirely to men do not exist (whereas they seem to pop up all the time for women). Or at least we thought they didn't until we came across the Designer Warehouse Sales which hold five to six North London Sales a year dedicated entirely to men (see the flier below) with some fantastic labels normally only found in exclusive boutiques and department stores at (they say) discounts of up to 80% on the current retail prices! So I'm packing my indecisive, design conscious hubby off to the next one at the end of the month , with thermos and sarnies, and directions to take time off work to spend the entire day making decisions about what to wear this Autumn. Knowing him, despite the temptations, he will return home with only the 'perfect white shirt' to show me ...

Forward planning

Summer’s only just over and I’m already thinking about my next break in the sun before the fog and gloom set in.

I’m thinking (obviously) somewhere abroad with buzzing nightlife. Check. Somewhere gloriously hot? Check. Brilliant sunshine, white beaches with a sparkling clear blue sea? Check, check, check.

And to complement my overseas, hot, sunny and overall luxurious long weekend I’m going to be needing a fabulous wardrobe to knock the flip flops off the bronzed locals. Luckily, I’ve discovered an amazing label, Michelle Jonas, on Travelista that I’m very selflessly sharing with you.

The gorgeous silk jersey fabric means that you can scrunch the pieces up small in your suitcase (so I can just take hand luggage!) and still come out looking crease free and glamorous! Perfect for style lovers jet-setting around the world from one luxury location to the next… grr! Luckily, it’s available to buy from a UK website, Beach Café, so I can start planning my packing now!

Unsurprisingly, Michelle Jonas has a huge celebrity following – especially in LA - with fans such as Angelina Jolie, Elle Macpherson, Heather Graham and Paris Hilton. And now me!

Unfortunately, I’ve just conferred with my family and it turns out we’re going to North Wales in October. Rain, wind and damp… these were not on my checklist! Think I’ll splash out on the Goddess dress anyway and style it up for Christmas!

TFB

And now for some culture ...

 ... visited the Turner exhibition at  Tate Britain on the same night Burberry held it's star studded catwalk show in the tent opposite the Gallery.  Tate visitors were bemused by the arrival of the glitterati and the flashing bulbs of the papps!  But I had the honour of bumping (literally!) into Lady Antonia Fraser (or Mrs Harold Pinter) at the Gallery - much more civilised and a great exhibition to boot where Turners are mounted next to the great masters he was influenced by.  The Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy is definitely on my agenda.  More, once I have had the chance to view it...

Visited the lovely Lexi cinema club in Kensal Rise to see two very different films:  September starring Vogue's icy Anna Wintour and one of the greatest stylists of all time, Grace Coddington.  Surprisingly, I rather liked La Wintour who came across as  decisive but fair with a great eye for how pages should be put together.  Grace is obviously brilliant but seemed to think that every picture she produced should be included in the magazine and consequently came across as a bit of a moaner. 

The second film was District 9 - an alien sci fi movie set in Jo'Burg, South Africa.  Frightening, moving, terrific, with an interesting take on racism.  A definite must see.  And at the theatre, Speaking in Tongues, an amazing production with John Simm amongst the brilliant cast of four.  This is the play that the cult film Lantana was based on.

There's a new TV series to be broadcast in October called Treatment starring Gabriel Byrne as the psychiatrist.  By all accounts it does for relationships what The Wire did for gang life.  It is supposed to be outstanding but due to a major dispute with Sky (check out www.scandalatsky.blogspot.com) which has been withdrawing monies from my account without my knowledge or agreement - I may be cut off from extra terrestial tv and unable to view it! 

An art auction yesterday evening and a live broadcast of Alls Well from the National Theatre at the Lexi tonight.  Later ...

TFB