Boot camp

'Tis the season to start thinking boots but what to get? Shboots, ankle boots, knee-highs, over-knee? There are so many styles to choose from I just can't make up my mind but here are some I've got my beady eye on.

Blue boots
Blue. It's everywhere and in every hue. It's a perfect colour for mixing and matching with other brights. I especially love a blue and yellow or blue and green combo.

Even though I've already picked up a great pair of blue ankle boots at H&M, these boots have also caught my eye. I love the ruched detail shboots from Pied a Terre. A little rich for my budget but still darling. I'm also loving the dark blue lace up ankle boots from KG because they are so Mary Poppins.

Pied a terre ruched detail, £180; Shellys bow detail, £65; Office pointed, £65; KG lace-up, £130

Funky boots
Not everyone'll agree but I think nothing beats a good pair of stand out boots. These are the kind of boots that'll add interest to even the most boring outfit. On those days when a last minute touch of something different is needed, these are the boots that'll come through. Sure, they're not for the faint hearted or for safer tastes but I love 'em. Check out these amazing harlequin multi-coloured boots from Office, aren't they just fabulous?

KG metallic, £120; Office multi-coloured, £100; Office gold, £65; Bertie two-tone, £125

Bolshy boots
I just didn't know what to call these boots but the word "superbad" comes to mind. Part biker, part-pirate, all buckles and zips and black leather and swagger, these are boots that are kicking arse and taking names. I really, really want a pair of these multi-buckled, over-knee wonders from KG.

KG multi-buckle, £170; Faith square-toe, £95; Shellys front zip, £85

Button boots
Boots with buttons always look good, whether they're formal or casual. I love the button detail on the back of the purple boots from Office and forget uggs and get into the casual slouchy-ness of these black suede flat boots with popper buttons.

Carvela side-buttoned, £95; Office back-buttoned, £80 and popper buttoned, £55

Dress up boots
These are the boots that are something special, the kind you play dress up with. Pretty, classy and different, these boots scream: I'm a girl! I want all three of these for different reasons. The Red or Dead side lace ones, look like they deserve long gloves a cape and pencil skirt suit and furs and a jaunty hat...

The suede black and gold boots from Head Over Heels, look like they were torn off the feet of a 40s starlet, and as for these strappy numbers from Miss L Fire, I'll bet your already thinking of the various pair of patterned socks you could wear with them. I know I am.

Red or Dead side lace, £89.99; Head Over Heels black and gold, £120; Miss L Fire strappy, £105.

Quick or you'll miss it! Money off at Faith shoes

Faith - one of my favourite high street shoe shops and purveyer of Gil Carvalho shoes - are doing a money off offer: £5 off purchases over and £10 off purchases over £50.

So, these pretty red tie up booties, currently residing in my shoe lurve box'll be £70 instead of £80. Yay!

All you have to do is print off the coupon here and take it with you to the shop or put in the promo code online: 100907.

Offer ends 30 September, so get in there quick. Happy shopping.

I can sing a (cashmere) rainbow

It's official. The days are getting shorter and I am wearing woolie knee socks for comfort. The seasons have turned. It's Autumn. Time to stock up on cashmere jumpers. And I don't just want any cashmere, I want cashmere in all the colours of the rainbow because, I might as well look colourful while I'm freezing.

Lucky then, that Uniqlo have just what I need and at prices I can afford. I'm in hog heaven. I'm definitely due for a trip down there very, very soon.

Sometimes it's just random

So I'm searching online for stuff that goes with a pencil skirt when you really want to dress it up. I'm thinking bustles, fascinators, that sort of thing... when I come across this bag from The Shoe Must Go On:
It's a corset bag! Isn't that clever? I think it is the coolest bag ever. In normal, everyday life it is doubtful that I would ever come across or even know where to find a shop like this but in cyberspace, it's just there and it's perfect.

This is why I love the internet.

Five of the best... pencil skirts

I've been getting a deluge (okay, a small but constant trickle but a girl can dream) of questions lately about pencil skirts. And I'm not suprised, it's not hard to miss them as they are all over the place right now.

And luckily, they're not hard to wear either. Here are my thoughts:

You can wear them with virtually any top - although they work best with pretty blouses.

They look better on curvy figures - why should the beanpoles always have all the fun?

I don't care how long your legs are, pencil skirts do not work with flats.

I love them high waisted and cinched with a big belt.

You should get extra style points if they're in a bold colour, like the cobalt skirt from Wallis.



Here are my fave five:

Click on image to enlarge
From top to bottom: Topshop red satin, £30; Wallis cobalt blue, £30; Oasis high waist, £40, Jaeger tweed with leather piping, £165; Coast belted, £85

See:

How to wear a pencil skirt well

Wear with... M&S Limited Collection pencil skirt

Men in tights

So I'm online this week surfing for interesting and colourful pairs of tights when this hits me between the eyes:
Yes, ladies, it's a man. In tights. Once I got over the hysterical fit of giggles, I started to do some research. Apparently, this is a thing. Men are now buying and wearing tights.

According to what I've read, mantights are comfortable and "create a smooth line" under their trousers. On the one hand, I'm thinking: Ye Gods! Smooth lines? Whatever happened to wearing the same par of Y-fronts for a week without washing and then turning them inside out for the following week?

On the other hand, I'm thinking: fair's fair. Women have been wearing trousers and other male apparel for a while now and tights are warm and do indeed "create a smooth line". I just hope that blokes don't start getting ideas and start wearing our bras and frilly knickers...

What's that you say? Ship. Already sailed? Gah!

Do you know any blokes who wear tights? Should men wear tights? Talk to me.

Wear with... Wallis pink bustier dress, £45

This pink bustier dress presents something fo challenge for me. Pink is not a colour that I like to wear, mainly because of it's girlie, dizzy image. However, with colour blocking a big trend for Autumn I thought I'd give it a try.

Tickled pink

(click on image to enlarge)
Forever 21 long-sleeved tee, $9.80; Topshop tights, £4; Faith peep toe shoes, £55

I'm still intrigued with the idea of doing head to toe mono-colour in different shades. Here I've added various shades of pink - and a little purple. I think this outfit makes for cool weekend look. Just add a slouchy tote bag and go.

Feelin' blue

(click on image to enlarge)
American Apparel pullover, £21; Topshop shoes, £55; ASOS corset belt, £15; We Love Colour tights, $12.50

I think pink and blue work really well together, especially when added as accents. I was first thinking just add the accessories but then I saw this American Apparel pullover.

I think the dress would look really cool with the top pulled over and the buttons all undone so the pink of the dress shows through. Add the corset belt over it and it's an entirely different outfit!

Outfit of the week 23/09/07

Those Principles quilted boots are just too fine deny, so I've put an outfit together based on them. It's the black on black trend using different textures to create an all black look.

I am currently in full covet mode for the velvet military jacket from Warehouse. To be a little perverse I would top this look off with a shock of bright red. I'm thinking red beret.

Click on image to enlarge
Jacket, Warehouse, £55
Chiffon ruffle shirt (just seen) Wallis, £27
Treggings, Topshop, £35
Boots, Principles, £85
Bag, Dorothy Perkins, £20

83 per cent of you thought this outfit was cooler than Samuel L Jackson in cryo, the rest of you wondered where the funeral was.

See other outfits

I want it now - Principles quilted boots, £85

Oh my god! How cute are these boots? I'm normally not one for the pointy toes but that quilting detail totally trumps any other concerns I may have.

If you're into the black on black trend then they would provide some added texture. Picture it: black treggings, black chiffon blouse, black cropped blazer (maybe military style) and these babies. Perfect.

See outfit of the week 23/09/07.

Shopping and chillin in Norwich

These are pics of the shop window of the Topshop in Norwich town centre. It looks exactly like my fantasy walk-in shoe wardrobe will look. I love the way the shoes and bags are laid out with the furniture. Look at the way they've hung the flats up in the wardrobe and the cute picture shelving. One day, this will be mine. *sigh*


I was in Norwich last weekend visiting the bloke's parents. The thing I love about Norwich is that it's a little bit country - as in, it's peaceful and beautiful, especially when compared to London - and it's a little bit rock and roll - because it's a university town and has an amazing range of shops.

I always, always visit the charity shops and a little boutique called Catfish (which stocks cool duds and shoes from Vivienne Westwood and Sonia Rykiel) and the enormous Primark, of course, just in case there's anything I missed in London.

Glove love

The humble glove. Never really seen in summer, it comes into it's own as soon as it starts getting nippy and pockets just don't cut it anymore. But gloves aren't just for hand warming, darlings. They are so fashion.

Like socks and tights, they are an additional bit of colour in my ever-expanding accessories wardrobe. I love them and I thought I'd share the love. So, here are some of my gloves. My favourites are the black velvet hand gloves. They're the closest that I'll probably get to the gloves that I covet so bad right now, the Burberry leather zipped ones, a snip at £450! That's monthly rent y'all.


If anyone knows of some viable (read, cheap) alternatives, then I'm open to suggestion. And also, I'm going to shut up about gloves now.

See:
Five of the best... long gloves
Five of the best... short gloves

Five of the best... short gloves

Clockwise from middle: Rocha. John Rocha mustard, £20; Miss Selfridge teal tied, £8, Jasper Conran purple, £20; Dorothy Perkins teal ruched, £18; Oasis black leather, £25

Well, I liked doing the long gloves so much that I had to do the short gloves. I absolutely adore the teal jersey ones with the ties from Miss Selfridge - gorgeous and ladylike.

Oh and I've been shopping around for gloves -like physically -so I can tell you that best place to go for cheap gloves in any colour is Primark. Unless you have hands like spades - like I do because like their bangles, I cannot fit them over my hands.

I can also confirm that the long knit gloves from Dotti Ps are indeed soft and lovely and at £5 easy on the wallet. Batting above my wallet weight at the moment are the £30 black gloves with buckle detail from Monsoon. Expensive for the high street but made of lovely buttery black leather and quite long.

See:
Five of the best... long gloves
Glove love

Five of the best... long gloves

Clockwise from top: Chic and Cool red leather, £50; Hoss Intropia mustard knitted, £40; New Look PVC, £15; Dorothy Perkins chocolate knit, £5

There's chill nip in the air. It looks like it might be the end of summer but I don't care because it gives me a chance to sample the huge range of long gloves out there. While the weather's still relatively clement, I'll be teaming them with t-shirts, cap-sleeved dresses and those cropped, short-sleeved coats I've been wearing all summer.

When it really gets cold, I'll be layering them up with brighly coloured and striped fingerless gloves, chunky three-quarter sleeved jumpers and those cute cocoon, bangle-sleeved, coats that are all the rage this season. One good thing you can say about the cooler weather: dressing up's never boring.

See:
Five of the best... short gloves
Glove love

The return of ripped jeans?

I had hoped that I might be able to sit out the whole of London Fashion Week without more than the odd oblique comment. Afterall, what could I possibly have to add to the plethora of comment that has come from people who have actually attended and have been within kissing distance of the clothes.

However, my silence has been broken by the simple intimation that ripped jeans - and by extension the 80s - may be coming back, courtesy of Christopher Kane's efforts. Please, say it ain't so. Ripped jeans people. I... But... They are Ripped. Jeans. *shudder*. Please don't let this happen.

Just say No!: Christopher Kane SS08

And another thing...
Luela Bartley's collection looks bubblegum cute and I am loving the jodphurs and the high-waist hotpants (even though they have left me with a lingering feeling of deja vu). I had hoped, however, that the era of grown up chic might continue into SS08 and beyond. Guess not.

Looks familiar: Luella SS08

It's not who you wear, it's how you wear it

We're in the midst of Fashion Week frenzy and so my thoughts have turned to fashion labels and those who covet them. Because me? Not so much. I am firmly of the belief that an item of clothing's only value is the way you put it together with other items.

Primark's okay for Mr Pugh

Seeing as I'm not particularly rich (I'm working on it Ma!) I like stuff to be wallet friendly. I buy cheap shoes. I shop at Primark. The high street is my friend. I tend to pick things up that catch my eye and that I can afford. I don't care who's selling them.

My main concerns when it comes to shopping are: "ooh shiny!" or "ooh red!" or, if they're shoes, "ooh high!" and what sorts of outfits I could make of them. Afterall, they are items of clothing. They are not religion.

Now don't get me wrong, I still drool over clothes and shoes in the magazines like any other fashion obsessed girl (Miu Miu heels... to die for y'all) and I almost peed myself with joy when I bought a pair of Vivienne Westwood heels that I had been coveting for half my life (they were in the sales and about £50. I could not believe my luck). What I don't get is when people start to value one particular item of clothing above another simply because it has a designer label attached.

Mischa Barton gets fugged. Pic via Go Fug Yourself

Surely it's not so much about who made the clothes you wear as the way you wear them? Am I being naive in thinking that wearing head to toe high street in an interesting and stylish way trumps wearing head to toe designer and turning out like something from Go Fug Yourself?

I found it heartening reading a recent interview in the Independent on Sunday with fashionista-favourite du jour, Gareth Pugh, about what he wears: "Primark jeans, Uniqlo hoodie and a pair of £5 trainers from a shop on Brick Lane". I can only hope that he keeps that down to earth as his fashion star rises.

In the meantime, I'll be rocking my £10, sky blue, mock patent, Primark peeptoe wedgies with style and pride (and that cool vintage milk frau dress that I got from Brick Lane), while I dream sweet dreams of those Dries Van Noten shoes that may someday be mine (they would just look so good with my American Apparel black lame leggings and a leather dress).

See all the shoes I own

I want it now! - French Connection felt jacket, £140

Holy high necks and big bows Batman! What do we have here? It's a fab new coat from French Connection and I love that high neck and floppy bow combo, I do! I think I'm a bit over yellow now but I could be persuaded to add this last item because it is so dandilicious I just can't stand it.

I'm thinking it would look cute over a cami and some wide-legged trousers, it could also add some forties glamour to a pencil skirt and simple top. But I think it would go super, super well with a navy blue shift dress and - dare I say - matching yellow shoes (could they also have bows and a kitten heel? Pleeeaaase?!)

Outfit of the week 15/09/07

The moment I saw this silk organza ruffle skirt from Monsoon, I knew there were only two options open to it as an outfit of the week: go with the girlie flow of it and add a pretty blouse and cute shoes or go completely against everything it represents and turn it into the gothic byker outfit that it was always meant to be.

This simple wife-beater tank, bomber jacket and buckled boots combo, makes me feel really happy for the future of this skirt. And check out the skinny tie. This is the kind of thing that Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer would wear (I always preferred her. She was badass.)




Tank top, American Apparel, £12
Skirt, Monsoon £45
Jacket, River Island, £120
Buckle boots, Schuh, £59.99
Leather clutch £40 and skinny tie, £6, both Topshop


100 per cent of voters voted this outfit a do and Faith far better value than Buffy.

See other oufits

Wear with... M&S Limited Collection high waist pencil skirt

Reading the latest issue of Vogue, I was fascinated by an article on work wear. As a result I have been spending quite a lot of time thinking about how you wear work-appropriate clothes and still retain any individual style.

It's hard enough if you work in relatively creative spheres such as marketing or media but I really pity city girls and lawyers. Suits and more suits - I say this from one remove of course, I have no way of knowing except from my limited observation.

Anyway, with the work wear issue firmly in mind, I've chosen this M&S pencil-skirt. It's the business, obviously, but it's also got that subtle sexiness that makes it anything but drab and boring. Perfect for working a day to night look

Working day...

(Click image to enlarge)
Topshop blouse, £35; Schuh courts, £49.99; Jasper Conran bag, £65

Take one pencil skirt, add a grown-up blouse with bit of character and colour, team with a substantial bag and subtle shoes... You look work ready and stylish. I just have to mention that I adore this bag from Jasper Conran at Debenhams, chick, affordable and big enough to fit your files in. Result.

... and night

(Click image to enlarge)
River Island Cami, £24.99; Kurt Geiger shoes, £160; Dorothy Perkins clutch, £15

Let out your in inner Jessica Rabbit by adding some va va voom. Keep the skirt, add a sexy cami, and cute shoes (my first choice would be peep toes, but in the absence of those, these Kurt Gieger numbers with the delicious red heels are more than up to the task). Add a dainty bag in a bold colour, this season it's all about the clutch (I've chosen red. Plus ca change).

See: Five of the best... pencil skirts

Go, go gadget shopping!

Just when you thought you were safe from the impulse shopping demon, some new technology comes along to piss all over your resolve.

H&M (bless 'em - they hate bloggers. How retro.) have developed technology that allows you to shop directly from their print and billboard adverts by phone.

How it works: the ads have an embedded code. You take a photograph with your mobile and the code lets you acces their product catalog on your phone. You can then buy the product that caught your eye and the amount gets charged to your phone bill. Genius.

I'm already cringing at the potential for shopping mistakes that this opens me up to.

Via Gizmodiva.com

80s-tastic - Mr T does fashion

So you know how sometimes you're just idley surfing the net from blog to blog and then you happen upon something so fantastically wrong, it's just right? That's how I found this clip of Mr T giving style tips.

I was laughing so hard and trying to look like I was working that I must have looked like I was having a fit. I am still wiping the tears from my eyes as I write. This reminds me so much of my teenage years (and God, how old am I?!)

Video via Jezebel.com, via Youtube.

I want it now! Topshop wide-legged trousers, £75

Is it insane that I find these wide-legged trousers from Topshop Unique totally lust worthy? Because I do. I really do. I've been lamenting about a lack of wide-legs - especially in anything other than grey or black - so these are like a dream come true.

They are just so disco-tastic. Especially the lamé ones, which I can already see myself wearing with a fitted, bell-sleeved, satin shirt with enormous lapels. Or a one shouldered top and a sequined beret and enormous platforms. In fact, I've got just the shoes. So retro. So Biba.

Call me crazy but I must have them.

Feeling pouffy

I'm really feeling the pouffy shapes that are emerging out of the shops at the moment. Not to be confused with last seasons volume madness this is more of a marriage of contrasts - fit and flare and fit again (or vice versa).

Coat, Full Circle; cocktail dress, Karen Millen; cable knit sweater, Topshop; Fingerless gloves, Gloved Up; skinny rib sweater, Karen Millen

I'm trying to work out what it is about the shape that I find so appealing... I suppose it's the shapely, vaguely sculptural air. These could be items of clothing or they could be works of art. It's something about symmetry. It's something that I majorly dig.

Shelly's gold and mock-crock platforms

I bought these in the summer sales. I've had my beady eye on them since they first came out but I thought they were outrageously priced - they are only Shelly's shoes afterall, not hand made!

Anyway, I ended up picking them up for £15 in the sales. Yay me!

Too much of a good thing?

Long ago (oh, so long ago) when I was a spotty teen, hopped up on hormones, with far too much time and far too little disposable income, I used to be creative. I thought nothing of turning a pair of jeans into a skirt, finding some fascinating and cheap scrap of material and turning it into something even more fascinating and wearable or snaffling my mum's old clothes and reshaping them into something wonderfully short and teen-ish.

That was then. Now I'm too busy, I get paid and there's a shop on every high street corner where I can buy an entire outfit for less than £50. What's the point?

This, my friends, is the beginning of the end of my creativity.

I just don't do that sort of thing anymore. I own a sewing machine but I can't remember the last time I sewed (no, wait. I can. It was 1999. A skirt. It rocked.) Or altered a dress or nipped in a waist.

Fast fashion, disposable income, work and age have stolen the playful experimentation and imagination with which I used to approach fashion and replaced it with the grasping soullessness of a shopaholic. I want all the latest looks and I want them yesterday.

I don't know exactly how I came to this realisation but I don't think I'm alone. Up and down the country there must be women who could just as easily turn a old pair of slacks into this season's shorts who, instead, just go out and buy them for a fiver at Primark.

I'll bet that if we all spent as much time and energy creating the next big look as we did shopping for it, we'd have a lot more fun and probably a lot more money and the feted fashion designers who charge far too much for their exclusivity would be quaking in their It boots as their empires crumbled around them.

Or maybe not. Maybe not everyone is or wants to be creative that way. Maybe it's just easier to pick up a bargain on the high street, wear it once and chuck it to the back of the wardrobe than it is to actually make something. Sewing is, afterall, a pain. It's complicated and time-consuming. Sometimes it doesn't even work. Why go to all the trouble when you could spend a few hours shopping for instant style gratification?

Wouldn't it be great though, if you went out in an outfit of your own making and everyone wanted one just like it? You could tell them "It's one of a kind. I made it." I think that would totally be worth it. Maybe it's time I dusted down that sewing machine.

Antique Singer sewing machine image courtesy of The Smithsonian

Five of the best... cardigans

Clockwise from middle: Wallis coloured, £25; Jaeger kimono, £180; Monsoon shirt cardigan, Principles long line, £49; M&S frill hem, £35 (click on image to enlarge)

With the changing of the seasons and the ladylike and slouchy knits trends, we're all going to be in need of cardigans very soon. So how kind of the high street shops to provide us with so many to choose from. I do wish that they had the imaginations to not all have them in grey though.

Nevertheless, cardigan stalwart and first port of call, M&S have the widest - if also the mimsiest - selection. My favourite is their Per Una frilly-hemmed cardi. My other favourite is from Principles and is a totally gorgeous slouchy, long line number with a tie waist and tie neck.

If you're looking for colour, head over to Wallis for lemon and teal offerings, among others. Want something different? Try the kimono cardi with obi belt from Jaeger or the Monsoon shirt cardigan (shirtigan? Are we still doing that whole conflated name thing or is it over?)

How do you lace yours?

I have to confess, I have never understood the craze for sports shoes. Maybe this means that I'm not down with the kids but I'll pick a pair of gorgeous peeptoe heels over a pair of Nikes in a hot second.

Nevertheless, Ian's shoelace site is a... uh... sight to behold (*sigh* I know! I know!!). Did you know, for instance, that there are 33 ways to lace shoes? Me neither. But how brilliant is it that there is someone, somewhere, who does?

Styles range from the easy-peasy criss-cross lacing to the frankly, incredible checkerboard lacing. My Air Jordans and I are suitably shamed.

All shoe pics courtesy Ian's shoelace site

What is up with... predicting future fashion

This is the future?

The world of fashion trends is a fickle arena. No sooner have we found out what's in store for us in Autumn 2007 than the pundits are on to 2008.

Strangely the whole trend prediction stuff is giving me a mean sense of deja vu because, guess what? Neons are back. Again. As are vintage and vintage inspired clothes and punk.

But even more worrying than the deja vu is the litany of fashion don'ts that are coming our way. Short shorts for men, anyone? Any? One?

Who's responsible for all this? The 70 year old David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, a fashion-forecasting firm in NYC. Here's a quote from the horse's (or should I say, arse's) mouth "Youth is out, old is in..." Well what do you expect from someone's grandad?

At least you'll know where to find him when it comes time for a lynching.


What's coming our way, according to Dave:

Neon colours (more shopping disasters, whoop-de-doo)

The '60s are back (ask yourselves, did they ever go away?)

Punk (yawn!)

Rich is cool (AKA Luxe. Silk, fur and eternal debt)

Short shorts for men (Yeah. Right.)

Estate accessories (more bling)

Eco-friendly material (Hello, have you met my friend, organic cotton? No?)

Beijing rules (Olympics in China? Can only mean one thing)

Clothing transformed (clothes get techie. How do you fancy owning a motorised skirt? Thought so.)

Skinny ties (at all good vintage stores where geek fashion tribes have been buying them for... oh, let me see now... ever!)

Read more on the Forbes website

Outfit of the week 06/09/07

In this current climate of dresses, skinnies, leggings, treggings and jodphurs, it's hard to find a decent pair of wide leg trousers. So, I'm delighted to have found this pair from Gap.com. Even better, they're cropped, which I find seriously cool.

Seeing as they're navy (all the other wide leg trousers I saw were in boring black or grey, what gives?), I thought they would go great with a shot of colour from this yellow blouse.

Add the cool lace-up boots and grey socks peeping out just below the crop and I think this outfit is a winner.

100% of voters rated this outfit a do.


Blouse, Miss Selfridge, £22
Cropped wide leg trousers, Gap, $88
Lace up boots, Carvela, £95
Socks, Elle, £9.97
Bag, Aldo, £25

See other outfits

Style stalking New Young Pony Club

Belts, Topshop; leggings American Apparel, vest top, Urban Outfitters; 60s inspired shift, Atom Retro; prom dress, Candy Says; sequin dress, Topshop (click on photo to enlarge)

I'm not really one for celebrity style stalking but having been forced by the bloke to watch the Mercury awards yesterday all that may change. Though I found the music not quite to my taste (or appalling as we like to call it round these parts) I did manage to develop a major crush on the New Young Pony Club.

Say what you like about their music, this lot really know how to dress. I love that individual vintage-inspired style and I've been dreaming about colourful prom dresses and statement belts ever since.

Obviously, I was so preoccupied with my new lurve jones that I had to go surfing for stuff to add to my shopping list. Consider this little collage a tribute to their cool-as-all-hell style.

At least their fashion rocks.

Five of the best... High street anti-It bags

Minimum fuss, maximum style. The anti-It bag is the new It bag. Throw out your padlock laden Paddington, do away with your Bay (and those rip-off fakes, young lady!), pick a durable, stylish, all season bag and stick with it. These are also a darn site cheaper.

Clockwise from top: Debenhams camel shoulder bag, £70; Giles Deacon Gold bag at New Look, £30; Faith brown leather, £60; Miss Selfridge leather bucket, £55; Topshop ruched base, £55

Pointy shoes 2 - brown heels

Another pair of pointy shoes that I can't explain the reason for owning. I mean, why? Do I own these? I don't work in a job that demands that I dress like my grandma and brown? Why would I buy brown shoes? I just can't explain it. It's like I went to bed and woke up in the land of frump.

Pointy shoes 1 - orange metallic t-bars

Here is a prime example of why I do not buy pointy shoes. I bought these from Walk on Oxford Street a zillion years ago. I have never worn them out. I keep threatening to throw them away.

Why? Because feet over size 40 should never wear pointy shoes and they should definitely NEVER wear extreme pointy shoes, which is what these are. They make my feet look like long pointy canoes. That is just not cute.

Nevertheless the are orange metallic t-bars, which means that they could be a fashion contender if I could bring myself to wear them. One day I will find the perfect outfit for them... Maybe when I'm 80.

The shoes that I made

Okay, this is one of the reasons why I will eternally love the bloke. Because he got me probably the best birthday present ever, which was a weekend shoe making course. It was brilliant. And these are the shoes I made from scraps of material and a helluva lot of glue.

I think they're pretty cool. They are also totally wearable.

Irregular choice corsage shoes

These corsage shoes are one of my favourites. I love the cute corsage, the gathered metallic vamp with floral pattern and the high back and curved heel.

Irregular Choice shoes can be hit and miss - they tend to sacrifice style for comfort and sometimes too much style for very little substance - but I think they got the balance just right with these.

They're obviously going out shoes and they look great with little black dresses. I really should wear them more often. So many shoes, so little time. *sigh*

The shoes I am yet to wear - Glitter shoes

I think we can all agree these are fabulous shoes. Love the silver glitter, contrasting strap and accents and - you can't see them but - a lovely chunky 2.5 inch heel.

When I saw them last year in the Office shop window, it was shoe lurve. They looked like great party shoes and I imagined myself twinkling from party to party with them on my feet.

It's going on for seven months later and I still haven't worn them yet. But I will. One day. I think.

The fugly shoes I bought in New York

This is one of my many, many shopping abroad disasters. I cannot believe that I thought they were cute. No really. Check out the pom-pom laces. Pom-pom. Laces. Y'all. And the suede fringe over the ridiculous patterned vamp and the M logo... Urgh!

I bought these in Manhattan - first mistake - for far more than they are actually worth. I wore them out that evening and nearly lost both feet to loss of circulation.

My only excuse for buying these monstrosities is that they are red and the curved heels look pretty cool but far, far too much is going on in this one shoe. I keep them at the back of the wardrobe. Every time I see them I shudder.

Let this be a cautionary tale to you; when travelling don't buy shoes unless you are really, really sure you want to keep them. Better still, just don't buy shoes.

Cute shoes

So these are my cute shoes from my Minny Mouse phase. I hardly ever wear them anymore. I guess it's because I fell in love with heels.

Okay, so this is where my madness kicks in: the peep toe ones with the pink bow? I have the same exact pair in black and white. The cream ones with the black bow? I also have in pink.

The white and blue ones were definitely the nadir of this phase - check out the cute red hearts. Oh dear.