sunday, sunday.

Busy working week = sleepy evenings.
Saturday = couch-surfing organised bike rides and amazing apple strudel.
Sunday = too hot. I'm going to go ahead and assume this is a weekly thing since I have seen no evidence to the contrary...

This week was a trip to Mauerpark. (the link will take you to google maps, incase you'll be in Berlin soon/ever and want to go.)

I went in search of a bike, but even though there was lots of choice, they were all too big for my tiny legs or too expensive, so I just bought these awesome boots (for a mere €15), and a beer (!) and sat on the grass to read for a bit in the blazing sun.

Most enjoyable. Mauerpark is a huge bustling market - especially on a day like today - and was really too busy today, when I got there around 2pm. I was advised by a girl I met yesterday that the afternoon was better - people are just setting up at 11am, which is in direct opposition to flea markets/car boots in the UK, non?

There were lots of food and drink places, and a couple of man made beaches with deck chairs AND EVERYTHING in the middle with drinks stalls (selling beer, wine, and spirits as well as coffee and soft drinks), plus stalls for everything from vintage clothes to random old crockery (I dubbed one huge stall 'where kitsch comes to die'.), but I'd definitely recommend it for leather goods. So many stalls selling gorgeous, affordable leather bags (mostly vintage) and everyone was up for haggling.

baby love.

Perfect editorial alert.

I've already spotted this on a blog or two (these imgs came from cat party - a great inspiration blog, if you don't know it) - Baby Love from V Magazine.

As the name suggest, there's a 60s girlgroup feel to the styling, and the coats in the first shot are espesh wonderful (need the houndstooth/checky number on the right, plz.)

Love the print/texture mix throughout, too.

shoes, hats, etc

fashion156's couture gardening issue is out - a bizarre title, but accurate with all the trees in the shoot and florals on the clothes. I'm mainly blogging this for the styling - some great pieces, some great show/sock combos and some fantastic hats/headwear.

Must take a closer look at the hats in Rokit next time I'm London-bound; as all the hats featured here are from there (apart from the Silken Flowers turban in img 7), while stand out shoes from Claire Davis (the comfy looking - probably deceptively so - shoes in img 1) and Tessa Edwards (img 2) are not helping my shoelust ONE LITTLE BIT.

Great pieces featured are from old fave Hermione de Paula (imgs 1&5) as well as Eugene Lin (img 2) and Ostwald Helgson (the gorgeous skirt and shirt in img 6).

Y'know what's hard? Looking at nice clothes and shoes and hats when you have no money and (currently) no job prospects.

army green.

vintage army jumper as bought at the Hey Baby Chief Panda pop-up...
ridiculously pale skin + awkward poses.

stupid flash.

topshop jeans//peacocks boots//H&M leopard socks//vintage necklace//H&M rings

ankle length.

eurgh, face.

i joined a netball team today. for real.

i own zero pairs of trainers.

this is going to go well.

vintage dress//zara jumper//priceless boots//thrifted blazer//matalan (?) belt

you may recall this dress from last time i went to london, and the jumper is new (along with a grey/cream intarsia number, also from zara, and a pair of vintage armani jeans. score!); and i probably shouldn't have bought any of those things, but i live in newcastle and own, what, 2 jumpers?

it is cold up north.

more knitwear was necessary.

i like floaty skirts with jumpers. yes. a riff on my number one trend for a/w, right?

fyi i'm playing centre. because i am too short to play any other position competently. i believe my words were something to the effect of "if i can't play centre then there's no point me bring on the team..."

tynemouth market.

vintage coats - lots of leather + fur, plus a £5 rail off camera//

my outfit, plus vintage Burberry coat as found on said £5 rail... vintage skirt+gloves from ebay//H&M tee//primark socks//asos boots//random hoodie

posh jams stall. jam lady liked my nails//

fresh bread stall//

cakes, scones and pies//

heaps of vintage earrings and niknaks...//

...and buttons...//

...and crockery and stuff. all on the same stall//

POLLY POCKETS! i got really excited and started exclaiming "I HAD THAT ONE! AND THAT ONE! to no one in particular. i did have about half of these... oh, childhood.//

two different jewellery stalls//

war memorabilia//

vintage stall + sheepskin gloves. i tried one on; looked like a bear//

a bunch of war photography books//

food haul - fresh bread, scone, raspberry+vodka jam//

NOMNOM//

Brideshead Revisited and buttons//

little silver + black ring, £2. snake ring, £1

today was a good day.

there was also a woman at one of the vintage-y stalls wearing a huge purple hat with 3 equally huge lilac feathers protruding from it. it was amazing. if she hadn't been busy i'd have got a picture... but she did say she loved my skirt. score!

also, the jam is lush, the coat is amazing, and the rings are awesome. and i bought Elle in town afterwards.

so the plan for the rest of the day is:

a) eat jam... already done

b) do some work

c) watch x factor

d) eat more jam; read Elle and the Vice mag i've had lying around for days

greased lightning.

recently acquired one large tartan skirt and THE jacket.

when worn together i resemble some sort of sandy/danny hybrid, right?

i don't know what's up with my camera taking blurry pics all of a sudden...

vintage skirt+jacket//new look boots//H&M tee//primark socks

also, this is what my nails look like right now.

although, this photo is from monday night....

mostly, they've been described as 'blendy' and 'green' by people. thanks? they are pretty badass, but of course, they are starting to chip. booo.

camel.

that whole camel trend really seems to be making some ground, huh?

though the "grownup"/simple/minimal things will likely evade me; maybe the camel things will catch on after all. well; maybe i'll wear my cream tee with these shorts and coat and some point this autumn/winter. oh, and my tan shoes.

still no chelsea boots. sigh.

vintage shorts+belt+burberry trench//THE PERFECT (thrifted) GREY JUMPER+scarf//asos shoes

that second shot is me mid-putting on my coat; fun fact.

close to home.

style icons come in many forms. example: who knew ms. benes would be such a fabulous muse?

but while fictional characters and celebrities are all well and good, sometimes inspiration comes from mere mortals. note the huge rise of street style: it's in blogs, it's in magazines, it's in books; one assumes it's inspired dissertations and the like. a trip to the town centre could get your creative juices flowing (or, of course) make you curse your town's lack of style). but how about inspiration EVEN CLOSER to your own person?

i stole this picture from facebook.
i assume mam won't mind.

my mam, some time in the 80s.
i will update this when she comments on this post telling me the exact year. she will. ; in 1984

dear mam,

i covet your top, with its adorable collar (lace? crochet?), and can only wonder what 80s-tastic garment graces your lower half. i am, however, quite aware that you no longer own any of these wondrous vintage items and so can't pass them to your daughter, however much she would've appreciated it.

there are some charity shops that gained some great pieces a few years ago; a mere few years before my interest in such items peaked.

OH MAM.

WHAT ARE YOU LIKE?

kthnxbye

jenn.

spends.

the last "here's some things i bought in london" post, honest.

vintage dress, portobello market//belt from episode (came with the leather skirt off the other day!)

leather shorts+belt from episode//bag from brick lane//

h&m tee//thrifted shirt//obi belt from australia//select boots//vintage ring

now this was the jackpot. somehow it fits over my boobs; i don't know how. a fiver from portobello, and perfect for recreating the evening skirt, daytime top look that i loved so much. i had to cut off the sheer collar which was pretty damaged (and there are holes in the skirt in places, but it's so floaty that you can't really see them.)

look! it even goes with a coat brilliantly!

for winter.

this has been an awful long time in the making, due mostly to laziness and partly to waiting to find the right collar and then waiting for it to arrive, but...

while lots of blogs i read are posting their a/w coat wishlists (for the high street, mostly), while looking out of the window and wondering what they're waiting for (go away, rain.), i've been slowly beavering away on my own winter delight (to be rotated with my fur coat and my moss-y swing coat!).

anyway, i knew i'd posted what is essentially a 'before' pic, here, last year. a full length navy wool coat (bought from ebay); as worn at most 3 times last winter, and swiftly pushed aside when i came back from Paris with the fur coat.

then a few months ago some girl came in to uni (i think she was one of the fit models for the 4th years...) wearing a cream floral 'tapestry' coat with a fur collar.

i fell in love.

we all fell in love.

ebay was scoured in search of a similar coat, to no avail. and then i thought, "what am i looking for?" - a cream floral coat doesn't go with much, and here i have a nice winter coat that i don't wear even during winter. let's take it up, take it in and give it some shape, shorten the sleeves to the always more flattering bracelet length, and then find the perfect detachable fur collar!

[with asos boots and greasy hair. mm.]

apparently navy is just as hard to photog as black.

i need to resew one of the sleeves cos it's a bit buckled, and move the button so it lies better, but there you go. and i can take the collar off and wear it over a gold-coloured cardigan for a real Michael Kors moment.

now to work on the cheap shearling i bought ages ago. maybe a bigger removable sheepskin collar? hmm.

olive.

my camera has been playing up (seems to be fixed now), and i have a huge bruise forming on my shin from falling over in powerhouse like the classy broad i am. here is an outfit.

vintage jacket+necklace+ring//vintage skirt from episode//

select shoes//thrifted shirt//H&M tights+tee

accessorised with greasy hair and a new bra. evidently my boobs fail to recognise that i don't have money for new bras as they keep on growing. sigh.

expect a post sometime in the future lamenting being gifted in such areas.

so yeah, the necklace, ring and skirt are all london purchases. i didn't know i wanted another leather skirt, but slouchy, buttery soft, knee length, olive green skirts with pockets which come with an awesome belt (not pictured...) are obviously necessary purchases. the belt doesn't sit right on the skirt so i probably won't ever wear them together (said skirt is a bit big; in the 'i think it should sit higher than it does but i like where it sits anyway' sense).

the necklace (belt. but i would probably never wear it as such.) was a mere £2 at some 'vintage by-the-kilo' place on Brick Lane at which i bought nothing by-the-kilo but did buy some pre-priced items (this and a bag...), and the ring was a snap Portobello Market purchase.