shop-girl

I've decided, thanks in part to running in heels, that i would love to be a shopping editor. I mean, Zoe Glassner is so freakin' cool with her geek glasses and crinkled chinos, and her job seems like fun. She does a few shoots, but mostly gets to play around with photoshop and a polyvore-esque catalogue of items every month to form the section that secretly all girls love to read: the shopping pages. You get to tell people what to buy, you get to decide on the trends, on the big pieces, on the important buys and the high street musts and sometimes even the must-nots. You get to write some adorably hyperbolic copy (e.g ' Big Bold Bows brighten up any niggly nanna') and you get to hang around in 'the closet' all day. 

 Every magazine does a different take on the shopping section, Paris Vogue has their enviable 'en vogue' section with skinny girls with messy hair, come hither eyes and black shoes that never really changes every month but that everyone loves anyway because it's so damn cool. British Vogue's clear layout and heady mixture of notting hillbilly, sloane ranger, brick lane it-girl. Harpers Bazaar with sleek design, clever background images and a visual feast for the eyes (even if the picks aren't that original). Elle US and UK both taking out the prize for must have items put together in interesting ways. The shopping pages are never as 'fashion' as editorials (which are designed to stimulate fantasy and imagination in some cases or covetous saucer eyes in the other), they are intended to prompt readers to go forth and shop. And thought the cynic in me knows that pieces are often picked because of advertisers and the like, i still love it anyway. 

Shop-a-holic. 

Anyway, if i were to have a shopping page you all know what i would make it - fabulous future me. Today instead of doing an item of clothing or a colour, i'd like to tackle a trend at the moment, one very close to my heart; stripes. I love stripes, so so so much. They're fun and flirty and french (sorry with the stereotypes, but you can't escape the connotations of the breton top being, well, breton). Insouciance and effervescence and biting your lip sex appeal all follow with the striped top. Child-like and innocent on the one hand, throwing it on after a late night-rendezvous with last night's heels slung over your hand...  Duality is my favourite thing about fashion!

Monday 

Burberry leather jacket, lanvin booties, topshop breton crop top, lanvin for acne skirt, lanvin earrings, chloe python bag.

Monday's work rush has you reaching for tried and tested staples with a new twist. Leather jacket in a supple olive green lambskin lambskin, buttery denim in rich indigo, brogue lace up shoe-boots, paste diamonds (no real ones this early in the day, and with your monday-itis). The piece de resistance, however, is this breton  crop top you picked up at topshop on the weekend, a chic mixture of french navy stripes in two different sizes on a white background. You feel very french riviera without the old dames and big dogs. And as you head off to work, bag swinging from the crook of your elbow and clouds gathering in dark ominous groups all you have to do is hum charles trenet's 'la mer' and suddenly you're transported to a sunny beach with a bellini in hand and an adorable man footing the bill. Monday-itis, begone!

Tuesday
Rick owens organza jacket, pamela love claw and eagle bracelets, t by alexander wang shirt, dries van noten skirt, lanvin shoes, givenchy python clutch. 

Stripes at night? really? Isn't that a little bit too casual for ritzy dinners and late night cocktails? Shouldn't you break out the LBDs and fishnets? Well, you should, but you're never one to follow the rules. This beautiful silk skirt by dries van noten has stripes of gradiating size as well as a nice thick waistband, cinching in and fanning out. Slim and tight-fitting. Perfect. With a simple tee shirt and a formal jacket you're ready to hit whatever the night throws at you. But because ready is never enough you add bejewelled stilettos with mirror cone heels (hey, subtlety is not your strong suit) and claw bracelets. Why make it all business and no pleasure? You are suitably mis-matched and not a little bit night-time. But hey, you do look good. And that's all that matters. 

Wednesday
rayban frames, prada clutch bag, lanvin necklace vanessa bruno top, christopher kane pants, dries van noten jacket, chloe shoes. 

Adding a pair of glasses makes you look infinitely smarter, you think, and it also helps with the fact that your vision is terrible. Most of the time you labour under contact lenses and squinting, but sometimes (when you have to impress advertisers or spend long hours perusing notes and files on interview subjects and stories) you actually need the glasses, despite your pride. Well, if you're going to have to wear frames you might as well make your outfit extra special. Pants with scalloped detail on the side seams are a good start, and topped by a sheer tee shirt, chunky patent heels and a paste gros-grain necklace are excellent add ons. the best is yet to come though, a striped fitted blazer whose thick stripes on the shoulder veer into almost pin-stripes at the hem make you look longer and smarter. Who needs glasses when you have a jacket like this? 

Thursday
acne jeans, petit bateau shirt, lanvin flats, lanvin bag, vanessa bruno jacket. 

You're going on a date to the movies, and you've just spent the last 3 hours deciding what to wear. How you could waste so much time on such a trivial thing is beyond you, but it is what it is, and you can't change yourself. You really like this guy, and you want to look casual and chic, dare you say it, effortless. No matter how much time you've spent primping and preening in front of the mirror. You settle on jeans, a ruffled blazer, simple ballet flats and a quirky bag for a bit of an imaginative touch, but you don't know what to wear as a top. A plain block colour seems boring and predictable. You want something casual and chic and, well, effortless. You settle on stripes. Gorgeous, gorgeous breton stripes in french navy and off white, crisp and clever and all parisian insouciance. You fasten your hair in a messy chignon (the whole french thing seems to be a theme) and stride out the door. You hope there's a patisserie on the way to the theatre, you suddenly have a maddening desire for croissants.

Friday

aquascatum trench coat, dries van noten dress, vintage sunglasses, topshop ring, richard nicoll cape cardigan, marni shoes. 

Business meetings are the bane of your existence. They freak you out, you never know what to expect, and you know your boss is just dying for an excuse to send you packing, so you have to try extra hard to be heard. You don't have to worry about being seen, though, when wearing this amazing dress. Dries is all about the stripes at the moment, different sizes all lined up together forming the optical illusion of more height and less width, as well as the lesser known add on effect of more chic. That, of course, can also be achieved with a suede trench coat from aquascatum in a gorgeous deep blue with ruffles, the option of a warm cardigan if its gets chilly, a flashy cocktail ring and marni platform heels in plum and indigo. You might feel insecure and unsure inside, but on the outside you're a charming and witty sophisticate. That's half the hurdle jumped. 

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