Today I nipped down, whizzed around and scooted back from London all in less than ten hours. A group of blogging friends were meeting and a last minute change of plans on my part meant that I could join them.
With an hour to spare before meeting up with everyone I headed, predictably, to Liberty for a look at their flower display...
....at their hats which I was hanging my nose over last time I visited....
...and of course their clothes, via a wander through their bag department where, once again, I hung my nose (good job it wasn't runny) over the Sophie Hulme bags.
The appeal of Liberty to me, aside from the beautiful building and great layout, is the fact that rather than stocking designer brands at a few thousand pounds a pop, the brands that they stock, whilst out of my price range, could possibly come within it with a good sale, a fair wind and with a bit of capital injection for a Christmas or birthday present. It's a kind of aspirational/dreamy/in an ideal world expedition.
I have often spied Tucker in the Harvey Nichols 70% off sale. I love the colours and the prints of the pieces.
Carrying on from where I left off with the quilted jackets a couple of days ago, this one is by Isabel Marant, as are the two below.
I'm not quite so sure about the checked one - it looks a little like the acquascutum print, which although I like on some things, this isn't one of them.
I liked this Day Birger jacket though. As with all patterns, it's very subjective but I liked the colours and the geometrical aspect to it and I think that it would be a little more versatile in terms of what you could put it with, than the quilted ones.
I love the brand A.P.C. for its casual French style. With a mixture of stripes, prints and textures in relaxed styles, I could see myself wearing any of these pieces practically any day of the week (in my dreams).
After Liberty, I had a wander down Regent Street to Anthropologie. Lovely colours in the window! They were so spring like, despite the snow that was falling outside.
I have had my eye on a lace fronted sweatshirt for a while now. Topshop, Zara and this one from Anthropologie are all contenders. I like the idea of the practicality of a sweatshirt but the lace appeals to my liking for pretty things too. Hmmm, I feel a blog post coming on!
I took this photo for my Mum, who loves garden birds. She hates collars on herself but loves birds, so there you go Mum, this one is for you - although I do like it too.
As to the meeting itself, I think that it's fair to say that we were all a little freaked out by meeting the actual, real, 3D people behind the blogs that we read. There's also that feeling of knowing people quite well, without really knowing them at all. I think that it was most eloquently summed up by Avril from School Gate Style who said that it would all take a while to process. It was so lovely though to get a chance to chat to everyone. Mostly we just chatted about our families - as is always the case when you get a group of Mums together. We went slightly off piste with a few other subjects too, once the wine had started flowing but some things are best left, for fear of causing embarrassment!
Due to the amount of chatting, eating and drinking that was going on, we didn't really take much by way of photographs but here's one of Natalie (left: Glam Rosie) and Avril (right: Schoolgate Style).
Here's Kat (left: Does my bum look 40 in this) and Fiona (right: Avenue 57)
Followed by Helen (left: The Flaky Fashionista) and Joanna (right: Poppy's Style) Sorry to Sue (Susie So So) and Marlene (Chocolate Cookies and Candies) for not getting photos.
With my attendance being a bit last minute, I had a quick flick through my wardobe last night to see what I could come up with. I had already decided on trousers, flats and of course layers and warmth were obligatory.
This is the print of the Zara blouse that I wore. I picked it up in the sale in the summer but hadn't worn it, so now seemed like the perfect time. It wasn't until I got it home that I realised that it had little gold skull buttons - but I quite like them.
With the photos being taken as we all piled into the car to take me to the station, they were a bit hurried. Actually I don't know why I put that as they always are - but I think that they just look it today!
So, here goes as to what I was wearing:
Shoes: All Saints, Trousers: Cos, Fur gilet: Primark (first outing), Leather jacket: Oasis (probably its 101 st outing!), Zara blouse; Orla Kiely bag; Gloves (present).
Some of the blogging ladies still won't be home yet. In fact three of them have to go home via aeroplane - two to Ireland and one to the US, so I must admit to feeling very un-exotic, tucked up as I am back at home. Thanks for a great day out fellow fashion bloggers!
