In an unexpected turn of events, I attended the Southampton Boat Show on Friday. IT WAS EXCELLENT.
I've had a soft spot for boats since I went on a boating holiday down the Thames as a kid, with my friend Kate and her family. Actually scrap that, it started way before that, there is a super adorable picture of me as a toddler, with my big brother, pretending to steer my mum and dad's friend's boat. They had a huge house that backed on to the river in Caversham and to this day that is one of my 'dream houses'. Imagine, keeping your own boat in the river equivalent of a garage. One day I got carried away 'play steering' and it turned out I was steering the motherfucking boat yo! Back to the boating holiday - I loved when we would get to a lock and it would be action stations. We even made up a song to the theme of 'Rosie and Jim' - basically just replace those names with 'Lucy and Kate' and the put Martin and 'laine in there somewhere, oh and the KING'S FUSILIER, as that was the boat name. So cool. The only bad thing was when we got super-pooped on by a bird. But thatcould have happened on dry land too.
Now I take any opportunity to get on a boat. One of my favourite times from holiday last year was the one-day cruise we did around Cyprus. Ah yes, I would get on very well on one of those boats with a sun deck. Or a speed boat. So the long haired animals could sit along the sides and let their ears blow in the wind. I digress... YES, A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME.
Almost as much as I like the idea of having a pleasure cruiser, a 5-man staff in tight whites and magnums of champagne on ice, there is one more shallow thing I like about the idea of sailing on the deep - the clothes of course! I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, I will always dress to the theme. So to the boat show I wore this boat-neck, nautical striped number from one of the thrift store fill-a-bags. I also wore my captain's jacket (the navy M&S one from the previous post). I wore plain old an ankle boots there. I had got this right, all of the fellow show attendees were wearing tan footwear but there was an abundance of deck shoes! I can turn anything in to a shopping expedition, so I bought the best cheapest pair I could find (well, my boots were rubbing too...)
The top is made of a heavy material and is quite big, so I probably look as fat as a sea cow in it, but it is super comfy to wear, and I actually think it does look pretty cool with a leather mini skirt.
It feels a bit weird posting this outfit considering the total about-face that the weather has done in the last week, but I actually wore this on perhaps one of the wettest days of this summer (well, the 2 quite decent months we can call summer in the UK). Unfortunately this was the weather on one of my friend's wedding days, but we'd be damned if we were going to change our outfit plans to suit the weather (well, for obvious reasons the bride wasn't going to). I bought this dress months ago from the half price rail in Beyond Retro on Cheshire Street (the one with the store cat!) for £14. I thought this was a total bargain. I wanted to save it for a worthy event, and isn't it just perfect for a 'summer' wedding?
Once the total outfit was assembled, in hand with my post-Barca tan, I realised it was all a bit '80s Barbie...and quite a lot briesmaidy - luckily I knew it was nothing like the actual bridesmaid dresses for the day. But as you can see, we had a bit of fun faux bridesmaiding with one of the real maids (in mint). The shiny, strappy pink shoes have nealy been sent to the charity shop a couple of times but luckily this was intervened and now I am so glad to still have them. I bought them in 2007 in Bracknell and my friend Simone who was with me at the time thought I had lost my mind. The navy blazer is old M&S bought in the Thames Hospice shop in Woodley Precinct for £6 (I have the short sleeved version too!) and the pink tote bag is Jaeger - a new job treat to myself. Now magazine had a thing in their issue out today abot how pink bags are 'the very latest thing' so I feel unintentionally 'on trend'.
I LOVED the bride's dress so much. It was Candy Anthony and looked so fantastic and swishy when she danced.
Howdy partners!
For my sister's birthday she had a mexican fiesta. There were lethal tequila drinks, incredible edibles and a pinata (my contribution). As I love a theme dress, I finally had an opportunity to wear my cowboy-style denim shirt dress (from an East End thrift store fill-a-bag). I teamed it with the new belt I got for my birthday which was very tex-mex- cowboy buckle but made of a colourful striped material remniscient of a poncho (from Beyond Retro). I finished the outfit off with my tatty devine day of the dead necklace and silver snakeskin high heels (good old M&S), as I felt the dress needed sophisitcated shoes to contend with its voluminosity. The close-up is from a little fun shoot my friend Elle and I did in October, hence the difference in hair colour.
the last two saturdays have been music-centric in very different ways. Last week was High Voltage in Viccy Park (10 mins walk from my flat, the old lady in me was really chuffed by that); and yesterday it was Horrible Histories live at The Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. I was disgustingly hungover but it was free and we had box seats so we were on to a winner. I have to say it was so much better than I had imagined!
They performed familiar songs from the show; Charles II rap, Cleopatra Lady Gaga style and the Vikings as stadium band singing a rock ballad were my personal favourites - no Dick Turpin song, booo, they misjudged that because a few people had come dressed as dandy highwaymen.
The actors were backed by a 30 piece orchestra and choir, and the songs from the show were seamlessley woven in with pieces of music from various eras so you learnt about music, composers and instruments at the same time. And the music was fantastic! They played an excerpt from Danse macabre, one of my favourite pieces of music, and other atmospheric, goth named pieces such as 'March to the scaffold from 'Symphonie fantastique' (Berlioz, 1830). I also loved the orchestral version of Greensleeves (another great piece of music), and they played the wedding march and I did a bit of learning when they said that it comes from the music composed for A Midsummer Night's Dream by German composer Felix Mendelssohn, and Queen Victoria's eldest daughter chose this piece of music for her wedding, and since then it has become the standard walk down the aisle music for Bristish couples. Queen Victoria also made the white wedding dress so popular that after the 1850s it started to become the desirable norm that we still see today. Before her, metallic dresses in gold and silver were very popular among the wealthy classes, which sounds awesome to me. If you bear in mind that a few of our Christmas traditions also come from Victoria's husband Albert, it is funny that a number of what feel like staple, British traditions, are actually German in origin and have only been around since Victorian times, so just do whatever the eff you want.
After learning and laughing and singing we strolled around Chelsea and Kensington where the other 'arf lives, checking out all the amazing massive houses with huge windows and gates and cars and felt thoroughly mizo about my financial situation. But thesun was shining and I got to wear this skirt that I got from a charity shop in Reading a few months back:
It is vintage M&S, couldn't guess a date on it but it is a large kids size. It may not be the most flattering shape on someone of my figure but the swathes of cotton swish around when you wear it and it feels AMAZING. I accessorised with this navy bag, again charity shopped, glasses from the Next sale and Primark espadrilles that are blue with white straps - WILD!
yeah I made it onto the vogue website but I don't wanna brag about it....
no, in all seriousness, the guy who was shooting street chic that day works in my office and I just so happened to be wearing 'bright, summery' trousers that day. This is also how I made it in to New Look magazine a couple of months back. Sadly this was shot the week before I had my Little Wing feathers put in, so I couldn't plug them, drat. These trousers are old M&S (when the labels still St Michaels, think I could dedicate a whole blog alone to my old Marks and Sparks finds), and were £2.95 from the Sue Ryder charity shop I used to work in. They accentuate my jabooty but there's something so sick that I just love about them.
In other, printed trousers news, I luuuuurve these abstract leopard print wide legs from Next:
The tassel bottom halter neck is a left over relic from mother's 90s clubbing days. I have the dress of it too, which I am sure will make an appearance at some point. My sister said I looked like one of the girls from ABBA this night; "not the blonde one mind, wouldn't go that far". Fur jacket was from a chazza shop and the straw and patent pleather bag was a quid from Primark, yess freebies and cheap things.
So tonight's film is Moulin Rouge. I don't know how I've never seen it either, I'm pretty sure I tried once but fell asleep. I thought I'd hate it but NO, I have been gripped. I love the postmodern intertextuality with the songs, like when Satine is singing 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' and then breaks in to 'Material Girl', the video for which was a homge to Monroe's scene in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'. Also, it's got dancing in, and I love a bit of all that. I won't
carp on about the costumes in it; I can't say I'm really a fan of all that frilly knicker, corsets, stocking and suspenders thing (not all girls think the sun shines out of Dita Von Teese's -hole). I do like the men's clothes in it. McGregor's turn as a bohemian writer, I mean that is a classic look. Hoo Ray.Another Scot I have been indulging in is that there Paolo Nutini. During two days of utter despair and potential breakdown I have not been able to stop listening to his music, tracks 'Candy', 'Pencil Full of Lead' and '10/10' in particular. I know there have been mixed reviews re. 'Sunny Side Up' vs. 'These Streets' but he really can do no wrong, they're both fantastic albums. I'd even lay it out there and say he's the only current 'pop' or 'chart' artist worth listening to. I shan't try and analyse it too much but basically I think there is depth and sincerity to everything he does, even though to look at him you'd think he was a wee scamp who put it about rather than singing 'It was in love I was created and in love is how I hope I die', but there we are. He claims his mum is more rock 'n' roll than he is but I can't say, can't say. Ok what else? Here is my Marsha Marsha Marsha (Brady) shirt. It's a hundred years old M&S; seriously, it's the oldest thing from M&S I've ever seen and I've not seen another label like it. Everyone laughed at me at work when I bought it. They may have a point but I carry on regardless.
I really like the shirt, excuse the fact I look like I'm having miserable time wearing it.
