It's the Zara (jumble) Sale!

Now, you know I love Zara more than any other shop. Their clothes are well cut; just a millimetre difference here and there from other high street shops. They are mostly very well designed and could easily fit into any designer collection as the fabric is interesting and the colours effortless. The icing on the cake is that the prices are reasonable, especially for the investment pieces. The shops are chic, fairly clean and well laid out and the choice is vast.

I do, however, have one gripe... When Zara goes into sale, Zara descends into chaos.

It stresses me out, it really does. It becomes human soup, there's clothes on the floor, it's impossible to find what you want and argh! I'm not sure it would worry me so much if it wasn't a shop I was so bothered about and the blouse I'd been coveting for so long wasn't reduced!

So my apologies dear blog readers, but I am not going to rifling through the messy piles of beautiful clothes to pick out the best bargains and post them on here, I'm just not... 

Fear not.

Earlier this year Zara unleashed it's secret weapon, the one thing that was lacking in the unshakable fashion empire, Shop Online. Year round it provides us fashionistas with the best of Zara fashions at our fingertips and well as endless hours of blissful perusal. 

The thing I didn't appreciate at the time of launching is how un-stressful the Zara sale could be, thanks to shop online.


Here is, therefore, my pick of the Zara.com Sale...

 You all know I'm a sucker for a good trench coat, this one is down from £69.99 to £49.99 and will carry you stylishly through spring, summer and straight back into winter.

I love this cute lace dress for its versatility and likeness to pieces off the Erdem runway. Pair with tough heels and eyeliner for a chic evening look, or brogues or sandals for a relaxed summer look. It's £49.99 instead of £79.99.

This little spotty dress comes in 3 colours, teal, burgundy and mustard and has a distinctly vintage feel to it, the shape and fabric especially. It would be great for dressing up or down, and is a steal at £19.99 (was £25.99).

This camel A-line skirt would make perfect work or weekend wear in Spring/Summer, with Camel set to still be a hot colour for the new season. Team with a crisp blouse or slouchy t-shirt, for a simple, chic look.
Was £39.99, now £29.99














And Finally... You've just gotta love these shoes, down from £69.99 to £39.99!

Happy Shopping!

(But be quick because it's already selling out!)

Two Little Mermaids

If you saw my brief excitable post on Saturday night, you will be aware that I loved both Kara Tointon and Paloma Faith's mermaid dresses... 


And if you watched the Strictly Come Dancing Finale, you will have seen said beautiful mermaid shaped dresses...


But if you didn't see the show, fear not for I have  tracked down pictures of the fabulous specimens!

Kara wore her girly yet glam number to perform her final routine with partner Artem, I love the light layers of tulle under the heavy beading - So pretty!

Meanwhile, Paloma wore her bronze and rose-gold tile covered nude dress by Ashley Isham, to perform her hit "Upside Down". While it's a showstopping dress, I think its name, "The Glitterball Gown" is equally fabulous!

Strictly Come Dancing Final

Oh wow, Kara's last dress and Paloma Faith's dress.

Amazing.

Pictures to follow as soon as I can get my hands on them...

Matt Ford - Fashion outside the Capital - A ten day photographic exhibition

Tonight I got to visit the exhibition of fabulous Liverpool fashion photographer, Matt Ford, and so stylish it was too. The inspiring exhibition celebrates the fashion industry, and its creative talents, outside of the traditional hub of fashion, London.

Matt has work of his on display from the beginning of his career, as well as images taken just a couple of months ago, in a vast room that is stark white, yet full of character. Alongside his photos he also has jewellery, spectacular hats and clothes lent to him by the designers featured, and a beautiful video installation of burlesque performer, Millie Dollar.

I don't want to say much more to spoil the surprise, but I highly recommend that you go and visit the exhibition (The CIC. 57 Jordan Street, Liverpool) before it finishes on 27th November, it is well worth a trip.

Click here to go to event page on Facebook
Or here to visit Matt's own Fashion Blog, Firecracker Fashion.

FD - 24th November 2010 - Lanvin For H&M

A day on, I have recovered.

To be honest, compared to some people's valiant attempts to get their hands on the collection, mine was fairly subdued... But it worked - more on that after I tell you the story!

Unable to get to Manchester, the nearest place to us to be stocking the collection, it seemed online was the only option. So my alarm went off at 6.30am and when I finally remembered what it was set for, I was up, and shortly after, the website was up.

Nervously refreshing until 7am, I got the dress in my basket, and checked out.

Except I wish it was that easy, the checkout crashed and we received the "error" message more times than I can count...

By some miracle (and a long rant to customer services) the order went through and by Christmas, I will be the proud owner of the beauty pictured below.

It's not just any dress, and really, though its beautiful, its not actually the material value that's the main attraction...

Firstly, it's not likely to happen again, Alber Elbaz, the designer behind Lanvin said that he wanted to bring luxury to H&M, not take the Lanvin brand downmarket. "I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public." He went on, 'H&M approached us to collaborate, and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less."

These dresses are a part of fashion history, the design perfectly encapsulates the beauty of Lanvin and though I haven't yet seen my piece, I have heard the quality is far more high end than high street. What's more, eBay is already crawling with items from the collection, being flogged for one and a half to twice the selling price...


Excited much?!

Lanvin Flagship Store - 22 Rue du Faubourg St Honoré, Paris

Beautiful.

Kirsty Doyle's new shop!

I've just got back from the opening party of Kirsty Doyle's gorgeous new shop, with cocktails by Santa Chupitos, marshmallows and toffee apples - yum!

I forgot to take my camera which was really clever, so until I manage to track some pictures down, I'll try my hardest to get across how lovely the shop was...

It's bigger than the last one, yet felt smaller in a good way, less like we were rattling around in a spacious box (albeit a beautiful one!). The windows are huge and perfectly frame the parade of mannequins. Luxury taupe flocked curtains and an antique counter look fabulous against the clean white walls and floor, and Kirsty's beautiful clothes hang off industrial silver rails, providing a perfect contrast. I loved the dress she wore tonight, a pale mint green voluminous number, with a leather mini underneath and towering stacked heels. But I also love the fuschia pink draped maxi skirt I spied...

I can't wait to go and visit it again soon when it's fully up and running!

You can visit Kirsty's website here, or visit the shop at 18 Manesty's Lane, Liverpool One. 

31st October 2010 - Paris Diary TROIS

So it's the final post in my series of Paris diaries, and frankly I don't want to go home! But I'm just about to be served dinner on the Eurostar, and the sad truth is that I am on my way back to England...

To get the outfit out of the way first, today's was the most relaxed out of the three, about as casual as I can possibly pull off!

 

Top - H&M

Trousers - Zara

Coat - H&M

Scarf - H&M

Shoes - Wallis

This morning we saw the Eiffel Tower, quite unexpectedly actually, we got off the metro, turned the corner and it was just sort of, there! Very tall and very beautiful, sounds just like my shoes, in an architectural way... We also bought a few too many of those keyrings I mentioned in post UNE, we felt bad on the men, and I kept accidentally doing deals so we had to cough up. If anyone therefore wants an oh so classy Eiffel Tower keyring, you know where to come!

So to keep to the pattern, it was something fashion related for the afternoon, that trip down (a sadly closed) Rue de Faubourg Saint Honoré. Lanvin was imposing and beautiful, spread over 2 stores on both sides of the road and will be getting a post of its own in the near future, the Vogue offices were classy and hidden away, and the door handle of Christian Louboutin was a work of art in itself.

Yes, I did have my picture taken outside just about every shop... here's just a selection!

So this brings me sadly to the end of the Paris Diaries.

In the last picture you will see a carrier bag that contains the all important Vogue and L'Officiel... Look out for posts about them in the very near future!

Au Revoir!

For once there's no essay...

Lanvin for H&M, enough said.

30th October 2010 - Paris Diary DEUX

Today was Le Louvre day... The pyramid was beautiful, the gallery busy, and Mona Lisa bigger than I expected! Never one to stop working, I found myself slightly distracted by the draping of the thousands of marble busts.. (my textiles group will understand!) I can honestly say I have never seen quite so much art, after 3 hours I was withering and in need of food. Food I got, in a chic sidestreet cafe nestled among antique shops, love it.

Afternoon, and it was time for the much anticipated visit to Avenue des Champs-Élysées and H&M! It seemed like I was never going to find it by the time I'd got three quarters of the way down the road and still not got there. I think I actually ran when I saw it, towering smooth stone, chic black lettering and swarms of excitable shoppers clutching white bags. Frankly I didn't really care what I got in my bag, so long as I got a bag. I ended up with a black sequined mini, you know, go to Paris, buy an LBD... Oo it's those stereotypes again!

Today's outfit from the camel/black palette made me feel half french, half 5 year old in Sunday best, in a good way.

Dress - Zara

Top - Zara

Coat - H&M

Scarf - H&M

Shoes - Marks and Spencer

You may also notice I have a new profile picture... That is of course me coming out of the French Vogue Offices, practising for the future, but more of that tomorrow!

Finally, an update on the search for the aforementioned lady with the dog... I saw an off duty version, albeit with voluminous curly blow dry, camel on the top half, jeans and Ugg boots on the bottom, small squeaking dog (on lead) in arms. Day half made!

29th October 2010 - Paris Diary UNE

Bonsoir!

As I write this im lying on my very comfy french bed, trying not to fall asleep after what has been a very busy day. This is the first of 3 posts that will be coming live from Paris, as I document all the fashionable elements of my trip for you my lovely readers...

Today I had the unfortunate revelation that I must look like a tourist, since I lost track of the number of times I had random men try to tie things round my wrist (I whacked him with my baguette), sell me Eiffel Towers (I politely declined) and offer to draw me in 3 minutes (I ran)... And it probably didn't help when I saw a French H&M bag and yelped loudly. It was white, with thick handles and silver writing which declared it was from Avenue des Champs-Élysées - Guess where I'm off to tomorrow!

I also located Rue de Fauborg Saint Honore, top of my to-do list and home to Lanvin's flagship store and the offices of French Vogue. I'm off there tomorrow as well, spying Chanel and Dior on the way down earlier on. As well as visiting said shops, tomorrow I'm going to the Louvre and the Museum of Fashion and Textiles which is attached to it. Excited is not the word!

People-wise, as you all know I love spotting fabulous outfits and today I was doing just that. I didn't take any pictures purely because I've not plucked up the courage yet to politely ask in French if I can take their picture for my blog! I may try tomorrow... But anyway, from what I've seen, there is the expected mix of eclectic mismatched French dressing and the head to toe black look that has "fashion snob" written all over it. I say that, but I'm usually in head to toe black and I would not describe myself as a fashion snob... Speaking of which, my outfits for this trip are all very colour co-ordinated as you will see (Strict camel/black colour palette for ease of packing and to leave lots of room in my suitcase for purchases). Today's photo isn't the best as we were too busy today to take the pic, so it was done about 10 minutes ago!

Trousers - Zara
Top - Zara
Coat - H&M
Shoes - Marks and Spencer
Scarf - H&M

On a final note, I'm still looking for a tall, thin lady, chignon in hair, pursed lips, a black pencil skirt, a flash of Louboutin red sole as she walks and a small canine on a long thin lead, coming out of a grand looking building, speaking in fast, elegant french on her telephone.

Stereotypical I know but I'm in Paris for the first time and I won't be satisfied 'til i've seen it...

Oh and I absolutely love it here...

Jusqu'à demain! X

FD - 15th October 2010

Long time no see! Three whole weeks to be precise. I know that is a long time to be away from the blog and I am very very sorry, but I think my absence can be attributed to the fact that half of my A Levels are sketchbook subjects and the fact I've been working in the shop rather a lot.

So anyway, a few exciting things have happened since we last spoke... The first major thing is that I bought some new shoes in the Geiger sale. And wow what shoes they are.

Honestly, they received mixed reviews when they accompanied me to school the other day (they miss me at home alone... joke, I was drawing them!), as certain people dared to say that the platform looked like it had just been randomly stuck on, or that they just weren't "the nicest shoes they'd ever seen".

I think not. I would like to, at this point draw attention to the fact that the shoes are cut just that bit higher, you know like jeans that sit actually on your waist but are still the perfect length, setting them apart from other low cut peep to styles which give you unnecessary toe cleavage (peep toe + excess toe cleavage... no). While said extra piece somewhat resembles a collar, and the little cross over adds an expensive touch.  May I also point out that there is just a hint of a sparkle in the leopard, which you can't see on the picture... Perfect!

Now I bought these shoes partly as a treat, but mainly to wear next Saturday, which is the second exciting thing. I'm going to the much talked about Juice FM Style Awards with my favourite fashion photographer Matt Ford. He's going to be doing a live fashion shoot backstage with all the award winners, and I'll be tweeting all the gossip as I hear it, plus I'll be quizzing all our stylish scousers and finding out where all the fabulous outfits are from. If you're on twitter follow Matt, @mattfordphoto and keep up to date with all that happens on the night!

I will be sure to post a photo of me wearing the amazing shoes!

Lanvin For H&M competition

You all know I LOVE Lanvin, and you all know that I am a walking advert for H&M.

This of course means I am particularly excited about the forthcoming Lanvin and H&M collaboration.

To tempt us, H&M are going to release a worldwide trailer, and have launched a competition to find one lucky person's blog to put it on.

 And I'd like it to be mine! So I am asking you (and ANYONE else you can persuade to - it only takes seconds!)  to please vote for me by literally clicking on the button at the top of my blog!!

Plus I also believe you can share it on Facebook, and you can vote as many times as you like!

Thank you lovely readers!

London Fashion Week



The big black box you always see on pictures

I am slow... very slow! I think to be honest it has taken me this long to come down from the crazy experience that was my visit to LFW on Monday, so apologies for the lateness in this report! It was nothing like I expected, not in  a bad way, but was so unbelievably exciting! Then there was the people, the well dressed people. I was going to so another of my "spotted" things for this, but frankly I couldnt choose who was the best dressed because everyone, and I mean everyone, looked completely fabulous.  I saw girls with rhinstone eyebrows, and glamourous old ladies lost track of the number of people wearing camel.

I meanwhile didn't wear camel, but my new best, but impractical, friend, the poncho, and the ever faithful pussy bow blouse had an outing as you can see from the picture. (Excuse the cheesy grin - I was a tad excited!)

With all there is to see, a lot of it was a blur, but some things really stuck out, and I think I might have a new obsession, Bebaroque tights. I'd heard of them, I'd seen them in shoots, but never in real life... And wow, they are beautiful. The softest, sheerest tights in the most delicate nude, with beads, gems and sequins sewn onto patterned panels. Gorgeous.

The detail on the tights

I also spotted a couple of names that I hadn't seen before, and some fabulous collections for SS/11. These I will  do proper articles on and pop on here in the next week I promise.

I'm now on  a mission to get to be a "somebody" so I can go next year!



Let's lay the meat to rest.

I've noticed with all the fuss about Lady Gaga's "meat dress" for the VMA's, no one seems to have noticed quite how good she looks in her first outfit, a dress by her friend, the late Alexander McQueen.

With a typically dramatic gold feathered headdress scraping high above her head, Lady G stepped out in a pair of snakeskin armadillo shoes, (having had plenty of practice walking in them for her Bad Romance vid) and the flowing printed chiffon number, and I think, looked completely fabulous.

While still being suitably outrageous, her look is a chic foray into the world of classy dressing. Now that's probably a boring place to be for such a lady, one who wears lobsters on her head and dresses made out of origami.

But I think she looks amazing, so come on, lets shut up about the meat, (on the grounds it will be in the bin anyway now I hope...) and focus on this, as it may just be Gaga's best look to date.

Glamping... The aftermath

As promised, I have a picture of me "glamping", which will come as no suprise to anyone who's already seen the delights The Mother tagged me in on Facebook...

Yes, I am wearing my wellies not my fabulous boots, but give me my due, I was in the sea at the time! And I did wear my boots, when we arrived to the village where we were stopping for lunch. No one told me a walk up to the top of a waterfall was included in lunch...

I walked up the big hill perfectly well and the six inch heels only made for a better view at the summit.

Ha.

FD - 10th September 2010

I think.. I'm in love.

Suede Boots H&M £59.99

Wear with camel pants/jeans/trench/cape. You've got the picture... And so have Elle, they were featured in October's pick of the highstreet supplement.

I would love a pair of these very much...

Summer Fashion Trends Review

As sumptuous camel tones, chunky knits and luxurious fabrics dominate the catwalks and start to infiltrate the high street; it’s easy to forget the trends we embraced for the summer months. Why dwell on the past season you may cry; why not, I say! We loved the styles which carried us through to autumn, so lets take a while to reflect on some of them; celebrate the successes (and pray they return next year) and laugh at the disasters, while praying they don’t!

Firstly there’s denim which popped up embellished, bleached and in the ubiquitous “jegging”… Oh and we can’t leave out the controversial foray back into the 70’s world of double denim, a move that left the fashion pack completely divided. While some praised the bravery and confidence of wearers, others saw it as a fashion car crash. Then there’s bleached denim, which, for me, proved a summer staple mainly in shorts and shirts. Embellished metallic jeans seemed like an interesting concept but in reality only took off on the Balmain catwalk, however an inch or two of roll up at the bottom of your jeans was definitely the most foolproof and fabulous way to update your look. Lastly, pretending to be denim - jeggings… I’ll leave you to remember them how you will!

Without a doubt, the biggest success story of summer trends was the pastel colour palette with fashionistas up and down the country stylishly modelling themselves on ice cream sundaes and bags of pick and mix. With shades that flattered everyone, this was one trend that was unavoidable no matter how hard you tried. And even if you weren’t convinced by the clothes, candy coloured nail polish was an easy and chic way to tap into the trend.

Hemlines seriously dropped for the season as everything went maxi. The old favourite floaty maxi dress reappeared, but as did a new species that is the skin-tight, floor sweeping jersey sheath, in both dress and skirt forms. While some people just hated them, I mean, they were difficult to walk in, they did hide a killer tan, and were possibly the most unforgiving styles on the market, overall they proved to be a surprising hit in eye-catching stripes and patterns as well as easy to wear black, grey and khaki tones. I loved my dresses paired with a twisted and knotted belt.

Finally for shoes, we had clogs. They were an interesting one. After Chanel sent its brave takes down the runway, everyone was talking about the return of the clog. Then Alexa Chung appears on the cover of Vogue sporting said Chanel pair and the hysteria only builds. With advice popping up left, right and centre as to how to wear them and clogs being dubbed as “the only shoe to wear this season” it seemed like they were going to become just that. Though I think looking back now, they were actually more of a minority trend than was intended. Creeping up from behind, from the Sport Luxe trend, were shoe boots with missing heels and peep toes, which overshadowed the remodelled clogs. And though I did hear them branded stupid and pointless, they completely took off and were the easy footwear of choice for summer in flat, wedge and heel styles! I loved my perforated lace up wedge boots and will be wearing them right into autumn teamed with my classic trench coat. That said I loved my clogs too, they were far comfier than they looked, but they still didn’t get worn as much as my boots…

FD - 9th September 2010 - Glamping

Okay, the new way to do camping is "Glam-ping", so I've heard. Glamourous... and... Camping. Probably not two words you'd expect to be merged together, but hey ho, sounds perfect for me! I am in fact going camping at the weekend, and I'm hoping to be able to say I'm glamming it - I'm definitely not roughing it. Of course with camping comes the issue of a capsule wardrobe suitable for life outdoors, literally in a cold, muddy field. But, looking at the A/W catwalks this year, it seems the designers are doing us a favour, and helping us out with said capsule wardrobe, or at least giving me some inspiration, sadly I can't afford any Burberry shearling.

Thus, I set about looking for my "Glamping" wardrobe on the high street. First obstacle to overcome was footwear. The mother says walking boots, I say heels. Compromised and settled on patent black wellies to accompany black chunky heeled walking style boots with shearling trim. I fell in love with one pair (left - Next £65), and tried them on. Sadly no amount of persuasion was going to make said boots comfortable, so the search went on. Ended up with a pair half the price, but they were just a bit too shiny and looked too new. Problem solved after spending half an hour with a nail file, buffing them down a bit. Call me mad if you like but they look so much better for it.

Clothes wise, apparently it will be cold (though the weather forecast is sunny...) so I have to wrap up. Layers! Functional skinny jeans, pretty tops and dresses, a huge chunky woolie cardie and the old faithful trench coat are all on my packing list. Outfits are planned to work with both the wellies or the boots and everyone's happy. Note to self.. pack dress in case its super hot...

So this post will lead into another, the summary of the camping diaries, complete with pictures of my outfits...Then, we can decide whether I successfully pulled off "Glamping"!

A flick through some French fashion magazines

When in France, disappointed by some (the majority?) of the street fashion I witnessed, I figured a trip to Paris via the pages of a magazine would be a good idea. I tried hard, very hard to understand the writing in Vogue and L'Officiel Paris, to some avail. The pictures however were far more interesting...

Some were a bit boring, some quite funny, and others just rather french. Here's a few that stood out for me.

This spread, "Le belle etoile", in L'Officiel by Matthew Frost seems to have that particular French je ne sais quoi. While it may not seem on the surface the most exciting photo (left), I like the confidence and the statement made by looking at the back of the dress, as opposed to the more obvious front.

I love this image (right), from the same story, mainly because of the random sun worshippers in the background. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think they may actually have really been there. That is just so French, so typically laid back and I think, absolutely fabulous.

The next spread in L'Officiel by Rene Habermacher entitled "Tension" includes and image of a couple, clearly going through a rocky patch. While it is an editorial spread, the focus isn't so much on the clothes, but the scene, the situation and the feelings between the couple, which makes for a refreshingly different fashion story.

I can't help smiling at these images in the "Trompe D'oeil" story as I love the humour and the novelty aspect captured by photographer Paolo Zambaldi.

Moving onto Vogue... Remember in my last post, I moaned about not seeing the relaxed elegance we so associate with France? This picture (right) taken by Maciek Kobielski, is exactly what I'm talking about.

Finally is a spread of the new season key pieces from a selection of designers shot by top photographer David Sims. I like the uncontrivedness (is that a word??) and rawness of the images, which allow the clothes to speak for themselves.

FD - 19th August 2010 - I'm finally putting an end to this blog neglect

I'm back! As you might have noticed Parade has been somewhat neglected of late. Actually, make that very neglected - my dashboard said "last published on 20th July"... It's okay though I haven't been completely idle, this is just a quick post to let you know I'm still alive, haven't disappeared off the planet and tell you what I've been up to!

I've been working on some big articles which you'll see soon, I've been on holiday and finally I have a job! I'm now working part time in Phase Eight in the Metquarter, you know faffing around with hangers until every one is spaced perfectly and generally floating round a pretty dress shop... Which may I add is a pretty dress shop, not a frump shop. You could be forgiven for thinking it was, I did, but recently the stock has got a lot more suited to the younger consumer. Put it this way, I was given a uniform allowance and had absolutely no problem spending it! So please do come and visit me!

Speaking of which, I had the best dressed woman I've seen in a while in the shop yesterday. She was wearing camel trousers (slightly taupey actually), very reminiscent of those in the latest Chloe ad campaign (right), a nude silk blouse, unbuttoned almost to the navel with a blush sequin t-shirt underneath, a gold metal flower necklace and a flowing camel mac. I realise it sounds a tad dodgy on here, but in the flesh the tones were perfect and those trousers were so well cut... I only wished I'd had a camera with me to snap her. My boss was on her lunch too so she missed her...

Now I cant remember whether it was on this blog or my previous where I had a bit of a rant about French style. Nevertheless, I'm going to have it! In the nicest possible way, I actually struggle to see sometimes how Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world, is in fact, in France. I say this because round where I go, (south west) the clothes to buy in the shops, I would say, are foul. And I think most British fashionistas would agree. Now if you love linen, very rough and quite raw, in various washed out pastel tones, in a milkmaid style sack of a dress, you'd love it there. If not, like me, you'd end up spending a bomb in the amazing bijouteries. I bought a gorgeous necklace, which weighs a ton. But anyway back to subject, if your not a fan of the linen, there's shops similar to one I went in which we dubbed "French Matalan". Thinking back, I think that's a bit unfair on Matalan. The problem is, everything is just a bit weird. A blouse which looks lovely from the front will have a couple of random gathers and a "hip" french word scrawled across the back. Get the picture? The fabric is just not right, and the colours... since when lime green should be used for cropped pants I'll never know.

See the thing is, they don't really seem to be bothered by the actual clothes they're wearing. I think sometimes its a case of they have to wear clothes purely to look decent in public and its quite an inconvenience. A lot of French women just naturally have that elegance (not to mention the tan and the physique) and the confidence to look good in whatever they're wearing. They all have that thrown on relaxed thing going on that we praise Vanessa Bruno and Isabel Marant (left) for - that's both for the clothes they design and the clothes they wear. I suppose in picking apart their clothes, I'm quite jealous of a Frenchwoman's attitude. I've been told I could pass for French in the face, I'm trying to adopt their manner of dressing...

But somehow thrown on doesn't work for me, noticed?!

P.S. So much for a short post, I'm sorry, I got carried away!

P.P.S. If your not friends with me on Facebook but you are a reader of Parade and you would like to be the first to know when I post anything new, you can follow me on twitter @HanParade

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P.P.P.S. I've just thought of an exiting next post so look out for that in the coming few days!

FD - 20th July - Carrie's Wedding Dress in the Sale!

Think back, think back before Sex and the City 2, all the way to the first Sex and the City movie... Thinking? Though it shouldn't really take all that much thinking, remember Carrie's wedding dress...

Get a picture of it in your mind! Okay, sorry about the brainwashing, I'm a bit excited, you should notice there's a picture here anyway! I'm excited because, having sold out on Net-A-Porter last year, you can have your own Carrie Bradshaw wedding dress from The Outnet's Sale! Well it's not the exact same one, but its verrrry similar, a sort of mini version. It is of course Vivienne Westwood (Gold Label), and is in the same luxurious taupe silk. While its original price was £4,530, it's now had a whopping 60% knocked off it's now a slightly more palatable £1,812.

All you need to do is find an exotic teal bird to perch on your head, swipe some rouge across your lips and the Carrie look is nailed!

Incase you can't get your hands on said bird of paradise, there's an abundance of feathered fascinators online and in shops at the moment with it being wedding season... I'm loving this emu feathered piece from Packy B (price on application) .

Ooh I only wish I was getting married now!