Tuesday 28 April 2015

The perfect white summer dress …...



Hi Gorgeous ones,

The white dress for me IS summer. I like to buy at least one new one every year!
I know that lots of you adore white linen trousers and white jeans - but it is the dress that completely encapsulates the sunshine for me.
But what do you do when the one that haunts your dreams is a crazy amount of money? Yes, Chloe, I am talking about you and your spectacularly gorgeous Guipure Lace Dress!

Designer day dresses to me are always a conundrum - yes of course I appreciate the work that has gone into them - but where as we can justify gorgeous (and for that, read expensive) designer shoes and bags, because we wear them an awful lot, it's much harder to apply the same logic to a dress - especially when you are as clumsy as I am …….. and white is gonna need a lot of looking after.

Still, the dress won't leave my thoughts, and it was made much worse when I saw it in store at Selfridges this weekend - it's far too beautiful for words.



Chloe S/S 2015 White Guipure Lace Dress


Rosie wore the halter neck version to Coachella (as you do!)


Chloe Crochet Dress (Net-a-Porter Exclusive)  £1920



The Crocheted dresses are super cute too - but wince inducing at £1745

So, back in the real world Zara was my friend!
Because a dress you can actually wash and not be scared of definitely had its advantages - right!



Lace Dress - Zara £69.00

I received the one above and it is seriously gorgeous.
OK, it may not be Guipure Lace like the Chloe one - but it is much more purse and red wine friendly!

Zara definitely took their inspiration from the Chloe versions
so you can get the look without breaking the bank


Crochet Cape Sleeve Dress - Zara £59.99


Lace Dress - Zara £69.99


Which one is your favourite?

Thanks for visiting xxxx





Tuesday 7 April 2015

Forever in Blue Jean …………..




Hi Lovelies,

Thanks so much for all the B love yesterday - and for all the guesses - a few of you got close - Maglet you called it straight away!!

Yes, my Birkin Baby colour is Blue Jean - I love that it seems to change colour in different lights. Brace yourselves - I have taken lots of piccies of her today to show you what I mean - with no filter on any of them!! I'm still so excited about it.


Hello Lover
Hermes Birkin 35 in Blue Jean Clemence with Palladium Hardware











completely unmarked inside …...

Look at this little Blue Family!
with Hermes Blue Hydra Evelyne III and
Saint Laurent Bleu Majorelle Monogram



It seems to look good with black too - winning!!


Sooooooo, what do you think!!!!


Thanks for looking x












Monday 6 April 2015

A huge Hermes Birkin day for me today ………….




Hi Lovelies,

Happy Easter Monday to everybody.

Today goes down for me as one of my most exciting days EVER (Disclaimer ™ excluding our wedding day and daughters births obviously!) I promise I do not say this lightly, today is the culmination of years of dreaming.

Today is the day that Jools became the owner of a Hermes Birkin bag …….. YES - I finally have one!!
Sorry I didn't tell you about it when I saw you yesterday Mumma !!!!!!

I am talking years of lusting, drooling, dreaming and if I am being completely honest, complete and utter envy every time I see somebody carrying one (I guess it is akin to boys looking at motoring magazines and wandering around car showrooms, dreaming of the day they will own their super car) - except this is MUCH more exciting!

I love reading about and researching the Birkin. I like to bore everybody with little snippets or details about them. If you want to know the basics there is a great link HERE!!!!!

I have toyed with Hermes already - The Kelly bag was short lived as it was just that little bit too formal for me - and my Hermes Evelyn is pretty much my most used bag as you really can carry it every day - but the Birkin - well that's the ultimate bag isn't it - there is nowhere to go from here.
Finally getting your hands on your absolute holy grail is so exciting, but also a little bit daunting - as it really is a dream that has come true so what do you dream about next!

And so it happened - I found THE one for me. It was the size I wanted (35cm) in the Hardware I wanted (Palladium) and in new condition ………..

If you are into high fashion you will know all about Hermes and its practices - they are not folklore sadly.
You can forget about getting a Birkin bag from a Hermes store - it is just not going to happen unless you are (a) a very wealthy and very regular client - or (b) if you are willing to play the Hermes game ……….. this "game" consists of making lots of smaller Hermes purchases - scarves, jewellery  accessories etc. that you may not really want or need, just to become friendly and a recognisable face to an SA who might or might not then offer you a Birkin or a Kelly 8 to 10 months down the line - and even after all that - it probably won't be in a colour or leather that you originally wanted. I don't condone it at all - but it is what it is.



So, unless you are blessed with endless patience and the time to be able to pop into your local H store a couple of times every week - it's the reseller route that you will be thinking about - and that can be scary.

So why would you want a bag that you have to jump through hoops for is the question I ask myself on a pretty regular basis? Daily probably ……..
Well, because it's handmade by one craftsman from start to finish from a single piece of leather - every stitch on the bag is stitched by hand and it takes over 18 hours to make a single piece- but mainly because, well, it's a freaking Birkin! You are never going to lose money on it - right now it feels a lot more secure to me than a pension and an awful lot more fun. 
A Birkin bag in good condition (even one that is 10 years old or over) is going to cost you as much as a brand new bag in the Hermes store (you remember, the store that you can't buy one in anyway) it's pretty crazy.

I have made some great contacts over the years from being obsessed with bags - and you can only consider buying a Birkin from somebody with impeccable credentials - you can't take a chance with a purchase like this. I was lucky enough to buy my bag from somebody I have dealt with before - I knew it would be in amazing condition - and it came with everything.

I'm not going to lie, I had a massive wobble this morning - thinking how can I even consider buying this bag. I think anybody that doesn't think that has a problem! But I also knew that I would really regret it if I didn't pounce on it. - I have known for ages what colour I really wanted - a colour that would work for me all year around - I just didn't think that I would find it, so when you finally do, and it is the right time - you almost try and talk yourself out of it, thinking that it is too good to be true.


Some Birkin Fans …………..



















So when I finally picked the bag up today and took the lid off of that famous orange box - I wondered how it could ever measure up - I had pitched this moment so high - how was it ever going to live up to the hype? I was also worried that maybe I wouldn't love it as much as I thought I would, or that the colour wasn't the same, or the size wasn't right!
Well,  there are no words to describe how perfect it is - I have never held one before so I didn't really know what to expect - I know they can get very heavy - but this bag is just - well - everything!!
I'm so buzzed about it!

Sooooo, which one did I get?
Well, I am going to keep you waiting one more day until I can get some cool pictures in the sunshine - but I would love to know which colour you think I have gone for (it is one of the colours above) - or let me know which colour would be your dream bag.

I can promise that I won't be punching studs in it or grafitti-ing it like Gaga or having gross drawings of naked ladies on the front like Kim Kardashian …….

There are NO words for this ……...


Thanks for reading xx