Vogue's Fashion Night Out in London

London is not all theatres, museums and iconic monuments, so many people come here to shop. You only need to walk down Oxford Street and hear all the languages about you to see that.

I was invited by Superdry to visit their Regent St store during Vogue's fashion night out on Tuesday. How could I say no?

The Fireflies playing at Superdry's event

Cute leather coat I wished I could take home

A few other Superdry details from their Premium collection

After Superdry, I decided to make a night of it and have a look at what was happening at some other stores. Liberty had a DJ and were giving out free alcoholic ice-lollies. Gucci had their DJ in their window and were giving out freshly made candy floss.

Gucci's DJ and Candy floss

Diary I fell in love with at Liberty

Hugo Boss - exclusive event complete with velvet rope and fancy cocktails

Cute leather pleated skirt from Esprit

Have you ever bee to a fashion event? How did you find it?

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Wedding Dress Shopping in London

Organising a wedding, I have read, is either the most fun and exciting thing you'll ever do, or the most stressful, torturous experience. Or both. My friend K makes it looks so easy. Last week, on a Sunday, I tumbled out of bed and dragged myself to Wimbledon under the promise of free coffee. My friend K had asked me to join her on her first expedition into wedding dress shopping for her upcoming wedding in France next year. (seriously romantic story there, I'll have to fill you in another time though).

K had made two appointments for the day with a gap for lunch in between. The all important coffee in hand we made our way to the store. Before heading inside K stopped me and handed me an envelope. Cool, wedding invitations!! But she shook her head and told me to just open it. Inside was...

I was shocked, surprised, touched, happy, honoured, speechless and almost in tears as I hugged K and said of course I would be!!! Ive never been a bridesmaid actually, what are you supposed to do??? *Googles "bridesmaid duties"*

Inside the store K had a chat with the attendant about styles she was interested and where she would find the dresses in the store before being handed about 5 tags to place on the neck of hangers of dresses she wanted to try on. When K stepped out in the first dress, I have to confess, I got a bit choked up. She was beautiful and I was almost in tears again!!! But you'll be glad to hear that I pulled it together and was a bit useful. K looked simply stunning in every dress she tried on. She had picked two styles that really suited her and she ended up with quite a few dresses she liked from both places we went to - I don't envy her deciding which one to pick in the end!

These are some of the styles she tried on...

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So what are K's top 5 tips for Wedding Dress Shopping in London?

1. Take someone you trust
2. Have an idea of what styles you like, but,
3. Do keep an open mind
4. Know your budget and stick to it
5. Have fun!

And from what I was able to gather on the day, here are a few extra tips:

1. To book a weekend appointment, call at least two weeks ahead - maybe more if the place is very popular
2. Keep in mind that London is super busy so you are likely to have to wait 6 to 7 months for a dress to be made if you are not buying 'off the rack'

What are your tips for wedding dress shopping?

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Bye Bangkok

Hearing: Fire Flies - Owl City (i love this song!)

My last 2 days, well 2 and a half days in Bangkok were spent, shopping, relaxing, pampering and not doing any sight-seeing. I had so much fun. I booked myself into a hotel right near the shopping strip so i wouldnt have to go far to get home laden with shopping if i got carried away...but more about that later.

After checking in, first this was first, a traditional Thai massage. Now beleive it or not, in all my coming and going to BKK while flying, i never once stopped to get a massage, never having had one before i didnt know what i was missing out on. Anyway, i booked myself in and spent the hour trying not to laugh. Let me explain why. Firstly it was a nice place, they brought me in gave me pj's to change into and then a Thai girl came in...
She started with my feet...all i knew was that one minute she was smiling at me the next she was beating my feet into a pulp!! heehee...and she managed to find every possible ticklish spot i had! I swear i did all i could not to crack up laughing but i think she knew and she was super nice about it. She was even good enough to laugh with me when my stomach growled that it was hungry round about the time she was massaging my arms. She must have thought i was one weird girl. But i tell you what, she gave one heck of a massage for someone so tiny and my body felt really relaxed afterwards.

The next day i decided i would do some gift shopping and maybe get a manicure and pedicure. Leaving the hotel i decided to just wander around and not head anywhere in particular. It was the smartest thing i did!! I ended up down alleyways filled with shops that appeared to be small start ups of young fashion students/entreprenures and held far more interesting clothes than the mainstream shopping centres/malls.
At one point i found myself near some interesting restaurants...if you look closely at the one on the right, at the top is a small shark. And the photo on the left...take a look at the menu to get an idea of the scale of those shark fins! I would not like to encounter one of those alive!



Back into the alleyways I came across one store that really was challenging. It was an accessories shop. Unique accessories. Earrings!!! I was in there like a shot. In the matter of seconds i had already picked out 7 different pairs i would be more than happy to buy. How i exercised restraint i dont know. I only walked out with one pair.



Really cute!! I was in there looking at everything and started chatting to the 2 ladies in the store. One spoke surprisingly good English, turns out that she had lots of family in Sydney and had even been here a couple of times. She wasnt the designer though. It turns out that a bunch of friends travel around to gain inspiration and when they hit on something really funky they design a couple of pieces and she sells them in her little shop. In fact the shop had only been open for a month or so! I did ask if they had an online store as i was very interested in the designs and would definetly buy some more later. That really surprised her because she asked me if i really would do that and when i said absolutley and explained i really loved earrings but it was hard to find unique designs she was really flattered. Anyway, i did give her my email address should they build a website bought my pair and continued my trek through the labrynth of alleys and shops.

Im sorry to say that the rest of that day - shopping wise - wasnt very fruitful, i guess after the fantastic find with the earrings everything else just wasnt good enough. I did buy some jeans though. Anyway once i saw it was useless to keep shopping i opted for a movie and while waiting for my session time I pampered myself with a manicure/pedicure.

Going to the cinemas was a surprising experience. They have the usual hollywood blockbusters and Thai productions but the difference was in the showing. Like you would expect, they ran advertising and movie preveiws but just before showing the feature they ran a montage of the Royal Family complete with national anthem. Everyone in the audience stood up. Everyone. The teen rebels, parents, expats, tourists (including me) - everyone stood up. I thought it was a nice touch, cant see it happening in Australia though lol! And i enjoyed how everyone - a melting pot of cultures - reacted the same to different scenes.

Day 2 was a lot more successful shopping wise, my bag was packed with Thai silk scarves, colourful handbags, clothes, and much more. In fact i had to make a trip back to the hotel to leave my stuff in the baggage hold because i couldnt carry it all any more!! The bell boys had a good laugh at me, but that was alright, im sure they get that a lot.

Well, that was that, i had my last Tom Yum soup hopped in a cab and headed to the airport to catch my flight home.

Hope you enjoyed the posts about my trip. Sorry again they took ages to complete and thanks for bearing with me :)

VP

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