Going.. going.. gone..

I am ALLERGIC to the sales. I wait until the dregs and get those bits you frowned at for four months and wear them. You then ask, "where did you get that?" I reply with, "OH YEAH, this? It was like TWO PENCE in *insert generic high street store name here* on sale!"
I did something out of character this Christmas. I bought something in a pre-Christmas sale. It was needed, something I can wear with a million different things. It has swish factor.

 Skirt only £20 on sale in Warehouse; Dress (worn as a top, cause I'm mad like that) from Peter Jensen, reindeer necklace is actually a Christmas tree decoration

Everyone seems to be doing loads of sales shopping this year. I'm worried all the lost boys of the retail world will be gone before I am brave enough to shop.
x Fi

Precious Metal

I recently discovered a new kind of metal recently, palladium. As a full-time science lover, I felt the urge to discover more about this element.
According to here, palladium is classified as a noun.
S: (n) palladium, Pd, atomic number 46 (a silver-white metallic element of the platinum group that resembles platinum; occurs in some copper and nickel ores; does not tarnish at ordinary temperatures and is used (alloyed with gold) in jewelry)
Central Saint Martins and The Palladium Alliance are joining forces to get young talent using this precious metal for their pieces in a competition.  Five designers have already been shortlisted and their work will be on show in March 2011.  It is a great platform, as the designers can have free reign over what they make and how they use the palladium.  Plus Giles Deacon is a judge.  Can't be a bad thing having such an innovative designer looking at your work!

We love supporting new talent here.  Not only do we love fresh ideas, I love the idea of making a new precious metal more precious.
Best of luck to the five finalists.  More to come on this..

x Fi

Around my word

A few weeks back, I was emailed by a Frenchie called Damien to take part in his incredible project.  All I needed to do was pick a word.

My new friend is new(ish) to London town and in his quest to improve his English is asking people to help him out.  This led to him starting to make a mosaic of these words.  You teach Damien a new word and he documents it as part of his mosaic.  The project is called Around Your Word.  Not only does it lead to new friendships, it is a way of finding out more about London and increasing your vocabulary I love the idea that words, the things that make stories, now have a story.  The project is ever-evolving, with each word having a person behind it, a new story, a new piece of vocab for Damien.

If you are interested in having a word with Damien, check out the Around Your Word website, twitter and facebook!

And if you are interested, you can read more about me and my word right here.  I picked thesaurus.

Gros bisous
Fi x

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

So we here at SaveOurShoes hope that y'all are eating mince pies a plenty and watching bad tv. This is what we fully intend to do.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the time with friends and family and appreciate what you got.

Lots of love from SaveOurShoes

Nothing personal..

I'm having a wee blogosphere holiday.
Don't wait up for me.
Fi x

Love Vintage London this Sunday

Anyone else having major Christmas present dilemmas? I am. Dear older brother, if you read this, do you know how difficult you are to shop for? VERY. Finding personal, good value and interesting Christmas presents for people is very important to me. I have spend the past two Sundays trawling through Sunday Up Market in Brick Lane and the Tate gift shop in the hope of finding something my rather intelligent brother will approve of.
This Sunday, you will find me at the Love Vintage London: An Old Style Christmas, for some Christmas market shopping/party/all-round-fun-times. The market is going to be held in one of my favourite watering holes, the Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch. It costs 6 quid to attend, bearing in mind it is an all-day market/party and it is raising money for St. Mungos, ensuring homeless people in London will have a hot meal (shopping AND doing good, clearly a win situation). Not only can you browse a rooftop vintage market, you can also drink mulled wine, oogle hot shoreditch-twat types and take part in some Christmas-aoke. It starts at 1pm, so ample time to sleep in from Saturday night. Plus, you can get some r&r by having a retro makeover and watching cabaret. (Is it strange I find cabaret relaxing?)

It sounds far more entertaining than going to an overcrowded Hyde park and paying six million pounds for a mulled wine.

It is going to be a fantastic (and festive) way to spend a cold Sunday and it is a do-gooder way of having fun. Dear older brother, if I don't find you something there, expect something from the duty-free in Stanstead airport.

Anyone else going? Also, do you have any other pre-Christmas suggestions for off-the-beaten-track presents?
Peace, fi x

Blooming winter

Word of warning: You should not try and part me from my floral prints, there would be kicking and screaming if you tried to remove it from my wardrobe.

However, it is getting cold, there is snow. I can't kid myself that it is OK to wear a floral tea-dress where the hemline does little to reduce the risk of me getting a cold in my kidneys.

Enter my new dress...

There are a number of reasons why I like this dress.

1. It is helping with my smooth, albeit a few months late, transition from summer hussy to being more appropriately dressed for the cold (ie having a longer hemline), thus reducing my chance of having a cold in my kidneys.
2. It is a more "winter"-appropriate floral print. Although, floral print is always appropriate.
3. The shape is quite lovely. I was a bit apprehensive about the gathered detail but it fits rather well.
4. It matches the carpet in my house.
5. Did I mention I like floral prints?

There are a number of reasons why this dress may not be that great

1. Due to it's clingy nature and length, it has that tight at the calves thing going on. This means reduced speed while running for a bus. While wearing it, I missed my bus.

There are no other reasons to dislike this dress. Plus, I looked great for my friend, so no matter if I was fifteen minutes late.

The lovely folks Almina and Emma from Rare kindly offered for me to try out some of their new Paprika range. Paprika is a new younger range from Rare and considering my eternal quest for youth, it suits me just fine. Thank you!

Peace, fi x

PS Did anyone else get told that if they wore short skirts they get a cold in their kidneys?

Free manicure and mp3

I just got home from the best treat I've ever received from Topshop. I received an email from Refinery29 this morning announcing free WAH manicures at Topshop SoHo for 3 days! Obviously, I got dressed really quick and headed over there in the afternoon. Oh, the joy of not having a job.

I signed my name for the next available appointment at 4pm. I had 3 hours to spare, which meant browsing in Urban Outfitters, Sephora, H&M, cardamom coffee from The Hampton Chutney Co. and a danish from Dean & Decluca.

I opted for a nude/red/white tartan manicure. Here are the results! Thank you lovely ladies at WAH.

Right now, I'm sitting on my couch admiring my free manicure and listening to Virgin Forest. The band consists of my boys: Scott Stapleton, Jeff Bailey, Chris Marine and Jesse Ainslie (4 pout of the 5 members of Phosphorescent). They recently launched their new LP titled 'Joy Atrophy' (Check out the cover that's photographed by me!), which just got reviewed by The Fader with a free mp3 'That's alright' available for download. I'm not going to do a review here, all I'm going to say is that they're lovely, and I'd recommend them for a listen.

Virgin Forest perform at The Cake Shop in the lower east side


Virgin Forest's new LP

Here's a video of them performing 'South Beach' at the Cake Shop earlier this month.

Go on, have a listen and tell me what you think!

xx-LJ

Arabian cold autumn nights

I've been hunting for a wool warm turban for this cold autumn NY weather. I found a few turbans here and there in vintage stores around williamsburg, but most of them were made out of spandex. They gave the 60's swimming cap effect, rather than 'this is my cozy turban beanie' effect.

Of course, I found the perfect one on ASOS. But when I finally came to order it, it was sold out. A scenario that is very common with things I really really want to buy from ASOS.

Story short: It came back in stock. And now I finally have it.

Excuse the powerbrows, but I tend to play around with makeup when I'm extremely bored. The rainy weather doesn't help with the boredom either.

Turban: ASOS ($20.69), Powerbrows: Priceless.

xx-LJ