While I’m still sorting through some technical difficulties with my travel photos, I’ll revive my old FIMTSO series with a recent “discovery” of mine. Not that I’m Christopher Columbus seeing the new world for the first time or anything because (very) small bags have been in play for quite some time now. I’ve always thought they were adorable, especially when casually slung across the shoulder or body…of a teenager!
We’ve talked about this before. Age is but a number and inappropriateness is a fleeting state of mind in the fashion world. If you can make something work, just go out and rock it and who cares what people say, right? Err…that’s what my heart says anyway. The head, however, is tisk-tisking away with snarky comments like Why would a full-grown woman carry a Barbie-sized bag? and Carrying a child-sized bag won’t make you look any more child-like! Sigh. I know, tough audience in my head. 
But I’ll let you decide after today’s FIMTSO. Does the heart know more than the head this time?
Test Item: Chanel mini classic flap.
Look 1: This is how I always envision carrying this tiny bag, with a fun summer dress for museum days or date nights. It is shown here with a Liz Lange (yes, from the maternity section at Target!) black maxi dress and Louboutin flats.
Look 2: What if I paired it with a more formal look? Here it is next to the long 10A coat, theory velvet pants, black Gucci tuxedo shirt, and Dior heels.
A little harder to wear it messenger-style across a big coat, but you get the idea:
Look 3: I know you were waiting for this look…I’m all about taking a tweed jacket downtown, so here’s the bag with an 09P jacket, black tshirt, capri jeans, and Chanel camellia patent slides.
Tags: camellia, Chanel, Dior, FIMTSO, Liz Lange, mini classic flap, Target, theory
It’s not the jet lag, double/triple security checkpoints at the airports, or even unpacking dirty laundry that bring you back to reality pronto after a long trip to Lalaland. It’s more about remembering where you put your car key or what your PIN number is at the gas station. That and going through a mile-high pile of mail (both snail and the electronic kind) to remind me that this life here in LA didn’t stop while I was wheezing through Europe.
Anyway, that’s my excuse for not showing up here in over a week. But give me a few days to catch up and I’ll have more stories from the road.
So, you ask, what was the first thing that I did upon coming home? Besides going through a few packages of goodies that were sent (I’ll post about these later as well) during my absence, I decided to see if I still remembered how to drive by heading to the nearest Target. But can you blame me? I’d been hearing from my friends about the Calypso collaboration at Target since May 1, didn’t want to have to order online while overseas, so I was giddy to go see the products in person.
But the giddiness turned into frustration as most of the cute dresses were sold out (and only petite sizes are available online) and I had to hit 3 stores to find the above elephant teapots. I think I stood there dazed and confused for ten minutes, unable to decide if the coral-pink one was cuter than the blue (I think that was really just a case of jetlag finally hitting me) and realized for $12.99 a piece I could get both ! I also went home with two pairs of batik flipflops…
and then went online to order a few clothing items. When they arrive, I’ll do a review here. So definitely no going overboard with Calypso as I did with the Liberty collab last year. But I hear Missoni is coming to Target this September…oy ve, that’s definitely trouble heading my way!
Just next to the Southwark Cathedral and south of London Bridge is the present-day Borough Market, whose first location supposedly existed since Roman times. Today it is one of London’s largest food markets with wholesale and retail hours.
It took me a couple of rounds to see all the vendors before I decided to try one of these omelettes with a fresh baguette…
accompanied by a fresh cup of orange and mango juice:
I did what the locals did and found myself a spot on the curb:
For round 2 (later in the day after a brisk walk around the bridges), I decided to taste one of the many salty pies:
I would have liked to have tried the one called “Kate & Wills pie”
but opted for the vegetarian “Wildshroom & Asparagus” instead,
which I enjoyed under the cool sun in the church’s courtyard with the rest of the crowd:
I saw a few sweet treats and adorable plates on my stroll out of the market…
but it was the “buy one get one free” sign at this artisan bakery Degustibus’ table that I couldn’t resist:
I can never say no to a fresh loaf of bread with raisins and nuts in it :
Tags: Borough Market, Degustibus, London, London Bridge, Southwark Cathedral
So I woke up early this morning to a news broadcast about Osama Bin Laden and the ensuing mob celebrations that took place in DC and NYC. My first thought, of course, was has it really been a decade since the 9/11 attack? My immediate second thought was whether there would be any travel delays in the coming days due to heightened security as a result of this. And my third thought was how similar those celebrations looked like those I experienced just a few days ago during the Royal wedding.
On the morning of the 29th, I had a rather late start due to a rough night with my travel companions, Mr. Stuffy Nose and Ms. Itchy Eyes. So out the window went the plan to leave early enough to secure a great place somewhere to catch photos of the wedding procession. But I didn’t have a terribly late start either since people (many in wedding attire!) were also still just beginning to burst out of the seams of the city…
Vendors of all kinds of souvenirs surrounded us…
But I was really only after those official programs seen in the first photo; one for my sister and one for myself. Now about those crowds–they seem to pop up in every corner, alley, tube station you can imagine. One minute it looked like this:
and five minutes later I’d find myself in the middle of this…
Squirming myself out of one crowd only lead to another…
so finally I just gave up and wandered aimlessly with all the other people from one spot to the next. It’s not often that the taxi-crowded streets of London are ever closed off for pedestrians to stroll through its wide lanes, so we all took advantage of the space…
and pitied the few poor souls who dared to drive the random taxis or buses allowed that day:
All the while walking I was half wishing I’d stayed in the comfort of my plush room and watched it on TV instead, mainly because I was dying to know if the bride did wear McQueen. So finally, as I got closer to my eventual destination for the viewing party, I snuck a peek inside this Hard Rock Cafe’s window and saw the back of her dress on this TV:
So where did I end up after all?
Hyde Park. Simply because all the other parks were closed off due to oversized crowds:
I got to the Jumbotrons just as Wills and Kate began their procession out of the church as man and wife. Flags and cheers went up as confetti flew all around us…
So about these mob celebrations. Sometimes we’re not sure what we’re celebrating exactly, but most likely, we just want to be a part of this human phenomenon.
Tags: DC, kate, London, McQueen, NYC, Osama Bin laden, Wills
