BBC Sherlock's Belstaff coat with customised buttonhole detail is making me consider getting something similar done on one of my coats - maybe the navy Aquascutum cashmere? A touch of silver (if I can source the thread in Shanghai) or dove grey, perhaps ( Read more... )

So, this is a fine way to start a brand new year: spending a lot of money on beautiful (but ultimately frivolous) things. The bag I ordered from SSteinDesign has arrived, and I LOVE it. It's lighter than a full-leather bag, incredibly strong and sturdy, and it fits an unbelievable amount of STUFF. Today, I took it to work and filled it with tons of ( Read more... )

Wearing
UNIQLO bluejeans, caramel silk-blend polka-dot shirt from Zara, black cotton blazer. Despite it being autumn, the weather in Shanghai is stubbornly refusing to become cool enough for sweaters.

Reading
I finished The Emperor of Scent, and have downloaded Luca Turin's original research paper which started all the controversy with the ( Read more... )

SingaporeYesterday, I was working till 5 PM, had dinner at the Maxwell Road Food Centre, then met with a bunch of people at Clarke Quay for drinks afterwards, none of them local Singaporeans (but UK, Kiwi, and Austrian) and none of whom I'd known for more than 9 hours. It amazes me that in this city, you can still see crowds at 2AM, and be able to ( Read more... )

Wearing
Pyjamas.

Eating
Coffee and biscotti, which is breakfast today.

Favourite outfit
What I wore to a birthday party last night at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel (Bund 19): strapless dress with orange and midnight blue brocade pattern ( photo of me wearing it), with this sequined medallion necklace and strappy sandals. The chunkiness of the ( Read more... )

Watching
Sophie Marceau in D'Artagnan's Daughter, which you would never have guessed to be a comedy from the poster art. More than 16 years on, the fight scenes look terribly slapstick and unrealistic, but the charm of the actors remains vital. Now if we could just overlook all the threats of rape and white slavery in the film...

Wearing
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Toasting
Author-illustrator Shaun Tan is such a beloved part of the childhood and adolescence of so many of my generation of Australians (who could forget the wonderful images in The Red Tree, or his collaboration with James Marsden, The Rabbits, an allegorial retelling of the colonisation of Australia), it's a little surreal to be following his ( Read more... )

Today I went into the city to buy a Clarisonic for mum (her birthday next month) and wound up buying a lot of clothes for myself instead. (The Clarisonic, I decided, was cheaper if I bought it online from the US.)

The superbly fitted and versatile Kylie Hawkes tencel and silk blazer that I already have in black, I bought in the irresistibly ( Read more... )

Since so many of you seem to enjoy my occasional post about fashion, I thought I would show you what I am wearing today to do a bit of grocery shopping and get some lunch.

( Vintage sundress )