Trench – Uniqlo, Wool shawl – Regent street cashmere store, Pants shoes bag – Gmarket, Sheer tunic – Zara, Satin Suspenders – Sonia Rykiel for H&M, Bracelet – COS | Photos by Susan Falkenas

A few hours ago I was feeling incredibly light-headed and feverish so I did what everyone, including doctors nurses and dentists, does in the 21st century and googled my symptoms down to the my left eye is smaller than my right and got such a polite result: Panic attack and denial brought on by imminent deadline, or Did you mean: Go Back To Work Lazy Cow? I tell you, Google will replace parents in the next century. OK so goodbye, going back to work.

All Images from Gmarket Halumaybe
Rabbit/Fax-leather Gilet $57, 2-Button wool-mix coat $53, Coat-like wool-mix vest $52, Slouch pocket shirt $9 (but out of stock?), Hoodie coat $26, Peterpan collar dress $26, Slouch pocket vest $9 (also out of stock?)

Dictionary.com tweeted yesterday that we still have 6 weeks of winter left; hot dang, I love your words and nouns and verbs and all that but you’re such a partypoop! According to my prognostication, this rapacious gelid winter was meant to skedaddle soon so we can finally sing our aubade of springtime but I now see interpreting all the mondegreen signs was a big fat jauk on my part! (There, I used all the Word of the Day from the last week, are you proud or what.)

So my butterflies went back into their caterpillar trenchcoats, bistro chairs back indoors and twitters are still only to be heard through a digital blue bird. Actually, I don’t even know why we’re expecting spring already. It barely turned February! My mother still informs me it’s -20°C in Warsaw which I think is a little far from flower budding temperature, just a smidge. But this is all just so confusing, Vogue UK March just arrived on my doorstep yesterday bursting at the seams with spring stories, and London is preparing for a Fashion Week season that comes after the one we’re waiting for now.

Well, I headed over to Gmarket for the first time in ages (yeah who’s to believe that), which was ironically pacifying despite the epileptic gif storm… and I thought I’d share a new favourite seller since it’s still winter for who knows how long and it’s supposedly the best time to embrace black? Halu Maybe has a great trendless collection of silent drapes and clean cuts, a recommended break away from the rest of the flickering hypertrend items screaming for attention.

All photos from Angels, the Costumiers | (First photo a view of facility, not of sale)

The Angels have decided that 25,000 pieces of clothing and accessories was getting a bit too much for playing the harps on big white clouds so they’ve decided (again) to have a garage sale for us mortals. I’d first read about the Vintage sale in December 2008 when Susie showed off her grabs, and since then I’ve been curious about how, when again and WHY NOT ME. Well, this Saturday 6th of February me will definitely happen, and here’s a shoutout for you too.

The Angels Retro sale will be buy-the-bag, where a medium (quite a generous size, I hear) sized bag will cost £20 and a large £50, with an entrance fee of £5. This means you can stuff a military overcoat and a handful of 1950 blouses and walk out having lost just one pink paper with the Queen’s face (obviously depending on stuffing talent), what vintage store in London can offer that? They’re informing that the sale will feature pieces from the 1950s to the 1990s, including an extra room with high-quality military and civilian uniforms. Now imagine how a military geek like myself might’ve reacted to that last bit.

For those not familiar with Angels, they are the hands behind the pastel corsets of Marie Antoinette (2006), the threads of the silk kimonos for The Memoirs of A Geisha (2005) and so many many more. Read more on their history and details of the sale here.

So, see you near the helmets?

Sweater Jacket, Dress, Leggings – Zara, Jacket – Vintage Escada (MilanVintage Etsy), Bracelet & Necklace – F21, Bag – River Island Man, Shoes – Gmarket | Photos by Susan Falkenas

During the year and a teaspoon of blogging I’ve encountered numerous occasions when I’d receive emails reading along the lines of which camera & lens model do you use exactly? and would buying it help my blog’s popularity? Hm now, I’m not out to bash those who were genuinely interested in photography and simply wanted to know the tools; I’m not out to bash anyone really, but something inside me breaks when that question appears from behind the legs like a devil child just waiting to possess a dog. It’s a huge misunderstanding if you think good camera equipment makes a good blog, or even a good photograph; it’s like telling an Olympic athlete that you like his running records, what brand is his running shoes.

I feel that boiling down the quality of a blog to the equipment is also an gross under-appreciation to those who take the photos. Sure, I might abuse them and call them names such as homo podians but they are the ones behind all this outfit-photo magic. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have talented and willing people around me to take outfit photos, albeit some being closer to a tripod than a human (sorry mum), I really can’t thank them enough. As many of you know by now, Ellen has been taking majority of my London photos, you must check out her blog to see the glory of her illustration talent. Thank you Ellen, for slaving away at extra photos on a bad face day, for avoiding angles that make it seem like the streetlamp is growing out of my head, and for forgiving me when I put up 3 photos when we took about 300.

So you see, good blog photos are not what the super camera can manage to capture when aimed, it’s how much you and people around you toil to produce; and what makes a great blog photo is all the fun you have and the relationship you build while producing it.
The exact model and make of my camera & lens is in the Q&A/FAQ page, feel free to purchase the exact same thing.

p.s This outfit shoot was done by Susan, a new crew member. Everyone, meet Susan; Susan, meet everyone. She’s a whole other post.

Hat – Gmarket, Sweater coat & jeans – Zara, Striped top & bag – Topshop, Grey cardigan – Uniqlo, Boots – Dr Martens | Thanks to Emily for taking shots of me!

Congratulations you made it down all the way here, have a Gatorade for your fingers.

I had a fantastic Saturday with new friends I met through the blog, Jackie and Emily, thanks you guys for coming out on a cold day! We ploughed through the market as a trio of cheapasses, gasping and gurgling at £60 necklaces and poking at £30 porcelain finger dolls, photographing like it pooped currency. This one seller actually muttered stupid photographer behind my back so I whipped around with violence and thanked her for calling me a photographer, PEOPLE THINK I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER woohoo! No, I didn’t thank the rude woman, we moved on to get £0.50 bag of Haribos for lunch.

Next time you’re in Portobello be sure to check out the Burrito stand near Portobello Green, donkey-licious! (burrito…obviously does not contain donkey meat)

Jacket – Gmarket, Scarf – 1m cloth from Cloth House, Pants – H&M, Shoes – ZARA, Top – Christopher Kane for Topshop, Bag – Etsy. Photos by Susan Falkenas.

Somehow I’ve managed to spin back into the damned routine that I remember banishing out of my system at the end of my second year, where work of all sorts mutate into triple-eyed beasts that follow me into my dreams and knock down perfectly fine potted plants from my ledge of sanity. This routine that involves taking in webdesign jobs on top of schoolwork and existing unfinished jobs. I line them up perfectly time-wise which is probably why they tumble like dominos when one goes wrong. So I had a breakdown, I confess, but thankfully snapped out of it seeing that the work wasn’t going to do on its own. And here I am, worried about whether my concept for a school project will tickle the tutor’s fancy, yet there are more and more bodies (and survivors! thank God) being pulled out under rubbles in Haiti. Gotta be ashamed of myself. Thank you God for allowing me have a frickin higher education and a job as a candy bonus, and I’m so sorry.

Leather Jacket – ASOS, Pants – ZARA (Gift from Ellen!), Shoes – Emma Cook for Topshop, Bag – Etsy | Thank you Maciek for taking pictures of me!

So it looks like I need to pin a spare Compact Flash also to my panties (alongside phone and oyster card) for situations like today when I ran around town from morning till evening with a camera that weighs as much as a bag of flour and then find the memory card slot empty. I carry my camera everywhere, this should not happen, it’s like putting on your makeup but not having washed your face, WHAT IS THE POINT.
So I bought myself two single use cameras (2-for-1 deal, schweet) from Boots which reminded me of what taking pictures in 1998 was like: 27 precious frames of irreversible light engravements (sometimes 36!), the persistent baffle whether this light setting needs the flash or not…* I do love film photography, but single-use cameras are a whole other species that are like cockroaches that will never go extinct, they’re always there somewhere, lurking with confusing viewfinders and mediocre flash.

*answer: always needs flash unless you’re on the sun, cheap ISO 400 film is an obese fail

Mr. Lamp indeed banished to stairs after unforgivable crime of being too obnoxiously big for my tiny studio flat. Sorry, had to choose between you or stack of shoe boxes. Boxes illuminate too…

Tights – H&M, Beads – Ebay Seller K2 Accessories Cloud photogaphy by Gary Morgret

Head over to Twenty Thirty Forty to see the entire DIY guideline on how to dye your tights and break your back applying 300 beads… I mean, attach cutesy round stuff to your tights. Personally I ended up loving the dyed tights effect so I’m planning a similar fate to all my other coloured opaque tights, they shall suffer an acid shower and reincarnate as a superior species. Do get lost in the Twenty Thirty Forty shop after, there are treasures in the seemingly coy collection of clothes and accessories, pieces that surprise you with their versatility and quality. Also check out their Cover Story editorial, the photography makes winter almost enjoyable to the point of wishing it around for longer than intended.

In another note, I did a bit of tidying up in the blog nooks and crannies like the FAQ or Features pages. Also added a new page called Partnerships & Gifts just to thank those again that sent those beautiful gifts my way and to acknowledge partners of the blog. If I missed any gifts, please do feel free to attach a little virus file to your email letting me know that I’ve missed yours, it’s all deserved.

Sweater – H&M, Pants – Zara, Boots - Venezia PL, Scarf – Gmarket, Coat – Black Luna Vintage | Thank you daddy for photos!

I do apologize that over the past few weeks posting has been incredibly sparse and a little forced at times, home is strictly hibernation grounds so to get dressed and arouse a fellow hibernator, which really is just anyone with a finger for the shutter, two legs to stand and a relatively good mood – no photography experience required (just anyone, I beg you, please) – is quite the carb-eater and considered a winter-sport. Do you ski? I don’t, I FashBLOG. Flying back usually does the trick of jolting me awake from hibernation, either the turbulence over the North Sea or a devil baby 3 rows down of some sort, by the time I’m back at my London flat I already have something to share with you all. Well well, happy start to another term.

Coat, Shirt – Black Luna Vintage, Skirt - Mum’s Aquascutum of 1990, Shoes – Office UK

So if I was to continue on with the a decade ago… topic, only because my life is so uneventful right now I’ve somehow managed to get hooked on the Disney Channel on Youtube, a decade ago I was at a suitable age to get hooked on the Disney Channel on Youtube. Well lately I couldn’t help but notice that ten years ago my part-time job of Webdesign was considered more of a hobby than an occupation, but of course back then it was those really wack hobbies like today’s let’s blend everything deal that no one really understands. Who knows, maybe blending is the future. There are so many jobs today that didn’t exist back in year 2000, like professional video bloggers on Youtube – how did they survive before 2005!? or DVD makers, how many floppy discs did they need in order to keep 10 Things I Hate About You!? OK those aren’t real jobs, but you get my point. It’s funny though, to think that those of you still in school are actually learning skills for jobs that don’t exist yet today. Well, good luck to studying for a fantasy future!

To the next ten, may we not end up like some of our parents who do not understand what ‘click the mouse and drag it across the desktop’ implies. I fear that technology will run away with time and I’ll wake up one day not knowing why I’m sleeping on a strange machine they call a bed-ographmeter version 2.33x. And one of you will probably have a job of updating the pillow drivers.