I've moved on...
...to a different domain. Why, what were you thinking? The truth is, I just woke up one day and decided it's time for a change—a metamorphosis, if you will; or, in layman's terms, if Britney can shave her head, then maybe so can I? Nevertheless, it's been a rather handsome 10 years of talking to you, and thank you for putting up with all my moodswings and terrible dad jokes. Fear not! The hormonal imbalance and jokes are more terrible on CUBICLE, see you there.

Wyndham Grand, Chelsea

A dip and a squish at Blue Harbour Spa

Spa buddy Kit

Regaining lost calories at Chelsea Riverside Brasserie

Fruit salad with frozen honey yoghurt

Wearing: Cardigan & Criss-cross sandals, Zara. One-piece python swimsuit, Mona via Bengt. Print skirt, Sarah Pugh via Bengt. Bag, Bottega Veneta. Body rope, Brook & Lyn Surrounded. Watch, GUESS Watches rose gold.

When you live in North East London anything past Covent Garden requires a weekend bag and a passport – and the land of Chelsea is one of the far-far destinations where you might even require to fill out a landing card. To the depths of Chelsea harbour we ventured, Kit and I, around the riverbend, just under an hour (aeon and a bit) on the Overground. (I do realise that if you live in West London then Shoreditch might be your exotic far-east but for some reason I imagine all my readers to be East Londoners with all your swagger.) I generally tend to try to solve needs and wants within my neck of the woods but I just couldn’t turn down a rare spa break opportunity at the Wyndham Grand London Hotel to un-do sailing knots in my shoulder from hours of being hunched over the laptop trying to code a laser beam widget for this blog (“laser“).

To provide a somewhat impartial review, as rare as they might come in this blogging industry, I must confess that I personally wasn’t too smitten with the general atmosphere and service within the hotel. Overall it seemed to lack a certain 2%, or a charm that might have guests curious to poke their heads around different corners, but I do imagine it would serve a more than satisfactory abode for those coming in for business purposes. Yes, I’m aware the fact that I don’t possess any authority to be sitting  on this high pony and saying yay or nay, but going as a twenty-something who appreciates design and likes to travel at lot, it left a lot of boxes unticked. My favourite facility however, and one I do recommend to Londoners and travellers, was the Blue Harbour Spa. The pool is simple and comfortable at 1.5m depth, the steam room is a doozy and the treatments range from skincare to acupuncture, which means if you hail butt from the North East at least you’ll be going back with a de-stressed, smooth butt. I had the De-Stress Muscle massage and definitely felt a ton lighter when I walked out. The spa isn’t super-luxurious, falling just short with details such as plastic cups for water or changing-room decor (I hear people saying who-the-crap-cares), but really you simply get what you pay for. And that’s all that matters at the end of the day, isn’t it.

Many thanks to Alexandra and Natacha of MangoPR for organizing the appointment.
Wyndham Grand London; Chelsea Harbour, SW10 OXG (0800 4458667; www.wyndhamgrandlondon.co.uk)

Perrier Jouet Press Conference in Happo-en Garden

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Slingback heels, Zara. Necklace, Dannijo

Dress, ASOS Black. Necklace, Dannijo. Tropical Cardigan, COS

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Espadrille, Dune

Haleigh Perrier-Jouet community manager and blogger of Making Magique

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Slingback heels, Zara. Necklace, DannijoTropical Cardigan, COS. Turquoise Watch, Guess; Thank you Haleigh for the snaps!

I’m thinking of writing into weather-forecasting stations in petition for increased visibility on humidity predictions – an icon, perhaps? Or a full-screen alert? Turns out I’d totally missed out on that little percentage squiggle in the corner while packing for this Japan trip. (Merino-wool cardigan, REALLY) So maybe a cute little animated icon illustrating a steamed-up bus window and a game of tic-tac-toe? The closer to steamroom levels the closer chance to X-ing out? Condensation streaming down sad little O’s who’d lost the game? My dear Far East, believe it or not we Europeans fly in with two cardigans in our carry-on and a bank of layering pieces that make up a considerate portion in our luggage, and let’s not forget that terrifying idea that an ill-caught evening chill will knock out any remaining health coins and hence shorten our already-short life spans. Have a little sympathy for us weaklings! Make a Humidity Reminder song! Maybe Pikachu can sing it!

I digress. Aside from the humidity thing, which actually wasn’t that much of an issue despite the rant (turns out that I’m technically very Asian afterall), the one thing I absolutely dig about Tokyo is how neat and clean the city is. Not just in the manner of garbage or littering, but the fact that the buildings, street detailing (fences, railings, blocks in the pavement) and general life’s accessories (bicycles, cars, little pots on the road) are all in perfect alignment, as if considerate of the overall arrangement. Then you start noticing that kind of consideration in people as well in the etiquette and lifestyle, which I realised is something one specifically needs to be in Japan to experience… it’s such a beautiful city.

Thank you Perrier-Jouët for such a wonderful experience, more to come!

One piece, Three looks: Knee-length chino trousers

Wallet, Chloe

Look 1 (from left to right): Mint Sweater, H&M. Patterned blouse, Zara. Shorts, Uniqlo. Sandals, Camilla Skovgaard, Straw Bag, Chloe
Look 2: Jacket, Barbour. Checkered blouse, Motel Rocks.Shorts, Uniqlo. Bag, Marc Jacobs (via Monnier Freres). Shoes, Kate Kanzier. Headphones, Urbanears. Belt, JHYoo. Cat-eye Sunnies, Beyond Retro
Look 3: Bag, Bottega Veneta Initials. Shoes, Coii.kr. Sleeveless blazer, ASOS Africa. Checkered Top, stolen from mummy. Shorts, Uniqlo.

You know how summers go. Vacations, festivals, family reunions, hairplugs, cider by the river, breast reduction surgery, sample sales, that one trip to the zoo where you swear off children forever… I know you know what I mean, you’re BUSY, so, what blog? Well. None of those happened to me in the past postless week so sadly no point getting excited (do we count slamming chest-on into a shelf ‘reduction surgery’? YES/NO). In fact I was home the entire week working 9-to-5 in my suit (suit for super-cool stuff like sleeping) migrating from desk to bed and occasionally the postbox for Dominos Pizza flyers. ‘Tomorrow!’ was the battle-cry, and this blog was the victim in one. Hey, I’m back now, with chino shorts (what an odd thing to comeback in) I bet you’ve never seen anything like this in a glossy magazine before! In fact I’d fold them neatly and place them in a box with the power drill and a jug of motor oil, marked ‘Utility Stuff’. It was fun though, the challenge of trying to style one, and since I was on a roll of NOT blogging this is a pretty good brain teaser to help reverse directions and roll the other way towards a land of bountiful motivation and cakes, lots of cakes…

Many thanks to Kitty Kat for helping with the photos

Milan, Day II with Bottega Veneta

Betty & Matthieu, cutest couple in the world

Travel Buddy Carrie

All motorheads head to Brian’s Black Perfecto

Thank goodness for web-based interactive mock-up application for duckie-brains like mine.

DIY Shredded Jeans

Dotted Dress, mummy’s old. Tropical Blazer, Maarten van der Horst for Topshop. Bag, Bottega Veneta Initials. Nude heels, Zara. Watch, Sekonda. Gold Bracelet, Jessica Barensfeld Hammered Initials Bangle via Vestiare Collective

It’s fascinating, this human obsession to scribble names into things we own… come to think of it, it’s not actually even about marking things we own, because how many toilet cubicles would you own then? I’d own about three tree barks (along with ♥ three clueless crushes of the era – unfulfilled, naturally) and desks in all the schools growing up. No, it’s really like an inside joke, isn’t it, and a guessing-game for the woman sitting across you in the bus – just like the fact that not many know that my ‘B1G B008S’ licence-plate is actually a plea for larger chesticles instead of an identifier. (what healthy outlook on life?) Anyhow, I’m sorry there isn’t more of Milan in this post, day 2 was spent with Bottega Veneta – fondling the intrecciato bags and fussing with the initials to go with it. What I adore about Bottega Veneta is is their Less is More belief when it comes to branding, especially in this Initials project – just you and the bag. Unless of course you have my kind of priorities and choose BBE (Biggest Boobs EVER) to be your chosen initials or RW for you insane Ron Weasley fans. One little thing that bothered me was the typography of the letters and I believe the world would be better if they allowed different font choices… or not. Typography sadly doesn’t solve world hunger. Regarding the ‘IS’ on my bag, my usual initials would read PSY, but ‘psy’ also happens to mean ‘dog’ in Polish and I’ve had enough of racist jokes growing up so… I figured ‘IS’ can mark the first of post-marriage name scribbling!

Thank you to Ykone and Bottega Veneta for a wonderful trip.

Breakfast at the airport with Chloé and it’s off to Milano!

An oogle inside the Bottega Veneta Boutique

Leather shorts – Vintage, Shoes – secondhand Alexander Wang viaVestiaire CollectiveTrench – Uniqlo, Bag – Marc Jacobs via Monnier Freres, Stripe Top – Uniqlo, Last pic necklace – DanniJo

Let me just answer that tickling question – did I peel off my striped-top and give it to Carrie while she waited topless on my bed? No. Not in that order anyway. I mean, no. We just happened to bring one top and they both happened to be striped – but picture us walking around Milan looking like girls who ran away from mime-school; amusing is one way to put it.

Anyhow. It always feels wonderful to be back in Milan, the intensity and… ubiquity of sunlight is really something here. Whenever someone tells me how a country’s climate make all the difference in a person’s temperament, I like to wave my cynicism stick at them (shaped like a frantically-purchased, over-priced corner-store umbrella, naturally), but in Milan I always stand corrected. I stood, in fact (but no miming, I swear), in awe of the well-dressed, well-groomed men and women, while happily soaking in the beauty of the sun-kissed city. It wasn’t necessarily hot or anything, but I loved the fact that light was so abundant until one moment around 9pm you look up to realise the sun has just quietly melted away. Whereas in London the sun is really just a matter of abruptly switching it ON or OFF – at  7pm the sun goes OFF; in October, the sun goes OFF. Sometimes it does disco-hour and does ON-OFF-ON-OFF for half the day, like how we all played with the light-switch when we were seven or eight. I tell you, if I find that kid who’s behind this perverted weather I will put it in a box and send it to Korea.

Thank you Ykone and Bottega Veneta for the much needed break away from cold & wet London; thank you Carrie for the shots of me.

More to come in Part II & III with Bottega Veneta Initials concept and a peek into Salone del Mobil!