Photos with help from Jamie McGregor Smith. Editing by Park & Cube.

I am a master at packing. Packing a chicken burrito into a semi-full stomach and then squeezing in coffee and a slice of apple cake after, that is. I don’t know about packing bags though, I’ve done it for six years during my BA travelling four, five times a year to go home and I’m still shoving everything under the bed, so to speak. I’ve been known to un-do pleats forever and transport wet laundry across Europe. Hey, it was clean and minicabs wait for no man. Rolling is my only trick, which means my suitcase is a hot mess with a few cinnamon bun-like things rolling around doing nothing at all. So it was about time I sought help from none other than Louis Vuitton, trunk-maker and packer since 1854, and just in time before flying out for the opening of the new Munich store*, and the release of the new LV 4-wheel Zéphyr trolley case. There really is a subtle art to packing, therapeutic almost, like sorting your life out. Do try these 5 tips out when you’re packing for your summer holiday, and be assured that you’re definitely not packing any luggage-related stress!
Oh, I guess I won’t need to look for an intern that will sit on the suitcase while I zip, afterall.

Thank you Louis Vuitton for the lessons! Visit LouisVuitton.co.uk to learn even more about the art of packing.

*Which unfortunately I could not make due to health issues…

Shirt – Iris & Ink (the Outnet). Skirt – YesStyle. Shoes – Vintage Ferragamo. Bag – Kurt Geiger. Belt – Vintage LV. Thank you Kit for helping with the outfit shots!

The first few days of Spring, when you can make any sarcastic, over-exaggerated remark and funnily to some extent it will be correct, and for once you get to be a legitimate smartass. (Woo!) This is literally the most sun we’ve had the whole damn year, it’s so beautiful, I am like literally dying – normally this would be classic case of ‘I don’t think she knows what literally means but just nod and smile’, but in April, it’s all technically true! The sun is stronger by day and hanging around much longer; the trees are in full blossom and it’s finally starting to prove the apocalypse wrong. And in my own defense, the last bit is always true, no? Anyhoo. Following up on the previously expressed thoughts regarding my love/hate relationship with London, the sun really is a catalyst. It’s like coming home and finding brownies – it calls for a good snogging-on-the-couch session, which is what the above set of photos is, lucky you.

A slightly-too-early-to-function breakfast in the clouds

Leather jacket - Day Birger et Mikkelsen. Padded down-vest – Uniqlo. Silk top – Partimi via A Boy Named Sue. Wool dress – ASOS. Boots – ASOS. Bag – Kurt Geiger. Scarf – DIY Knitted snood. Body rope – Brook & Lyn.

Ohh I feel like one of those plastic baby dolls that have eyelids that close when you tilt horizontally, or a roly poly toy… anyhoo, the world is swinging. I’d always wondered what sorcery was behind the mechanism for the eyelids, but I’ve figured it out now. Them dolls too must’ve gotten up at stupid-o-clock to get on a bus full of 6am bobbing heads and cerealy morning breath, and cruised down along a rose-coloured sunrise to have breakfast on the 40th floor at Duck & Waffle. I must’ve still been asleep when ordering too, because I asked for breakfast tea instead of coffee, and ordered sourdough bread with Nutella and a bowl of fruit in yoghurt – all the things we have IN ABUNDANCE at home. Hubby went for a glorious full on English breakfast with a cup of americano – perfect choice, really – so I challenged him to find North out the window and I stole a strip of bacon or five.

Book an insane-o-clock breakfast at Duck & Waffle (open 24/7, believe it or not, but book in advance) when you’re next in town, or a dinner, but make sure you arrive around 5pm for drinks and see the best show as the sun sets and the city lights up. The view is spectacular, and the lift down (Floor 40 to 1 express) adds to the whole thrill. The price-point isn’t too bad too – £12 for hubby’s  full-on fuel on, and £7ish for my sleepyhead bird food, plus caffeine. It’s really an unbelievable way to start a murky-weather Monday, but now I’m going to bed and sleeping like a dead person.

Louis Vuitton SS13 at Paris Fashion Week

Stills screen-capped from official LV show stream

It’s 9:45 and I’ve already stumbled on a few stairs as I make my way up to my seat. I keep having to stop and look back to take it all in – the giant yellow checker-board (that particular yellow from the infamous 70′s smiley face) throws off any concept of scale and the backdrop of quivering mirrors makes the room seem twice longer. By the time I get to my seat I’m slightly dizzy, and hey is that cushion a yellow square too? There’s a whiff of espresso coming from down the row, and the second-hand caffeine fume gives the whole room a bit of sharpening effect. The lights dim and a tune – what I can only describe as ‘a swirly one’ (actually very appropriate with the psychedelic yellow) – awakens the escalators as the first twin plants themselves on a step. The effect is very Diane Arbus-y at first, but in time, the silhouettes and bow-finished beehives bring it all together: shagadelic sixties baby! Well, now all I can think about is Austin Powers and the Fook Mi/Fook Yu twins. A whole collection of squares, even down to the sequins, and not a single monogram in sight – I like it a lot. Plus, my OCD is pleased.  The finale is a delight – the entire collection take up the four escalator installation and glide down like show-curtains – then once the girls roll back up, Marc Jacobs sprints down an escalator dangerously quickly and I imagine what  London Underground safety announcement would be appropriate.

Many thanks to the LV team for the warm welcome!

Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama @ Selfridges, London

24 windows based on her poem ‘Love Forever’

Selfridges Wonder Room concept store

After closing hours: the coming together of the Selfridges installation

And your own little Kusama keepsake: Easy-peasy dotty DIY

Many thanks to Anna for the tour around LV x Kusama concept store in Selfridges Wonder Room, and Michelle for helping with photo no 16.

So word on the street was that Louis Vuitton erected a 6-metre-tall Kusama to guard the Selfridges main entrance clock, and seeing that Dr Google wasn’t answering my ‘why am I seeing spots everywhere’ questions (‘It’s just worms in your eyes’ is not helping, dude) I decided to pay Dotty-san a visit. There she was, five whole metres of that red dress (she was born in it, I swear) and a pair of door-sized black loafers casting shadows above my head. It was all too large for a simple Q&A session so I decided to take it up with the more adequate version  in window #23 of total 24 dotty windows. I enquired about her plans of world domination (starting with Instagram) and she stood solemnly answering with blinks (strict orders not to move during daytime apparently, all very Toy Story) – one blink for YES world domination, two for NO world domination - and just that one blink it was.

Make sure to pay her a visit at the LV x Kusama concept store in the Selfridges Wonder Room before the 19th October.

Some tips with the nail-do:

• The Kusama polkadot pattern doesn’t actually have a grid-based pattern, the dots are positioned quite randomly in varying sizes. Best if you start with the biggest size and go for a Marc Jacobs-y dot-spacing then fill the surroundings with smaller dots.
• Red-white is the classic combo, but the LV x Kusama collection features yellow-black, green-black and blue-black. The yellow-black skirt is one of my favourite pieces so I thought I’d put that as an accent (ring finger, right hand).
• When doing the dots, it’s best to get as little varnish on your brush as possible to avoid having a blob and waiting for it to never dry.

That’s all! Easy peasy, dot butt squeasy!