Holiday, Celebrate! - Avoid packing Hell.

Not everyone like streamlining their packing....

I am off on my jollies to the South of France shortly and packing looms on the horizon.  There are those who believe that the simple approach to dressing works equally well on holiday. There's simple and simple. Pack 10 T-shirts in a suitcase, throw in some swimwear and flip-flops and that's about it is not what I ascribe to.  I believe that you will have a better time on holiday if you feel right. Clearly "feeling right" differs from person to person and holiday destination to destination. That said, there are some guiding principles that can help to up your style ante on this year's summer break. I'm leaving it to you dear readers to think laterally and adapt to suit. I should add that a large amount of my suitcase space always ends up being occupied by books. Note to self - must invest in a kindle.

• Have an airport/travel look that comprises of warmish layers and your heaviest holiday shoes. This is especially key if travelling on budget airlines that have small weight allowances. This is not the time to channel Angelina Jolie in a black silk mini dress and skyscraper mules. You'll be cold and grumpy and desperate to buy a bad cardigan from a second-rate high street duty-free shop in no time. Instead, this is the time to wear a rolled chino, a light knit, knockout sunglasses and a pair of leather sandals...also possibly a hat so it doesn't get squashed in your suitcase.

• Speaking of footwear, unthinking loyalty to flip-flops is a style copout. It takes minuscule extra effort to choose a pair of sandals to take away with you, yet they add a style dimension to even the most basic shorts-and-vest holiday look. Also pretty ballet pumps. These are my style staple and I will taking a pair of silver and gold metallic quilts and leopard ponyskin with red edging (both French Sole).

• Don't have a holiday wardrobe, have a holiday style philosophy instead. One that means you wear your usual summer clothes but in a crafty holiday-ish way. Not only does this save cash and time spent in badly lit changing rooms, it is the fast track to looking more stylish. This means admitting that the summer dress you bought for a party can easily be your sightseeing dress. A blouse you normally wear with jeans will look good with shorts for an alfresco lunch. This isn't wardrobe downgrading, this is wardrobe multitasking. And your holiday snaps will thank you for it. Promise. Also it will save you the insane Topshop/Whisltes freak-out panic buying session.

• Take into account your holiday pals and the kind of look they will be rocking at the check-in desk. In terms of how right you feel on holiday, it's up there with reading an accurate weather report ahead of time. Also if they're packing a hairdryer, do you need to take one? Things like this help with allowance weight too.

• No one of any style repute actually wears a sarong. A beautiful, floaty kaftan that you can throw on is all that is required - heck, maybe even a couple. Think about how you're spending your days. If you're going on a beach holiday and lounging around is a big factor you need less proper clothes and probably 2 or 3 cover-ups. Again, they're also light!

• There is no need to buy a dedicated beach bag, unless it is along the lines of a Marc by Marc Jacobs bright canvas shopper: ie, something that you will want to shake the sand out of and use again in actual real life. Failing that, use your Monday-to-Friday leather bag, provided it's a decent size. It gives the impression that you are more nonchalant about beach style and is infinitely chicer.

• Jewellery in the form of overly fancy earrings or a big, shiny bangle will add kick to your style quota but almost nothing to the weight of your luggage.

Lastly, have a super time! X

Sex on Legs - or Something to Do Whilst it Rains

I promised myself that I wasn't going to talk about the weather in this post..except to say that it is definitely the sort that encourages wandering aimlessly around museums and eating cake...which I delightfully did last week with one of my favourite people at the Natural History Museum.  I was utterly convinced that they had a stuffed dodo there and I suggest you go and see for yourselves whether this is in fact the case.

The Design Museum provides a different sort of fantasy at the moment, a staggering retrospective of Christian Louboutin's two decades in the business.

“I haven’t yet met a woman who wanted shorter legs,” the man himself said yesterday at the unveiling and the chap has a point.  As someone who lives in ballet pumps and loafers (I like the feeling I can run away if I need to) you might not think that the uber high heel would set my heart fluttering but I can tell you, that if I manage to get my next pay rise, this will be the treat I buy myself.

Mr Louboutin was making little apology for how painful the world’s most desirable shoes are to wear. As many of his female fans will attest (he sold more than 600,000 pairs last year), sometimes these shoes are so painful to walk in that there is little the wearer can do but mince.
However, in the designer’s view, the vertiginous height of his heels is worth all the pain. “Of course, I’m concerned about comfort and ensuring the construction of the shoe works,” he said. “But do I really want people to look at my shoes and think, ‘Ooh, how comfortable looking are those’? No, I want them to think how beautiful or how great they look.
“When I interned at the Folies Bergère many years ago, I would often be asked to buy the cabaret dancers carpaccio of veal from the market. I couldn’t understand why they ate so much veal. Until one day they laughed and said it was to cushion the pain of their incredibly high heels. Veal was chosen because it didn’t bleed into the shoes.”

WOW, I don't have that level of commitment and you can be sure that when I eventually purchase my pair, I'll be making darn sure I can walk in them but the point remains that women do buy them..by the thousands.  Part of the allure has got to be the red soles, which have seen him overtake Manolo Blahnik as aspirational shoe god.  There is no doubting the potency and allure of that flash of red; the naughty, knowing wink as you strut (maybe hobble) by. Every time a woman climbs a staircase or crosses her legs, she flashes a symbol — red with it's connotations of passion and blood, also a sign of the £800 that has been spent on the shoes.  There is no need for an obvious logo, because the no-logo flash of colour is enough.

Fashion lore has it that Louboutin invented the look in 1993 when he spotted a design assistant painting her nails a vivid red. Whipping the varnish from her hands, he covered the entire rubber sole of a prototype with it. But it wasn’t until 2007 that he patented the idea. Louboutin is currently in the midst of an intellectual property case with Yves Saint Laurent over the right to use his bright red lacquered sole.
Regardless, women all over the world continue to bankrupt themselves for his shoes and one day, I'll be one of them...I better start a taxi fund too.

Flat Pack

Kristen Stewart's trainer clad foot at the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One. PHOTO: REX

I've never disguised the fact that I am a flat shoes girl.  I like the fact that I can skip and potentially run away from ninja attackers should they pounce. I also think that heels are not a prerequisite for a smart evening do.  That's not to say I'm anti giving myself a bit of a lift and yes, they do make my legs more Bambi like but I'm always happier in something that I'm comfortable in. The problem is that the majority of my shoes are French Soles. "Spolit cow!" you cry, "why are you whinging about having piles of expensive shoes in pretty colours?!"  I am NOT moaning, I love them dearly and have collected them and cared for them for many years but, although smart and great for that day to evening switch..newsflash...they aren't great in the Winter and London has suddenly got chilly.

I'm not a huge fan of knee high boots (a bit Sloaney pony for my taste), my Westwood pirate boots are perfection but tan leather (not practical) and my mannish brogues are all in suede!  Now I do like a wedge shoe boot and my Clarks Yarra deserts in black are great to take you from day to evening but again they're suede too and what to do when it's freezing, wet and/ or snowing and you still have to go to work or head out for the night?

You could do a K-Stew, as I'm calling it.  By the time the credits rolled on the London premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 , the latest offering from her fanged-up franchise, Stewart had made herself an Everywoman. How? By swapping her staggeringly high Jimmy Choo heels for a pair of well-worn Nikes halfway through proceedings, an act of comfort-comes-first rebellion which many women, including me, would applaud. But, why not wear flats in the first place Kristen? Save yourself the drama and your bunions buy opting for the smart flat like these ladies..

I have to admit that if the weather gets really bad, my navy Hunters are my absolute standby but for smart and practical I love my Melissa by Vivienne Westwood Chelsea boots. Made of plastic which gives them a patent sheen, they go with pretty much everything.  When I wear my Hunters, I'll put a pair of pretty flats in my bag for when I get to work but with these, I don't have to!  Another good investment are a decent pair of woolly tights..I have pairs in black, grey, plum and cable knit...all from Marks and Spencer's!  If you're under 5' 5" like me (although I claim to be absolutely on the nose of 5'5" WHICH I AM) you can still shop in the school uniform section and save yourself a few pounds!

Finally, the lovely Ms Stewart also did a quick change at the Los Angeles premiere of her movie, swapping what look to be the same pair of black Choos for..yup..trainers again.  Give the girl a pair of French Soles for goodness sake! Who says you have to wear heels to be smart? Join the Flat Pack.