Glittering Festivities

Here in England, I’ve been in fully-fledged festive mode for the past week. Despite long hours in the office each day, I’ve been cramming in nightly playings of all my favourite festive tunes (Frank, Bing and Dean), having cosy Christmas movie marathons (It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Love Actually, A Muppet Christmas Carol…), ice skating (badly) at the outdoor rink, wearing glitter and sparkles with everything, and generally making the most of this wonderful time of the year.

Last weekend, I met up with some of my favourite blog friends for an all-day festive girl date. We began with shopping and the Christmas windows at Liberty (my favourite London department store), black cab rides in the rain, walks through the West End (amidst, inexplicably, thousands of chaps dressed as Santa), afternoon cocktails overlooking Trafalgar Square, dinner at the National Gallery and my very favourite Christmas tradition, the English National Ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker. As well as those festive rituals I already treasure each year, I love the English Christmas traditions I’m now making my own; the novelty Christmas jumper (which is simultaneously fun and hideously bad taste) – this bedazzled version is my 2012 version, mulled wine, and hearing the glorious choir sing carols from Kings College in Cambridge.

Now, I’m tucked inside my family’s place in London for a few nights of cosy laziness, too much of my Uncle’s good food, walks along the Thames and board game marathons until midnight.

And with that, I wish you all a very happy festive season (whatever you celebrate).

Wearing: Topshop crystal-embellished jumper, Uniqlo oxford shirt, Witchery skirt (old), Chanel shoes, 2.55 bag and crystal ring, Mimco necklace and clear bangle, Michael Kors Paris watch, Lulu Frost for J. Crew bracelet, bow hair clip from Tokyo, Chanel ‘Malice’ nail polish, Mac ‘Ruby Woo’ lipstick, the smile of an excited child at Christmas.

Love, Miss B xx

Sleepy Hollow, New York

I’m just back from New York, and it was nothing if not an adventure! The unexpected arrival of a certain Hurricane Sandy may have put a stop to the majority of my plans (instead, my NYC BFF Nicolette & I basically had a four-day slumber party in her perfect Williamsburg apartment), but we did manage to cram in a few adventures on either side of the storm.

Top of my list for this trip had been an autumnal day trip somewhere on the East Coast; I didn’t mind where, so long as the leaves were orange, the scenery picturesque and the activities centred around idyllic American ‘fall’ fun. Which is how we came to spend the weekend before Hallowe’en in the town of Sleepy Hollow in upstate New York.

I hadn’t actually realised that Sleepy Hollow (of the Headless Horseman legend) was an actual place until Nicolette suggested it as the destination for our roadtrip. Now, I’ve always been practically obsessed by Hallowe’en (given it is barely recognised in Australian and England, I’m rather fascinated by the American-centric tradition), but when we pulled into the town I got so worked up in excitement I actually squealed.

The little town of Sleepy Hollow needs none of my rose-tined romanticising, for it was so hauntingly charming all on its own. Every surface seemed covered with the confetti of fallen flame-coloured autumn leaves, each lampost and wooden porch decorated with scarecrows and spiderwebs and candlelit jack-o-lanterns, while costumed trick-or-treating children criss-crossed the little streets.

We visited haunted cemeteries, and the house where Washington Irving (author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and some say the founding father of American fiction) spent his days, and watched dramatic performances of haunted tales, and threw ourselves in giant piles of crunchy leaves (that someone had so kindly raked into leafy mountains that were practically begging to be jumped in), and picked pumpkins from the patch, and drank apple cider and ate s’mores and candy corn and stroked black kitties that crossed our paths in the garden – and generally relished in all the wonderful Hallowe’en traditions I’ve ever wanted to try – until the stars twinkled in the dark sky overhead.

Thank you Nicolette and Sara and Sleepy Hollow for fulfilling all my autumnal and Hallowe’en fantasies!

Wearing: Opening Ceremony cat sweater (the best gift from Nicolette which I’m completely obsessed with; now sold out, but similar style here), Uniqlo Oxford shirt, Camilla and Marc dress (worn as skirt), Chanel handbag, Marc Jacobs chain belt, Ash boots, Mimco necklace, ring and cuffs, Zara sunglasses, bow headband from Tokyo (similar style here), MAC ‘Ruby Woo’ lipstick.

I’d love to hear what seasonal activities you have been enjoying in your corner of the world!

Love, Miss B xx

* Thank you to everyone who sent kind/concerned messages during the hurricane!

Thank you Nicolette for helping with these photos!

A Girl, A Style for Michael Kors

There have been a great number of truly exciting highlights for my blog this year, but being invited to be a face of a Michael Kors campaign is surely to be included at the very top of this list. A few weeks ago I was asked if I would be involved in a new campaign to celebrate the opening of the brand’s new London store, which is how I came to be photographed on the banks of the Thames one beautiful autumn day last week.

Obviously, I am neither a model or a celebrity, so the gravity of being involved in another campaign for a luxury brand (you may remember my Jimmy Choo collaboration from earlier this year) is not lost on me. I find it wonderfully refreshing when major players in the fashion industry choose ‘real women’ as well as supermodels to represent their brands, and to be one of those women myself is a truly a great honour.

And truthfully, these photos from the campaign could not be more ‘real’. Taken one Wednesday when I was working in Parliament, I dashed out of the office on my lunch break (sans professional hair, makeup and primping; Michael Kors got me just as I am in my real life) and spent a fun 15 minutes skipping along the river opposite Parliament as the autumn leaves swirled around us before racing back to my office once again.

Yes, it is a strange double life that I lead (I’m sure there aren’t too many other political advisors slash fashion writers slash Michael Kors models in the world), but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Wearing: Michael Kors cape (borrowed), Hamilton bag (c/-) and watch, Mimco gloves, Wheels & Dollbaby dress (from this post), Mulberry boots, bow headband (just seen) from Tokyo. Photos by the lovely Michelle Bobb-Parris.