Today's Inspiration: Let them Eat Cake

I am super excited: on Thursday Laduree are going to open their first stand alone cafe in Covent Garden. Expect sumptuous treats in pretty pastel colours. The best part is that the cafe will remain open until 11 pm on week nights. Sweet.

Everyone's at it - Maje ad campaign:

Favourite Part of the Royal Wedding ...

The newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge driving off in this Aston Martin. So smooth.

Step Inside ... Wilde Ones

If you ever find yourself shopping on the Kings Road, be sure to visit the treasure-trove emporium that is Wilde Ones. I always get lost for hours in there - it is like stepping back in time to hippy, 70s London ... and I never seem to leave empty handed! The owner, Greg, makes regular visits to Native American tribes in Arizona, where he picks up incredible, hand-crafted and completely authentic pieces of amazing quality.

Have a Hippy Summer.

Native American eagle necklace

Cowboy hat

Bolo tie

Native American earrings

Native American eagle drum

Tie dye

Noughties Nostalgia

What are your favourite Noughties fashion memories??? Whatever they are, I think you will agree that London was a great place to be. We went from being status slaves, to underground rebels. We had a brief fling with boho, and then we new raved our neon socks off!! The high street exploded, with Topshop and Primark becoming tourist destinations in their own right.

Here is a snapshot of some of the fashion moments that defined the last decade for me.

A cheeky Northern chappy by the name of Henry Holland grabbed the attention of the fashion world with his slogan tees in 2006.

Gareth Pugh came along to become the heir apparent to John Galliano's legacy of fashion for show; not for the street.

Christopher Kane showed us all things bright and beautiful in his first show for LFW Spring Summer 2007.

And another Christopher - Bailey - made Burberry cool again.

Boombox was the place to party hard on a Sunday night (until 2008 when it shut its doors for good)!

The recession hit home on planet fashion when in 2009, Luella went into liquidation.

We suffered the loss of Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow. However they will continue to be remembered by all for their contributions to British fashion and will go down in history for their creative vision.

I have probably not even scratched the surface in this post!! These were just the memories that really stood out in my mind. I think British fashion came into its own again this last decade and I am looking forward to seeing what the next will bring!

Saturday Morning Inspiration

Today I am loving these stunning necklaces by English jewellery designer Lucy Hutchings. I have always loved anything art deco, from architectural examples like the Oxo Tower and Battersea Power Station in London, to designs in interiors and fashion so I can see why Hutchings was inspired to create these pieces. These necklaces would surely provide a show-stopping addition to any outfit, whether dressing up a more casual look by day or adding some high octane glamour at cocktail hour.

Wolf and Badger Launch Party

Henry David Thoreau once said: 'How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.' I have to admit he probably wasn't talking about fashion blogs but it is my new aim to get out there and write more about what I see as well as my own opinions on styles I like. Last Wednesday I followed my itchy feet to the launch party of Wolf and Badger, a new concept store which has just opened on Ledbury Road, a mere stone's throw away from Beach Blanket Babylon and a 5 minute amble from the ever busy Portobello Road. The party was literally heaving when I arrived so alas, I did not get the chance to examine the collection in as much detail as I had hoped as I had just about 20 minutes before going to see a friend of mine playing live for the first time at the Troubadour! The crowd was colourful and eclectic, and from what I did see of the collection I adored!!! Running down the centre of the ground floor was a glass cabinet containing beautiful and interesting jewellery including-my favourite of course-cocktail rings a-plenty. The store plays host to a huge range of independent designers-a caged corset caught my eye at once: this is fashion-meets-art at it's best! One guest asked me if I was there to shop.....alas no! Perhaps one day when my wallet is kinder. In true Notting Hill community tradition, the store also gave a promotional helping hand to local gelateria DriDri which is situated on the Portabello Road. Having lived in Florence I can be fussy when it comes to gelato but this was truly delicious. As well as this the party continued on to neighbourhood watering-hole the Lonsdale for an after-party, but sadly I missed it. Maybe next time!

Carnival Crazy Colour

This weekend was a carnival crazy one in London. Firstly, on Friday, I attended the World Cup Carnival in Shepherds Bush for the Brazil v Netherlands quarter final. The atmosphere was beyond electric with the entire match punctuated by a soundtrack of samba music and steel drums and all you could see were the the bright crayola green and yellow shades of the nation's football strip. After the match, even though the team lost, the sulking was minimal (English fans could learn a thing or two from this mentality!) and everyone carried on the party dancing samba to a live band, spinning and and jumping and turning and stamping until dizzy and too hot and exhuasted to carry on. Ole, indeed!

Yesterday I headed up to Regent Street for lunch, completely unaware of the fact that it was the Gay Pride March (I have had no idea what has been going on at all lately, as I have not been in the country for the past 10 days). Again the visual theme for the day was colour, but this time, there was a veritable kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes of every colour under the sun. Despite the fact I had had no idea about the parade I had luckily been clutching my sailor's hat when I set out that day, and it inadvertantly turned out to be an ideal accessory and I saw several other sailors and even a pirate. My favourite costumes however were those which involved so many colours, patterns and textures that even Joseph would have regarded his technicolour dreamcoat as a rather too conservative choice.

Fix Up, L'echarpe

When in Paris, whether you are a boy or a girl, there seems to be a unspoken understanding that no outfit is complete without a scarf of some description draped casually around your neck.

In Milan, if you walk down the street without sunglasses on, thanks for coming but you might as well not have bothered.

London however does not abide by rules and over here, anything goes. To New Yorkers (Manhattanites, not the more 'alternative' folk who live in Brooklyn), we are a scruffy, unkempt bunch with drastically bad teeth and nails. However I think the diversity of London is it's own defining feature and that is what makes it so exciting.

I write this in the wake of Graduate Fashion week. Such an event only goes to show the extent to which the London fashion scene welcomes innovation and fosters creativity. Our own traditional brands are constantly reinventing themselves; there is no tried and tested formula. One of my favourite campaigns this year featured Tilda Swinton for Pringle of Scotland (where I was lucky enough to do an internship as I learned about the history and tradition of this quintessentially British label). Tilda Swinton is no underage, cookie-cutter model but this undoubtedly made the campaign even more visually stunning and brought out the character of the clothes as well as the stylishness.