Vintage Paris painting

The latest edition to our walls - a vintage Paris tourist painting, picked up for £4 at the brilliant Spiral charity shop on Bedford Place. Shhh, don't tell too many people it's there...

Looklet.com - a brand engagement dream

When Beyond Retro announced that some of their stock was now available to play stylist with on Looklet.com, it prompted an hour of unofficial down-time at work. I hadn't realised that this was the tool I'd seen fashion bloggers use to illustrate their take on the current trends, and once I did, I was hooked.

For Looklet virgins, the site allows its users to style outfits from a number of high-street, designer and vintage brands, offering a choice of models, backgrounds and effects.


It's easier to make things look pretty than with Polyvore sets, and you don't have to go out and buy stuff and spend hours taking photos, deleting photos and generally becoming frustrated that you don't look like a model in order to share your outfit creations - Lookbook.nu is not my bag.

The site attracts 500,000 hits a day from all over the world and, as I said, is naturally popular with fashion bloggers looking to share their style. A brand engagement dream - so, what does it cost for a retailer to get their stock on site?


A contact from the site told me that there is no cost for brands to be represented - all they would need to do is loan some samples of an upcoming season’s stock to the Looklet.com studio in Stockholm, covering the shipping costs back and forth.

Seems like a cheap and quick win in terms of online exposure and engagement and would also be a great tool to use for client’s on-site content, enabling content creators to put together good-looking seasonal outfits to illustrate fashion editorial.

I'll definitely be encouraging my high-street clients and vintage contacts to join the likes of Topshop, Zara and Beyond Retro and get in on the act before the site owners start to capitalise on the social tool as they could do.

The investment bag - Cambridge Satchel Co

Being a bargain-hunter, with a penchant for a certain type of style that I like to call 'charity shop chic', there are few satorial items on which I would blow £85. Indeed I only stretched to £250 for my wedding dress, which was, of course, second-hand or 'pre-loved' if we are to use the current preferred euphemism.

But even I, a magpie on a budget, recognise that some things are worth the investment. Things that will last a lifetime, retain their value and grow old gracefully.

These very justifications for the purchase of 'it' bags see women part with hundreds and thousands of pounds for arm accessories - and me the slightly smaller sum I received for my first Guardian piece.


My 'it' bag of choice is the vintage-loving fashion bloggers' favourite - a handmade, leather satchel from the Cambridge Satchel Company.

Having seemingly been around since satchels were the sole preserve of school children, the brand owners must not be able to believe their luck now the practical geek pieces have become 'must-have' fashion accessories. They probably thank the Lord for Alexa Chung and her awkward school boy guises each morning.

But, judging by their 1990s-style website design and functionality and the charming presentation and packaging of my bag, all the attention hasn't gone to their heads.


My satchel, in my favourite colour - grass green, conveniently conforms to this season's colour pop trend, and apparently attracted a compliment on its first outing - missed during a public micro-argument with the husband, who kindly informed me afterwards when we were friends again.

The leather is hard and rigid at the moment, giving the colour a brashness perfect for summer, but give it a few years of constant companionship and it'll soften, with cracks and quirks familiar only to me.

If we're going on cost per wear, I think this one will pay for itself before the year is through.