A bug's life

Insects - they're creepy, crawly, and not everyone's favourite cup of bush tucker tea. They are however, essential to life on earth - as the plight of the bee has brought to mainstream attention over recent years - and it seems that the little critters have captured the attention of the fashion world this season.

Among the ubiquitous bird prints and Stella McCartney-inspired fruity fashions, plagues of insects are taking over the high street. Bees, butterflies and beetles have landed on accessories and summer staples, while grasshoppers and dragonflies have invaded soft furnishing departments, appearing on cushions and ceramics.

Like all creatures great and small, there's much beauty to be found in our fluttering and scuttling friends, although I feel that artist Jessica Harrison may have taken it a little far with with her fly lashes - that's right - fly leg eyelashes...delish.

Here are some of my favourite bug out pieces:

Left to right - butterfly top - Topshop, £45, butterfly playsuit - French Connection, £62, bug top - Dorothy Perkins, £26

Clockwise from top right - bug brooch - ASOS, £30, bee makeup bag - Ollie & Nic, £15, bug ring (part of a pair) - ASOS, £35, bee necklace - River Island, £4.99

Butterfly shirt dress - John Lewis, £185, bug embroidered tunic - ASOS, £22

See some more expensive bug fashions on Elle.com.

Brighton Retro Fair finds

The Brighton Retro Fair at City College on Saturday was full of glorious homeware goodies. I've recently given up drinking (booze that is - other liquids are allowed), a decision which has seen me drink more tea and eat more cake - that 'treat' craving has to be fulfilled somehow and the new Soreen banana bread is a winner.

So, I now have added incentive to buy all those pretty cake plates I see knocking about in charity shops, vintage boutiques, car boot sales and fairs. The latest addition to the collection is this very delicate forest and deer set by Alfred Meakin (£8) - so cute.


I also picked up this rather ugly - in that 1960s/70s way that I like - coffee and cake plate/tray from the £1 box outside Martlets on North Road.


And this wind-up alarm clock was also just £1 from the Retro Fair, although the tick tock is so loud I'm not sure the husband will allow me to keep it...

Marina boot sale win

My first time at the Marina car boot sale yielded this amazing paisley print travel bag - £10, haggled down from £20 - and this original 1950s coffee table - £15 down from £20. Win and win.


I can't believe I haven't been to this sale before. It's more of a second-hand or vintage fair than a 'crap-I'm-clearing-out' affair, and I could have bought so much more if I had the space. Maybe it's time to move to a bigger place...

Chichester vintage

Chichester - lovely stuff. Beautiful old high-street buildings - the Cathedral isn't bad either - lush green parks where cricket matches offer an air of the fictional Midsomer (of the Murders fame) and home to the Pallant House Gallery, currently playing host to an exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Festival of Britain and the works of celebrity Mid-Century designer couple Robin and Lucienne Day.

Being home to the Goodwood Revival and last year's Vintage at Goodwood festival, the city is also no stranger to vintage vultures, and has much to offer those on the hunt for original bargains.


South Street, the road that leads from the train station into the town centre, is lined with charity shops, serving both national and local causes. There are many affluent chaps and chapesses in Chichester, which makes for some top quality pre-loved gear. Boden, Monsoon and Jigsaw are among the brands commonplace in the city's charity shops, and vintage dresses, crockery and jewellery are also plentiful. Thank you old ladies of Chichester.

However, many of the city's best charity shop vintage offerings have no doubt been snapped up by the buyers of One Legged Jockey, a vibrant vintage boutique One Legged Jockey on Crane Street - another charity shop hot spot.


Selling everything from cowboy boots and jeans, through original mini and maxi dresses to picnic hampers and tableware, the shop is jam-packed with pieces of interest. Prices are reasonable, although obviously not charity shop or car boot cheap.

Another of Chichester's must-visit shops for vintage-lovers is Number Forty Three on North Street. As well as original Mid-Century furniture and homewares, the shop also offers up-cycled interior pieces and unique gifts and accessories.


In short, Chichester makes the perfect day trip destination for those with an eye for the old.

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.