Dear Santa....

....I saw the red version of this watch on dressed and pressed's blog this morning and realised I had to have it. I usually avoid wearing my watch because I like to wear bracelets and it interfers. But this watch is a beautiful bracelet as well! And its by Betsey Johnson and we all know how I feel about her....

And look at the cutesy presentation case?!

The only question now is whether I get it in black, blue, or red. That, dearest santa, is up to you!

I've been a very good girl and eaten all of my greens, and this week i found out i'd passed my beloved MA with flying colours, so I think I deserve to be on the nice list and not the naughty one like last year.

And of course there'll be mince pies, and I won't forget the carrot for rudolph!

Lots of love and kisses,

Tor

PS - Santa, in case your elves don't make watches in the workshop, you can buy them here. And if you're feeling especially generous, I also like the fringed T bar sandals!

Topshop! Again!

Guess where i'm going on the 8th December...

Eeeny, meeeny, miiiny, mo.....

....For which coat shall I go??

I saw this coat in both a magazine, and on a real woman on the train the other day, and I fell in love with it:

I immediately hinted heavily to my boyfriend how wonderful it was, and what a lovely christmas present it would make. He didn't

A change is better than a rest!

I'm not one for whinging, but to cut a long story short, things haven't been all hunky dory (a phrase not used enough I don't think!) in Tor World of late. Yesterday I moved from my grotty horrible room in a grotty horrible flat full of grotty horrible people (you get the idea!) and into my sisters spare room. Living with my sister will be a true delight, however this maneovure technically makes me homeless! Believe it or not I did this of my own accord: such was the grottiness of the flat! However fear not, because I am a young lady with a plan: once Christmas is out of the way I shall be flat hunting for a beautiful home all of my very own. And to keep my spirits up in the meantime, I am dreaming of all the beautiful things I want to put in it.

First up are some robert ryan tiles. In my head (where i'm much better at crafts than I am in real life) I would use just one (they're quite expensive!) surrounded by plain blue and brown tiles as the centre piece of a cutsey kitchen table where I will sullenly eat my cornflakes every morning until it catches my eye and makes me smile. My tile of choice is this one:

If i'm allowed to be greedy (and why not, when you're feeling a bit down and making lists of fictional things you really want for your fictional home) I would also have this rob ryan screenprint:

How cutsey? I truly believe this man is genius; each of his prints is touching, and each carries a message that seems so simple but so true.


I don't believe in minimalism. I think a home should be cluttered with trinkets and things you can forget about and then get excited when you accidentally stumble across them: my attitude to my home is the same as my attitude to my wardrobe I guess!

So here are the new trinkets I will be adding to my already vast collection:

When I was a wee girl of 18, I brought an ex boyfriend the best present from an antique shop near my parents house: a set of babooshka dolls each representing one of the russian presidents since the fall of the last tsar (part animal part caractiture, if you're interested!). Oh how I wish i'd kept them for myself! However I think this set of hideous yet strangely appealing cat dolls would more than make up for it! Speaking of Russian dolls did anyone else see how fab the dolls created by Burberry for Russian Vogue were? I think they're still on the website!

2 Christmases ago my mum and dad brought me the most amazing gift; a hand crafted chess set from the sixties in a beautiful wooden box. Each set are carved to represent the chinese and invading armys (in blue and in yellow) and what i love most about it is because it has been hand carved and hand painted, each piece is different. However, this set didnt come with a board; I always said I wooden cheapen them with a plastic board, and I haven't found the perfect one. Until now: this is shabby yet distinguished all at the same time. Like a battle weavied old man who won't talk about what he's been through; I love it.

And finally, the thing i'm most excited about. I had this idea once that I wanted a footstool. An old-fashioned footstool which I could restore and make my own. I wanted to strip the wood and paint it turquoise and then replace the fabric with robot print fabric. I don't know why; I just conjured this impractical idea up on the tube one day and now I plan on turning into reality. After literally hours of scouring for it, here is the robot print fabric:

Although i'm also quite fond of the spaceships now that I think about it:

Hmmm, robots or spaceships? Robots or spaceships? It's a touch call, but one i'm happy to distract myself with making!


Sorry for the trip into home decorating guys: Back with more fashion and frivolity and less interior nightmares tomorrow, I promise!

Love Tor x

Minna Parikka: Love of the day....

Although I own literally hundreds of pairs of shoes, i've recently realised that my shoes fall into one of two categories: gorgeous horrendously high heels, or cute but fundementally practical flats.

On Wednesday, whilst tearing up and down Oxford street with my sister (wearing shoes from category a: high and uncomfortable) I twisted my ankle. And it really hurts.

Whilst sitting here wearing my heeled boots and twisting my foot around (does anyone else kind of enjoy the perverse pleasure of controlling their pain in this way??!) I have had a moment of realisation: what I need are shoes that are flat, or nearly flat, and gorgeous. No to high heels, and no to plain black ballet pumps! This means no to more high street "everyone has a pair of shoes like those" purchases; what my heart desires today is a pair of shoes by Minna Parikka.

A lady who, a quick myspace stalk shows, looks as cool as her footwear:

Here's the blurb: "Finnish designer Minna Parikka’s shoes always cause gasps of delight and compliments galore. Combining her love of Nordic functionalism and the surreal, Minna creates designs that pay tribute to the footwear of eras past. Made in Spain of the finest Italian leathers, you'll fall in love with her signature style of bows, gingerbread shapes, hearts and buckles." Sounds like the kind of shoes i'm looking for "gasps of delight" are always welcomed by this meglomaniac! But more important than the words, here are the shoes:

* OK so the last two pairs don't satisfy the flat/nearly flat criteria, but a leopard cant change her spots that quickly can she??

The first pair are my absolute favourites: they are the kind of shoes I imagine minnie mouse would wear if mickey ever sent her out to work and she had to get an office job. They'd be the perfect focal point with black tights and black shoes (my standard work outfit) but would look outstanding with clashing coloured tights, patterned dresses and layers and layers of tops (my standard weekend uniform) Basically, I need these shoes! Time to start jiggling that piggie bank....

Thank heavens for the tatty devine website. Without them I might never have discovered the fabulous Minna, and her fabulous, delicious, drool inducing shoe candy.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Tor xxx

Bargain hunting

Unless you've been locked in a cave for the past week, you probably don't need me to tell you that we are in the middle of a Debenhams 3 day spectacular; they are advertising up to 25% off everything, but in reality the majority of wares have 20% off- still a good deal whichever way you look at it!

However what you might not be aware is that this 20% discount also applies to concessions within Debenhams stores. This in effect means that for the next 2 days you can get discounts at Miss Selfridge, Dune, Faith, Warehouse, and loads of other stores, depending on which Debenhams you use (their website will tell you which concessions are in your closest store!) I know it's not as cheap as the January sales (you wouldn;t believe how many people have said that to me over the past 2 days!) but hey, it's not January yet, and I for one still have plenty of Christmas parties to look fabulous for in December.

Here are the 2 outfits i'll be looking to make savings on:

Dress; Miss Selfridge £45, Boot; Faith £72, Fan clutch; Warehouse £30 and Money Gold necklace £56.

This whole outfit then would cost £203 to buy on a full price highstreet type day. However on a magical day like today, the whole outfit costs only £162.40. I know thats not the cheapest outfit we've ever brought you (anyone else remember last years "christmas dress for under £30 fiasco?") but £40 off is definitely not to be sniffed at!

The next outfit is:

Dress; Miss Selfride £50, Shoes; Faith £68, Lace tights; Warehouse £8 and Earrings; Miss Selridge £10. (Total cost:£136 Saving price cost:£108.80 )

How amazing are these ginormous oversized stud earrings!?

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Hmmm, i've just realised how similar these outfits look; that might be because I LOVE LBD's and because i'm feeling all gothic sophistication for this seasons Christmas endeavours!
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Anyway, the point i'm making is that if you do need a new dress for Christmas, and you we're planning on buying it full price from the highstreet anyway, now is the best time to get yourself to debenhams and save some money; afterall £40 is 8 cocktails, and thats a good night out!
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Lots of love,

Tor

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By the way - You can now have fabfrocks delivered to your inbox every week - just sign up to the newsletter by entering your email address in the box to your left. ----->

Once upon a time....

Fashion has become a fairytale. Of course, it always was one to me, but this is my headline and i'm sticking to it!

In my 7, 123, 398 point list about why I love fashion, over the past month especially I have noticed another point to stick on the list; fashion always makes everything a little bit better. Take todays economic climate for example; people are losing their jobs, worried about how to pay their electricity bills and whether they'll be able to put a turkey on the table on December 25th. Can fashion take away these worries? Make couture free to boost moral? No it can't. So how is that weird and wonderful world we call fashion making everything seem better? By encouraging us to forget. To enter another world where everything is OK, and only beautiful things exist. No more black or utilitarian for us: Alice in Wonderland, Snow white and cinderella is where fashion is channelling itself now, and all to make us feel better. Now that's what I call selfless!

Take Nick Knights unbelieveable fashion photoshoot for Decembers Vogue as a prime example:

In amongst the fluff and froff I am seeing ladies dressed up for the mad hatter's tea party, cinderella's ball, and snow white's wedding to the handsome prince.

Still not convinced? Try Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's upcoming offering Alice in Wonderland:

OK, so he looks as gothic as usual, but who can resist a chance to look at photos of Johnny Depp?

I'm still not giving up on the fairytale thing though! This phenomena has even spread to the highstreet! Last night I dragged the boyfriend begrudgingly down to topshop for a glimpse of the Gareth Pugh Christmas trees promised on topshop.com (which was not there but you can see it below!)...

...and whilst pointing at the things i'd quite like in my Christmas stocking instead (mostly sparkles and sequins and shiny shiny gold!) I took these photographs of the the latest window displays in topshop: OK, so I got the angles all wrong, but they are gorgeous mannequins perched on the Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe-style furniture which has been painted like a forest inhabited by an evil witch.

You can even play a topshop christmas fairytale game, and are pretty much guarenteed to win 10% off at the store I can't stop talking about (dear god, someone help me stop!) Who says there's no such thing as a fashion fairy god mother?

See? Fairytales and fantasy as far as the eye can see! Now lets all listen to fashion, stick our fingers in our ears chanting "lalala I can't hear you" and pretend to be princesses whilst waiting for this credit crunch "blip" to blow over. After all, i'm sure that's how they got through the recession in the twenties...Isn't it?!

Lots of love,

Tor x

If only I got paid a pound every time I wrote the word "Topshop" on this blog!

........But I can't deprive you of this information!

Those topshop addicts amongst you who are lucky enough (or unlucky enough, depending on how you look at it) to live in London might want to think about getting yourselves down to the topshop Christmas party at westfield on Thursday. There will be food and drink, gothic carollers, a dj set, complimentary flash eye lash application and so much more.

Sadly, they won't be giving huge discounts on the party dress you fall in love with, but you can't have everything , can you?

Visit the site to find out more.

I will be heading down there with a friend to soak up the festive atmosphere, try on a dress or ten, and hopefully snaffle some free false eyelashes and a chocolate brownie or two. If you see me, come and say hi!

Love, Tor x

All I want for Christmas....

Well, as I wrote on Friday, it's that time of the year again! ("it's come as fast as ever", as my nan would say) And whilst I wouldn't say i'm difficult to buy presents for (other people might say I was, but I wouldn't!) for over a week now panic-striken people have been calling or texting asking what a want for Christmas. Other than the usual - pony, jet fighter, trip into space - I haven't really known what to say! My lovely mummy is getting me a new sewing machine (I really am sticking to this new "make it yourself" mantra!) and that's all I really wanted to be honest.

You can see it all over the highstreet already; pandamoniom and panic that "you've left it too late!" "All the things you wanted might be gone" "What shall I get everyone?" and (more so than ever this year, I imagine) "How am I going to pay for all this?" Well I wouldn't want to subject anyone to that devilish nightmare on my behalf! But the first thing that springs to my mind when I think of presents is this: FASHION!! And in the interest of fairness (and because I know we all love looking at pictures of pretty things) here are some of the fashionable pretties I would be more than happy to find in my stocking from good old St Nick:

I've split these into 3 distinct categories. After all, we are but monkeys without organisation, so i'm told!

Jewellery

I love love LOVE these necklaces by paraphernalia on Etsy! I've seen so many girls wearing the heart one, which was my first love but now i'm torn: do I prefer the ribcage or the little bird? What I do know is that I wouldn't trade these buttons for anything - I want to stick one on my leather jacket and wear it forever!!

Oh Topshop, where would I be without you? I want, nay need, nay demand a ring with the head of a leopard on it, and an elephant bracelet! I want to wear them both together like a queen! A queen I tell thee!

Clothes

This bubble hem dress from Warehouse looks really simple on the hanger, but killer on the body! I think what I love about this dress is that with towering heels and drop earrings its perfect for a night out, but with a simple white tee underneath and knee high boots you could wear it all day as well. And for £45, you can guarentee it won't break the bank!

Shoes and Other Leather Goods

Phillip Lim Leather gloves £140 - £140 for gloves?? This seems completely crazy to me! Crazy I tell ya! But I saw these and fell a little bit in love. And you never know, Santa could buy a lottery ticket!!

I know they're a little over the top and more suited to teenage girls than responsible young adults (I think thats what i'm supposed to pretend to be?!) but I love irregular choice shoes! They're quirky and girly and they make my feet happy! And oh how happy my feet would be to take any of these beauties home with them! I want intergalatic robot feet!

Christmas window shopping!

(Nearly there - here comes post 3 of todays 3 post romp!)

Now, i'm about to make a confession. My favourite thing about London isn't the nightlife or the theatre, or anything culturally stimulating. Nor is it couture or shoes or places you can buy coats (and we all know how much I love coats!) No, my favourite thing about London is the Selfridges everychanging window display. When I was a timid teenage girl (who wouldn't have dreamt of going into somewhere like Selfridges - I was 22 when I made my first trip!) and we used to come to London for school trips I used to make a bee line for Selfridges and walk all the way along, gobbling in every window. Even now I dont like to take the bus along Oxford street, I always get off and walk so that I can see everything at my own pace. So imagine my delight when making this walk yesterday I noticed that Selfridges had put their Chrismas windows in place!
Enjoy:

This of course means it's officially nearly Christmas! Get ready for carol references, obsessing over the perfect dresses, and of course the annual surreptitious Christmas wish list for my boyfriend!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love Tor x

Primark Pick of the Week #2

(Post 2 in the 3 post bonanza!)

Hello, me again!

So, i'm sure noone will be suprised to hear that last night I went to primark: invariably all of my trips to Oxford street end up there. And it made up for the disapointment in H&M (yes, i'm still going on about it!) I love Primark; it always suprises me when people say they can never find anything in there because to me it is the best place to buy fashion forward clothes you will only wear for a month or two on a tight budget. Anyway, I digress.

This military style band master coat is this weeks pick of the week. The tight fit at the top and buttons are quite masculine, but the ruffles that start from under the bust make the whole thing look girlie and feminine. Obviously it's completely over the top but I love it!

It comes in black:

And in red:

I got the red one, and, as everyone keeps pointing out, it looks just like the jacket Prince Charles is wearing in the new portrait to commemorate his 60th birthday today which just happens to be on the front page of every paper.

Mock as you will people! I love it! All I need to do now is decide whether a bowler or top hat would accompany it best? Yes, I mean it!

Love your walking cliche,

Tor

Comme de Garcon - Polka What??

(OK, just advance warning that yesterday was quite a shopping day, so what is flying towards you now is part 1 of a 3 part mega posting session!)

Hey y'all,

Well, on the Comme de Garcon front I write to you a disapointed lady; everyone was right when they posted yesterday that all the stuff I wanted had gone. And (not that i'm sad or bitter!) but what was left really wasn't worth leaving the house for. This is the sight that greeted me when i arrived:

No crowds, no high fashion; nada! And although I was reserving judgement on the discussion that has been raging in the blogosphere of late, i'm prepared to say now that to my mind you really didn't get a lot for your money! However, for anyone desperate to get their hands on anything, the topshop Oxford circus store is having another big delivery today apparently. For now, this is as close as I got to the good stuff:

The window display! In the store there were only 3 things left in my size. In fact, there was only about 6 different items left altogether. But here they are:

1) Painful dress

How it should've looked:

How it looked on me:
Ouch ouch ouch!!! My poor boobs shouldn't look this flat and squished - damn you curves!! Actually this dress looked nicer on than on the hanger (if you ignore the flattening effect) and I really liked the cut out waist detail. I can see this looking really lovely on someone who isn't me!

2+3) Polka dot madness!

At £29.99 I scoffed at the cotton polka dot shirt - H&M quality for double the price? Why, I asked myself! I did however like the £14.99 pajama pants: i've never been able to resist decent pajamas! But what worried me most is that teaming them with the shirt looked way too much like a house suit set. What does that say about the shirts I wonder!?
Oh yeah, and even though it was a little baggy everywhere else, the central button gaped. Story of my life! (although nothing that couldnt be fixed with a needle and thread and a strategically placed popper!)

So there you have it! Painful dress and pajamas - not exactly what I was getting excited about really was it? Oh well, at least I had a worthwhile evening in the end, but more about that later.

I'm teasing you like the end of a dramatic episode of your favourite soap opera (please tell me you watch soap operas or i'm just not sure we can still be friends!)

To be continued.....

Tor x