Animal crackers from Matalan!

Hi guys,
This season's trends trickled down from the catwalk to the high street in record time. We've already seen Miu Miu's bird print replicated at New Look and Victoria Beckham's cat print was spotted at the Asda press day last week. But the range of animal prints available is only getting bigger and more diverse. As demonstrated by my newest purchases from Matalan!
Rabbit print top - £18. Dog print blouse - £7.50 (reduced from £15).

I picked up these two blouses from the Norwich store yesterday. They're just perfect for this time of year: add a blazer and skinny jeans and your ready to go! But as the weather warms up they'd look equally good teamed with leggings or city shorts and sandals: oversized handbag hanging off your arm!

As I type this I am wearing a leopard print blouse with a snake pint blazer. So I think it's fair to say that this season's trend for all things animal is one I will be following firmly this spring/summer! What about you? What new season trend are you most looking forward to wearing?

Love Tor xx

PS - Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You could win a gorgeous piece of handmade jewellery from Vintage Willow!

What's in the window: Spring is coming!!

Hi guys,
I cannot tell you how much I am longing for Spring. I think that because the cold spell came so early this year it feels long overdue: I keep forgetting that it's only January and wanting to slip my sandals on! And apparently i'm not the only one. The boring 'Sale Now On' signs are coming down (although Topshop are hanging on in, with new 'More lines added' signs in their windows). In there place are exactly what i've been waiting for: flowers, colours, plenty of white, signs that Spring will soon be here!

And to prove it, here's what's in the shop windows this week:

Stella McCartney

I walked past this window three times, admiring the flower heads, before I noticed the beautiful dresses below. How did I miss them? The screen print patterns are breath taking. And matching bags too!

Miu Miu

I love lazer cut outs, so these dresses immediately got my attention. I also loved the contrast between the nude and the neon on the shoes: if I had the money they'd be the perfect addition to my growing shoe collection!

Kenzo

This window immediately makes me think of my mum on a resort holiday. On how I long to wear crisp white shirts and not have to worry about throwing on my coat. Come on Spring: hurry up!!

Love, Tor xxx

Here comes the sun....

...I know it's still winter, and it's still seriously chilly outside, but the sun has been so bright this weekend that I have had to hunt my sunglasses out of my sack of a bag on three seperate occassions. Thank God then that i brought these from Primark last week for a mere £2 to replace last summers pair which are already broken:

I'm a nightmare with sunglasses. I can get through up to 12 pairs in a summer. Put them in my bag and i'll sit on them on the bus. On the table in front of me in the beer garden? I'll have one too many and leave them behind. I've even been known to hang them on the hook in a changing room whilst trying on dresses and walk out leaving them dangling behind. For that reason, it's highstreet sunnies all the way for me:
Animal print hearts, Topshop £15. Pink and cream catseyes, Topshop £15. Rainbow sunglasses £17 Asos.com. Jeepers peepers blue sunglasses £15.75 asos.com and a whole page of groovy sun specs from next!

Or of course, I could sensibly invest in a sunglasses case:

£7.82, River Island

In which case, i might trust myself and make a small investment in these:

Hmmm, is it just me or do these £110 miu miu numbers look very similar to the £2 primark pair I could buy and break 55 times for the same amount of money!?

Nah, who am I kidding? They'd be lost and i'd be crying within a week! More multicoloured primark faux raybains for me then! £2 a pop: who can argue?

Love Tor

Ps - Sorry for the lack of blogging over the past week: house hunting is taking over my life. Why is the London letting market such a wretched nightmare?? We have found two we liked, the first one was gone before we could even get a second viewing, and the house of my dreams, which we saw and told the agent we wanted on saturday, might also have already been let. A bit of organisation please! Grrr!!!

Pps - Is anyone else wondering what Michelle Obama will be wearing for the inaugaration tomorrow? Exciting!

Lest he forgets.....

Without sounding like a spokesperson for Hallmark, I thought i'd better mention that Valentines day is fast approaching. Now i'm not normally one for commercial holidays. And I know that Valentines day is the most meaningless and commercial holiday of them all. And I am aware that Valentine's day is mostly disapointing for us mere mortals, pocket filling for the companies that sell us our trinkets, and pretty miserable for anyone without a significant other. But I also think that any holiday that means my boyfriend will make me a homemade card (it's a longrunning tradition) and buy me a thoughtful gift, usually fashion related, is not a bad thing.

This year I am making Mr Man his valentines gift, and as it is a fine example of crafty fashion (fingers crossed) I will upload some photo's of it when it's finished. In the meantime, I've been thinking about what I would like to recieve this year from that ideal world where money grows on trees and everyone can have what they want. My top 5 vaguely romantic and meaningful lust-have items are:

Anatomica heart necklace from Paraphernalia, $20 (approx £10).

By far the most affordable item on my fanatasy list, I love this necklace. Becky introduced me to the amazing jewellery at Paraphernalia last week, and i've become slightly addicted to looking at it. The obvious heart association covers the valentine's angle of the gift, without being overly cutesy and obvious (ala the angled heart shaped necklaces everyone from the Bridget Jones generation coveted) Its a statement piece I would wear again and again (and again, actually!) Miu Miu floral carved sandals, £275

OK, so I know it's a bit of a push on the 'traditional Valentine's gift' front, but as people often gift flowers as tokens of love, and then main feature of these shoes is the floral detail, I figured it would be OK. Besides, its my list of imaginary gifts, and I will imaginarily wear them if I want to!

I have a minor (ok, major) addiction to tan leather: bags, belts, shoes, jackets- if you can name it I can own it in tan. I love these shoes because on the surface they seem so simple but the detail on them is so bold and intricate. These would make a perfect addition to my summer 'staple' wardrobe.

I don't normally wear delicate or fine jewellery, preferring to opt for its chunkier (and cheaper) relation. However, for Tiffanys, i'm prepared to make an exception:

There are many beautiful things on the Tiffany site. However, this is not one of them. I don't know what pleases me more: how delightfully tacky it looks, or how they've managed to make something so expensive look so cheap. This diamond and pink sapphire charm set in platinum would set you back £1,450. I am always attracted to the tackiest possible thing in every store I go into, but I didn't realise that the rule of tack also applied to jewellery that costs the equivilent of 3 months rent!

The next gift idea is perhaps my favourite. Teddybears are cute, and if you're a 15 year old girl, a romantic valentines day gift. My nickname to my family and friends is (I really don't know why) Bear. And Vivienne Westwood is, as i'm sure you've gathered by now as I mention her in almost every post, my favourite designer. What's not to love about Vivienne Westwood teddybear keyrings? And even better, they're on sale for £35 at her magic online store.

Anna Sui top, £156

This is by far the biggest leap from Valentine's romance to fashion, but for this top it's a leap worth making. This Anna Sui top is called a 'Kissing leaves bow top'. Including the word kissing makes it romantic enough for me. And besides, whats more romantic than being taken out for the day wearing this beautiful shirt teams with a pleated mini and brown opaque tights? Exactly.

My boyfriend claims to show a passing interest in mine and Becky's labours and read our little blog from time to time. (Despite his all-consuming lack of interest in anything remotely fashion, God bless him) Of course, our stats show that he hasn't visited the site since November: oh yes, we have eyes and ears everywhere! Despite myself, and knowing that this means I won't get any of the things on my finely constructed list, i'm really looking forward to Valentines this year. Because (and I can;t quite believe i'm saying this) Love is about more than awesome jewellery and gorgeous couture. Only 11 more days to go......

Lots of Valentines love and wishes of finest fashion gifts for you all (you deserve them),

Tor