An afternoon at Kew

Last weekend my lovely friend Fareed cooked me lunch and showed me around his neighbourhood, which just so happens to encompass Kew Gardens. I’d been before, years ago as a young pensions reporter on a freebie press do at a summer concert, but I’d never had the chance to explore it. Fareed has a season ticket so we strolled through the gates with an ice-cream without having to pay and headed straight to the palm house.

I wore my petticoat especially for him that Sunday because he once dared me to wear it to work…

Top – Topshop

Petticoat – American Apparel

Ballet shoes – Topshop

Bag – Longchamp

Army jacket – Gone Retro, Milton Keynes

Ring – Thor & Whistle

Favourite pins: February

My favourite pins of February. You can see my boards at http://www.pinterest.com/jennyvintage/pins/

Barcelona: vintage shopping

I love Barcelona. I love the architecture, the food, the cheap beer and the laid-back lifestyle – a fabulous break from home when I’ve been working flat out writing articles for finance magazines.

My dear friend Beth has lived in Barcelona for about five years and by now has shown me around most of her favourite places. Beth and I both love a good vintage and charity shop trip so on top tour guide form, during my last trip in November, she took me to the best Barcelona vintage shop she’s shown me yet – Kilostore on Carrer de la Riera Baixa.

Take a short walk from La Rambla for vintage sold by the weight and really lovely service. Despite apparently having plenty of similar shops in England, I’d never come across one so I got pretty excited.

Kilostore is especially good for really cheap and good quality coats and jackets, knitwear and accessories. I got a fantastic men’s navy pea coat – with little red anchors embroidered in the lapels – for about €25.

  Everything, except for very light and difficult to weigh items like belts, is labelled black or white, giving it a price of either €20 or €30 a kilo. Take it to the till and the really nice staff will weigh it, get out a calculator and tell you exactly how much it is.

Kilostore – Carrer de la Riera Baixa, a short walk from Liceu metro station on La Rambla.

Snaps this week

This week’s Instagram

During the week Auriol and I went to Oxford to see Love is Enough: William Morris & Andy Warhol at Oxford Modern Art. I highly recommend a visit – three rooms of apparently rarely seen works, linked by both artists’ print making businesses and their collaborations with their peers.

This was a great show with a broad selection of line drawings, textiles, prints, books and magazines. Well worth a look.

Elsewhere at Oxford Modern Art – Inventory of Objects Belonging to a Young Man of Oxford: Christian Boltanski

Snaps this week

This week’s Instagram

Home-made Nutella ice cream thanks to a super easy recipe from What Jessica Baked Next

Wengen, Switzerland

And apparently there’s shisha in Wolverton, Milton Keynes

Want: Loup Garçon dress

I just found out about Loup from Calivintage this morning and it’s all so pretty! If you’re sad that you’re not Jane Birkin, go and look at the sweet little Paris-inspired dresses, all made in New York. I love this one but I’ve promised to not by myself anything new for months – 2015 needs to be the year of austerity.

But oh –

 

Favourite pins: December

My favourite pins of December. You can see my boards at http://www.pinterest.com/jennyvintage/pins/

Snaps this week

This week’s Instagram

 Bespoke Barware

Mint and watermelon cava cocktail

The teddy coat

After years of wearing huge furry coats all winter I thought I’d never really be warm in a non-furry ever again. But I got this fantastic 1960s teddy coat from Curious Minds Vintage in Buckingham last month and it’s great for really cold weather.

This was an absolute bargain at £30 – it’s a gorgeous classic 60s piece, it’s in brilliant condition, and it’s very heavy and well-made. It goes with nearly everything I own but I especially love it with my most recent bits from American Apparel.

Coat – Curious Minds Vintage, Buckingham

Dress – American Apparel

Jumper – American Apparel

Bag – Longchamp

Boots – Asos Marketplace

The Kissing Booth

 

I love my Coco Fennell bee dress. I love it so much I bought it twice – the first time, too cocky to believe the ‘dry clean only’ label, I washed it and it shrank… about two dress sizes. It still fit but it was too tight to look like the tea dress it used to be so I gave it to my petite friend Auriol and bought another.

This dress is perfect for those London lunch meetings I still have to go to every once in a while and for more special occasions, such as this wedding where my sister and I were the photographers for the whole day. Side note – being a wedding photographer is exhausting. It’s fun but it’s non-stop all day. Grab a pint before you start and wear flat shoes.

When we finally got a quiet moment at the reception, this kissing booth plus novelty glasses obviously equalled a lot of bee dress posing…

Dress – Coco Fennell

Ballet shoes – Topshop

Watch – Burberry