Will be working on some posts tomorrow. I promise. I just had to put these up because I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to make tumblr suitable gifs of Malcolm's last speech in the last ever episode of The Thick of It. Which you can still see here. I literally had goosebumps. & my gif making skills have been pushed to their limits so before I drive myself crazy trying to get them tiny enough to work as a set I just thought fuck it I'll put up the big versions on my long neglected blog.

What have I been up to? Um... went to Paris, welcomed by best friend home from Russia, decided on a harlequin clown for halloween (because clowns are the scariest of all things), became scarily emotionless about dickhead students at work... That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure you aren't that interested. Oh & I saw that new Elle Fanning film Ginger & Rosa last night, it was extremely bizarre, in that is was so glossy that she made a totally unrealistic & wrong decision at the end of the film that sort of ruined the almost beauty of everything before it. I would recommend not going after a morning of watching Honey Boo Boo reality TV as well, so you're not unnecessarily cynical about staged filmic beauty.

What have you been up to?

Oh god I know, I'm so predictable. But it's American Apparel Halloween outfit time again! If I could find three female friends & all of this AA stuff on eBay then I would SO be changing by costume to being a highlighter (lime green or blue please). At the moment though it remains as a sort of half formed skeleton as I used "that can be my halloween costume" as an excuse to buy those Henry Holland bone tights a few months back. I've also bought some white tape to stick on a top & some shorts in the shape of bones. Although I think I'm going to a rocky horror themed night on the 27th so might have to add some underwear into the mix, does boning count?

The elements are pretty awesome too, although I think I'd have to swap the bottoms for some leggings and the top for a t-shirt because dammit halloween happens in October! The dead/zombie milkman is interesting because I do now own a pair of white jeans but... well, this is a conversation I had with my boss the other week:

Him: I wish the world was taken over my zombies to get rid of all the weak people

Me: That's so unfair

Him: Why

Me: Because there's no way I'd survive a zombie attack

Him: It's alright I'll look after you

So... no. Not a zombie. What are you guys being? My imagination has completely escaped me this year. Oh & you can find the full range on American Apparel halloween loveliness here.

Just a quick before work post to say, have you seen Solange's (baby Bayonce Knowles) new video? The clothes are perfect, the settings perfect, the songs pretty perfect & man can she dance. A nice picker upper for your Friday morning. Here's what she said about filming the video:

"When Melina and I decided to film 'Losing You' in South Africa, we really didn't have a real film concept in place. It was sort of a grab a camera and let's go moment. I knew I wanted to capture a couple things: the vibe of our friendship and all of the crazy escapades we've gotten ourselves into all over the world, and the abstract and elegant Le Sape Society (Society for the Advancement of People of Elegance) formed in the Congo which was documented by Caniele Tamagni in his Gentleman of Bacongo book. We called Daniele to guide us, and some of my friends from New York came down to Cape Town and we all had a very damn good time."

Can't wait for the album!

So I spent about 2 years (maybe more?) searching for the perfect leather jacket. I wondered about vintage, I wondered about just stealing one from a boy, but in the end I just saved up & thought fuck it I'll spend like £200 on one piece of clothing that I want to wear forever. I set out on a mission & found a couple of front runners in Oasis & Whistles. The Oasis one was fake leather though although a good shape & the Whistles one had all these belts & metal shit all over it. It was also hella expensive. It's hard to strike the balance between like *motorcycle* with all the bells & whistles, but with something with an edge & something classic that's not going to age when I do.

Guess where I found it? GAP! I was as surprised as the shop assistants were. It was the first one they'd sold & I got £10 off because the price was marked wrong. Brilliant. It's got the edgier detail on the shoulders, with a couple of zipped pockets, but not a massively defined collar which makes it simpler & more classic. This sounds like I'm totally over thinking it, but I swear every female (& some guys) I spoke to about it felt exactly the same way. Maybe it's the amount of money? So people need to know it's absolutely perfect. I don't know what it is but I'm so happy to have found my one!

"Hello Daddy, hello Mum,

I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb.

Hello world I'm your wild girl,

I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb."

Sorry I couldn't resist a bit of Runaways. I actually finally got round to watching the film a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure about it. I think it was good if you didn't know about the band before, but having discovered them a couple of years back & read Cherie Currie's Neon Angel I think it was a pretty glossy portrayal. 

Anywho... I never really understood Esprit as a shop. It used to be limited to the rest of Europe & then one appeared in Cabot Circus in Bristol. It's always empty & I don't really know anyone who shops there, but they can afford to hire Gisele & Erin Wasson? I always thought it must be drug money. Turns out they're actually part of the La Redoute family so I guess the money's spread about. However, I'll go anywhere for a good print & when looking up for a cover up before I went to France in August I spotted this in the sale. Silk & cotton? Perfect. Not sure about the mandarin collar which makes it harder to wear, but the cherries are worth it!

PLUS I know in my hearts on hearts it's cheesy & bad but FUCK Kreayshawn's new album is awesome. Listening to this song on repeat, getting sideways looks whilst singing along to lyrics about burning/stabbing/shooting stuff. Anyway, listen. Promise it'll never leave your head. In the best of ways.

So I've had a Saturday job since the summer after my GCSE's, basically just over 4 years. This means that I miss out on a lot of shit. Mainly I take Saturday's off for holidays or protests & that's about it. Now I work four days a week & my first day off is Sunday it's kind of sad when everything is closed. You'd think in 2012 we'd have got everything open 7 days a week. But no. Charity shops? No. Post office? No. Bank? No. So I generally spend the day moping around or possibly braving town. But this weekend I had Saturday off! Yay!

So rare was this occasion that me & my mum decided to make the most of it & seek out some quality charity shop stalking ground. Basically I find if you look for the poshos that's where you get the best stuff because it's good quality & barely picked over. So we headed out to the Costwolds, Tetbury & Cirencester to be exact. Tetbury is where Prince Charles lives & as well as having one of the best countryside hospitals (luckily we didn't have to visit it) it also has a whole street of antique shops. Seriously. It also had some amazing charity shops, & a lovely bookshop simply called "Old Books" where I got this Faber & Faber copy of Ariel (not so old) & this amazing anthology/history/encyclopaedia of Knickers! I'm not too big on history but underwear's history intertwines so much with that of women & feminism, plus it has some beautiful pictures & the author is a keen collector so she keeps off handedly mentioning this perfect pair of Biba french lace knickers she has etc... It's basically amazing.

Then in Cirencester we found an awesome upholstery fabric shop that has like discount "designer" fabrics. I got an offcut of this epic silver fake leather (I know, but trust me) plus some sort of starburst flocked fabric. I'm thinking A-Line skirts in the style of my post below, hold on for follow up photos. Cirencester was a little rubbish to be honest. There was a really nice little bookshop & one of those "gift" shops that actually had unique stuff. But it was their Oxfam bookshop (as it so often is) that threw up this little jem of a Penguin Classic. I'm developing a little collection of these along with some I picked up in bookbarn a year odd ago. Actually one of those is my tumblr background. I might have to change it to this. Because it's just so fucking amazing. Plus the illustrations inside are beautiful! I also want to print them onto fabric but feel like that would have some major copyright issues...

How was your weekend?