#ELLESSEHERITAGE

Do you recognise that logo? Oh yeah it is!
1959 was the beginning for Ellesse as they were established in Italy as the brand that broke the boundaries of fashion combined with sportswear. By the 80's, Ellesse hit their prime after having developed a bold logo and a strong position in the market. The brand faced some strong competition from the likes of Nike & Adidas in the 90's lowering the status of the likes of Fils, Kappa, Puma and our new found love Ellesse. So they took some major down time, pretty much disappearing from the market, aside from the odd purchase made from Sport Direct or the odd trainer on the street with the dated logo planted on the side.
Now, in 2015 they have finally resurrected themselves to suit the street & hip crowd of today and it is totally accepted as the street wear brand to be sporting right now. They have revived their original logo and made it bigger, better and bolder. The new collection is even sold on the likes of ASOS and Size. I mean who would have thought that old, 'chavy brand' from the 80's would be be raving it up with the cool kids of Brick lane and The Truman Brewery, celebrating the heritage of the brand. Certainly not me! But i'm not complaining because they have turned themselves around for the better and plus I got to to be there *big smile emoji* and it was bloody awesome.
The event was held this month as a one off East London pop-up at Number Six, The Truman Brewery in the heart of Brick Lane celebrating the 'pioneering spirit' of the brand though a screening of their short film led by four creatives from the cultural landscape of today followed by a photographic and product archive showcasing some of the original sketches for Ellesse all those many years ago. 
If street is your style and bold logos make you wild, then you should definitely check out their new capsule collection. It says the collection is for men, but that makes it even more appealing and who is checking right? Oversized is still huge for this season and pretty much hasn't left my radar.

DUBLIN PART TWO

Glasses - Boutique store in Nottingham / Trench coat - Zara/ Roll neck - Goldie London/ Jeans - Topshop / Fly Knits- Nike/ Scarf - Topshop / Back Pack - Asos

The Dublin talk isn’t over just yet, because I saved one of the best parts of my trip till last. Let me tell you how I ended up having the finest breakfast at the Dublin Google HQ (the second largest headquarters after San Fran, I might add).  After trawling through AirBnB time and time again, envious all of all the funky mezzanine apartments, exposed bricks and high ceilings in old factory warehouses and of course the most beautiful  villas in the most exotic of places, we found a cute little city apartment to rent during our stay in good old Dublin. The 3 main hosts all worked at the amazing Google HQ based less than 5 mins away from their apartment. On our first morning, as one of the hosts was getting ready for work, I waited for no-one and whipped out the question of whether it would be possible to visit the HQ as they mentioned they worked there as strategists, even if it was just a bit of stalking from the outside. To my surprise,  one of the guys said it was completely fine to visit and catch a bit of breaky while we were there, especially as it was month end all targets were met.

The building from the outside looked very la la corporate, located over two high rise buildings with a joining bridge, said to have been created because of the strong winds in Dublin – I know! The whole building from inside was naturally filled with the signature Google colours with large scale G O O G L E letters created as work or sleep stations. The building is full of cool and exciting happenings including the Google gym and swimming pool that look more like a kid’s playroom. I mean, even in the dining hall (sounds like I'm back at high school paha) you felt as though you had just walked into clown town or off onto another planet – dreamy.

So onto the best bit that was the food, think of pretty much anything you could want for breakfast because it was all there. If you tell me you are coeliac or a health freak veg like me, there was everything from dairy, non-dairy porridge with almond, soya or coconut milk. There were eggs in all forms, with breads of all types. Bagels and crepes with toppings you would only imagine having after a major hangover and even the most basic thing of water, take your pick: lemon and ginger, strawberry and mint of cucumber. And all that is just for breakfast. I don’t even want to think about dinner!

So overall, it was covered the space of an hour and a half, most of which I spent eating, but getting the insider route to Google was just amazing! So a huge thanks to our hosts for giving us a tour around, can I have a job pleaseeeee?

Unfortunately, I couldn't quite capture just how amazing the Google offices were but I will leave that to your imagination! Instead you can see my little day trip to the fishing village of Howth. Despite the sun beaming, the winds were pretty tough, so I opted for a cropped roll neck by Goldie London under my long-line trench coat in a trusted camel hue. As you may have gathered, I do always love to stick to my minimalist colour palette, but surprisingly as the year has gone on, I am slowly more accepting of some more earthy and autumnal colours and lets not forget It is all about layering up specially when you are abroad. 

TOUCHED DOWN IN DUBLIN

I am back from what I saw as my last summer holiday before the Halloween & Christmas talk! After a four day long trip to the land of Guinness, wild pub life, shamrocks and leprechauns, I have returned to London for a manic week of wonderful work, training, events and of course catching up on some writing.

Dublin, where do I start?? I basically went with the minimal expectations and prepared for the worst weather of ice cold winds and rain and returning with a smaller version of my dads beer belly. Optimistic to the max right?

As you may have guessed already, I was pleasantly surprised. Dublin, is just a city with a great social scene and energy. Plus, the Irish culture is a whole bunch of fun and so distracting from the seriousness of London. Day drinking, singing and dancing with anyone and everyone is hard to turn down really. As I say, if you are going somewhere, you really do have to embrace it in full force. (beards, beer & and accent in place!)

Dublin really does have enough to offer for a full 4 days, which people suggested would be too long a time to spend in such a small city, but they were wrong! We found plenty to do and see and a bit too much walking for my liking. 

We visited a beautiful fishing village called Howth, an outer suburb of Dublin and only a short train ride away. Short being around 20 minutes, which felt like it was 5, merely due the the UH-mazing free wifi pretty much everywhere you go. I know I know, it is a bad habit to get into. I should have embraced the whole 'digital down time' thang, but then how would I look up the best places to go and of course keeping up with my scrolling of social feeds #sociabunny. Anyway, back to Howth, we took a long romantic walk along the dock towards the lighthouses and stopped off at the only rooftop bar in the village for a very traditional Bellini and spot of lunch.

 We covered off all the major tourist attractions, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, the fashion district of Grafton street and best of all the Guinness Store house a couple of min away from the city centre. Making our way through the tour, which was pretty interesting to be fair, we picked up a few facts about the iron rich drink. One, 67% of Guinness is exported. Two, Arthur Guinness and his wife Olivia had 21 children, 10 of which survived to adulthood. Three, The roasted barley is what gives Guinness the deep red colour which to us gives it that black look. Shall I go on? I wont! The best bit has got to be the tasting rooms, where you learn how to actually drink and enjoy a Guinness the real way. Too bad if Guinness isn't you thing, because following from that you can head up to the 7th floor for the 360 rooftop bar to enjoy your full pint, overlooking the whole of Dublin. Could you handle it?

Each evening we headed down to Grafton street to hit the bars around the south William Street and Georges Street area. There was a fab bar there called the South Williams bar, with a really chilled vibe. Not sure on the mixed match of music on a normal night but for their live music nights, it was the perfect place and atmosphere to enjoy our first set of drinks in the city before heading to Pygmalion  for a full on night of clubbing. There were a few days, we kept thing quite traditional, heading to a few local Irish pubs, full of beer and all their live Irish music glory. For a bit of an exaggerated Irish scene Temple bar is huge with all the tourists and offers pub after pub with the craziest of music. It was probably ones of my best nights. Get loose, go wild & basically don't mention you are from London. they hate that.

If you are a major foodie like me, places to dine at and coffee houses to chill in are a must for any country or city I visit. It is the first thing I do as soon as I book my flight. Sad I know, but if you are travelling with me, you will be thankful. 

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DAY OF A FOODIE

Start your day right with a breakfast at KC Peaches

Stop off for a coffee at Fallon & Bryne

Sit outside and enjoy the Graften Street view from Balfes at the Westbury Hotel

Refuel for the evening at The Alchemy Juice Company

Enjoy a cocktail at The Marker Hotel, while the outfits and make up is still fresh

Enjoy a cute dinner at Saba

Late night snacks and Mojitos at pop-up Taco Taco

APPY TALK | VERNEZ

It's all the talk rn! Move over Polyvore, pinterest, Lookbook & Instagram and say hello to VERNEZ,  your answer to self-publishing in the most creative way yet. it's a snazzy, shiney new app released by apple for all the emerging fashion influences to get their teeth into. It's not just a social media platform, which offers points of purchasing, it's more than that. Vernez provides inspiring social influencers the support and platform to create, express & share content in its most desirable way. 

Despite the dwindling figures for print, it is still such a preferred reading format for many of us, including myself. Having a few coffee table mags, with those beautiful thick spines, glossy fronts and the most desired editorial pages, let's face it, in fashion, magazines will never be dead. So why not follow the format we all love to absorb content with. The mix of images, text, quotations  allll wrapped up in a ball of shoppable links, sharing options, editing features. Ok, so it may be similar to the above, but hey, its new and we are all about change.

Not only is this for the the new influence, but Vernez is also for brands to follow their product and see the journey of how that product is styled by the fashion forwards.

Have you hit the download button already?

A #LFW EVENT | MEET LORNA LUXE

 Last night I had the pleasure of catching up with a few bloggers, PR's & journo's for what was fashion blogger Lorna Luxe's first public talk about the world of fashion, blogging and a few style tips for her style loving fans. The event held at the Hoxton hotel in Holborn, was the perfect setting to hold such chilled and conversational session with the very bubbly Lorna. 

After literally just waltzing in to The Apartment  thinking I was late (the private space of the Hoxton used for all sorts of events and classes), to my surprise I was greeted by Lorna herself who was just about sipping on a cucumber martini till walked over not even recognising her. She was so approachable and smiley, with such a cute little outfit on. Obviously repping one of her classic pussy bow shirts, acessorised with a black brimmed hat, and some purdy pink lippy. Such a babe!

As everyone mingled, drank and of course got snap happy, we were all ushered to take seats before Lorna  began. She started off by talking about her latest movements at NYFW as she collaborated with Olympus to follow a week in the life of the Felder Felder sisters, which she absolutely loved and how the heck couldn't you!! With their chilled out vibes all day everyday despite the fashion week havoc going on 360 degrees. She then made it back in time for LFW to do what she does best, street style posing, show watching, constant Instagramming, spending time with her new found blogger and Insta buddies. 

Although I don't particularly share the same style as Lorna, her photography and blogging tips were a hit and honestly she made me laugh throughout the whole night as she referred to herself having blagged her way through becoming the very successful fashion blogger she is and her very very supportive hubby John, who will attend events with her, take her photo diary shots and of course buy her the clothes she desires #jel. Her honesty and humbleness was seriously inspiring as she welcomed questions and offered advice and support to aspiring bloggers, which not a lot of people would do, so for that, thank you Lorna.

Like a lot of bloggers, her life revolves around social media (& that all important 9 square grid) and placing herself in the most picturesque of situations. I mean god forbid going to an event with dark lighting, where she was unable to take the perfect white scale, high contrast, grain free image! but uh-ha she tackled that point, giving away her little gem of a secret... the white scaling app which I totally forgot to write down (NOTE TO SELF: find this!!!)

The night was a success and I walked out of Holborn feeling inspired and pretty chuffed that despite now working in Media, I still have the drive and passion for the fashion world *excuse the cliche and well as loving personal style ,which is something that will never go away.