MONKFEET | WRITING WORKSHOP

Once in a while we have to learn to step out of our comfort zone and into the world of the fearful unknown.  For me at school it used to be the moment when the teacher asked you to read a chapter of a book. At university it was that whole public speaking slash presentation giving we were forced into doing. Now, for me writing seems to be my next nightmare.  Whether it is 140 characters on twitter, an email negotiating prices or a blog posts as I am doing now. It honestly implants a sort of block in my brain, making me procrastinate till I have no choice and question each and every word. And for anyone that is a regular in receiving my wonderful texts, you know how awful my typing and spelling is. I call it the decoding game...

So, with knowledge of my new found fear, I have risen to the challenge of overcoming it - as any empowering, confident and success driven individual would do - yes, that is me, so I keep telling myself. I decided to take the plunge and sign up for a writing workshop with Monkfeet, who host some great workshops and classes for start-ups or for individuals looking to better their skill in areas such as marketing, gaining investors or coding courses.

The space my workshop was hosted in was great as you can see from the images above, a really collaborative and creative environment! I am all work collaborative spaces and work stations that support entrepreneurs, not that I can say I am one of them, but it is always nice to know I am making a change in myself, you know?

So, I cam away maybe not learning as much as I would of liked but I absorbed a lot of information and it made me more aware of the power of words. Whether anything has changed for me, I highly doubt it - but this is the start! 

NOTTINGHAM | CALL ME THE LECTURER

You know when you imagine what life would be like jetting around from country to country, city to city & ideally from New York to Paris during fashion week - gahh the dream. You think how much you want to be that person looking super sleek and put together all the time and how gratifying it would be. Well my reality just came to a head. Not in the form of travelling between beautiful cities and countries as I might imagine my self doing, but more so running for a train from Kings Cross St Pancras to catch the next train to Nottingham at 6:30 in the morning and back again the same night arriving at the house at 10:30pm ready to eat, unpack and prepare for the next day – a different job, different city, in London. Soooo, not as glamorous as one would imagine, but then again could it ever be with that journey to the East Midlands – no offence.  

What am I doing you may ask?? Basically, I am assisting in a module of Fashion Marketing and Branding with second year students at Nottingham Trent University (the university and course I did, in case you didn’t know) on their marketing strategy module.

Ok, so I make it sound bloody horrendous, but aside from that awful feeling of arriving at Kings Cross knowing the trip is over and still having to get home with that suitcase, laptop & unpack everything, and then be chirpy the next day at work is my lowest of low. The Job itself is pretty rewarding though. Spending time with dedicated students, with that youthful buzz to succeed after graduating. That was me 3 years ago... and I love it! 

Not only that, but luckily the past two sessions I have had in Nottingham have been over two days, meaning an overnight hotel stay and lots of exploring of the city I once knew. Oh and let's not forget the lonely dinners for one *monkey covering eyes emoji*. 

That said, I am not going to complain about my amazing breakfasts at The Pudding Pantry topped by the best cheeky white chocolate mocha to start my day right! I am always tempted by the fluffy pancakes, but haven't quite plucked up the courage to let myself have them. Although, I say that but only last week I found out that my so called 'healthy' 'clean' breakfast of scrambled eggs tasted so damn good because of the added cream! Now that I wasn't expecting.

Over the last few weeks I have spotted a few more spots I wanted to check out but my new find and ultimate cheat spot is Annie's Burger Shack. THE most insane menu and crazies of burgers I have ever seen ( I say as a vegetarian but i am pretty sure anyone would agree). My go to coffee shop has always been and I think will continue to be Lee Rosy's Tea. The raw yet homely designed tea house in the middle of the Lace Market or Rough Trade and the yummiest bagels! Either way everyone needs a mid day pick me up so coffee and tea houses are seriously important.

On top of all that, last week I treated myself to a cheeky deep tissue massage at The Beauty  Temple and they really do live up too that royal service they promise. It was a much much needed treat after the hours I have spent on trains and upright in that L position working on my desk, so this was exactly what I needed! 

So that has been my life this past month and I still have another two weeks to go! 

THE DEPARTMENT STORE OF THE FUTURE | TOM DIXON X WALLPAPER MAG @ SELFRIDGES

In search of the weird and wonderful as always, I finally got the time to visit the much anticipated Tom Dixon's Multiplex in partnership with Wallpaper magazine and welcomed by Selfridges at the Old Selfridges Hotel. For a long-standing department store, Selfridges really does know how to nail a campaign and with that, a collaboration. 

They take the idea of a campaign to its fullest, with the a multi-sensory experience, encompassing a range of online and offline communication and best of all, the events, workshops and talks by industry leaders. They then recreate a concept store holding an exclusive range of products relating to the campaign idea. Previously, they have toyed with the idea of beauty with 'The Beauty Project', showed their support to women and reclaiming lunch breaks with the 'Work It' campaign and even created the Festival of Imagination, inviting a whole world of highly techy designs and concepts.

This Autumn, Tom Dixon, contemporary lighting designer and Wallpaper magazine have joined forces to create the mother of all department stores, The Multiplex. Named the 'department store of tomorrow', the floor plan is divided by fashion, art, beauty, interiors etc but as you can see in the photos above each section within the space has been conceptualised to really appreciate and enjoy the product on display. 

I have got to say, the product selection hit the mark, especially with a broad range of Clerkenwell merch which I love anyway, featuring my new favourite handbag designer Olive Cooper. The quality, design and materials of each product on offer seems to have undergone some tight quality control and specifications, that make them all very much suited to a certain audience - me included.

Just for the pleasantries of the experience it is worth a look at and to see what our future John Lewis or Selfridges could look like too. If you are in the mood for a little down time from the manic rush of Oxford Street, there is a cute little Abigail's cafe and an independent Gelato stand within the space than you can munch on one of the most amazing tripple chocolate cookies and a cwaaffee over a spot of blogging.

Has anyone else been to the Multiplex?

ONLY CHANEL

Chanel as a brand is hugely aspirational to many people, for their highly tailored, powerful outfits that incorporate a sense of strong femininity and ultimate class.

With Lagerfelds muse's Cara and Kendall, more recently the uh-mazing Karl has made Chanel THE ultimate cool. Ok, so I still can't go out and buy my hearts desire, but  I can stream the PFW show live and only dream of being a passenger of Chanel Airlines. Truly genius I say! 

For me it's the story behind Coco Chanel that is mostly appealing. The lifestyle, the heritage, the timelessness of the brand that made this Mademoiselle Prive exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery so damn amazing. To be completely honest, it didn't really do Coco and the brands history complete justice. I was hoping for less of the big, bold & extravagant, but more of the real footage and intimate memories and designs.

Was it worth the 2 hours queue, streaming all the way down the Kings Road, ermmm yes! The adventures you come across in every room is a total delight - I never knew what was next and where the line was drawn. Anything is possible in the world of Chanel, but just to feed my desire for the more authentic side of the brand, I think i'll have to re watch the mooovieee

EVENT | AT LIBERTY BY ED BURSTELL

Its Tuesday wohoo! Monday is far gone  and we are so close to hump day Wednesday, my favourite day of course after Friday and I am psyched about zenning out at Yoga with the amazing Erika followed by a dinner date at  my new Vietnamese fave The Little Viet Kitchen.  The one thing I look forward to about a Wednesday is my little gap of heaven between work and Yoga , where I basically get to catch up on life, read the Stylist of course and get my head in deep in my latest book. 

This week, I am starting the much anticipated At liberty by Ed Burstell, managing director of Liberty London. At first I wasn't too fussed about getting my hands on the book, but after attending a book signing and Q&A at the Hoxton Holborn with the babe of a guy himself, interviewed by Evening Standard journo Kate Law. We had the pleasure of listening the wild antics and ways of Ed throughout his career both in New York and in London and how he has helped transform the retail environments of Liberty's in London of course, Bergdorfs in NYC  and a whole list of others.

It felt almost surreal to hear Ed's stories as he was growing up and how he got into the fashion world (exclusive: Watching his mother get ready and her process of putting make up on and spraying her perfume) along with the crazy stories with a bunch of his A-list friends. Oh and let's not forget that one time..while interning at the White House - so casual. I was just so used to seeing him on screen or hearing his very distinctive voice from the other side of the house as my mum watched the show all about the British store last year.

"There's no secret to buying you just pick the nice looking things"

His advice for any budding entrepreneur with super amazing products wanting to get in on the Liberty action is to be able to answer questions and have ideas on a business plans, finances, distribution, commercial aspects, resources and production. If you've got those plus a good product, you've got it!

"Sex in the city transformed the retail environment, it lifted new York until the economic crash"

In case you all wanted to know he said my name was beautiful and then I blushed and told him his name was...great too! #AWKS. He was such a nice guy! Although I'm not sure if that's just me or his over friendly, over smiling, crazy happy american self. Either way, the event was great and I basically ended up buying the book, which I had no intention of getting - so it better be good!

 I lurrve adding new books to my stacks and shelves and it makes it even better that this one is signed by the second retail king himself  Ed Burstell (after Phillip Green course). I will for sure share my thoughts on the book soon, so stay tuned people.

Watch out for a few new additions to the Liberty Brand... a restaurant? a rooftop bar? Liberty takes on a new market? a huge world wide collaboration? who knows what's next for the brand built on British Heritage, either way I cannot wait.

SKL