In for the Longchamp

I've been living in London for just over a year now and ever since I've been regularly travelling on the tube and just wandering around town in general, I have been noticing women carrying a particular bag.


The bag in question is a canvas tote bag with a brown leather flap and handles, and a zip to fasten the bag which seems to extend a bit longer than the bag itself across the top. And I would guess I've seen it carried by at least 20% of women I have seen in London - no joke (though I'm not great at estimating amounts so take that with a pinch of salt...), but anyway - A LOT of women. It's quite a nice simple and elegant bag but I've found myself to be a victim of trend-itis - I want one even though if I'd only seen one women carrying it I wouldn't have taken a second glance. But because so many women, and they are usually of the sophisticated, cool, London type, carry one I have become very envious and want one myself, just so I can be like them.


Anyway, because the bag doesn't have any obvious logo on it, and I haven't been close enough to one to really have a look for some sort of identification (that would go a little too far even for me - in London you are supposed to act completely nonchalant towards the people you travel with and see on the street so staring at someone's bag intently would look a little weird) AND I've been too much of a coward to approach someone and ask where their bag is from, the bag's identity and where it is from has remained a mystery to me. Until today that is - I finally decided to try and search for it online and after about five minutes of typing various combinations of: "london women canvas tote bag leather handles and flap" into Google, I finally discovered the bag in question is a Longchamp bag.

More specifically it is 'Le Pliage' bag and you can get it in a range of colours at http://www.longchamp.com/gb/home-e-shopping-10218.html or go to www.longchamp.com and click on your correct country if you're not in the UK. It is around £63 which I would never pay for a bag, but considering it is an actual 'designer bag' then it's pretty reasonable. I'm not sure I will actually buy it but I may look for one on ebay or somewhere, or perhaps look for a copycat from a cheaper store, but I'll let you know if I find anything.


So there you have it, the 'Le Pliage' Longchamp bag - every London woman's go-to bag for style and simplicity, it's not really a cutting edge trend, I think women have been carrying them for years now, but it's definitely a prominent and prolific trend in any case.


Until next time,


Elvie xxx

Summer Pastels and the Romance Invasion

Big apologies for the lack of blogging but as it was the Chrissy period I went home to Dorset and was busy with relatives and winter walks and the sort. But anyway, hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and I'm back to bore you with my musings!


I thought I'd start with a vague prediction for spring/summer 2010, or as the comedian Peter Serafinowicz (who I follow on twitter - twitter.com/serafinowicz) would say '2KX' which I quite like, anyway back to the point - after gazing into my crystal ball I have found that pastels are gonna be big. Although don't hold me to that...


Basically from looking at a few high street stores new collections, it looks like pastels - mainly in the pink/beige variety, are going to be the colour of choice for summer, paired with studs again and with lots of florals. This lovely tutu style skirt would be a really good staple to see you through the summer, it's from New Look and can be bought here: http://tinyurl.com/y9cw8sw.

OK - I'm afraid I started this post a while ago (a couple of weeks) and saved it to finish at a later date and so now, since starting this post, I have seen this trend go crazy! It's now in nearly every high street shop and on sites like asos, take a look at some of these pieces from their recent newsletters:

And look in any women's clothes shop and they'll have a section on this trend (well definitely New Look and Topshop anyway).

Also I think I'll have to adjust what I have said previously - it's not a trend prediction for Spring/Summer it's a trend for now! As I speak I'm wearing a pale pink jumper, or 'sweater' if you're American, with a pink and grey floral scarf both from Topshop - thanks to a gift card I got for Christmas from an aunt (though I spent more than was actually on it in the end woops!). You can find them on Topshop's site here: http://tinyurl.com/y9mlm6l (sweater) http://tinyurl.com/ybvw9hy (scarf)

So pastels, pinks, florals and whites are BIG right now - just think romantic, Parisian, spring days and floaty flowers. I did hint on twitter (follow @sheaimstofollow !) that I'd be writing about velvet but that seemed to be a very small trend that just fell by the way-side a month or two ago so the pastel/pink/floral trend has taken my attention instead - maybe velvet was only good for the festive period and now that's over everyone's looking towards spring with lighter fabrics and colours?!

Anyway I'm basically just repeating myself by banging on about pinks and pastels so I'll love you and leave you - hopefully there won't be such a big gap between posts next time...

Elvie xxx