Gucci snow boots

I spent Sunday morning sliding from one side of Hampstead Heath to the other. My proper treaded snow boots are in New York, and the leather riding boots I have been wearing are size 6 death traps.

Happily Wardrobe Slave was wearing her sensible snow boots.



Sturdy, waterproof, and with proper grippy soles, her boots let her stride happily along, to the accompaniment of my wails as I clung onto her elbow with a grip of iron, trying not to go arse over tit as a deliriously over-excited Zelda (black lab) cannoned into the backs of my legs.

Then, as yet again I began to describe an arching fall, my jaw dropped as I saw the label on the side of her boots. Who'd have thought such sensible footwear came from the home of the tart's trotter?



However Wardrobe Slave would like it known that her dedication to style does not stretch to needing to wear Gucci in the snow. These lovely boots cost her a mere £50 in the Gucci sample sale.

Selve bespoke shoes, boots and golf shoes

Well, look what arrived in the mail just before Christmas. My very own pair of made to measure brogues.



Yup, that's made to measure as in made to fit my wonky feet exactly by Selve, a shoemaker who customise shoes to the customer's specifications, not just in size, but in everything from colour to heel height.



I chose brogues as they are timeless and will last me for years, I hope. I thought a very dark brown would be more useful than black as I am trying hard not to wear black clothes all the time, and especially not outside of work.

And aren't they just heavenly?



Look at those bee-yootiful soles...works of art, they are.



I was thrilled when Selve offered to make shoes to fit me as my feet are different sizes and, with my abnormally narrow heels skinny calves & high insteps, I find it almost impossible to buy shoes that fit correctly.

When I last had boots made to fit, the whole process of measuring me up was more complicated but it's been considerably progressed by technology, and only takes an hour or so. After the initial appointment, your specs are kept on file so subsequent orders can be taken by phone or e mail.

So, I stripped off my tights and my feet were measured at 5 points using a 3D noninvasive foot scanner.



which creates a 3D image of the feet, ankles & calves.



My measurements were compared to Selve's library of lasts, and the software progamme then recommends the correct shoe size(s) for each foot.

Leila from Selve then brought out a vast array of shoes in different styles, sizes & widths so we could check that the computer's measurements were accurate, as fit can be a very subjective matter, depending on what the individual customer finds comfortable.

Then, I wandered around the showroom, looking at the myriad styles on offer and bearing in mind that each shoe can be almost entirely customised once the basic style has been fixed on. With a choice of heel, color, fabric, lining and style, the customer's finished shoe can bear little or no resemblance to the Selve basic model.



The shoe above could be made in leather. It could have no contrast trim, or equally the contrast trim could be in suede. It could have one of many different heel types...you could make it look entirely different. For example: the shoe below could be made in red patent leather with shocking pink trim and a two inch heel...



Admission: about five years ago Selve made me a pair of leather boots for a piece I wrote in The Observer. I'm pretty sure I have the boot on the right below. Thing is, by the time I had chosen black leather, nixed the patchwork, changed the heel shape & heel height and raised the instep, it's hard to work out just which boot I started with..





I decided to choose a classic pair of brogues from their extensive mens collection. This should have been pretty simple, as I just went with the standard Selve brogue style and had only to pick the fabric & lining but this took me forever as I couldn't decide between leather & suede or the colour.



I could have ended up with something like this:



and I played briefly with the idea of silver or black patent brogues, but then my sensible side took hold, and dark brown was fixed upon. Then I just had to wait for my shoes to arrive in the post.

If you are tempted, (look they even do a bespoke over the knee boot):



their next appointments in the UK are from January 11 - January 13, 2010 from 9 am - 6 pm, at 34 Bruton Place, London W1J 6NR
www.selve.co.uk (They used to have a London salon, but the lease ended & they are doing trunk shows over here for the time being.)

In the US, please check out their website www.selve.us or visit their salon in lovely Red Bank, NJ.

(Regular readers will know that I spent several months in NJ this year &, when Selve got in touch to see if I cld do an appointment in Manhattan, I was amazed to discover that their only US salon was 10 miles down the road from the boys' house. Serendipity, obviously.)

For more pictures by me, including their bespoke traditional mens & golf shoes go to my flickr set here. I wrote about Selve handbags here.

How to keep your feet warm in New York winter: Sheepskin Lined Walking Boots

Until I moved to New York, I thought a British winter was cold. Then I discovered -15C + windchill in Manhattan and knew I had been labouring under a mammoth-sized delusion. (Of course friends from places like Minnesota laugh drily. They really know about cold & snow there.)

I quickly put together an NYC cold weather wardrobe, but I still always have cold feet. The icy pavements and enduring slush means that Hunter wellies (which have proper treaded soles) are the most practical winter footwear, but even with tights & cashmere socks my feet freeze. There are also times when wellies just feel a bit unsophisticated. They also look stupid with anything other than the skinniest of pants. And I am not even going to address the sartorial horror of the Ugg (ly) boot.

Then this Christmas my mother ordered herself these boots from the Celtic Sheepskin Company. They have waterproof nubuck outers and are lined with soft sheepskin. I've, erm, borrowed them to walk the dogs and have even worn them without socks. Did they keep my feet warm? Hell yeah.

They are utterly, brilliantly bloody marvellous.



£135 from The Celtic Sheepskin Company. They also sell wonderful sheepskin lined wellies, which my sister has & swears by, which are sold out at the moment.

Angel Jackson handbags

I'm a proper fence sitter when it comes to bags. Apart from trad satchels, and maybe a Birkin & a 2.55 if you must, oh go on then, I'm not really set on fire by the whole bag thing.

But very,very occasionally someone sends me a release or I stalk some chic girl down the street to find out what she's carrying and bingo I fall in love. Janet Collin's beautifully made, last for ever handbags. Sang A's wonderful coloured pieces... hmm now I am struggling.

Which brings me to Angel Jackson and that spectacularly LOVELY bag hovering above. The label was set up in 2005 by English sisters Katie and Millie Smith. Katie is the designer, based in Bristol, and Millie oversees the production over in Bali where they set up their fairtrade workshops.

Their plan was to produce ethical bags at a sensible price point: there's nothing over £400, and that wonderful satchel bag comes in around £260. But just because they aren't expensive doesn't mean they aren't beautifully made: all the stud, pearl & sequin detail is done by hand.

The bags are quite obviously the product of a designer with vision, who has her own ideas and who doesn't pander to commercial trends. I think the line is ravishing.

Stocked in Selfridges, Horrids, Henri Bendel, Villa Moda, Galeries Lafayette amongst others, Angel Jackson has had Carine's seal of approval, and won Topshop's New Designer of the Year Award.

These two bags which I want so badly it hurts more than my chest (long story), are from the AW09-10 Damned and the Dangerously Beautiful collection. Do go to their website (they have online shopping), take a look around. www.angeljackson.co.uk and add to your Christmas list. (And they're offering a free snakeskin Bella belt with any order from the current bag collection.)


Angel Jackson Gladiator bag

Toy Watch second time around

After I had a giant strop on LLG about bits falling off my Toy Watch within weeks of buying it, my inbox went crazy.

Not, as I had thought might happen, with emails from similarly cross customers, but from readers who were Toy Watch aficionados. They pretty much all swore that their watches had never missed a beat. That’s pretty unusual: when I go off on one of my rants, I usually get lots of comments telling me about similar experiences. (Dell spring to mind.) I also had an email from a very concerned Toy Watch distributor and one from their PR agency in London.

I was impressed on both counts.

So today I hopped off to meet them and to take a look at the Toy Watch flagship store on Regent Street. I’m always prepared to give people, products, places a second chance, so when they offered me a replacement watch I gracefully accepted and am now wearing this:



It’s bright, it’s shiny, it’s certainly not subtle - and I love it. Everything in my wardrobe is black so this makes a very colourful change. I think it tremendously chic in a rather unexpected manner. I’ve already been stopped in the street twice and asked about its provenance - & I’ve only had it an hour.

Let’s hope this one stays together. I shall report back in a month and let you know if, as readers, lovely PR & distributor all swear, that my Toy Watch experience was just an aberration.

Designer shoes? Depends how much...

It's always pained me to spend good money on shoes. I'm really hard on my footwear, jamming my shoes into my handbag so I can change depending on my transport options, walking everywhere in New York, often in very high heels, and getting my heel tips caught in grates, drains and pavement cracks more often than I can count. I need shoes I can wear every day without weeping over the repair cost of a torn heel or broken strap.

Not only that, but over the years that I've worked in fashion, I've seen the accessory lines ramp up their prices to such a ludicrous level that they no longer have even a remote connection to cost, but reflect only what the consumer is prepared to pay for a logo, a label or a red sole. And, most of the time, I'm just not willing to jump on that bandwagon. I can admire a beautiful shoe, a wonderful piece of craftsmanship but I am not willing to fork out half a month's Manhattan rent on a pair of shoes that will be worn only a few times each month.

I've already noticed some lines have dropped their accessory prices during this recession, and I suspect that there may be a gradual adjustment back down to the realms of aspirational affordability over the next year.

I do hope so, because at the moment I rely on Zara (about once every three months they produce a shoe I die for, and which gets me stopped in the street; the rest of the time, no), vintage, sample & normal sales and, I admit it, the odd gift from designers to fill up my shoe wardrobe. I do have beautiful, expensive shoes in my possession: I just shopped for them wisely.

And, because I am so hard on my shoes, I spend a fortune on shoe trees, boot supports and cobblers' bills to keep them looking tip top.

Every new pair of shoes gets taken to the shoemender to have a very thin rubber non-slip sole glued to the bottom (bar satin evening shoes obviously). That way the shoe lasts much longer and there's less chance of me going arse over tit (an all too frequent occurrence, given my coordination skills). Because, if you live in the northern hemisphere, chance are that you will be wearing those shoes in the rain more times than you think and nothing ruins a good shoe more than a leather sole being repeatedly plunked down on rainy pavements.

So, even if you abuse your shoes as I do, with a little care they can last and last - just as long, in fact, as a pair of over priced boutique ones.

Lena Erziak

As you all know, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than carry a logo'd up, must-have-because-a-celeb-carries-it It Bag. My bag collection is an eclectic mixture of presents & investments, vintage & sample sale finds to which I'm always happy to add something bright, interesting or clever.

At the moment I'm rather liking these ones from new handbag collection Lena Erziak:


Star Bag $300

The label is owned by sisters Leona and Hasna Erziak, who grew up in a Belgian-Moroccan family of artists, their mother a seamstress and father a potter. With their creative background they went on to varied careers, which included styling french celebrities, to decorating Riads in Marrakech.


Dance Floor Bag $450

The bags for their line are manufactured in Italy, using traditional techniques, and the sister have paid close attention to detail, with adjustable straps, tassels and leather zipper pulls all making an appearance on various of the bags. I'm particularly smitten by this pink velvet bag,


And from their Summer 2010 collection, the Elio bag which comes in gold, black & fuchsia.
(No price yet.)

The fall bags are all currently available at Stella Filante on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Lena Erziak

Tabitha Bag

If, like me, your appetite for flashy logo spattered bags was thoroughly sated several years ago and you think It bags are the work of the devil, then you might be interested in buying the well designed, keenly priced and stylish Tabitha bag shown above, which just so happens to have a purpose beyond looking good swinging from your elbow.

Designed by the head accessories designer for Jigsaw, and the brainchild of The Bag Ladies, a group of talented London mothers working pro bono, this stylish handbag is helping to raise funds for BACT (The Bulgarian Abandoned Children's Trust)'s Baba Programme, which finds surrogate grannies to care for disabled Bulgarian children (seen as a disgrace in Bulgarian culture) who have been locked away from society in institutions where they are physically and mentally abandoned.

A total of 500 bags have been produced and 100% of the net profits (£155 a bag) will go towards the hiring of new Babas in one of Bulgaria’s biggest institutions for babies and young children. If all the bags are sold, forty children can be matched with a Baba to care, nurture and love them.

The sale of 1 bag alone will provide 6 weeks of dedicated care for 1 child. What are you waiting for?



They are available in metallic, a lovely faded purple and carmel leather as above.
£155 plus £5 postage
More on The Bag Ladies at www.helpinghandbags.co.uk
Buy a bag here
And find out more about BACT's wonderful Baba Programme here

Etre Touchy sort of Fingerless Gloves

When I first received the press release about Etre Touchy fingerless gloves I thought what the Dickens? Another ho ho ho one time buy stocking filler.

But I dutifully hopped over to their website and had a look around. And by the time I'd thought about it some more, I thought they were kind of genius.

Their raison d'etre is to allow you to manipulate iPods, crackberrys, etc without removing your gloves in cold weather. At first, I had thought God how addicted do you need to be to wear a silly looking glove just to be able to play with tech toys? Then I remembered how many times I've tried to text or use my Nano with gloves on - epic fail. So I guess if you are in an outdoor situation where access to a communication device is vital then these would be a winner.

But what really sold me was this picture:



Because if you *have* to work outdoors - as a photographer, stylist or makeup artist on a shoot, for example, then these could be absolute lifesavers. They work too for reading braille.

And they come in a suitably James Bond colourway too for macho men:



Unlike other ones I've been shown, they are 100% lambswool, and are available in Charcoal with turquoise trim, Grey with rose trim, Black with charcoal trim or Chocolate with mint stripes. Large orders can be custom coloured which would be great for teams etc.

£19.99 or $32.63 at www.etretouchy.com

Minnetonka Moccasins

I am obsessed with Minnetonka moccasins. Obsessed, I tell you. This burning love crept up slowly over a few years, and has developed into a long lasting relationship.

It all started back in 2006, when a very nice man, who worked next door to the idiot boy I was then dating, invited me to his office to have a squint at the shoes he imported from the US to the UK.

Being a fashion editor an’all, I was intrigued. In the small room were multiple shelves of moccasins. So far, so whatever.

Then I tried on the Moosehide Driving Mocs. Instant convert. The super thick cushioned inner sole is marshmallow soft; they were definitively the most comfortable shoe I had ever worn. (One of the reasons that they are so comfy is that traditional moccasins, unlike normal shoes, have their sides and sole constructed from one piece of leather which is then sewn to the upper, and which allows the shoe to flex and shape itself to your foot.)

The very nice man generously gifted me two pairs, the marshmallow-y driving shoes and a pair of classic beaded Thunderbirds, but I was busy being a high heel wearing fashion editor and, when I moved to New York a few months later, there just wasn't much call for flat shoes in my life.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year just after I left my US magazine. Running around on assignment in New York and driving nearly 5000 miles around California, I needed comfortable everyday shoes. I dug out both pairs and I've pretty much worn them to the exclusion of anything else. It doesn't hurt that they suddenly look right with everything from bare legs & shorts to skirts & opaque tights.


(My feet in Santa Barbara back in April)

They also make those suede moccasin boots that are always being photographed on Kate Moss et al. (Minnetonkas are the ur-moccasins in the American commercial market: they've been making them since 1946.)

UK: www.minnetonka.co.uk (official website, every style available)
US: Net a Porter (ankle & knee boots only)
Zappos (Neither style pictured above but a pretty wide selection nonetheless)
Minnetonkasales.com (very wide selection including the ones above)

They are substantially cheaper in the US, but I don't advise UK purchasers to order them from US websites: by the time customs, taxes & postage are paid, the difference often evaporates.

Ann Louise Roswald clogs

Revolting: Chanel SS10

If you really feel it is imperative to buy into the clog trend, now that Karl & Marc (kitten heel clogs? Kill me now), have given it a stamp of approval for next season, may I suggest eschewing their eye watering markups, and buying a traditional pair of clogs from talented fashion designer Ann Louise Roswald instead?

She's known primarily for her beautiful prints and lovely pieces, but Roswald’s Swedish father was originally a clogmaker, and in her early collections Ann Louise used her own customised clogs. She has since opened The Clog Studio as an extension of the Ann Louise Roswald brand and sells traditionally made Swedish clogs with orthapeodic wooden soles for women and children. They come in a dazzling array of colours, but just three simple styles.

The Sophia clog pictured is £56 for children & £95 for women.

The Clog Studio

Maison Michel PVC Hat with Mouse Ears

I. WANT. THIS. STAT.

Maison Michel PVC Hat with Mouse Ears - £70.00 from Browns

Object of Desire: Wolford Velvet de Luxe 66 opaque tights

Sure these tights are expensive and seemingly impossible to justify when so many places sell perfectly acceptable black opaque tights.

But here's the thing: these tights transcend 'acceptable'. Each Christmas my mother gives me one brown pair and one black pair and, even though I wore tights pretty much every day until the end of March this year, I still have 2008's Christmas pairs sealed in their packets. That's because the ones from the year before, and the year before that were still going strong. No ladders, no snags, no imperfections.

They are incredible soft & stretchy, warm, and a true unfading deep velvet-y black with not a hint of skin tone showing through as happens with cheaper opaques. I do also have the M&S version and they are very good but they just aren't in the same league.

I don't look after my Wolfords especially well: they are bunged in a 40 degree wash with all my other dark coloured stuff, rather than hand-washed as recommended. And, unless an infant attacks them with scissors, or I accidentally fall into a mowing machine, I guess I'll be wearing them until the waistband perishes.

Believe me, these tights are bulletproof.

UK: £18 from Wolford US: $42 from Bergdorf Goodman

See other Objects of Desire here

Black & white pagoda parasols and umbrellas

I do like a proper umbrella when I go out in the evenings, never having really understood why one would go to all the bother of dressing up, only to unfurl a scarlet Disney or black exec pop-up umbrella in the rain. Equally I've found at festivals like the Big Chill when the plan is to do lolling on the grass (as opposed to frantic dancing), that a pale parasol is perfect for those with a morgue-like pallor - like myself).

My umbrellas of choice would come from James Smith & Sons in London but, given my tendency to lose anything that isn't tied to my body, my compromise solution, when I haven't got a nice man to hold my umbrella, is to buy my parasol supplies on-line at a tenner a pop from whoever is selling them cheapest that day. (I've seen this style or similar on sale for upwards of eighty quid at specialist umbrella suppliers, so it's worth doing your research: keywords are parasol umbrella).

These must be the biggest bargain out: I love the pagoda point and tassled handle. I'm forever being stopped in the street and asked from where I have bought my brolly.

The only drawback is that they aren't ideal for transatlantic travel: being too long to fit in a suitcase, full size brollies have to go as a separate piece of hold luggage, with a sticky barcode label wrapped around the handle, adding to the pile of things for me to misplace whilst checking in. However, amazingly, they always seem to arrive unbroken on the conveyor belt at the other end.

I found these ones for £9.99 each + £3 postage here. In the US, I've often seen them on eBay.

Review: Why I won't be buying a new Toy Watch any time soon

A few weeks ago a couple of press releases announcing the launch of the new Toy Watch store in London landed in my inbox, and they reminded me that I had a long overdue public service announcement post up my sleeve.

I hadn't worn a watch for years: since cellphones became ubiquitous, and my last watch's battery died I haven't got round to replacing it. But, as I'm trying to be both less wedded to my phone and more punctual, my father gave me a watch for Christmas last year.

As he isn't a Rockefeller or a Rothschild, I asked for a rather lovely looking black mens Toy Watch Chrono Sport. I'd wanted one for ages: they aren't super expensive, (although at often £1-200+ not negligible either) and I liked the chunky, plastic styling. I can't afford a Panerai quite yet, and I liked the irreverent humour behind the brand.

Here's the thing: I know watches. Amongst my other past lives, I have been a magazine watches editor, spending hours with the people who design, construct and sell chronographs. In this case, I made a very considered decision: I liked the idea of what I thought was a well-designed everyday watch, which made a clever joke about the world of prestige horology, replicating the style of luxury timepieces in plastic.

So far so good. My Toy Watch arrived in a very big white box, containing a black leather presentation box, which again made me chuckle at the riff on high end watches.

I wasn't laughing quite so much when one of the adjustment stems fell out of the casing later that week. When the second stem fell out a few weeks later I had lost my sense of humour.

Unfortunately I was back in America at this point, travelling around California with no fixed address. There was no opportunity to get it sent back or mended.

Then the luminous triangle marker for '12' fell off the face and rattled around the casing. At this point I rang Toy Watch's customer service department where they informed me that, without a receipt, the only option available to me was to PAY for the repairs myself. It was a gift so I didn't really want to tell my father it had started falling apart. (And, frankly, it's professionally embarrassing to have bought a dead duck.)

Wonderful: so I am supposed to pay to restore their substandard product to working order. I decided not to throw good money after bad, and so am left with a falling apart watch. (Did I mention that the strap started fraying within a month of purchase?)

So the joke was on me, who should have known better: what I got was the worst kind of fashion watch, seemingly of no better quality than the timepieces you can buy for a few dollars on any market stall in Asia, ratcheted up into a sub 'designer' buy by a flashy presentation box, celebrity placement and the stupidity of people like myself.

If you want a decent watch with a sense of humour that isn't going to have parts dropping off within weeks of purchase, buy a Swatch, I implore you, rather than a Toy Watch whose presentation box, I suspect, costs more to manufacture than the watch itself. There's no more sport in this watch than there is in me.

Everyday & evening bags: my capsule handbag collection

I do not like bags that don't fit the essentials: Blackberry, digital camera, cards, keys, lipstick. During the day, I usually carry around a water bottle, flats & book too, but have taken to toting those in one of the seemingly endless supply of cotton bags I've accumulated from eco-aware press offices who like to use them for goodie bags & press materials.

I quite like this hessian one I dug out of a suitcase of my clothes back in London. I think it was handed out at the opening of the Fendi store during the Cannes Film Festival. (Ooh get me.)



I do seem to have accumulated a lot of bags over the years (you get given them as a fashion editor), but this season I am all about the capsule wardrobe. So this is the edit that came out of my storage container for fall/winter (because I certainly do not intend to buy any more bags):



Everyday bags:
1.Comptoir de Cotonniers Taupe leather bag. I love Comptoir's bags. This is the perfect everyday running around town number. Fits the survival kit plus a Flip camera. Goes with everything. A much appreciated press gift.

2. Mulberry Oak Anthony leather satchel with canvas strap A brilliant Christmas present from my mother two years ago. My go-to bag for weekends. (I have the mens version because I can fit more in it.)

3.Janet Collin Vivienne handbag I've raved about this bag on here before. This is my grown up, 'I've got a meeting' bag. Lots of lovely pockets for Metro & business cards, a strap big enough to fit over my shoulder, lightweight so I don't pull a muscle carrying it around and blessedly logo free. The perfect investment purchase: not cheap but not overpriced either.

Sporty bag:
4. Prada Tessuto & Saffiano black nylon & leather bag. A present from my mother, who bought this in the Prada Outlet near Florence. I wear it slung across my body for cycling, at weekends when it's raining so my leather bags don't get ruined, and on location shoots for toting the essentials of my stylist's prop kit in it.

Evening bags:
5. All Saints Black patent & twisted leather pouch bag. I do not wear All Saints clothes (they design for minimally breasted women & I don't fit their pants), so I had £100 of gift vouchers from the press day kicking around for eighteen months before I found something I wanted to buy. This bag is brilliant. It's like the Tardis: I shove things in there and even when I think it's full up, it fits more stuff. The patent makes it great for evenings, and the strap means I don't misplace it. Fantastic design.

6. Matt Murphy Distressed silver lambskin envelope purse. The perfect evening bag for me. Fits the survival kit, and there's even room for a slim paperback in case my date is late.

7. Givenchy Black grommet studded purse. Believe it or not, I was given this neat purse at the launch of Givenchy's Phenomen`eyes mascara. It originally contained a make-up palette that I prised out. It fits a Blackberry, cards, keys & lipstick & loops around my wrist. Perfect for a night out dancing.

Fannie Schiavoni S/S 10 jewellery collection on-line launch

Hello & welcome to my visitors who have been following jewellery designer Fannie Schiavoni's new collection as it is revealed sequentially through simultaneous blog posts on six global fashion blogs at 5pm GMT today. (See here for more information)

This is the final image in our blog lookbook.

Credits:
Photographer: Charli Ljung
Model: Ashleigh Chase

www.fannieschiavoni.com

Fannie Schiavoni jewellery

I first heard about the wonderful UK based jewellery designer Fannie Schiavoni through blog posts on Kingdom of Style, so it's apt that Fannie has decided to launch her SS10 collection on-line by gathering together six fashion bloggers worldwide and asking them to simultaneously post an image from the collection. Each blog will have a link to the next on the list, allowing blog readers to 'flick' through the lookbook.

We believe this is the first time that a group of fashion bloggers have banded together simultaneously to use their collective readership to support a young designer. It makes complete sense: our blogs collectively and individually celebrate fashion. Why not use them to bring talented young designers as much attention as we can muster?

So, head to Fashion Flash today (Saturday) at 1700hrs GMT, midday US East Coast to see the first image in our celebration of Fanny's delicate & beautiful jewellery, and then keep on clicking through until you get to me for the final image.

You won't be disappointed.

England: Style Bubble
Sweden: Fashion Flash
US LA: Because I'm Addicted
Scotland: Queen Michelle from Kingdom of Style
Denmark: Anywho
US NY: Liberty London Girl

www.fannieschiavoni.com

Object of Desire: Maison Legeron Black Bouquet brooch

The last remaining Parisian haute couture flower maker, Maison Legeron, sells very few items to the public. This handmade velvet & pure silk floral brooch in black is £280/€300/$392 from Couture Lab

Previous objects of desire here

Selve: covetable everyday handbags

Four years ago I had the perfect pair of black calf leather boots custom made for me by Munich based bespoke shoemakers Selve (US), or (UK). I had been looking for a replacement for my perfect pair of Sigerson Morrison black boots for two years, but had found nothing. (The main problem was my skinny calves - the SM shop girls had told me that no one else had been able to do up the zips on the boots I bought. Their loss, my gain - at the time.)

It also isn't helpful that I have absurdly narrow heels, high insteps and one foot half a size bigger than the other, and very precise, anally retentive fashion editor requirements as to heel height & shape, toe shape, and height of leg. Selve managed to accommodate all these, in addition to lining the boots with gold leather.

I thought I had died & gone to heaven when my boots finally arrived.

Noodling around their website today, I was struck first by this teaser for the new winter collection:



The Saffron black boots, the St James brogue & the Venus Overknee are all lust worthy - and I love love that Selve can make these in any colour - or leather- of your choice.

I see also that they have added a small selection of bag shapes since I last looked. These aren't truly bespoke, but you can choose the colour of the bag and the strap. They don't come cheap, but they are beautiful.

I usually carry two bags in the winter, something for my laptop & papers, and a small one for lunches & cocktails.

This is my Selve favourite. The Sorbonne in Black Leather, perfect for laptop toting. £495/$650



But I also rather love the slightly smaller Montmartre in Brown Suede for weekends. £375/$550



And am completely beguiled by the Montmartre in Red Suede with a magenta strap but, like What Possessed Me, would find it hard to justify investing in a bright bag for everyday. £375/$550