20 reasons to embrace Autumn.

 21st September I think is officially the declaration of Autumn. Quite frankly, I have normally already accepted this by the 1st of this month, and sunk my head back into my woolly winter scarf in woe.

 I really am a summer person. Who isn't? Hot days, icecreams, amazing sunsets, t-shirts, sundresses, swimming, barbeque's and sunglasses mean its time for holidays, time for great days out, time for being carefree.

So there is generally a feeling of anti-climax and all round disappointment when September rears its ugly complete-with-ear warmers head.

But actually, I've thought of several reasons why in fact, Autumn is actually a great, even remarkable time of year.  Hibernation ? I'm thinking liberation...

{via Megan Magill }

20 reasons to love Autumn

1.  The smell of bonfires. Summer floral fragrances are rarely found  outside the perfume counter. However, the strong woody charcoal smell with notes of burnt and smouldering? -  that, the English autumn can offer in abundance.

2.It's a more acceptable time of year to drink litres hot chocolate. Regularly.

3.Getting darker early = more opportunities to see fireworks displays, and generally star gaze.

4.Our love/ hate relationship with overtly early Christmas consumerism.  We love to hate it in our grumbles about the fact the adverts are already appearing in September. At the same time, the closer it gets, the more we are mesmerized by the sparkly Christmas lights  in shop windows...

5. The endless colour/style/ texture combinations, with scarfs..coats..hats..

6. The unveiling of nature's colours in all their majesty. The lands of reds and golds.

7. Nights in seem somehow more acceptable. But baby its cold outside...

8. Less need to go to the gym. Animals fatten up in preparation for the Winter months.Best diet advise this time of year? Watch some David Attenborough.

9.September is the month of X factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Spooks, Downtown Abbey...

10. It is no longer advisable to wear material/ canvas shoes. It is therefore a necessary and  wise move to buy a nice new lovely pair of winter boots. Maybe in two colours and several heel variations.This is NOT a ridiculous  fashion expenditure, but an intelligent and appropriate response to the climate.

 {via Joyell Lewis and imgspark.com}

11. It's a time to read. Sit in a cafe, all nice and snug with a page turner. Summer reads? One spends too much time Frisbee dodging to really do any substantial beach reading.

12.Soups in cups. Soups in flasks.

13.Hot water bottles.

14. Its a time of organization. New job,  new college, new term, new beginnings.  Time to sort out your wardrobe. Organize your sock draw. Make resolutions to improve your life without the New Years pressure.

15. A time for friends. Summer sees the majority of people asleep in a hammock, and since us Brits rarely see the sun, tanning becomes an anti-social activity of sheer concentration . Autumn means dinner parties, coffee dates,shopping trips, museum visits...

16. Sitting in parks. During the summer this isn't always a pleasant activity, as you compete for picnic spots and dodge/run from the multitude of dogs unleashed. In the Autumn you can sit in Green park and enjoy the serene scene, even in a busy city.

17. Less general cavorting about the place and more time for home ,family, friends and yummy cooked dinners.

18. Starting to get excited about all the dates in the diary yet to come in the year. Firework night, Christmas, New Years eve.

19. More appreciative of the commuter hours. It may be over-crowded, but its a darn site warmer in this packed carriage than on the platform.

20. Because, lets face it, the more we enjoy the colder months, the quicker summer really will come round again.

Miss V

{via Megan Magill}

What the Night Delivers: the perfect soundtrack to a lazy/sleepy/dreamy day.

I was lucky enough to see Scott Matthews play at the Moseley Folk Festival a few years back, and the Wolverhampton lad had the whole crowd enamoured when he broke out in to silver-tongued song.


After being introduced to his music by my big brother, Mr. Matthews has stuck as one of my favourites. Either his songs will make me smile incessantly or gush like a teenage girl due to their lyrical genius. &with poetry like:

'Can I be your endless thought somehow?

'Cause I've traded all of mine for yours now.

This is our beginning from an ending paralysed,

that's growing under sullen city lights.

You have me solely.'

you'd be a scrooge not to .

&like the sucker that I am, I've had his new album, 'What the Night Delivers' on repeat for three days now, and I'm not planning on stopping this trend any time soon. : )


Give it a listen and you'll see (or hear) why.


Miss Dx

Shoes

Here are some of my sketches. I seem to only ever draw and design shoes, I think I always find myself impressed with their architecture and structural possibilities.

I feel really influenced by the drawings of Manolo Blahnik, who's book of works I received as a birthday present when I was younger. I almost always draw heels, and love the idea of monochrome, classic modern designs.

Pretty much anything with an acoustic guitar makes me smile...

Which is why I think you should give this a listen...


As a sucker for anything singer-songwriter-y, I reckon Josh Kumra's acoustic version of Wretch 32's 'Don't Go' deserves just as much hype as the original. :)

Miss Dx


{Via Rachel White}

I'm all wrapped up, over tailoring and coats.

Autumn inspiration....nothing like a bit of tailoring. 

{via Jennifer Gilbert}


 




What I love about Autumn is the endless tailoring possibilities, especially in the coat department. There's something about masculine-style tailoring that Coco Chanel captured perfectly - it looks effortlessly elegant on women.

  

{via Kristy C }

{via Andrea Beckers and Leap of Style}


I currently love this one from Asos 

Miss V x

Upon Reflection

It's been 10 years since that fateful New York day, and it will remain as one of History's cataclysmic events, for it shook up the following decade; and I'm sure we'll continue to feel it's after effects for some time still.


Like countless other stories of people vs. people,  9/11 remains an affront to the freedom and goodness of humanity. It's all too easy to shut ourselves off from the bigger, wider, scarier world, but when images of men and women throwing themselves from a burning building are presented to us, the question 'when will we learn?' resonates.


Let's go back to basics, and consider why these conflicts and atrocities happen in the first place. Such acts of merciless and blind violence are borne out of the false dogma that some are superior to others, and are thus more deserving of the privilege of life.


There's a simple, yet overlooked remedy to this peverse ideology: the recognition that human = human, regardless of creed, beliefs or any other added detail. Only when each and every person realises this simple fact will we start to see a difference, and only then will we be assured that we're closer to a peaceful world in which the brotherhood of man isn't just a romantic ideal.


So here's hoping we all start to learn from our mistakes to build something &somewhere better.


Miss Dx

Inspiration

{via Christy Childers, http://cosmic-in-paris.livejournal.com/25013.html, M Blahnik}

Who inspires me when I draw pages of doodles of shoe designs? The artistic, legendary genius who is Manolo Blahnik

{via Karolyn Bears, source M.Blahnik }

  {via Christy Childers ,   http://cosmic-in-paris.livejournal.com/25013.html, M.Blahnik }

 

{via Leigh Ann Tennant and liberty.co.uk}

May put some of my shoe designs up...



Miss V x

The trailer doesn't give much away (cue dramatic music &slow motion), but this biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi looks like it's got serious guts; &I can't wait to see it.

So forget 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', I reckon 'The Lady' is going to be this year's big 'un.

{Via Sara Johnston}


Miss Dx

Love with a capital L.

 London. One of our all time favorite places.

 Miss V x

 {via Jackie Derring, source A girl, A style }

{via Jessica Henderson , source Birdcage walk}

I almost feel like, somebody's watching me..

I will never forget a distinctly memorable conversation I had on the telephone with a good friend of ours, where every few minutes into the conversation he would exclaim that a different cat was staring at him on his front drive. By the end of the conversation, I like to think that some sort of cat coup were keeping close cats eyes on him, something like this .


Miss V

{via Lynn Goldfinger Abram, source joie de vivre}