Joanne Hynes Fashion Soiree - Brown Thomas

Photography - Rishi Mullett-Sadones
www.planetmotion.com

Gentle readers,

You are cordially invited to Brown Thomas on Thursdaty, October 14th where designer Joanne Hynes and I will treat you to a preview of her winter 2010 collection.The signature Joanne Hynes party dress returns just in time for the festive season & events calendar.

Alongside the dress, expect to see select avant-garde pieces built into the winter 10 look,  pieces to introduce character and strength to your staple wardrobe for now and years to come. There is also a gift with purchase compliments of Joanne on the evening.

The event begins at 4pm followed by one at 5pm, 6pm & 7pm on Level 2 of the store.

Looking forward to meeting you and sharing some bubbles.

With anticipation,

Annmarie x

utilising pockets

Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour or so lying with Jim on the grassy bank that lies between each of our halls of residence. With the knowledge that my first wet and windy North West winter is just around the corner, it would be rude not to venture out and enjoy the crisp October sunshine which Manchester has been blessed with this week. We talked about a few things, the fact that the aloof games girls and boys play with each other are tedious but gloriously tantalising too. And our thoughts on Manchester a month after moving here. And tomato ketchup and grated cheddar as a lazy pasta sauce (I was eating it at the time.) And also pockets.

Jim spoke about how over the past year he's been wearing shirts more and more and that he loves the practicality of having a chest pocket. When he traveled last year he would use it to store his tobacco and a notebook and any little essentials he needed to keep close by. But he feels like too much of a twat to repeat this little storage system when it comes to University, fearing the pretentious 'look, I smoke and I think' image that a notebook in a chest pocket gives off. During the course of this conversation I realised how much I really do love pockets and I suppose that this post has little purpose except to reiterate this. Lovely deep warm pockets big enough to store treasures or frosty fingers in wintertime. This photograph, taken by the brilliant Maya of Turned Out of the Spring 2011 Karen Walker collection only cements this pocket appreciation. Deep and pleasingly square they invite you to leave your handbag at home and carry those few essentials. As somebody who has admitted to having a bit of a Mary Poppins bag complex (see the 'Baggage Analysis' post below) I'm going to take a leaf out of Jim's book and utilise my pockets.

Jilly bo Billy High End Children's Boutique Offers Discount Prices

Why is discount so drab? It doesn't have to be! Not at Jilly bo Billy Boutique. Jilly bo Billy carries high end baby and kid clothes and more...it just happens to also be discount! Shop past season, clearance, and sample sales from your favorite boutique brands: Oilily, Misha Lulu, Room Seven, Decaf Plush, Little Ruler, and more!

Jilly bo Billy is the best of both worlds. Not only do you get the price you want but also the service you'd expect from a high end boutique. Once your there, get comfy and stay awhile. The site features contests, fun and games, polls, affiliate program, social media, and even a casting call.

Put a little boutique under the tree this year. Coupon code: Holiday20 gets you an additional 20% off already discounted prices. You'll find Room Seven at 65% off, One Kid Sample Sale, all Kumquat is $7.95, and there is even a $0.99 Deal of the Day, everyday! Check it out!

uk vogue november 2010

 

images, tfs.

I want to spend my weekends nonchalantly reading reference books beside vases of peonies or bundled up in a leopard print jacket sipping juice or with a grin as wide as lara stone's. but what's secretly even nicer is lazing around with a piping hot cup of tea and the new issue of vogue and instead simply daydreaming about doing these things without having to move.

sevigny saturday

Just thinking aloud here but still now, months down the line after she chopped her hair, I'm still marvelling at how wonderful Chloe Sevigny looks with shorter locks. It's just the sort of hair cut (but naturally it's also very much down to the woman) that makes me want to blindly follow, lop a couple of inches of my own hair and dip it all into peroxide. Easy, now..

These are some photographs to accompany the behind-the-scenes video of the Bean Pole x Band Of Outsiders collaboration shoot.

If like me, you're impartial to watching a favourite style icon in action alongside a Kinks soundtrack then I recommend you skip to 6.20 into the video. and that fuzzy yellow hood!

source credit to chloe-sevigny.org.

Inside Style - Manners

Inside Style by Annmarie O'Connor - as featured in The Dubliner magazine - October 7th

Manners.  Apart from teeth, there’s no set quite as stylish. In fact, we fashion folk place quite the premium on convention; which would explain our inexplicable affair with tweed. But I digress...

Despite celluloid stereotypes of devils wearing Prada and supermodels lobbing Blackberries at unwitting assistants, there’s a tacit code that underpins sound sartorial behaviour – especially at fashion shows. Sure, it won’t make headlines or break the box office but it will ensure one’s standing in the community longer than Gallic chic in a Texan mall. Newcomers – pay attention.

Let’s start with faking it. Never do it. Just don’t. In fact, quit while you’re ahead. If there’s someone or something you don’t know, pretending will only land you in the proverbial. Trust me. My scarred retina has witnessed episodes of front row fraud to shameless fame whoring; not to mention social climbing that would make Jane Austen blush. Let me explain.

If attending any of the Big Four fashion weeks, remember the pecking order: celebrities at the front, everyone else in the back. Unless your ticket happens to be of the golden variety, take your humble seat and have done with it. Perhaps the girl who snaffled a seat next to Jennifer Saunders at Betty Jackson’s show last month in London didn’t get the memo. She was rapidly served by an angry clipboard with the impeached Ab Fab cohort in tow. Cringe factor? High.

Purloining the paps should also be avoided. Avoid the temptation to tailgate a celebrity, however desperate your desire to make it to the pages of Hello! Shutterbugs will quickly deduce that Cat Deeley cling-on as a pointless presence; especially as the door of her awaiting car closes...on you.

More importantly, when queuing for shows always observe the tenets of small talk. As a famous chain-smoking binge-drinking anti-heroine once said ‘introduce people with thoughtful details’. This also applies to you. Resist the urge to divulge the minutiae of your career path to the nearest available ear (‘I just graduated from LCF and I’m working on a book now that my In Style internship has ended. But I keep getting these calls from Vogue...). No one cares; they just want to get inside.

Do I sound blunt? Forgive me.  I sometimes think I’m too old for this caper. What I wouldn’t do for an armchair and a cup of Horlicks. Now that’s something worth blagging! 

baggage analysis

ah, lovely lovely carefree bags.. from delightlyfully purpose-friendly Baggu's to Elisabeth's Margaret Howell number.

To me bag shopping is a task that will never cease to be difficult. It's just as relentless as it was in that frantic last week of August when I was at school and faced with finding that oxymoronic 'cool school bag' in time for the new term. 

I always lump bag shopping in the same category as jeans shopping (though thankfully am yet to find myself crying in a fitting room over something to carry my crap in..) but I can never quite understand why. Why is it that I am so sure of how I wish to look when it comes to clothes and yet so indesivive and clueless when it comes to something in which to carry my everyday loot. There is the issue of flashiness; I find it hard to find a bag on the High Street that doesn't come with completely unnecessary embellishment. Then there is practicality-I would quite happily carry a fabric tote around on my shoulder until the end of time if it wasn't for the rain factor. I spent last winter inflicting misery onto myself by carrying one out of complete laziness and fear of embarking on a bag quest. I would not wish such a lot of fuss onto anybody else as there are only so many times you can wear your bag inside your coat to protect your treasures being soaked through a non-waterproof fabric before you go insane. After a good couple of years of using fabric tote bags (and shoving everything into their one and only sections) you also start to completely appreciate the notion of pockets. They become a luxury. 'Three pockets!? Think of the opportunity for organisation! Pens here, a small tin of vaseline there! And oh look, I can zip my keys into here!'

I've also got to the stage of accepting that I find it difficult to minimise on baggage. I fall into that Mary Poppins category and a peek into my bag reveals I'm one of those 'what if..?' people who would rather haul a heavy camera, moleskin, countless pens, waterbottles and books than risk going without for a day. It's for this reason that a big bag suitable for shoving has become my go-to, I can think about the state of my shoulders when I'm through to the other side of life that prioritise revolves chiropractor fees over student loans. In reaction to all of this bag-alysis I'm having a bit of a moment of leaning towards simple bags that are well, personality free. The more simple and industrial looking, the better. A Chinese laundry bag, a similar plastic model that my Granny picked up in a Dutch department store, my Topshop Unique tote (hey, I'm not quite ready to let go of totes yet..) and an old black LeSportsac bag (the holy grail in sporty, simple, fuss free bags) are all on delicious rotation while I hold out for that perfect pocketed number..