"...and I remember one rainy morning in the city of Palermo, the street was ablaze with scarlet umbrellas" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's the old, old story...woman has fortune stolen by lover...woman dashes off to Paris where she contemplates suicide...woman decides that if she's going to die her lover is going to be along for the ride...woman spends the time waiting for ex-lover to hit town by shopping (at Dior, Roger Vivier, and Cartier), hanging out with Brit band, and having a decadent (though strangely life-affirming) good time...woman...ah, but that would be telling...

I'm currently indulging a girl crush on Monica Vitti...last week it was Modesty Blaise...this week 'La femme écarlate'...aka 'La donna scarlatta' in Italy...'The Scarlet Lady' in Europe...and 'The Bitch Wants Blood' in the US (there were obviously some translation issues in 1960's America). Now I just need to find the equally confusingly translated 'Dramma della gelosia'...aka 'The Pizza Triangle'.

For every high, there is a low...for every mountain, there's a valley...and for every Hermes, there is a beaten up pair of Converse waiting to tag along...

It's difficult to look at Marc by Marc Jacobs' Flights of Fancy shopper without being hit by a certain amount of déjà vu...your mind going back to 2002, and the bags created by Julie Verhoeven for Louis Vuitton. The only problem being that Verhoeven's bags were whimsical, luxurious, and original...whereas their current nemesis feels uncomfortably like an idea being re-hashed purely for financial gain.

I understand the concept of "revisiting your archives" but this just feels a little off...or maybe I'm biased as I'm still lusting over Verhoeven's version...

We're getting close to the dangerous time of year...when you are so fed up with your summer wardrobe...and the thought of wearing that t-shirt or that dress again fills you with dread...awakens a sudden urge within you to buy something (anything) just to add something new to the mix. Well, buy something or dredge something up from the darkest depths of the closet...like this chambray shirt. Inherited from my mother...who had a love affair with all things Ralph Lauren during the 80's...from his "Country" label, which I'm not sure is even still in existence (RL's one of those brands that has so many off-shoots that I find it difficult to keep track)...I love its broken-in-softness but rarely wear it as it's a shade too "Little House on the Prairie" for my liking. However, in a bid to avoid L.S.S.S. (Late Summer Shopping Syndrome), I'm willing to pretend I'm running through a meadow...

Everytime I purge my list of "places to check in case I find a deal" I find myself regretting the impulse. Case in point...I'd somewhat removed Gilt Groupe from my shopping radar...their clothing was heavily reduced but as the items were rarely anything that I'd have bought at full price the exercise of checking their site seemed a little redundant. Thankfully I was bored one day...I hadn't realized that they sold beauty products...and on the afternoon I visited they featured Dr. Hauschka's botanic (and organic) lotions and potions. Body oils and face care products were reduced by at least 50%...and I'm a girl who likes (rather expensive) goop.

The "haul" arrived yesterday...lemon body oil...rosemary body oil...and a face care kit...for a total cash outlay of $5 (I had a couple of referral bonuses waiting to be used). Which means my p.t.c.i.c.i.f.a.d. list remains agonizingly long...and I feel compelled to check all of the entries because, in this case, I really did find a deal.

What a pathetic consumer I turned out to be...my first concern...when I heard that Prada had opened a new "concept" store in Paris...based on Guillaume Apollinaire’s poem, 'Le Pont Mirabeau'...was not "ooh, I wonder if any special goodies were created for this"...nope, instead I sat around wondering how the poem had been brought to life (courtesy of bricks, mortar, and a lavish decorating budget)...

Beneath Pont Mirabeau there flows the Seine and so our loves. How much must I again recall that joy will ever follow pain? The night hours strike and have their say. The days will leave, but here I stay. Hand in hand and resting face to face through bridging arms we watch the waters race, the waves so weary in their endless chase. The night hours strike and have their say. The days will leave, but here I stay. Love goes on and like the water's flow it goes away. Life continues, slow it seems, but hope is ever violent though. The night hours strike and have their say. The days will leave, but here I stay. There pass the days and pass the weeks and then that time is past and love won't come again. Beneath Pont Mirabeau there flows the Seine.

To be honest, at least from pictures, I think this is one of those ideas that sounded better than it actually turned out...this looks to be more of an homage to the bridge itself (the first in the city to be built from metal)...than a physical manifestation of the spirit of lost love present in the poem...unless, that is, the "joy will ever follow pain" is the joy that you will feel from owning your purchase after the pain of handing over the cash to pay for it.

It's probably lucky that I don't have the money to allow my skull fixation free reign..."too much of a good thing" could result in the kind of Gothic nightmare that would have given Charles Addams bad dreams (from a design perspective at least).

Of course, that doesn't stop a girl dreaming...about golden cocktail stirrers topped with skulls...infinitely more appealing than plastic ones topped with pink flamingos and the name of some long-forgotten bar...or am I the only one who finds random cocktail stirrers in my handbags?

I know that, for me at least, when it comes to designer bicycles...some of the thrill has gone. Initially there was the draw of something new and the excitement that comes from being able to buy something that's been "designed" and not just thrown together purely as a way of getting from point A to B...but now that everyone has their bicycle up for sale...including Urban Outfitter's Lego-ish version that allows you to choose the color of every bicycle part...including the chain...I'm getting a little jaded.

Having said that, I couldn't resist a little momento mori...in the shape of this James Perse Beach Cruiser. Matte black and retro-futuristic you feel like it should be ridden on a pathway to hell rather than towards a day of sand and surf...

It's strange...much as I enjoy the the fact that you can be immensely lazy and use Polyvore to formulate outfits without, you know, having to do anything as labor intensive as walking over to the closet and pulling out a few clothes...I rarely actually use it (could it be that it's too lazy even for me?).

Today though...stuck in the house waiting for FedEx to deliver my Prairies de Paris jacket...it called out to me. Of course, despite owning the bag and close approximations of the scarf and boots, I don't have a military dress in my closet...so, of course, I now add one to my mental wish list...and remember another reason why I usually stay away from Polyvore...

One of the wardrobe staples that, in my humble opinion, you can never have too many of...striped t-shirts (at least, that's what I tell myself every time I buy another one). Currently lurking in my closet...in varying degrees of Gap-worthy foldedness (just washed, neatly folded...after a few days of "shall I wear this? no, not today", it's more a case of hastily bundled back on the shelf)...there's the full gamut...long-sleeved, short-sleeved, cap-sleeved, classic Breton blue and white, and more punk-ish color combinations. Or, should I say, almost the full gamut...because there's definitely no "is this an ironic take on atripes or a tribute to nosy neighbors everywhere" tee like this one. Methinks that the situation needs to be rectified...

As you know by now, I love a tote bag...actually, I love all bags, but tote bags make me feel virtuous as they're a less expensive way of feeding my bag habit than a lot of the other options I could mention. Especially when the tote bag in question is an expensive bag/cheap bag hybrid...like these Hermes and Chanel emblazoned totes from Oonagh O'Hagen For Browns Focus. Not your basic cheapie these have distinct fronts and backs...2-D copies of their more expensive cousins...

Today was "nourish your inner geek day"...i.e. a long-anticipated visit to a once a year secondhand book fair. Of course, crawling round on the floor...negotiating the legs (and walkers) of the various old ladies you encounter...does place certain restrictions on an outfit... On the upside, one of my book bags finally has the opportunity to be used to carry books... Ribbon top - United Bamboo, jeans - Joe's, moccasins - Minnetonka, bag - MOMA exhibition

I've said it before...but, just in case anyone missed it, let me repeat myself...

Okay, there's probably some tarmac...maybe some loose stones...even a little shale...but, above all else, hundreds of thousands of g.i.'s...getting ground underfoot.

You may have guessed by now (at least if you're a regular reader) that I succumbed to a sale purchase...namely the Les Prairies de Paris floral jacket that I mentioned I was putting on "sales watch" back in May. Theoretically the fact that this was pre-planned should remove any feelings of guilt...in reality the period of guilt was simply extended over a few months...

Amongst my daily online reads lurks the "guilty pleasure"...the heady mix of Brit-based fashion, gossip, and beauty that is Grazia...or, as I think of it, the perfect way to wake up (when paired with a cup of coffee).

The only troublesome part of this...apart from Mr. Heb mocking my choice of reading material (which is unfair as I work my way over to the "proper" news websites once my brain has decided to greet the day)...is that I find myself ooh-ing and ah-ing over items which will never find their way over to this side of the pond. Items like...the denim skirt on the right. Part of a styling story it caught my eye...the dark-but-not-too-dark lightweight denim...the length...the not-too-loose-not-too-tight style...and, from the Gap, so obviously not mind-blowingly expensive. All well and good until my brain kicked into gear and I remembered that US Gap...despite all of this "European design editions" talk...doesn't sell a lot of the items that are in its UK stores. Which goes to show that Euripides was right...

I can never decide if this skirt is a pencil with aspirations to be a bubble...or a depressed bubble pushed into suicidal pencil-related tendencies...it's neither one style nor the other...betwixt and between...a bubcil...a penub...a dream. T-shirt - Uniqlo, skirt - Alice Ritter, hi-tops - Converse

When the email hit my Inbox announcing Net-a-Porter’s iPhone application I have to admit that I uttered a little groan. “Oh no”, cried my frugal inner voice (the one that tries to dissuade me from impulse purchases and other financial outlays that I will come to regret in the, not so distant, future), “do I really need to be able to buy $600 suede shoes or a $1,650 flannel dress when I’m sitting on the bus...waiting in line at the post office...or performing any other activity that requires a time-wasting activity (like my usual fallback options...staring blankly into space whilst listening to music or reading a book...both satisfyingly frugal pastimes)?” The answer that even my conspicuous consumer inner voice (the one that considers shopping as a hobby) had to give was “no”.

No one really needs this app...but (like most things that you don't actually need) it's kind of fun. The images are small...but not too small to see the detail of the clothes...the overall look is pretty slick...and, after some random button pressing to see what's hiding where, it's easy to maneuver around in. Though, thanks to the aforementioned random clicking, I did discover that if you click on the shopping bag icon without actually, you know, "shopping" the following message appears..."Unfortunately your shopping bag is empty".

It's subtle...but your wrist has been slapped...you know you made some social gaffe...like using the salad fork to prong your fillet mignon...a faux pas that should be remedied immediately...by buying something.

If there's a 12-step program out there for non-leather motorcycle jackets I really need to find it...fast. Not content with being the proud owner of Heimstone's silky/lurex version...and APC's crisp, navy cotton number...I'm now pondering this option in pale gray terry cloth. Yep...that means I'm so far gone down the road of moto-dom that I'm actually weighing up the pros and cons of something which could be classified as "biker goes to the beach" or "Gidget meets the Hell's Angels"... Now do you see why I think I might need a little help?

I hate to be the grinch who stole summer but we’ve got to that point in the season where the streets are filled with short wearers and I, for one, would like to lodge a complaint.

Now I’ll admit up front that I fall very firmly into the anti-short category; it has to be faced that in the majority of instances they’re just not the most flattering option. Some people (we’ll call them Experimental Group A) look incredible in shorts; walking goddesses in abbreviated trews. The only problems is that E.G.A. would also look good in a brown paper bag and, as such, are a tiny subset of the population.

Sadly, the rest of us fall into Experimental Groups B-Z; Group B comprised of those with marginally less perfection in their lower limbs and, at the other end of the spectrum, Group Z being those of us who, even in the sweltering depth of summer, refuse to be parted from either some thick opaque tights or a pair of (full-length) pants.

There’s no shame here, Group Q probably look like a dream in a dress and Group M are, in all likelihood, divine in a drop-crotch. But, simply because it says July on the calendar, there’s a feeling that everyone must wear shorts. Perhaps it’s time to take a short break...