The pull of the "free gift with purchase" is a truly terrifying thing...when items that you normally wouldn't touch with the proverbial barge pole are suddenly elevated to the top of your shopping list. To be fair, in this instance the f.g.w.p. to celebrate Tatty Devine's 10 year anniversary is actually something that I'd buy and use...book bag addict that I am...not that a complimentary £5 bag balances out the purchase of a pricey bit of perspex and international shipping charges...though it would ease the sting a little...

Back at the beginning of the year when I bought a light grey, sleeveless, heavy linen dress from French designer VDC I didn't quite realize how much wear I would get out of it...and that the only negative associated with its simple beauty would be that it necessitated a much better posture than I usually present to the world.

In anticipation of summer I turned, once again, to VDC...and decided upon this dark grey lightweight linen number.

In keeping with the dress' simplicity...and my lack of vigor (and will to live) once the thermometer advances past a certain point...I'm leaning towards wearing it in variations on the themes below...

I've been wanting to try some pinhole photography for a while now but, thanks to my inherent laziness, have neglected to take the steps necessary to build the camera. A much easier option...to play around with the pinhole setting on my digital camera...and record a few animals sleeping, eating, and showing a general lack of vigor which makes me feel at home...

But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns." - Jack Handey

Though I say it myself, and shouldn't, I'd been doing rather well...restraining my impulses and stemming the semi-constant flow of posts featuring skulls and skull related ephemera...but the voodoo meets Victorian image from Oak's website pushed me off the wagon...

The "things to look out for" list has now been amended to include some large wooden skulls...to be worn around neck or waist.

It's hard to believe that we are currently hurtling towards summer...what with the cold, dank temperatures the last few days...and the monsoon like deluge currently throwing itself against my windows. Time to hunker down with a cup of tea and a good book...except that I discovered that the vintage paperback that I bought over the weekend is missing pages one through thirty-four (my mystery story now has an additional mystery...I know that a crime has been committed, I need to figure out not only "who done it" but "what they done")...and I see no way of getting my hands on some Prada tea bags in the next ten minutes...

I know, I know...they're another hideous waste of money courtesy of Miuccia...but that doesn't stop me thinking how decorative they'd be sitting in the kitchen...or how nice it would be to sample the flavors of Infusion de Tubereuse or Infusion de Vetiver...

According to NY Magazine the waiting list for Hermes' Birkin bags is a thing of the past...I suppose I'd be slightly more enthusiastic about this news if I had the $7,000 or so needed to buy one. As it is I'm saving my enthusiasm for Slow and Steady Wins the Race's denim "inspired by Birkin" bag. All the necessary elements in a simplified form...

Drinks coasters usually fall into the frat party category (cardboard, humorous, or giving off a faint whiff of drinking games)...or the too-nice-to-risk-getting-wet-or-sticky camp. These wooden silhouette coasters, on the other hand, manage to combine the practical, traditional, and beautiful in equal measure...

You also cannot fit a 15" laptop into a 13" laptop sleeve...a rather basic fact that failed to permeate my subconscious until I was casting loving (and rather nerdy) glances at my new MacBook Pro. Somewhat belatedly I realized that I had absolutely no way to protect it as I carried it hither (and potentially even thither).

The solution...after a rather dispiriting search through a rather large selection of unexcitingly bland options...this faux leather, striped cotton lined, version from incase...one of a series curated by art magazine Arkitip...by Paris based graffiti artist/club owner/subject of many of the images on Purple blog/and general man-about-town André.

The accompanying video (because nowadays there's always a video) is pure French cool...black and white...featuring a passage from Le Paysan de Paris and an original arrangement of Serge Gainsbourg’s “L’alcool”.

Just when you thought you had heard of...been sent cards for...or bought themed candy to celebrate...every nonsensical holiday that could possibly exist...you discover that May 9th is (wait for it) Lost Sock Memorial Day. I can only imagine that it's just a matter of time before "stain that won't come out no matter how much bleach I use" and "I swear, this shrank in the wash" days are added to the calendar.

Be that as it may, in celebration of this...um...'special' day...I'm including the following plea from a member of The Pigeon Club of New York City...and a question..."why is it always the good socks that go missing?"...no one ever seems to lose the sock-with-a-massive-hole-in-it-that-they're-too-lazy-to-throw-away...

"The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars." - Foucault’s Pendulum

I think it's safe to say that this is the year I embrace the wrinkle...my hands have been metaphorically thrown in the air...cries of "ironing be damned!" have spewed out of my mouth...and, as a result, I'm buying linen like a woman on a mission.

The latest...a linen tee...something that I've long admired on sites selling Isabel Marant but have been unable to convince myself was worth the money. This particular (fiscally responsible) version is from Zara...a metallic green-y silver-ish color...like a mermaid in camouflage...and bedecked with wrinkles in the time it took to carry home.

Sometimes all you need to make you happy is a long walk...the sun...an art gallery...and a grainy black and white setting on your camera...

Once again I am drooling over Joseph...this time the Fall/Winter 2010 collection...crisp, adult, yet completely feminine. And the sort of clothes that, given the right budget, you could wear day in and day out and never tire of...

"It is impossible for a stranger traveling through the United States to tell from the appearance of the people or the country whether he is in Toledo, Ohio, or Portland, Oregon. Ninety million Americans cut their hair in the same way, eat each morning exactly the same breakfast, tie up the small girls curls with precisely the same kind of ribbon fashioned into bows exactly alike; and in every way all try to look and act as much like all the others as they can." - Lord Northcliffe

Some re-visited trends allow you to wallow in a glow of nostalgia...some, on the other hand, cause you to hang your head in embarrassment and plunge into the depths of the "what the hell was I thinking?" pool. I was visited by the second feeling as soon as I spotted the 'silk pony bow' on Urban Outfitters website.

All those memories came flooding back...of attempts to fit in to the (admittedly rather posh) boarding school that I had been sent to...by wearing a very Sloane-y mix of clothing...accessorized with limp silk squares attached to top-knots and pony tails. Desperately uncomfortable I resembled...looking back on it, with the clarity of time...one of those show dogs with strange bows in their hair. Even more depressing...retailers are trying, once again, to foist this "look" off on people. Take it from one who knows...just say no (to the bow).

We all have what, to others, may be somewhat questionable beliefs...be they the physical, i.e. that somewhere out there Santa Claus, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and ET meet on a regular basis for a pint, a game of darts, and a bag of pork scratchings...the hopefully spiritual...God, the stars, and love...or the Scrooge-ishly practical...cold, hard, cash.

All these, and more, are celebrated...in a beautifully kitsch way...in this Questionable Beliefs charm bracelet from Mended Veil. The perfect way to be charmingly eccentric rather than "that nut!"

Good things come in threes...a terrible title pun...an interesting little factoid (that John Steinbeck used 300 pencils to complete his novel, East of Eden...you can't help but wonder if Mr. Steinbeck was a pencil chewer who burned the figurative candle at both ends)...and the visual pun of this pencil-pencil case.

Massive, nerd-induced, groan erupting in 3...2...1...

Generally...when you read about the inspiration for perfumes...you're bombarded by references to flowers, or sexuality, or the like...but you rarely hear that the scent was inspired by an exiled political leader. Yet that's the case with the Shigenobu Twilight Perfume by Anicka Yi & Maggie Peng.

The description for the perfume runs along traditional lines..."composed of cedar wood as its base note along with unusual top notes of yuzu fruit, shiso leaf and black pepper as well as hinoki, violet leaf and nutty heart notes"...the packaging...a unique, sculptural block of hand-cut cedar...catches your eye...but your attention is held (at least, mine was) by the fact that the scent is named after Fusako Shigenobu...founder and former leader of the Japanese Red Army...who was exiled in Lebanon (hence the cedar 'bottle' and bases note).

As I am reminded every time I wait in line to pay for my bottled water at the airport concessions stand, they don't make souvenirs like they used to. The modern day traveler is offered the dubious delights of an identikit selection of quirky magnet, bag of themed candy, or slogan-ridden t-shirt...her Victorian ancestor, however, was able to maintain her memories with an enameled gold locket. We travel faster...not necessarily better...

There is the luggage that you pick up and think, "My God...how can it be this heavy when it's completely empty? By the time I've thrown a couple of t-shirts and a toothbrush into its murky depths I won't be able to lift the darned thing."

Then there are the bags that are deceptively light in the store yet, once packed, transform into unwieldy clunkers that require a week's worth of pre-trip exercise to enable you to lug them around.

Then there are the too good to be true...I bet Tinkerbell had a bag this light when she flitted around with Peter Pan...variety...like the bag below which tips the scale at a mere 135g.

Something that seems like a dubious claim until you realize that they are made of that brand of flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers that we all know and love...Tyvek. All the Tyvek-y pros are there...the bags are waterproof, tearproof, and 100% recyclable...and the cons (a passing resemblance to an extremely large Air Mail envelope) have been mitigated by the shiny, silkscreen printed, colors. A rare mix of the durable, the practical, and the aesthetically pleasing...

One coin...two sides. A nice way of bringing up the topic of marketing...or rather how the high-quality, artsy photography of one site can cause you to think twice about an item which, on its mother-site, you would recoil from while terms like "crunchy granola" and "hippie sailor sandals" skipped through your mind.

Exhibit A, the Ghurkee sandal...if one is shopping at Opening Ceremony...

And Exhibit B, the same shoe from Gurkee's own website...

The saving...all eight dollars and five cents of it...is somewhat mitigated (in my mind, at least) by the orthopedic/Jesus sandal vibe coming from Exhibit B.

That the Gap is having a little bit of a "quintessential French girl" moment is something that I discovered only after the gingham sleep shorts in the window had lured me inside...

Cute fabric...covered buttons...ribbon tie...and 30% off...it would have been churlish to leave them behind. Of course, once inside the store, the need to 'browse' took over...which is when I found the q.F.g.

The q.F.g. would, of course, wear Repetto's...but as I have tried, and failed, to convince myself that any ballet flats can be worth $250...I was more than happy to find this Repetto-esque (and surprisingly comfortable) black leather pair for under $40. They won't last forever, but if they make it through the summer I'll be content.

By this point I could have stopped my browsing-slash-unpremeditated-shopping and been more than happy but the q.F.g. felt that the summer would would be much improved with a nautically striped skirt. Which, although it is yet another item of striped clothing in my closet, is 'new' in that it's a skirt and not yet another t-shirt or top...

Satisfied, if a little poorer, the q.F.g. and I are now going to relax with a little red wine and cheese...

...Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say." - J.R.R. Tolkien

It may be shallow. Heck, who am I kidding? It is shallow...but an outing for life's necessities (sparkling water, Morbier cheese, and toilet paper) is much more enjoyable when I'm lugging everything around in the bottomless depths of the bag that mother bought in Paris many years ago... Jacket - Belstaff, scarf - Urban Outfitters, corduroy jodphurs - Maria Cornejo, suede Chelsea boots - Frye, shopping bag - Ralph Lauren, scorpion ring - vintage, bracelet - Cost Plus

Having ranted against impracticality a couple of days ago I probably shouldn't be coveting bronze predator 'rings'...possibly the most impractical, yet beautiful, things I've laid eyes on in a while. I'm not going to even start to enumerate the list of things that you couldn't do wearing these beauties...instead I'm going to focus on the things you could do better...um...give me a second...um...well...your come-hither-beckoning-finger-wiggle will be much improved...

...I like balancing words together like cruel and gentle, sad and beautiful. Life is not all black and white -- it's shaded." - Charlie Sexton

On the road again...not to New York...but I haven't found too many songs about Minneapolis...and Gil Scott-Heron's 'New York Is Killing Me' (on constant rotation) is currently keeping me sane in airport lounges.

"Between a quarter and a third of Los Angeles's land area is now monopolized by the automobile and its needs-by freeways, highways, garages, gas stations, car lots, parking lots. And all of it is blanketed with anonymity and foul air." - Alistair Cooke

Normally, when I hear the word ‘Freeway’, my mind is inexorably drawn towards thoughts of the canine companion of Jonathan and Jennifer (aka ‘The Harts’ of Hart to Hart fame). A leap of association that has less to do with the machinations of the human mind than an unhealthy obsession with 80’s television.

But now thanks to Alex Israel, an artist and writer living in Los Angeles (and the founder of Freeway Eyewear), my brain can make new mental leaps in the direction of sunglasses. Launched this Spring, Freeway’s styles are named after the roadways in and around Los Angeles; allowing the wearer to choose from 1–Pacific Coast Highway, 10–Santa Monica Freeway, Interstate 15, 101–King's Highway (or El Camino Real), 110–Harbor Freeway, or 405–San Diego Freeway.

In Mr. Israel’s words, these glasses "are made for international shipping magnates, lithe gamines, American gigolos, blonde bombshells, ladies-who-lunch, country-club tennis pros, martyred grunge rockers, post-modern architects, Bat-Mitzvah tutors, out-of-work actors, psychic friends and you; Seeing is believing."

I am, sadly, neither a lithe gamine nor a lady who lunches on anything more exciting (in the general run of things) than a sandwich; none of which is going to stop me from agonizing over which of these particular paths I wish to take.

Sometimes you can look at something crazily over-priced and...thanks to a lot of cost-per-wear math and rationalization...you can justify it (at least in your own mind). Other times you look at something and think that the only person who'd actually part with the funds necessary to call it their own has more money than sense. Case in point this (admittedly cute) bike basket from Kate Spade...the straw basket, patent leather cover, and floral lining are all lovely...but the 14-karat light gold plated hardware and $325 price tag beg the question of who is going to buy it? Surely no urban cyclist, who has enough problems with thieves stealing seats and wheels at the best of times...

Though I vaguely feel like I shrank in the wash...or mugged a 13 year old school boy...every time I wear them...I'm rather fond of these pants. It must be the fabric...waxed cotton often affecting me that way. Plus, they afford me the option of an "almost suit"... Wool jacket - Jaeger, plaid shirt - Zara, waxed cotton pants - H Chalayan, glitter flats - Me Too, badge - APC