hiatus

I'm not going to be posting for the next month as I'll be in Ghana working in a Liberian refugee camp. Wish me luck, and I'll be back at the beginning of October!!

keys, purse, mobile, lipstick to go

I have a largish bag that I end up filling with rubbish. Yesterday I thought I had lost my mobile - it was only at the bottom of my bag. Therefore, I'm actually super pleased that small bags are making a comeback. My ideal one is a "belle" from Mulberry - shoulder strap, brown leather, and stylish. My little sis says she can't stand tiny designer bags - they smack of people who want a label and they can only afford the smallest thing they offer, instead of spending their money on something actually nice, but this Mulberry's too classic for that nonsense, right?

Yes I went wading in the paddling pool in my jeans, didn't you?

Whilst Style Bubble thinks these Topshop jeans are going to be easy and ubiquitious, I think they are brilliant and fantastic. Okay, so black is universally thinning, but wet-look adds a zillion pounds, so I'm sure they won't be flattering on my shape (maybe any shape that isn't Kate Moss-esque twig legs), but so what? Fashion can't always be pretty, can it? And this season, according to The Times, we should all be warrior women anyway...

Right now I'm trawling the net for a picture of New Look's PVC dress - that is one warrior woman item that I don't want to miss.

Are You A Perfect Woman (Read Cold Selfish Bitch)?

StyleDash linked today to an article at the Washington Post that overdressing and looking too chic these days is a sign of being self-absorbed and vapid, citing the upcoming film of the Nanny Diaries as evidence of these sentiments. Is it true that being endlessly chic and put-together - perfectly blow-dried hair, heels everyday, toned to perfection, glamourously bronzed, wrap dresses from DvF and IT bags from Prada and Marc Jacobs - is a sign that you're a bad person? Certainly the effort that goes into looking that good is high (although internet shopping at Net-A-Porter has certainly cut down on effort - a few clicks on a Sunday night can relieve anyone's wardrobe nightmares, but is hell on your credit card), and now it seems it isn't even worthwhile. If we assume, and I think that it is fair to say that it's true, that we dress for others, be they men or women, and that apparently the general consensus of today is that this overdressing is distasteful, nay, immoral, then surely these high standards that women are setting themselves are counter-productive. Instead of demonstrating our capabilities to reach perfection, they are demonstrating the apparent emptiness of our lives. A bit of undone, a bit of imperfection is far more chic, apparently. And this I agree is true, though not because it displays a moral integrity, but because it demonstrates a certain level of imagination, and of acceptance, and of individuality. However, the point of this post is not to say what is wrong or what is right, or whether women who manage to maintain the highest standards of grooming, but to raise the question of women - why can we never get it right? Why do we hit ourselves the hardest? Why is it that being perfect is now a demonstration of lack of morals? Where is the acceptance? I'm not one for burning my bra or doing it for my sisters, but sometimes even I am amazed at the capacity for womenhood to continue to be so self-harming. Please, let's find something to celebrate in ourselves, rather than continue to belittle any woman who acheives success in something.