alice mary barnes

Saturday, 5 January 2013

Fresh and Clean.

Our Christmas decorations are down, and now the house is looking a bit lacklustre, like it needs an injection of excitement, and maybe some colour to boot.

I can't wait to make some additions to the house in early 2013 - here are some of the things I'm coveting for the home.

Bright neon pink accents
We've decorated our home in a fairly neutral way and I'm ready to brighten it up for Spring. A few neon pink accents are such a modern way of introducing colour to our palette of black, white and grey.

Light Fantastic
I love an interesting light fitting - planning on including a couple of stand out pieces to our home this year.

Textiles
Even though we're coming out of Winter, I still want to fill our home with gorgeous cosy cushions and curtains. After 6 months of searching, I've finally found some curtains I love - hoping they make our living room feel a bit less chilly!

China
We bought a set of basic crockery when we moved in, but now I'm in the market for some special pieces. I'm absolutely in love with Giles' collection for Matches, Marimekko and Ferm Living china - can't wait for them to grace our flat.

To see more Home Inspiration, pop over to my Home Style board on Pinterest.

Fashion: Urban Outfitters opens in Newcastle upon Tyne

Courtesy of Urban Outfitters

It was well over a year ago when I first started hearing rumours that Urban Outfitters was to open in Newcastle upon Tyne and this month, that rumour finally became a reality.

Urban Outfitters Newcastle opened it's doors to the public on 9th December 2012 just in time to make the most of the Christmas retail boom.

Taking up residence in a former nook of Eldon Square, UO's Newcastle store boasts some impressive credentials: over 10,000 square feet of retail space across 3 floors, making it's one of their largest stores.

Courtesy of Urban Outfitters

Some of the fantastic women's brands being stocked by the UO Newcastle Store include:

TBA
Cheap Monday
Evil Twin
Mink Pink
Petit Bateau
Something Else
Vaudeville & Burlesque

Newcastle has long needed a directional and contemporary fashion and lifestyle store, and I can't count the amount of Geordies who've been rejoicing in the fact they no longer have to travel to Leeds or Manchester for their UO fix.

I headed down to the new store this week, so find out exactly what UO are offering to the stylish crowd of Newcastle.

The store is VAST, really a lot larger than I was expecting. Such a fantastic selection of womenswear, menswear, accessories, gifts, homeware and books. I saw about 20 pairs of shoes that I NEED including some gorgeous leopard print slipper loafers. I only had a limited amount of time to browse on this instance, so heading back to the store this weekend for a more in depth look.

And, finally, here is a sneaky look at a couple of the wondeful looks from UO's Spring/Summer 2012 collection - a big thank you goes out to UO's PR team who kindly supplied me with these images.

Courtesy of Urban Outfitters

All images © Alice Mary Barnes except where stated.

Christmas Time in the North

I am having the busiest few weeks at work in the run-up to Christmas, preparing for some big projects post-Christmas, so my blog is taking a back seat, which I am not too thrilled about! However, I have some exciting treats lined up over the next few weeks which I'll be sharing with you soon, including seeing The Puppini Sisters' live at The Sage, visiting the brand new Urban Outfitters store in Newcastle, shopping in Corbridge, Christmas festivities with friends, a trip to Yorkshire and finally, Champagne Christmas Afternoon tea with Katie and Paula.

Hope you're all having a lovely Advent period so far - I've been stuffing my face with sweet mince pies, red wine and mulled cider!

Image source: Pinterest

Fashion: Topshop Secret Store

The world has gone into floral overload. My last post celebrated the blossom trees of Oxfordshire, and this week we've had the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show and now, the launch of Topshop's Secret Store; a pop-up shop based in the London and New York flagship stores, where fashion is reinvented through the flowers. This Meadham Kirchoff and Wild at Heart collaboration features specially commissioned pieces by designers including Michael Van Der Ham and Unique archive pieces. It's only open for 2 weeks, so get down quick! I'm hoping to catch a glimpse when I'm in London for Graduate Fashion Week, but for now, here are some photos to whet your floral appetite.

Photos from Topshop.com

Inspiration: Daydream, I fell asleep and met the flowers.

When I was in Oxfordshire visiting my sister around a month ago, I took these photos of the blossom trees in her little village; everything I love about Spring. Also, the weekend I visited saw the annual Ducklington Fritillary show taking place. I love village events like this...tea and cakes in the village hall, Church members selling souvenir tea towels...just brilliant. Properly English.

Fashion: Mulberry Love

I love everything British and can't shout about luxury British/English brands enough, so naturally, I am a lover of Mulberry. Since Emma Hill took over as Creative Director, the brand has flourished and become the hot brand to wear or carry but without losing any of it's quinessential Britishness. So, you can imagine my sheer delight when I heard that Mulberry have released a publication celebrating their 40th Anniversary. I am a huge fan of luxury print publications (I even made my own and won a prestigious award for it!) and think enough can't be said for print over digital. When I heard the release date, I immediately put in my order and on Friday when I arrived home from work, a very special package had been delivered! The imagery is to die for, all taken by photographer Venetia Dearden and the design and attention to detail of the whole publication is just, well, exquisite.

The book came so beautifully wrapped and contained these fantastic little pink slips in between the layers of tissue paper - Wizard is definitely my favourite. It also came with an abundance of badges, stickers and a lovely, very personal, little notecard.

On another Mulberry note, a few weeks ago I visited the designer outlet, Bicester Village, where I obviously had to pay a trip to the Mulberry store there. I was surprised at how much current season stock they had, and because I've been a good girl with money recently, I decided a treat was in order...

I can't describe how much I adore my oversized Alexa - it is just perfect! It was the last black oversized Alexa they had left in the Mulberry outlet, so I'm lucky to have gotten in there when I did!

All images © Alice Mary Barnes, 2011

Fashion: I might be bad but I'm perfectly good at it

That's right, fetish was a huge catwalk trend for A/W 11/12. Wearable handcuffs and kinky boots? Who'd have thought this would be possible!

Marc Jacobs showed us rubber shirts and latex, paired with ladylike Forties silhouettes and lace-up boots at his at his catwalk show at New York Fashion Week (a definite pre-curser of what was to come at his collection for Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week. This was definitely the show to show the wearability of this trend; cinched waist belts, and PVC leather gloves, to update your winter accessories.

In London, Giles showed us demure fetish again, and with an innocent bow in the hair as a final touch.

Paris Fashion Week was as risque as they get! Givenchy, Mugler, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton showed us all how it should be done; with Gaga, Mossy and that much talked about cigarette.

Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy went wild with animal prints, sheer fabrics and leather - PVC peplums over sheer knee-length skirts are not for the feint-hearted, although I could see myself in a cat-hat; definitely the easiest way to wear this trend, meow!

Nicola Formichetti's first womenswear collection for Mugler already had the Twitterverse buzzing before the show, with rumours that Lady Gaga would be modelling. Of course, she set the show alight and I can definitely imagine her wearing every single look from this collection.

One of my favourite collections of the whole season was Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. She managed to make the fetish trend look, dare I say, elegant? The harnesses were beautifully constructed and really added edge to another astounding beautiful collection.

And last but not least, Louis Vuitton's racy show (with every model in Paris it seemed!) showed us handcuffs, ladylike silhouettes and hotpants. And amazingly, they were oh so wearable! Loved Natasha Poly's look with her hand handcuffed in front of her, almost like she was a raunchy, praying nun? I like, like it, c'mon.