'Tis the Season

The last couple of weeks have been filled with festive cheer in the form of decorating our flat, ready for the Big Man coming to town; visiting Christmas markets, baking, deciding on Christmas wrapping schemes and heading to London to see the bright lights of Oxford and Regent Street (along with a bit of shopping in Liberty, of course).

It's our first Christmas in the flat so decorating and making plans for the holidays has felt extra special.

What have you been doing to prepare for the festive season?

Burberry Acoustic: Vinyl Jacket

We have such a great music scene here in the North East of England, and it's always fantastic to see our local bands getting recognition and being picked up by global influencers.

Vinyl Jacket are one such band. Recently, Burberry's Head of Music contacted them saying he was a big fan and they were asked to film a session for Burberry Acoustic. Filmed by the river Tyne in beautiful Wylam, this stripped back arrangement of their track Koala is exclusive to Burberry. Already obsessed with the harmonies; I'm a complete sucker for a brilliant vocal arrangement.



Vinyl Jacket are set to release their new EP next year, but if you can't wait that long, they'll be supporting Cattle and Cane at ARC Stockton Arts Centre on Thursday 20th December.

Vinyljacket.co.uk

Twitter.com/vinyljacketuk

Facebook.com/VinylJacket

Youtube.com/VinylJacketUK

Soundcloud.com/VinylJacketUK

Advanced Style

Impeccable style fascinates me. It transcends age, as proven by the photographer Ari Seth Cohen who captures immaculately presented older men and women on his blog, Advanced Style.

I am well and truly in awe of everyone featured on his blog - I can only hope I look as good and make such bold style statements when I reach a more experienced age. Here are some of my favourites.

And of course, no mention of style at a more mature age would be complete without the incomparably brilliant, Iris Apfel. "More is more, less is a bore."

All images from Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen

Cath Kidston Newcastle Store & Giveaway winners.

At the end of last week, I ventured into Newcastle to check out the new stand alone Cath Kidston store. Set over 2 floors on the beautiful Grainger Street, the store has a great mix of fashion, homeware, childrenswear and Christmas merchandise, along with some lovely, considered displays for the store including a wall full of framed Newcastle paraphernalia.

I spoke to CK Newcastle's store manager, Alex, to find out a bit more about the store:

Welcome to Newcastle! I’m so pleased Newcastle finally has it’s own stand-alone store, following on from the success of CK’s concession in Fenwick. How does it feel to have a base in the North East? Thank you. We are all really excited about the new store and being able to offer Newcastle a chance to see the whole product range. From just being open a couple of days, we can already see that everyone is really as excited as we are here. The reception has been fantastic.

What can CK’s Newcastle fans expect from the store? 
I’m really excited by the faces of our customers as they walk through the doors of the new store. They will be taken aback by so much colour and brightness. It’s such an expressive brand, so uplifting.

CK is all about print – which prints do you think will be most popular with Newcastle’s CK fans?
Print is so important to Cath Kidston, all of our prints are unique and inspired by Vintage. The products are colourful and fun and bring a smile to your face. Our spot prints are really popular and spray flower in our china is a best seller, both these prints are very classic Cath Kidston and never go out of style or date.

As the festive season is upon us, does the store have anything special lined up for it’s Newcastle customers this Christmas? 
We have opening promotions going on over our launch day and the weekend. We also have a shopping spree competition for the customer to win £250 shopping spree with Cath Kidston.

And now to reveal the winners of the Cath Kidston giveaway.

After randomly selecting names out of a hat (well, a decorative bowl in this case), the winners are...

Cath Kidston Laptop Case - Sophie-Anne from Decisions, Decisions
Cath Kidston Tote Bag - Katie Coward

Well done ladies. If you could please drop me an email with your address details in, that would be marvellous.

Cath Kidston - New Store Opening - Newcastle, UK

This week sees a real treat for North East fans of British brand, Cath Kidston: we are finally getting our own stand-alone CK store in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The brand have had a small concession based in Fenwick Newcastle for some time now, and now to help strengthen the brand presence in the North East, CK now has it's very own space. Set over 2 floors on the Toon's wonderful Grainger Street, the store will feature products from homeware, kidswear and accessories through to fashion and special one-off vintage pieces, all including CK's iconic print designs.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED: 
To celebrate the store opening, I've teamed up with Cath Kidston to offer a special giveaway for readers of AMB. I'm exclusively giving away a beautiful spotty tote bag and laptop case to 2 lucky winners. Simply leave a comment below stating which item you'd prefer to win and why, and I will randomly select 2 winners to receive these wonderful prizes courtesy of Cath Kidston.

Only open to UK residents,  and the winners will be announced at the beginning of next week alongside a Q&A with the Newcastle's store manager and a look at the store. So get to commenting quick sharp! 

The store opened today, 8th November, so if you're one of the lucky few who've had a chance to visit already, tweet me what you like about the store @alicemarybarnes.

 Cath Kidston, 136 - 138 Grainger Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5AF