Brilliant Birmingham ♥

So today was the day i'd been looking forward to since oh I don't know... about sometime in August?!

We left the hotel at 9:20am and got into Birmingham for about 10:15 ish

we parked up at Brindley Place next to the canal and after my dad popped off to mooch around some DIY shops myself + my mum marched STRAIGHT to the massive H&M store in the Bullring

because of course today was THE day, the day that the Lanvin and H&M collaboration went on sale

ok so bear in mind that the shop opened at 9am and I got there just over an hour later... 

I swear to god by the time i made it to the Lanvin floor practically EVERYTHING had already been sold!

I knew how popular this was going to be but the shop assistants were telling me that some people had been queuing outside the door since 6am!!!

now THAT is dedication to fashion

of course... if Birmingham was my home town I daresay i'd have been there queuing at 6am as well!

There was a wristband system to get in and out of the pop-up Lanvin shop in H&M, coloured wrist bands represented a different hour of the day

believe it or not but... I got the LAST wristband!!! (I know... crazy)

however my 'hour' wasn't until 2pm so I had lots of time to kill!

I found my mum again (lurking in the shoe dept) and we walked to Selfridges and had a divine little mooch all around the handbag and shoe floor

once again I had to drag her away from the Louboutins (to cries of “but Jade... I NEED THEM!”) but to be fair I was pretty much drooling over the Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs bags while waltzing around the stands pointing out the bags I wanted (there were quite a few...)

i had a little skeet in the food court downstairs as well since it's always worth a visit, Krispy Kremes and Yo Sushi EVERYWHERE!

plus... lots of Hershey's, Reeses and various other super Candy from the USA (nerds, sweetarts, babyruth bars, butterfingers... need i go on?!) i love American candy but i had to leave Selfridges to go and meet my auntie so sadly i left candy-less

we headed up through the German Christmas Market stalls that fill Victoria Square and the surrounding area. 

to be honest the Christmas Markets are one of my favourite things about visiting Birmingham near Christmas time, they are so fabulously festive and fun!  

so much colour and sparkly stuff everywhere! i'm a sucker for anything glittery so the markets appeal to me a lot!

plus there are delicious smelling food stalls everywhere selling things like waffles, crepes, stollen, chesnuts, noodles, donuts, pretzels, chocolates, gluvine and just about every other deliciously tasty food you can think of!

after a spot of lunch (pizza if you must know) i realised it was nearly 2pm...

cue a MASSIVE dash (quite literally) back down New Street to the Bullring to get back to H&M in time

i needn't have bothered though...

by the time i got there everything had long since sold out!!!!!!!

(oh nooooes)

it was a sad moment, all i could do was gaze at the window displays and silently curse myself for not getting there at 6am like all the other die-hard fans!

so i started to wonder... what about the stuff in the windows??? i rushed back into the shop only to be disappointed again!

despite offering double the money (yes THAT is how desperate i was for a piece of the collection) i still didn't get my hands on any of the lovely Lanvin goodies!

sadly all of the window items had already been reserved by people (NOOOOO)

but then my dear mother had a rather delightful little brainwave...

yes ALL of the women's collection was gone... but what about the mens?!

we legged it upstairs and what do you know... LOADS of men's stuff was still available!!!

now i'm a fan of fashion in general so i admire both womens fashion as well as menswear and i have to say, i thought the women's collection was totally fab but wow, the men's stuff was super gorgeous as well! 

well cut coats and suit jackets, lovely dress shirts, amazing metallic colourful brogues, stripey scarves and... boxes of pretty silk bow ties

i was chatting to a guy that had just bought himself bags of stuff from the Lanvin section and he suggested i buy one of the men's shirts, belt it and wear it as a tunic or something (he was really helpful actually, so thanks for that m'dear) or that i get a jacket and have it tailored to be more fitted or something

however... my attention was suddenly caught by a rich red silky bow tie and i'm pretty sure i had one of those proverbial 'lightbulb' moments

i grabbed the boxed bow tie, legged it to the counter and... voila! me and my Lanvin for H&M bag

so let me explain why i bought it...

well 

A: bow ties are cool (thank you Doctor Who for that gem of a quote)

B: i love bows in general anyways

C: this is no ordinary bow tie...

look at it! it's so red and silky and big and red and lovely

no no no... i'm afraid there was only one thing in my mind when i got this!

HAIR BOW!!!

yes folks that's right... my lovely Lanvin Bow Tie from the MEN'S section of the store is now... my new favourite hair accessory!

amazingly it actually fits PERFECTLY as a hairband whether i tilt it to one side or leave it smack bang in the middle

in fact, it's turning out to be rather a good little accessory

so far i've discovered that it can in fact also be... a bracelet, a belt (well... clipped onto a belt), a brooch/corsage, a necklace (if you lengthen the strap) and even a bag charm

what can i say... i LOVE my big red bow tie!

sadly i can't pull off the look quite as well as the lovely Mr Alber Elbaz himself...

he's so darn lovely, i'd just love to give him a big hug and say thanks for designing such gorgeous things

yes it's a shame that i didn't manage to get a pair of pretty pumps or a divine dress or a heavenly handbag but... look at me! do i care... no because i have a shiny, beautiful bow tie instead

and oh look, someone else that happens to be partial to a lovely Lanvin bow tie as well...

the lovely Mr Mika Penniman, how super duper! Bow Ties = AWESOMENESS

back to the Lanvin times though, look at the bag i got wi!th it!!!

wow wow and WOW!

look at those illustrations! oh Mr Elbaz... you've done it again!

i've always loved his design sketches and little Lanvin related illustrations but... wow!

this will definitely take pride of place in my shopping bag collection, sorry Selfridges, farewell Neiman Marcus and so long Brown Thomas... i think you and your cute grosgrain ribbon bag ties have just been beaten by Lanvin's prettyful double silk ribbon handles.

you can't see them properly on here because i tucked them away for the photo but they are so super cute!

this was on the other side of the bag for maximum fabulousness

did i mention that i love it... because i totally do!

i also LOVE the box the bow tie itself came in...

yes i know the heart is BLUE instead of PINK (it was pink for the women's collection obviously) but come on... it's still SOOOOOO cute and luuuurvely!

i know, it looks a lot redder in the press shot further above but it's kind of a dark red/burgundy colour, it's a really nice red actually, definitely appropriate for the winter

and this was also in the bag, a lovely copy of the H&M magazine (with an exclusive interview with Alber Elbaz inside + a fab winter party shoot) 

* * *

so in other news...

i also bought some other stuff today, a little Birthday present from Topshop for my niece Madison (she was 12 today so Happy Birthday to her xX) 

a cute tokidoki purse/wallet thing + a little ugly doll charm

and a BIIIIIIIIG ugly doll charm (love love love it's rainbow polka dot pattern!)

and a cute little striped metal business card case from paperchase to store my little business cards in...

but the shopping wasn't just done by me today, my mum also got a beautiful black leather Michael Kors bag (it's for Christmas off my dad but she wanted to model if for the blog)

and my lovely Auntie Maureen kindly treated me to this truly divine set of fairy lights

aren't the adorable! little red roses (they look pink in the photo but trust me... they are bright red) i cannot begin to tell you how much i adore them + it was lovely seeing her today, so thank you Auntie M, lots of love xX

* * *

and that's it for today!

what  a day it's been, lots and LOTS of shopping, lovely Lanvin times (bow ties rule) just a generally super duper day!

thank you Birmingham, as always... today you were brilliant!

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Go raibh míle maith agat slán

(i think... that's thank you and goodbye in Irish Gaelic, i'm sorry if i got it wrong but thank you anyway Ireland, you know how much i love you! thanks for a great summer x)

Whinings and Weddings ♥

well just one wedding actually but you know...

Today i've decided to take a day out, I was supposed to go to this big pool party at my godparents house here in Monte but after leaving the wedding reception early last night and just generally having had a crappy night with very little sleep I decided to give it a miss. Bit gutted really for obvious reasons. So I packed mum and dad off in a taxi with the promise that i'd be ok here. In my room. By myself. ALL day. Thank god I have my macbook with me or I may have just given up already. I've been watching film after film today. Bit of a Studio Ghibli day which has been nice. Gotta love that Japanese animation, I know I do. Anyway i'm rambling so i'll get on with the post shall I!

So yesterday was Justine & Justin's wedding day. We left the hotel at about 1:30 for the epic taxi ride to Perast. It was a smart-but-casual wedding so I went for a simple summery look (50's style yellow fitted sun-dress, black bolero cardigan, black suede 5-inch heels (slight platform) with grosgrain ribbon ties and cream Chloe Paddington). When we finally arrived in Perast it wasn't too tricky to work out which boat was for the wedding guests...

yeah, it had a Manx Flag on the back. Easy guess!

It was a pretty awesome way to get to a wedding though I have to say. All the guests piled onto the two little boats and before we knew it we were zooming across the water to the Gospa od Skrpjela (the Church of Our Lady of the Rock). I couldn't get many good shots of the island from the boat (I sat somewhere daft + useless photography skills) but this was what the island itself looked like from the water.

The service was so gorgeous, enhanced only by the beautifully decorated little church. Justine looked amazing in her quirky Lanvin-esque wedding dress (so totally Justine) with ruffled layers of tulle falling to the floor. She'd also paired it with a fabulous embellished belt (from River Island) and of course, her gorgeous bridal bouquet of sunflowers, bright orange gerbera daisies and orange arum lilies (or were they zantedeschia, I can't be sure, either way they were heavenly).

the church itself really was so, SO beautiful! Full of the most amazing decoration. Baroque painted pales covered all the walls and the ceiling. Just sublime. It felt kind of disrespectful to just stroll in and take photos of it but while they were clearing the wedding stuff away my dad insisted that I get some snaps. I'm a bit funny about taking photos in churches, i'm not overly religious or anything I just think it's a bit impolite. Besides, my photos would hardly do it justice anyway! here's a shot of it from the outside of it instead. you'll have to take my word for it on how beautiful it was inside.

After the service the heels came off (cobbles everywhere = bad time for heel wearers) even the 'best man' swapped her gorgeous slingback Louboutin peep-toes for some comfier wedges. We mooched around chatting (mingling daaaaahling) for an hour before piling back into the boats for our 40 minute trip to the restaurant near Krasici. This was our view along the way.

The venue was perfect. Wooden tables and benches covered in white rose petals under strings of lights set up right next to the water. So, so gorgeous. in fact it was all pretty perfect. lovely setting, lovely evening, lovely wedding guests. just super duper all round i guess.

obviously i'm not eating much of anything at the moment but i could still appreciate the fabulous 'grub' that served the party goers. fresh bread, mounds of fresh fruit, bowls of mussels and clams, trays of fresh fish, chips, wine, cake... it was all there. course after course was brought out to the tables while i sat there chewing on slices of banana and kiwi. it's all i felt i could risk tbh.

and that's it really, sadly because i felt so ill we had to leave the reception at 10:30pm. i felt so bad for my parents, it wasn't fair that they should have to leave because of me but they were adamant i wasn't to come back to Tivat by myself. good job really since the Russian speaking taxi driver we ended up with was mega creepy not to mention smelly. i was grateful for the parentals just guilty that i'd ruined their evening.

i guess that's why i dodged out of the party today. i didn't want them to have to leave early again + i've been fine here by myself all day. watching lots of movies, reading, listening to some tunes, it's been lovely. one more full day here in Monte then it's back home. i know it's terrible to admit but i really can't wait to get home! it's fabulous here it really is but i am so not in a holiday mood at the moment and i just want to go home asap. Tuesday can't come quickly enough!

anyway, on a slightly lighter note (and just to ensure that this really is the longest blog eveeerrrr) I also found out this morning about the quite possible 'i rudy well hope so' imminent collaboration between H&M and Lanvin. Ok so I guess I was a little bit slow catching up on this one but come on... i've been ill AND I was out all day yesterday!

I adore the collabs H&M do with designer brands, they're so genius and almost always drop-dead-gorgeous. Sonia Rykiel, Jimmy Choo, Viktor & Rolf, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Matthew Williamson, Comme des Garçons and of course Madonna and Kylie too, they've all had one thing in common... they've all been FABULOUS!

I've no idea what Lanvin will come up with for this but Monsieur Elbaz mentioned 'dresses' in the clip so... OHMYGODYESPLEASE let it be Lanvin H&M dresses!!!! I would be even more excited about all of this if there was actually a H&M store on the Isle of Man. There isn't, hence my new found misery. The worst part is i'm not even planning any more trips off island until at least October or December time! Aaagghhh nightmare times!

I've always adored Lanvin in general as one of the oldest French fashion houses. it's always so unique in it's style and methods of design. beautiful coloured dresses and handbags to die for. the little Lanvin dolls were another stroke of genius and of course the fact that Alber Elbaz and Lucas Ossendrijver are big fans (and friends) of Mika Penniman whose music i of course... j'adore is just another reason to love them as a designer brand!

anyway, i heard it IS official but them someone on twitter told me it wasn't so... don't know 100% for sure. either way, watch the clip of the positively darling Alber Elbaz explaining why he loves the idea of a collaboration with H&M, here - http://www.lanvin.com/#/en/news

that's all for now dudes and dudettes, i haven't eaten anything at all today and i'm feeling a little faint. time for a nap methinks.

lots of luuurve from Tivat

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX