Holidays are coming, so says Coca Cola, DFS, Currys/PC World and anyone else who wishes to instill in me a sense of X'Mas spirit in products that err... aren't all that festive at all. I'm also starting to get the "Would you like to compile gift guides for your readers?" emails that come like clockwork bang on, at the beginning of November.
I try to Bah Humbug the lot of it each year, but specifically for the blog, I've decided not to deny the spirit of consumerism this year that comes over us as we whip ourselves up into frenzies over pressies. I'll try to keep the "Hey, buy this seeing as I'm an arbiter of good taste...!" chat to a minimum. How the hell does a gift guide work anyway when everyone has such specific and exacting needs for their beloved ones...? Perhaps the "What I might like to receive" approach is best if not a little selfish. Then again...when HASN'T this blog been self-indulgent...
Anyhow, I've failed to notice that in the past few months, Eley Kishimoto has quietly opened up its online store offering up a selection of the NUMEROUS collaborations that Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto have put their hand to because beyond being pure fashoin designers, they quite rightly are 'surface decorators'. Their latest surface decoration takes to Noble Macmillan's fabric print and leatherbound journals. The fashion meets stationery wave has struck an inner bug within me to want to scribble furiously with Uniball Fine Eye UB-157 (only with these EXACT pens can I write coherently...) onto a fresh notebook, instigated namely by Holly Fulton's recent collaboration with Smythson. Eley K's natural collab with Noble Macmillan gives us a mini lizzie (as in lizard),tapestry, bubbles, zebra and ropey print. Hah... curiously, ropey is my favourite one...
More recognisable and widely used is Eley K's Flash print that adorns a big fat chunky leatherbound journal as well the Incase laptop, iPhone/Pad cases, a yukata as well as a Ben Wilson collaboration flat pack chair that needs to go hand in hand with the flat cut-out board behind it. I'm also loving the A/W 10-11 'Old Jumper' print which are on tees, hoodies as well as a collaboration with Old Curiosity Shop (do DO check out this Holborn trove that makes handmade weathered leather shoes).
Speaking of all things Flash print, I've taken to carrying around my growing collection of laptop cases, including the Eley K x Incase hot pink number, not with an actual laptop inside, because I've not crossed over to the Macbook contingent yet (!!! - new MacBook Air arrival imminent - !!!) and have an irregular sized laptop. Instead I find it useful to bung press releases, Blackberry, Oyster, lipbalm, keys inside the cases and have change jangling around too. I also like hugging them to my chest in a similar fashion to how I used to carry uni books.
(Eley Kishimoto x Incase laptop case with vintage stripey top, Sou Brette bracelet, vintage embroidered skirt)
(French and English Confectionier's patent buckled case with TBA mushroom print dress, Natascha Stolle for ASOS leather gloves)
(WhyRed laptop case with vintage Victim by Mei Hui dress, vintage crochet gloves, Fannie Schiavoni chainmail glove)
And going back to Eley Kishimoto (alright, I went off the 'gift guide' tract pretty quickly... better try next time!), their S/S 11 collection 'Genuine Repro' pares the print down to the bare essentials with slightly preppified shapes that are pleasingly clean cut and as ever, with cuteness abound... (I mean the 'c' with the best of intentions...).
