>> I'm well aware of the outfit filler onslaught going on here but I'm merely updating the peeps who follow me on Twitter on the mini discounted Balenciaga haul I got into when I was in Milan. The truth is, Milan is my most easy going week of all. It's the one where I'm not bogged down with writing for other people nor do I have to go traipsing around seeing advertiser after advertiser in an appointment haul. What then happens is that I turn into a Sophie Kinsella type character and start hounding people about information on discounts, outlet stores and wander about town with a giant phone (yes, I'm stuck on the Samsung Galaxy Note, and yes, it does make me look a little like that character from Trigger Happy TV), looking up addresses and come back to the hotel laden with bags. I had an outer body experience of looking down on this dippy, ditzy self when a journalist was interviewing me back in New York about how I shop and I got really excited talking about the wonders of Yoox, eBay, Battersea car boot sale and vintage shopping at Alfie's, more so than when people ask me about what I think about the trends of the season (most ridiculous on the spot question this season thus far FYI is "Why do I think French women are so chic and can we got the look of chic French women?" - errr...). My eyes literally light up as I natter on about spending two hours looking at things on Yoox and combing through the Opening Ceremony sale. It's a malaise that I'm well aware of but don't seem to be able to curb, so long as I'm obsessed with the idea of NOT paying top dollar/pound/euro for anything I buy.
This outfit is therefore the result of the side of me that turns into a candy floss piece of shopping fluff. When you're wrenching out Balenciaga pre-fall outside, whilst loudly exclaiming how much discount I got off as though you had haggled a cheap piece of meat at the butchers, you know that the dizzie shopping bug has well and truly rotted its way through. I'm simultaneously ashamed and pleased that I bagged these pre-fall 2011 quilted trousers that have William Morris-esque florals running up and down them, a plasticised white skirt from the S/S 11 collection and a Balenciaga menswear cable knit jumper that looks like it has been hit with a dose of grey ash. I'm laying the blame with Avril Mair from British Elle and Caroline Issa from Tank magazine as they pointed me to the sources of the items, which were th D Magazine store and the 10 Corso Como outlet shop. Just a few more addresses to add to the ever bulging shopping directory I carry in my head to enthuse about in future airy fairy interviews.
(Balenciaga sweater and trousers worn with a tired face, my off-duty glasses and some lovely Pollini flatform sandals)
(Photograph by Nam for Grazia.it. Balenciaga skirt worn with ASOS pyjama top, J.W. Anderson Topshop New Gen tee, Christopher Kane shirt and Lucy Jay head scarf)
