Copenhagen Photo Diary

Earlier in the month, straight after my Paris trip,  I headed to Copenhagen with my friend Tim. We spent four days and four nights exploring the city, which is small enough to walk everywhere. Neither of us expected it to be quite so beautiful and we ended up taking more photos than your average holiday! I've edited them down (not easy!) to show you the highlights of my trip. Enjoy!

Wearing my new Monki top with Topshop culottes

The colourful houses are one of my favourite things about Copenhagen

Inside our AirBnB

A house next to the entrance of Christiania

Chairs at the Design Museum

I've never been so interested in chairs until I went to this museum!

Outside our AirBnB house - wearing my new Zara dress

The street we were staying on

The most colourful cinema you've ever seen!

Balmain sketches at the couture exhibit in the Design Museum

Who knew that a dress made out of straws could look this good?

The one non-selfie photo we got together!

The canal where we did a boat tour

Paper Island - where you can get some delicious street food

Fireworks set off at Tivoli - the perfect way to end our last night

Haute Couture: Laskaris A/W17

On my second day of Couture Week in Paris, I was excited to see the Laskaris show entitled 'Prisma'. Laskaris is a Greek couturier and took his collection's inspiration from his homeland's culture. 

Everything about the collection felt very powerful. There were floor sweeping capes, sculptural dresses and leather jackets with colourful fur trimmings. My favourites included the two dresses that were adorned with green enamels. These were hand-moulded in Laskaris's atelier in Athens. 

The main colours were red, white, gold and black. Authentic keys on long thin chains were beautiful accessories, which looked particularly effective hanging down over an open-back dress. When the final two looks were revealed, you could see the artistic vision of what the keys unlocked. Cage-like dresses covered in butterflies were an unexpected and inspiring end to the show.

See the full collection:

As it was another hot day in Paris, I wore my new summer dress from Zara. I love the subtle pattern clash of florals printed over red and white pinstripes. The ruffled shoulderless sleeves make it even more cute and fun! This photo was taken just outside the venue by the beautiful Alexandre III Bridge. 

I hope you liked my reviews of the Laskaris and Patuna shows. There was a delay in getting them written up as I went to Copenhagen straight after Paris! Look out for my next post featuring my favourite photos from Copenhagen. If you haven't been, I know you'll want to go after seeing how gorgeous the city is.

My First Couture Show: Patuna A/W17

Blogging has led to many amazing opportunities, and after 7 years I feel like I've been rewarded with the ultimate fashion experience: Haute Couture Week! After receiving my invitations from a lovely PR company in Paris, I packed my bags and flew over to the world's top fashion capital. 

The weather was so beautiful, so for my first day I decided to wear a floral a-line skirt, high-neck crop top, pink suede boots and pastel jewellery. When I arrived at the venue by the River Seine, I loved seeing what everyone else was wearing. A few were surprisingly casual, however most of the attendees were dressed as elegantly as I'd imagined. 

I couldn't believe my luck that I got to sit in the front row! Also, since I sat towards the end of the catwalk, I got to see the couture close-up and from every angle as the models spun round in front of me. Some of you will have seen this from the videos from my Instagram stories. As Patuna's collection is so sculptural, the 2D photos below couldn't possibly do the outfits justice. However, they should still give you an idea of the beautiful craftsmanship.

There were 22 looks at the Patuna show, set to a dramatic soundtrack that reinforced the mood of the collection. I was interested to find that Patuna took inspiration from "Guadi's organic architecture and Dali's dreamlike abstraction". The wavy hemlines are reminiscent of Gaudi's La Pedrera building; and you could imagine each design worn in a fantasy world that Salvador Dali created. 

The silhouettes within the collection contrasted rigid structural shapes with fluid lines. Voluminous jackets were paired with relaxed fit trousers and asymmetric skirts. There was a mixture of textures including silk, wool, cotton and velvet. One of my favourites was the final look; a white avant garde jacket worn over a floor length silk dress. It moved beautifully as the model came down the catwalk and looked so dramatic as she turned. 

It's fair to say that my first Haute Couture show was everything I'd hoped for and more. Look out for my review of the Laskaris show coming soon!

Glitter Queen

Photos by Douglas Ferguson

Skirt - Urban Outfitters

Crop Top - Monki

Leather Jacket - Topshop

Sunglasses - Quay Australia

Boots - New Look

Handbag - River Island

Earrings - PlexiShock

Glitter is everywhere right now, and it's no secret that I'm addicted to it! I mostly wear it to complete my make-up looks for nights out, but it's also added sparkle to my wardrobe. I picked up this skirt in Urban Outfitters' midseason sale and I really love the colour of it. Since it's such a feminine and striking piece, I like to offset it with my leather jacket and chunky patent boots.

I'm also wearing the plexiglass earrings I'd mentioned in my last blog post. I bought them in Rome, straight from the jewellery designer who had such a fun and colourful collection at his stall. You can check out his online shop here.

Thanks to Douglas Ferguson for taking these photos of me in the Old Town. He's based in New York and came over to work for a few weeks in the UK. We're planning another shoot before he leaves so expect another outfit post soon!

7 Things To Do In Rome

You might have seen on social media that I recently visited the beautiful city of Rome. I went with my Mum as part of my 30th birthday celebrations and we had so much fun. We stayed at Hotel Champagne which is a lovely traditional Italian hotel in the heart of the city. Four days felt like a good amount of time to discover the city because we packed so many things into each day. I think you'd need a week though if you wanted to see the sights at a slower pace. Also, I would say that May is the perfect month to visit as it was around 21 degrees. I don't think I'd enjoy walking around in a bustling city with the scorching summer sun. 

Rome is a city that I feel everyone should visit at some point in their lives. When I was younger I wasn't that interested because I was never into history, but now I can really appreciate it. I couldn't believe how old and well preserved some of the sights were! If you're planning on visiting Rome, make sure you tick these things off your list...

1. Shop at Mercatomonti Market

No holiday is complete without a bit of shopping, but avoid the usual chains and head to this amazing market. It's open on weekends and includes a mixture of vintage and Italy's independent designer clothing and accessories. We could barely contain our excitement when we started walking round the first few stalls! It reminded me a lot of the markets on Brick Lane, with unique items at reasonable prices (especially the handmade jewellery). I bought a pair of triangular plexiglass earrings from Plexi Shock and another pair of earrings made from Chanel buttons. 

2. Visit Santa Maria Maggiore

This basilica is so opulent and mesmerising that I couldn't stop taking photos! Founded in the 5th century, it's the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There's so much to see inside, from the rows of confessionals to the beautiful gated rooms where I watched people singing hymns. 

3. Eat Gelato Every Day

One of the things I was most excited about was the Italian food. The pizzas and pastas definitely lived up to my expectations, but if I had to pick a favourite it would be the gelato. Each day we went somewhere new and tried different combinations of flavours. I'm quickly going to move on because I'm craving it badly!

4. Walk Round the Colosseum 

You'd be crazy to visit Rome without seeing the Colosseum! Some city attractions can be underwhelming when you see them in real life, but this is unlikely to be one of those. Its scale, structure and the history are really impressive. Although we didn't join a guided tour, there was plenty of information dotted around to learn about the history. It only cost €6 to get inside and we didn't queue for long at all.

5. Chill at Caffe del Pincio

After so much exploring, this serene spot was perfect for sitting back and relaxing with a magazine. Situated between the Spanish Steps and Villa Borghese Park, the elegant restaurant looks over the city's rooftops and plays beautiful chill out music. We ordered wine which came with nibbles, and although it was pricey, everything else in Rome is so affordable that we didn't mind.

6. Take the Tour Bus To See The Main Sights

There are at least 3 different bus tour companies in Rome, and we went with CitySightseeing. From the different ticket options we thought the 24 hour ticket was a good choice as we could visit lots of attractions split into 2 half days. Apart from the sights mentioned above, we also stopped off at the Trevi Fountain, Vatican City, Altare della Patria and Castel Sant'Angelo. All of them were well worth a look. 

7. Shop at Stores You Won't Find Here

There's not much point in shopping in stores you can find in your own city. Instead, check out these amazing shops:

• Fox Gallery - selling a fab selection of art and coffee table books
• Furla - this Italian designer brand makes the most gorgeous brightly coloured handbags
• Wycon - I'd never heard of this Italian make-up brand but I'm in love with an eyeshadow palette I bought from them
• Kiko - although there are a few Kiko stores in the UK, it's cheaper to buy in Italy. Since it's one of my favourite make-up brands, I bought a few things.
• Dolce Vita - a lovely fashion boutique with stylish pieces and a really friendly owner

I hope you liked my holiday round-up and let me know if you use my little guide to Rome.

Top Picks from BoConcept

After first discovering BoConcept in Glasgow, I was so happy to hear that the designer furniture brand recently opened a store in Edinburgh. Located on Rose Street, the store has two spacious floors which showcase their ultra modern furniture and accessories. The way they're curated with individual room concepts will have you dreaming of a home filled with their interiors. It's also lovely to see that the staff are really welcoming and friendly. They gave me a catalogue so I can now swoon over their full collections from my own home!

If you aren't familiar with BoConcept, let me fill you in! The brand launched in 1952 and has since then become Denmark's most global retail furniture chain, with over 250 stores around the world. Their Nordic inspired products are designed by BoConcept's in-house team, as well as international award winning designers. They ensure that each design meets the brand's core values of simplicity and functionality. It's great that their furniture is not only stylish, but designed to be comfortable too. 

I really like that the furniture can be customised with a range of options to fit in with your room's colour concept. On the website, I had fun playing about with different colours and fabrics to see how my favourite pieces looked after I selected each swatch.

I've put together a wish-list to share some of the products I would love to have for my home. Although I'm no interiors expert, I think the pieces could work quite well together in a living room. There's a mixture of sixties influences and geometric designs which I'm a big fan of. Like all of their products, they look really sophisticated, and a few of them would make great statement pieces.

Imola Chair

Gus Rug

Diamond Candlestick

Barcelona Coffee Table

Ball Pendant Lamp

For more interiors inspiration, check out Edinburgh's new designer furniture store.