MAALI

London Calling... (Part 1) Portobello Rd Market

Monday, 28 February 2011

Phew! Had maaaaaaaad fun in London. It was a rushed day though and kept wishing I had woken up earlier. I slept late, so when the morning came I was too lazy to wake up, and when I finally did, it was almost midday. And then my adventure began... first stop- Portobello Road Market, it started out as a rainy day but the rain eventually fizzled out and then the fun began. As I hopped from one vintage store to another I kept asking myself why I had never been here before? I was like a kid in a candy store. I was soooooo excited, I had to calm down and take it all in, so I started with the tiny bits like vintage fridge magnets, then moved on to postcards, and then stumbled upon my dream bag. Been wanting a tan bag for soooo long and then I get a sling/tan bag (two bags in one) yippee to that.

Tan Sling bag

Fridge magnets

Vintage Postcards

OK! then found some lovely vintage ear rings and then I hopped on, saw a nice lacy vintage top but it was like five sizes too small, and then some vintage American shoe from the 50's also a size 5, moving on....some of the stuff were really expensive on the main street, but I have an eye for bargains and I know where to look most of the time. So I kept walking, then at the far end when I was almost giving up, I found my spot... hmmmmm sweet, so I got me two lovely dresses and a playsuit for the spring/summer and a scarf to go with my bag. First dress, proper Mad men looking dress with slim shoulder pads, don't like shoulder pads but will keep these...and then... the playsuit is a vintage 70's or 80's Hawaiian floral print playsuit for spring; will be rocking it soon.

Earings

Brown Scarf

My mad men style dress

A store on the street

on the street

Moi at the famous Portobello Rd sign-Tourist??

Next Blog Post will be about the London Fashion Weekend- Promise!!!

Sidenote* ...and has anyone noticed a change in camera? Its now a modest Canon 1000d, excited!

Sunday, 27 February 2011

People can say all sorts but I like my 9ice. He is my Nigerian Fantasy Husband... I looooooove his music...

9ice is a Nigerian Musician. 9ice (Abolore Adegbola Akande) was born on Thursday, January 17, 1980. He is known for the use of Yoruba language in his music. He draws inspiration from his environment, as well as music from the likes of Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade.

9ice performed at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute concert (singing "Gongo Aso") in London on June 27, 2008.

Listen to one of my favourites below, and look out for more in upcoming blog posts...
'Gbamu Gbamu' 9ice

Thursday, 24 February 2011

Looking forward to the weekend... Its going to be London Fashion Weekend, the weekend following London Fashion Week. Got my tickets ready. Hopefully, might get some good bargains, a good sit to watch the catwalk and lovely goodies in my goody bag. Will tell all when I get back.

The London Fashion Weekend is going to be at the great Somerset house where the London Fashion week was held. Somerset House is a spectacular neo-classical building in the heart of London, sitting between the Strand and the River Thames. The general public gets to watch catwalk shows (of course you need a ticket) on the same runway used during the LFW and get to see the hottest trends for SS11.

And the best part is you get to shop from over 100 designers, including Alex Monroe, Twenty8Twelve, Olivia Rubin, Winter Kate by Nicole Richie, Sass & Bide and French Sole - selling a range of current and past season’s collections, samples, and one-off designs at up to 70% off the retail price.

For More information on the London Fashion Weekend go to http://www.londonfashionweekend.co.uk/

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Vivienne Westwood Red Label: We've talked about Vivienne Westwood in a past blog post, so I won't get into all that right now! Just the London Fashion Show-Vivienne Westwood's Red label Collection show was at the London's Royal Courts of Justice.
Vivienne stuck to her Britishness... the collection was innovative, creative and had loads of colours. I loooove the entire collection so pardon me if I post too many pictures. Below are pictures of Vivienne Westwood's 'Alice in Wonderland' inspired autumn/winter 2011 catwalk show at London Fashion Week.

Vivienne Westwood Red Label Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear

Vivienne Westwood Red Label Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear

The next designer we love is Osman Yousefzada: I wrote a paper about him in one of my fashion marketing classes. Yousefzada is a British designer of Afghan descent. He started his career as a banker but left to pursue his dream of being a designer, and funded his mini collection called 'Imperial' which was widely received. Yousefzada's clothes are precise, and well tailored with soft draping. He is inspired by ethnicity and ancient cultures. In this fall RTW 2011 collection, he explored his Afghan heritage with kaftan- like looks.

Matthew Williamson: is a British designer born in Manchester England. His collections often have Indian influences. He worked in India for the clothing store Monsoon, and I love me some Monsoon so obviously, the clothes that I like in this collection are the Indian/Monsoon looking outfits.

Matthew Williamson Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear

Matthew Williamson Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear

Sass and Bide: is one of Australia's most prominent international and contemporary street-and pop culture-inspired women’s fashion labels. Fans of the label are Sex And The City lead actress, Sarah Jessica Parker and, in more recent times, Madonna and Beyonce.
The label was founded in the late 1990s by Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke. They started by selling customised jeans in a stall on London's Portobello Road Market. Motivated by a love of vintage clothing and markets, they modified jeans purchased from retail outlets, to meet their own tastes in fashion.
This fall/autumn collection is called 'Boogie and the history maker' with clashing prints and (my favourites) African inspired colour and tribal aesthetics.

Sass & Bide Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear