Inspiration - Tommy Ton at Pitti

Not so much the one on the right but the left boots are an immense colour.

None original content alert! But why not, I've been looking at Tommy Ton's recent 'togs taken at the ultimate menswear trade show, Pitti. Granted, the majority of shots I've been oogling are of boots, this is because I've been saving for a new pair of boots for a while now(selling stuff on ebay and keeping it in my paypal account, it's a winner). I've been wanting some hiking/work boots for ages and I finally plucked up the courage to order some, these in fact. But when they arrived it turns out it's like having concrete feet, so so heavy.

So I have done a full circle on the work boots and plumped for some Dr Martens Monkey boots. I'll report back soon, if they're any good. Constant updates are always available on Twitter.

Photo source

This Week's Essentials - Harris Tweed Blazer

Close up of the colour and texture, green, turquoise and orange wool.

(Please excuse the face) I'm like Chandler Bing when it comes to posing for pictures.

Wearing - Harris Tweed 3-button blazer, Topman chambray shirt, Topman trousers, Ask the Missus suede brogues and Uniqlo pink marl socks

I'm quite lucky when it comes to finding quality items for mega cheap but I thing this has topped the chart. When I saw this Harris Tweed 3-button wooly blazer in a charity shop in Preston I knew I was going to buy it before I tried it on(even if it didn't fit). Then I looked at the label, £3. I tried it on quite skeptically, as second hand blazers are 99.9% ill fitting. To my total surprise it was bang-on.

After a trip to the dry cleaners it was a good as new, the label later revealed it was designed for "Design Circle by John Collier". Anyone heard of this? A quick scan of the net suggests it dates back from the 1960s/70s. I'm so chuffed with it, especially seeing that it's a 3 button style(3 buttons fits my shape better than 1 or 2, even if it is quite old fashioned) and it has  green/turquoise/orange running through it.

Anyone else had any bargains of late?

All photos by Hollie

Need To Get Moving

My Final Major Project is in full swing but I'm moving slowly. I have ideas going around in my head and I can see it working but I'm still in the major early researching stage. I'm thinking of doing something on interiors/homeware/furniture. We have to launch a brand extension for an existing brand. 

So instead of bogging the blog down with too much stuff about boring uni stuff I decided to do an illustration on how I feel. 

This Week's Essentials - Saddle Shoes

Wearing - YMC Saddle Shoes, H&M slim jeans, Uniqlo red socks.

This week the sun is back in town and the boots have gone away(I'm sure only for a little while though), so I've finally got round to wearing my saddle shoes which I bought a few months ago. Saddle shoes have always been so out of reach as usually they are really hard to find in terms of vintage shops, as they get snapped up so quick or they're well out of my budget. For example the Mr. Hare saddle shoes were about £350. Well I managed to get these in a clearance sale for £30, down from around £120. 

I knew they wouldn't be a massive wearer but I can't miss a chance like that for such a good price. Really liking them with slim indigo jeans and a lighter chambray shirt, feeling a bit 50s you see. They went down pretty well at uni yesterday, Tweet sure liked them.

What do you think, like or too clowny?

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In other news you can now get 20% off at Tobi mens and womenswear with the promotion code SPADES20. I haven't done anything like this before but I thought, lets just give it a go. They sell all sorts of good stuff like A.P.C, Edwin, Martin Margiela, Dr. Martens, Garbstore, Acne ect... Ship worldwide too.

Mine's A Strong One

This Scrabble coffee mug is my best afternoon friend of late, I have tones of mugs but this one is my favourite for sure at the moment. I've never seen one of these before so when I ripped the paper off it last month is was really suprised and please.

The sun is out and everyone seems in a much better mood this week. I'm off to read the paper.

Not That Long Ago

It was only about 2 or 3 weeks ago when the country was brought to a standstill, and it was quite annoying how we can't cope. Looking back on it I think we probably got let of lightly as it was no where near as bad as some parts further north.

Christmas time was really hectic but I did manage to have a couple of days out, even if it was for a coffee and the village next to our town. We even helped dig out a car that was stuck in the snow, community spirit! These pictures are from one of our little trips, the things that people will do for coffee eh. I really like the about shot of Hollie, she looks so happy even though it's around minus 10 out there.

Glad it's over now, back to normality.

This Week's Essentials - Wooly Hats

 

Selection of wooly hats, Topman & ASOS

Anything in wool this week. It's not loads cold up north anymore but it's nice to feel wrapped up a little. My mum always banged on about wearing something on my head when it gets cold, as I have quite short hair, so this one is for her! It seems like this could be a nice new feature, I will try and do it every Friday I think. Sound good?

So this weeks essentials are wooly hats. How about you?

In other news I had a really good charity shop find this week, a green/brown/orange Harris Tweed 3-button blazer for £3. Perfect fit, luck really was on my side. Will show soon.

Mess On/Mess Off

The way my life works is weird, some things are really messy and some things and mega organised. I seem to talk about how I like everything to be neat all the time but I'm sure my girlfriend would totally disagree. I have tones of really messy stuff like uni work, books, clothes and general MAC(Male Accumulated Clutter) but it's all tidied away good and proper.

I came across Jacob Whibley's collages yesterday when I was having some down time and they made me smile, they sort of remind me of myself. The colours and materials used also remind me of school, though I hated school it's the little things everyone remembers, like textbooks and stationary (amounst other things of course, I'm not a madman).  How many times do you see old school note pads are think "...ahh hey, they're cool"

Stick one of these in your bag, works for me. It really is the little things in life.

Collages by Jacob Whibley

Jotters from Present & Correct

Let's Get It All Packed Away

So today was the big portfolio hand in, I'm sure you have had it up to here ----> if you are following me on Twitter. My life has been one big mess in terms on organisation and order for the past month so tomorrow I will embark on a mass tidy(bedroom/computer being the main offenders). And I'll tell you what, I'm looking forward to it.

Reckon I need to take a leaf out of Micheal Johansson's extremely tidy book. Johnansson is an artist from Sweden who will compress and organise anything he can get his hands on. His work will be my inspiration for tomorrow, though my technique will be to ran any many things into one drawer as humanly possible.

Is anyone else having a post-Christmas clear out?

A View From A Laptop

Two decent staplers, the closest one is from Marks and Sparks

Christmas present from Hollie, pretty sweet.

One of the most bonkers Christmas presents I received, from my mum. A Manopoly pinball pen.

Over bits and bobs on my desk. These fellas keep me calm.

Seeing that I am working on my laptop every day I don't take a major amount of notice what's in front of me. I'm a collector I'd say, I get it from my Grandad. But nothing specific(though I do have 3 staplers now, so that might be my "things"), just anything that takes my fancy. Out of view is also some lego figures, jewerly box, watches and a mega heavy metal/leather paperweight.

What weird and wonderful things do you collect and what is on your desk? That is the question.