STYLE WORLD-WIDE - ISTANBUL

Jumper - Mango, Corduroy skater skirt - American Apparel, Rosemary's Baby -style shoes - M&S

This is a big Spring for me - I have three foreign trips in the first five months, to Copenhagen, Istanbul and Barcelona. 

 One of my favourite things about blogs is the sneaky look you can get at a city before you arrive through the eyes of one of its inhabitants. It doesn't matter if the style is what I like or not, because the FT estimates that 50,000 fashion blogs are set up daily.  It is just nice to have a window into another city and someone else's life.

 So, for my first trick, I wanted to profile some Turkish/Istanbul style bloggers. 

Maritsa K.

BLING BLING! Maritsa is flashy, luxe Istanbul fashion personified.  She also has an expensive website and million dollar looks. In the words of Esquire, her circulation amongst weekly style recaps and lookbook websites never seems to end, as if she's some sort of Mediterreanean, female Nick Wooster.


Ada (Bayan Mor)

International woman Ada dresses like a California girl, designs clothes, posts half of her material in English and is coming to London to study in 2013.

Dilara Koseler

Dilara has hair like a fairytale princess and seems to spend her life travelling and having huge amounts of fun in various European capitals - most recently, London.

Do you know any other great Turkish fashion blogs?

STEP INTO MY OFFICE, BABY + ANNIE CLARK (ST. VINCENT) STYLE

Blouse - H&M, Skirt - Charity shop, Bootees - Jones, Coral Necklace - Temple Night Market in HK

Hard day in client meetings for me today.  So I want to highlight someone a bit more glamorous who I hope will be announced for Primavera Sound Festival at the Gala press conference tomorrow (PS Heineken have been announced as this year's supplier- YAY).

Annie Clark (AKA St Vincent) of among other things, David Byrne and St Vincent fame:

Annie Clark // St. Vincent

She has style you can really respect because she basically wears the same thing over and over on tour:

"Touring clothes have to be functional and somewhat architectural," Clark explains. "They have to have a little bit of pop to them, so people can see them from far away. But then they also have to be durable enough, because depending on the show, they will be sweated in, and there will potentially be blood on them. And then they also have to be able to fit in a suitcase. I've been wearing leather shorts and alternating tops [on tour]. I've been going out into the crowd quite a bit and stage diving -- so the shorts are helpful. It's hard to wear dresses because they tend to ride up."

Annie Clark // St. Vincent

I also dig her work ethic:

"I would just get up in the morning and caffeinate, and run, and go to the studio for 12 hours," she says, "come back, eat dinner alone with a book, have a glass of wine, and go to bed. And do it all over again."

Annie Clark // St. Vincent

Now, watch this please:
 
David Byrne / St Vincent "WHO" from martin de thurah on Vimeo.

Because EVERYTHING can be made more awesome by involving David Byrne.

St. Vincent - Actor Out of Work from Furlined Music Videos on Vimeo.

AMBERGRIS

Jumper - Banana Republic, Skirt - H&M, Bootees - Jones, Amber necklace - A little shop in Gilleleje in Denmark

Same again....

Today, I have been...

• Reading about legendary Turkish photograher, Ara Güler and his eating habits in Monocle:

"When I take pictures, I forget about eating - food for me is an obstacle because you have that feeling that the moment you sit down to eat something magical is going on and you're missing it. Whenever I went on assignment I would eat a light breakfast in the morning and by the time I was hungry again and it was already dark."

• Eating tiny cakes at Cigalon on Chancery Lane in the city.  Tiny food after a huge risotto, I should add! No danger of any weight loss here.

 

• Watching the inauguration, admiring Michelle's new bangs, enjoying Sarah Sophie Flicker's running commentary and reading this awesome Economist article about The Legacy.

• Taking walks around snowy London and trying not to fall over in the slush:

 

SNOW STORM

The steed and traveler stopped, the courier's feet 

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit 

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed 

In a tumultuous privacy of storm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gandalf hat - M&S, Coat - Gap, Satchel - Tate Modern, Dress and Scarf - H&M, and old, old riding boots

Boy, it's cold in London at the moment. I haven't been more than five minutes from the house since work on Friday.  Weather like this is a big enabler of my Danish 'hygge' tendencies. We were meant to go away for the weekend, but instead of getting stuck on a train in the middle of a snow drift for hours on the way back we decided to stay home with the heating on and fatten up for the winter.

So, this weekend's activities have included:

Sunday roast at Simon the Tanner

• Eating a hunk of roast beef as big as my fist at Simon the Tanner, a very underrated pub just by Bermondsey Street.  

• Listening to old snow-related songs like Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood#1.

• Wanting awesome hair extensions like Jen.

• Learning Spanish with my new Michel Thomas course (RECOMMENDED) before I go back to Barcelona for another Primavera Sound in May.  The embarrassment of only being able to say "DUO CERVESA POR FAVOR!!" has finally become too excruciating for me.

• ALSO, waiting for the Primavera press conference on Wednesday, when the full line-up will be announced. Come on David Byrne & St. Vincent!

• Reading about Chengdu - the capital of Sichuan, a province of China blessed with spicy food and pandas.  The Chinese Government-PR heavy feature in this month's Monocle has definitely influenced me.

• Watching East of Eden for the first time.  My favourite character is definitely Cal's runaway, whorehouse-owning mother Kate/Cathy, who seems to get much better treatment in the film than the book.  

Emotions running high in East of Eden...

• Reading more about Chungking Mansions, after my visit in Hong Kong:

Teeming, crumbling and motley in the extreme, it is a structure to attract or repel the people of Hong Kong, like the Spaceport Cantina in the original “Star Wars”. Pushtun touts, Nigerians slinging fake Rolexes and a flock of Indian prostitutes in garish saris congregate at its maw.

• Taking photos of snow...