Loubou

I have to share these with you.

My new Loubou's. Courtesy of the sample sale on Monday.

I don't really have anything else to say...

Nat Thakur London

I am a shoe girl. Always have been. I used to own about 120 pairs of shoes of varying descriptions and designers - Topshop, Karen Millen, Kurt Keiger, Ugg, Havaina, Kate Cuba (the KC were the most beautiful clogs..) - mostly of the High Street variety, built up from when I was a trainee journalist spending my ill gotten gains on shoes to make me look a little bit more professional than I was. I worked across news, features and had a double page 'ents' spread every week - allowing me to gain entry to nightclubs and bars across town for free. Fabulous for a 22 year old who had spent the week on death knocks (an unpleasant industry term whereby you have to speak to the family of someone - usually a teenager, husband/wife, or child who had died) so was feeling shitty about intruding on their grieving time and needed to let off steam in super high heels in a nightclub sipping free (many free) cocktails in lieu for PR favours.
Well after the house burnt down (I still cannot find another phrase to describe this) I had to rebuild the shoe collection and along with it, my bag stash.
Having looked back, I now realise I had more designer bags than I did shoes....Miu Miu, Mulberry, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade...and I have since come to discover an almost equal passion for bags and their family members, as I do shoes.
My latest discovery is Nat Thakur. Her designs are so cute, you can't help but feel a little childish when you look at them. They are definitely a trip to the zoo, date in the park, sexy little restaurant type bag and I love them.
Former experience working with Ghost and Mulberry has lead bespoke designer Nat to create a range of unique and quirky accessories, perfect for adding a little sparkle to your day.
Using leather that is only a bi-product of meat, the leatherwork is really high quality considering the reasonable price. Having been voted number gift by The Indy and having her bags on display at 'Plastic Fantastic' at NESTA, she really is proving that innovation and art go hand in hand. My favourites are: The leather sweet shop clutch bag (from £75) and the Half Crown Purse (from £30) and the smaller leather sweet shop purse (from £30) - all perfect as gifts.
Check out more of Nat Thakur's amazing designs at http://www.natthakur.co.uk/

Faith shoes placed into administration

Shoe giants Faith have been placed into administration today. According to trade magazine Drapers, the deal to secure the brand with the owner of menswear brand, Envy is expected to change the brand into an offering similar to Barrett's.
Comment from fashionistas already suggests that many would prefer the brand to remain as fashion-lead as possible, as opposed to the 'value' message favoured by Barrett's.
I used to work at Faith as a supervisor when I was at university and loved the collections, price point, quality, team spirit and technology they introduced in the form of bar scanners to allow sales staff to remain on the shop floor to engage with the customer, while the top floor staff source the shoe from storage and send down in a lift. Genius.
Such a shame that the brand seems to have fallen behind, while Office and the likes remain high flyers.
A sad story for a British brand on St George's Day :-(