French love and l'alcool

I came across this t-shirt from Cubist Literature while looking through some old posts on Perfectbound (really cute art and design blog) earlier today. I'm loving it!

The French: Moi, je veux te dire que je ne te quitterai jamais. Et puis, si tu es triste, je pourrais toujours te donner un peu d'alcool pour te rechauffer le couer. xo

Basically this means that "I'll be there for you always. And I'll get you drunk when you're sad."

How can you not love that??

I heart Mother Nature and am therefore celebrating Earth Day

To quote the wise words of Kermit the Frog, “it's not easy being green”. There comes a point when all this green living gets to be too much. Like, now designers are making green dresses out of organic cotton, and people look at me weird in Tesco when I dilly daly in my decision whether to buy locally sourced, free-range, organic, natural, sustainable, happy-lifed and, dare I say it, astronomically expensive, chicken for dinner, or opt for the cheaper variety (maybe I should flash them my student card). To be honest, it’s all a little confusing.

Thank goodness for Spa Ritual; they’re making it simple to live in line with Mother Nature. To offset my cheap-chicken eating ways, I’m going to attempt to make one element in my beauty routine a little greener, by swapping my regular nail polish for one that's truly chemical-free. SpaRitual's Nail Lacquer, in addition to being free of DBP, toluene and formaldehyde, the vegan polish (yes, you read that correctly) comes in a bottle made from reusable glass. Among the 72 shades of polish (none of which are actually green in colour, shame) I particularly like Strike A Pose, a cheerfully bright pink hue, perfect for my toes. My choice of earth-friendly nail polish is hardly the shopping equivalent of living off the grid, but hey, I like to think I’m saving one polar-bear at a time.

Topshop takes a bite of the Apple

Gotham's fashion lovers have been chomping at the bit for access to Topshop's trend-setting designs and European styling, and yesterday, the day both they and the British super-brand have been waiting for finally arrived.

The long awaited opening of Topshop New York yesterday was accompanied with a blast of red, white and blue confetti as Topshop owner Sir Philip Green and supermodel Kate Moss emerged from the £14m Manhattan flagship at 478 Broadway and Broome.

And the focus on 'all things-British' didn't stop there. Topshop New York’s windows have been designed by British illustrator Jo Ratcliffe, and feature iconography reflecting the two worlds of fashion and the British Aristocracy- displays feature punk-style Union Jack posters on which a black and white image of Kate Moss has been super imposed. Strong reference to the British nature of the brand is similarly carried into the interior with a store-high graphic in the escalator well including icons such as the London Eye, red buses and signs for Regent Street.

However, there were some minor, I would say inevitable, confusions. Bemused onlookers wondered what the cheerleader shouting “Kate” in a North London accent outside the Topshop New York store was saying, with one by-stander commenting “Do they mean ‘cut’ [the ribbon]?”

Some things just don’t translate!