bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

Our Amazing New Contest - Sponsored by Jocasi!

Oh goodness! Here it is, the contest we've been waiting to debut for ages. The amazing folks at Jocasi are sponsoring it—which means they gave us one of their gorgeous bags to give away. We love Jocasi so much we have no fewer than five in the BS HQ—they could hardly be more awesome. We would likely be capable of more effusion if the washing machine in the apartment we're staying in this weekend hadn't been cycling for literally six hours, but here we are.

Anyway, it'll work like this. There are only going to be ten entries. You get an entry by sending us a Reader Mail question. The bag will go to the person whose question gets the most responses in the comments section. (We'll be making sure that there's only one comment per person, not that we think any member of the Bunnyshop community would consider doing that.) We hope this isn't as confusing \ convoluted as our contests usually are.

Today, we begin with this question, from LA:

 

If you could pick just one, what would be your all time favorite article of clothing or accessory ... and do you still have it?
 
  Thanks!
  LA
 
  (mine is a silver cuff bracelet, that I received as a gift over 10 years ago, and I still wear it all the time. I think it is timeless ... and it makes me feel like Wonder Woman.)

LA is now entered for the contest. We'll be running a new Reader Mail question each day, and then we'll give this gorgeous bag to the reader who came up with the best question—"best" in this case measured by the number of comments. Send us your questions—and definitely let us know your answer to LA's question, below. Very important last thing: Definitely put "Jocasi" in your subject line—otherwise we'll think they're garden-variety reader mail.

Above: the Jocasi Montana, about $170

Fashion Windows: Burberry

One of these days we're going to figure out a way to take pictures of store windows without a ridiculous amount of glare. Er, until then: these are two windows from Burberry on Regent Street. We can't afford the trench (obvs) but: note semi-adorable shoe-sock!

We Love Windows: Jaeger

We do! These are from Jaeger, on Regent Street in London. It's hard to see with the glare (we did what we could), but there are, like, layers of hanging threads. We're not sure about the domestic application of such, but we love them. Maybe we need a mansion, and a grotto, and some mannequins. We're not sure. Don't feel either way about the clothes, but love the window.

This Is Why We Are Going To Buy Discount Cosmetics Immediately

Bright red lips! This is the poster for The Edge of Love, with Sienna M. and Keira K. Excited to see in general but feeling very motivated in particular to be all about the make-up. Here's a Keira close-up:

We're sure that's been airbrushed to fuck-all but still. Pretty! We'd like to say, we're not investing in this, but we wouldn't mind scouring the drugstore for something suitable. Like: Boots Botanics in Carmella, $8.99   

One More Reason This Is the Best Fashion Store on Earth

Love it! Apparently Helmut Newton's position was that the best photographer was the subject herself, so he came up with this "machine" that allowed them to do so—a set-up Topshop is replicating at a whole bunch of stores across the U.K. So you go, you style yourself, and then you take your own picture. The best long-distance aspect of this is the totally fun gallery of pictures people have taken, like this one, above. It's like all styling, all the time. We're totally going to Topshop as soon as we get out of the UAE—though of course, there are like three Topshops here, right next to the Forever 21 and Starbucks. Hurrah!

Shopping in London: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

So...I seem to remember reading somewhere that you've visited London quite a few times. Well, I have a NINE hour lay-over at Heathrow airport's international terminals (landing at terminal 1 & then catching another flight at terminal 2) and I want to know if there's anything interesting I should check out. Like, for example, I would tell someone visiting Portland airport to check out the mini-Powell's bookstore & the Good Dog/Bad Dog sausage restaurant.  Any good tips for London?

xo
AM

Possibly our favorite question of all time! Er, we love them all equally. Just maybe a tiny bit more. We think we are going to make Thursdays "Traveling Thursdays" around here. (Please send in your travel questions! We are officially, as on our tax forms which we are totally not dealing with at all at the moment, officially a travel writer!)

Anyhoo:

This is what we would do. If you can afford it, and it's not cheap—the roundtrip ("return") fare is about $56!—take the Heathrow Express to Paddington—it's only 15 minutes and they run every 15 minutes. (The other alternatives are the middle way-ish Heathrow Connect and then the Piccadilly line Tube into central London, but the latter can take well into an hour, though if we have time to spare, that's what we'll do.

Purists may disagree (and we want to hear from you) but we think we'd head straight for the Topshop at Oxford Circus. It's not like Oxford Street has any hipster cache (it has negative hipster cache). But when our sister came to London, Oxford Street was the first place we took her, and it addled her jetlagged mind. It's not super cheap but not too expensive, and all of our favorite things come from there. (We particularly like the denim, which even with the exchange rate blowing so hard at the moment is always under $100.) We especially love the shoes, and they usually have a big Jocasi concessions. Also, the jackets. And the tops. You see where this is going.

From there, we'd go about a half-block east to the Urban Outfitters, which really does have different (and better) lines from the US original. And then sort of set off a block from Oxford Street is the "fashion book store" RD Franks, which is completely amazing.

And then I'd also go down Carnaby Street, which is also right nearby. The first Jocasi store is there, as well as a small branch of our favorite yoga studio, Triyoga. (Nine hours + yoga = better.) If you can find Triyoga there's a cute vintage shop right below, as well as Super Superficial, an adorable t-shirt store we've covered here before. And then you're right around the corner from Liberty—we can't afford much of it, but the building's beautiful and the selection is top-notch.

Now! That's what we'd do. (Did we mention lunch at Eat? It's across the street from the ATM where we always see the Topshop sales staff.) Er, we just realized that this is completely shopping based. Mm, just culturally we'd go to the Tate Modern or the British Museum. We can't believe we just reduced a city we love to shopping. Actually, with prolly five hours (once travel time's considered) to go, we'd probably hop on one of the sight-seeing buses, we love them. And we'll say that if we, personally, had that time to spare, we'd go to the Triyoga in Primrose Hill, and then spend the rest of the time just sort of looking around up there and going to the pub on the bridge that we cannot remember the name of even though we have been there like 10 million times.

And we have like five million other suggestions. Argh!

 

Who else has ideas?

 

Kate Moss for Topshop (Again)

It's that time again! New Kate Moss at Topshop. We can't look away. Even if everyone in the world is like, 'Er, can we please get Agyness Deyn for Topshop?'

We love this top because it is very Tucker but like 1/3rd the price, which, given the exchange rate, is incredible. Oh! We hate our international currency policy! KM for Topshop star-print blouse, $70

We don't mean to gross anybody out, but we totally threw up all over our last Kate Moss jeans. Before that, though, we loved them. We love TS denim: super cheap (compared to US premium brands) and fits awesome. Awesomely. Whatev. Zip skinny jeans, $90

We're not sure this qualifies as special, but we guess we like this top. So. Like we said. Agyness for Topshop? We're waiting. Double layer top, $56

Topshop's Three Best Tops

Topshop had so many nice going-out tops that we had to mention them. So we know this shirt sort of looks like a bib or something here, but we saw this in Topshop, only in the slightly less bib-like navy, and we just whipped it off the rack (and put it on hold, to properly consider the purchase) and came back and they were all gone! We felt so smart we didn't even mind that we just spent our last $50 on it. Swirly embroidered top, $50

And this looks so bandage-y but it would be soooo cute with a big poufy skirt. We have no idea how to spell "poufy." Linen corset top, $60

And you know, we were a little iffy about the mix of chiffon and satin here, but we realized that if we just sort of closed one of our eyes we didn't have to pay too much attention to the chiffon parts. Strappy corset top, $70

Topshop at London Fashion Week

From the Times of London:

And so to Topshop’s show for its Unique line, on the first day of London Fashion Week. The front row consisted of Pixie Geldof (who has Paula Yates’s blonde crop), Alexa Chung (TV presenter; holey tights), Kelly Osborne (Sharon and Ozzy’s collaboration; sporting Ironic heart-shaped sunglasses) and any number of girls with a — by now de rigueur — brutal 1960s fringe.

We are still pretty sure we're growing  out our bangs.

Jocasi Discount Month: The Dagger Bag

We just wanted to remind everyone that November is Jocasi discount month! This week, our featured bag, more or less, is the A-Line Dagger bag's small version. Lovely! And temporarily 10% off!

So, that's: the Dagger bag, formerly about $170, with discount code "bunnyshop", about $153

We also have a belt of the week. We love belts, except when they are all shift-y on how tight it's getting. Sigh. Pringles! Argh. Teardrop hip belt, was about $120, with discount, about $108

Shite Britain by Tobatron

We think these are so funny, and so possibly the best souvenir\not-souvenir we have ever seen. We know it can be hard to make out that small print (er, small since we'e shrunk them down to fit here), but for example: On Shite Food, there's fried chicken, a deep-fried Mars bar, pork scratchings, to a lamb doner. We know what about half of those are. Anyway: hysterical. Except for the Prince Harry thing, which is true, but still disturbing.

Shite England \ Shite Food tea towels, about $18

Kate Moss at Topshop (Again)

Just a reminder: Kate Moss at Topshop A/W debuts tomorrow. We're feeling distinctly less excited about this, this time around.

More Kate Moss For Topshop

We were just looking at the continual roll-out from Kate MOSS ARGH \ Topshop, and it reminded us how many really awful things there are in it.

Guatamalan playsuit? Really? If we were from Guatamala, we would be all, 'You and your horrible playsuit do not represent our beautiful country!'

Guatamalan playsuit, $80

Guatamalan maxi-dress, $90

Kate MOSS at Topshop Today!

Can we just preface this by saying this is the second time we have trumpeted Kate Spade at Topshop. What the fuck is that?

Anyway:

Doesn't look like much, mm?

There appears to be three left.

We would not have given it a second thought except for this second picture of it:

KM for Topshop muscle-back dress, about $120

Kate Moss Lookbook!

The Kate Moss (not, er, Spade) for Topshop lookbook is here!

What does everyone think?

That other model's head is too big for her body. Otherwise: We love that dress above!

See the whole lookbook here.

Previous Kate Moss coverage:
Vintage Kate
Kate Moss for Topshop
Ask the Stylist: The Ex

Further Evidence of the Converse Reinvasion

So we know it's sort of a thing where they, like, didn't actually go anywhere, but pursuant to what we were saying yesterday about seeing Converse All-Stars on basically everyone in London. Above, from Topshop. That lovely composition is the result of our constant fear we will be seen taking photographs of the displays and not even ejected from the store but rather simply looked at disdainfully by the staff girls.

Anyway: below, from Uniqlo. We register the different spaces on the fashionability spectrum occupied by Uniqlo and Topshop. But two, we're thinking, counts as a store-display trend.

Three fascinating (sort of) things we just learned about these shoes from Wikipedia:

The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star is the most successful shoe in history.

In Los Angeles, Chucks are used to claim a certain gang, usually through the colors or the shoelaces.

The Popular fashion around the UK recently has been the wearing of Chucks (largely the standard ankle high Chucks) with drainpipe or tight jeans and tight T-shirts.[citation needed]

We would love to see the citation used for that last factoid.

The Chuck Taylor All-Star, $44.99

Kate Moss For Topshop

So we're estimating that Kate Moss for Topshop is roughly equivalent to Karl Lagerfeld for H&M X Stella McCartney for H&M X Madonna for H&M + infinity. Yes? Maybe. We know there exist people who can see only KM's "beady little eyes" (and to that we say: We'll give you that she's a crack addict's girlfriend, but we don't see the beadiness.) Anyway! First look, from the new British Vogue. We are so sad but having witnessed the mayhem, and been involved in the pushing for Viktor & Rolf at H&M—seriously. They're like two semi-avant-garde Dutch designers. This is Kate Moss. We are going nowhere near Topshop the day this collection comes out. We thought the Celia Birtwell launch was intense.

This is our favorite of all the looks, though we say: This is a mini-dress? It appears to be identified as a mini-dress. We are thinking it is really just a top.

May will be here soon enough.

Dilemma

We are often confounded—in general, but also in particular: What sort of coat is the right sort to wear with a tunic and skinny pants or leggings? Our head says cropped, to keep all the proportions [sort of] right, but we only like that look when the front's kept unbuttoned or zipped (to keep it clear that you're wearing a tunic over pants and not a skirt, which has for some reason always bothered us) or the whole thing is super narrow to avoid bulk. And then sometimes we think the jacket \ coat should be longer than the tunic. Or that it should only be a combo worn in warm weather, to avoid the jacket conundrum entirely.

Anyway. We could try to work this out for days, and we are not sure we would be any closer to the answer. But here are a few ideas, which we poached from Topshop's glorious LFW coverage. (Do be sure to watch the Unique fashion show. Love the belts!)

Sale At Mulberry

Two things about the New Bond Street Mulberry store: first, this window display. It's raining bags! Har, har. We once bought ourselves a Mulberry bag, in no small part because some lovely idiot at Neiman Marcus mispriced it by about $500 (the sales woman was like, "Congratulations!") and it's so heavy so just sort of stare at in on the table like a plant, or a stereo speaker. It is less functional than either.

However: it's raining bags! Okay, whatever. But also: there is a tea set, or cappuccino maker, or whatever, in the store. Color us naive, but we've never seen that before. We were trying to figure out what they would do if we, in our very casual, we-are-really-mostly-dressed-for-yoga way, sat down and had some tea. We can't decide.

The Phoebe is on sale: was $1200, now about $1000

Yikes

We are never wearing these pants. We think they are the latest incarnation of skinny jeans, or jumpsuits, or "rompers": It's not so much that you get points for looking good in them. You get points for not looking like crap.

Similar to these: corset trousers, about $80

Jo Malone In London

We are totally obsessed with Jo Malone at the moment. It just all feels so nice and springtime-y. And expensive. We went into the shop today, and for some reason they had decided to staff a girl directly in front of the door, so that it was actually not possible to open the door without sort of half-opening it and then waiting for her to move. This became more curious after she moved to let us in, and then went right back. Bizarre. We once went to dinner with an art school friend, to a nice restaurant in Brooklyn (thereby crossing the streams in a way that had blow-everything-up-Ghostsbusters-style potential) and he said that one of the owners was looking at him meanly the whole time. We thought he was imagining things, and said so, but we are sure this doorguard-shopgirl was giving us the Evil Eye the entire time we were there. Once we'd gotten tired of being stared down, from the doorway of a perfume shop, we made our way out, but not before passing the Fragrance Testing Booth, which looked like a photo booth but with fragrance.

Obviously, we could not pass this up. The doorguard-shopgirl said it was broken. We are not sure we believe her. Tss.

Anyway! Jo Malone. Hopefully Jo herself is not as much of a cranky doorguard as at least one member of her staff. This is the thing we like to do when we go shopping in London: We go out, and find things we like, and we do not bring our credit cards with us, because then we would buy them. Instead, we go back home and find them for sale online in the US and buy them there, and save our money.

We really, really, really love the Red Roses cologne. 30ml = $50. That is so little perfume for so much money. However. We also quite like the honeysuckle and jasmine.

And: this is totally about to become our late-self-xmas-present. If we can somehow justify spending sixty-five dollars on a candle. Er, maybe not. Grapefruit home candle, $65

Sales Continued: Jocasi

We get into our little brand ruts. Where we say "ruts" we mean "favorites." Jocasi is one of them. Oh, we love Jocasi. Every winter, we look forward to their sale more than we do, say, actual Christmas. That's an exaggeration. But not much of one.

This winter: obviously, the banus buckle bag. Was about $180, now about $125

The Happiest Day Of The Year

We are not kidding or exaggerating when we say that today is offically better than Christmas. Except in the religious way. Whatever. In our mailbox, from the exceptionally helpful Nora Lynn:

Apparently topshop.com now ships to the US. Which may or may not be news to you.

You probably already know this and announced it on your site with great fanfare and I was, like, in a fugue state or something and missed it, but I just saw this and didn't remember seeing it on Bunnyshop and, since you are The Greatest Fan of Topshop Ever, felt like I should make sure that you knew for sure.

Here's the wording re shipping costs cut-and-pasted from the Topshop site:

Delivery Information and Costs

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

* Standard £4 delivery charge
* Express £5 delivery charge (UK only)

Delivery is free for orders over £100

United States of America and Australia

* Standard £10

We're shaking our heads. There are no words. Except: Thank you sweet Jesus.

This is what we would get. This is actually a little fucked up, because now we can buy all the things we have just sort of passively wanted, and that is extremely bad news for our income-to-debt ratio. Ah, who cares.

Now, to be honest, we are a little disappointed, because two of the things we wanted just last week have gone out of stock. But adapt we will.

We love these shoes, we just absolutely love them. There is nothing else to say. Glitter heels, about $50

This could be great. Great! Grid quilted smock dress, about $90. Really excellent timing with the pound at a 14-year-high against the dollar. Seriously. Fuck you, whoever decides those things.

We hate buying white coats. It is a story that has never ended well. But ooh, there are some mistakes we just seem to enjoy making over and over. Asymmetric wrap coat, about $210

This dress could look absolutely horrible but we are convinced it could look equally freaking amazing. Peter Jensen for Topshop puffball dress, about $160

We have no idea what we'd do with this, but we think it's hysterical. Romper, about $70

The Holiday Collection From Jocasi

Our favorite moment of the day just happened, and it was when we remembered we bought a cookie from Mrs. Fields and forgot to eat it, meaning it should be somewhere in our apartment, just waiting for us. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find it. This is not as upsetting an event as we might have thought. Really we are just happy knowing that the cookie is out there.

Still, there was a dark lining to our silver cloud of cookie-ness. That, we have to say, is our least favorite thing about good news, in that there is so typically bad news involved in there somewhere. (We know, the optimism is just tremendous.) There is no dark lining, we are delighted to say, with the new holiday collection from Jocasi, which we are extremely excited about.

This is what we want the most: Metallic Gatecrasher waist belt, about $100

Gold clutch. Seriously. All you need is a gold clutch, and you're covered for 90% of holiday-party scenarios. Metallic Brockenhurst, about $100

Generally we pass on printed handbags leather handbags—it's like, hmm, what?—but these we actually quite like. Japan print Merlot bag, about $155

News From London!

Okay, so this could very well be our favorite thing of all, all, all time, and it is our debut contribution from our brand-new London correspondent, Iris. Iris's assignment, "assignment" in this case meaning that it was completely her own idea, was to document the bootie-friendly atmosphere in London. She has done so brilliantly. Really, there seem to be many more people in booties there than here. Now we totally want some. This is the problem with fashion: There is always more to want. Actually, it is a problem with more than fashion. Argh.

Iris's comments:

Boots and Keds: they’re taking over the streets, rain or shine. But marvellously mix and matched with a good bold coat, and skinny jeans/solid tights: adorable. Including wellies!

Ooh, we love this! Hurrah, Iris! And booties.

See the entire slideshow here.

And then here is our bootie extravaganza.

The Topshop Salute Continues

Our favorite Topshop items: the shoes. Maybe the dresses, but otherwise the shoes. Glitter! Love glitter. Glitter peep court shoe, about $170

And the shippable-to-the-US not-quite-equivalent: TOPSHOP BLACK LEATHER SLAM SHOES SIZE 4, current bid $9.49. Ooh, these shoes are lovely. And much cheaper than $170.

Making the Most of Topshop From Here

We can't even get any of this stuff shipped to us, but in honor of the brilliant new Topshop website, we offer: our favorites from their very expanded selection—plus something from eBay that we, here in California, could actually have sent to us.

So, first: the B jean. We have no idea where any of our tight jeans are. In some airplane's overhead bin, maybe. We miss them. We want them. We may have to replace them. TS B jeans, about $75

And on eBay: NEW VINTAGE LK TOPSHOP SKINNY FIT JEANS SIZE 10 L34. (The same seller also has a 12 and 16.) Shipping to the US: under $10. Hurrah!

Topshop's New and Unbelievably Amazing Website

Ooooh, the new Topshop website is here and it is amazing. Even more amazing if you know someone in the UK who can collect your packages, since they're still not shipping to the U.S. Or, for that matter, the Channel Islands. Somehow that makes us less sad. But still.

Say It Ain't So, Jane

Disturbing news from London: "[Topshop lead designer Jane] Shepherdson, widely seen as central to Topshop’s success, resigned unexpectedly. The abruptness of her move prompted reports that she had quit because [guest Topshop designer Kate] Moss was trespassing on her fiefdom." Okay, so that is way too many brackets in one sentence, but still. We do not like change. We really do not like change when it affects our very favorite store, and the woman in charge of it all. We freely recognize the fact that Kate Moss is a global style icon, etc., but designer? Maybe, maybe not. Er, probably not. We are praying this is not the twilight of Topshop. Supermodels ruin everything.

In honor of Topshop, these are just a few of the things we would want to buy right this very minute, if we could. We limited it to coats and dresses, just because we couldn't let the list get too unwieldy. And then for all of us America-bound shoppers, we added a few eBay purchases. It's not the same, but at the moment, it's the best we've got. By the way, we can't link directly to the items, so FYI on that.

Isn't this dress just beautiful? One shot, all of our holiday-party-dress buying done. Silk dress, about $120