A BIT OF CHOO

 

I have a confession to make, and it involves this rather dazzling little Jimmy Choo number.

I'd taken on a losing battle of lust over sense after seeing it on Natalie of Canned Fashion and Alex of The Frugality in neon yellow and champagne respectively. When I spotted it in an online sale I knew it had to be. Few other items have brought such joy upon entering my wardrobe - she's just so darn cheerful. That mightn't be written on my face in the first photo - rest assured I was playing it cool.

I'd originally hoped to pair the clutch with this ensemble and my Marant sneakers (note how they sit sadly off to the side - please ignore the slippers, I'm suitably mortified they've made it in) but I have an inkling that Isabel probably didn't intend them for snow and so this weekend I ended up reaching for my trusty biker boots instead.

This didn't inhibit a little bit of prancing around in them before admitting defeat when faced with leaving the house.

All in all the Candy clutch is proving to be one of those lovely, unexpected purchases. Spur of the moment and a little bit mad, but thoroughly enjoyable. Although it is most often touted as an evening bag, I'll be using it mostly in the day time to offset an otherwise simple outfit. I'd be mad not to!

I'm wearing: Accessorize bobble hat, Topshop coat and Leigh jeans, Report Jude biker boots or Isabel Marant Bazil sneakers, Whistles Agatha cashmere jumper and silver Jimmy Choo Candy clutch.

 

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BOOTY CALL

My replacement Report boots finally arrived! (After ordering what I thought was a UK size 3 from Piper Lime I belatedly discovered the sizing was a tad on the ambitious side and had to go up one. Piper Lime had sold out by then but luckily Nordstrom came to the rescue! So all's well that ends well.) They're stupendous. 

I'm sorry about the frankly crappy quality photographs - there is no hiding the fact I took them with my phone - the evidence is staring you in the face rather isn't it... 

This is how I wore said boots on their first outing - with a Topshop denim dress and boyfriend coat and some jazzy H&M earrings. 

Yes that's right, I employed the use of my webcam for this photo, before returning again to the trusty iPhone-mirror combo...

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THE PERFECT BIKER BOOT

Clemence Posey in her Madewell numbers [image from Splash via Daily Mail]

I've been searching for biker boots for what seems like forever. It's not an easy job - they can be too clumpy, too tall, too short, too goth - the list is endless. My mother's favourite thing to point out whenever I show her a potential candidate is that the toe turns up too much at the end. It is only recently that I realised pretty much all biker boots do, so I patiently took her through photograph after photograph to illustrate this point. She remains unconvinced. She's not easy to please given that she favours gortex and hopes to combine this pathologically unglamorous material with an elegant shoe. Which is not. EVER. Going. To. Happen.

I digress... I failed in my search for the perfect biker boot last year, and now the rain and chill have once again set it, the search is back on with a vengeance. It is normally sparked by seeing those folk lucky enough to snap up those Gap biker boots many moons ago sauntering past. They are such a brilliant wardrobe staple if only you're lucky enough to stumble across the right pair for you. Off duty models have been showing us for years how practical and stylish they can be for a multitude of scenarios - not least when the rain seems to have set up camp for good over the United Kingdom.

So my heart skipped a beat only a few days ago when Olivia Palermo stepped out in her very own biker boots. 

Image via Zimbio

My love for Miss Palermo's style knows no bounds - even if I would have ditched the beige gilet here - she is perfection. And here she was, striding purposefully across a New York street in what I quickly recognised as (what had to be) my new boots. I embarked on the usual mission to track down who made her boots - given my endless search you have to understand it was no good in this situation simply to be inspired by Olivia's style - I had to find the exact boots because they just looked so right. After exhausting the internet's usually very informative outfit identifiers I came away none the wiser. Yet another biker boot dead end! Until I scrolled through google images and found Olivia Palermo recently sitting in front of a table of bits and bobs at Piper Lime. A hop, skip and a jump over to their website, a cross comparison with the photograph of Olivia in New York, and the deal was sealed - I'd found the boots. And they were discounted!! What a coup. 

Report Jude biker boots at Piper Lime

This is the most tricky thing about biker boot shopping - from this picture I would have worried about the clumpy element (and I'm sure my Mother would have pointed out the upturned toe), but having seen them in the photo above on a real person, I'm much more convinced. They are winging their way to me from the good old US of A as I type and I will, of course, report back to let you know if the search has finally, finally drawn to a close. I am hopeful!

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