Titania's garden

Never underestimate the addition of a pair of knee high socks.

For something so basic, they can completely transform and revamp a look. The key is to try and play them down as much as possible - subtract the sex factor/britney spears oops I did it again, and instead use them to add a quirky point of difference to a potentially plain/safe ensemble. Key rules to abide by : dont combine with body con, team with floaty, loose fitting skirts or dresses to play down the socks as best you can. Warning, they are attention seeking. Just today, provoked a white van to slow down at a pelican crossing, and inform me that I had just made the driver's day. This is exactly the reaction you want to try and avoid. But to be fair, white van drivers will hollar at pretty much anything that has a hemline higher than the knee...

Anyway, winter insists wearing knee high socks over 10 denier tights - thus keeping the illusion of bare legs without branding you insane. Then again, who am I kidding - the amount of warmth retained by a pair of 10 denier tights is highly questionable - if anything it purely conceals the corn beef effect of legs gone blue!

Wear with oversize knitwear, a granny cardi owned by my mun in the 70s  provided the perfect ratio of warmth to tomboy, whilst the addition of harsh black accessories - cut off gloves/snood/tassle 'Dougal from magic roundabout' bag kept the look from becoming too country bumpkin, Land Girls-esque.

And for no reason at all but to highlight it's beauty - out of nowhere on the way home, I came across a gorgeous little florist, lit up like a mirage from a fairytale. Marylebone's equivalent to the cupboard entrance to Narnia perhaps. Well..a knee high socked up schoolgirl can dream.

Snug

Since my last post the weather has plummeted to freezing - but anyone who has followed my blog in the past knows - I adore any reasons to layer up - tis the season to be jolly! I think my loves still focus on pretty much the similar concepts to last winter - with the addition of more snoods - (ultimate travel pillows that make falling asleep on the tube a much more pleasiurable experience) chunky knitwear - oversize with tassels hanging off them where possible, plus huge wooden buttons, oversize gilets in any texture to layer over little leather jackets. Colour palette is black, white, leather look - matte and shiny, gunmetal grey, faux furs and LOTS of leopard print.

My book has more book marks than pages

Just realised it is almost a year to the day that I started The Messy Perfectionist - although then it was called Kiyomi Style -cannot believe how quickly this year has flown. I remember sitting in Shoreditch House courtesy of Patrick, devouring yet another egg white and spinach omellette and trying to come up with a name for this blog. I had no idea about blogs back then, and we spent ages trying to think up something suitable. I then popped to the ladies to powder my nose; by the time I came back, Patrick had set up the domain Kiyomi Style and it was good to go.

So recently - Guy Fawkes & Halloween took place. Both a legitimate excuse to wear ridiculous amounts of glitter. Bonfire night I managed to create the look of a human sparkler - molting glitter on anyone who came within a 12 inch radius of my head (some unfortunate men will have had some explaining to do to their other halves when they got home, the queue to get into the display meant a lot of awkward unwanted close contact) I also had to remind myself not to stand too close to any bonfires - backcombing and hairspray make for a highly flammable barnet.

Fingerless gloves are still a necessity, although clip in coloured hair extensions, as Cherry models in the last photo - (finishing touches in the cab on our way to Supperclub, Notting Hill) are the new source of experimentation.