The sales are all but over in London, and you may have noticed that the first of Autumn/Winter’s toasty new pieces have just started arriving in store (summer's been and gone already? gulp!). But I’ve found that quite a few shops (both online and bricks ‘n’ mortar) are still discounting some of their key Spring/Summer pieces, including Beyond the Valley’s online shop.
I really loved the prints from their own brand SS09 collection, including this multicolour wave print, which is splashed across a couple of truly great pieces. This cotton tulip dress (left, reduced from £180 to £126) and strapless graduated hem dress (right, reduced from £240 to £168) are two such examples. The wave print also appears on a couple of other items, including this jaunty little jumpsuit.
Courverture & the Garbstore is a rather charming concept store on Notting Hill’s Kensington Park Road, offering a carefully edited selection of womenswear, menswear, homewares, gifts, toys and childrenswear over three enticing levels. Open since April 2008, it brings together Emily Dyson's shop Couverture with Ian Paley’s cult men’s brand the Garbstore.
I was immediately drawn to the back of the store, where rows of super-cute childrenswear labels hang next to shelves of Japanese and Scandinavian wooden toys and beautifully designed treasures. There’s also a rack of fanciable dressing-up clothes sourced from around the world. The kids’ dressing room is also quite at treat, decorated with a vibrant vintage wallpaper.
It’s worth taking the time to explore the racks of clothes up the front of the store, which feature New York designers such as Lyell, Rachel Comey, as well as denim from Jean Shop. There’s also netural cotton jersey pieces by Dutch label Humanoid, knitwear by former Paul & Joe designer April May, and streamlined designs by Indress (think of a grown-up A.P.C.). There’s also a good selection of (Wee Birdy favourite) Belle by Sigerson Morrison shoes.
Head upstairs and you’ll find a light and bright level of more womenswear, as well as hand-picked vintage items and homewares. A cabinet of vintage Sasha dolls – still in their pristine boxes – sits next to Scholten & Baijings’ brightly woven Dutch table linen. It’s all been expertly edited, and although the pieces have been sourced from around the world, they all share a similar mid-century/Scandi aesthetic. Keep an eye out for the magnificent vintage patchwork quilts, as well as Spanish ceramics and Japanese glassware. I love the hand-stitched cushions and throws by Parisian homewares brand Caravane, which use reissued vintage fabrics and have an almost hand-painted feel to them.
Moving downstairs to the basement Garbstore, you’ll find vintage-inspired and Japanese brands exclusive to the UK, such as Bedwin & the Heartbreakers, General Research, Naval Research and Mountain Research. There’s also a wall of Garbstore’s own-brand denim jeans, which boasts 19 different classic styles that were inspired by ‘40s and ‘50s cuts. Look out for Australian’s Rittenhouse t-shirts, as well as Han Kjobenhavn sunglasses. I also found a good selection of vintage tie pins and clips from from £5 (especially hard-to-find clips for skinny ties!). And don’t miss the line-up of vintage Action Men, with prices starting at £45.
Now is a particularly good time to visit, with a store-wide sale on both current and last season’s stock. Or plan a trip on Saturday, when they’ll make further discounts of up to 70 per cent.
UPDATE: Just got news of some of the discounted goodies to expect in store: Belle by Sigerson Morrison ankle strap sandal for £199 (from £299), Rachel Comey chartreuse skirt for £139 (was £349), Ann-Sofie Back crepe fitted blazer for £225 (from £559) and Michelle Lowe-Holder printed silk blazer for £90 (was £229).
A big thank you to everyone who entered my blogiversary giveaways. You know the cliche about wishing you could give everyone a prize? Well, it's true. Your comments were truly inspired, and even Rob Ryan (who, like me, read every single one) was "a trifle overwhelmed". So there.
I chose all the winners via a random number generator at www.random.org, and have posted the screen captures below. I was planning to do this in a far more creative way. In fact, I was hoping that Woody, the family galah, would pick the winners out of a hat. Don't laugh – one year he picked the Melbourne cup winner! But unfortunately he was having a bit of a diva moment, and when he wasn't flying at my father-in-law who was trying to film the process, he was chewing the hat. Eventually he stormed off in protest.
Anyway, I'm sure you want me to get onto the winners, so here they are (some of your forgot to include your email address, so please email me your details asap!):
Gemma Jones prints Winners: 41, 10, 4, 21, 43, 33, 23, 5, 20, 32 4: Page Smith (Page, please email me with your address!) 5: Rhianne 10: jenny wren 20: Karen 21: Cath W (Cath, please email me with your address!) 23: Delicious Industries 32: Cara @ Turvys (Cara, please email me with your address!) 33: Sara Jeanne (Sara Jeanne, please email me with your address!) 41: J.T (J.T, please email me with your address!) 43: Liz (Liz, please email me with your address!)
Tatty Devine necklace Winner: 3 – Becky "I'm really into restoring my battered little car to it's former glory at the moment. Let's see some chunky engine parts on a dainty little chain! X" Posted by: Becky | July 17, 2009 at 08:30 AM (Becky, I don't have your details, please email me with your address!)
Penhaligon’s Anthology collection Winner: 22 – Claire "ah….it has to be the smell of imperial leather soap mixed with the delicate scent of a light spritz of rose perfume….these are the smells of my grannies hands. mix this with a waft of apple crumble bubbling away in the aga and the smell of charred wood on the fire and i am whisked back to my childhood…." Posted by: claire | July 20, 2009 at 09:47 PM
Alex Monroe goody bag Winner: 54 – Marie "In my dream garden I would have plenty of roses, a big gooseberry bush, some nice trees, perhaps plum/cherry. Lots of herbs, all sorts of fun ones, and vegetables too. I would also have a big table where the family could sit together and dine outside on the few English evenings it's warm enough to do so! And finally a chimnea to keep us warm and burn my garden waste. And oops forgot a compost heap so I can be greener with my waste. And thanks for running these WeeBirdy!" Posted by: Marie | July 22, 2009 at 04:36 PM
Rob Ryan tiles Winner: 39 – Suse "Im very inspired by all of his work, one favourite is the book this is for you, it is a beautiful book." Posted by: suse | July 23, 2009 at 11:27 AM (Suse, I don't have your details, please email me with your address!)
Lapin & Me prize pack Winner: 46 – Heather "What I love about Paris… many things but mainly hot French well dressed men!" Posted by: Heather | July 24, 2009 at 03:11 PM (Heather, I don't have your details, please email me with your address!)
Congratulations, all! Expect an email from me shortly requesting your address details. And thanks again to all who entered, fingers' crossed for next time.
I’m back with one final giveaway for a lucky Wee Birdy reader: an amazing Nathalie Lete prize pack, valued at £36.95, courtesy of London boutique Lapin & Me.
One of my favourite new shops in East London, Lapin & Me specialises in all things fine, French-y and feminine, with a strong illustrative element. I really love the selection of pocket-money goodies for kids, as well as the extensive line-up of cult dolls. Get the full Lapin & Me shop tour here.
Lapin & Me also stocks an extensive selection of products by French artist Nathalie Lete, which feature a vividly-painted Parisian world populated by bunnies, birds and flowers.
The Nathalie Lete prize pack includes a best-selling Parisian shopper, valued at £16.95; a toiletries bag, valued at £13.50; and a super-sweet notebook, valued at £6.50.
To be in the running for the prize pack, simply leave a comment telling me your favourite thing about Paris. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
Please note that the winner will be chosen at random (either picked out of a hat or by a random number generator – TBC) and all competitions close on Friday 24 July at 6pm (British Summer Time). Winners will be announced on Monday 27 July.
Today marks day five of the Wee Birdy blogiversary giveaway, and I’ve got some very special prizes from London design legend (and Wee Birdy favourite) Rob Ryan.
As some of you may know, I’ve posted extensively about Rob Ryan’s work over the last two years, so it’s a delight to welcome him back to the nest. He’s very kindly donated two of his bird-themed tiles for a Wee Birdy giveaway, valued at a total of £48.
Rob is a prolific designer and illustrator, and his paper-cut designs (and heart-felt prose) have appeared on collaborations with British Vogue, Liberty, Fortnum and Mason, Paul Smith and Earnest Sewn.
A shopping trip to London isn’t complete without a visit to his Columbia Road store, Ryantown, which opened just last year. All of his work is produced nearby in his East London studio, and it’s packed with his screenprints, tiles and t-shirts, as well as an ever-changing selection of gifts. A recent addition, for instance, are these cute sailor-print t-shirts. (Check out my full Wee Birdy shop tour here.)
To be in the running for this very special prize of two Rob Ryan tiles, simply leave a comment telling me what you favourite Rob Ryan print, product or collaboration is – and why. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
Please note that the winner will be chosen at random (either picked out of a hat or by a random number generator – TBC) and all competitions close on Friday 24 July at 6pm (British Summer Time). Winners will be announced on Monday 27 July.
It’s day four of Wee Birdy’s blogiversary bonanza, and I’m absolutely thrilled that the giveaways have been such a rip-roaring success. Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to enter so far – I’ve genuinely loved reading every single comment. Your favourite nostalgic scents have particularly blown me away! And I love that Wee Birdy’s readership is truly global.
My next giveaway, generously donated by leading British jewellery designer, Alex Monroe, is a very special goodie bag including an exquisite gold pea Alex Monroe necklace, valued at £108 (pictured above), a copy of his brand new book, The Gardener, and a jar of his very own home-made jam!*
The necklace is from Alex’s upcoming SS10 collection, and I got a sneak peek at the pop-up exhibition he held last week at Penhaligon’s Covent Garden boutique. The collection is based on his new children’s story, The Gardener, which was inspired by his passion for gardening. He has an allotment in Dulwich in South-East London where he likes to potter about and eat strawberries with his daughters.
To showcase his new collection, Alex painstakingly recreated a micro secret garden in Penhaligon’s, adorned with his delicate and ultra-feminine jewellery. There are tiny ant earrings, dragonfly necklaces, and a watering can charm, all rendered in gold, silver and precious stones. There's also a new, smaller version of his popular bee necklace.
To be in the running for the very special Alex Monroe goodie bag, simply leave a comment below, telling me what you’d grown in your ultimate dream garden. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
Please note that the winner will be chosen at random (either picked out of a hat or by a random number generator – TBC) and all competitions close on Friday 24 July at 6pm (British Summer Time). Winners will be announced on Monday 27 July.
*Depending on the winner’s location, jam may or may not be included (Australian customs, for instance, can be particularly draconian).
It’s day three of A Week of Giveaways at Wee Birdy, and Penhaligon’s has joined the blogiversary celebrations with a complete set of four fragrances from their limited edition Anthology Collection, at a total retail value of £380.
These new fragrances have been brought back from the Penhaligon’s archive, which has a long heritage of perfumery in Britain, dating back to the 1870s when William Penhaligon first moved to London from Cornwall and started creating fine fragrances for discerning gentlemen.
Since then, the brand has collected Royal Warrants from The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, and has produced some of Britain’s most iconic and historic fragrances. The boutiques, meanwhile, still capture some of the old-world charm and sense of history of the brand, complete with dark wood panelling, glass cabinets, and collectable silver trinkets.
The four new fragrances from the Anthology Collection are the sharply sherbet Extract of Limes (1963), the subtly aromatic Eau de Verveine (1949), the playful Gardenia (1976) and the dark and heady Night Scented Stock (1976).
For your chance to win the complete set of four fragrances from the Penhaligon’s Anthology Collection, valued at £380, simply leave a comment telling me about your favourite nostalgic scent. Don’t forget to include your email address so I can contact you if you win!
Entries close for all giveaways on Friday 24 July at 6pm (British Summer Time). Winners will be announced on Monday 27 July, 2009.
The lovely gang from Tatty Devine have joined the Wee Birdy party, and look what they’ve come up with for my week of giveaways. This adorable cockatiel bead necklace is from their current SS09 collection, and features a delicate pink blush and Swarovski crystal eye. Like the rest of Tatty Devine's amazing pieces, he was handmade in their East London studio.
He’s also reversible, and can be worn showing his little feet peeping out over a branch. Cute!
I also really love the retro-style white beading, which adds a touch of old-fashioned glamour. This very special giveaway is valued at £68. For your chance to win, leave a comment telling me your idea for a fab Tatty Devine necklace (here's mine: a Belle and Sebastian collaboration, yeah!). I’ll be using a random number generator to pick the winner, so get busy with your comments now. All giveaway winners will be announced on Monday 27 July, 2009.
*EDIT* Entries close for all giveaways on Friday 24 July at 6pm (British Summer Time). And please remember to include your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win!
Very exciting news: today marks Wee Birdy's second-year blogiversary, and to celebrate, Australia's very own pop artist/journalist/crafty chick (and dear friend) Gemma Jones, has designed an exclusive limited-edition Wee Birdy print. Check it out in all its cutie-pie retro wondrousness:
I have 10 limited edition 'Bird is the Word' prints up for grabs, each hand-signed and dated by Gemma.
To be in the running for one of Gemma's (extremely collectable) prints, just leave a comment below telling me about your favourite Birdy pick. I'll use one of those random number generator thingies to choose 10 winners. Just be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.
I had a bit of a wobble over whether to post these Etsy finds, for fear you'd think I'd lost my mind (or worse, turned this blog into Wee Mousie). Dear reader, may I introduce the Harry Potter mouse, complete with hand-stitched scar, wire glasses, and hand-knitted scarf. For some reason it's escaped the clutches of official Warner Bros licensed merchandise. But wait, there's more…
…. what's Harry Potter Mouse without his evil nemesis, Lord Voldemouse (of course), and …
