Sartorial London

One of the things I remember from my first trip to London in 1998 was the difference between how the people there dress and how the people in my hometown dressed. People in London were far more fashionably dressed, and in general were much less casual and much more 'dressy'. That held true for this trip as well.

Because I knew we'd be walking miles each day and spending plenty of time in the (cold, wet, rainy, windy) outdoors, I dressed primarily for comfort rather than style:

Which of course meant that I totally stuck out as a tourist! I so wanted to blend in, but a periwinkle Mountain Hardwear windbreaker in a sea of black wool coats is pretty hard to miss. I saw so many pretty wool coats both in the shops and on the people and I have some cute versions in my own closets that I could have taken instead, but they wouldn't have had the windproof or waterproof qualities of this one.

For shoes, I knew that wearing white tennies is a dead giveaway that you're an American tourist. I don't even own white tennies except to exercise in, but I did have to find a pair of shoes in which I could comfortably walk miles. On my first trip to London, I took a pair of Doc Martens Mary Janes, which while cute, are not exactly known for being soft and comfy to walk in.

This time around, I bought these Clarks Privos in solid black and they were money well spent! They were incredibly comfortable and never once rubbed and I know I'll get plenty more wear out of them here at home. Towards the end of the trip my feet were tired, but only from being unaccustomed to being on them so much, and not because of my shoes. My shoes stuck out just as much as my coat did to mark me as an outsider--I never saw anyone else wearing anything similar on their feet. Nearly every girl I saw was wearing boots of some type; generally mid-calf, flat heel, black or brown. I've been looking for a cute pair of flat boots but I couldn't guarantee that those would feel good for the amount of walking and standing we did, so I'm glad I had my Privos.

For jeans, I purposely packed my pairs that had both front and rear pockets so I could stash my money/credit card/Underground pass in my pockets and not have to worry about what would happen if I lost my purse. I ended up keeping my little wallet in an inside zipper pocket of my coat, which worked out perfectly because I didn't have to worry about being pick-pocketed and it was so darn cold that I never really took it off! I don't have any dark wash jeans with pockets, so I had to take my medium wash boot cut jeans, another thing that made me stick out. The majority of the jeans I saw on girls were darker wash, straight or skinny and always tucked into boots.

To blend in with the crowds of London girls we saw riding the Tube and walking around the city, here's an example of what I could have worn:

London girl 1 by themerrymagpie featuring a check coat

Important elements: brown mid-calf flat boots. Skinny, dark wash jeans. Super cute long wool coat, scarf, and satchel. The coats we saw most often were black or gray or tweed, but this one was so cute that I included it anyway!

And because I clearly need more ways to waste my time on the Internet, I made another Polyvore set of the slightly more dressy London look:

London girl 2 by themerrymagpie featuring a blue skirt

Similar elements: belted gray wool coat, cute scarf, black flat mid-calf boots, black opaque tights, cute skirt. The satchel would be more realistic if it had a shoulder strap but this version was just darling--look at that bow!

In short, the most important elements of the silhouette are:

1. Boots. Mid-calf at least, sometimes knee-length. Mostly flat heels.
2. Skinny legs: skinny jeans, leggings or opaque tights, all tucked into the boots.
3. Coat: black, gray or tweed wool. Most often belted, frequently mid-thigh length. ALWAYS worn with a scarf.

Even though I was dressed practically and comfortably for what I was doing, I couldn't help but feel a bit frumpy. I totally understand why Becky Bloomwood felt such temptation--there are SO many shops filled with beautiful, fashionable clothes in London! I did manage to find my new favorite store besides Anthropologie: called Noa Noa, they're based in Denmark. The clothes definitely have a Scandinavian feel, were absolutely beautiful, and unfortunately for me, only available in Europe. They were not outrageously expensive if you could do a straight-across pound-to-dollar conversion, but once you added in the exchange rate, prices were pushed dangerously close to ~ouch~ territory. I bought a few things that are lovely and that I hope to be able to wear for a long time, but I'm still pining after these shoes:

Though at $190 + 3% fee for using my credit card in another currency + shipping from England, they might just have to remain The Ones that Got Away.

And now if you'll excuse me, I believe I need to go shopping for boots!

Home from London!

"No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, 
he is tired of life;

for there is in London all that life can afford."

-Samuel Johnson

I didn't get tired of London--but my feet were tired, I missed my kids and my husband and my suitcase was full, so I had to come home. :)

I got home Sunday at around 5 pm (midnight London time) and lasted until about 8:30 p.m. before I crashed, then I woke up at 2 a.m. (9 a.m. London time), bright-eyed and ready to go. Fortunately there were about 1000 items in my Google Reader so I whiled away the dark hours by catching up on what you all have been doing while I've been gone. I had to have a few short naps to get through the rest of the day but I managed to go to bed at a normal time and only woke up a little early this morning, so I think I've shaken my jet lag and I'm back to normal now.

I downloaded my photos this morning so I have a few favorites to share with you:

One of the reasons I wanted to go back to London so badly was because I spent a semester there in college in 1998, studying at the BYU London Centre. That was probably the most FUN four months of my entire life! I made lovely friends, saw amazing sights, learned lots, and didn't have to worry about a darn thing. It was wonderful, and I have so many fond memories of my time there that I still, 12 years later, have dreams that I'm in London. I was eager to revisit this happy place and curious to see how accurate my memories really were. In this photo I'm standing on the steps of the Centre, just before we rang the bell and went inside for a quick look around and to find my photo in the album of past group pictures. I was also tickled to find that my memories of the neighborhood are quite accurate and it looks very much the same as it did then.

On Tuesday night, my mom and I went to see Billy Elliot. We'd both seen the movie and liked it, and I liked the show more than I even expected. The boy who played Billy was excellent--it's got to be a lot of work to basically carry an entire stage musical at the age of only 12 or 13!

I'd really hoped to get some thrifting in on our trip--I was on the lookout for charity shops but I only found a few and we only went in one. I did find a great vintage store near the Notting Hill Gate tube station, up the road towards Portobello Road, and I purchased this little green pottery basket. It's by a Scottish maker I've never heard of--Govancroft--but it fits in perfectly with my other green vintage pottery pieces!

On Wednesday we took the train out to Windsor and spent the day in the castle. It was very interesting and we learned all about the Knights of the Garter. This is St. George's chapel at the castle, where the knights are all installed. This was the only clear, sunny (also FREEZING COLD) day we had the whole week and the afternoon light was so pretty on the chapel.

The other highlight of Windsor--my first visit to Cath Kidston. Linda, I thought of you the whole time I was there! It was hard to decide what treasures to bring home but I ended up with this adorable oilcloth Christmas apron and this set of tea towels in a perfect jadeite green. My mom bought a darling purse and I may regret not buying one too.

We loved Cath so much that we visited her store in Chelsea on Saturday, where we found this darling chandelier made of teacups and souvenir spoons.

On Thursday morning the weather was especially terrible, with pouring rain and gale-force winds. Then after a bit it cleared off, so we set out to the Tate Modern Museum and swung by St. Paul's Cathedral since we were in the neighborhood. Although the sun was out, another storm was on its way and the skies behind the cathedral were dark. Coupled with the bright sunlight on the dome, the effect was absolutely striking! We couldn't take enough pictures and I don't think I even captured the magic with my camera. It was breathtaking.

On Friday we visited the Museum of London, but I purposely planned our route to take us to King's Cross station just so we could visit Platform 9 3/4. We searched but couldn't find it (it's actually between 8 and 9, rather than 9 and 10) but my mom was brave enough to ask someone who directed us to it. We met another American Harry Potter fan there and took turns posing with each other's cameras. Thursday night was the big Harry Potter 7 part 1 movie premiere in Leicester Square, and we were within just blocks of it but didn't know! Too bad--we might have braved the crowds to see if we could have caught a glimpse of the movie's stars!

 

For this trip, we did something different--we rented a flat rather than staying in a hotel. Lodging in London is notoriously expensive and the one we found was more expensive than we'd hoped, but it turned out to be really wonderful and I think it was really worth the expense. It was right on Pall Mall, about a four-minute walk to the Piccadilly Circus tube station, a slightly longer walk to Trafalgar Square and just down the block from St. James's Palace. Across the street from our building were some of the most exclusive and hoity-toity men's clubs in London, including the Athenaeum. On the ground floor of our building was a business that sells superyachts, for the uber-wealthy for whom a regular yacht is just too dinky, I suppose.

Access to our flat was via five flights of stairs or the tiniest elevator I've ever seen. I think I've been in bigger phone booths! My mom and I barely fit at the same time, and whenever we rode I had a mini-panic attack from envisioning getting stuck in there, as most times we were entering or leaving the building in the morning or evening when nobody else was around. When we left with our suitcases we had to go one at a time and I had to send our bag of trash down by itself, because I would have had to carry it on my head to fit it into the lift with me and my suitcase and carry-on!

I didn't take as many photos as I had intended, a fact which I may regret later. Honestly, the weather was pretty yucky and gray and frequently windy and rainy--not exactly ideal photographic conditions, not to mention that it's hard to hold an umbrella and work a dSLR camera at the same time! I'll just have to be happy with the photos I took and hope that my memory holds up.

And couldn't Prince William and Kate have announced their engagement a week earlier? Viewing the aftermath of that would have been fun!

I'm off to London to see the Queen

This little blog has been quiet for a few days because I've been making lists like crazy and packing to get ready for my big trip to London! I leave for the airport in a few hours and my tummy is doing flip-flops--a combination of excitement and nerves.

My flight leaves around 5 pm and arrives in London at 9 am local time, which translates to 2 am my time. I'm hoping to get some sleep on the plane thanks to my little friend Ambien so I that I'm not a total wreck tomorrow--I'm only there for 6 days so I can't afford to lose any precious time to jet lag.

I'm taking my iPod touch with me so hopefully we can find some free wi-fi and maybe I can even post once or twice. When I get back I know I'll have plenty of photos to share and I'm determined to find some good English junk to bring home--wish me luck!

London Calling

Exactly one month from today, I'll be hopping on one of these

And going here

And I'm so excited I could pretty much wet my pants!

You see, 12 years ago I spent a semester in London doing Study Abroad when I was in college. I absolutely fell in love with the city (whole country, really) and have been yearning to go back ever since. My mom has to be there for business for a few days in the first week of November so we'd thrown about the idea of me possibly going, and in the past week or so we finally decided to do it and I bought my airplane ticket last night! And you can think me a sap if you wish, but I actually got a little bit teary-eyed when I pressed the "Confirm" button on the BA website (and not just because of the price of the ticket--youch).

Thing is, even thought it's been 12 years, I still have dreams that I'm in London. It's weird because in my dreams it never looks like it actually did in real life, but somehow I always know that's where I am. I'm anxious to see if the London in my memories and my dreams is the real thing.

In 1998 we didn't have digital cameras so all of the pictures I took were on film and they're still sitting mostly un-scrapbooked in a box in my office. I think it might be time to get them out and look at them again--I'm feeling a serious nostalgia trip coming on. I actually pulled out my journal from that time and I can tell you that on October 7, 1998, I was on a ferry going from Wales to Ireland and trying very hard not to toss my cookies from seasickness! I've got a lot to do over the next month to plan our trip and first on my list is finding us a place to stay. It's been a long time since I was there so if any of you have suggestions for me, please let me know! And now, I'm off to the bookstore to buy an updated guidebook!

Goodbye, England's Rose

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing 10 years ago today? I do, and I have the photos to document it!

Ten years ago last Wednesday, I boarded an airplane bound for London, where I spent the next semester doing a Study Abroad through my university. August 31 was a Monday that year and it was a Bank Holiday That weekend is also the Notting Hill Carnival, which took place just a few blocks from where we stayed. Wow, was that ever an experience for a bunch of sheltered BYU students!
August 31, 1998 was also significant for one other major reason--it was the one year anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. The building where we lived was just across the street from Kensington Gardens which is of course home to Kensington Palace, where Diana had lived. After our eardrums were well and truly numbed by the Carnival, we walked over to Kensington Palace, where thousands of people had gathered to remember Diana. The huge iron fence surrounding the palace was packed with bouquets of flowers, cards, photos, drawings--all of the beloved People's Princess. I've never seen anything like it before or since.

In this photo I knowI have a weird look on my face. I wasn't sure what expression to make--a big cheesy grin seemed very out of place at such a somber occasion. I will tell you that I remember being so HOT that day! Even though it was the end of August it was unusually warm for London. I had bought that sweater and the jeans (those pants were SO cute! Wish I still had them) from the J.Crew outlet before I left and I was dying to wear them, even though they were much too warm for the day. The necklace I had just bought at what would become one of my favorite London shops, Accessorize.

The year previous, the year she died--I remember that too, although I don't have a scrapbook page about it. I was working at a scrapbook store at the time. That night we stayed open late for a crop, and I had the radio turned to my favorite station, which had a request show on Saturday nights. I remember hearing the DJs saying that someone called in to request "New Dress" by Depeche Mode, because it repeats the line, "Princess Di is wearing a new dress." They then went on to talk again about the news reports just coming in about her death, and I went into the classroom at the back of the store to announce the news to all the ladies there at the crop. That next week was the first week of my sophomore year at college, and I remember my roommates and I watching the coverage of her funeral on TV and crying. I had no idea that a year from then, I'd be able to see it all in person.
I can't believe it has been 10 years since I went to London. I had the time of my life in those three months! I actually still dream about London; strangely, in my dreams it never looks like it did in real life, but I always know that's where I am. These photos are scanned from a scrapbook page I did several years ago. I am maybe halfway done with my scrapbook from my Study Abroad and haven't done a page in literally years, so perhaps this fall would be a good time to get out my photos and get to work again.

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news of Princess Diana's death?