Anti-Practical Fashion Cravings

Beautiful Hong Kong: Tsim Sha Tsui, Star Ferry Building, 2018 

Do you ever walk around in one place, only to see flashes of an entirely different location in front of you?

My phone crashed so I've had to use my old one temporarily and have since spent hours looking at photos of my old life in Asia.

Snap back to 13 November 2020 in London, where I have been craving the anti-practical.  Jackets with diamanté embroidery for instance, (see previous post HERE) which here in England I may only wear for the holidays, but wouldn't raise any eyebrows at Tuesday lunch in Hong Kong.

London's no slouch either: Wilton Crescent, Belgravia during Golden Hour

As a result of my cravings for less lockdown banality I've been drinking my coffee from my prettiest cups, and have been using linen napkins and the proper silver even for Deliveroo dinners.  I've also started wearing loads of trinkets like costume jewellery mixed with mini beads on elastic string (my daughter's lockdown hobby), mixed with gold or diamonds.  Pretending the house is a five star tea salon or cocktail bar (with a bit of help from Drinks At Lili's) is lifting our lockdown spirits rather successfully.

On November 3 (HERE) I wrote about the power of wearing a pretty dress on an average day, which got some of you a bit annoyed, pointing out how underwhelming you found the dress in the link.

Waiting to hear from the first Madame Vice President-Elect, on Saturday November 7, 2020.

This particular dress may not be for you, but after 10 years of this blog my hope is that I can inspire you all to make the most of fashion right now in this moment - not tomorrow or not next Saturday when you have a dinner coming up.  I know so many great women who love fashion - but life gets in the way of it, which makes them grab whatever grey knit is on the bedroom floor every morning, in order to get the kids to school on time before starting work.

In fact, I am that woman.  Unless I really force myself, I too will grab the easiest, tumble-dryable greige thing to do school drop-off.  Undoubtedly this is when I will run into someone I know and immediately regret my slovenliness.  On days when I treat myself better and wear one of the nice things in my closet, I will, without question, have a far better day.

Some advice on how to achieve that:

* only ever buy things that you love - don't ever buy it because "it'll do"

* everything you buy should be comfortable and fit well - don't forgo fit just because you think you will only be wearing it 3 hours at a time at a restaurant

* allow yourself to wear jeans only twice a week

* between hair and make-up, go for hair - clean blowdried hair with an unmade up face always looks better than dirty hair with make-up

* make an outfit plan on Sunday nights

We'll come back to all of these over the next few weeks, but for today, here's some lockdown-defying anti-practical inspiration to keep you dreaming of better days ahead.

Velvet spaghetti strap dress worn by a young Sophia Loren

Léa Seydoux for Louis Vuitton

Olivia von Halle embraces defiant at-home dressing

Loewe pumps with flower brooch

Actress Emma Corrin from The Crown in Miu Miu checks

Faux snake pants with short-sleeved cardi and dickie collar, because why not?

Jimmy Choo pumps via Harrods

Simone Rocha dress at La Garçonne

Harry Styles in Martin Margiela for December Vogue - what can I say, Harry is perfection

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette in Sofia Coppola's film

Amina Muaddi x Fenty

Marine Serre at Matches

Gemma Chan

Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé, 1983

The Whirl clutch by Bottega Veneta

I am signing off now with one more nostalgia photo from my life in Hong Kong.  Above I showed you the Kowloon Star Ferry terminal from the outside.  Below I am inside, waiting for the next ferry and looking over to Hong Kong Island through the windows.

Stay strong in lockdown...  thank you all very much for reading xxx Dianne

Hong Kong Island seen from the Kowloon side Star Ferry terminal