This week was overflowing with exciting things: my sister’s 22nd birthday, a trip to London, a visit to the Barbie exhibition at the Design Museum, a visit to an exhibition on fashion photography, Beyond Fashion, at the Saatchi Gallery, and England being in the Euros final – even if we did end up losing…
Despite the football loss it truly did feel like the perfect week full of everything I love: time spent with family, a day exploring galleries in London, a first day trip with my boyfriend, delicious Japanese food, and a very exciting email, which I’ll go into in a future post.
WHAT’S INSPIRED ME THIS WEEK
As a fashion designer, and general creative type, I am constantly seeking inspiration wherever I am, and these posts are a way to document what has ignited something within me this past week. Whether its artwork I’ve seen online, photography that moved me, or a collection of colour in nature that kick-started a creative idea in my head, I’ll be sharing four ideas that have brought me joy in the past seven days.
R. READING
After an unexpectedly busy few days I still haven’t got round to starting Still Life, as I promised in last week’s post.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get into more of a routine this week and get back into my normal reading habits.
E. EDUCATING
I was invited down to attend a seminar in London at The Materialist, a deadstock showroom, all about the importance of using surplus fabrics.
Using deadstock fabric is something I’ve done previously, both in my graduate collection and my collaboration with Queer Loop, so it was so exciting to learn more about how this can be implemented across the wider fashion industry.
I truly appreciated the honest discussion had by the panelists, and I had so much fun looking at all of the gorgeous fabrics that The Materialist had on offer.
P. PLAYING
I use this part of my weekly post to either share what I’m ‘playing’ music-wise, or what games I’m ‘playing’, and we’re leaning more towards the latter this week.
I did my first ever Lego set this week, which is very exciting. After our trip to London, my boyfriend and I made the postcard of London together, which was so much fun. I think I might have the Lego bug now!
O. OBSESSING OVER
I had the chance to visit the new Barbie exhibition at the Design Museum this week and absolutely loved it!
It was so much fun walking around pointing out Barbies I had as a child, and feeling that wave of nostalgia hit. There’s something about wandering around a gallery full of dolls that lets your inner child out, and it was like I was full of that child-like imagination once more.
Aside from reliving my childhood it was also a very interesting exhibition, all about the evolution of Barbie, from a blonde fashion doll to a multi-faceted, well-rounded toy that girls can almost look up to and emulate.
R. RECOMMENDING
Whilst in London this week my boyfriend took us to his favourite Japanese restaurant in Kensington: Tombo. A hop, skip and a jump from the V&A it’s perfectly situated for a lunch spot in between visiting exhibitions, and the food was delicious.
I opted for the Tokyo Classic poké bowl, which was made up of sushi rice, salmon sashimi, soy sauce, ginger, edamame beans, radish, carrot and roasted rice. It was so refreshing, I’m craving it again as I write this!
Ben also recommended the Tokyo Sundae, a rather decadent dessert full of sweet matcha flavoured toppings. It was the perfect post-lunch sweet treat. I’ll definitely be returning any time I’m in Kensington!
T. TREATING MYSELF TO
This was technically a treat from a few weeks ago as it’s something I bought whilst in London with Taylor, you can read more about that trip here, but I’ve been wearing a gorgeous silky slip skirt I got from Appletree Boutique, an independent store in Notting Hill, to absolute death.
The cut of it is so flowy, it almost floats around me like a cloud, and the length is perfect for my petite height.
It came in a multitude of colours so I may well be treating myself to a few more the next time I’m down that way.
Love Chloe x
