The Wrong Knickers

I love Bryony Gordon. I know this is all terribly 'fan girl' of me but blame my Mum; ever since she pointed out that Bryony and I were of a similar and age and lead seemingly chaotic lives I felt I had a kindred spirit. 

Reading about her London life in The Wrong Knickers brought back memories of my 20's, chaos being the prevalent undercurrent: moving 10 times in 6 years, crashing headlong into dead end relationships, the all night raves, food poisoning, getting my drink spiked in Ibiza, watching friend after friend waltz down the aisle whilst I was the token class clown. Yet all the while I held down a pretty stressful job and built my career. 

There was a lot of magic in my 20's as well: a houseshare in Manchester which brought me lifelong friends, cooking my first roast dinner, awesome holidays in South Africa, Ibiza and America, completing a Fashion Journalism course. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change any of it. I'm just thankful that in Bryony Gordon writing about it I don't feel so bad about it. 

I admit I skim read some of the chapters, so close to the bone was the writing, that the words took my breath away. My carousel of lurching crisis came to a head after a move to Dubai and back after which I knuckled down, bagged my dream job, saved up and eventually started The Wardrobe Angel. If you've read Bryony Gordon's column in The Telegraph called How The Other Half Lives she used to be the pissed up lass roaring around London, the bones of which are brought to life in The Wrong Knickers. She now resides on the other side of the fence - married with a baby. 

A couple of years ago when friends were popping kids out all over the place I felt my future on this front was bleak: I was working on my business, a relationship was the last thing on my mind. But reading Bryony's story from single to shacked up gave me...hope. I knew the rest would come, and it did. 

Thanks Bryony. You utter legend. 

What to wear when you meet a new baby

Over the past few years family (sister and cousins) and various friend have given birth to babies. I'm never hugely comfortable holding a new born but give it a few weeks and I'll happily pop round for a cuddle. After looking a bunch of babies nestling (not so comfortably) in the crook of my arm I thought I would write about what to actually wear when you meet a new baby and what to take:

1. AVOID WEARING JEWELLERY. You'll end up taking it off in preparation for the cuddle with the baby and then forget about it giving the new parents the job of posting it back to you which, let's face it, they could do without. 

2. WEAR SOMETHING SOFT. I know this might sound obvious but hear me out. Babies have only been here a short while and they deserve the softest landing space we can provide. Choose natural, breathable and soft fabrics which brings you comfortably to cotton and that's always a winner. Plus it's easy to wash should the new baby mark out their territory on you, if you know what I mean. I would avoid anything that sheds, mohair in particular. This can easily shed on a baby's face and be really irritating for them. 

3. GIVE EMBELLISHMENTS A WIDE BERTH. Babies..move. They snuggle and wiggle and catch you unaware. Bearing this is mind go for a plain fronted top, jumper or shirt; all together safer given babies propensity for trying to seek out a boob for some milk. 

4. TAKE A BIG BAG. Babies seem to need a lot of 'stuff' and if you rock up with two or three bags it will only add to the mess. Take a big enough bag for the present for the baby, your stuff (obviously) and food for the parents. Then keep all your items in one place - you can see in the photos my leather jacket draped on top of my bag - and just makes for a smoother visit (read: handy if you need to leave in a hurry when the baby turns the colour of beetroot and screams.)

5. BRING FOOD. I'll never forget Bryony Gordon's Telegraph column after the birth of her daughter shaming the people who, when dropping in for a visit/baby cuddle, ate her food, rather than bring her food. See item number 1 on the list in terms of jobs new parents don't need and add 'buy your lunch'. 

I met this strapping little lad, Charlie, this week. I wore my H&M midi skirt, Gap soft denim shirt and Topshop skater shoes. 

Don't look entirely comfortable here, do I?!

Bag and coat ahoy! Tidy times!