Happy Glampers, Happy Campers

These days festival goers are split into two camps (literally!) Campers and Glampers.
Campers are the year-in, year-out visitors who go there to lose their minds in music and their jumpers in mud. Glampers will be planning their festival capsule wardrobes weeks before the event.

Campers will sleep in a two man tent that takes two seconds to set up. Glampers are helicoptered in and shown to their Winnebago by a groomed butler. Yet, everybody has a good time regardless if they are downing cider or sipping champagne. So which camp do you fall into? Here are a few fashion suggestions for Campers and Glampers alike.



Glampers may be able to escape the masses but not the mud. Marc by Marc Jacobs Biker Wellies are a  perfect but practical style statement.

For the Campers - A Topshop Snakeprint pack-a-poncho will keep them dry if their flimsy tent gets blown away, nicked or they just can't remember where they left it!



Night And Day...Day And Night

Zara Kimono Jacket





It's Sunday morning and I am writing this blog post in my pyjamas. So far today, I have already walked to the shop to buy breakfast and the papers in said outfit without a jot of self-consciousness that I'm dressed my bed clothes. Why? Because this season fashion is blurring the lines between night and day wear. Garments that are traditionally considered as sleep/loungewear are being worn out and about in the public eye and not just in the boudoir. And its not just the high-end fashion labels that are pushing these ideals, it's happening on the High Street too. At Zara and Mint Velvet, the printed pyjama pant has been a popular choice for many customers. Loungey, relaxed and still smart cool. Whats not to love? Personally I am still eyeing up Zara's selction of short silk kimonos and wondering if they will look cool worn as a jacket over a vest, shorts teamed with a wicked pair of heels, and a serious 'this is not my bed jacket' attitude for an upcoming party. I may well take the risk and invest since I have longed for a little silk kimono to wear over a bikini beach or poolside too. And if that doesn't work out then I can always wear it as it's intended while doing my hair and make-up sat at my dressing table with thoughts of 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. 

Ayten Gasson bed jacket. Acceptable for both lunching and lounging.









Costume Drama





Bikini by Eres from the Cache Cache collection S/S 11

Being as I am bigger on the bust and smaller on the botty, swimwear brands that only sell bikins as sets have over the years caused me somewhat of a 'Costume Drama' . The frustration I endured while trying on luxury beachwear at a Pucci Boutique in Florence one year was both a comedy and a tragedy. Laughing at myself in the fitting room mirror in a 'Porn Fit' bra top that partnered  my correct knicker size and at the bra which fitted nicely with bottoms that could have housed an extra strength incontinence pad plus my bum and still would have been baggy.  The tragedy is of course that as Pucci (and many others) still insist on selling bikinis as a size set and not by bust and hip size, I will never have the opportunity to own such a chic piece of swimwear. The last time I owned a bikini that came as a size set I would have been twelve years old. As grown women we don't buy our underwear in this way, so why as adults should we have to buy our swimwear like a pre-teen? The only way I managed to blag myself a Missoni bikini was because I swapped the sizes in the fitting room (shh - don't tell) but those wise buggers at Pucci had the bra and bottom kimbled waist length together so no changing room swapping could occur. (Another Florentine comedy trying to get to get into the blooming thing!) But thank the lord for the French! Swimwear and lingerie label Eres will happily sell you a correctly fitting matching bikini top and the right size pants. Possibly as they are a well established brand of underwear they understand that most women won't fit a typical dress size when it comes to buying a bikini. Eres doesn't come cheap but it sure looks chic. My philosophy over the years is that if you are only going to wear two teeny tiny pieces of clothing then make sure they're good ones. My three year old baby pink Eres halter bikini is still wearing well and has certainly stunned them from Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads. 
http://www.eresparis.com/