London: It's All About Shoes

My favorite London purchase was my Kurt Geiger shoes from Harrods of course! They are a champagne pink color with bows at the toes, a platform heel and adorable ruffle details at the heel! I heart them.

Kurt Geiger is known as one of Europe's leading luxury footwear retailers and his products are a favorite of fashion magazines such as Vogue, Grazia, Elle and Glamour. In 2002, Kurt Geiger built a solid partnership with British Vogue becoming the exclusive sponsor of the magazine's first 'Ultimate Shoe Guide’, which was so successful it continued for four consecutive years. The success of the 'Ultimate Shoe Guide' led to the launch of the men's equivalent, the 'GQ Shoe Guide' in 2005. In 2006, Kurt Geiger and Vogue further fortified their relationship with Kurt Geiger's exclusive sponsorship of the 'Vogue Catwalk Guide'.

In early July Kurt Geiger put together an art installation at Dover Street's Air Gallery which showcased “The Stiletto” and featured six shoes styles in five fabrics and over 100 colors.

Needless to say, when it comes to shoes you can’t go wrong with a pair from Kurt Geiger. Shop online now by clicking here. And don’t forget to check out the sale section!

The Wedding and Honeymoon Pics!

I love my London Newspapers!

Oh how I love a good newspaper. Back in the states I normally only buy the Thursday edition of the New York Times (for the style section of course!), but here in London I’ve been taking advantage of all the free newspapers down in the tube like the London Lite and the London Evening standard!

You can learn quite a few things from these papers, for example:

• Diesel has just invented a new type of denim made from paper. The water-resistent lightweight fabric poses as denim but feels like silk. Each of the Cotton Paper Denim jeans comes with it’s own storage bag! $180 pounds.

• This year’s London Fashion Week marks the 25th Anniversary and is set to be the biggest yet with more than 50 catwalk shows over six days and 20 presentations in which designers explore unusal ways of showing spring/summer 2010 collections.

• Sir Philip Green, retail tycoon, has held detailed planning talks to open his Topshop fashion chain in China after seeing it’s successful opening in New York last year.

London’s newspapers are a great way to pass the time while riding the tube or occupying your time while grabbing a cup of coffee at one of the sidewalk cafes.

London: Day Four

We started today by taking the train to Euston Station to buy tickets for our weekend journey to Merseyside (which is pretty close to Liverpool). Then we headed over to see the London Eye! The line was ridiculously long so we bought the fast track passes for 27 pounds and only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes to get in. It was worth it! You can see for miles and you get an great view of Parliament and Big Ben. According to London's Where Magazine, the London Eye makes about 8,000 rotations in a tear at the speed of 26cm per second.


Then we walked over to St. Margaret's Cathedral and went inside to see the beautiful stained glass and rich history. I love going into old churches. This one has been around since the 12th century and was re-built in 1486-1523.

Then we went over to St. Paul's Cathedral which is massive compared with St. Margaret's. People come here to have lunch on the steps out front. The church is beautiful. One of the interesting thing's I've noticed is that many of the churches and cathedral's here have cafes downstairs. I'm Catholic so I'm familiar with the concept of "fellowship halls" but I've never seen so many large cafes in the downstairs area of a church.

Then we went to Covent Garden for a little bit of leisurely shopping. Covent Garden is the cutest neighborhood full of little boutiques, pubs and sidewalk cafe's. We stopped in for a beer at Punch & Judy's when we needed a little break from the flurry of tourists. Covent Garden is famous for all the hip boutiques on Neal Street and also inside Neal's Yard but the entire Covent Garden area is filled with shops including Original Penguin, Hugo Boss, Mango MNG, Nike, Miss Sixty, Benefit Cosmetics, MAC, Carhartt (which is a cool streetwear shop here in the UK), Energie, IMSO, Pop (a cool vintage store), Unconditional (a menswear store), Miss LaLa's Bourdouir (a lingerie store), Slam City Skate, G Star Raw, Spex in the City (an eyewear store), Jelly Pong Pong (an awesome cosmetics store) and Fenchurch (a great streetwear store for men and women). This was definitely one of our most favorite places to shop in London!

London: Day Three

Today was our shopping day. We started out at Primark which is just down the street from our hotel and for less than 60 pounds I got 3 dresses, 2 satin nightgowns, a pair of leggings, 5 pairs of tights, and a set of bracelets. It was insane. Thank goodness we went early because as we were leaving the crowds set in and people we’re crawling all over each other trying to get their hands on a good deal.

Shopping on Oxford is fabulous. All in one easy row you have Monsoon, Next, Selfridges & Co., Barretts and further down near Picadilly Circus is a gigantic four-story Top Shop.

Selfridges is a hip, young department store on Oxford with an enormous beauty department that includes a huge Dior counter, plus a section of high-end shops like Hermes and Tiffany & Co, and mini pop-shops including Paul’s Boutique, Super Dry, Top Shop and Ted Baker. Follow Selfridges on Twitter by clicking here.



I liked the windows at Selfridges. This one (below) is a play on Fake Fur. The mannequin is outfitted entirely of stuffed animals, hence the “fake fur”.

This window is all about the chunky knit trend. I like the big ball of yarn! 

We got a little parched after shopping and had to stop in Argyll Arms Pub for a beer. All of the pubs in London are unthinkably old and beautifully filled with original details like staircases, wood work, and in some cases, wallpaper.

After a small break we headed up to Piccadilly Circus. It was overflowing with locals and tourists alike and fortunately it wasn’t raining so we got some great pictures. Top Shop dominates this area with it’s huge store that is packed with people fawning over fast fashion finds. They have a great accessory section filled with jewelry merchandised by finish (silver, gold) and also by accessory type (headbands, bracelets, watches, sunglasses). Top Shop has a Selfridge Shop inside the store and if you head upstairs you can visit Top Man, a menswear boutique by Top Shop. There was also an insane assortment of shoes, vintage apparel and a beauty parlor and nail salon. A girl could spend hours in Top Shop…especially since downstairs there’s also a small café.

In the evening we headed to Notting Hill. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city and the neighborhood was so charming and warm. Since we went in the evening we got to enjoy the sunset reflecting on the pastel colored townhomes. The Victorian Style houses reminded me of Boston or San Francisco but the ones here are so rich with history and original architectural details.

We stopped for dinner at the Walmer Castle, which is an English pub downstairs and an authentic Thai restaurant upstairs. Even without reservations (or “bookings” as they are called in England) we got a nice romantic fireplace table. The walls of the upstairs restaurant were mauve and the adjacent walls had black wallpaper with a gold dragon print. The food was great even if the service was relatively slow.

When we got back to our hotel we stopped at Kua for a quick nightcap. I recommend the Lychee Indulgence which is similar to a standard Lychee Martini in the states, but if you’re feeling like something sweeter try the Melon Martini. Kua also serves light snacks including French fries with mayonnaise and ketchup (which my husband loves because he can make "fancy sauce", Caesar salads, Coconut Prawns and bar snacks.

London: Day Two

When I said I wanted my ashes to be spread at Fred Segal it was only because I hadn’t been to Harrods yet. Even on a random Sunday, the crowds lined up outside Harrods 30 minutes prior to opening and the entire city block sidewalk was packed with people waiting to go inside and indulge themselves in London’s finest shopping establishment. The windows of Harrods plainly boast “There’s only one fashion sale” which I found to be a complete understatement when I walked inside and was greeted with Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu handbags marked at 50-60% off.  

The store is ridiculous in every way possible. For women, there’s enough designer apparel, accessories, shoes and beauty products to spend hours pillaging through. Plus, there’s an entire Christian Louboutin shoe section where the shoes are rightfully displayed on black pillars to showcase that they are in fact true works of art.

Men have their own Man pub, electronic centers, musical instrument sections and in-house barber shop. And kids + babies have entire designer shopping sections by Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Armani and Ralph Lauren. They even have Fendi Onesies!

As if that wasn’t enough, Harrods also had a Pet Kingdom which put the icing on the cake for me! For 92 pounds (or $149 USD) your pet pooch can have it’s very own zebra fur collar. You can pick up a pet rabbit for 55 pounds or perhaps an exotic short hair cat for 800 pounds. If that’s not your style, how about a Cairnoodle which is a mix between a Terrier and a poodle). I was dying when I was the Pet Shop Bakery which serves Pooch Petit Fours, doggie donuts, Pup Popcorn and Canine Cupcakes.  

Harrods also had a full bookstore where I picked up a copy of How to Run a Fashion Label by Toby Meadows. We also enjoyed the fact that Harrods had an electronic store filled with flat screen TVs, home theatre systems and laptops, a music store with cds and DVD’s, a musical instrument store filled with guitars and pianos, and a lighting section dripping with crystal chandeliers in all shapes and sizes. And then there was the Food Hall... I never thought I’d be able to get Dim Sum, Sushi, Sandwiches, Deli Meats and Cheeses in a Department Store. It was unbelievable and of course, the assortment of chocolates looked more like a scene from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory rather than a retail outlet. Also, I just want to point out that the foundation stone of Harrods Store was laid on September 13th, 1911. (This happens to be the same day and month of my birthday which I think is a sign that I was destined to shop at Harrods, even 71 years before I was born).  

I was so excited about Harrods that I entirely skipped over our journey to get there. We took a nice long walk through Hyde Park, which is a huge park located across the street from our hotel in Central London. The entire park is over 350 acres and has been around since the 1500’s. Click here to view the park history. The park has great fountains including the “Joy of Life Fountain” which makes up part of the Princess Diana Memorial Walk and the Statue of Achilles, which was sculpted in 1822.  

We also stopped by Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guards and consult our city map to determine our next move. The palace and fountain in front are absolutely beautiful and we lucked out and went on a sunny day!


Stay tuned for my Day Three recap of Primark, Top Shop, Selfridges Department Store and Uniglo! Plus my stories of riding the tube and visiting Notting Hill!