Currently Channeling... Louis Vuitton Underwear As Outerwear

Every fashion month, there are a couple of shows which grab us immediately, set the tone for our wardrobes for the season to come and leave us desperate to see whether the highstreet will have shared our excitement and deliver homages within our price range.  

Last spring the show that really had us at hello was Louis Vuitton. Fifty doors opened onto a hotel corridor come catwalk spilling out Cara, Kate and co in an array of lingerie-esque pieces with mannish coats thrown over the top. The show notes explained that the collection channelled the "attitude of getting dressed up only to find the most glamorous destination is one's own hotel room." What could be more decadently fabulous? 

 

 

Post-show Marc Jacobs elaborated further on the woman he'd designed the collection for: "She’s Left Bank. She’s Hollywood. A bit Gloria Swanson. A bit Juliet Greco. She’s romantic, erotic, decadent, glamorous and she loves luxury". If we weren't already sold, that really sealed the deal - that was exactly who we fancied being when the temperature dipped.

Turns out we were joined by fashion's finest in that sentiment...

 

 

 

So it was with baited breath that we waited for the autumn/winter highstreet collections to drop. 

 

And thankfully our favourite purveyor of high fashion on a budget blew even our wildest dreams out of the water... yup - Zara has once more totally excelled itself. In fact Zara's Louis Vuitton inspired offering is so extensive that there's a whole section of the website devoted to it - Lace. Here are the pieces we're currently most coveting...

 

Zara Lingerie Style Studio Dress
£89.99

 

Zara Lingerie Style Dress with Spaghetti Straps

£35.99

 

Zara Lingerie Style Dress

£25.99

 

 

Zara Printed Dress with Lace Trim

£45.99

 

Zara Double Layer Lingerie Style and Mesh Dress

£39.99

 

Zara Studio Mesh Dress

£109.00

 

 

Two Tone Lingerie Style Dress

£19.99

 

Zara Printed Lace Camisole Top

£29.99

 

 

Zara Lingerie Style Dress

£29.99

 

 

Zara Lingerie Style Tube Dress

£29.99

 

Zara Printed Skirt with Lace Trim

£39.99

 

 

Just add an oversized, mannish coat, chuck insouciantly over the top of your lacy loveliness and remember staying in is the new going out...

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Before we delve into what us Micebag's have been up to this week, I just want to share a statement that will hopefully get you in the right frame of mind to get through the last and final day of the week...

Apart from being completely in love with the fact that it's Friday, this week the Mice have mostly been... 

 

Sunning it up in beautiful Cadiz, Spain. You may remember a while back we brought you this travel review which went into great detail about our out of this world amazing stay at boutique Casa La Siesta and another quaint little hotel, Escondrijo Well a few years back I entered a photography competition via Casa La Siesta's facebook page and WON! In return I was gifted a weekend's stay at the little slice of heaven and this was that stay...

 

I jetted off over the bank holiday to make the most of the extra day off! We only stayed for 4 nights but because of how instantly relaxed you feel as soon as you set foot within the hotel it felt more like a week! Let me set the scene - whispering is really the only way to communicate and at times even that's a little too loud. It's literally the quietest place on earth - you are tucked up in rolling Spanish countryside without sight of another house, road or being for miles. Complete uninterrupted bliss! 

 

 

The food is also a huge pull. Beakfast would quite happily keep me going all week - toasted granola, yogurt and the sweet honey, homemade warm bread with jams & butter, fruits, eggs with avocado on the side, freshly sqeezed orange - the list goes on... Lunch and dinner are as mindblowing - everyday the hotel staff write up the 3-course menu on a blackboard which they prop up in the courtyard. There is no choice - you have what you're given but I challenge you not to die and go to heaven after every spoon or forkful! 

 

In summary (because I could go on forever) I pretty much spent my time sunbathing and snoozing poolside (waking myself up between snores), fitting as much scrumptious food and free booze in as humanly possible, nicknaming and gossiping about the couples also staying (we all do it) and just generally having a fabulously beautiful time ... I want to do it all over again! this weekend! 

 

Drooling over Rosie Huntington-Whiteley new lingerie styles within the Rosie for Autograph range. She recently marked her one year anniversary milestone with the highstreet retailer and celebrated suitably with cake! An insider secret squirrel gave word that each team at M&S head office also received the same cake supposedly from Rosie herself - reckon she baked each and every one herself in just her silk underwear...!?!

 

 

Her new pieces are going from strength to strength boasting luxe fabrics, cutesy floral designs, elaborate lace trims and we can vouch for the perfect fit. Mini mouse is the proud owner of the French teddy and has been strutting her Rosie-esque stuff around the flat every night this week...

 

We're also tempted by these little beauties...

 

After seeing Rosie bare all, I think we all need another pick me up - what better way to do that than think of the fun and frolics we have to come this weekend whilst knowing Rosie will be sweating away in the gym to maintain her waif-like waist! I feel better now AND on that note...

New Shop Alert: '& Other Stories'...

If, like me, it's starting to get a little embarrassing answering every 'Where is your top from?' question with 'Zara', then '& other stories' might just be the answer to all your worries! 

Brought to us from the people behind H&M and COS, this new brand aims to provide lasting fashion at an affordable price. More luxurious than H&M, but with more variety than COS...sounds like a winning combination to us Mice! And for once we aren't years or even months delayed to receive it in London, along with the other fashion capitals of the world - Barcelona, Berlin, Milan, Paris and Stockholm, '& other stories' is just setting it's mark on the fashion scene with it's first seven stores. 

The 45 designers of this new creation are based in Stockholm with a secondary workshop in Paris, providing a wide variety of style...dainty, floaty and pretty mixed with bold, simplistic and clean. The design team includes former APC and Acne designers and with such reputable fashion minds I have a feeling '& other stories' will go from strength to strength, especially in London. 

I scurried on down to explore last week, located at the Topshop end of Regent's street with another entrance on Argyll Street, it is perfectly accessible from Oxford Circus tube. Set over two floors with a cool stripped back interior, the setting is airy and open creating a stress-free shopping experience, despite the many people cramming themselves in to get a look at this new fashion baby! 

On this occasion I walked away purchase-less, however I did like what I saw, lots of open knits, clean over sized shapes, eye catching prints, luxe fabrics, simplistic basics and statement jewellery. Pricing is set in the mid range between H&M and COS, a common price point is £39...I found myself sometimes a little confused picking up pieces surprised at how reasonable the price was and then at other times quickly putting a £49 teeny tiny cami back on the rail! I tried on some great pieces and if my shopping trip had been in closer proximity to pay day I would have definitely have left with multiple bags of fashion deliciousness, this only means I must return very soon after the 10th...!

To give you a better idea of what to expect I have pulled a flavour from the website, go on try resisting clicking through and adding a few sneaky bits to your basket...!

Linen Blend Maxi Dress, £39

Open Knit Mesh Jumper, £39

Cut Out Leather Dress, £145

Silk Cami, £39

Zip up Cotton Cardigan, £39

Double Breasted Blazer, £79

Leather Print Dress, £195

Slim Fit Jeans, £45

Cut Out Back Top, £29

Peplum Dress, £55

Twisted Box Chain Necklace, £25

Stacking Rings, £12

Rhinestone Ring, £12

Rope and Ring Statement Necklace, £39

How can I forgot to mention that there is also a huge focus on beauty and lingerie, you can literally pick up everything you need here bar your lunch and dinner! The lingerie is beautiful, lots of lace crop top styles with thin straps and pretty skinny backs in gorgeous pastel hues.....

Spearmint Lace Bra, £17

Padded Simple Bra, £19

Soft Lace Trim Bra, £17

Fishnet Crop Bra, £25

New shopping destination accomplished...you're welcome!!

This Week the Mice have Mostly Been...

Friday at last!

This is where I'd usually start my count down to Friday night cocktails or at the very least a gin & tonic or two, not this week though, this week I'm on the Perrier. As I was last week and as I will be for the foreseeable future... No, I haven't joined AA and I'm definitely not pregnant... I'm two weeks into Bikini Fit, a brand HK new girls only health & fitness program. 

Eleven bootcamp sessions down, a lot of chicken and leafy greens consumed and not a single drop of alcohol drunk (plenty of protein shakes though...). I'm definitely already a little flatter of tummy and generally feeling more sparky and energentic - very odd given that I start each morning by doing squats with kettle bells (heavier than my handbag on a really bad day) or hill sprints or burpees or all three and a few dozen press-ups for good measure. We're almost a quarter of the way in now, so still a few weeks to go, but I'll keep you posted on my progress...

When I haven't been dodging carbs or doing circuits, it's been a pretty busy week, so fitness aside, this week the Mice have mostly been...

Willing the HK cold snap to come sooner after eyeing up a delicious array of cashmere and winter boots at the opening party of Australian brand, Sambag's, first Hong Kong boutique. A favourite of Elle McPherson and Nicole Kidman, Sambag is known and loved for its luxe basics. At the launch yesterday evening I was majorly lusting after a butter soft pair of leather leggings and the perfect pair of black knee boots - the sort of boots you put on at the first chill of autumn and don't take off again until spring is tipping into summer... The launch party itself was pretty rocking with free-flowing champagne served by an army of very pretty boys, delicious canapes (tuna sashimi and mini fritatas - totally bikini fit appropriate), cupcakes (less bikini fit appropriate), an awesome DJ and goody boxes of macaroons in the brand's signature duck egg blue. Seeing as I resisted the champagne, the cupcakes and the macaroons (ok I may have had a nibble of a corner of a macaroon but it was the teeniest of nibbles), I definitely deserve to head back next week and snap up those leather leggings, the boots and while I'm there I may as well bag myself one of the heavenly cashmere tracksuits...

Channelling my inner witch and scaring the girls with a spooky Halloween supper. Halloween's a pretty big deal in Hong Kong. Lan Kwai Fong (HK's equivalent of Soho) is descended upon by the majority of the city in various states of fancy dress and drunkenness. I'd almost go as far to say it's as big as the HK Sevens and anyone who's ever been to the Sevens will know, that's one hell of a party... However, due to my current alcohol abstinence, I've been giving LKF a pretty wide berth recently so decided to have the girls round for a little Halloween dinner instead. Sticking to the high protein, low sugar, low carb Bikini Fit eating plan, I rustled up a creepy menu including delicacies like slime soup (aka pea soup), roasted skewered bat and mashed brain (chicken kebabs and quinoa with pomegranate seeds) and witches teeth (flaked almonds). Water all round and tucked up in bed by 10:30 - rock and roll...    

Snapping up tickets for me and a crew of pals for an evening of drinking in a good cause at the Hong Kong Room to Read Fundraiser. If you head down to Play on Wednesday 14 November, you can sip cocktails while polishing your halo knowing that you're helping to raise cash to educate children across Asia and Africa. Tickets are HK$350, which includes three drinks, canapes, a goodie envelope and a donation to Room to Read's Girl's Education Programme. On the night there'll be a raffle and an auction including stellar prizes like a weekend break at the Grand Soluxes Angkor Palace in Cambodia, Marc Jacobs handbags and Tory Burch amazingness. Make sure you RSVP by next Friday 9th November to nab yourself a spot. 

Stocking up on scraps of lace and pretty knicks at my favourite lingerie shop in Hong Kong, Sheer. Girls of HK, if you're sick of lingerie shops with an uninspiring array of miniature sized bras and boring knickers, get yourself down to Sheer immediately. Staffed by girls who understand underwear, know every line that the boutique carries inside out and want to make sure that you walk away with a bagful of super flattering, beautiful underwear, shopping at Sheer is a genuinely pleasurable experience. I always leave the shop with twice as much as I intended to buy... Shopping-phobic boyfriend in tow? Comfy sofas, bowls of chocolates and an array of lingerie coffee table books will be sure to keep him amused while you shop leaving you free to spend up a storm. Prices are reasonable but choice is vast, be warned you will leave considerably poorer than when you arrived...

And that's it for another week! Happy Friday, have a wonderful weekend!
x 
The Mice