Brunch and Silver

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with the lovely Ellie and Bas. We met in Camden Passage (I was horribly late, there was cat sick involved) and had french toast and chats about what everybody has been up to. I’ve read Bas’s blog for ages but had no idea she was a musician! I feel like I know people quite well through reading their blog but obviously there’s parts you never see and don’t know about!

Bas walked with me to my Kings Cross office after and took the outfit photos. Thanks lady! This is classic Laila work outfit territory. This skirt was a gift. I love shiny things & I’ve gotten very into tight skirts recently (more like struggled into…). Needing to look smart all the time has really influenced my outfit choices over the last 6 months; I’ve basically given up with t-shirts and little girly dresses, probably good as I’m in my mid-twenties.

I got to hang out with Bas once more whilst she was over, she’s such a warm and funny person and a brilliant storyteller. I’m so glad we got to meet. Ellie is such a sweetheart; her blog is a new one to me but I’ve really been enjoying catching up! I’ve got a mental list of bloggers I’d like to hang with. Are there any bloggers you’d like to meet?

Skirt – River Island, £30. Top – charity shop, £1. Coat – Greece, ¢15. Bloglovin / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Website

realising myself.

These photos were taken in Exmouth Market a couple of weeks ago one lunchtime when the WP team headed out for lunch. It was just before Danilo left for a 3 month trip. I miss him hugely; it’s the worst aspect of my life at the moment which says a lot about my current life state.

Lots of good things are happening to me at the moment. Quizney, an idea I had in March, was successfully mounted last Sunday and attended by a sell-out crowd. I’m touring the USA in July with my own long-neglected songs. I’m going to Egypt, I’m going to Russia, I’m going to Cardiff. I’m writing a show with my creative soul mate. I’m working on a Wikipedia project, a way to say thank you to my favourite website. My favourite magical person returns at the end of this week. We will meet again.

Growing up I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Not a clue; no job I wanted to do, no place I wanted to live, no person I wanted to emulate, nothing. I think I just wanted to continue being the same person. I wanted to be able to research the things I was interested in, geek out with the musical theatre I liked, travel, learn, play lots of strange music, write my weird songs, wear my weird clothes, create big stage shows and crazy dances and just generally run around making stuff up. I wanted to do all the things I was already doing but on a bigger scale and without barriers. And that’s what I’ve ended up doing. Call it luck or call it being headstrong or call it grateful or call it arrogant. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Facebook/Twitter/Bloglovin

Dress of dreams

We were wandering around Cardiff when one of my friends noticed a shop selling brightly coloured sequin maxi dresses and said “Laila, your dream shop is here!”. I ran inside only to discover the most BEAUTIFUL dress I have ever seen nestled on the back wall. Peachy satin corset, sequinned lace flowers, frilly bows and diamnate ruffles leading into a lengthy feathered train; what more could any self-respecting fairy princess want?! The very friendly shop assistant told us it was the only one of it’s kind and had never been tried on. I pretty much leapt into it when I found out it was in my size and she kindly let me cavort around in it long enough for all the boys to get bored and head to the bike shop next door.

I always loved fairies and princesses and the bigger and more whimsical the better! My Pinterest board of dreamy clothes has a lot of frilly fantasy items and my love for princess clothing has led me to amass quite the collection of second hand wedding dresses over the years (sadly no groom in sight) and probably a few more tiaras than is necessary for a freelance musician and volunteer charity worker. Sadly I didn’t have a spare £365 to add this particular number to my collection, but rest assured as soon as I can I’ll be back to snap it up for future gigs, carnival parades and midnight dances with charming members of fairy royalty… well, I can dream right?

Facebook/Twitter/Bloglovin/LookBook/Pinterest/Flickr/Soundcloud

Moomin Skirt

I’ve been a big fan of the Moomins from a young age and like most people of my generation I came to know of the delightful inhabitants of Moominvalley via the nineties cartoon. I didn’t read the wonderful Tove Jansson books until I was in secondary school, and was enchanted all over again by the free-spirited Moomin family and their decidedly bohemian friends. A lot of the stories are overlain with melancholy, and the whimsical tales often carry a lot of depth or wisdom.

This particular fabric depicts the Moomins in the jungle or on safari (just like me!) and therefore combines two of my favourite things: Moomins and animals! Rather than a repeated print the full length fabric was like a mini tableau, featuring Little My commandeering a rhino, Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden climbing with the monkeys, Moominpappa dozing in a hammock above some tigers and Moominmamma calmly watering her pumpkins in between the chaos.

I’m holding my Moomin egg timer in these photos which is one of my most treasured possessions. I’m not from a very close family and we are all terrible at gift-giving (James says I’m just hard to buy gifts for, in which case I take after my Dad) but my Mum bought me this last Christmas and it’s one of the best presents I’ve ever had! I like to use egg timers when I’m practising to divide my time between different pieces.

I followed my usual skirt pattern (first seen here) and for this particular skirt I also engaged in some pretty rash pattern cutting decisions in a vague attempt to preserve certain characters. I sewed it by hand as I don’t have a sewing machine. Whilst this may have resulted in some untidy stitching (which would never have been allowed to see a shop floor) I don’t mind too much, as how many other people have a Moomin safari skirt?