Zara AW13

I'm feeling very deprived in Manchester at the moment - my beloved Zara has closed for refurbishment for several months and I am unable to browse the new season collection to my hearts content.

Viewing the AW13 look-book isn't helping matters. In fact, all that it is doing is helping me to build up an extensive wishlist of autumnal 'essentials': the oversized tartan coat, the cropped jumper, the silk pleated skirt, the giant clutch.

Images c/o Zara

Ice Ice Baby

I'm building up a nice little list of where I want to go, what I want to see.

Thanks to Kinga Burza, Iceland is now approaching the top of that list. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world that comes close to that majestic scenery.

Fragments of Berlin

I miss being in Berlin. I miss the insanely hot 35 degree days and the balmy mid-20 nights. I miss cycling around Kreuzberg without a care in the world, stopping for drinks in new favourite bars. I miss exploring Spree Park and lying on the jetty in Treptower Park and lazing in the Badeschiff.

Feel free to comment/email if you are visiting Berlin and would like any tips!

1-3 The Holocaust Memorial

4 Selfies led in Tiergarten Park

5 The Currywurst Museum

6-7 Madame Claudes

8 Photo Automat

9 On a pedalo in Mugglesee

10 Papayas Thai

11-12 Club de Visionaere

13 Late night waiting for the U Bahn

14 The Badeschiff

15 Mugglesee

Women Only

Who doesn't love a good fashion short film?

Perfectly fitting with the current transitional season, Chanel's Pre-Fall campaign video shows a bevy of top models crowding into a packed old-school movie theatre to watch a (what else?!) Chanel fashion short.

Current super-stars Cara Delevingne and Lindsey Wixon appear besides dozens of other models dressed head-to-toe in the latest Chanel looks. The classic Chanel tweed features heavily, updated for Pre AW13 with a strong contrast between feminine frills and androgynous loose tailoring. Cuffs were chunky, hair was dishevelled and boots were heavy lace-up biker styles. 

The Last Days of Summer

So much for the last hazy days of summer. It will soon be Autumn but at the minute it's just a bit blah. I've already begun thinking about ankle boots, a new forest green coat, silk shirts and soft knits. I'm looking forward to walking through fallen red leaves wrapped up in a thick scarf. Here is a last bid for summer. Bright colours, pink flowers, blue seas, bare feet, beaches and warm sun. 

Unknown, Christian Gustavsson, Daniella Johansson, Kinfolk, Le Blog De Betty, Natalie Suarez by Emma Jane Kempley, Searching for Tomorrow, Shine by Three x2.

Spree Park

I'd love to boast that we snuck in to Spree Park, that we helped each other climb over the fence and crept around the place hiding from the guard dogs.

However, we didn't. We stumbled across a tour on our last afternoon, hours before we had to leave to catch our plane. Our guide rambled on in German and a lovely women translated the interesting bits for us as we clambered around the disused rides, savouring every moment.

If you visit Berlin and want to book on a Spree Park tour, it is near impossible to find any information on-line, aside from a German-only website that gives an apparently out of use phone number. The tour we went on commenced at 4pm on Saturday. If you find the entrance to the park and wait there from 3.30, you should bump into the tour guide. It's the entrance right around the back, where you can see the elephant through the rusty gates.