My latest tour

Since the age of about 2 i have been lucky enough to be shown and taken to the most amazing places. From trekking through rainforest's in the deepest parts of Madagascar to sunning it up in Biritz.. (OK tiny bit spoiled i guess). However i never ever thought i would be given a tour on my own neighbouring town Harlow. when approached by Bridgette Ashton + Kitty Wingate to tour the town id been hanging out in for years, i was a little apprehensive.. what could they possibly tell me about Harlow?? Its got a dogey shopping center, a few manky pigeons and a club that is as popular as the cheeky girls. To cut a long story short i had never been so wrong in my life..

Both artists Bridgette and kitty toured around 10 of us through the town itself. The reason for their tour was to promote their new photo book ,Plan(available at www.bridgetteashton.co.uk).

During the tour i started to feel terrible about myself. I counldn't believe quite how much i had taken for granted. It does prove their really is a difference between looking and seeing. All those years and all i payed attention to was what was going on in Top Shop. In a million years i didn't think their was an essence of beauty to Harlow. (well .. anything worth leaving Top Shop for!)

Throughout the tour i started to think of Harlow as a jungle of shape, colour and character no longer was it the grimy shopping center i once thought it was. Ashton's and Wingate's expression and enthusiasm rubbed off entirely. i almost wish i had dragged all the passing public into this group of learning and shooouttt stopp loook at this look how cool it is.

From now on I'm not just going to look I'm going to see.

My fave shop in new york

When you do a course such as fashion communications and promotions its very hard to walk into a shop with out analysing everything about it. This is what i found my self doing throughout this trip. Sometimes you wish you could switch it off just so it doesn't ruin your dreams of the first time you walk into Tiffany's on 5 Th avenue. But the beauty of having this knowledge to Anylise and assess a shop really comes into play when you actually find a shop that ticks all the boxes. When you find this shop you get this burst of excitement that makes you want to ask a million questions and run around the shop taking thousands of pictures. This is exactly what happened when i found Charles Nolan, a small shop that stood on a corner of a what seemed to be an empty area in the meat packing district. When looking at the store from afar theirs nothing to get excited about, as all you see is the pale grey exteriors of the shop but as you walk closer the contrast of the bright window display against the building itself drags you inside. When walking into the store it feels as though you have just stepped into a home. In the foreground you can see various items of clothing hanging in between various eclectic objects scattered around the store . As you move further in you are greeted with a till area, on the counter stood what looked like a family tree made from a collection of ribbons. As you followed the ribbons down, your eyes are drawn to about 5 or 6 family pictures. I asked the smiley lady behind the counter who these people are . The lady smiled yet again and went on to tell me they were in fact her family.. Not only were they here family but they were in fact Charles Nolan's family. This was great! not only is Charles Nolan using family as staff but he was making the brand feel very family orientated. I think this is a great marketing technique as allot of people will warm to the thought of a family buisness an relate to the family idea. The lady proceeded to tell me that he used all of his grandchildren in all of his catwalks and "family are very important to him". Immediately walking around the store i felt as though i was walking around Charles Nolan's very own home. As you carried on through the store you walk into what seams to be a living room with a fire, sofas and a coffee table which held various Charles Nolan's catalogues and books he used for inspiration. The whole store had a kind of vintage feel as you walk round into the back room the jewelry was scattered into silver dish as though you were looking into someones jewelry box. I think this is a really good way of displaying jewelry to women, not only is it showing the consumer what it would look like when they store it for themselves but also what it would look like in the home its automatically triggering the consumer to think about owning it themselves. I think the public find great interest and pleasure in looking around other peoples home and watching how people live, why else would we watch big brother , grand designs and wife swap? I think stores have definitely clocked on to this and are applying it to their stores. Overall i believe Charles Nolan was the best store that i had been into in the meat packing district. With its clever visuals, homely atmosphere and gorgeous designs id definitely go back. I think its all very well putting a rusty old television into a shop to make it vintage but you must relate it to the brand and its values. And i found Charles Nolan did this very well, everything he put in his store had a purpose and also looked dam good.

Central park zoo

A Polar bear, a penguin, snow monkeys and a snow leopard were certainly not something i thought id be laying my eyes on in new york city.

Central park

Central park was so good i went twice, once by horse and cart and once by foot. My first experience of central park was limited to seeing a small section whilst sitting on the back of a horse and kart. sitting under a blanket that seemed to have been there for a good few years ( and needed a good old wash) this matched well with the dated plastic flowers that hung from the horse. The mini trip was a fun experience but something that should be done very light heartedly .. you don't see much and the man that drives you gives u information such as " that's were that scene on home alone was shot ".
My second experience was definitely the best of the two. A group of us decided to spend our 3rd day exploring the sights of the park. We started by getting a cab to drop us off at the top of central park this meant we could walk our way back through the park down to fifth avenue. whilst exploring the park flashbacks of being 8 kept recurring in my head .. every Disney film now made sense! "This is were 101 Dolmations was set" and pretty much every other film i could think of that involved a fairytale princess or talking animals. We all felt as though we were in some kind of secret garden that was just ours. When we came across the Alice in wonderland statue my trip was complete i found myself acting like a 5 year old climbing all over the beautiful statue insisting that people should take pictures of me sitting with the mad hatter. After about 20 minutes of Alice in wonderland pictures the girls decided it a good idea if we got moving again. After the statue we couldn't find much else apart from allot of ice coverd puddles and massive rocks. Once we had clambered up a fairly steep hill we had nearly lost the will to live, Until we were greeted with the most amazing views across a icy lake surrounded by tall trees which were surrounded by even taller buildings of the city.wow.
After taking a million pictures of this view we were getting to the end of our journey around the park and found that thier was one place we must visit .... central park zoo.

The subway

The subway was an exciting experience for us girls, as we had heard of how people had made life long friendships and seen the selection of "Borat" scenes filmed in the very carriages we had sat. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to meet some fashion editor and we could be best friends, or maybe we too could be featured in one of Sacha Baron-Cohen's new film. When we entered the subway it wasn't as glamorous as id previously thought. I found myself comparing it constantly to the London underground. And to be honest the subway won on the practical front. Its spacious carriages meant that everyone could travel comfortably which is a rarity when travelling the underground. although the subway won on that front i found it didn't quite have the character as the London underground supplies. each station in London is plastered in thousands of brightly coloured posters even the brick work is usually designed with the brightest pallet. The subway had none of this, it almost felt as though we were rattling around in an empty (but spacious) tin can. i suppose it all depends on what you want from your source of city travel .. do you want speedy spacious (quite boring) travel or do you want a journey through the very crowded humid but very aesthetically pleasing underground i know what i would probably prefer ...

Nyc Graffiti

some i found ...

The meat packing district

By far my favourite place in the city, this place is a parade full of the very best designers and the best atmosphere. Walking through the cobbled streets of the meat packing district you feel as though you have unreeled a hidden gem. Each shop bounces a vibe of culture, glamour,eccentricity from window to window. Each shop itself felt like its own little world with stores thinking majorly about in store visual merchandise and architecture. Matthew Williamson's store in particular was mind blowing. Walking through the store your greeted by separate booths displaying each collection at its best, but as you move further through the store your eyes suddenly are sucked towards the back wall. This back wall was glass, But obviously Williamson knows better than to just have a boring glass wall at the back of his glamorous shop , instead there is a whole jungle of tropical trees and exsotic animals something you could look at everyday and find something new. The changing rooms were beautifully decorated each room unique. when i tried a dress on i found myself in the golden room. This room was small but still something i was impressed by . The walls were encrusted in metallic insets as well as diamante birds on a sea of golden wall paper. The seating in this room was anything from normal. The chairs arms seamed to curl over forever with a red Velvet cushion seat. The hooks in this room were brass hands making you feel as though you had your own butler holding your clothes. It wasn't only the shop that impressed me , as soon as i tried this dress on i felt amazing . My friends couldn't quite believe that i was standing in a Matthew Williamson dress but i definitely could. Each aspect of this dress felt as though i had put on something special, from its bejeweled neckline to its floaty hem .. i could only dream about owning this dress for myself.

After wandering through the likes of Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen,Dvf, and many more we decided it was time to go and check out the views on an old railway track that looked over the water to Brooklyn. A little warning this should not be done with out a massive coat and gloves when venturing out here in January. We managed to find a pier to walk out on to look at the view .