Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know, I know. "Weekly" is a somewhat aspirational term for this. Hmmm.

Anyway, the new newsletter has gone out! You can read it HERE, and you can have updates sent direct to your inbox HERE.

This week's update includes;

- BOTM November
- Confessions of a Shopaholic
- The Guardian's Fashion Statement & Saving Luella
- New badges/logos etc
- Christmas plea!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Four days spent in bed with flu over the weekend has meant that I have not had to break my shopping ban.

Last Friday night I had a coveted pair of tickets for the Jimmy Choo at H&M launch. I have had the tickets safely stowed on my bedside table for the last month. My best friend and I had been planning our weekend of fun in London (where she lives) for weeks. It was to be two fun-packed girly days of shopping, galleries, liquid lunches and cocktails. But alas, it was not to be as last Wednesday I was struck down with the dreaded lurgy. Not quite Swine Flu but it certainly didn't like me.

The one bonus to having to miss the Jimmy Choo night was that I bought nothing and therefore did not have to bend the rules of my shopping ban at all. I have, however, had to endure seeing all the pictures of the beautiful things I might have been able to buy had I been there. Most upsetting.

This week though, clothes and (Jimmy Choo) shoes have been replaced with my new photography addiction! In the absence of pretty new things I found myself ordering films, paper, lenses, cleaning brushes. Photography has become my new obsession in recent months. It has also become my "very valid" excuse for purchasing numerous fashion magazines in the name of research. Carrie Bradshaw, in Sex

and the City, tells us, "When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I would buy Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more." Now the photos of beautiful clothes in Vogue have become my substitutes for the real thing! I could sit there for hours staring at their beauty and still not tire of it! And it's not just Vogue, the floor beside my bed is currently home to Elle, Grazia (this week's and last!) and Lula.

I'd better get back to my sick bed and all that reading!

So, as I'm sure you're all aware, we got our lovely new logo a couple of days ago, courtesy of the wonderful Claire Napier - but Claire's been extra specially wonderful, and has been doing us some more doodles, which I'm currently dealing with.

So, in view of the recent comments about how BRIGHT our new logo is, I've been thinking about you all, and I sympathise; if your blog is pale, it might stand out a little!

So, we now have two badges, and two Blog Of The Month Winners' badges;

The regular badge, and the Dancing Girls badge...

If you have lost your badge code, or want the Dancing Girls code instead, please email me HERE, and explain which you require.

To get your first badge, please register, HERE

Dancing Girls BOTM badge, and regular BOTM badge!

To win one of these, please click HERE - and keep checking back to see when the BOTM competitions open up again!

NB: Dancing Girls badges also come in a smaller size!

I am fully in love with our brand new logo, courtesy of columnist and absolute blooming star, Claire Napier!

(c) British Style Bloggers & Claire Napier 2009

Before you all tell me what you think, I'm going to explain the concept to the logo - Claire and I decided that we wanted to keep elements of the old logo, but build on it, to make it more "British" - the figure is based on "Britannia".

So that you can look and compare...

The old logo, and then Claire's first sketch for this one, and then the new logo...

So, what do you think? Personally, I absolutely blooming love it, but I'd love to know what you think!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

This post isn't my planned column but due to some horrible news about the Luella brand.

If you saw my first guest post on here, 'Luella Love', you can guess I am quite distraught at the news that the wonderful British brand Luella has lost the support of its main backer and has stopped trading. The problem started a month before the lovely ss10 show when her supplier went bust.

What can we do? Well unless you have the money to invest you may not think much, but it's still worthwhile showing out support. Sceptics may disagree, but I think that the more we all show how much we love Luella the better an investment she'll look! =] Support the lovely designer and her team.

1) Tweet about the cause. Cause a stir in the world of Twitter. #saveluella

2) Fet a 'twibbon' for your avatar on Twitter. Now this one was new to me, but you can get a nice little 'Save Luella' logo on you picture. Get one here: http://twibbon.com/join/SaveLuella

3) Become a fan of Luella's official facebook page and join the 'Save Luella' group. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Luella-Bartley/72496822432?ref=ts http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/saveluella?ref=ts

4) Post a badge on your blog. This lovely badge that can be seen over at Intrinsically Florrie was made by 'I want you to know' blog. Get it here: http://www.iwantyoutoknow.co.uk/2009/11/save-luella.html .

5) Show how much you love Luella style. I love wearing Luella (well the few pieces I own anyway!). If you're lucky enough to have some, or have some Luella inspired clothes, why not style an outfit in honour of the brand and send it to intrinsicallyflorrie@yahoo.co.uk and you'll see it posted on Intrinsically Florrie. :)

6) You are now also welcome to send in your Luella inspired Polyvore sets.

Luella Style by intrinsicallyflorrie featuring Luella

There is still some hope for the brand I and so many others adore, you can do your bit. =D

I wasn’t always a shopaholic, in fact for years fashion seemed to completely pass me by, as is evidenced by many a photo of me during my teenage years.

But despite being a late starter, since I discovered the joy of shopping and new clothes, I have never looked back.

As a student I remember many occasions when I would eat beans on toast for a week in order to be able to afford a new item of clothing.

It was also whilst I was a student that I learned the therapeutic properties of shopping. After a difficult lecture or particularly long (hour’s) seminar or completing an essay I almost always found myself rewarding myself with a new top or pair of shoes or something similar!

This mentality continued into my working life. If I’d had a long day or a long week or a long meeting at work I almost always found myself comforting myself with a new top or pair of shoes or something similar!

So for the last three years, since I graduated I have each month found myself splurging within days of being paid and living on beans on toast for the rest of the month.

This summer I finally decided that something needed to change. I couldn’t carry on living like a student when I clearly hadn’t been one for some time.

So on 11 July 2009 I decided to impose upon myself a six month shopping ban. To many this will seem like needless torture but I had my reasons. These were;

1. To save money - for a deposit for a house and to finish learning to drive before I'm 30!!

2. Because I was fed up with being told that I "have too many clothes"!! And was intrigued as to what was actually in my wardrobe - the stats say that most women only wear 10-20% of what they own, so maybe I can start wearing some of the remaining 80-90% of mine!!

There were to be a couple of exceptions to the ban, I could still buy;

1. Tights/socks/knickers – as I considered these to be essentials!

2. Maybe also, plain tees, but only when the ones I currently own are beyond use!

3. And finally, I was also beg/borrow/steal items when necessary and customise too - or rather get my little sister to customise or make me new things!!

That was four months ago now. So far, I have managed to stick to the ban and to the rules that I imposed upon myself in July.

I'd deffinitely recommend going to the SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution exhibition at Somerset House, it's quite an experience.  It was so unique and varied, giving me so much to think about. If you really want to see everything though, make time for all of the video installations and such- and if you go on the day of a live photo shoot and want to stick it out (see further down), be prepared to get lost in the magical world for hours.

On the day I went there was a Tim Gutt and Shona Heath photoshoot, and even luckier people got to watch an actual British Vogue cover shoot shot by reknowned photographer Nick Knight with the beautiful Natalia Vodianova- I was avidly watching the online stream and taking lots of screen caps. The two day shoot was for the February 2010 issue and the theme was 'Fairytale'. There are an awful lot of images from this over at Intrinsically Florrie, but I shall not make this post go on forever. Never fear if you haven't visited yet, there are lots more events planned for the exhibition if you haven't been already. the websites: http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/ http://www.showstudio.com/

The SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution at Somerset House     Embankment Galleries, Strand, London WC2R 1LA     17 September - 20 December 2009

Guest blog by Tumi of Babycakes Blog.

Destination numero uno was E1's Brick lane! Must say...this place is like the secret garden with its one-of-a-kind shops, quirky streets and its inhabitants...Brick lane is actually one of my fav spots in London town...! We had to pull ourselves away from the sights and smells we encountered upon arrival, to do what we really set out to do that day: Look for materials for our lingerie! Well after a futile attempt of searching, we found ONE shop open..wow-wow-weee-waah!!!! Well we would show u guys our findings but they are top secret! But lets just say we were soo excited seeing the potential of our brand because of the huge range of materials we found! Cant wait!!!!!

So with our spy bags in hands we set out to expose the flaws (& some perfections) of the some of the world's top lingerie brands on the infamous Oxford Street!

Our first stop was Topshop, and the brands included Wonderbra and exclusive collections by designers like French lingerie LEGEND Fifi Chachnil. Our favio pieces from the range include the rosie posie bralet, the chiffon bandeau bra and the silk cotton lace overlay, but non of them came in our size (argh!). So all we could do was admire the colour choices...it was a frign rainbow in that little corner of the store & it was nice to see them using daring but complimentary colour combinations, such as the hot pink bra with the cream lace detail and black stitching).

(Babycakes isn't just for Zeze & TT, its for everyone with the same annoyance, in not finding whats right for you, in not feeling comfortable in how you look and feel! So this is a positive step for us, our friends and for anyone with the same issues!)

So after Topshop, we wanted to actually talk to girls that dont know, so that we could (for ourselves) know that all of this is not in vain! We talked to a few young ladies:

Armina (17), a student from London could relate with our "Fitting problems" post. Her cute and petite frame was most defo not the 36 F that she had been told that she was. She emphasised her problems, of which included finding decent bras for someone her age that were stylish and practical and within her means (after all guys, it is a recession!). She wants bras that reflect her rocknroll/ london punk style without compromising the kind of outfits that she can wear!

Kemi (20), a student at UCL. She is a jaw dropping 28 H, and we discussed her problems of finding pretty and sexy bras that fit her. She is at times reluctant to show her breasts (in a tasteful way of course) so she says that she would rather hide them than embrace their beauty! My Gosh this is sad, and she's such a beautiful girl, so u would not think that something as simple and easily solved as a bra could have such an effect on someone. Well Kemi, we hear ya, and u took the words right outta our mouths, Thanks for understanding!

Our next stop was Debenhams and they had a lot more choice than Topshop! There was Ultimo, Wonderbra and  Freya etc. The Ultimo model Mel B has really done the brand justice in the pics, but sadly in person they are not as sexy as they look. It might just be a case of 'one mans meat is another mans poison but OMG they are kinda ugly! Out favio's from the collection were the basics range (but u cant really go wrong with that can u!).

(what is it with the peach?)

Other brands like Panache was just the same blahhh, but the only good thing was that they did cup sizes D-K.

The panache bra above was crowned the U-G-L-Y-liest bra that we saw! WHO WOULD BUY THAT? (if u would, pls let us know & why...oh why..) Everything about it is the opposite of Bbyckz! The straps are hideous! They look like they have been designed to harness the worlds biggest breasts, & how many bows does a bra really need?!?

Overall this day was great because we were able to see what the "best" brands had to offer with all their years of experience and expertise, and we must say, we are not impressed! Only Topshop managed to gets some ooohh's and ahhh's out of us (shame about the sizes)! The collections at Debenhams looked like they are not aimed at the fashion conscious ladies of today, so well...guess its up to us! Well we are very excited for the next chapter and bringing all our dreams to light.

Bbyckz to the rescue!

Thnks Guys

-X-

Hey! :)

Sorry that there wasn't an update last week - I have pretty much been flat-out dead for a week!

This week's weekly update, to include...

- Columnists intrduction!
- Timeless Fifty Fashions
- Facebook
- Survey
- And FAQs

Make sure you click & read!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

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