EXHAUSTION // ARTISTRY // PURPLE PURCHASE

Photo Credit to Darlene Andrews

Photo Credit to Darlene Andrews

The dress, scarf and hot water bottle: Primark / 

The skirt: Forever 21 / The Mac sleeve: V&A

This week has been a whirlwind that's left me in its dust. My mind spins when I think of all I've viewed, purchased, and appreciated in the past 7 days. This week, I have managed, with the generous guide and help of my aunt and uncle, to appreciate the production of Jersey Boys, scrutinize through the Wedding Dress exhibit at the V&A, admire impressionistic artwork, complete an all day shopping trip on Oxford street, and create a Macbook Air sleeve out of a tea towel, some batting and a button! I'm nodding off as I write this post so my apologies if some of it is incoherent!

A definite highlight of this week- out of the many activities accomplished- would be this morning's trek to the Tower of London. Dragging myself out of bed ripe and early to beat the crowds, my aunt and I took an extensive tube ride to the Tower, which featured an incredible art installation to commemorate over 800 000 deceased soldiers. The poppies are displayed cascading to be perceived as rushing blood. The number of ceramic poppies is astonishing.

Our exploration of the Tower commenced with a swift goal of viewing the crown jewels. What is usually an hour long wait was a one minute walk through the rooms which lead into the appreciation of the largest diamond in the world. At a whopping 530.2 carats, the Cullinan I glistened from a golden sceptor. In my opinion, the entirety of the crown jewels are, well, unnecessarily decorated. One thing is for sure: the question of "Is this a need or a want?" definitely did not cross their mind when they decided to make a 546 pound punch bowl made from gilded silver that never once was used. Anyways, the trip continued with an amusing tour given by a decorated retired military man who educated me on the gruesome details of execution in the Tower's past. The afternoon was completed with a beautiful stroll around the Tower's wall.

Above is pictured of my shopping haul from an amazing store called Primark which is comparable to nothing and my best description could not do it justice. It's as if H&M, Forever 21 and Zara all combined in style and dropped their prices by 10%. I filled my bag and then looked down, realized I had limited packing space, and ended up investing in a purple dress that fit nicely into an already bulging bag. (The "wellies" I received earlier in the week did not help the packing process either!)

Merci pour votre temps,
(Thanks for your time!)

LONDON VIBES // SHAKESPEARE // BLACK & GREY

Photo Credit Philly G.

Photo Credit Philly G.

My cousin Katy and I made it to London after a long day of travel which included the usual awful feeling of jetlag accompanied by sore muscles from an unscheduled run through the Chicago airport. We took on London by storm and, with the gracious help of my aunt and father, we navigated around spotting famous areas and being incredibly astounded by all the amazing views. (incl. The Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral, & Buckingham Palace)

Our second day was one to be remembered. The air was light, the jet lag was dissipating and Comedy of Errors was playing in the Globe theatre. With our £5 tickets, we became 'groundlings'. We experienced the play standing, up close and leaning on the stage while the actors almost stepped on our hands and startled us with their comedy. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

Katy left this morning so today I rummaged around London with the help of my aunt. We viewed art at a collection house that featured several beautiful Rembrandts and got home in time for dinner and cappuccinos. London is spectacular.

Inspired by the Londoner look, I wore my 'kimono' type overlay from F21 over a long sleeve, high waisted AE jeans and Chelsea Boots from somewhere in Germany. The locals here dress classily and a well tailored suit is often seen. If you get passed all of the tourists, the London vibes are calm, introverted and, outfit wise and otherwise, meaningfully composed.

Cheers,

ANTICIPATIONS // PREPARATIONS // LIGHT NEUTRALS

The pressure of this first blog post is looming. Not only because I feel incessantly narcissistic for starting a blog but also because of the fear of commonness in greeting the general public. The simple "hello world" has been overused so I'll start by simply saying:

Welcome to the confused, slightly deranged, humorous mind that embodies Chez Hannah.

If you don't know me-which, in all seriousness, you probably do-I'm heading off to London for a bit then North England for around 6 months. This grand adventure inspires me to create meaningful outfit plans, crazy schedules to see all of the museums and amazing architecture London has to offer as well as a list of all the places I have to eat, drink coffee, or sip a cuppa tea.

My trip to England in a few days brings crazy anticipation, and the need for intense preparations. Because of my love for clothes and addiction to stalking recent runway shows, my favourite of the long list of things to do before I leave was the need for some basic clothing staples and to chop off my long, straggly hair.

Along with the new cut, I'm sporting Mango's jeans and sweater, and Converse runners. The outfit itself is a mild attempt to create an in-between season combination. Hopefully my next posts will include more inspiring pieces like the NYFW's runways have. Needless to say, if I weren't going to London in a few days, I would most likely be more upset that I'm not in New York.

Also, my apologies that I am not a model and my thanks to my brother, Andrew for the photography and my parents for owning a garage to take pictures in front of.


Thanks for reading,