Author Archives: marc

There’s a huge trend for big, fluffy teddy-bear coats and faux-furs, this season. And I must say that although big, furry coats are very attention-grabbing, (something I’m usually not too comfortable with, believe it or not), there’s something almost protective in their massiveness and fluffy bulk. They make you feel strong and confident rather than self-conscious or embarrassed. I suppose that they increase your size, somewhat – just like a peacock spreading it’s feathers or a cat making its fur stand on end – and so make you feel a bit more bolshy and puffed-up. This is one eye-catching trend that I can deal with – it’s not revealing or totally outlandish, but a big fluffy coat definitely pulls an outfit together and makes it look as though you’ve made far more effort than you really have.

I love this teddy-bear/furry trend so much that I collected together the best coats of the season and drove out to the seaside, car-boot crammed with samples, to film a fashion lookbook. The video will be up later on this week, but I couldn’t resist giving you a little preview! The coats on this page are both made by Unreal Fur, an Australian brand who make beautiful faux-fur jackets. The Fire & Ice style, shown above and at the bottom of the page, is really unusual and has a definite Kate-Moss-Rock-Chick vibe about it…

…and the De-Fur coat (above) is huge and shaggy and so very warm and comfortable that it’s almost as though you haven’t left your bed! It’s really striking and is possibly my favourite of all of the coats that I shot over the course of the day. It’s lined in grey jersey (nice touch) and the finishing is perfect. You’ll see it in full beach-walking action when the video goes live, but if you can’t wait then there are more details on ASOS.com here.

I definitely think that teddy coats and faux-furs are going to be my staple outer-garments of the winter months; warm, cheerful, supremely comfortable and as fashionable worn with jeans and a pair of battered Converse as they are slung over the top of an evening dress. You can find the Fire & Ice jacket at Hush – it’s £180. If you’re looking for this year’s “investment” jacket then these are absolutely worth a good look; amazing quality but not prohibitively expensive – the De-Fur is perhaps more of a trend buy, but the Fire & Ice wouldn’t date too fast as it already looks quite retro…

(Sizing notes: the De-Fur is roomy and a size “small” was perfect for me (I’m a solid UK10), the Fire & Ice was also “small” but a tad too little for me, but only because of my frontage. I probably could do with a “medium”.)

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A burning question, for those of you who’ve read The Cuckoo’s Calling and/or The Silkworm: who, in a TV or film adaptation of the novels, would play Cormoran Strike? Mr AMR and I have spent hours discussing this most important subject and, despite trawling through every single actor in the world on IMDB, we still haven’t found our man.

If you haven’t the faintest clue what I’m on about then you need to get stuck into the new Cormoran Strike detective novels that are topping the bestseller lists; J.K. Rowling has been writing them under a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, and they are proving to be quite the flavour of the year. They’re well-paced and filled with colourful personalities and although I’ve been a tiny bit disappointed with the endings in both cases, I thoroughly enjoyed them and couldn’t put them down! The main character, Cormoran, is a huge, hairy, ex-army interrogator with one-and-a-half legs and a psychopathic ex-girlfriend; he’s one of those characters you find yourself rooting for. Something of an underdog, living in his office with a fold-away camp-bed and boxes filled with his belongings, but also a figure with a bit of clout and authority, not least because of his huge size. What I like about Cormoran is that he’s fallible; throughout the novels you see him at his most vulnerable and pathetic as well as at his most professionally triumphant. In one moment he might be casually threatening a potential suspect, the next he might be slipping over on his false leg. He would be a very interesting character to play in a film or TV series, I’d imagine.

And so who would play him? Who would play Cormoran Strike? As I said, Mr AMR and I are at a loss; the closest we have come to a possible is Tom Hardy, but I think that’s just because we both love Tom Hardy. A friend pointed out that perhaps Hardy would be a bit on the short side (Cormoran is over six foot tall, Hardy is apparently around 5’8″) but is that a deal-breaker? He played Bane in Batman, after all; Bane’s the biggest guy on the planet. We are both desperate for suggestions so please leave them below – now there’s something enjoyable and entirely pointless to do with your Saturday morning!

(If you haven’t read the Cormoran Strike books then you can find them on Amazon here.)

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With the Pop Lip Colour + Primer, which launched last year, Clinique brought us a lipstick that was just about as perfect as could be. Great, intense colour, an easy to apply formula, a comfortable feel and a juicy, non-greasy finish. I had thought before testing them out that the Primer part would be a gimmick – just a word that they had thrown in to make the whole enterprise sound more marketable and unique – but to my great surprise the primer worked. It managed to smooth over minor flakiness and the colour didn’t bleed or wear off quickly. I think, at the time, I called Pop Lip Colour + Primer the perfect lipstick for learners. Foolproof.

Read the original Pop Lip Colour + Primer review…

And now Clinique have introduced a new little gem – the Pop Matte Lip Colour + Primer, which is probably one of the most wearable matte lipsticks you’ll find. If you’ve always wanted to go for that edgy, sultry, retro sort of look but have worried about getting dry lips or accentuating fine lines or flakiness then this is the starter stick for you. In fact, you’ll probably never move on from it if you try it – there’s no real need. It ticks all of the matte boxes (non-drying, vivid colour, a chalky-ish-yet-comfy finish) and, at £16, it most definitely does not break the bank.

Here I am sporting (sporting!) Peony Pop, a pink I thought I’d hate but instantly loved. It’s a pretty, girly shade but the matte finish makes it far more interesting than it would be were it your typical sheeny lipstick. Please ignore my red-tinted eyes, I was exploring the Chanel Le Rouge Collection before I shot this picture…

Someone has very kindly pointed out to me that Whistles currently have 20% off everything, including the gorgeous Lola dress that I wore on a recent trip to France. I mentioned that I wanted to buy it in khaki, so I was quick as a fox when I heard about the discount. Unfortunately, I have to wait for a call-back because the khaki one is an “order from store” item, but they have it to buy online in black (here), orange (here) and navy (here). All are reduced to £76 instead of £95.

The dress has a really relaxed fit, but the cut is extremely clever – nipped in at the right places so that it doesn’t just hang like a sack. The ultimate throw-it-on dress, looks great with sandals, boots and even Stan Smiths! The black is very chic indeed – I’m considering ordering a back-up version – but I do love a bit of khaki to jazz things up a bit. If jazz is the right word. (What is your sartorial life coming to when you consider khaki to be a jazzy splash of colour?!)

Other things in my basket, though I’m going to order them all at once when they phone me back: the bardot top, the striped Josie Dress and the double dot print Hannah dress. I’m tempted by lots of other things, but I have to rein myself in – I’m still trying to justify my one-wear Cannes dress from Issa*…

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