Week 2 - The Bold and the Beautiful - Spring into fashion in Bath

Like any other fashion obsessive, I lust through the Spring issues of Vogue as the colourful Spring/Summer collections arrive.  This year’s dreamy haze of chiffon pastels, Great Gatsby 20’s flapper dresses, Stella’s pajamas and the delicious sea themed collection by Chanel are all to die for items but sadly a little out of my budget.

So I set off on my annual challenge to create the look by hitting the high street.  Whilst I like nothing more than a trawl through Selfridges or a mosey down the King’s Road, I live in Bath and luckily it happens to be a bit of fashion Mecca. 

Bath has some really fantastic boutiques where you can find the odd delicious designer piece that you can then accessorize by visiting the many mainstream high street fashion retailers here.  In the last two years Bath has opened a new shopping centre called Southgate with brands like: Hollister; All Saints; Top Shop; River Island; Urban Outfitters; Tommy Hillfiger and KG all within a stone’s throw.

To make it easy for anyone visiting Bath for a weekend shopathon – I have designed a simple tour starting at the top of town where the more expensive brands and boutiques reside and ending in Southgate.  As a bonus it’s all literally downhill!

Starting with the fabulous quality fabrics and Chi Mihara shoes in Toast on Bartlett Street – Spring was shouting CORAL in a big way.  


Further down the road, Mee, host to some fabulous brands such as Heidi Klein, Milly, Designer’s Remix to name but a few, had its Spring collection of Hudson jeans  in a great range of colours – I liked the violet.  Lux, next door, host to Anya Hindmarch, Lulu Guiness and Mulberry bags as well as a gorgeous selection of shoes for all budgets – had the latest Ash collection of summer wedges and is waiting for its bespoke range of Havaianas. I lived in them last Summer on the beach as well as the school run!  


Crossing the road to Prey, home to more great designer brands, including Paul Smith - they also have a vintage rail with some really great high end finds at knock down prices.  I am still green with envy at my friend’s Missoni velvet shirt from there.


Onto the main drag – Milsom Street is home to Reiss,  the lovely Comptoir des Cotonniers, currently sporting some great fresh lemon hues and my current love - beautiful suede wedge boots in a delicious mushroom or caramel and they insist on leaving them in the window!

Whistles now has an outlet in department store Jolly’s with some lovely bright leather Spring bags and belts, the Kooples has just arrived further down and then Square, next to Russell and Bromley is full of designer labels including: Isabel Marant Etoile; McQ; Marc Jacobs; and my downfall of the week – the Vivienne Westwood black leather biker jacket with peplum waist that happened to slip into my bag at its final end of sale knockdown price – it’s a forever thing! I blame fabulous blogger Becky May aka flower girl and her marvellous shop Mint that is helping me sell some pre-loved pieces to fund it!  She has the best taste and is a fellow Marant lover too! www.theflowergirlblog.com

Check out those boots!

Thank you Vivienne!

Green Street and New Bond Street to your left are host to more great boutiques including Sassy and Boo and Maze (great Nicole Farhi collection) but also more brands such as Jack Wills; Warehouse; Brora; Karen Millen; LK Bennett and a huge Jigsaw.  Continuing down Union Street you will find Office; Monsoon; Banana Republic and M&S en route to the new Southgate Centre, home to the brands listed above.

All Saint’s looks like a scene from Les Mis but has more gorgeous silk dresses this season and a really great shift dress that ticks the floral box but has a black background for the more grungy among us.  Top Shop has its usual bang on trend numbers but it was River Island where I fell for the cheaper version of Loewe’s geometric prints in the shape of their beach range.  This black and white shift with its pop of colour and gold sleeves is a bargain transitional piece to wear with wedges or black leather leggings until it heats up a bit – all for £20!!

Bath also has a great selection of vintage and retro fashion retailers, so more on these little known gems another time.  Shoes and accessories are abundant in Bath and deserve a blog of their own.

Making do?

So sorry Mr Vuitton -  much as I love your candyfloss dresses and Broderie Anglaise, I’m ticking the boxes with my vintage Reiss 20’s style dress (a nod to you Mr Gatsby) and my vintage shop find own Broderie Anglaise cap sleeve white jacket.

Tip of the week:

Whilst the Burberry trench will one day be mine…meanwhile Banana Republic do a mean high street version that’s fully lined, really tailored and a perfect transitional coat that’s warm enough for Spring and can handle the odd drizzle…


Next week: We didn't stop for a shot of caffeine on our tour of the shops so next week is dedicated to coffee and the plethora of great deli lunch options in Bath

Week One - A Fabulous 40th

Royal Crescent at night

Where do you take seven of your dearest friends flying in from glamorous lives all over the globe when it is one of their 40th birthdays'?


In truth it wouldn't matter where we went as precious time in each other's company was all that was required.  So, people arrived over the course of the evening to sup bubbles and soak it up with pizza beside a roaring fire and a huge amount of gossip.


Saturday morning, brunch and relaxing venues to chat some more were the order of the day. Fabulous Bath based massage therapist, Lucy Glendenning lucymassagebath@gmail.com swung by with her massage bed and treated us all to a full body experience that left us all walking on air!


We then floated into the city to Jacob's Coffee House http://www.jacobscoffeehouse.co.uk/ for coffee, panini's and yes more chat. Jacob's is so central you can spy into the Pump Rooms but has cosy space in the upstairs Georgian sitting rooms and has the benefit of being independent - it supports lots of great local producers, such as, the delicious Granny Gothard's ice cream http://www.grannygothards.co.uk/ - a personal favourite.


A visit to sample the healing waters at Thermae Bath spa http://www.thermaebathspa.com/ was curtailed as rain drove many tourists to try the same and the queue was too long. You can group book in advance if your party is more than 8 but we were too chilled out by this stage to mind.  We opted instead for a spot of retail therapy in the new Southgate Centre.  Whilst not full of Bath's unique boutiques, Southgate offers most of the mainstream fashion retailers all within a five minute stroll of each other.  More on this in my retail blog next week.


After tea, cake and more bubbles it was time to repair to our rooms for some serious primping. We chose Sub 13 http://www.sub13.net/ - for its slightly more glamorous and discreet crowd for some pre-dinner drinks.  They also create the best cocktails in Bath with an ever increasing appetite for mixology (check out the menu for yourself on the website).  Bar manager, Alex had put us on the list and kept a lovely space in the old wine vault free for us and our weary, heeled feet!

On for dinner...shunning Bath's more expensive options (Olive Tree, Hudsons), we opted for French style bistro chain Cote http://www.cote-restaurants.co.uk/ which was nearer and in my opinion always a safe option for an eclectic range of tastes and requirements. Cote resides in the venue of Bath's popular gastro pub Moon and Sixpence which sadly lost the battle to the recession. The service at Cote is always excellent and take note, birthday bookings are met with complimentary Kir Royale's all round.


Clubbing was curtailed due to an early leaver but for a more sophisticated late night venue, I had Circo or the Common Rooms in mind - more on bars in Bath another week.


Next week: The snowdrops are out so its time for Spring retail therapy in Bath...watch this space for the best boutiques, brands and fashion finds....


Tip of the week:  Visit fabulous Mee Boutique http://www.meeboutique.com/ and adjacent Lux http://www.luxshoes.co.uk/(shoes and bags) on Bartlett Street who have put out last Summer's beautiful Milly and Heidi Klein to name just a couple of great brands, at absolute knockdown prices.  Perfect to take you in to Spring 2012 at a fraction of the price.