Back in Blighty

So I'm finally back from a crazy 5 days in Florence, with lukewarm showers, early 'continental' breakfasts and an easily filled lift in our cheapie hotel provided by uni (don't even get me started on that). With my weak pound affording me only 9 more euros than what I paid in pounds, I still seemed to think that I could do some major damage in the shops. I was wrong. The Prada outlet was a massive trek, and although the prices would've been decent this time last year, at the moment I seemed to be 300 euros short. I really don't know what I was thinking, and almost contemplated buying a Miu Miu shirt for €70 to make the trip worth it, but managed to drag myself back to some kind of sensible reality. This is what the place looks like:


If anyone wants to know how to find it, extortionate taxi prices, how to trek there from the station etc etc, e-mail me and I'll fill you in. I've decided that with the money I saved (or didn't have in the first price), I can now finance my ASOS spree I was talking about a few weeks ago. Maybe this will help sort out the economy. We'll see.

The whole point of our visit was the Pitti Filati trade fair, where all the swatch, trims, buttons and yarn companies sell their wares. It was apparently a lot smaller than usual, with many companies presenting from hotel rooms, but it was still worthwhile seeing the mini-garment ideas and prints and colours in the trend area. I'm looking forward to seeing who picks up on some of these details, and using them as inspiration for a new project after this mammoth amount of work I have to do.



Expensive trend and collections magazines were also being sold, but after seeing many titles I recognised from my local market, I decided to wait a while for a better and more expected deal. I did pick up a few cheaper magazines, purely for the knitwear techniques and collections at a glance, as well as good old Vogue Italia. I also rummaged in the 'bargain' section, and found some random Japanese street style magazines for €2 each (seems I'm the last person on earth to have heard of 'Fruits'), which makes me want to visit Japan even more. I'll try and post some inspiring pictures once I've waded through them all.



We also got to go to a large vintage fair, but after paying £40 for 30 something items at Angels, I can't seem to comprehend spending €600 on a vintage Chanel bag. Wait, actually I can... I managed to take some sneaky pictures of some stuff I liked, but alas could not afford. Really liked the fastening detail of the trousers on the right, methinks I will pillage them for my next project.


Also managed to pick up some vintage Missoni tights for a bargainous €5 each! I don't think I can go a week without buying a new pair of tights. I'm looking forward to layering the zig zag prints over some other colours.



I am so tired at the moment, and have a mountain of work ahead, but somehow am managing to plough through the 600 odd new items on Google Reader and the total redesign of the Topshop website (I like...I want). I do miss Florence though, its old buildings, fast traffic and strange trend for shiny puffy jackets, but now I've been brought back to reality with a bump after spending the best part of £250 on food, drink, tights and magazines. Now, I really must get out of bed, and sort my room out. I will try not to go on Google Reader for at least two hours in order to do this. You have been warned.