NYC: Day 4

This was our final full day in New York. We did so much while we were out there that I can't believe it was actually such a short trip. We woke up early to make the most of our remaining time, and headed to The High Line, a must see for those visiting the city. It's a renovated railway line elevated above the city which makes for a lovely walk and some spectacular views. It was so nice to be away from the traffic, and be able to walk around without bumping in to people.

After our peaceful stroll, we headed to FIT to check out the two exhibitions they had on, Fairy Tale Fashion and Denim: Fashion's Frontier. I wasn't that impressed by the denim exhibition, but the Fairy Tale Fashion exhibition was amazing. Some of the garments you could see were heavily influenced by the fairytales like the Red Riding Hood cape pictured above, whereas others were just beautiful gowns which I could've happily spent all day lusting over.

Next on our list of things to do was Chelsea Markets. It wasn't quite what I had expected. I had pictured more vintage and clothing stalls, but it was more of a food and homeware/gifts market. Within the building there was also the Artists & Fleas market which had lots of jewellery and gift items.

We continued our journey downtown and explored the West Village and SoHo area, home to all the designer stores. I felt a little out of place walking through the doors to Marc Jacobs, but it was nice pretending that I could actually shop at these places. We stayed out till the shops started closing, then caught the subway back, finishing off our evening with a meal at our favourite place Bread & Butter.

I hope you've enjoyed my New York blog series. Thanks for reading!

Aderyn x

ASOS Haul

Yellow Sandals, £35, Truffle Collection Heeled Boots, £35; Real Suede Fringed Clutch Bag, £9.50; Side Lace Up Vest, £10; Long Sleeved Backless Body, £18. (And my fur coat from the New York posts, £32.50)

As a member of Access All ASOS and a lover of the brand, I recently entered a competition to win a £100 ASOS voucher. I was so shocked to find out I'd won, because as cliche as it sounds, I actually never win anything! Combined with a £30 voucher from my birthday, I hit the fashion website to do a little bit of shopping, and this is what I picked up!

The yellow sandals aren't something I would usually buy, but I fell in love with them as soon as I laid eyes on them. As for the black boots, okay yes I already own a pair of black heeled boots, but these ones have a chunky wood effect heel and amazing patchwork detail, so they were a necessity. I can tell they're going to become my staple going out boots.

Another lace-up item that caught my eye was this cream top. I decided I wear way too many dark colours, so this is a perfect addition to my wardrobe. Continuing with tops, I've wanted a backless body for such a long time, but it's so hard to find one that fits right. I ordered two strappy ones before settling on this long sleeved number. The sleeves provide more coverage, and make everything feel a little more secure, which is definitely something you need when risking it braless. I can't wait to wear it out.

I grabbed such a bargain with this fringed bag. It's real leather and was only £9.50 in the sale! I'll admit that I find holding clutch bags a bit annoying; I forever wish they had a strap that I could just fling over my shoulder and forget about. But no, I have to balance holding drinks and my bag while also busting out some serious dance moves on a night out. However I made an exception for this clutch because I just love fringing.

Another item I bought which I haven't included a photograph of is my fur coat. You'll have seen it if you've read any of my New York posts (which you should definitely check out!). I only brought one coat to uni so a second was definitely needed. The coat is rather oversized; sometimes I feel like a pigeon puffing it's chest, other times I feel like a stylish 70's hooker. But it's super cosy and kept me warm while in New York - I love it.

Hope you enjoyed this haul!

Aderyn x

NYC: Day 3

Wearing: Grey Coat, Primark; Black Turtleneck, New Look; Grey Trousers, Urban Outfitters; Shoes, Topshop

We didn't have too much planned for our third day in The Big Apple, promising a much less stressful experience. We began with breakfast in a place called Bread & Butter right near the hotel. This buffet/cafe/market soon became our favourite place to eat. The selection they have is unbelievable. I personally opted for yogurt, fruit and granola every morning, but they had cereal, giant smoothies and cooked buffet breakfasts, as well a whole lot of dinner time options and a small market section where you could buy snack foods.

We had to be back at the hotel pretty early to be taken to our Garment District Tour. I was a little reluctant about the tour at first but it turned out to be much more fun and informative than I first imagined. We were taken in to a huge fabric store where we began with a talk from the girls at Wanderlust, about how they got started with blogging and where it has taken them. This was around the time that blogging really kicked off, and their success seemed pretty quick. I understand that this isn't quite the same nowadays as everyone has a blog, but it would be nice to think that one day I could be as successful as them.

Next we did a little activity with the designer who was running the tour. We were split in to teams and she asked us each to pick a fabric for her next collection. It was all a bit of fun, but it really taught me how much thought goes in to choosing a fabric, from taking in to consideration what your consumers wants, to picking something versatile enough for different occasions. We ended the tour in a great magazine shop which had back issues for every publication you could imagine! We were given a talk by a woman who works in PR in the fashion industry. I wasn't very clear on the role of a PR girl prior to this talk, so the experience was really informative and it actually sounded quite appealing.

While on our way to the Upper East Side, we spotted a little bakery called 'Baked By Melissa' which had a standard and gluten free store right next to each other. They sell miniature cupcakes and macaroons in a variety of really cool flavours. Since Beth is gluten-free, I decided I'd give these ones a go. I got three cupcakes; red velvet, caramel and cinnamon, and two macaroons: cookie dough and salted caramel. I didn't try the standard ones so I couldn't compare, but for gluten free treats they weren't half bad!

We hopped on the tube to the Upper East side, content with our bag of little treats. This area of New York has some really beautiful buildings and it felt a lot calmer than central Manhattan. Our first stop was a little exhibition run by the New York School of Interior Design where we thought we might get some inspiration for our projects in terms of retail spaces. The exhibition was much smaller than expected so we didn't spend long there.

We walked through Central Park before we arrived at The Met to get a few snaps on the steps so we could pretend we were part of the cast of Gossip Girl! The exhibitions at The Met didn't really appeal to us (and it is rather expensive) so we carried on walking uptown to The Cooper Hewitt Museum. Now this museum deserves a blog post all of it's own (which it probably will get). But in short, this museum mainly focuses on design. When we went,  we were particularly excited to view the How Posters Work exhibition; a really cool feature on posters and the psychology behind them, and Pixar: The Design of Story; a whole room dedicated to the development of the animation in your favourite Pixar movies. It's up there with the V&A as one of the best museums/galleries I have visited. A must for if you visit New York and love design!

Our night was rounded off with a trip to the cinema. We figured since we couldn't afford to watch a show on Broadway, an American 'movie theatre' experience was the next best thing. It's true - the portions are huge! And I used to work in a cinema so I know how big they are even in the UK. I got my first taste of proper American buttered popcorn, using the butter tap which made me feel very That's So Raven. We opted to watch Sisters which was hilarious (and also deserves a blog post of it's own - I'll try to get a review up soon). Especially being a single woman, I felt I could definitely relate to some of the stuff going on. You have to watch it!

Until next time...

Aderyn x