This week I've mostly been wearing...

There's been a distinct lack of blogging on my part lately, in fact a distinct lack of fashion all together. This has been me for most of the last week. I think I'm taking this season's Utility trend a little too seriously...

Down jacket, fleece, thermal underwear
 (thankfully not visible but I'm sure you can imagine), power stretch pants, 

waterproof trousers, ice breaker glove liners, ski gloves, walking boots, all model's own. 

But what else can you do when you're sent to Norway at a moment's notice for work, warned it's going to be -5 degrees and that the dress code is layering? Needless to say the closest thing to waterproof in my wardrobe are patent leather handbags and the warmest jumper I own is vintage Harrods and covered in sequins. But you too, could achieve this look by visiting an array of outdoor shops – Snow & Rock, Cotswolds, Mountain Warehouse and Ellis Brigham to name just a few. It's been an education...

Stomping in and out of each of them, all flustered and stressed, it was like that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts is walking around the posh shops in her hooker get up, bewildered and infuriated by a whole new world where nobody is paying her any attention or taking her seriously. The staff in outdoor shops don't really know what to do with a bleached blonde in a mini dress, red tights and fur coat and the bleached blonde certainly doesn't know her power stretch from her insulator. Throw in that the staff at Ellis Brigham work on commission and you're heading for a big mistake, HUGE! 

The trouble with investing in waterproofs and down jackets (how ever 'super stylish' and 'retro' they claim to be) is that, if you're not an outdoor person or don't go skiing twice a year, you're not really going to get much wear out of them. I went straight from Heathrow airport to a Wild Beasts gig in Coventry with no other option than to don the down. Case in point...