It’s full of wonderful lovely things such as vintage patterns, vintage buttons, inspiration packs and vintage materials. I totally love the inspiration packs – that give you a selection of goodies and ideas of what to make with them.

The site is a little untidy and could be easier to navigate, but all in all it’s a really wonderful find.

Here are some of the gorgeous vintage materials for sale now:

It’s full of the absolutely most beautiful clothes you will ever see – all worn by Grace Kelly, possibly the most beautiful lady ever.

One of the loveliest pieces in the film is the super chic swimming costume that Grace wears. If you’re as obsessed with the film as I am, you’ll be cheering when I tell you that I’ve found a wonderful replica.

What Katie Did is a site full of faux vintage lingerie, corsets and stockings. Yum yum yum.

The swimming costume doesn’t come in white (a la Grace) but the shape is uber gorgeous and you just know it would look mazin on.

Love love love. Check it www.judithleiber.com.

Amy Hutson from www.gossippr.co.uk started her career as a reporter in a sleepy town in Derbyshire, before writing features for women’s magazines and launching a weekly shopping supplement for a regional newspaper. Since then she has worked in marketing and PR and now runs the communications agency Gossip, from her office in sunny Brighton with a small team of professionals.

Day in the life

Every day in PR is different, but here is a typical day – last Friday to be exact.

9am:

I check for any urgent journalist requests, which could be a journalist looking for a price of a client’s product or wanting a sample to shoot for a feature in a magazine. Once I’ve dealt with anything urgent, I make a coffee and then start planning a press release on the launch of a jewellery range for a client. After having a chat with the client about the jewellery, I start thinking about interesting angles for the release that will grab the attention of the press.

1pm:

I meet Kerryn, one of the lovely fashion assistants at Glamour magazine for lunch. We grab a big salad and a coffee in Starbucks, near the Glamour offices on Old Bond Street, and have a good catch up. Kerryn is about to start working on their Spring/Summer 10 stories, so she tells me what they’re looking for – in case any of our clients have anything relevant.

3pm:

Next I go to meet client www.freudianslipsvintage.com at their north London studio and we chat about some photo shoot ideas, over tea and chocolate biscuits. I also fall in love with nearly all the clothes in the studio. Holly has amazing taste!

4pm:

I get a call from Grazia magazine. They urgently need a sample from a client, so I quickly get that organised while on my way back to the office.

4.30pm:

After checking and replying to various emails from clients and journalists, I start planning an upcoming fashion show for a client, before heading home around 6pm.

Obviously, the powers that be didn’t approve of her choice in gentlemen and decided to inflict this cruel, and undeniably unusual, punishment on her.

Now, however, if anyone else suffers a similar fate you’ll be pleased to know that Brilliant Inc has come up with the ingenious plan of selling single studs (to clarify – it’s the earring studs I’m talking about. Not the folk who caused the losing of earrings in the above stated case of my poor friend.) So when you lose one earring the other is not left destitute, but can be found a new playmate with which to be worn.

Excellent news all round.

Soooo, imagine my DELIGHT when I saw these frickin amazing rings by Theo Fennell. They make me feel funny in a good way, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I had these rings my life would be wonderful in every way. That I would be a better person and good things would happen to me and I would have adventures all the time.

I think they’re lovely – they make me think of snow fights and marshmallows and hot chocolate and Christmas songs.

And I think I would look adorable in them.

Check out www.shudoo.co.uk if you’d like to peruse other reluctant lovelies of a similar nature.

Anyhow, the biggest thing I have noticed recently is the disparity in attitude to wellies.

Now, I love a welly. I always have. One of my first memories is of a pair of rainbow wellies I had when I was about 3. I wore them every day and when I grew out of them I lied until it became obvious that my feet just didn’t fit in them and they were given away. I still remember the despair at knowing I wouldn’t see my beloveds again.

Which is why I’m over the moon when it gets a bit rainy and I can wear my new blue, sparkly with stars on wellies and go for a bit of puddle stomping. And the other day, unaware of the out and out prejudice I was about to face, I woke up to the sound of rain, put on my lovely wellies and stomped my way to the train station.

So far, so good. Lots of other sensible, puddle jumping, happy people adorned in their Wellingtons. But then… I arrive in London and it turns out it is absolutely FROWNED upon to wear a welly here. I started getting some very strange looks, from people whose jeans were trailing in the rain and were water logged up to their knees.

And the full on derision I faced arriving at work was astounding. It probs didn’t help that my office was quiet when I arrived and my wellies make a strange squeaking noise when I walk.

Anyway, I don’t have a point to make, or anything insightful to say. I just thought that was odd! Is this usual? Did I imagine it, or is there a full on divide? Maybe I’ll start a welly speakeasy in London, where other welly lovers can turn up in their high heels, then inside there’ll be loads of artificial puddles and everyone will covertly swap into their wellies and we’ll splash about! Maybe…

A Day In the Life of Holly Pickering

“I always have my alarm set for an early start, but the alarm is usually beaten by Elvis, our large (think chubby Vegas period Elvis…) fluffy black and white cat, who has developed a great technique for waking me, which involves taking a flying leap from the floor to the bed, and is always effective!

“I love starting the day with BBC breakfast news on, as I like to catch up with what’s happening in the world, so I grab coffee and muesli in front of the television, before dashing out of the door. A few mornings a week I pull on my trainers and head out for a run before work, I’d love to be able to say that I run every day, but in truth I only ever seem able to squeeze in a few sessions each week…. I’m lucky that the Freudian Slips Vintage studio is only a short bus journey away, which I am always grateful for, after ten years commuting on packed tubes in my previous life as a fashion designer. I often pick up some flowers for the studio or have freshly cleaned vintage pieces to collect from our favourite dry cleaner en route, so I always seem to arrive at the studio laden with bags!

“I launched Freudian Slips Vintage several years ago, selling vintage fashion and accessories via our website, and due to the websites popularity last November we moved into our current studio, located in a wonderful converted Chocolate Factory, which has been split into light filled units.

“Once I arrive at the studio the first job is to switch our little retro Bush radio on to Radio 2, and sit down to work through any urgent emails. As many of our regular customers hail from the U.S or even further afield, we often also have international orders to process due to the time differences.

“I then work through the day’s shipping, with assistance from my lovely interns, and the studio is temporarily filled with packing boxes and reams of pink tissue paper. As with most small businesses every day is different. The afternoon will either be filled with photographing new vintage finds, adding new pieces to the Freudian Slips website, or steaming and inspecting new pieces fresh from a recent buying trip.

“In May this year we launched a Private Appointments service at the studio, to allow customers to come in and try on vintage pieces, and to enable stylists and designers to select pieces and view new finds that may not have made it on to the website yet, so many afternoons will also fly by as we help clients to find their perfect vintage pieces. Client appointments are one of my favourite parts of the week, whether it’s helping a ‘bride to be’ find the vintage 1930′s bias cut dress that she’s been dreaming of, or a frantic few hours spent helping a styling team find vintage looks perfect for a celebrity client or a vintage themed photoshoot.

“The end of the working day always seems to arrive much quicker than expected, and after another quick round of emails, I jump back on the bus. My husband and I both love to cook, so we try to make something fairly healthy most nights, so most of our early evening is spent in the kitchen.

“I usually finish the evening watching my current US drama addictions, or catching up with episodes I’ve missed. I’m a great list maker, so I often scribble a quick ‘to do’ list for the next day before heading to bed and dreaming of vintage ballgowns!”

Well. There’s a website for that. Indeed, a social network – this is the age of web2.0 y’know (I sneer at web1.0 I really do).

storesociety.com is a new website connecting a community of fashion-lovers to the latest fashion from stores and boutiques. By joining storesociety.com you can share your outfits, thoughts and questions with thousands of members who are as excited about shopping as you are. The site provides an eclectic mix of fashion worn by real people, not models; where you can search the best of the high street as recommended by people like you.

The concept for the site was created by 21 year old Kristina O’Connor (daughter of TV entertainer and singer Des O’Connor) who saw the potential of a site where members can upload and tag photographs of their new purchases and share their coolest looks with a network of friends similarly passionate about fashion and style. The site uses a combination of features you’ll already be used to on Facebook, Twitter and Google but is dedicated to giving you an instant fashion fix every time you visit storesociety.com.

In summary:

a) This is a very good idea and lots of fun

b) Why does everyone who comes up with good ideas seem to be very young indeed? Why wasn’t that me?