Yesterday was a monumental day for us as fashion students. We took a walking tour of Conduit Street stopping by to see Stella McCartney's (which was disappointing to learn that her line is not in fact vegan as she uses silk and wool--possibly because her line is governed by Gucci and fought them over leather), Matthew Williamson's, and MOST importantly Vivienne Westwood's shops. Our tour was led by Sam Spiegel! After gawking at all the high end stores we were free to wander Oxford and Bond streets. I was sorely disappointed in the TopShop unlike my classmates, but I know that I favor custom and one of a kind wearables! Cyd and I stopped by at least three lingerie shops....but we didn't really find anything to our fancy. I spotted two skinhead men and was quite pleased to see they were rockin' Fred Perry. We marched on back to Bloomsbury and Bedford Place to break and then wandered around the night...
...somehow we ended up in Soho Mayfair area which happens to be the gay sex district! We stopped to find our bearings when I noticed that there was a severe lack of females and then men were kissing. No matter, we pressed on and wandered past people in pubs and poking through the windows of bookstores that all had neon signs regarding their "licensed sex shop basements". Out of all the rainbow signs one black and neon Tron-esque shop grabbed our attention with the name COX COOKIES AND CAKES! A S&M themed cupcakery! Unfortunately nothing was vegan but I'm definitely going back for pictures. I'd love to have a shop like this myself. Everything had edible glitter and the toppings were chocolate shaped penises, some sweets were made to look like boobs (in both white and black skin tones!) it was just naughty treats in the best kitsch delivery. Even the uniforms were latex and studded aprons. The girls behind the counter were happy enough to fill us in on vegan bakeries. We opted not to photograph a skin bird and her hen party pals as she had many bruises on her scalp and let's face it: I'm tough but not THAT tough (Cyd had to talk me out of this one). We did however get a shot of a girl in a slutty yet cute Union Jack micro length get up and she and her friend turned out to be transplanted Americans that fell in love with London in a study abroad program and now work for similar programs! They just finished a burlesque class and gave us some tips on the locale.
Worn out we headed home and stopped off at a Chinese restaurant that claimed to be "OPEN ALL DAY" but apparently not all night yet we did manage to get an order in. We had a bit of confusion of Aubergine (it had been so long we both forgot it was Eggplant and the only explanation the Chinese man had for us was "Aubergine is Aubergine!") I had ordered Sugar Peas in Garlic sauced but discovered at our flat that I got a big tub of Pak Choi. It was still tasty and Cyd and I shared our entrees so I also had some class of spicy tofu as our late night meal.
This morning we headed out to Portabello Road which for you SoCal locals is very similar in concept to Olvera Street. It's got antiques and boutiques, kitsch kiosks, open air food vending. The only difference is, as with anywhere else in this city, you multiple the people count by a gadzillion and you're squished like sardine-cattle hybrids off to shopping slaughter. I managed to find a WW2 pin for my pop's collection though and Cyd and I poked into Hummingbird Bakery for the only vegan item of Refridgerator Cake (rumored to be Prince William's favorite. It's basically a mishmash of graham crackers and melted chocolate-ours also had raisins- but instead of eggs to bind it's held together by the set chocolate) The soymilk tasted icky but the cake was divine! I also fell in love with Hazel Bee cards. I'm especially fond of the drunk bunny one.
After the overly crowded Portabello Road stop we made our way to Design Makers Market. It was very teeny tiny but everyone informed us that one table, Ubisquitous Bakehouse had vegan baked goods and we bought one of each to share. YUM-MY. We chatted up with the baker, Rosi Simister, who also shared some veg info with us.
More adventures on our first day using the Tubes (which is the Metro or Subway systems for London) and buses. We had a nice little picnic with some class mates. We split from the group to go to an Antiquarian Bookstore that has a supposedly large occult section, but being Europe on a Saturday we had just missed their operating hours. Since we were in the area we took a quick peek about the British Museum.
It was absolutely jaw dropping. I adored the Helenistic statues. After a break at home we headed out again and visited Trafalgar Square and walked across the Thames.
Not sure exactly how far we walked but it was definitely a work out. We even managed to make it back alone on the Tubes without instructor assistance! It's now almost midnight and I should really be heading home from ACCENT's center. Let's hope I don't get stuck this time!
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