Tall Girl Treat: Size 9-12 Sandals To Make You Feel AWESOME

To my cost, I've discovered that I don't actually have any summer shoes that are fit for the heat. This is what happens of cowering in the shade all the time; when the sun actually hits you, your feet notice it first!

Luckily there are lots of beautiful shoes doing the rounds at the moment, so here's my pick of the ones that girls with large feet should be adding to their lists.

Up to a size 12

 

 

Shoesissima has just brought out some beautiful sandals for summer, and in sizes up to a 12.  That'll do nicely, thank you. 

The Jessica is brand new in, so you'll have to give them a bell to get your shoes.

• Dara leather sandal in rose gold (£64.99)
• Dara leather sandal in red (£64.99)
• Jessica leather sandal (£69.99)

Up to a size 11

 

 

Tall Girls have some cracking sandals this summer, but for reasons that should be apparent under the "OMG, SHINY" category, these are the ones I present to you, the Sluttery reader.

These glitter sandals are £38, and non-leather so good for veggies. Bronze is available in 9 to 11, black in 9 and 11, and silver are sold out in all but 9, but I couldn't not put them all together because the trio pleased my eyes. Soz about that.

If you want something a little less cocktail hour and a bit more "trekking merrily around the sea front in search of adventures", try these.

Not only are these beaded Long Tall Sally sandals available in sizes 7 to 11, they're £30 in the sale. Job done.

If you like a bit more heel support in your flats, try these fabulous black and silver Andres Machado sandals. They're £34.95 and are available in sizes 44 and 45 (10 and 11) on Katie Long Shoes.

 Oh alright, and another Tall Girls one because I really love these. These gold and tan wedge sandals are £39 and available in sizes 9 to 11.

Up to a size 10

 

LOVE the colour of these Tuka Rose sandals from After Eight. You'll need to make sure your heels are in good nick (olive oil and sugar, ladies. Olive oil and sugar.) but these are great if you've got terrible half-varnished toes that you haven't had time to fix. They're £79 and in Euro sizes 43 to 45 (so just under a 9 to nearly 10.5. Those weird Europeans).

 

Good old Hush Puppies - these pretty floral Caposhi Sling sandals are available in sizes 3 to 10 and are £31.50 down from £45. They also make me think of comics. A lot of things make me think of comics, but still.

Up to a 9

Frankly, I could be here all day listing sandals that come in a 9, but it's a) not fair on anyone over a 9 and b) what am I, Google? You have the power of the Ultimate 9 to 13 Shoe Guide, go forth and use it! Seriously, I'm going to have to start printing that link on business cards - there is no excuse for girls with large feet to be cramming them into 8s anymore. But I digress.

These are like ice cream for your feet - the best flavour too. These mint sandals are a delicate £20 from ASOS's excellent range of size 9s.

Happy summer to you and your feet. Lots of love, Kat xxx

Design Porn: Mini Moderns Margate

While my love of design is usually kept strictly in the Victorian to Art Deco eras (COLOURS! Glass! Colours AND GLASS! And dark, dark wood.) I have a massive soft spot for Mini Moderns, not least because the Moderns, Mark and Keith, live in my neck of the woods in Camberwell - remember those brilliant mugs? I think there's one set left if you ask them nicely - and because they make beautiful things that are filled with inspiration and fun.

At the weekend, I popped along to their Open Studios at the Camberwell Arts Festival,  and came across Margate. Ah, lovely Margate...is something probably only Tracey Emin said up until recently, but when the Turner Contemporary Gallery opened in 2011, things smartened up a bit. (Apologies in advance to any incensed lovers of Margate).

The gallery commissioned a series of pieces for their shop: aprons, oven gloves, and tea towels. It's all just been released on the Mini Moderns site too as part of the Hinterland collection. That whole collection is beautiful: the other place named heavily is Dungenesse, an area they love anyway, having just renovated a Victorian (YAY!) railway carriage. It is ridiculously sexual. Regardez les pictures.

This tea towel is available in indigo (top) and lido - the rope spelling out the name is brilliant. It's £8.

The oven gloves are £20,  and the aprons - Margate anchors  and Margate gulls - are also £20.

If you're heading to the Design Festival later this summer, Mini Moderns are taking over the Southbank Centre Festival Terrace shop (home to a rather embarrassing number of Sluttery "Oh...my wallet just...fell open. Yes, twice, alright stop interrogating me" incidents) for the whole of September to revisit their REMIX project. 

That was where the Moderns chaps gave their take on classic Southbank Centre patterns, and showed up some quite beautiful stuff, so it's really exciting to be doing it again with new colourways and new product lines - and new patterns. And basically things that I can look at and go "Yes please" like the C-60 wallpaper.

Shelf Esteem: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Shelf worth: 3.5/5

2014 has been a stonking year for debuts so far, and it's not overstating it to say that I've been counting down the days until this one.

Emma Healey is another graduate of UEA's Creative Writing MA, so the quality of the writing is almost to be taken for granted. It's a cracking idea. I have read any number of novels featuring an elderly person, or someone suffering from dementia, but I have never read one written from the perspective of that character.

Maud is in her 80s and lives alone, visited by her carers, and by her daughter Helen. Sometimes she recognises Helen, other times she wonders what this anxious woman wants with her. Maud is much more concerned with the whereabouts of her friend Elizabeth, her last real remaining friend, and someone who has gone missing.

The book - beautifully designed, as befits the novel of someone with a bookbinding degree - is lined with notes Maud has written to remind herself of things. The only thing she can know for sure is that Elizabeth is missing, and the book follows her attempts to find out what has happened to her friend.

Her confusion when she sees a new note that she doesn't recognise is brilliantly done. It feels like that moment when you're dropped into a video game, and need a few moments to get yourself together. Endless tins of peaches provide reassurance to Maud, if less so to her carers.

Maud's memory is flawless when remembering the extreme past: and as we follow her trying to navigate her way through her modern, bewildered life, it is almost balm to retreat into her adolescence. There however, her beloved elder sister Sukey goes missing. Healey does an elegant job of weaving the missing women together, sometimes with lines that really hit you over the head with an "oh" of beauty. I was less taken with Sukey's men: her husband Frank has a creepiness that wasn't explored enough for me, and similarly with Elizabeth's family lodger, Doug. Young Maud lets too much go, and elder Maud allows it.

I found Maud fascinating and infuriating, and I loved the way her grand daughter Katie comes to life as a counter to her put-upon mother Helen. I enjoyed spending time in their world, but I would have loved more of a mystery to the mystery. I am utterly incapable of deducing an outcome, so when even I can guess what has happened before the big reveal, it feels anticlimactic. Maud deserves fireworks of the highest level, but still, this book will keep you talking even when the plot has stopped.

Design Porn: Kennington Lane Press Stationery

I came across the sexy stationery served up by Kennington Lane Press when my choir sang an extremely hungover gig at the Kennington Village Fete at the weekend (it was our birthday gig the night before. At least that went swimmingly!)

I saw these cards and made noises that really shouldn't be heard in the presence of children. I love their stationery: beautiful, carefully-made, with fun messages and lovely colours. Generally excellent, if you, like me, have a tendency to hoard the stuff.

I love writing thank you notes - it's pretty much the only time you get anything handwritten these days, and while ta very much is gorgeous, my inner Victorian demands to send an old fashioned thank you.

 

Cards for someone you love (or in The Stars Aligned's case, someone you've been to see The Fault in Our Stars with recently).

Truly Madly Deeply is one of my favourite films. Sod's law would have it that I bought it on Amazon for three quid and left it in my supermarket basket by accident, and it's now TWENTY EIGHT SODDING POUNDS. Bloody outrage. This card is much cheaper, and utterly charming.

"Toodle Pip!" was inspired by what Emily's grandpa used to say on leaving the house each morning. Lovely. And handy if you've got friends emigrating/moving jobs/house/to another pub.

 

I could send these cards to any number of the Sluttery team, past and present: Star Baker could go to Laura B for her epic gingerbread work or Mean Girls birthday cake, to Laura H for her wildly imaginative cakes, or to Sian or Sara for their gorgeous baking for beginners recipes. Argue amongst yourselves girls. And currently Caleigh deserves the B is for Baby card because her son is a hella delicious baby.

Kennington Lane Press has so many more cards to pick from: these are just some of my faves. They will also draw you up personalised notes as well. The ones on the site for kids are a bit serial killer (lots of upper and lower case action), but I saw some beautiful ones that were a little more sedate but still colourful as hell. Drop Emily a line, and get some beautiful stationery to cheer up your week.

And write me a letter while you're at it!

Tall Girl Treat: Wedding Guests and Party Frocks

Spin the wheel, pick a dress!

Tis the season! No, not that one, the hot one. With the Pimms and the champers and the gift lists, and the midweek hangovers - yes, that one! Hurray for summer. If you've hoiked your summer wardrobe out, looked at it, and felt less than excited, this is the TGT for you. Extreme frockage to take you from wedding to party to dinner to work if you feel the desire to get massively dressed up.

I've also included some sale items, and some which are only left in certain styles if they are particularly brilliant for a last minute treat. Liberally sprinkle with your favourite jewels, coats, hats and shoes.

Kick off with a jumpsuit

 

I have an exceptionally stylish colleague at work who looks the bee's knees in a jumpsuit. "Just sling a blazer over it and you'll all set," she told me last year. I failed to find a jumpsuit, but did find a blazer, so had a happy wedding indeed. (I wore something under the blazer. Just to be clear).

This pink bandeau number is £60 from Topshop Tall. Sling on a belt, a necklace and a jacket and you're good to go.

Wow. And again, wow. Oh and it's jersey? Crease-free wows. This beautiful blue jumpsuit is a winner (and £50) from ASOS Tall.

I keep forgetting about Dotty P's tall range, mostly because it's not in store (rage, rage, rage - see also NEXT). If you're a size 8 or 10, snap up this lovely lace jumpsuit for £42. They also have a daisy-print jumpsuit in sizes 8 to 22 for £38.

Knee-length frocks

These three from Long Tall Sally are some of my hero frocks. The Ruby Rocks tube dress (£45) on the left saw me through work, a wedding rehearsal, dinner and calling an ambulance. It works HARD and it gets insane compliments. I've already waxed lyrical about that gorgeous jungle print dress in my post from LTS's bloggers breakfast, but it's worth repeating. STUNNING.

And then there's the floral dress. OH HO.

This scuba dress has been my lifesaver at parties. I flag it up to you now as it's £50 in the sale, with all sizes except 18 remaining. It fits beautifully and you can take it anywhere. I met Jilly Cooper in it at a Country Life party. JILLY COOPER!

Also, this happened.

He looks pleased, don't you think?

And this. This being my beautiful friend John and I getting papped (reader, I giggled), and the fact I forgot to bring an evening bag and had to use the bag I cram my Oyster card and make-up into. I am not sure if I pulled it off. Either way, this is a brilliant dress, the sleeves are a great length (I know it is pathetic, but I am not keen on my upper arms) and all generally jolly good. Go forth and try it on.

I do not have a nice illustrative picture of me wearing this insanely excellent dress from Tall Girls, mostly because the full-length one I have was taken by my brother while I was having a nap on the sofa "resting my cankles" as he charmingly put it. Brothers. But trust me on this, it is a winner, an excellent frock that travels extremely well (jersey! So good) and looks wonderful wherever you take it. My mother approved of it. She is tricky to please. My boyfriend also approved of it. The perfect combination. It's £35 and also available in black and grey.

There is also a lovely version with lace sleeves (£39) available in natural, black, grey and white. Probably avoid the last one if you're going to a wedding. I also love this purple midi dress for £35. Mmm.

Maxi dresses

Good grief I love red. This red fern print maxi dress (£80) is new in, and if you get the LTS catalogue you'll be able to get a discount. This would look stunning on so many figures and colourings. Sigh.

"Wait, what? This is way too casual." Yes, on the front of it, it is. Massively. But it's also a brilliant base for accessories, to make an impact without MAKING AN IMPACT. Chuck on a lovely necklace, some jewellery, a jacket and ideally a whopping great hat, and you're set. Oh and this? It's £18 from Dorothy Perkins and it also comes in red for £16.

Love the ridic glamour of this lovely blue maxi from Little Mistress, one of ASOS's tall brands. It's £60 and if you're a size 14, it's your lucky day.

I nearly spat out my tea when I saw this stunning maxi from Dorothy Perkins - how gorgeous is it? Answer: a lot. They have one left in a size 22 for £30. I realise this is wildly annoying but seriously - if you're a 22, get yourself a treat. And the rest of us can have a quiet think for underestimating them so much.

We like short shorts

If knee length or lower isn't for you, there a plenty of lovely things to wear without flashing your knickers. Like this digital print bodycon dress from Topshop, which is £32 and vv pretty.

 

Anyone for tennis? This peplum shift dress has a V-neck at the back and is jaunty as you please. It's £30 from ASOS Tall (well done ASOS).

Marvellous Mary Poppins Carpet Bags

Voyager Elite Wreath Red, was £164.95 now £129.95

I have always been teased for the size of my handbag. It's not really so much a handbag as a room. "Poppins bags," my old housemate used to call them, because ridiculous amounts of stuff kept being magicked in and out of them. And why not?

Really, I loved the Poppins bag nickname. I adored that part of the film where she keeps on bringing furniture out of her carpet bag, and while, sadly, I never was able to fit a standard lamp (switched on, if you please) into my bag, I did have an actual carpet bag which I treasured throughout my teen years.

Grace Tessera Light clutch bag - was £39.95, now £24.95

The ones from Made of Carpet are practically perfect in every way. Designed in Britain to the old Victorian style, and made in Europe from Western European rugs, with leather handles and proper quality checks along the way. They also come in the most ridiculously lovely patterns - check out the full range. And hurrah - some of the one-off designs are ON SALE so are more affordable than usual. If you've been hankering after a special, quirky bag as a treat, this might be the time.

The Voyager Elite style, shown here in navy and wreath red at the top, is my favourite. I love the richness of the colours chosen, and the no-nonsense Poppinsness of the shape. It's £129.94 down from £164.95.

This lovely tote is perfect for swishing over your arm and going off on impromptu travels - that's what the Victorians used them for, anyway. The Amenity Pergola is shown here in a special colour for 2014, "the year of the green-blue Horse", which is significantly more advanced than I knew, which was basically "Um...I think it's the year of the Horse? Possibly? Can't quite recall." It's £129.95 down from £149.95. If you're feeling particularly Sluttery Fantasy, team it up with a pair of Charlotte Olympia's birthday shoes - in the Horse style, naturally.

"Kat, I do not have £130 to spend on a handbag this or any month. Sort me out with something more realistic but still Poppinsy."

Your word, etc. The Grace Bukhara clutch bag is £24.95 down from £39.95 and comes in this great red, and the blonde shown at the top. Made of Carpet do a bunch of fabulous smaller bag designs, including those lovely delicate small bags with a chain called "reticule framed". It even sounds like it belongs in the V&A. Glamour.

For something completely different, try popping this amazing tote bag over your arm: Enigma Bukhara. It snaps shut and has two pockets inside, one zipped, and it's £49.95 down from £69.95.

If you're not quite up for going full-Victoriana (WHAT? *reaches for smelling salts*), then these Torba bags are for you: vintage sack-style bags with a flap and fabulous handles. The Intarsia Navy (bottom) is £139.95 down from £154.95 and the Pergola Light is £114.95 down from £149.95. And if you sniggered at bottom, then Mary Poppins cannot help you, but it's a good excuse to watch a lot of Rik Mayall clips on YouTube instead.