Fine Tees & F. Scott Fitzgerald.

With my time in London coming to a close for now, I thought it was time to loosen budget constraints a little (unpaid work will leave you homeless, but you know, it’s good experience!) and buy a little British for something to remember my -*CHEESE ALERT* – Summer of sometimes debauched, other times dignified, always unforgettable, frolics and fashion. Can’t really believe I just said that…

What I’ve picked up, though, is more a NYC-themed haul than London-centric (esp. considering Topman is now storming over stateside and what with Scott Fitzgerald often being labelled the quintessential American author). How and ever, these are cheap staples that I plan to wear – and er…read – to rags.

Finding good quality tees on the high street always proves more difficult than I anticipate it to be. Whether the fit is too second-skin or too boxy, whether the tee shrinks beyond all recognition after just one wash, or whether it’s unravelling having just been through just one night out on the town, a good tee is every bit as elusive as the perfect pair of jeans. Of the two above, the Gap tee fits well and feels incredibly good, while the Topman (being Topman) is of decent quality but probably won’t be lasting me longer than the usual six months cycle. Still, it’s Breton-esque, and you’ll probably have guessed by now, I’m a bit of a stripe nut.

Most well-dressed folk I know invariably recommend spending hours on end trawling through mounds of tat in charity shops in the hopes of unearthing a gem amongst the previously owned rough. I have nothing against wearing previously worn clothing, but I’m not going to give up several hours which could be spent either drinking coffee (or gin for that matter…), reading, or having a LOL with friends in order to wade through Dublin’s decidedly average Oxfams. Well, not regularly anyway. What I will do, though, is happily buy more books than I can comfortably carry for the price of a couple of months Attitude or Dazed. These are two of one of my fave author’s novels that I’ve been trying to track down for a while now, and when Little London Fields Festival and some quaint, and endearingly chaotic old bookshop in Finsbury Park proffered, I couldn’t really refuse now, could I?

Note: If you’re considering digging in to some Scott Fitzgerald, I’d recommend Tender is the Night over the so often hyped up and entirely overrated The Great Gatsby. Just sayin’.