A Little Obsessed

So I may have made it my life's mission to dress like Kate Middleton, or at least don some fancy hats!!

Check out my latest purchase toward that end, my new winter hat.  Yup, that's what I'll be walking around the streets of Chicago in this winter.  Do I look royal yet?

Dress Like A Princess - L.K. Bennett London... In Chicago

On my wanderings today with BabyWP while we waited for our babymobile to get an oil change, I saw this:  L.K. Bennett London.  In Chicago.

If you're asking what's L.K. Bennett, then you're clearly not an avid royal watcher like myself.  If you were, you'd know that L.K. Bennett pumps were Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge's pump of choice.  Check out all the following appearance from this year.  Where she wore.... L.K. Bennett pumps.

 Until this year, L.K. Bennett did not exist in the U.S.  And, as I learned today, this particular Chicago store was the first in the country!  Chicago, first in fashion, first in my heart. 

Back to the pumps. 

So obviously I ran in and started drooling on all the princess-worthy pumps.  But as this was an impromptu visit, all I had was my very sad and very embarassing camera phone to take pictures with.  Sadness.

L.K. Bennett, £185.00 @ [Sorry, the site only has pounds and I didn't catch what it was in USD]

I knew that L.K. Bennett was a fabulous luxury designer, but what I wasn't prepared for was the, relatively, super reasonable pricing!

Their regular price pumps were all about $325.  And the sale shoes, like the ones below, were all about $200.  You could spend that on crappy, terrible shoes from Aldo!  But instead you get fabulous, luxurious, princess pumps.

Look familiar?  I think so.  They're Kate's shoes!

Buy them here

I clearly had to try on some Duchess-worn shoes myself.

I instantly knew why Kate is such a fan - they're gorgeous, classic, and oh so comfortable. I could have walked miles in them. Or stood for hours for a public appearance. You know, since I have a lot of those ;)  I may or may not have had to buy them.  I mean, how else can I snag Prince Harry if I don't dress like a princess?

Not only was the merch fabulous, the sales staff was so crazy nice.  They saw me clicking away with my phone and then helped me out and pulled pieces for me to picture for the site!

$375 @

£295.00 £175.00

Switching out the jackets for me. How fierce are her shoes? I almost bought them.

$995

Heck, they even modeled stuff for me!! Now where else can you get service like that?

$795

This jacket was lined in leather.  *swoon*  It was SO. HOT.  I wish I had my real camera to do the jacket justice.

And with that I left the very yummy L.K. Bennett.  But don't you worry, L.K., I'll be back very soon.

Kurt Geiger Shoes

So I wanted to do a post on some Kurt Geiger shoes I found tres adorable, but then blogger freaked out on me and ruined the whole post. Now everything's out of wack and I'm annoyed. so here's just a really badly constructed post which may or may not have the links and pics mixed up.  You can blame blogger.

Miss KG, was £75.00, sale £35.00

KG Kurt Geiger, was £90, sale £59

Carvela Kurt Geiger, was £100, sale £59

Kurt Geiger London, was £290, sale £85

KG Kurt Geiger, was £150, sale £89

London Shopping - Jermyn Street

Once upon a time a few years ago, I bought Mr. EWP a Thomas Pink shirt for a gift.  And that day a love of English tailors was born.  The man has been obsessed with the Jermyn street shirtmakers ever since.  So after my day of shopping in Paris, Mr. EWP got his very own day of shopping in London.  We headed to Jermyn Street and went from old shirtmaker to old shirtmaker. You could see the tradition of tailoring dripping from the shelves and bolts of cloth.  It really was interesting to see.  We even went to the royal family official shirtmaker, not surprisingly they didn't have anything off the rack for Mr. EWP to purchase, but some other shirt stores did - Harvie & Hudson, T. M. Lewin, and Charles Tyrwhitt.

But what Mr. EWP was most excited about, the place he has been talking about one day going to for years, was Edward Green.  Think of them as the Louboutins of men's shoes.  Or so Mr. EWP says. I choose to just take his word for it. They were rather pretty, I'll admit. For men's shoes that is.

There really is nothing like them. And you can only get them in London or Paris, they're not available online and they only have 3 stores -the ones in London and Paris.  
 While Mr. EWP tried on boring fine shoe after fine shoe, BabyWP and I decided we'd annoy the snooty sales staff by playing on the floor.  I have a policy that if I'm ponying up the money for your expensive items, then I get to do whatever I want in your store, and what I wanted to do was play with my baby and do a photoshoot. 

After buying a lifetime's supply of dress shirts, ties, and cufflinks, we took a break from Mr. EWP Shopping Day to make one little stop for me - to a fancy milliner.  I've been a little this side of obsessed with fancy hats since the Royal Wedding.

 And these ones were positively works of art.  I drooled my little heart out, but I had made my indulgent purchase the day before, so no hat for me.  And, let's be honest, I'll use that bag WAY more than I ever would a fancy fascinator.

But it sure was fun to try one on!  It was seriously SO GORGEOUS.  Absolutely a showpiece.  And only $1000.  To her credit, the saleswoman didn't scream when I grabbed it and tried it on and took a bunch of pictures of myself. 

Coming up - my London purchases.  And to make it to purchases, I'm including Mr. EWP's shoes.  I, myself, only bought one thing in London. Can you believe it?

An EWP in Paris (& London)

I'm heading out today with Mr. EWP and BabyWP across the Atlantic for a little vacay.

We'll be heading to London and Paris for some food and fun, and I hope some fashion.

But I wouldn't want to leave you on your own all week. You'd miss me too much I'm sure. So I'm declaring it EWP Review week and giving you a new restaurant review everyday. Sorry to all the non-Chicagoans. But now you'll know where to go (or not to go) when you come to visit. And really, you must visit Chicago, it's fantastic.

I'll be comparing its fantasticness to London and Paris and will report back with my findings next week.

Au revoir,

EWParis&London

Do I Look Like Kate Middleton Yet?

I may or may not be obsessed with headwear since the royal wedding. I mean, I always head a thing for it before, but now I reeeeeeally am obsessed. My latest style inspiration Kate Middleton has me thinking hats and fascinators. Which led to the following purchases:

Francesca's, $34

Now that's what I call sun protection!

Now for my super exciting purchase. Y'all, I have looked high and low and could NOT find a for realsies British-esque fascinator. None of this headband with feathers nonsense, I wanted something artistic and on the side of my head. And look what I found. I'm in heaven.

Charming Charlie, $14.97

So what do you think? Am I British yet?

A Look Back at Some Royal Weddings

CROWN PRINCESS VICTORIA & DANIEL WESTLING
I just blogged about this one a few short months ago, raving about her exquisite and timeless wedding dress. Sweden's heir to the throne, 32, married her former personal trainer (shocker of all shockers), 36, on June 19, 2010, before 1,200 guests at Stockholm Cathedral – exactly 34 years to the day after father King Carl XVI Gustaf wed Queen Silvia. The $2 million affair marked the country's first royal wedding since 1976.



CROWN PRINCE PAVLOS & MARIE-CHANTAL MILLER
Looking every inch like a future queen, the American heiress, 26, walked down the aisle in a Valentino gown that took 25 dressmakers four months to sew for her July 1, 1995, nuptials to the 28-year-old son of deposed King Constantine of Greece. Held at London's Cathedral of Saint Sophia, the lavish affair reportedly cost $1.5 million.



CROWN PRINCE NARUHITO & MASAKO OWADA
Owada, 29, left a promising career as a member of Japan's Foreign Ministry to wed Naruhito, 33, on June 9, 1993, at Tokyo's Imperial Palace. The bride donned a customary 12-layer kimono that weighed 30 lbs. and cost more than $300,000 for the traditional Shinto nuptials, which were celebrated as a national holiday.



PRINCESS MARGARET & ANTONY ARMSTRONG-JONES
Going against the grain, Queen Elizabeth's younger sister Margaret, 29, wed the 30-year-old Jones, a photographer, on May 6, 1960. Their nuptials, held at Westminster Abbey, marked the world's first televised royal wedding. (Their divorce, in 1978, would be another landmark – the first for royals in 400 years. But it definitely wouldn't be the last)



KING HUSSEIN IBN TALAL & LISA HALABY
After the death of his third wife, Jordan's Hussein, 42, wooed the Princeton-educated beauty, 26, in a mere four weeks and married her on June 15, 1978. Following a traditional Muslim marriage ceremony that took place at Zahran Palace, Halaby adopted the name Queen Noor al-Hussein.



PRINCE RAINIER III & GRACE KELLY
In one of the most fairy tale of royal weddings, having met only twice before, the Oscar-winning actress, 26, wed Monaco's Rainier, 32, in an extravagant ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas on April 19, 1956. Her iconic wedding gown, crafted by MGM costume designer Helen Rose, was equally fitting for the Hollywood princess – featuring 25 yards of silk taffeta, 98 yards of silk tulle and 300 yards of Valenciennes lace.



CROWN PRINCE FREDERIK & MARY ELIZABETH DONALDSON
After meeting at a Sydney bar during the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Aussie native, 32, became Denmark's crown princess when she wed Frederik, 35, on May 14, 2004, at Copenhagen Cathedral. The couple exchanged vows in front of 800 guests, including the Kings of Sweden and Norway, Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, and England's Prince Edward and wife Sophie.



PRINCE ANDREW & SARAH FERGUSON
It took the fiery Ferguson, 26, to tame England's best-known bachelor, 26, when the pair wed on July 23, 1986, at Westminster Abbey in front of 1,800 guests. Never one to play by royal rules, the Duchess of York shunned convention when designing her dress – which featured a 17½-ft. train with an embroidered letter "A."



CROWN PRINCE FELIPE & LETIZIA ORTIZ
If 15 year old EWP was sad about hearing about Will's engagement to Kate Middleton, then 20 year old EWP was absolutely devestated to hear of Prince Felipe's engagement to this reporter. We were so going to get married.
After nearly five centuries of uninterrupted monarchy, the crown prince, 36, took the 31-year-old commoner and former TV anchor as his bride on May 22, 2004, at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, marking Spain's first royal wedding since 1906. Among the 1,400 guests: Prince Charles, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Jordan's Queen Rania.



QUEEN ELIZABETH & PRINCE PHILIP
As heir to the British throne, the then-princess, 21, married the 26-year-old naval officer – who, prior to their wedding, denounced his title as Prince of Greece and Denmark to become Lt. Philip Mountbatten – before 2,500 guests at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.



PRINCE EDWARD & SOPHIE RHYS-JONES
In England's most intimate royal nuptials, Edward, 35, wed PR executive Jones, 34, on June 19, 1999, with only 560 guests in attendance at St. George's Chapel. In the relatively low-key affair, the third son of Queen Elizabeth opted to wear a suit, while Jones wore an ivory coat dress and a black–and-white pearl necklace designed by her groom.



PRINCE CHARLES & LADY DIANA SPENCER
And with the most famous for last, what seemed at the time like the most beautiful fairytale come true. Was there ever a princess more loved than Lady DI? (And, no, Foodiebia, I didn't watch the wedding seeing as how we weren't born yet). With 750 million people tuning in to watch worldwide, England's future king, 32, wed Spencer, 20, at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. The fashion icon walked down the aisle in a David and Elizabeth Emanuel gown that featured lace from Charles's great-grandmother, a 25-ft. train and an 18-kt. gold horseshoe sewn into the petticoats for good luck.