SpendIt ShoppingFashionTechnology Hello Good Buy
What was the last thing you bought? Is it a new obsession? Or already returned? List staff share their recent buys JULIET SALES EXECUTIVE A hairband (H&M, £1.99) It’s light pink. With circles of fabric on one side. Oh lord. I glanced it by the till and thought I’d give the pastel, romantic trend a go. But no. I will NEVER WEAR IT. It’s now next to my mirror so that the shame will burn into my memory and I’ll never make the same mistake again.
AMY OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Edinburgh to London train tickets. (www.thetrainline.com, £20.30) Last month I emptied my bank account and bought a ticket to
the End of the Road festival. Next I began a hunt for the mythical ‘advance rate’ cheap tickets you always hear about but never seem to find. Luckily the hunt was short
WESAWYOU Rebecca Sneddon 29, shop manager / graphic designer, Glasgow
The dress was from a clothes swap party, I swapped it with a friend. The shoes are from Circa, down Ruthven Lane, and the bangle is from Les Néréides, this amazing jewellery shop in Paris.
I’m not really a label fiend. Most stuff I find in charity shops, like my bag [in basket] here. The other tartan bag [just seen] was from a gift shop in Rossie about ten years ago. 12 THE LIST 8–22 Jul 2010
I normally dye my own hair, but this time I went to Sharon at Hely Hair on Sauchiehall Street. Oh, and the bike I found on Gumtree.
(thetrainline.com has a handy tool on their ‘gadgets’ page that emails you when tickets become available). It’s my last year as a ‘Young Person’ (in the eyes of British Rail), which took another chunk off. God, I feel smug.
CLAIRE SHOPPING EDITOR A book called Sunday Is For Lovers. (www.linesandshapes connectus.com, $42.) It’s a collection of stories, Polaroids and illustrations from bloggers, writers, designers etc. talking about what they do on Sundays. How late they sleep in, what breakfast they cook, what music they listen to, what clothes they wear. . . Ah, I go to my happy place whenever I look at it.
LUCY SENIOR DESIGNER A flat! A lovely one-bedroom in Tollcross. I’m shitting myself now though. I own two flats and need to get rid of one. Does anyone want to buy a flat?
JONNY EDITOR 12 Speed Stacks competition cups (amazon.co.uk, £5.90) I’m advised they’re specially designed for the ‘sport’ of stacking. American kids have been learning to build small pyramids extremely quickly, then enter very serious competitions to see who’s fastest. Type ‘speed stacking’ into YouTube to see eager youngsters moving cups at lightning fast pace, surrounded by parents with stopwatches. Over 2million people have watched a child named Stephen Purugganan break his own sub-seven second world record.
BUY THE WAY News from the shop front
■ YOU’VE GOT the headscarf, you wear the 50s frock, you’re a big fan of Auntie M’s Cake Lounge, and you generally drool for all things 50s retro. In other words, you will probably love the diner-style furniture at Cola Red (above). Go to www.cola- red.com to ogle two-person mini-booths, ‘Ice Cream tables and chairs’, and various furniture items in pastel blue vinyl and chequered Formica. ■ TRYING TO curb your growing eBay addiction? Best look away now then. But we like how Vintage Guru, the Byres Road second-hand emporium, adds new stock every day to their eBay shop, over and above what they sell instore. For non cyber-shoppers, the 3D, real-life, human-staffed shop is open seven days a week, and until 9pm on Fri and Sat. See www.vintageguru.co.uk, 195 Byres Road, Glasgow, 0131 339 4750.
■ EDINBURGH’S Dundas Street is a haven for antiques (as well as oil paintings of fox hunts and fruit bowls), but the Axolotl Gallery takes a different approach, showcasing contemporary screenprints, illustrations and paintings by emerging and local artists, including Kirsty Whiten and Mike Inglis. See www.axolotl.co.uk, 35 Dundas Street, 0131 557 1460.
This was a gift for my dad who loves competitive games (as do I), and beating children at competitive games (as do I). LAURA RESEARCH MANAGER Goat’s cheese (Scotmid, £1.50) I’ve been buying a lot recently. I only just discovered that I like it after a life of ignorance. This came about when I ordered a mystery sandwich in Spain and it turned out to contain goat’s cheese. Since then I’ve never looked back. I find it lends a certain touch of class to any bog standard salad or pasta salad.
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