I . G O T . S O L E

N Y E

R E N N

Recent shoot in French Vogue of Crystal Renn styled by Carine Roitfeld and Tom Ford. I love the nails.

H U A R A Z

I´m out of breath from walking up the stairs, the only sign of how high up we are in the Andes and I´m thankful I´ve managed to escape any other signs of altitude sickness.

We took a long 8 hour bus journey yesterday up through the Andes yesterday on snaking winding roads. The scenery was incredible. We passed tiny stone houses where famalies tended to their land and their livestock. Old women dressed in traditional Highland dress sat at their doorsteps with broad brimmed hats and colourful blankets used to carry food or childresn strapped to their backs. The bus went through Ancash which is particularly beautiful.

We are now about to eat breakfast in our gorgeous hostel, definitely the nicest one I´ve stayed in Peru so far, called Olaza´s in Huaraz. It´s almost 7am and in an hour we will be pilling into a combi bus to go to a lake further north and higher up still. The lake takes about 3 hours to walk around and apparently we will meet women tending to alpachas and their young. Later we are going to the markets which I am overly excited about. I am desperate to buy some traditional Peruvian Highland wear, not the tourist nonsence we find in the markets all over Lima. I have been very restrained up until now, knowing that I want to get the most out of the markets here and also to pay the people directly who are the real deal. Women on the street with bags of knitwear sitting knitting more. Each one finished placed in the bag for locals to buy.

Last night Issy, Megan and I made ratatoullie and baked sweet potatos with cheese. It was so nice to cook together and feed all seven Platform2 troops. We sat and ate altogether round a huge log fire and finished the vening with hot chocolate from Cusco. The leftovers will make two large pizzas for tonights dinner followed by more hot chocolate round the fire. I have wireless here so I am going to download some Christmas songs on to my iPod.

Hopefully we´ll feel more Christmassy. It doesn´t feel like Christmas at all here but the cold weather in Huaraz and shopping for presents is certainly helping.

Tomorrow morning we are getting a taxi to Rataquenua, the highest point in Huaraz, that over looks the village and the mountains. Apparently you get spectacular panoramoic views. It´s making me sick with anger that I lost my camera. I have kept my eyes open for the same model but keep finding cheaper Lumix models that I don´t want. A hard lesson to learn.

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I just cried myself with laughter in a peruvian internet cafe by myself...

S H O E . P E R U

As most people are aware I live solely for the soles of my feet. I may be in Peru living on rice twice a day and my bottle of Illamasqua nail polish replaced with a bottle of insect repellent. However this does not stop my obsesive browsing of ASOS... so Peru related I hear you mutter sarcastically.

It is actually. Peru style shoes from Irregular Choice available on ASOS. Get a big hat, put your hair in pigtails and strap a baby to your back while you strut in these babes. Peruvian Highland at Heart is the look of the season.

U P D A T E

I'd started to get a slight muscle strain in my lower back, stomach and groin. The x-rays showed that instead of my back being straight it bends slightly to my left side. The doctor said that this was not a new injury and that I probably damaged it years ago or I was born with it. I'm pretty sure it's the result of years if carrying around bags on my left arm. You've all witnessed me and my IKEA bag specials on the tube home from work. I blame the oversized bag trend. Those basards should have come with a health warning. Anyway I'm no longer allowed to mix cement and my spade has been replaced with a paintbrush.

Second hand clothes here are amazing. Literally large shed style markets with no roofs that double up as peoples living rooms on the side of busy, dirty streets full of forgotten clothes. Usually a family are sat in the middle on stools eating chicken and rice and drinking chicha (a drink made of purple corn).

There is one stall I have bceome quite attached to as the family who live there enchant me. The clothes are so cheap I feel I´m stealing however I make a point of always trying to buy something when I pass by.

Tonight is our first Peruvian dance class. From what we have seen at previous fiestas we are all rather nervous. Lots of grinding and hittng each other with balloons. We shall see.

M I S S E D

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So here are a few images from my first two months in Peru.

Barranco dog walking

The view from my front door. Lomas, Ventanilla.

The view from our hostel in Ica.

Huacachina, the lagoon where we stayed, sand boarded and got food poisoning.

B Y E . B Y E

So I'm off to Peru for 3 months to live with a family in the shanty town of Pachacutec. I'm going with a NGO charity called Platform2 who are also supported by Christian Aid. Come say teary bye bye's while I drink cheap umbrella decorated cocktails and dance erratically (ha , was almost erotic according to spell checker) to old school garage. Can you dance erotically to old school garage? If so my new career may be an exotic garage dancer. Shut up Jess...

This Friday at he cheesy-chic Anatolia, around 9pm till whenever my feet hurt and I insist on leaving in order to buy chips.

D R O O L

This outfit is perfectly laid back. Chic and scruffy.

S P E A K . Y O U R . M I N D

I was invited along to a spoken word event at Westminster Uni by my new friend and fellow Platform2 volunteer, Zi. Bit sceptical about the whole spoken broken poetry thing but I was completely blown away with the whole thing. Particularly Holie McNish, who was accompanied by her partner and their baby girl both sat in the audience. Please check out her website and donate generously to download her album PUSH KICK, all based on pregnancy and motherhood. Funny, moving, harrowing and spoken with such strength. Click here > http://holliemcnish.bandcamp.com/

K I C K . I T

Footwear lambs to the slaughter. My new 'outdoor' kicks are about to get a 10 week battering in Peru. I don't think they'll make it somehow, have youse seen what I do to ballet pumps in less than a week? It's knarly.
J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

C A R N I V A L

Me 5 years old, Saint Mary's of the Angels Church, Notting Hill Carnival 1993.

17 years on. Notting Hill Carnival 2010, Rampage, my liver sponsored by Alize. Yasmin and Jarina. What am I gonna do in Peru without you two? Don't go looking for no white gal replacement, I will dash you.

T I M E

J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

B E A N S . O N . T O A S T

New twist on my povo staple meal. Wholemeal bread, mexican re fried beans, gruyere cheese, sour cream and red jalapenos.
J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

W I T H . L O V E . F R O M . M A R C

I was petrified I'd get mugged in New York. I had no idea how to navigate my way round its grid system "And where the hell is Barney's?".

If six days on my own in NYC was like a crash course on how to be a New Yorker, then I passed with flying colours.

Within hours of touching down in the US I was standing in Times Square eating one dollar pizza and chatting to a bunch of NYPD cops at 1am. Day two I went to a the Ezer fashion show and had $40 nicked, and by day six I was arguing with cab drivers with true gumption.

Of course it was fashion week and the Fash Pack were out in force. Lots of people wearing attention grabbing garms in the hope they'll end up on someone's blog. Je n'aime pas. I however was dining in Pastis while Anna Wintour sat a few tables away and someone else picked up the tab.

If there was one NYFW highlight which still makes me smile in a very coy 'I'm-Victoria-Beckham-and-I-don't-want-wrinkles' type way it was this. The mental images I was taking were exact to the ones I would spend hours trawling through on blogs and looking at in magazines. And yet here I was, touching distance away from a world previously only available on Style.com.

Presented with my ticket I walked inside. The sharp elbows London has gifted me got me a good spot between the front row and the photographers stand.

I was exactly where I am supposed be.

J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

U P . A N D . A W A Y

Excitement has got the better of me already. The boxing up of my room has already begun.
J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

M . K

Jesus I love the Olsens. I need a leopard print chiffon plunging maxi dress.

olsensanonymous

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The que at the Alexander Wang sample sale on Mercer St, NY last week.
J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

E . B L O G G I N G

Trying out blogging from my blackberry email.

E . B L O G G I N G

Trying out blogging from my blackberry email. Hopefully this should show some pictures of my silver / gold bling. I'm liking the trend for over loading your digits with cocktail rings I just don't like mixing gold and silver.

J E S S . R U N C I M A N - Sent from my BlackBerry®

C O M P L E X . S A L E

Spotted this on Tommy Tonn's Twitter feed.

Complex Geometries one day secret sale

40% of everything when you quote 'onedaysale' at online checkout.

All sales are final, no refunds.

There was one of his lovely photographs to go along side this exciting price slashing news however blogging from an iPod touch that has fallen out of love with it's charger is proving difficult. As is it's automatic spellcheck this being the third time I have edited this post after publishing it to the blog.

This is all down to my laptop dying in my arms the other night. Can hardware technology commit suicide? I'm sure I saw a fine art exhibition years ago that confirmmed so, no?

C E L I N E

Love at first sight.

Celine's Resort 2011 collection is my new instant infactuation.

je vous veux sur moi maintenant

F I E R C E

P I N . M E . U P

This is my insiration for friday night's outfit minus the running mascara. Her body is fucking amazing also.

"Why Don't You Love Me" - Beyoncé from Beyoncé on Vimeo.

H A P P Y . F E E T

I think I would actually be able to hear my feet sing a little bit if they ever got their toes into these. Pastel perfection by Opening Ceremony, available at Good Hood.

A . C H I L D . O F . T H E . J A G O

I adore these hats by A Child of the Jago from their AW10 collection. I used to have a black velvet bowler hat when I was about four years old and I used to wear it all the time.

Exaggerated, playful and dark. Beautiful felt, clean lines on the Aztec trim and a massive gold arrow. Amazing! But what the hell do I wear it with?