Yummy mummies

I read an article in the Daily Telegraph the other day that had some good fashion links.

Although the plight of mothers trying to look decent at the school gate leaves me unmoved (I don't have kids and if I did have any, I'd delight in thoroughly embarrassing them), I do like simple clothes that you can just put on and go, and in which you can move at speed. I also picked up a phrase that was new to me - 'nappy valley'. 

I had no idea what this meant, but apparently it refers to the enclave of affluent middle-class mums who've given Battersea and Wandsworth one of the highest birth rates in Europe. And they turn up at the school gate, apparently, in Boden.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I can't work it out - I don't know whether the author is saying Boden is high end or low-rent. Whatever it is, it's still my fave label at the moment - well-cut, well-made clothes that are suitable for my country lifestyle but that don't make me feel like a yokel when I'm wearing them. So I won't be giving up my Boden any time soon.

However, Kew Online looks like a good addition to my list. Kew is a sister company to Jigsaw, where sadly I never had any luck (just not the right cut for me, though my friend Charlotte looked great in them), and launched in 2003, long after I left England. Online, they deliver to your UK destination of choice, so I suppose I'd have to get things sent to my sister. I particularly like their lace-edged cardigans, like this pink one above (very Boden, in fact) and this flatteringly cut top (right, sadly no longer available in my size in any of its half-dozen colourways).Their lines are very clean, and the different colours available form a nice palette.

The other site was Pretty Ballerinas, which specialises in very pretty variations on ballerina pumps, with heels ranging from zero to 1cm in height. I am a big fan of flats as I like to move at speed, and if you're going to wear them, it's great if they can be cute as well - this leopard-print pair would look great peeking out of the bottom of a pair of good jeans. At over £100 a pair, they're not cheap, but they have a very wide range and there's also a search facility on site, which is worth having.