If someone had told me I'd still be keeping up with the blog five years after I'd started it, I'd have laughed. I don't think I've ever done anything for five years before... Somehow, by some miracle, here we are. Five years ago today, as I lay in bed unwell and stumbled through the London Fashion Week articles, I realised I didn't have a clue what any of it meant. LFW, RTW, AW11... it was all complete Mandarin to me... So I started a blog to help myself figure it all out...

jumper, LK Bennett / photo Amelia Allen

I can vividly remember joining Twitter and being very excited about my 20th follower (who as it turned out, became a great friend, Sarah), and embarrassingly recollect spell checking "chic" because I thought it ended in "que" (this coming from someone who studied English and speaks fairly decent French..!). I didn't put myself on the blog for 18 months, until I was persuaded to do so by friends Briony, Sarah and Dearne. I remember that being somewhat of a turning point... I still to this day find it fascinating that some of you find my ramblings in any way interesting. The blog has never, and will never, become the core business in my life. It's far more of a cathartic creative exercise - somewhere I can say what I like, do what I like and pose like an idiot in the street. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who reads the blog, and supports it. Putting yourself on the internet most definitely has it's ups and downs and having a fantastic group of friends who have a great "you only live once" mentality, a thirst for a terrible PR bulletin, and an equal appetite for gin and tonics at 3pm on a Wednesday "just because" does keep you going at times...  And to my sister, thank you for being an unpaid copy editor for the last five years. I'm sure you will be sending me an email within the hour with at least ten suggested revisions...

Lastly, to the girl who came up to me last May at Clapham Junction station and told me how much she loved the blog and (probably more pressingly) my dog - I can't thank you enough for doing so. I'd actually just come to the end of the worst day in history and was about to go home, cuddle up with said dog and close down South Molton St Style altogether. I'm very glad I didn't and your words definitely leant me in the other direction... Whoever you are, thank you!

Here's to the next five years!