Bubble London January 2013 highlights

Melissa's new kitty cat kids shoes

CLB hopped to Bubble London yesterday to get the scoop on the best new kidwear labels. It was great to catch up with old faces and make new friends. Here are the ten things we loved the most:

1. Melissa's new plastic cat and fox-inspired Mary-Janes.
2. Poco Nido's beautiful new baby footwear designs, T-shirts and shortie weelies.

3. Tootsa MacGinty's super-cool unisex collection featuring stunning knits and checks.

4. Corby Tindersticks' quirky illustrated clothes and soft toys - very refreshing.

5. Sew Heart Felt's cute felt animal slippers.

6. Sasti's highly individual collection for groovy boys and girls.

7. Lettie Belle's new sea life themed applique cushions.

8. Leopold & Livia's the new Swedish label's dreamy party frocks. So pretty.

9. Hucklebones' stunning a/w 2013 collection.

10. Grubbies denim dungerees for boys and girls.

Tootsa MacGinty's faboulous unisex designs

Sasti London's charming designs

Corby Tindersticks' leftfield offerings

Sew heart felt animal slippers

Hucklebone's beautful dresses

Poco Nido's shortie wellies

Leopold & Livia's exquisite party frocks

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CLB ♥ Peter Rabbit for Gap

Peter Rabbit rabbit ears hat, £7.95

CLB nipped into BabyGap last week to take a peek at the new range inspired by Beatrix Potter's most beloved character, Peter Rabbit. The Oxford Street flagship store (opposite Bond St tube station) has the entire range for boys and girls stocked on the lower ground floor, all beautifully merchandised with giant Peter Rabbit cardboard cut-outs. What a treat it was: babygros with classic Peter Rabbit illustrations, old-fashioned checked summer dresses, Jemima Puddle-duck hats and cute polka-dot skinny jeans. So lovely in fact, that we wanted to buy the entire collection. It's in store until stock runs out (they estimate about a month) so don't miss out. Price from £7.95 for a hat at Gap.

Jemima hat, £8.95, Gap

Smocked plaid dress, £14.95

Rabbit bodysuit, £9.95

Polka-dot jeans, £14.95

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Top ten cool kids things for 2013

Miss Evelyn and Little Lola Maud enjoying the snow today



Hello, hello and happy 2013! To kick off the new year in style, we thought we'd bring you ten things we're most excited about this year. So here goes: cute fashion finds, keepsakes to cherish, brilliant organic products and some fab sheepskin slippers to keep tiny toes warm in these near-Arctic conditions. Enjoy!

Polish mountain slippers for little ones

1. Polish mountain slippers or 'mounties'.
Our brilliant Polish nanny, Sylvie, came back from her homeland with sheepskin slippers for Evie and Lola and the girls absolutely love them. Me too - they are so snug, cosy and beautifully embroidered. Luckily you needn't schlep to Eastern Europe to get them - CLB has found similar on Etsy.

 

Little Pinecone's delectable super-fine New Zealand merino designs including this newborn set, £19.95

2. Little Pinecone

Since acquiring this beautiful reversible merino hoodie last spring, Little Lola has worn it practically every day. Merino is a great year-round wool that keeps you warm when its cold (nice and toasty for a day like today) and cool when it's hot. Miracle! We adore this small independent brand specialising in soft modern merino pieces for babies and children.
www.littlepineconemerino.com

First Impressions' exquisite baby casts

3. First Impressions

We utterly cherish the bronze baby feet and hand casts we commissioned First Impressions to do when the girls were both teeny weeny. The north London-based company has been immortalising baby's tiny hands and feet in bronze, silver and crystal for the past 25 years. Now, they can even create a 3D moulds of your little cherub's face and put turn them into cufflinks. Not surprisingly, they have a vast celebrity following including stylish mums Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham, who got baby Harper's feet cast in solid gold.
www.firstimpressions.org.uk

Petit chic at new-in-the-UK French website Melijoe.com

4. Melijoe.com

We're really excited about this well-established French kids' designer website launches in the UK this week. Stocking a well-edited selection of pieces by labels like Little Marc Jacobs, John Galliano Kids and Rykiel Enfant, it is tres tres chic.
www.melijoe.co.uk

BMW does a buggy with MacLaren. A match made in engineering heaven?

5. BMW for Maclaren

Bring together a German car manufacturer and a British buggy company and what do you get? Possibly the zippiest, smartest buggies around. In a range that promises to deliver luxury, elegance and sporty elements, we can be sure these will be a hit with dads and car-loving mums everywhere. Available exclusively at Harrods from the beginning of February.
www.harrods.com

Delicious organic baby products by Child's Farm

6. Child's Farm organic children's products

The CLB household is IN LOVE with this glorious smelling product by Hampshire-based brand Childs Farm. Free of nasty chemicals, they feature delicious ingredients like tangerine oil, sweet orange and strawberry and mint. Yum-mmmy. From £4.69 for bubble bath.
www.childsfarm.com

Little Puggle's exciting craft boxes

7. Little Puggle gift boxes 

We are looking forward to buying themed boxes at Little Puggle. The online company offers a special subscription service where they send a new monthly activity box for budding craftsters, tailored to age and interests, but you can also buy one-off boxes as gifts. From £16.95 for a Mini Surprise Box.
www.littlepuggle.com

No Added Sugar's fab new shop in Notting Hill

8. No Added Sugar's newish kids boutique 

Located in Notting Hill's lovely Ledbury Road, No Added Sugar's first shop showcases the super-cool London kids brand beautifully. We look forward to exploring properly ASAP.

57 Ledbury Road, W11 2AA (0207 221 3212/www.noaddedsugar.com).

 

Kids will love these Gruffalo plaster

9. Gruffalo plasters

We'll be taking the pain out of grazes with these cute Julia Donaldson-inspired plasters. Can't think of a better way to spend £4.25. www.bodieandfou.com

10. Tales from the Shed
We've been meaning to visit our local theatre, Chickenshed, for the past year, and finally we've booked tickets to see the colourful, lively and interactive performance 'Tales from the Shed' performance next month. Can't wait. Tickets from £5.50.
www.chickenshed.org.uk 

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Jools Oliver's Little Bird collection for Mothercare review

The windows of the new Little Bird collection at Mothercare, Oxford Street

CLB popped into the vast Mothercare flagship on Oxford Street today to check out Jools Oliver's just-launched Little Bird  range for the high street colossus. We admit we were cynical about yet another celebrity design collaboration. Mothercare were clearly hoping for a repeat of the Myleene Klass' Baby K collection, which flew out the doors, but could Jools deliver? Shockingly yes, it's actually rather gorgeous. Mum-of-four Jools has created some really pretty (but not too twee) pieces including Liberty-esque printed smock dress and gathered skirt, a canary yellow cardigan and Scandi-style striped T-shirts for boys and girls. Overall it's less brash than Klass' more frill-filled concoctions. There's also a cute unisex rainbow decorated range for newborns, as well as bedding. The quality was fine (glad to see most things were 100 per cent cotton) and the colours bold; not a sickly pastel in sight. But of course this being Mothercare, the best bit was the prices - from £6 for leggings! And yes, Miss Evie and Little Lola will be enjoying a few new pieces in their wardrobes (see below).  Little Bird at Mothercare

A selection of pieces from Jools Oliver's 'Little Bird' collection

CLB's booty. Nice bag and labels too

Red check shirt, £11

Little Bird T-shirts from £7

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CLB ♥ A Little Something

Romper, was £20, now £12

Something, one of London's loveliest independent gift shops has recently relocated online. While we miss the airy Bloomsbury store, it's fab to have access to Toni Hornton's wonderful mix of accessories, homewares and childrens clothing at the click of a URL. Horton has also recently launched her own exquisite range of baby and kidswear, A Little Something, which includes charming merino/cashmere knits. Little Lola has been wearing the above top, £55, off and on all year - a great all-year-around piece. While your there have a look at the other labels (Hucklebones and I Love Gorgeous included) for boys, girls and babies, many of them currently on sale. www.something-shop.com

A Little Something merino/cashmere dress, £55

A Little Something merino/cashmere cardigan, £60

Bag, £18

I Love Gorgeous outfit, was £51, now £28

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Three fab raincoats

Rain mac, £112.50, Hucklebones

April is certainly living up to its rainy reputation (how can there still be a drought?) There is a silver lining however: it's the perfect excuse to invest in a new raincoat for your wee one. Here are three modern classics CLB loves...

Flannel-lined parka, £47, American Apparel

Unisex mac, £76, Petit Bateau at Little Liberty

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CLB ♥ Poco Nido pre-walkers

Ever noticed how there's only a couple of pre-walker shoe brands around? CLB was happy to set eyes on new label Poco Nido's bold designs. Founded by well-established footwear designer Catherine Lobley, the Sheffield based brand provides cotton pre-walkers in unisex designs (big tick) featuring stylised monsters, birds and flowers. Each pair has suede soles and concealed elastic for a nice snug fit (sizes 0-6 months, 6-12 and 12-18). We're not surprised that one of our favourite kids shops, Olive Loves Alfie has recently snapped them up. £16 at Poconido.com (free postage and packing until the end of April) and Olivelovesalfie.co.uk

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WAH baby sale

Stuck for something to do this Sunday? Sharmadean Reid, founder of hip Dalston nail haunt WAH nails is having a second hand baby sale. The stylish mamma of baby Roman has been indulging in all things baby-orientated on her blogs so expect an inspiring selection of clothing, toys and books. See you there chic mammas.

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CLB ♥ Victoria Beckham's cat dress for Harper!

Oh, hello. Is this all CLB's dreams come true? Victoria Beckham posted this on her Twitter page last night and our eyes nearly popped out of our heads! A tiny dress, designed especially for Harper Seven, in the divine cat print recently seen in her debut 'Victoria' line in New York. Could this be the beginning of something beautiful, a Victoria Beckham range for babies? Let's hope so.

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She's here...

Excuse the lack of posts recently but we have been busy welcoming our latest addition, Lola Maud Westhead, to the CLB household! Born at 2.11pn on 22nd July at UCLH, Lola weighed in at a petite 6lbs11 (just over 3.03kg) with a head a dark hair just like her daddy. She has been feeding and sleeping well and older sis Evie has been a remarkably stoical about the whole thing. As soon as she set eyes on Lola in the hospital she ran up to her shouted 'tiny hands, tiny hands!' and then insisted on kissing her on the head very excitedly. So sweet. We couldn't be more delighted with our new bundle of loveliness.

Five things this new mummy can't live without:

Boob breast feeding tops

Close baby carrier - Lola and I love it

Merino baby blanket

Petit Bateau newborn baby wear

Storksak baby changing bag

Aden + Anais giant swaddles - a life saver!

Evie gets to know Lola

Lola the day she was born

Lola snuggled up in her Aden +Anais muslin swaddle

Lola's first trip to the grandparents' wearing Petit Bateau

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Marni kidswear launches

 

The eagerly awaited Marni Children range designed by Consuelo Castiglioni, has just landed in the Sloane Street store. Now let's be honest here, these are uber-designer garbs for little ones with price tags to match (from £232 for the above cardigan to an eye-watering £467 for the below padded jacket, ahem!). Still, CLB is swooning at the cute, charmingly naive yet modern designs that are so typically Marni. Truth is, we prefer them to the grown-up collections. Sadly, Victoria Beckham will have to wait a whole two years to dress Harper Seven in Marni as it's aimed at 2-12 year old girls.

Marni, 26 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9NE (0207 245 9520/www.marni.com)      
                                  

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