You & Miele: Shini from Park & Cube blog

An inspiring and educational read for anyone with an interest in fashion – this week, Miele meet the magnificent Shini from the Park & Cube blog, who has a fine word or three to say about fashion care, head-turning treads and knitting in planes (figuratively at least) – read on…

Firstly, tell us a little about your site? Park&Cube is my little hideout, plastered daily with personal outfits and whatever that may be inspiring at the time. Also the occasional (awesome) shopping links and DIY tutorials for those who’d like to put away their wallet and exhaust the craft energy someplace useful.

We hear that your shoes were quite the talk of London Fashion Week. Any more magnificent treads caught the eye recently? Ah the Emma Cooks! Sadly after the evening I realised they’re too small for my feet so they had to be laid to rest until a better time or suitor came by… huge pity! I did get my hands on the dark-grey Office caged wedges later and they’ve been headturners wherever they were worn to. I’ve brought them to Poland and so far I’ve been quite satisfied to present something so unusual.

How important is garment care to you as a fashion enthusiast? Do you trust your creations to a washing machine? Being a personal-outfit-blogger many items in my closet are constantly recycled into different outfits and combinations, so I find garmet care to be extremely important. Especially in cases of vintage or statement pieces, I wouldn’t fling those around carelessly or trust any old washing machine to clean them. As for my DIY pieces, I’ve avoided wearing them too much so that I could delay the washing - but this was purely from fear that the washing machine I own will destroy the garment. I definitely will hand-wash when the time comes.

Are there any tips you can share with our fellow fashion conscious readers? Regarding garment care, since I don’t happen to own a washing machine that will wash a rose without shredding its petals (and nor will a lot of others), I suggest gentle hand-washing with hand-wash detergent. Especially with DIY that involve chains, laces or beads - unless the chains are silver, they will most likely discolour when washed, so take this into account when washing.

In one of your blogposts you mentioned that you would like to knit in a plane at least once in your lifetime. Do you think the world will ever see a time when you are allowed to knit in a plane? I thought about this again on my returning flight back from Turkey! I’m sure now, that my point when I said this was not necessarily that I want to knit something during a 2-hour plane ride, but the fact that they could reconsider how plane safety should be performed. It is pure circus what we go through in airports these days, and unfortunately unless a mighty higher power intervenes, we won’t see a time when they will lift the ban on sharp objects. A few years ago when I was seeing a friend off at an airport, a man offered me his umbrella because it was apparently not allowed on board. What can one do with the umbrella on a plane, threaten to open it and terrorize everyone of bad luck?

If you could pick one of the outfits you’ve featured on your blog, which would be your very favourite? I actually don’t think I have a favourite! I think of my style to be constantly evolving (’improving’ in more cases, if one may say so) and I don’t think I’m yet at a stage where I know what my true style is to show it off. So this one (see picture) was a particularly fun outfit, just because I’m so in love with the colour of the jacket.

Thanks Shini – now, visit her blog…

Miele washing machines: price versus quality?

Discussion a-plenty on the UK DIY Google Group about Miele, as the age old price vs. quality argument has reared its head. Miele owner Tim S argues that in ‘today’s throw away society’ “this is definitely a Miele moment”, whilst David suggests that Miele would be top of his ‘looking’ list.

Meanwhile, although Huge has had problems with his machine after not cleaning it for 8 years, he’s still impressed because… “(i) the front opens on a hinge, so it doesn’t need to be removed from under the countertop, or tipped up, (ii) that it can be run with the front open, so faults can be seen happening & (iii) there’s a wiring diagram clipped on the front of the machine!”