WELCOME

I love the changing seasons and the new fashions that they bring.
For my overseas readers -GOOGLE TRANSLATE:

Translate

Tuesday 26 June 2012

STARRY NIGHTS

It was Midsummer Day on the 24th.  The nights have not been warm and balmy yet and I have been going out in the evenings in black lace or dark denims and black leather jacket.  I have been adding some glamour to these dark looks with sparkly, starry accessories and nail varnishes.



















Above, clockwise, Navy Blue Sparkly Ballerinas from Kurt Geiger, Pearl and Diamanté Alice Band from Accessorize, Navy Blue Sparkly Bracelet with Gold Star from Warehouse, Silver and Diamanté Ring and Silver & Crystal Star Earrings, both from Accessorize.




















Nail varnishes, to wear all at once.  From left to right, Blue Rebel, a dark denim shade by Chanel; Silver Bullet and dark and sparkly Gypsy Night, both by Top Shop; Shelton Street, a glittering gold by Nails Inc. I painted the little finger and the thumb nails in Blue Rebel and the other nails between them in the sequence shown in the photograph.



Friday 22 June 2012

YOKO ONO.......AND MEMORIES OF JOHN











































Earlier this week, an exhibition spanning over five decades of Yoko Ono's work opened at the Serpentine Gallery.  The exhibits, which include films, photographs and installations, demonstrate her significance as a pioneer of conceptual art.

Viewers are invited to enter and explore AMAZE, a perspex maze.  There is a series of identical photographs, each representing different people and events in her life from her birth to an imaginary end.  CUT PIECE 1964 is a film in which Yoko sits, passive, vulnerable, allowing members of her audience to come one by one and gradually cut her clothes to pieces with a scissors.  She remakes CUT PIECE in 2003, now aged 70 and wearing an elegant long black dress.

I found the exhibit of footprints on a sheet of paper particularly poignant.  Yoko explains that she and John Lennon made these footprints together.  More recently she hung the piece vertically on a wall and realised that "We were walking to the sky".   








With thoughts of Yoko and John still in my mind, I was out looking at  t-shirts and vests.  Icon and band tops are key pieces this season in the "festival" look.  Dolce and Gabbana have some beautiful icon t-shirts but there are many to be found in the High Street shops.  I came upon this John Lennon vest at H&M.  With an image taken from a Goldblatt photograph and a Yoko Ono Lennon copyright inscription, this was somehow a rather special vest.



Tuesday 12 June 2012

A PAVILION, A RAINY EVENING AND A PATRIOTIC UMBRELLA


Despite the rain, on Monday evening I went into the park to the Private View of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012.  Every year, a different pavilion is constructed at the beginning of the summer and dismantled at the end of the season. This year it was designed by Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron and the artist, Ai Weiwei. The design involved digging five foot below the surface of the lawn, creating a sunken public space and revealing history of past pavilions.  





Twelve columns support the floating platform roof and inside the pavilion there are cork clad bench and stool type constructions to provide seating. During the summer, the pavilion will be a place where the public can sit, a venue for the Serpentine Gallery's Park Nights events and a shelter from the rain - a purpose it served on Monday night.






The rain didn't seem so bad under my new Topshop London Icon umbrella.  Still thrilled by last week's Jubilee events, which I enjoyed so much, I loved it immediately.  Little crowns, postage stamps, Union Jacks, Big Bens, Millennium Wheels, red post boxes and telephone kiosks are scattered all over a black background.  It really lifts my spirits in the rain! 




Topshop London Icon Umbrella
Detail of Print

Wednesday 6 June 2012

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE


During the extended Bank Holiday weekend, there were some wonderful events to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  On Sunday, a river pageant took place on the Thames, which echoed Canaletto's 18th century painting of Lord Mayor's Day. The royal barge accompanied by a flotilla of small boats, some of which actually took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, proceeded from Battersea Bridge to Tower Bridge.



Despite the cool, grey, drizzly weather, crowds thronged to the river embankments to watch the procession, or at least to catch a glimpse of it as it passed.  The rain miraculously held back until the final part of the event and then it came pouring down.  




The Queen looked beautiful in a white dress and matching bouclé coat and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge was stunning in a red dress by Alexander McQueen.  Karl Lagerfeld made very complimentary remarks about them and thought that Princess Anne looked very chic too in her naval uniform!  


The Queen continued to look marvellous and at the concert on Monday night, she wore a gold lamé dress enhanced with antique gold lace and Swarovski crystals.  For the service on Tuesday morning at St Paul's Cathedral, she wore a crystal studded, mint green coat and dress.  The Queen's lovely clothes were all designed by her in-house designer, Angela Kelly.  At St Paul's, Kate again chose an Alexander McQueen design - a very pretty nude toned lace dress. 


As my own small Diamond Jubilee token, I painted my nails in contrasting colours, (red, gold and blue), wore my little gold and diamanté crown earrings and my jewelled alice band.





Saturday 2 June 2012

SUMMERTIME







At last some warm, sunny weather has come to London and after a rainy Spring, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are looking so beautifully green and luxuriant.  As usual in summer, the Serpentine has been a popular place to go for both Londoners and tourists.  Whether it's a walk around the lake, taking a little boat out, a swim in the Lido or just chilling out at the Lido café, it's a pleasant escape from the nearby city streets and a venue with a holiday atmosphere.



With sun and holidays in mind, Chanel have now brought out their new Summertime de Chanel makeup.   The look is tanned skin enhanced with gold, bronze and coral.  Soleil Tan de Chanel is a Luminous Bronzing Powder with a glint of gold, which comes in two tones - Sable Rose for fair skin or Sable Beige for olive skin.  It's contained in a black Chanel mirrored compact with stripes of colours to blend.  The Ombres Contraste Duo compact contains two eyeshadows - Sable (a rich brown) and Emouvant (a glimmering creamy beige).  In the Rouge Coco Shine range, there are two new lipsticks, Empreinte (soft beige) and En Vogue (coral).  Two new lipglosses in the Levres Scintillantes Glossimer collection are Sirocco (beige) and Calypso (coral).  Completing this summer makeup are three nail varnishes, Island (a golden beige), Delight (a beautiful bronze) and Holiday (a bright coral).  


En Vogue Lipstick and Delight Nail Varnish


This is a gleaming modern take on a classic holiday style makeup. It  makes me think of a tiny black bikini, Chanel sunglasses, little white shorts and a holiday on the Côte D'Azur.  My personal favourites are the Soleil Tan de Chanel in Sable Rose, the En Vogue lipstick and the  Delight nail varnish.