Alice Knackfuss at Other Shop
Nice one Other Shop! Continuing its mission to nurture emerging designers, Matt and Kirk have brought a. Knackfuss to London. Alice Knackfuss’s menswear-fused womenswear mixes tailoring and classic staples with exciting prints and clever, playful details.
My standout pieces are the sheer silk windbreaker, the layered shirt and the sheer-backed baseball jacket (alas, now sold out). Here’s some eye candy to feast on…
Last chance for Lichtenstein
Yikes, where is the time going? This week is the last chance to see Lichtenstein – A Retrospective at Tate Modern and I managed to get my eye in fashionably late last week. If you love his classic dot artworks, this is a chance to see them in huge scale which is really not to be missed. Most people are familiar with the War and Romance era, the comic-book style ‘WHAMM!’s and melodramatic close-ups of women in distress. Continue reading
Beauty snippets: The Bling Ring, Jean-Louis Sebagh, Lisa Eldridge, Pinterest, YSL Baby Doll, Cosmetics A La Carte, Charlotte Tilbury, Into The Gloss, Bourjois
COSMETICS A LA CARTE COLOUR AND CULTURE EXHIBITION
This is turning out to be an exciting month for beauty. I would love to make it to the Chanel no5 exhibition in Paris but frankly, that ain’t gonna happen. More achievable is the Cosmetics A La Carte ‘Colour And Culture’ exhibition next week at 50 Redchurch Street E2. Celebrating forty years of the specialist cosmetics company (I’ve always wanted one of their custom-made foundations), the exhibition is only on for five days (22-26 May, 10-6pm) so rearrange that diary and schedule it in! Continue reading
Pinterest for the UK
Last week saw the launch of Pinterest in the UK. Which you might think weird because, um, haven’t we in the UK all been using it for yonks? Well yes, but it seems the site is keen to have some more localised content too, which is why it has decided to flag up a few Brit bloggers and pinners to encourage some more UK-centric pinning.
Not that my pins are necessarily UK-centric (Ok, they’re categorically not), but there might be an underlying Brit style coming through… maybe. Anyway, if you’re a pinner, you can follow all or some of my Pinterest boards here. I’ve just created a new one called ‘gentlewoman style‘ which is my tribute to sophisticated, cultured women with a bit of a boy-girl twist. Continue reading
Club Monaco creates all-blogger look book (and launches it on Tumblr)
Club Monaco was an early adopter in curating inspiring content on its ‘Culture Club’ Tumblr. From fabulous architecture to offbeat coffee shops, since 2010 it has nailed the art of curating relevant content without ramming product down our throats. Plus its Tumblr is one of the few branded Tumblrs that I follow. (BTW, my beauty Tumblr is here…) Now it has achieved another first – the first blogger-cast Tumblr lookbook and a Club Monaco-branded Tumblr theme. Continue reading
Guest post: The craft of watch-making and experiential retail from Jaeger–LeCoultre at Harrods
There’s something charming, and humbling about a one-to-one session with a true craftsman, not least when it comes to haute horlogerie with one of my favourite watch brands: Jaeger-LeCoultre. I’m a big fan of the Reverso watch from the Swiss luxury watch-maker (have you seen its latest collab with Valextra? Oh my!), that just happens to be celebrating its 180th anniversary with a dedicated exhibition space at Harrods. Continue reading
Mood boosting nails from Kure Bazaar and disco nails from Yves Saint Laurent
Summer just doesn’t seem to want to kick in in NW10. I’m still wearing my woolly scarves and HeatTech which doesn’t do much to put me in an upbeat mood. But this is where the power of make-up really comes in as a mood-booster. I’ve been testing out these Kure Bazaar nail polishes and the colour palette is pretty impressive. My current favourite is Fabulous, a uplifting pink with just a hint of milkiness (third from the left). Kelly is another hot, tropical pink, this time with a subtle shimmer. Both shades are super-flattering on short nails and the added bonus is that Kure Bazaar is one of the new generation of non-toxic nail polishes that are emerging. You can buy them at Selfridges and KureBazaar.com.
Another bit of nail news comes from Yves Saint Laurent. I love YSL polishes – the colours and consistency are second to none, and of course you know I adore the gold casing. The way these La Laque Couture Tie & Dye duos work is quite interesting. Apply the main dense colour as your base coat (choose from signature Yves Saint Laurent shades of blue, pink, purple and orange), wait five minutes, then shake the shimmery topcoat and apply as many layers as you like depending on how intensely you want your nails to dazzle. They cost £18 per duo and are a cute idea for statementy disco nails – and let’s face it, disco is definitely cool again…
Oh and while we’re on a nail tip (LOL), I’ve just discovered Deborah Lipmann’s ‘The Stripper To Go’ a lavender-infused nail lacquer remover finger mitt. You get one mitt in a sachet which easily cleans ten nails in about ten seconds. Converted! Six sachets cost £14 so they’re not cheap but an excellent option for travel.
OMG! Hamish Bowles for Vogue TV!
Breaking news: Hamish Bowles is getting his own Vogue TV show. That is all…
(Actually, that’s not all. Fashionista has a story about a whole clutch of Vogue online TV content, but the only show I’m really interested in is Vintage Bowles. Bring it on…)
Buy it now: How Moda Operandi is monetising the Met Ball
Right, now that Vogue Festival is out of the way, the next Vogue event to diarise is the Met Gala, coming on 6th May. Especially if you’re a celeb-loving fashion fan. The red carpet arrivals at the Costume Institute benefit will be livestreamed next Monday at 7pm EST on the Moda Operandi, US Vogue, Samsung and Metropolitan Museum of Art websites. Continue reading
Alpha Industries launch lightweight MA1 for women
I was just too damn slow to nab the Filippa K MA1 lookalike that I blogged about last year. But the gods are smiling on me as MA1 originators Alpha Industries has announced an exclusive with ASOS. Continue reading
