Jo Malone London

Judy Blame, a London icon



 Judy Blame For Jo Malone collaboration

I could be wrong, but I had the sneaking feeling that some of the 20-year-old bloggers at the Judy Blame X Jo Malone London breakfast were wondering, “who’s that funny fellow sat at the end of the table tangled up in ribbons and buttons?” I, on the other hand was a little too thrilled.

Judy Blame is of course, the brilliant jewellery-designer-slash-stylist-slash-80s-icon whose bricolage-luxe aesthetic has had wide reaching influence across the fashion-sphere. (more…)



Jo Malone London ups its luxury game with Rare Teas



Jo Malone Rare Teas Collection

Jo Malone London has been a tad hit and miss for me in the last year, but things have picked up with its latest release, Rare Teas.

I’m currently doused in Darjeeling Tea, one of the new limited edition Rare Teas colognes, which retail at a premium £ 240 for 175ml. The essence of this collection is taking six revered rare teas from exotic locales including Morocco and Japan and infusing them straight from the leaf into a fragrance. It’s a ritualistic process and actually unheard of in fragrance until now. Each tea is blended with other ingredients to create a completely new but tea-centric concoction. (more…)



THE DRG STYLE INDEX: GUCCI, NARS, JO MALONE LONDON, GOSHA RUBCHINSKIY



Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…

1. GUCCI’S GUCCIGRAM IS GENIUS

“#GucciGram is a starting point to tell different stories, which are all united by great freedom. Today creativity is often born and finds its voice in digital media, a vital source of visual culture.” Alessandro Michele With its #GGBlooms and #GGCaleido prints, which layer a dazzling floral bouquet as well as an ever-shifting geometric pattern inspired by the eponymous kaleidoscope over classic double-G print fabric, Gucci underlines our new cultural reality. Namely, we’re all on the Internet, all the time. The way we consume visual art has changed. We don’t need to wait to go to a museum anymore. We just open Instagram on our smartphones and have immediate, intimate access to brilliant photographers and artists around the world who post their work as soon as they create it. Inspiration is drawn as easily from 19th-century Florence as it is from 21st-century technology. Everything is a remix. #GucciGram takes place in this cultural collision. The artists #AlessandroMichele has chosen all take different approaches to Instagram, but what they have in common is their ability to use the Internet to disseminate new forms of imagery. At the forefront of cultural innovation, these artists have chosen to create work on their own terms and present it directly to their audiences in a subversion of the old indirect relationship of artists, curators, and viewers. Gucci on Instagram shows us that we can seek out our own creative voices online and approach culture voraciously. Text by @kchayka

A photo posted by Gucci (@gucci) on


Gucci’s
dreamy maximalism was made for Instagram, so whoever came up with its current #GucciGram campaign deserves a gold medal. (more…)



What’s in store from Selfridges this Christmas?



Personalised Mini moet champagne Selfridges

I know it’s not cool to talk about Christmas when the clocks have only just gone back but let’s be realistic. The shopping season starts early these days, and stores have to do what they can to grab attention. Last week saw Selfridges unveil its Christmas offer, ‘Journey to the Stars’ which is themed around constellations – aka everything to do with the galaxy, astrology, spiritualism and mysticism.

Selfridges is also maximising its offer on personalisation as it has done for the last two years. (more…)