What a Day!

Oh lovely readers, I am off on my Summer jollies for the next two weeks so posting may be rather sporadic..if at all! Before I go though I wanted to flag up a smashing piece of news about the late and great Corrine Day who died in the UK on Friday August 27 last year due to complications relating to a brain tumour. She was only 45-years-old.  Her iconic work is set to be showcased at a dedicated exhibition, opening on September 1st at the Gimpel Fils Gallery in London.

The display will feature the late Vogue photographer's earlier pictures, with subjects including Kate Moss, Rosemary Ferguson and George Clements.

Curated by Day's husband, Mark Szaszy, her long-standing agent, Susie Babchick and Alice Corriea, the exhibition revisits Day's work for iconic magazine The Face.  The exhibition will run from 1 September - 1 October.

 

 Gimpel Fils, 30 Davies Street, London, W1K 4NB.

Classics - Polka dot or Gone dotty

Spotty chic

You know how sometimes you come across an image and think, "I want to look like that".  This is how I feel about this chic, young lady above.  If anyone is in London at the moment, you will have experienced the London monsoon that happened this morning..I still have soaking wet feet which isn't an ideal way to start the morning.  Even though I have my long awaited Summer break from Saturday, the weather is making me feel schizophrenic..still need to be making the most of my Summer purchases whilst longing and actually needing Autumn/ Winter buys.

Where Marc Jacobs leads, others will follow. I heart Cruella .

Dots, polka dots, dalmatian dots etc are going to be a big trend next season..this season...I've lost it already. They're a classic and work beautifully in the day or evening. Possibly the least scary print, a classic navy/black and white is always a winner.  Take some fashion inspiration from the following images and hit the shops..just take an umbrella and sunblock.

My new Winter coat from DVF..well not actually but my do I want it.

Ashley Olsen working dots as evening wear.

Kirsten Dunst dips a toe in the trend with this discreet black and white top. Perfect day to evening outfit.

Full on dotty evening wear from Olivia Palermo who mastered two trends in one with this pretty, mullet-hemmed dot-print dress by Bensoni.

Am mannish vibe at Paul Smith was enlivened by a dot motif on these lovely cropped trews!

And finally..Alexa, ahead of the style curve with some enviable Celine arm candy too.

The Other Kate's Big Day

So there was a wedding that happened in London back in April that garnered quite a bit of media attention but everyone in the fashion world was really waiting for a certain Ms Moss to become Mrs Hince.  Today I read a smashing article by Hamish Bowles describing, in glorious detail, what happened in the run up and actually on the day of the wedding with pictures by the official photographer, Mario Testino. I've pulled out a few extracts for you and, more importantly, here are some of the pictures.  It's like we were there!

At the ceremony, conducted by the Reverend Harry MacInnes, Jake Chapman reads a resonant love letter, the cherubic choristers of Gloucester Cathedral sing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and Mrs. Jamie Hince is finally an honest woman.

“She dared me to be John Galliano again,” the designer tells me. “I couldn’t pick up a pencil. It’s been my creative rehab.”

After dinner, Kate and Jamie cut Peggy Porschen’s cake—actually a pyramid of six cakes, each a different flavor, crusted with droplets of icing-sugar lily-of-the-valley blossoms.

Carine and Terry Richardson

“I never go in countryside,” explains Carine Roitfeld, perhaps unnecessarily, as she picks her way gingerly through the grass in a 20-year-old Galliano crepe frock and teetering strappy sandals. “It’s bea-u-tiful.”

Jefferson Hack &Hamish Bowles

"Colin Field and his team from the Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris are setting up the bar on the dance floor. They will be serving the Kate 76, a lethal cocktail of vodka, champagne, crushed ice, and sugar. “I used to keep the bar open a little later than I should,” Field confides, “and we’d work out cocktails with Kate. Because she drinks it, I expect everyone to drink it. It’ll be the drink!” "

Some more typically average wedding guests...

Bella Freud and Christian Louboutin

"The menu includes toro tartare with caviar, Longhorn veal with grilled peaches, and strawberry granita dusted with gold leaf, accompanied by Sesti and champagne"

"Meanwhile, in Kate’s gardens, a Palm Court jazz band is playing “It Had to Be You” in the marquee, while battalions of black-and-white-clad wait staff light the votive candles hanging from fruit trees in their jam jars and antique lanterns, and artfully arrange a pyramid of champagne flutes. Paper cones filled with rose petals for the bridal couple are arranged on little café tables, and antique wicker chairs pepper the lawn. The Second Looks Tent, for guests to change in after the ceremony, is appointed like a Hollywood boudoir with faceted mirror screens, thirties standard lamps, and dressing tables heaving with pink and beige roses."

The "quick change" into Second Looks after the ceremony!

After a romantic trip to Thailand two years into their liaison, Kate recalls, “we were just so loved up, and he asked me to marry him every day.” But it was curling up together in front of the compelling British television documentary series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings that appears to have sealed the deal. “I am so romantic about Gypsies,” Kate explains. “They’re not allowed to do anything until they get married. So they all get married really young, at sixteen. You can’t believe the dresses. They’re like blinging butterflies times ten; they can’t move down the aisle! It’s so genius. I was just watching Jamie, so cute, and I was like, these girls, they just spend their whole life waiting for that day—let’s do it!”

Jamie and Kate channel a modern-day Mick and Bianca Jagger, re-creating the couple’s 1971 backseat wedding portrait by royal photographer Lord Lichfield.

Bushels of white roses by Scarlet & Violet.

Found it - The Perfect Espadrille

One of my all time favourite movies is To Catch A Thief, the suaveness of Cary Grant, the radiance of Grace Kelly and THE IDEA OF BEING A CAT BURGLAR.  (Hello career change plan).  Obviously I need the right contacts and maybe a palatial pad in the South of France but maybe the key thing would be the right footwear; silent, stylish, comfortable.  Above you see Gary and Grace and she is working the espadrille.  I have been on a quest to find my ideal espadrille for quite sometime..in fact, about five Summers.

Espadrilles are GUARANTEED to make your legs look like Alexa's. Fact.

All I need is for the sun to come out in London and then I'm good to slip these lovelies on my feet, if not, I'll be waiting until my jollies later this month.  I have been looking for the perfect espadrille for a while and they've either been overpriced, badly made or in garish colours/ patterns.

Tonis espadrilles..just gorgeous

Tonis Got Sole founder Loren Platt named her label after her flamenco dancer grandma, Antonia Viel, who lived in her trusty espadrilles on her days off.  

"Antonia Viel was a spectacular flamenco dancer from Madrid, Spain. Known as Toni to her friends, she danced her way across the globe, mesmerizing her audience with the enchanting movement of her hands, the sound of her castanets and the stamping of her feet.  On her days off she would kick off her stack heel Mary Janes and reach for the comfort of her trusty espadrilles. Hand made in her beloved home country from the softest cotton and raffia thread.

She was in happy feet heaven.

Years later her British born granddaughter Loren wanted to spread the comfort and joy of the authentic Spanish espadrille to her friends in East London and beyond. With the perfect vintage silhouette, hand sewn in a plethora of colours, they are sure to become a spring summer classic, as they have been in Spain for generations" From the Tonis Got Sole website.

Loren's espadrilles – made from soft cotton and raffia, come in a rainbow of colours and are seriously comfy. Find her at Broadway Market School Yard, or pick up a pair at her online store.  Now I just have to decide which colour I want...

And they look great on chaps too!

Shrimp!

"I'm comfortable in my own skin, I've never thought there was any intrinsic value in looking young for your age"

We've had Mad Men, a twin-set clad Katie Holmes for The Kennedys and the BBC's current hit The Hour  providing us with retro delight recently.  In fact, we've been rather spoilt.  Then, whilst I'm foaming at the mouth over the new series of Downton Abbey appearing on the horizon, along comes the announcement that Doctor Who star Karen Gillan is to play '60s model Jean Shrimpton in a new BBC film.

Gillan, who plays Amy Pond in the hit series, will swap lumberjack shirts for structured shift dresses to star in the biopic of fashion photographer David Bailey, with whom Shrimpton embarked on a four-year love affair with after meeting him on a photo shoot.  The next couple of photos are from the set of the new BBC Four drama.

While the redheads might not be the ultimate sisters in style, porcelain-skinned Gillan harbours an affection for thigh-high hemlines, which is fitting as Shrimpton, now 68 ( and not a huge fan of publicity), was credited with launching the miniskirts to the masses during her heyday in the '60s.

We'll Take Manhattan is going to be the name of this docu-drama, about the famous love affair that takes place between photographer David Bailey and Jean herself.  For those not in the know, Bailey used Shrimpton as his model for a 1962 photo shoot for Vogue magazine in New York. Shrimpton was considered a bold move for the photographer but the resulting shoot defined the style of the 1960s. The story that is told in this drama is about that time and how the two fell in love along the way (awwwww). Also rather exciting is the luscious actor set up to play David Bailey....Aneurin Barnar.

The wonderful Shrimpton, who you may have spotted in last month's Vogue Beauty supplement has always been a model I admired, partly because she turned her back on the industry in her early 30s and partly because how elegant she remains to be, rarely giving interviews.  In the most recent piece I could find she said, "I never liked being photographed. I just happened to be good at it." And she was a revelation.

Here is a shot from her heyday including one from New York, 1962, by David Bailey – in a 14-page editorial meant for Vogue. The New York shoot went against the industry standard of pretty and extravagant sets and styling and instead, took place around Lower East Side and Harlem without any of the usual entourage. (David handled his own film, Jean did her own hair and make-up, and they travelled in taxis around the city) – Its gritty style placed the city’s tough streets in counterpoint to Jean’s delicate frame, this is what I think we'll be seeing more of in the drama.

A great photo of Shrimpton and Bailey taken in 2006.

P.S. If you want a super holiday in the UK, I would highly recommend Jean Shrimpton's beautiful Abbey Hotel in Cornwall.