Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A V&A treasure trove


As I have previously posted, I have been attending the Vintage to Vogue weekly lecture series at the Victoria and Albert museum in London and was lucky enough to visit with my fellow classmates the prints and archives room.  I know it's open to students basically all the time but I'm no longer a student and wouldn't really know where to begin looking.  Our lecturer Dr Claire Rose had already chosen specific prints to show the group which certainly made the over sensory stimulation easier to cope with.  Had there of been hundreds of prints for us to flick through I'm not sure I would have survived!  Dr Rose explained the importance of many of the prints including the ones illustrated and then created for the Queen, in addition to the Manolo Blahnik originals and Jean Muir's.  For 45 minutes I was in glorious snap happy heaven- apologies for the overload in photos!














All photos taken by me

Monday, March 28, 2011

Amsterdam is all its glory

This past weekend I flew to Amsterdam to visit a college friend and although the trip was only for 2 days it was wonderful to explore Amsterdam with a local!  As I had a personal tour guide so getting around was easy and Steph even kindly followed me around all the vintage stores we could find.  I had to laugh though, as I was trawling through a rack of cardigans and Steph blurted out that her mother told her never to wear someone else's clothes! Here I was exclaiming with excitement over the treasures to be found and Steph had not said a thing until the last vintage store about her lack of interest in vintage.  What a true friend!

Other than shopping we visited a flower garden which was absolutely beautiful and I was suffering from colour over stimulation from the abundance of tulips and other flowers.  I couldn't leave Holland without taking a photo of a tulip... I may have taken 100 in the end though!











Thursday, March 24, 2011

Elizabeth Taylor

As a child and one in love with horses I was obsessed with watching National Velvet.  It was a classic, heart felt film and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney.  I would watch the film in the morning when I woke up and run outside and spend hours in the paddocks of our family property with my horses.  Today, the films star Elizabeth Taylor passed away in Los Angeles.  Although I haven't seen many more of her films, she certainly played a part in my childhood and no doubt many others.  A classic beauty she will forever be remembered.



  

Monday, March 21, 2011

Zoola Fish

Way back in October I bought a voucher from Groupon for Zoola Fish.  It was an awesome saving of like 50%  and I'm basically a sucker for bargains so I ended up buying one.  I never got around to using it before the new year so a few days before it expired and I received a friendly reminder email from Groupon I headed up to Camden Markets and stuck my legs in a tank of water for the fishies to eat.  My mum thought I was crazy but it actually wasn't that bad, it tickled ALOT, especially when the fish were eating underneath your toes but other than that it was relaxing.  Try one next time!



Friday, March 18, 2011

Spring has sprung!

Walking down my road the other night after work my mind was off in another land, no doubt thinking about fabulous fashion items to buy and trips to exotic places to book, but I meaninglessly looked up and saw such a beautiful sight, especially for London!  The cherry blossoms on my street had started to bloom. Spring has come!  At this time last year I was still travelling the USA and hadn't yet reached my destination of Scotland (that's a long story) but as I recall spring last year was a late one.  The tree's and flowers didn't start to bud until May in Scotland so I was just a little surprised to see it in March, when it should be.  Now that brings me to something more concerning... I was surprised to see the buds in March.  Flowers and trees are supposed to come to life in March.  Has the world turned itself upside down that much with environmental erosion, waste and damage that we (or maybe just me) have come to expect the seasons to be different?  I am hoping that in my area of the world the damage hasn't been to disastrous and the flowers and trees still know when it's March and time to sprout.  Unfortunately, I don't think I can say the same the for rest of the world :(

The first night I saw the Cherry Blossoms bloom


A couple days later

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Antique exploration....

For the past few weeks I have been attending a weekly course at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London one night a week and to be honest I'm becoming a little more and more obsessed every week.  It's called Vintage to Vogue... enough said.  I have a friend who would most definitely describe my personal style as preppy, but I maintain that's only because she's quite alternative and arty in the way she dresses so when you compare the two of us, yes I do stand out as the 'preppy' one.  Although, over the past few months of living in London and visiting markets on weekends- some of which have been spectacular  vintage markets- I have acquired a thirst and appreciation for the pre loved.  This leads me to share with you one of the most incredible small collections I have seen; Meg Andrews.  As apart of the V&A course we diverted our classroom to the living room of Meg Andrews an antique textiles dealer.  I was pretty much in awe as soon as stepped through the door way.  Her walls are lined with photographs, prints and framed textiles.  If I ever get the opportunity to collect the artefacts she has I would adorn my walls with them too!

Spools on the fireplace

Adorning the wall

Meg's amazing stair well of treasures
As we worked through her collection we saw ancient shoes from the Asian cultures, scarves from World War I and II and even a pair of Queen Victoria's drawers!  We only spent one hour in her home before moving on for the next group to experience her amazing treasures but from all of her collection I was enamoured with a painting in her bathroom.  It was a renaissance classic and proudly glared down at the bathtub centred in the room.  It's on my list of things to collect!

Queen Victoria's drawers

A pair of dresses from a wedding










Monday, March 07, 2011

And the Oscar goes to...

I watch the Oscars every year and more importantly the red carpet specials.  Since I was a young girl I would sit with my Mum and watch the Oscars on TV, eyes glued to the screen to see who would win.  The most exciting part of the award ceremony for me was watching how elegantly the actresses in their beautiful gowns sashayed up to the podium and politely accepted their award.  This year I watched the Oscars from my new home in London, without my Mum.  It wasn't quite the same but I still stared in awe at the loveliness of the dresses on the red carpet.


I absolutely loved the shimmer fabric of Gwyneth Palthrow's Calvin Klein designed dress.  It flattered her slim frame beautifully and wouldn't have been the same without her signature straight sleek hairstyle.  Natalie Portman was radiant in purple with matching tassel earrings and young nominee Hailee Steinfeld wore Marchesa which was age appropriate and quiet delicate.  She must have felt like a true princess on the night!  There was only one actress and dress that completely wowed me though...Mandy Moore's Monique Lhuillier.  When I saw her appear on TV I was completely in love with it!  I have always adored Mandy's style and her gown at the Oscars cemented her status in my books as an inspiration and icon.  I thought no one would be able to top her dress but then she herself surprised me again when performing on stage with Zachary Levi.  All I can say is that it was divine!



  


Last, but not least, who could forget Anne Hathaway's incredible job as Oscar host.  It seemed as though Anne was carrying the show on her shoulders but carried on like a trooper.  Who ever did her incredible wardrobe changes and hairstyling is a genius.  Although I wasn't in love with all her gowns she did look fabulous in them all, especially the tuxedo outfit for her solo performance.  Go Anne!



Saturday, March 05, 2011

I'm undertaking a challenge.  It's a little scary and daunting.  I'm not quite sure I know what I'm getting myself in for but, I recently read in a magazine (you'll soon come to see that I'm a magazine fiend) that whatever it is you do in your spare time, is what you should be doing full time.  Thus,I welcome you to my sparkling new journey through fashion, life, photography and London.

To answer the magazines quote, it is fashion that consumes my spare time and I'm forever reading my favourite blogs and musing on the thoughts and photos of my now fellow bloggers.  I'm also throughly dedicated to travelling and collecting stamps in my passport is  quickly becoming a full time occupation in itself!  I wouldn't say that I'm new to London since I've now lived in the city for 8 months... wow, it's been 8 months already... but I'm hoping that you will explore my adopted city with me and share in my love for everything that makes me smile.
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