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Intermission for a grump
2008-02-01 23:20:00
The sheer volume of releases and new product info that lands in my inbox each day is daunting. I do read everything I get sent, but unless the sender has specifically asked for a response or for my advice, I just do not have the time to individually respond.Which is why I do wish people wouldn’t stalk me for a response: it’s pointless and aggravating. If the product is good enough, I’ll write about it or shoot it eventually, either in the real world or here on my blog. I'm also not fond of releases that have a whiff of hubris about them: if the product is good enough, let it speak for itself.Thank you. Grump over.

Shoreditch House
2008-02-01 14:43:00
It's been strange being back in London, but not really feeling well enough to do much more than eat my way through a Creme Egg mountain and play with the hound. I've seen relatively few friends, confining myself to the odd supper or lunch in people's homes, with just a couple of outings.Last week I hopped across town to Soho House 's East London outpost, Shoreditch House, for a drink with a friend of a friend. He writes the tell-all, very funny and faintly obnoxious anonymous Cityboy column in The London Paper. I got to hang out with the charming, urbane and generous man behind the construct, rather than Cityboy. Thank God.SH was crawling with, ahem, celebrities, although I use the word lightly, given that we are talking about Daisy Lowe, Mika and the cast of Shameless. Ms Lowe, in a mini crini and thigh high socks, was being filmed for some BBC documentary at a PR supper in the private dining room. Cityboy pottered off into the night, & I went onto dinner in SH's Kitchen Dining...

I'm going back to New York
2008-01-31 22:53:00
La la la - I'm going home on Tuesday. Much as I like being in London to see all my friends and family, eat proper Indian food, annoy my sister & play with the dog, I do feel that Manhattan is where I need to be right now. I've been away since 16 December and I've been so sick (two eye ulcers. Two!) & broke that it's been hard to enjoy myself over here. Not least, 75% of my wardrobe and possessions are in New York .There was a slight excitement yesterday when I was asked if I was interested in presenting & producing a series of daily reports from London Fashion Week for a global TV station which I've worked for before. I postponed booking my flight, organised somewhere to stay, & started to negotiate my fee with the station. Then the stupid cow of a producer changed her mind and cancelled me this afternoon. And now my plane ticket has gone up by £60. I could kill her. Still, at least I get to go home in FIVE DAYS. I am rather excited.
More About: Back , New-York

TYRA BANKS IN NEW FASHION REALITY SHOW
2008-01-31 15:01:00
WGSN reports that talk show host and former supermodel Tyra Banks is set to present a new reality TV show that's out to find a fashion magazine editor. IMDB reveals that the show is being dubbed "The Apprentice meets The Devil Wears Prada. Producer Ken Mok says: "It is a competition show about aspiring assistants looking to become assistant editors at a fashion magazine."Bosses are said to be looking for a magazine to participate with the series, which is set to air on US network, CW, this spring. Now I know how professional musicians feel about Pop & American Idol.
More About: Reality , Fashion , Show

The power of a brand name
2008-01-31 00:53:00
I popped into Hampstead Gap last week for a quick poke around the sale (I love me a Gap sale), and found not just a pair of tailored black flannel short shorts for £2.99(£2.99!), but a big pile of Pierre Hardy Mary Jane style pointy toe flatties. When Pierre Hardy's shoes for The Gap launched in London, I was in Manhattan, and my beloved editor friend E purchased me a pair of the black patent platform heels and posted them to me back in New York.I had fully expected all three styles in the Pierre range to have sold out by the time I returned to England in December, and certainly the black heels had been snapped up immediately, but thw two tone shoes and the Mary Janes were still kicking around in store.A chat with the Hampstead manager revealed that they aren't being marketed as Pierre Hardy shoes, and so no one was buying them. Same story in Camden Gap. The manager's theory? If they stuck a big Pierre Hardy sign above them, they'd fly out of the store...
More About: Power , Brand

Market: A new British restaurant opens in Camden, London
2008-01-30 02:34:00
It’s easy enough to make a grand entrance at Market , a new-ish restaurant in the gastro-wasteland of Camden . Simply push aside the heavy curtain and fall down the hidden step into the dining room as did I and several following customers through the course of the evening.Fortunately the low key restaurant, with its metal topped tables and salvaged wooden school chairs (watch out for the authentic vicious Wolford-snagging splinters) has attracted a clientele who are far too busy nose down in their troughs of glorious food to take much notice of flailing guests.Replacing a long-time Chinese restaurant on Parkway, Market couldn’t be more different in approach, with its emphasis on seasonally driven produce and daily changing menu. It’s part of a new wave of London restaurants that ape brasseries with their relaxed local vibe but serve resolutely British food: mackerel paté, pollack, pork cheeks, oysters, offal. T & I loved our main courses: deeply flavoured beef stew & root mash ...
More About: Restaurant

What Jane Did Next
2008-01-28 18:58:00
We knew Jane Shepherdson had something up her sleeve after she left her job as brand director at Topshop. You don't become arguably the most influential woman in British retail and then leave to spend more time with your cats/children/lover.*But who knew she'd be getting in bed with Baugar? It was announced today that she has finalised a deal with investment company Baugur to purchase Whistles with immediate effect. Jane becomes CEO of the retailer and is joined by Finance Director Keith Wilks and Marketing Director Jo Farrelly, both of whom worked with Jane at Topshop. As a result of the management buy-in, Whistles will be separated from its former owner Mosaic Fashions through a newly-created company owned in part by Jane and her team. Commenting on the development of the brand Jane said, "We see a great opportunity to create something unique for the woman who loves great design, isn't scared of a little edginess and who wants to reference but not slavishly follow trends."I ado...

Mango sponsor Jean Pierre Braganza
2008-01-28 17:15:00
I'm quite keen on Mango at the moment, following the announcement of an intelligent spot of sponsorship directed towards two young British designers. After having sponsored Osman Yousefzada's LFW show last season, (& whilst continuing to support Osman), they will also be sponsoring Jean Pierre Braganza.Braganza's signature sharp tailoring and deconstructed shapes can be seen at his show at the Mango flagship store on London's Oxford Street on Sunday, February 10. The utterly briiliant Osman Yousefzada, whose show also takes place at the store on the same day, debuts his collection of Little Black Dresses in 220 Mango stores worldwide from March.Photo: Jean Pierre Braganza SS08. Vogue.com
More About: Sponsor

Moet fashion bus for London Fashion Week
2008-01-28 16:49:00
When I read that Moët was introducing a tour bus this February to transport editors around the east end of London to the series of fashion week shows known as The Block, I thought, what a great idea. Especially the bit that read, “Guests will be greeted with champagne.”Then the release went on to list the designers whose shows would be included: House of Holland, Fashion East, which includes Louise Gray, Noki and David David, Roksanda Ilincic and Gareth Pugh. And I thought hmm, but isn’t Giles showing there too, and on the same day? And then I remembered: Giles doesn’t like, indrawn breath, fashion assistants, and scabrous people who might actually not have drivers or the wherewithal to take cabs, to attend his shows. Senior editors & important buyers only darling. Whilst I understand that designers like to show in spaces that work with their collections, that are often rather small, I also think that if you are going to be part of the official LFW schedule then you shouldn...
More About: London Fashion Week , Week , Fashion Week

Lucinda Chambers & Jaeger
2008-01-28 16:38:00
There's been a rumour floating around over the weekend that Lucinda Chambers , fashion director of British Vogue, is the new creative director of Jaeger. A Condé Nast spokeswoman hadn't heard this, Lucinda Chambers says it's not true, and the Jaeger press office flatly denied it to a friend. However, as we all know, just because someone denies something, it doesn't mean that it won't happen one day...This rumour comes on the heels of the announcement of Jaeger chairman Harold Tillman's appointment as chairman of the British Fashion Council. It'll be interesting to see how Jaeger's Belinda Earl is planning to give the company the shot in the arm it so badly needs. Whilst editorial coverage of the Jaeger London line has been good, and the SS08 collection looks interesting, if a little schizophrenic, the Regent Street flagship store is currently packed with heavily discounted sale rails, and knocked down handbags. On my visit this week, the store was not attracting the key 25-2...

Allen & Delancey: Restaurant review
2008-01-28 15:28:00
I wrote this review for a publication back in November but, owing to matters beyond my control, it got pushed. This is a more personal version than wld have been printed.__________It’s late November, it’s cold, it’s windy, I’m wearing vertiginous heels, and there’s a pan handler eyeing me thoughtfully from his doorway perch on a deserted corner of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The reason I’m down here at all on a grim Monday night is that Allen & Delancey is the new gig of Gordon Ramsey-empire exile Neil Ferguson. He was famously ejected from the Ramsey ego project at The London NYC Hotel in Manhattan by the irascible Gordon after a series of lukewarm reviews, but there were rumblings that he had been hard done by. Certainly his skill as a chef has never been in question: more his judgement of the Manhattan fine dining scene’s requirements.I'm having problems finding Allen & Delancey, until I spot the discreet lettering at the bottom of the curtained window, and then...
More About: Restaurant , Review

Harold Tillman appointed as Chairman BFC
2008-01-24 12:14:00
Harold Tillman has been appointed as the new chairman of the BFC (British Fashion Council). I'm not sure I approve: Sir Stuart Rose (M&S) was one thing, but Tillman owns Jaeger which seems to me to hint at a conflict of interest. Mind you, the post is no sinecure, and it's paid risibly, so who else would take it on, bar a rich man in retail's inner circle?
More About: Chairman , Harold

Fakery
2008-01-23 20:09:00
I'm a huge aficianado of fake eyelashes. I love the way they give my eyes an almond shaped sexiness, helping them look huge in photographs. I'm a dab hand at putting them on, and recommend Eylure's style 101 lashes for a look so natural that no one can spot them. You also need a steady hand, clear glue in a proper tube (not the ickle glass phials that come with lashes), and those small travel size tweezers that let you get in close when you are positioning them.Unfortunately they should only really be worn by women who are meticulous about their appearance, and who are fond of taking furtive peeps in their hand looking-glasses*. Whilst I will spend maybe fifteen minutes applying slap, once I'm out of the house I rarely check my face in a mirror.This is a mistake. Twice now a strip of fake lashes has parted company with my eyelid in a public place, and I have failed to notice. The first time I had cycled madly down Greenwich Avenue to Employees Only (a proper old-school cocktail ...

Best Costume Design Oscar Nominations
2008-01-23 10:32:00
Across the Universe Albert Wolsky Atonement Jacqueline Durran Elizabeth: The Golden Age Alexandra Byrne La Vie en Rose” Marit Allen Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Colleen Atwood For this dress alone, the perfect example of how a costume can work seamlessly with a script, I hope Jacqueline Durran wins for Atonement.
More About: Design , Costume , Oscar

Heath Ledger
2008-01-23 10:05:00
In the midst of life we are in death.Requiescat in pace
More About: Heath Ledger , Ledger , Heath

Giorgio Armani Privé show this evening
2008-01-21 23:12:00
It's a sign of the times that when a fashion house shows a new collection, the first act of the in-house press office is to email journalists images of the celebrity attendees in hope of making the next day's papers. Forget the clothes, or the models in the clothes. Those pictures are no longer enough to sell newspapers. Mr Armani showed his Privé Collection as part of the Paris Couture this evening, with a celeb filled front row to ensure him some press coverage. Armani stalwarts Claudia Cardinale & Sophia Lauren were joined by Hilary Swank, Ellen Pompeo and Dita von Teese. Given that the Golden Globes were cancelled, and award season has been somewhat muted so far due to the writers' strike, I would have expected a higher celeb count. So often, Armani's ladies look somewhat trussed up in over elaborate, over embroidered, over brocaded numbers, which are often far too old for them (Katie Holmes springs to mind), but when these pictures from the Armani press office in Milan tip...
More About: Show , Giorgio Armani , Evening , Giorgio

Socialising
2008-01-20 23:55:00
To Ken High Street for fashion photographer Matthew Eades’ birthday drinks. It’s a good thing I like him, (as opposed to just liking his excellent work) as it took three buses to get there in the absence of working trains on the District & Circle Line. One & a half hours in the pub, over three hours to get there & back from Kentish Town. I miss the very small island of Manhattan.

Sales joy
2008-01-20 13:29:00
I have scored big time in the sales this month. These pretty studded nubuck flats from Office, with a fantastic, winter busting hidden rubber sole, cost just £5 from £29, and I have them in black too. They are perfect for scrunching up in the bottom of my handbag for changing into to walk home after supper in Manhattan. (They are incredibly lightweight too, and water marks just disappear when they dry.)After weeks of debating, I bought the Kurt Geiger ankle boots, and they look just fine. I also picked up two Whistles jackets. The first, a brilliant black, long line, tuxedo jacket with satin revers was reduced from £180 to £50, and a black fitted, curvy gaberdine jacket/blazer with navy blue grosgrain trimming a la Balenciaga was £80 from £180 - but I hesitated so long before buying it that it was reduced another £35 by the time I bought it. I also wanted to mention the amazing service in Whistles. If they don't have your item in stock, they will ring around the other branch...
More About: Sales

Adorable eBay bargain ($14.99!)
2007-12-12 04:19:00
Trolling around on eBay I just came across this dress which I adore. It just says party to me - and I loathe the festive prediliction for acres of bare flesh, and bosoms spilling out of strapless tops: so much sexier to cover up with a suggestion. Unfortunately, Mother Nature saw fit to bless me with a very, very generous bust (perched on flamingo legs - dressing myself is problematic), and so it's never going to fit me. Please someone buy it! (And tell me if you do)
More About: Ebay , Bargain , Adorable

Close to the Bone jewellery collection launches
2007-12-11 19:16:00
This is the beautiful Julio necklace from new London jewellery designers Close to the Bone . Set up by Angela Gosnell & Ila de Mello Kamath, they design unique jewellery using unusual combinations of semi-precious stones, seeds, knitting and crochet.Everything comes beautifully packaged and they offer free delivery on Christmas orders within the UK, as well as the option to order customised variations of their pieces.
More About: Jewellery , Weller

Karl Lagerfeld & Amy Wino
2007-12-11 17:54:00
Oh for crying out loud. I am so fed up with Karl Lagerfeld 's muse bandwagon. It seems like every other month he announces that some high profile female celebrity is his new muse. WGSN ran this quote today, "She is a style icon. She is a beautiful, gifted artist. And I very much like her hairdo. I took it as an inspiration. Because, in fact, it was also Brigitte Bardot's hairdo in the late Fifties and Sixties. And now Amy has made it her own style. So, when I saw her, I knew it was the right moment. Amy... she is the new Brigitte."ACK. As I have said before, dear Karl would appoint Princess Fiona as his new muse if he thought it politic.
More About: Karl Lagerfeld

A Manhattan birthday
2007-12-10 06:09:00
If I had to plan my perfect birthday party, then Thursday would probably have been it. I’ve never, ever been a fan of the restaurant/dancing model in London. It’s expensive: at least £150/$300 by the time you’ve paid for dinner, drinks & taxis, and the scene is so fragmented that any feeling of an intimate evening slides away, especially once you’ve had to engage with travelling half way across the city to get from a good restaurant to a half way decent club, one that isn't filled with drunk Royals, trustafarians, City boys, vomiting teens or sleezebag men.Here it’s a completely different story. Manhattan is so tiny that you can walk from place to place, at worst hop in a $10 cab for a fifteen minute journey. Venues have a better mix of customers, as it’s cheaper to eat out, so good, stylish restaurants don't have that curiously London clientele: Russians, hedge funders and your parents' contemporaries. Frankly, Manhattan is just more fun, younger, hipper & cheaper(...
More About: Birthday , Atta

New York's Page Six magazine
2007-12-10 05:19:00
One of the things I miss most about England is the media: I adore the weekend papers and the colour supplements. There’s no equivalent of The Sunday Times’ Style, The Observer’s Woman & O: magazines, The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella or The FT’s How To Spend It. That is until The New York Post launched Page Six magazine a couple of months ago It’s by no means perfect, but it does at least offer up a pale version of Style. (Which isn't surprising as it is also owned by Murdoch.) It doesn’t get it completely right: the fashion shoot is glam evening frocks on a C list TV. Most risible is the recipe page. In Britain this might be quite complicated, using maybe ten ingredients, with a calorific content. Here they have as little as three and take about 30 seconds to assemble. Then again kitchens are in small supply in Manhattan.Second in the amusement stakes this weekend was the How To make-up page. All four looks were straight off the make up counter at your local department s...
More About: Magazine , Page Six

A short break...
2007-12-08 19:54:00
Thank you blog-ettes for all the wonderful birthday greetings! There has been some bug with Blogspot and today I have discovered 19 unapproved comments in my moderation box which hadn't been emailed to me. But, worst of all, my laptop died on Wednesday and, busy like a bee, have not been able to get to a cafe to blog, write or file copy. Thank goodness tho for Blackberries, remote Facebook and, now, my flatmate's second laptop.
More About: Break , Short

Blog-sploitation*
2007-12-08 01:37:00
When I started writing this blog at the beginning of March 07, it was only ever intended to be a record of my time in Manhattan. Since then I have picked up an entirely unexpected constituency and am thrilled by the sheer volume of readers each day. Month on month both my page views & unique visitors double. With this rise in exposure have come emails from potential advertisers: both Agent Provocateur & Net a Porter have approached me in the last month and, today, a blog syndication company asked me to join their network.I am still in two minds about advertising: I'm not sure that my volume of traffic would generate enough income to make it worth losing my independence. This is because, as a commentator also reminded me, internet advertising for the small, but high quality (!) blog is a somewhat one-sided: the advertiser gets a permanent presence for basically jack, but I get very little recompense. However, where blog syndication is concerned, forget it. The business model is th...
More About: Blog

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!
2007-12-05 00:48:00
It is my birthday today and I am feeling very weepily happy as I hadn't expected many people to remember as I am so far from home. But, of course, technology has made 'far' a relative concept, and Facebook means it is difficult to forget a birthday (unless, like me, your notifications are at the bottom of a page and you end up forgetting your best friend's birthday last month - of which I am very ashamed). So I have been innundated with an extraordinary amount of Facebook messages & emails, and received two splendid bunches of flowers. Best of all my two year old goddaughter Amelia sang me Happy Birthday . I am feeling very blessed right now at having so many thoughtful and funny people in my life.Still, my lovely ex-boyfriend R summed up the age in which we live rather brilliantly: "How I hate Facebook. It has in an instant degraded the kudos of people like me, who always remember friends' birthdays, by automating that once meaningful feat of recall. Have a wonderful day." Norm...

Liberty at Dover Street Market
2007-12-04 15:38:00
These Liberty of London evening bags are fantastic: I think a shot of colour looks fabulous against black and, even better, clashing against this season's colourful cocktail dresses. I didn't pick on these Liberty pieces because they match the name of my blog*, but because I admire the way that they are moving the brand into the 21st century without losing sight of their identity (Hello Jaeger). Blowing up the iconic art nouveau Ianthe print from the Liberty archives in this way looks fresh and avoids the feeling of cutesy that haunted Liberty for so long. It's also particularly clever to make these brilliant colourways available exclusively at Dover Street Market .Without a doubt, DSM is London, & possibly Europe's most exciting retail space now. Nominated for Best Retail Concept at the British Fashion Awards last week, they was robbed by Marc Jacobs (woo hoo - opening a store. Really innovative), as I have complained at length already, both on this blog & in the real, bylined w...

Guilty Pleasure: Gossip Girl
2007-12-04 00:26:00
If you are female, under 35 and live in Manhattan, chances are that you watch television's newest vice: Gossip Girl . It's a sherbet light froth, more believable than The OC, & as addictive as 90210 in its heyday. (Now I'm showing my age), Set on in the world of private schools, & millionaire parents, these High School-ers exist on cocktails & thin air, shag for, well, Manhattan, & party for America. It's no wonder it's become so popular: it's executive producer is Josh Schwartz, who conceived The OC.I may be (sometimes) a proper grown up with a serious job in the fashion world, but this is my weekly dose of escapism. All my girlfriends here are equally obsessed - and we are in our 30's and, I suppose, could be said to know better. But sod it, I like fluff as much as I do more cerebral pursuits, and I'm happy to say so.Gossip Girl is based on the popular novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar, which shines a spotlight on the lives of six teenagers attend...
More About: Pleasure , Guilty

Christmas presents
2007-12-03 23:42:00
I am feeling super smug as I had actually bought all my Christmas presents by the 1st December. This is unprecedented: I am more of a desperate rush on Christmas Eve type of girl, but living 3741 miles from home means I need to be a little more efficient this year. It also helped that I had a massive deadline to meet last week, which meant I royally procrastinated and got a lot of admin done instead of writing. C'est la vie. I have ten children & babies to buy Christmas presents for, and four of them have birthdays near Christmas too. For the adults, 75% of people are getting books because they can be ordered on-line and delivered to my sister in London, so I don't have to schlep them across the Atlantic, but I do have some genius American presents: I'm particularly pleased with a leather baseball glove and ball for Miss P's stepson and a whole family of Little Red Riding Hood fingerbobs for his sister from Dinosaur Hill, a teeny toy shop in the East Village. I've bought my god...
More About: Presents , Resent

Hokum
2007-12-03 05:53:00
January is a pretty dull month. If you happen to find yourself in London, then may I suggest that you relieve the pre-fashion week boredom by booking yourself a ticket to Hokum, master magician Pete Firman's show at The Bloomsbury Theatre on Friday 25 January 2008.Thank you.