[cosmocat]

vogue.co.uk
Alice
08 January, 2010
I may have spent the rest of today in moonboots (!) splashing around in slush but for a brief moment whilst my baby girl snoozed I danced around in the snow in totally inappropriate summer dresses dreaming of sunny days to come. (Ideal distraction from my Kilimanjaro stockpiling.) Temperley London’s spanking new diffusion line ALICE includes pretty much everything I like to wear on holiday - stripes, playsuits, (torn between hot pink and tiger-print) and little white dresses….and here are a few of my favourite things.
Forgive the black tights. It WAS snowing. Looking forward to bare brown legs and freckles sometime soon.

This quirky blazer will get even better with age and a few washes. I love the idea of throwing it over a favourite faded summer frock and it makes me dream of long strolls towards cold drinks with still-sandy toes as the light fades.

This is the perfect in-between-times spring trench when thick layers are redundant but I still want to cover up. Love the wrist details and the subtle polka-dot lining. The sun even came out as we snapped it! A good sign.

A clever dress with a drawstring up the side, which can gather it into a tiny mini over a bikini or let it down a little for those shy early holiday moments. Mixed with sloppy off-the -shoulder devil-may-care attitude, this will go everywhere with me this summer. And packs as small as a pair of socks!

ALICE by Temperley London is available at all Temperley London boutiques from early February and online at www.alicebytemperley.com (launching soon).

[cosmocat]

vogue.co.uk
11 January, 2010
Rings on my fingers, and bells on my toes...
First I was a silver girl. As a teenager experimenting with black eye make-up, goth music and a sulky attitude, my wrists rattled with silver - bangles and charms looped alongside grubby hoops of black leather. My earlobes stretched with the weight of Kensington Market turquoise and silver. Gold meant weddings and middle age or a hint of Dallas or Dynasty, but not in a good way. Bling, but not as we know it.
Ten years later and I was converted. Easily led on an early shoot, I was probably hero-worshipping a blonde stylist with nonchalantly chic bands of golden thread around her wrists and perfectly sourced pendants from glamorous travels. I stashed away my silver and I don't think it even made it back on my move home from NY to London. (My girlfriends drowned in loot those last few weeks.) Gold was the thing; always two or three skinny chains with charms around my neck, all gifts from friends; a 'Love' disc, a surfboard, a shell scavenged by my son - and sometimes round my belly too. Rings on my fingers -and toes, four mismatched studs in my ears (my favourite the tiny punky safety pin I found in Opening Ceremony in NY - wish I'd bought half a dozen!). I could go on.

And then, last Christmas I was given three chain bracelets made by Tara Agace in gold, silver and a rosy bronze - and I wear them together all the time with fresh eyes. Nothing else in my wardrobe matches so why should my jewellery? I like the clash as I wear my Lara Bohinc twisted gold bangle with some simple silver bands. Or my diamond Muzzy ring by Solange Azagury Partridge; amongst old sentimental trinkets. A silver necklace or charm amongst the gold chains is a highlight, chiaroscuro flash. Probably against some kind of style laws but who cares? I'll save everything for my daughter from now on - though she may one day sigh at my bad taste and wish I'd gone to SJ Phillips for the real thing...

[cosmocat]

vogue.co.uk
I Love Your Style
15 January, 2010
Amanda Brooks is my beautiful, wise and beloved friend who I call for advice on well, pretty much everything, but especially dresses.

Heartbroken in baggy jeans or reborn in Chanel, we watched over each other throughout those late Nineties, growing-up, dressing-up NY years. Many a decision was made on our weekend flea market trips, and not just about the odd impractical vintage splurge. I was even her bridesmaid - it being an American tradition to include your grown-up girlfriends - and it’s quite an achievement to make a gaggle of twenty-something girls in matching dresses all look, and more importantly, feel amazing. There’s fashion - which she LOVES - and then there’s style, which she has in spades - and now she’s sharing her secrets…

I love Your Style is just out and is the kind of book that should be devoured in one binge-sitting and then wallowed in at leisure. Linger over the rare snapshots of Brigitte Bardot, Mia Farrow and our modern-day off-duty icons. And get inspired by her vision of street style, bohemia and the classics.

Amanda quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson in her introduction, “Insist on yourself, never imitate” - and it is this sense of honesty and originality that she celebrates throughout. Self-awareness, experiments and even “mistakes” are encouraged in pursuit of streamlining one’s very own fantasy. There’s nothing elitist or exclusive about Amanda’s taste. She may love vintage Dior, but can get just as excited about the joys of an army surplus store. “You don’t have to be rich...” as the song goes.

I’m there in the “Eclectic” chapter, which I think is Amanda’s charitable interpretation of my schizophrenic style over the years. She snapped me in my messy study in between breastfeeding shifts, but I forgive her. She has that gift particular to women who love women of making you feel like the very best version of yourself in her presence, stormy shadows under eyes et al.

Here she is in my garden as our children danced around us making friends.

And this is her brilliant book!

[cosmocat]

style.com
Stella McCartney A/W 10

[Boots & Perfume]

Love the armwarmers on her!

[cosmocat]

yvanrodic.blogspot.com

[Boots & Perfume]

Thanks Cosmocat. Can anyone ID that stripey scarf?

[cosmocat]

vogue.co.uk
Sport Relief
20 January, 2010

Who can forget Ali G’s infamous interview with Posh n’ Becks for Comic Relief in 2001? And this year they (and their boys) are the creative force behind the Sport Relief T-shirts, available from today in Sainsbury’s and TK Maxx – in stores and online. Victoria’s dresses may be the ultimate in ladylike Mad Men chic but for the T-shirts, she let loose with the spray paint for graffiti-inspired skater-girl (or boy) style.
Loved that photographer Jason Bell shot me in my distressed T-shirt, sleeves rolled up, and wearing the old Balenciaga hat and Stella jeans I turned up to the shoot in. Just a smoky eye, no blow-dry - and vintage Bowie on the studio iPod. I could have danced all night.
As it was I was home for tea. Now all I’ve got to do is run a mile on March 21 and hopefully we can add to the £75 million+ raised by Sport Relief since 2002.
Shop or run or both…hats and eyeliner optional.

[Boots & Perfume]

Thanks as always Cosmocat. I do think you and I might possibly be the only two that read this thread (well you post and I read), but I do love all your updates

[cosmocat]

^I know! But I love Laura, so always want to post on the off chance that anyone else visits...

[Boots & Perfume]

Me too (and don't worry, I always visit)! To me, she's the classic English beauty - chic, quirky, and well-mannered. I saw her styling and modelling at the Chanel Fashion Night Out party last year and loved her even more in person (I so regret now not talking to her and telling her how much I adored her)

[cosmocat]

daylife.com
Samsung 3D Television party

[Boots & Perfume]

Those shoes!! Are they the Louis Vuitton wedges? I can't quite tell...

[cosmocat]

^Not sure, but she's definately worn them a few times before.

vogue.co.uk
Random January Thoughts and Survival Tips
21 January, 2010
It’s usually just about now that the January blues can sabotage the New Year. Here’s my plan of counterattack….

Daily Nutrients From The Organic Pharmacy

The only supplement I take religiously, with the added beauty bonus of restoring strength and radiance to winter-weakened nails and skin. Just add oranges.

Flowers
I love the scent of hyacinths blooming (in teacups!) in my children’s bedrooms and am always tempted by cheery daffs, three for the price of two, on my way home.

Or go more glamorous thanks to the brilliant Scarlett and Violet based in Kensal Rise. I call on their creative genius for special thank-yous, congratulations...or apologies...
www.scarletandviolet.com

Window-shopping, (or otherwise) at AIME on Ledbury Road, W11
This chic little store is dangerously close to my mews studio, and I have been known to nip out for a sandwich and come back with an Isabel Marant shirt (the red/blue check one is my new uniform). A trip to Paris right on my doorstep. I won’t go down the designer-jogging pants path though - even if I have stroked the soft jersey of Isabel Marant’s once or twice…



My tracksuit comes from Adidas - £20 in the sale - www.adidas.com - and my hoody, which I seem to be unable to leave the house without (blame the bicycle), is from Gap ten years ago. Talk about cheap chic. Must readdress the balance with very fancy shoes!

Jenna Treat
All the best make-up artists are eyebrow-OBSESSED, and I’m always grateful for a bit of a pluck and a tweak on a shoot. I used to be happy with a bit of DIY maintenance in between until, one day a year or so ago whilst having my hair cut at Real Hair, I was introduced to the miracle-working Jenna Treat - and now I don’t let anyone else anywhere near my brows, including myself! A teaspoon of wax, a drop of dye…she works quick-time with the subtle eye of an artist and is fast winning over a super glamorous clientele…
www.jennatreat.com
www.realhair.co.uk

Fit for the beach
Tenpilates is no longer a well-kept secret, but its still by far my favourite workout. I thought I was always going to be a lonely long-distance runner kind of girl, but I guess I’ve changed…

The almost annoyingly popular (when you want to book into his classes), David Higgins and his crew have introduced a dynamic fast and furious form of Pilates in three studios across London and the classes are effective, energising, addictive and sometimes, (mostly) even fun! I also find them strangely Zen, but maybe I just like checking out and simply doing what I’m told for an hour or so occasionally.

You feel taller, leaner, stronger and it’s worked miracles on my dodgy back. I know its a cliché to preach workout programmes in January but I’ve got a mountain to climb - AND I’m rummaging optimistically through my old bikinis as apparently I can even swim at the base camp hotel pre-Kilimanjaro in a fortnight. May well be my last glimpse of skin for a week though. From then on it’ll be North Face layers all the way, but hopefully I’ll still be grateful for my Tenpilates newfound strength…
www.tenpilates.com

January Jones
Lastly - and appropriately for January - Miss Jones…

My favourite look at the Golden Globes. I actually think its quite brave to wear black on the red carpet, especially in LA amidst a sea of pastels and neutrals, but her Lanvin dress is utterly perfect and I especially love the simple grosgrain ribbon in her hair. Pared-down chic and she still looks like herself, not like she’s cruised a conveyor belt of stylists….

I’ll wear my little black dresses this spring with my one-of–a-kind embroidered hair band, but I might copy January in January and take a trip to my local haberdashery for a couple of yards of inky ribbon….

[cosmocat]

vogue.co.uk
25 January, 2010
Fairtrade 2010 Shoot
A week to go before I leave London for my Kilimanjaro adventures and I’m squeezing in all the glamour I can get before I fly. Anything to avoid more stomping up and down Ladbroke Grove in my climbing boots which already feel like the enemy.

I shot the Fairtrade Fashion 2010 campaign on Friday, and a bonus of my ambassadorial role is that I’m getting to meet some of my eco-fashion heroes along the way. I’ve long been an admirer of fairtrade pioneer Safia Minney and over lunch at Christmas, with the East End a snowy ghost town, she changed the way I look at the fashion chain - from page to catwalk stage. I got to wear her easy summer stripy dresses on the shoot as I jingle-jangled round the studio playing dress-up in jewellery by MADE; Christina Cisilino’s equally inspiring company bringing ethical glamour (sourced and produced within disadvantaged communities in East Africa) to the business of bling, with a little help from the likes of Pippa Small and Alexa Chung.

Also impressed by Topshop and Warehouse flying the fairtrade flag - enough to get me into the tiniest of hotpants anyway…all for a good cause…

Backstage on the shoot in my MADE big gold hoops.
www.peopletree.co.uk
www.made.uk.com
www.fairtrade.org.uk

I’ll have barely had time for a pedicure - that is, if I have any toenails left at all (oh,the horror stories), and it will be time for the BAFTAs/Fashion Week find-a-frock marathon. I’m following my friend Livia Firth’s blog from Hollywood intently as she shares her quest for green glamour on the red carpet. I better dig out the old Chanel and go vintage this year - or is that cheating?

http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/livia-firth