The Sneaky Magpie

Waiting for a friend in Carnaby Street I popped to Liberty to have a quick look at the new stock and absolutely fell in love with this dress by Michael van der Ham.

The shape and combination of different patterns and textures made me drool for few minutes before my friend came to drag me away.

This young Dutch designer had stints at Sophia Kokosalaki and Alexander McQueen in the past so I am not surprised that his pieces are masterfully crafted and absolutely to die for.

I haven’t taken part in the designer H&M collaboration craze for few years now.

This is the brief history:

Karl Lagerfeld – I lived in Amsterdam and went to check it out, the Dutch didn’t think much of designer collaborations back then so I could just pick anything in my size, I think I bought one dress which ended up on ebay few years later.

Stella McCartney – my first year in London, queuing with two best friends in Covent Garden from very early morning hours, lots of coffee runs and new friend made. Total chaos when the door opened, buying frenzy, everyone was on a massive shopping high. At some point I held a dress when a girl’s hair got tangled into the hanger, for a second I considered freeing the girl who had no idea what was attached to her head but I quickly decided that would be a waste of time and continued shopping. In a normal situation it would never happen! Anyway, I left with few items, 2 old friends and 1 new friend and went to a nearby coffee shop to try things on and calm down. The next day I returned half of the items.

Roberto Cavalli – not interested

Victor&Rolf – I just started new job so could not attend the opening, I sent a friend who bought me a gorgeous coat I am actually wearing today. I did pop in during my lunch break and managed to buy a beautiful dress which I still wear. Up to date it was the best collaboration for me.

Comme des Garcons – not my cup of tea, missed the whole thing.

And now Sonia Rykiel, I love the woman, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel is one of my favorite brands. I forgot about the underwear collection and didn’t rush to check out the clothes but when I finally made it there last week I got exactly what I was planning to buy – fabulous chunky pink and yellow bangles.

Have you seen Grey Gardens? I just saw it and I am absolutely smitten with the two batty ladies, mother and daughter of the same name Edith Bouvier Beale aka Big Edie and Little Edie.

This fascinating documentary was shot in 1975 by Albert and David Maysles in East Hamptons when they got to spend time with the Edies at the height of their eccentricity.

Grey Gardens is the name of their run down estate, they were under threat of being evicted due to the bad state of the property, they lived with lots of cats, raccoons and fleas. The house was a damp, big Eddie had a cooker on her bed, animals went to the toilet behind Edie’s portrait, the fridge was in the bedroom and they mainly ate ice cream. They were only saved by Jackie Kennedy who was Big Edie’s niece and Little Edie’s cousin, she helped to get the house sorted and kept the ladies till Big Edie’s death.

Little Edie had some sort of acting career in New York but went to take care of her old mother and 10 years later she found herself still taking care of her. Little Edie always wanted to go back to the city and acting but her mother wouldn’t let her which led to both ladies arguing a lot, Little Edie always complaining about not being married and reminding herself of all her suitors, very often getting upset. Big Edie, who was a singer, got very upset when her daughter tried to sing badly. And that’s how they lived till the death of the mother.

But they weren’t always that way. Both were real beauties and very often in the film you see them looking at pictures and remembering the past.

Big Edie.

Little Edie.

One thing that strikes the most is the wonderful yet eccentric sense of style, especially of Little Edie who despite being in her mid 50s is not afraid of showing off her legs. She is always wearing a scarf and usually dresses in tight tops and hot pants or some kind of home made skirt. She also has a wonderful brooch that is mostly pinned to her scarf.

Big Edie is usually seen in her bed but she appears once in a stunning colorful kaftan dress. Her hair is long and silver.

If you fancy getting acquainted with the ladies Channel4 is airing the documentary on Tuesday at 22.00.

I am in an absolute need of a stripy dress for spring. I can only imagine how I would jazz it up with colorful accessories: necklaces, scarves, a good satchel bag and those fabulous colorful bangles by Sonia Rykiel for H&M.

It must be made of jersey or cotton and flexible enough for cycling. And the stripes could only be blue and white.

There are 3 contenders:

Dress no 1: long Acne dress – the obvious problem with this dress is that it is long but I could cut it and maybe even make an extra skirt out of it.

Dress no 2: Alice by Temperley – wonderfully draped, the right kind of stripes, not too short not too long. I love it so much I got it booked at Net.

Dress no 3: Alexander Wang T (if jane, thanks for posting it) – wonderfully clingy and the perfect timeless cut.

And now for the accessories. Lots and lots of color, ideally scarf or bangles. Comfy flats and a satchel.

I love my Church’s shoes so I wouldn’t mind them in a different color.

I really think this is the winner.

Yesterday I went to see a fun exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum: Foale and Tuffin and Made in England.

I first came across Foale and Tuffin 4 years ago at the 60s exhibition at V&A and loved their quirky colorful designs ever since. It’s easy to spot which contemporary labels got their inspiration from Foale&Tuffin, and nice to see that the company’s heritage lives on.

A classic trench I would wear now and a dress reminiscent of Eley Kishimoto and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Kate Moss must have gotten very impressed by this flowery dress (yours truly in the mirror too). I love the frilly top of the second dress.

The Double D dress and a fabulous green summer dress. A breath of fresh air after New Look era.

Peter Pan collars were everywhere. The ‘Boyfriend’ jacket in the background.

It’s all about color and comfort.

Simplicity is the word.

There were pictures of Twiggy and Jenny Boyd sporting the brand often photographed by the young David Bailey as well as drawings of the designs.

The exhibition also had few hippie frocks but that’s not my cup of it, let’s leave it to Bill Gibb, shall we?

And this is the workshop of Sally Tuffin and Marion Foale, the queens of Carnaby Street. They loved Liberty prints.

If you have got interest in fashion history this is a major chunk of the 60s London.

My weekend started at Osteria Antica Bologna in Northcote Road, a nice family run Italian restaurant where I enjoyed delicious scallops with lentil, apple and parsley salad accompanied by good wine and fabulous company. I actually tried to recreate the lentil salad but it wasn’t as good, truth be told I used the wrong kind of apple. If you are ever in Clapham Junction area do go, it’s a fantastic place for lunch, dinner or drink. Beware of a slow service but the wait will be worth it!

Saturday was all about food shopping and a very early spring cleaning of the flat, we have thrown out a bagful of old papers and organised a lot of cupboards. We also visited the local charity shop to offload some stuff where I couldn’t resist buying F.Scott Fitzgerald collection of short stories for 50p.

After last two weeks of ebay madness I hardly have things to get rid of which feels so good.

Sunday was spent on cooking and playing with my little niece. I baked Allegra McEvedy’s Swedish apple cake which is more of a pudding than a cake, especially when served with good vanilla ice cream. Very easy recipe, it takes about 10-15 minutes to put everything together and 50 min to bake.

Got to read a little too, Vogue and ELLE arrived, The Sunday Times had a good article on Mad Men which btw won the best drama at Golden Globes for the 3rd year in a row, well deserved!

I am reading Chekhov’s stories and this weekend I enjoyed Ward no6. I also got D.V. by Diana Vreeland which I am very much looking forward to. Following the Norman Parkinson show at Somerset House I decided to re-read The Golden Age of Couture – the book accompaniment to one of my favorite exhibitions.

I watched the rather bad Breaking and Entering (a total waste of time) and the very graphic yet beautifully shot Antichrist.

Few things I am looking forward to:

a visual feast of A Single Man thanks to Dan Bishop

visiting V&A to see Quilts, Grace Kelly and Horace Walpole shows, and might even pop in to see a rather intriguing sounding The Metropolitan Police Service’s Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries

Foal and Tuffin at Fashion and Textile Museum should be fun, along with a stroll down Bermondsey Street

William Eggleston at Victoria Miro Gallery

Irving Penn Portraits at NPG

whole lot of good stuff at the Tate Galleries

buying some plants – I quite like the idea of mother-in-law’s tongue in nice mid-century pots, at the moment I own no plants whatsoever, even my basil died so this will be a challenge.

Desperate to catch all the shows before they end I organised a tight schedule and stuck to it this weekend.

On Friday night I saw Ed Ruscha at the Hayward Gallery which was good but not mind blowing. Definitely few very good paintings. Afterward my friends and I went to BFI for some drinks, the new bar on the riverfront is so much nicer than the old setup and the chips are excellent too!

On Saturday I met another friend of mine at RA and saw Wild Thing: Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska and Gill. A truly wonderful collection of sculptures and sketches. The most impressive being Bird Swallowing a Fish by Gaudier-Brzeska and Epstein’s Portrait of Iris Beerbohm Tree and the spectacular Rock Drill. Amazing show, really worth a visit.

We had a quick lunch in Soho and headed down to Somerset House to see Norman Parkinson: A Very British Glamour. Another great exhibition, a lot of pictures of Parkinson’s wife and iconic shots of Jerry Hall from the 70s. Well worth a visit, especially if you enjoyed Golden Age of Couture at V&A a couple of years ago.

Warmed up by the museum hopping we decided to end the trip at The National Picture Gallery to see the very entertaining Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed.

I watched very moving Wajda’s Katyn – a film about an incident from WWII and its aftermath that not many people know of.

And I almost finished watching Mad Men season 3, a thought of only 2 episodes left to watch is making me depressed. Drooling over Betty Draper’s outfits.

I haven’t joined the sales frenzy on Boxing Day or any time after, I haven’t even ventured to town during the holiday break. But of course on my first day at work this Monday I couldn’t resist popping to Liberty and few other shops to check out what has been going on. I didn’t go as far as Selfridges but I did scan about 10 other shops.

And lucky for me (or my bank balance) there isn’t much out there, I couldn’t find a thing I would madly fall in love with. Not one.

But this morning an Outnet email landed in my inbox saying they had new Vanessa Bruno pieces in. How could I not look? And of course in 2 minutes I had three items in my basket. After a brief chat with myself I decided to remove one of them. But I couldn’t resist a skirt and a dress. There is a tiny little problem with the dress – it’s a very small size but I gathered I can always return it so we shall see in a couple of days.

I am so cold, and this is not because of the ’scary’ 3cm of snow outside and the 0° Celsius, no no… This is because the heating system in my office is extremely bad, the radiators are barely warm and I am in a big open space with very few people. When I get to my office after a 40min cycle I cool down very fast and it takes hours to get back to normal temperature.

This is my system to keep as warm as possible:

layers of wool – I only wear cashmere, angora or merino wool in winter, nothing else works, I usually have a cotton layer or two, cashmere jumper and my favorite Rick Owens huge angora cardigan which doubles up as a blanket

woolly tights under jeans and long socks on top of it all, I wear leather boots, I am not an Ugg person

hot water bottle behind my back

copious amounts of green tea

dreaming of finding the perfect Joseph sheepskin gilet

This usually works, I only need some fingerless gloves as my hands get very cold from typing.

And at home there are never enough Welsh blankets, socks and scarves to make me feel cozy! I can’t wait for the weekend, getting up at 7.00 am is hard to get used to after two weeks of sleeping in.

As I get colds pretty quickly I need some extra protection, I take echinacea for 2 weeks then Manuka honey for a week, then echinacea again, worked so far. And for the wind and cold abused skin there is nothing better than my latest discovery – Dr Organic Manuka Honey Rescue Cream, and Eight Hour cream for lips.

Now, how will I get home, it’s snowing a lot….

I had a great day today and yesterday, I have posted near to 30 items on ebay and they caused a stir! Fingers crossed all will sell which will give my wardrobe much needed breathing space. I have decided that if I haven’t worn something for a year or longer I will never wear it again and it must go. I have also revisited the boxes of designer treasures that are not such treasures now I look at them, no classics, time to go. My fashion investments will remain in the bag and shoe stock.

I have loaded a bag for charity shop and will deliver it to Oxfam with all the ebay failures.

You know all the tasks that get put away like mending your clothing, polishing shoes and sewing missing buttons on? They have been staring at me from the depths of my wardrobe for some time and yesterday I finally faced them all at the same time. Such a relief.

I have invested into a small catering business in Philippines on Kiva. I really hope these ladies do well.

I have purchased two nice belts from All Saints, in brown and black leather. They are my only sales hunts so far, unfortunately the other belt sold out so I don’t have a picture.

I have really cracked on with my book pile, I have managed to read:

High Raise the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger

Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories by J.D.Salinger

I know it is a lot of Salinger but he is such a good writer, I also found out that he is still alive, 100 years old!

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski

The Faithful River by Stefan Zeromski

I have decided to put away Ulysses and The Corporation, at least for now.

So the only remaining books left are Tropic of Capricorn and some Chekhov stories and plays. This means I will be able to move onto some brand new books very soon. Really looking forward to it.

I have watched the 2 new episodes of Cranford and am awaiting the DVD of the first series, I might even start reading the books. I am quite glad I have not discovered it earlier because I am in real need of a costume drama fix.

I have made it to Tate Britain today to see the wonderful Turner and the Masters show, they had some amazing Rembrandts and Canalettos. I also checked out the Turner Prize which is definitely better than last year’s and glimpsed at some beautiful sculptures in the hall. This reminds me of few more exhibitions I must see and the time is running out. Especially for Ed Ruscha at The Hayward (Friday 6.00-10.00pm two for one deal) on till the 10th of January, Maharaja at V&A till 17th January and Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill at The Royal Academy till 24th January. I knew I left it too late and now will have to rush.

The Mill by Rembrandt

And tomorrow I will have to take it easy….