GOLDEN DIOR

I just love the V&A, for me its the best museum in the world. I could spent hours wandering around it and have seen all the best exhibitions I have ever been to in there: Vivienne Westwood, Kylie, Lee Miller, the list is endless. My very favourite though, was the Golden Age of Couture exhibition about a year and a half ago. It focused on the New look of 1947 up to 1957 and had some of the most amazing gowns I have ever seen in my life.

After that I was hooked with the glamour of that era. It definitely changed my sense of dress too, as after the exhibition I took a turn to becoming more feminine and giving it a bit more glamour when dressing up! If only women dressed like that no days!

So I got great pleasure from Dior's latest Autumn/ Winter Haute Couture show, when I saw the pictures plastered all over the papers recently. Mr Galliano seems to have harked back into the house of Dior's past for inspiration for his latest collection. The show looks like it could be part of Diors legendary New look show. It was even shown in the parlour like setting of the past. God! I love it all. I want it all! I would wear it all everywhere, including Tesco's to do the shopping, even the French knickers. Actually the French knickers would probably be my first choice! Here are the highlights.

OSTRICH EGG!

As a moving in present, our latest housemate, Alex decided that we could eat her ostrich egg that she had been saving for such an occasion! Its not like you can go and buy these eggs down at Tesco's; they are pretty hard to get. Alex got hers from some swanky shop in Chelsea. It actually looked really beautiful in its box and even to touch ( it feels a bit like porcelain). Well it was nice until they started to cook the bloody thing! Anyone who knows me well, will know that I have some funny phobia's of food (Sandwiches probably being the worst!) I'm not very good with eggs either. I can eat them but I have to like the look of them ( there are no rules or guide lines to my food phobia, its just the way it is!) The thing took over an hour in the oven and stank like a big boiled egg would do after that long cooking. Now if you think you open an ostrich egg by knocking the top off with a spoon you would be wrong. Opening one is liking getting into Fort Knox. After the bread knife and the hammer and chisel did not work, Angus proceeded to dress like a terrorist bomber and use the electric saw disk to open it! With much effort and what seemed like forever he managed open it. Looking inside the giant egg, I saw a giant yolk , and with the smell which was now mixed with the odour of burning from the saw, the whole thing made me want to heave! It was that bad i could not look at it and I refused to eat with the rest at the dining table, preferring to eat on my own in the corner. I only went up for celebratory champagne (Couldn't miss that bit!) after I forced them to cover up the remains. The boys told me I was being dramatic to which I told them to piss off! The feeling was so bad that even the next day at work I had bad flashbacks to it that still made me feel sick. So if you are ever having a dinner party with ostrich egg on the menu, don't bother inviting me, I won't be coming!

DANGER! DANGER! HIGH FASHION!

The other morning as I crawled in, after a two day bender my housemate Ssam, got me to agree in my hungover state, to style a fashion shoot for her. It was only later with a clear head that I freaked out and started thinking, I'm not a stylist! I do costume! Actually costume is styling and I was just being scared as usual and not trying to push myself! So after being woken up this morning by the shouting of "Get your arse down here and do clothes!" from Stalin (that's who Ssam turns into on a shoot, be it a small female Korean one!) The clothes were by a new Korean designer called Kang St and were totally amazing! I felt very privileged indeed to be styling such outfits and after my initial anxiety I actually really got into it and loved it! The anxiety I felt in the end was for the safety of our model. As we climbed the stairs to roof terrace I nearly had a heart attack as Ssam had got the bright idea to put the model on a sloping roof. To make things worse she was holding floaty fabric which caught the wind beautifully but nearly took the poor girl with it! Our model the lovely Maike Lundenbach from Next model management was a true pro throughout and never complained once even under the dangerous, cold conditions. Thank God she wasn't an actress we would have never heard the end of it! Actually models are much more nicer than actors to work with. They just get on with it without the drama! Luckily we moved to the lift area after a bit, which was good as my hair was starting to turn grey!
Overall a really great day and Ssam was impressed enough with me to ask if I would like to style again for her. I will jump at the chance. She has also asked me if I would be interested writing a piece for Glass Magazine. Its time I started making a change and do the things I really want to do instead of spending the rest of my life scared of doing them. What do they say, "It is better to regret what you have done, than what you haven't!"









OBSERVATIONS
* I think Ssam needs to take out insurance for future fashion shoots!

GLASS

As promised, here is the finished Glass Magazine shoot that I talked about in an earlier post. Its just been finished and Angus has excelled himself with this one. It looks so amazing. I can't believe it was filmed entirely in our flat. Good work Angus and Ssam. Check it out!

PARASOL SATURDAY

Thank God! The summer seems to be finally here and what better than spending a lazy Saturday lounging around in the Sun in the park. Me and the girls decided to head to our favourite haunt on a Saturday, Broadway Market to get some food and then sat in London Fields to soak up the rays, eat and chat. Miss Kylee brought along the perfect accessories: parasols and beautiful ones at that. We felt like complete ladies with them and they remind me of one of one of my favourite films, Room with a view. Of course all the trendies started asking where they were from, so I guess next time we are down the Broadway all the scensters will have them outside the slag and mutton as the latest fashion accessory, along with their bloody designer dogs! If you are interested they are from EBay and imported from China.
The rest of the day did not turn out so ladylike as the sun seems to do fun things to you like wanting to drink from midday and carry on and on and on..... Well lets just say it turned messy as we did a pub crawl and then got rained in and lasted till 2.00am. Oops!

A room with a view

ON YER BIKE!

This seasons biggest fashion accessory is not a pair of shoes or some cool bag, but a bike! Yes, it seems that anyone who is anyone has a bike in London i.e all the Hoxton wankers!. All the housemates have one( We don't live in Hoxton, so this does not make us wankers!), and we all rode them into Vicky park last Sunday for a picnic. The nice thing is, everyone of us has a different kind of bike which has its own character. I love my bike, even though its far from perfect. I got it for £50 on eBay (I liked the big basket it had!). Its gears don't work, so I have to get off and push when going up hill, the brakes hardly work, so its dangerous going downhill and it weighs the same as a tank. It would be a great bike if I lived in Holland! All that said I don't want to get rid of it. I guess my bike is a bit like me, a bit dysfunctional! I hate most forms of exercise, but cycling I love, it seems to suit me, I can't explain why? Long may this trend last. Here are some pics from the Sunday.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

I miss being in love. I like the feeling it gives you: that tingle down your spine, the knot in your stomach, the feeling of walking on air. Its a feeling that it more addictive than any drug, drink or cigarette. I think I'm quite a loving person really, though I try to hide it. There is a part of me that is dead when I'm not in love. It has made me kind of melancholy recently. I sit round reminiscing about the past, especially when I see other people kissing and it feels like everyone is in love, apart from me. It makes me sad. So to fill this void I have been watching quite a lot of romantic films to get my fix. Don't worry I'm still not watching chick flicks, that will never be my style, but there are romantic films out there which don't want to make you puke. In fact there are some master pieces, and it is one of these such films that made me fall in love again. The film is Kar Wai-Wong's in The Mood for Love. It is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Set in Hong Kong in the 1960's, the film is about an affair between two married people. It was made in 2000 but it is shot on old stock film to give it that period look. The real star of the film though is actress Maggie cheung's dresses. They are amazing. I just want to go out now and buy a load of cheongsam's.