Monthly Archives: July 2010

Little Black Blog: Heidi’s 10 Favourite Things

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I found this little list in ELLE UK and thought what a perfect little addition this would make to my blog.  This was so much fun that I think I might even ask some of my stylish friends to contribute their own lists for future posts.  But for now, here is a list of  my 10 Favourite Things.


1. The Blog:
Garance Dorè.  She is my daily blog fix.  I just adore her intelligent and witty writing, her natural ability with a camera – her compositions and the way she captures the light – brilliant! And her charming fashion illustrations are to die for.



2. The Tweeter:
I’ve been a Tweeter for a while now, it’s a funny little medium.  My favourite Tweeter is Mrs Stephen Fry because she is just so funny.  I also enjoy MrsKutcher and Women’s Wear Daily.


3. The Photographer:


Richard Avedon. 



4. The Obsession:


Erm, magazines, magazines and more magazines.  Always have been obsessed, always will be. 


5. The Shop:


I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of Zara to our shores and with the arrival of Gap it’s only a matter of time before H&M, right? 


6. The Music:



I’m loving Paramore at the moment.  Their album Brand New Eyes is the only thing I listen to on my iPod on my way to and from work lately.  Hayley Williams voice is so powerful and emotive. 





7. The Book:


Jilly Cooper of course, that goes without saying, and I am fond of reading Jane Austen’s Emma.  If I had to answer this a year ago, the answer would have to include the Twilight books too.  Lately I have been reading cook books mostly and the odd biography.   


8. The TV Show:


Since last week’s final of Masterchef (yes, I was shamelessly addicted), I am now tryng to catch up on United States of Tara (with the always amazing Toni Collette), Armstrong & Miller (the funniest British comedians right now) and occasionally if I am home during the day, I watch Jeeves & Wooster on ABC2.


United States of Tara was created by Diablo Cody (writer of Juno) and follows the life of Tara, a suburban housewife with dissociative identity disorder.  In a nutshell, whenever she is stressed, she transforms into one of her alternate personalities: wild and flirty teenager T; old-fashioned housewife Alice; and male, loud, beer-drinking Vietnam vet Buck.  It’s eye-opeing, confronting, bawdy and funny.  John Corbett who plays Tara’s husband Max is just so amazing because he is so accepting and calm when it comes to Tara’s disorder.


The Armstrong & Miller Show is a BAFTA winning BBC comedy sketch series.  Two of my most beloved characters are the RAF pilots.  The RAF pilots may be heroically serving in the second world war, but they are nonetheless moody, rebellious teenagers who speak in street lingo and who reluctantly bow to authority.



Jeeves & Wooster is a British comedy filmed between 1990 – 1993 and is based on P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves” stories and is set in England in the pre-Second-World-War 20th century.  Hugh Laurie plays Bertie Wooster, a well-to-do bachelor, a minor aristocrat and member of the idle rich.  Jeeves (played by Stephen Fry) is his indispensable “gentleman’s personal gentleman”.  I love it because Jeeves is of course, far smarter than Wooster, and Fry and Laurie are so deliciously suited to this type of comedy.  I cannot help but laugh out loud when watching those two on screen.



9. The Art:


Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  I just lose myself in this painting.  I love the way Van Gogh’s painting technique makes the sky look like it’s really moving, and his use of colour to reflect light is magical.  I wish I could paint this on my bedroom wall.  Now there’s an idea…




10. The Shoes:



I posted these shoes by Swedish label Acne last week on my blog and I still cannot get them out of my head.  I love, love, love them!


H

Inspired Style from my 5 year-old

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My daughter Annabel is a born fashionista.  I know this because I see it in the choices she makes every day when dressing herself (which she has done since she could walk). 

Chloè and Annabel in the vintage fabric summer dresses I made for them.



The first time I realised she cared about how she presented herself was when she was just 18 months old.  It was summer, and I had filled the paddling pool with water so that she and her sister Chloè could cool off.  Chloè was already splashing about in her pink bikini, not a care in the world.  But Annabel, well I saw her come out on to the back steps in her swimmers when she stopped suddenly, did an about-face and rushed off back inside the house only to return a moment later with a string of beads around her neck.  Now she was ready to splash about!  

Chloè and Annabel at the local agricultural show (A is wearing one of my hats).



The first time it became clear to me that I had no real say in what Annabel wanted to wear was when we had a battle of wills over a dress.  It was the middle of winter and try as I might, all she ever wanted to wear was a dress.  In the end I gave up because I didn’t want to fight with her, especially over clothes.  It just seemed a pointless thing to do.  I now figure as long as I can get her to rug up when it’s cold and remember to put her knickers on before she leaves the house, then I believe my job is done!

Annabel wearing the very beads she donned before being ‘ready’ for the paddling pool.  Can you believe they haven’t been lost?  I bought these beads for Chloè when I was pregnant with Annabel, and considering that sometimes things I buy for the girls can be lost within a heartbeat, it still amazes me that these beads keep turning up!



This morning Annabel surprised me with a combination that truly only a child can get a way with, but more than that, it inspired a spark of creativity in me too.  She had grey houndstooth leggings on underneath a plaid pinafore which she had teamed with a striped long-sleeve tee.  She wore this with pink espadrilles and her yellow Dorothy the Dinosaur handbag.  I wish I had a photograph of her to share with you, but even though it sounds like a crazy mix, it worked for her!  Her grandfather arrived later to collect her for a day at Nona and Poppa’s and he commented that her skill with dressing was not unlike her Grandfather – non-conformist, individual, a true expression of her individuality.

 Annabel has a tendency to mix things up a bit… here she is trying out her Dora beach towel worn with Mummy’s favourite Zara tee ensemble.  

Modeling the ‘Couture’ hat she had made at the Stephen Jones exhibition.



And so I took off to work today in a dark khaki dress with purple stockings and a sunflower yellow scarf which I wore with my chocolate brown wool Nuala runners.  This unusual combination made me feel happy, free and relaxed.


I wonder what combination Annabel will inspire in me tomorrow?


H

This weekend we celebrate Annabel’s 5th birthday with a posse of her friends from Kindy and other little girls at a local park.  Bring on the cupcakes, fairy bread and balloon animals – I can’t wait!

Current Obsessions

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Stuck with ideas that I didn’t feel like writing about today, instead I went through my library of images to find inspiration.  I noticed a pattern of images I have been collecting and decided that that was what I should blog about today.  I have also thrown in a few random images of stuff that is occupying my mind as well lately. 

 

Garance Dorè with her Louise Vuitton and her Canon 5D.  Prints and checks working together with her animal print belt.  Now if only we could see her shoes?

 I think that this tattoo is so inventive, so original.  I can see it in many places, not just on a wrist.  Can’t you?

The detail in this Dries Van Noten gown is mouth-watering and the colours, incredible. With her tiny piece of flame-red hair falling down between her shoulder-blades, well, this just gives this photograph a personal touch.  I love it! 

While the Prada ‘Chandelier’ heels are incredible and most likely a tad noisy when one is walking, the rainbow nails are a cute addition.  Thank you Jane (Sea of Shoes).

The juxtaposition of the red clutch and the khaki army jacket is dynamite, yes?
 
Two Parisienne ladies on their way to work or to a show (either way) and they are dressed casually but oh-so-fine.  I love the flats and the lace-up heels.  How does she get around with her jacket draped over her shoulders like that?  Obviously she doesn’t have far to go to get to her destination? 

I’m loving these Acne heels, but it’s the gold nail polish that is really grabbing my attention, wow!  Where can I get some?  


I just want to say thank you and welcome to all my new followers!  Please feel free to leave me a comment!


Ciao for now,


H

Sources: Seaofshoes.typepad.com, garancedorè.com, jakandjil.com/blog, thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Closet Confidential: Yasmin Le Bon

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I feel like having a Supermodel flashback.  I love looking at classic photographs of Yasmin Le Bon during the 80s.  She has always been one of my absolute favourites – (I should mention the brief period of time in 1985 when she married my heart-throb Simon Le Bon – I did eventually get over it).

Yasmin started modelling at 19, and she became the first-ever cover star when ELLE UK launched in 1985.

According to UK ELLE, when you’re Yasmin Le Bon, every outfit tells a story.  Supermodel, rock-star wife and now designer; Yasmin’s closet is an archive of incredible fashion moments, wild parties and designer friendships.


Yasmin has the gift of youth, she looks as youthful today as she did when she first started out.  She has amazing bone structure and her hair is always just gorgeous, whether she wears it long or short.

Yasmin’s fashion obsession began not unlike my own.  She spent any money she had on fashion magazines: “I loved fashion, but I was fascinated by design and photography too.” – Yasmin Le Bon.

Yasmin dominated the catwalk along with other supermodels of the 80s and 90s and was lucky enough to be given many wonderful designs from the likes of Azzedine Alaia.  Many of these designs now hang in her closet.

Yasmin says of the shows in those days: “Those shows were always the best fun. They would fly in models from Brazil and Germany and older models who had real character.  I’m so happy I came in at a time when I had the honour of walking with the likes of Pat Cleveland, Iman and Diane deWitt.  They were goddess to me.  They were dance trained and would go spinning down a runway.  They had a real attitude as did Azzedine.  He was a rebel and he did things his way.  He taught me to stand up for what I believe in.”


Yasmin has been very clever with the clothes she has collected over the years, many of them are Alaia, Lagerfeld, irriplaceable icons of the fashion world that her three daughters, Tallulah, Saffron and Amber  will have to fight over one day into the future. “Like me, they love the history.  they only try to pinch the stuff I’ve had for years.  Everything is going to be theirs eventually, anyway.  Clothes are to be used: why would you not wear them again and again?  That’s why I’m such a hoarder.  I made a very silly mistake once.  In a moment of madness – I’d probably just had a baby – I sold an Azzedine dress.  I went back the next day to get it back and it had gone.  That’s my great fashion loss and it taught me a lesson.” Oh Yasmin?  To have had a moment of weakness like that, how awful?  I now archive whatever I don’t want to wear.  Even things that have worn out I keep in my archive.  The only things I toss are lingerie, socks, and everyday basics.  That’s it.   Surprisingly I don’t have a very big archive – but I’m sure I will have in the years to come.

Yasmin and her eldest daughter Amber, who is making a name for herself in modelling these days.

Is this the most gorgeous bridal party ever?  Yasmin (with her three daughters as flower girls) joined Ciny Crawford and Helen Christensen at Gail Elliot’s wedding.

I love this portrait of Yasmin and baby Amber.

Yasmin has added designer to her CV in the last year launching the YLB for Wallis collection.  “It’s something I’ve always dreamt of.  The collection is made up of pieces I’ve always wanted to make and that I’m drawn to.  My outlook has changed.  I’ve grown up, my body’s changed (hmm – H) and my attitude to my body’s changed, so I do have a different remit.”

It’s always about the clothes, as I’ve said before and as far as Yasmin remembers, “I thought I could remember everything I’d ever done over the 26 years of being photographed, but I have come across shoots and thought, ‘I don’t remember doing that.’ There were a lot of Margaritas involved.”

I love that because like many of us, we would like to think we can remember everything, but sometimes, there are a lot of Margaritas involved.  … or Cosmo’s, or Champagne, or red wine, or Mohitos, or …

xx

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Vogue + Ewan McGregor = Swoon!

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I came across the July American VOGUE today (with the gorgeous Marion Cottillard on the cover) and while casually flicking through it I came upon a very luxe and beautifully shot editorial.



Photographed by the masterful Peter Lindbergh featuring Natalia Vodianova modeling the best of the Fall/Winder 2010 collection and styled by none other than Grace Coddington.   


What I love most about this splendid pictorial is Ewan McGregor. I have always had a crush on Ewan and seeing him looking so well-dressed in the pages of VOGUE, well, how fantastic is he?  I’m pleased as punch!
  



The story is a play on a 50s marriage gone wrong, (or is it 60s?  Because with her hair very much styled in 60s fashion, the story seems much more a 60s marriage gone wrong).  It reminds me a little of the famous W shoot by Steven Klein “Domestic Bliss” with Brad and Angelina.  



Anyway, I digress… As much as I believe in Ewan’s character in these shots, I’m not so convinced about Natalia.  Sure she looks amazing in the couture, but she doesn’t carry the role of 50s housewife and adulterer.  She looks too European really and even though she’s the mother of 3 children in real life, she still looks too doll-faced for me to appear anything other than Lolita-esque (sorry Natalia).  I think perhaps a better choice for this may have been Jessica Stam, Raquel Zimmerman, or Angela Lindvall.




Peter Lindbergh’s photographs convey a lot of emotion, and it is divine to see him back shooting for VOGUE for the first time in (I think) fourteen years.  I’m not sure why Ewan was selected for this editorial, perhaps it has something to do with an upcoming movie promotion, but no matter the reason, it sure is nice to see him in a Dior Homme 3-piece suit nonetheless. 


Oh and the couture wasn’t half-bad either.


H

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