Category: Design
Eye Love This! x
(All pictures from Style Bubble)
Flavia la Rocca is a young, sustainable designer who’s decided to feature the Blogger Susie Bubble as her muse and fashion detail..
She says it a nod to how Susie relates to the fashion world of today.
I say the way it links the articles of clothing together is genius.
Eyes on the world, it’s witty, fun and really rather desirable…
Laters, Kate x
Cover Story x
The beauty that is Steamcream seems to gobble up every modern influence going…
– It’s an eco-friendly cutting edge moisturiser, hand made in the UK and Japan with natural ingredients, in eye candy packaging (think vintage French cosmetics and old-style biscuit boxes given a modern day nudge) that can will be kept and re-used once the cream has gone. At £12.95 it’s easy on the purse and cleverly..it’s designed for both men and women…
You can literally hear the success grow – definitely one for the festive present cupboard..
Laters, Kate x
Delicious.. x
(Scot Mills on Strictly on Sat)
Who would’ve thought that a TV take on Fester could produce such fertile fashion soil? But then this is Strictly..and I am a fan..
That scarf and the way it’s pinned? it highlights an unexpected similarity to 1920s opera coats, reverencing past angles and structure. I so want to find a faux fur scarf now and add it to my winter coat…and how refreshing to see the perfect vehicle for decadent, vintage broaches…my jewellery box is smiling just at the thought..
The perfect example of the way something unexpected influences the way you process things and sparks the imagination: Looking, liking….lusting. Now the hunt starts…
Laters, Kate x
Progression..
From this..
To this..I finally finished it last night. I wanted the colours to be stronger, the contrasts greater, more representative of Sam alive than as a memory – I felt I was being a bit careful, almost precious before. Little things have been added – there’s roses in her hairband, and the red of her lips was from a picture of Kate Moss in a red see-through dress, her nose smoothed out. But it’s all a balance – I’m now looking at her eyebrows thinking there’s a big contrast between the black of the first picture and this one. But that could be the different light and the camera as I haven’t changed them, possibly the photo sucking in the matt density of the paint rather than the charcoal – her face also looks whiter, except it isn’t..however I can’t control the urge to go and check all these points out…sometimes the hardest thing is knowing when to stop..
Laters, Kate x
P.S. More information about the history of this picture here.
Free Wheeling..
Oh the yin and yang of life..Did you know Kate Spade’s done a collaboration with Gap?
Children’s gap..
But is a bag size aware??
What size is XXL?
And how much can gloves stretch?
There’s always the fast approaching present list to think of..(or not)
And she’s not forgotten the boys – all of which Charlie and Bella would happily wear..
…But not till I’ve tried them on first…
Laters, Kate x
An Event x
December 26 2014 marks the ten year anniversary since the horror of the Boxing Day tsunami in which my cousin Sam Archer-Fayet and her baby daughter Ruby Rose tragically lost their lives.
As a way of marking this anniversary and celebrating Sam’s life, her sister Nathalie is holding a very special exhibition in their memory: She’s conjured up a whole cornucopia of artist’s and musicians to produce work to capture and treasure Sam’s spirit: On the night and just for one night, they’ll be an intimate short film shown, shot by Sam herself in the late nineties when she was working in the thick of the fashion world, showing a glimpse of life behind the scenes at some of the most glamorous catwalk shows including her friends and icons such as Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Esther de Jong, Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer and John Galliano. Freeze-frame images will also be exhibited as part of the on-going exhibition. My youngest sister, Harriet will be performing with her group Kosmos, as well as performances by Lisa Billson and Nina Walsh, Somethin’ else and Martin Beck. And if that wasn’t enough, they’ll be an auction including a signed print from Charming Baker, dinner for 4 donated by Anthony Usher at the renowed Clutch restaurant, a signed photo by famous photographer Richard Young and a lot more besides…all proceeds from the exhibition will go to raise funds for the SMart Network giving them much needed funds to support homeless and socially excluded people through creative arts.
So if you’re in London or can get to London on Wednesday 12 November the event is being held at the Seven Dials Club in Covent Garden at 42 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LA – just email your name to info@samsaysenjoylife.com to confirm your attendance…
Nathalie also asked if I would paint a picture of Sam for the exhibition…mainly because of the kids, it’s been a long time since I’ve painted anything and I will confess, it has been one of the hardest paintings I’ve ever done, not only because it’s Sam, but I wanted it to truly represent her as well.
The background to the picture is a collage made up of both photos of Sam and quotes or words that I felt resonated her vibrant character. The idea was that from a distance it’s Sam..up close it’s what made her who she was..and each time you look, you should see something different.
I’m at the stage where it’s almost finished..but I can’t stop tinkering..it’s even changed from this photo..but time is starting to run out…
Laters, Kate x
Our Day x
We wore the leather off our soles and the skin off our feet with our trip yesterday..I thought it was such a cunning and devious plan to link the Mexican shop and the Tower of London together – they’re both on the same side of the river after all – but sadly there’s no transport link between them..we ended up pounding the streets of London. Although, having said that – it’s a good place to pound. First stop was Milagros in Columbia Road – at the weekend this is a bustling, heaving flower market with much more besides (well worth a visit – there’s a Spanish restaurant at one end that does the best breakfast ever..) but during the week all the old shop fronts literally close their shutters – we were very lucky our destination was one of the few that was open..
We indulged..Frida Kahlo is my favourite..
It’s a fascinating area bridging hip Shoreditch and lively Brick Lane.
The kids took pictures of each other..
With varying degrees of success…
The Tower was magnificent. It’s such an iconic part of London with it’s foreboding stance against the march of time, combine that with the pure brilliance of this installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ to commemorate the allied fallen in the First World War and it’s a combination made in heaven. Tom Piper is the designer, Paul Cummins the ceramicist, both have captured something utterly unique: Is it Art..or is it theatre?
Each handmade ceramic flower represents a fallen soldier.
It’s as if the very stones of the Tower are bleeding.
It was a brilliant decision to allow the planting to happen gradually in waves. It started in August and by the 11 November, Remembrance Day, 888,246 poppies will proudly stand, filling the moat – it has made this edifice to death into a living, breathing structure both celebrating and mourning loss.
At 4.55 every day – dusk – a solitary trumpet plays the Last Post and a roll call of 180 of the dead are read out.
I so wanted to hear the trumpet …but there’s always a limit with children and mine – after a long day and with 25 minutes to wait – had reached theirs..
We headed home..
But if you think my two are always angels..
Think again…
Laters, Kate x
Islands in the Sun x
It’s the last day before half term starts..seems to have whizzed past. I can remember standing at the school gates thinking I thought this day would never come..I’ve been standing at the same gates for the last week, praying for half term. The kids are on their knees…so am I…we all need a break, chill-out time and long walks by the sea..
We’re hoping to head back to Kent, the husband’s work permitting, for a bit of nostalgia and basic living. I can feel my heart singing just at the thought..
So I’ve just got to get my act together today…2 coffee dates, 2 playdates, send back a pair of boots that arrived in the wrong colour, wrap Bella’s birthday presents (her eighth birthday on Sunday. Can’t believe it), pack cake ingredients n tins, source creative stuff to take with us (requested by Bella: Another heart singing moment) and a few board games and a football, pack for everyone (still hate)…and then leave the house spotless as we have relatives arriving whilst we’re away..shouldn’t be too hard!
I’ll just keep looking at these dream kitchens and pretend it’s my reality…or that I have staff!
Laters, Kate x
Led Smith..
Led Zepplin and fashion are not the most obvious bed fellows..but it’s happened. And when you think about it, there’s something gutsy and glorious that links – even draws – them together in thrilling duality.
Six limited edition scarfs designed by Paul Smith using the original art work to celebrate the launch of newly released re-mastered versions of the albums….the first three out on 23 Oct…Timeless, visual flights of fancy all mixed up with a sense of history, marrying beauty with desire..
How cool do they look? And the scarves don’t look bad either..an essential layer of style that twinkles with bonhomie..
Wear them, wrap them – frame them, they’re that good..I want one!
Laters, Kate x
It’s Not You, It’s Me..
I love a brand that scoffs gently..it also helps if they’re independent, based in London, slightly mad and run by 3 ferocious, tongue-in-cheek, epigrammatic gals.
Its not me its you was started by Billi, Jems and Kitty in 2012.
Everything they produce is made and printed by hand in East London.
In a world where it’s too easy to be suffocated by a toxic brew of Vacuous style and pumped up plastic their italian leather crafted with care is a pot of gold at the end of a shimmering rainbow…complete with whimsy and fantastical animals..
Visceral, witty and flawlessly presented, they’re a class act.
(I secretly reckon this one reads ‘Kate loves the fearless’..just for me…)
I snort at them..and raise my glass..that’s a few more presents ticked off the December list..
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 