Category: Fashion
Summer Style x
A classy customer catching the last rays of the summer in the beige Bergman from our Summer Collection.
Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend!
Laters, Kate x
Bernadette Pascua x
Amazing eh? Bernadette Pascua is a Fashion Illustrator living the dream in Brooklyn, New York, with partner, the Photographer, Andrew Stimson and their adopted furry dog son, Rocky. I was only talking to a friend the other day about choosing outfits by silhouette..and this shape is divine…the shrapnel of experience tells me how hard it is to paint like this.
The simplicity is deceptive.
You sense the rest.
She has a breath-taking Blog at www.decadediary.com
A serendipidy that winks.
Seeing beauty in the ordinary..
(Photo by Andrew Stimson, http://www.sousstyle.com)
It helps that she is extraordinary.
Laters, Kate x
The Obsession Continues..
Navajo Blanket Coats are not the only fruit. An integral part of Canada’s fashion history is the Hudson Bay Blanket Coat..they hit you right in the imagination..gotta love those pockets..
(Photo from http://www.geekychic.ca)
As an example of love, craftsmanship, necessity and creative courage they are genius.
Looking through pictures you’ll find each one just a little bit different.
Such a simple idea that still packs a punch. Check out www.pointblankets.com for more historical information.
But I likey this tartan blanket coat too with it’s clever use of the fringing. 
And that zip-off collar…sigh
Now..where are my scissors……..
Laters, Kate x
Aesthetic Merit x
We Sit Staring Amidst our Gold (2013) by Jeremy Deller
The painting represents William Morris, renown Victorian thinker and Designer returning from the dead to destroy Roman Abramovich’s yacht.
Laters, Kate x
Oh the joys of packing…
When the kids were babies I soon realised that to avoid the crying of souls (mine) I needed to be excruciatingly anal about packing, particularly as it’s not and never will be an art form that comes naturally to my psyche. The truth be told:
1. I hate it.
2. Even the impending thought of it gives me brain-swell.
3. I AM a self-proclaimed light-packer. Until I pack.
4. I could just take cut off shorts, a white t-shirt and flip-flops..but why suffer clothes envy if you can avoid it?
5. How DO you take the minimum clothes for the maximum occasions?
6. I’m continually haunted by the idea it’s all wrong anyway.
7. There’s a profound anguish that the weather is undoubtably going to go through an unprecedented solar flux and be the opposite of what I’m reasonably expecting. Even though it never happens.
8. Will it really be hot/cold at the equator/in the mountains because it’s not hot/cold here (delete as appropriate).
9. How can I pack the stuff I’m wearing now?
10. What do people mean when they ‘throw a few things in’?
11. How do I know I won’t be invited to tea with the Queen or Beyonce or Karl Lagerfeld?
12. Why do I always have the most cases? I packed light..
13. And why do they never shut?
Burnt too many times, I learnt to make furtive lists on the computer in the hope that nothing vital in my then sleep-deprived-likely-to-find-hairbrush-in-fridge-state like nappies, nappy sacks, first aid kit, tranquillisers..would be disastrously and time/happiness sappingnly forgotten and there could be hope yet for my marriage.
Those days are (almost) gone, but the discipline has proved invaluable and certain rules still stand:
1. Start packing 5 days in advance and wear tea towels if necessary.
2. For a week or more pack 5 sets of underwear plus 3 of each for the rest (t-shirts, shorts etc)
3. Summer holiday for me…just dresses, the ultimate capsule wardrobe…beach dresses..other dresses..end of.
Until this year..
When my two vintage jumpsuits leapt into the suitcase..they were easy, different, could be dressed up with a pair of gold gladiators or worn with flip-flops and radiated just enough visual flair for a laid-back edge.
Minimalistic packing is over-rated..Long live the jumpsuit!
Laters, Kate xxx
Sigh..
The ultimate in bikinis, non?
We are slowly getting back to the rhythm that is normal life with the holiday now a retreating paradise rapidly disappearing into the horizon…but it was a brilliant break.
Holidays are tough with kids: No matter how exotic the place, the beauty is sometimes the only positive of being away..which actually isn’t enough. Expectations are so high, the relaxation so needed..but the chores still remain the same: Planning, shopping, cleaning, cooking, sick wiping, world war 3 crisis talks, bottom wiping, parenting..but with none of the normal safety nets like toys, dvds, sound proof rooms, play dates, drugs...added to which you don’t know where anything is, it’s stinking hot and no-one is sleeping at night…
Spotted at Faro Airport. An unfortunate name…
Generally I embrace the grot that makes the foundation of home life, but sometimes, just sometimes….I want someone else to take over so I can step off the continual conveyor belt of care and re-charge my own batteries..
In Portugal we had meals provided, a kiddies club from 9-12.30 in the morning for both children, then again at 2.30-5.30 for Bella if she wanted it. Kids tea at 5.30 or they could eat with us later. More games (rounders etc) with her friends for Bella at 7.30 pm if she wanted (she did!) followed by a film and bed till we picked her up at 11.00. And a film club and a bed for Charlie from 7.30 – 11 pm. It was utter and absolute bliss..I read books!!..with never a worry a child could be drowning, I swam for myself..I went to the toilet – BY MYSELF..The Husband played tennis, mountain biked..we had romantic meals together..we drank, we ate, we talked..we became human beings again..
Which lasted..until we got through our front door and found the washing machine was broken..Oh life. With one hand it gives..and with the other it taketh away..
Laters, Kate xxx
Maybe-time Style..
( Caroline Siebar in Paris, photo from http://www.glamour.com)
It’s unusual by any standard to wear night clothes as day wear. But I love it. The length of this jacket and the sleeves are perfection. As are the trousers and the subtle white edging, cunningly avoided on the sleeves to dilute the pure pyjama look. Finished with ideal almost-there shoes. Not just cool for summer in the City, but Super Cool full stop.
(photo by Catherine at Treadmill.com)
An oh-so-simple short version demonstrating an innovative way of re-defining classics as a rich alternative to the insipid mass-market conveyer belt: Let personality speak.
Loose, sophisticated and effortlessly hip. But note to self: They have to have pockets in the trousers as well to truly work. Just wasted in a bedroom.
(Photo by Ari Seth Cohen)
Hats off to the infamous Tziporah Salamon of Advanced Style fame radiating a high degree of self-understanding intoxicatingly mixed with inspired wit in a 1930’s three piece Japanese silk set combined with dainty embroidered ballerina pumps and those totes amaze sunnies.
I may never get dressed again.
Laters, Kate xxx
Those Valentino shoes..
And a midi heel too!
OMFG. I die. The perfect mafioso stiletto-dagger-to-my-heart complete with block heel and plush nude velvet spats..an archetypal hand in a steel glove..a gazelle in shearling clothing..mad elegance, drama and the perfect antidote to strap-swell. I do believe I’m in lust. Bagsy the tall black pair..
Laters, Kate xxx
Going Green x
Our final hurrah in Portugal was to head away from the sea and go horse riding..
Just off the beaten track, a mere 4 km from Luz, we went to Tiffany’s Riding Centre.
A no frills, wholesome place with a rustic air of contentment.
And a soundscape of dogs (eleven!) and lazy insects.
And a rather vocal bird.
Tiffany..capable and knowledgeable..salt of the earth..sort of – I started out with nothing..and I still got most of it left..and that’s the way I like it – touch.
The lovely Jasmine, staying for a month before heading back to the UK, looked after Bella. Loved her riding boots – brogue like with a zip up the middle. Ariat’s apparently..could be worth looking up for autumn..
To be still in routine.
In the grounds is an eco-house..if you want to/need to step off the rat-race and can ride a horse, Tiffany and Martin offer the accommodation in return for work. Check out the website Work Aways for more info along with other places offering similar scenarios…there’s a lot to be said for back to basics honest hard labour..and the palpable satisfaction that comes from it…sometimes it’s the simple things that make the memories that dance.
Laters, Kate xxx
Mono-lithic x
Valentino Fall 2013: The undeniable ability to translate inner ideas into outer experiences.
Collars and cuffs into explicit emotion.
Historical endings producing their own statement re-births.
Dutch Masters or austere American icons?
Slow yourself to hold the moment and admiringly watch severity transformed into couture desirability.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 
