Category: Fashion
Classic Cashmere x
(Agnona cashmere sweater, Emanuel Ungaro trousers)
Classic cashmere, that into autumn staple…soft, warm..but still light. But there are two important questions: Are you a round neck or a Vee girl? And do you love your inner fifties goddess or does an inner eighties over-sized boyfriend jumper call your name?
Me? It’s eighties all the way with a tantalising vee..this one from Equipment is pretty damn perfect.
(Equipment in grey)
The essential colours: grey and camel..
But blue is cool..
And who can resist the pastels with their flower-like nod to fading summer?
And white?..there’s always white, ready and willing to make a statement…
Choices, choices, choices….
Laters, Kate x
Laid back Layering..
The cooler air of autumn is seeping into London. Rumour has it the heat could yet return, but the aroma of moist leaves and wet earth make the mind turn to thoughts of jeans and easy cover-ups.
It’s not that one wants to dive into thick winter layers..it’s more about wanting to embrace that transitional phase, pairing summer favourites with something slightly warmer: Jeans with sandals, shorts with jumpers. These Frame Denim jeans hit the spot – made in collaboration with Supermodel Karlie Kloss they have the perfect legs that never seem to end..a bit like the model herself…
Overlaid with a Chloe Cape as those darker evenings close in. The cape is going to be a key piece this winter…at £2445 a pop this one – probably the most iconic of them all – has all but sold out already. It’s easy to see the appeal: Throw over a summer dress now..or later, over a winter coat when the snow storms hit. But I look at it and can’t help thinking…it’s a fairly basic pattern – in fact it’s the basic pattern that adds to it’s appeal…curve the corners, bind the edges it can’t be that hard…and you’d have you’re own designer version for a fraction of the price…
Anyone game?
Laters, Kate x
Oh The Joys of the Summer Hols… x
- You’re watching a film, OK it’s Disney..but actually you’re involved in the story (sad but true)..at the crucial scene (long-lost Anastasia being re-introduced to her frail Grandmother..a real tear jerker. Promise)…there’s always a ‘Mum, mum, I need to tell you something RIGHT NOW.’ Without fail. Truth be told, happens in all programmes..sport – just as they come to the finishing line, the news..the weather! They announce the weather you’ve waited 30 minutes to hear so you can plan the next day – picnic? no picnic?….’Mum, MUM!…’
- This also relates to map-reading or any activity that requires your immediate attention…..major road junction and need to hear the sat nav? or need to talk to husband because not trusting the stat nav?… ‘Mum, MUM, MUUUUM!’…
- The phone..Mum talking on phone means I must talk to her extra loudly SO SHE CAN HEAR ME.
- ‘Please guys I need 30 minutes undisturbed’ equals at least six interruptions. Because each one was only a small one…because they didn’t want to interrupt you…
- The call of ‘Mum, MUM!’ from another floor followed by silence…that chick-like cry translates to ‘Drop-everything-you’re-doing-even-if-it’s-saving-the-world-because-I-need-you-to-do-something-really-insignificant-because-if-it-was-important-I- would-actually-bother-to-come-and-find-you’.
- The other much heard cry: ‘Mum-MUM-I-need-a-wee NOW!’…guaranteed on a motorway but the worst time so far…Eight hours into a drive on Greek roads at 37 degrees of heat, crawling along on single track, snaking, moutainous road with a stream of lorries which we’d slowly and painfully over-taken without being killed. We pulled over and had to watch as each and everyone passed us again..I cried. And Charlie was given an empty bottle for the rest of the journey..
- The ground-hog-day morning call of ‘Please can everyone have their shoes on and teeth brushed and everything ready so we can go as soon as I’ve finished this’. You finish tidying the house, sorting the washing, putting the washing machine on, cleaning the fridge (delete/add as appropriate)..and nothing’s happened. And now you’ll be late…
- You’re always late.
- The ground-hog-moment of reminding them to say please and thank you on loop throughout the day. Like hitting you’re head against a permanent wall. You can remember the date of your birthdays but this is too hard?? It’s the mum equivalent of chinese water torture. Results in No.15.
- I say ‘Please can you turn your ipod down’ and I get ‘Well that’s it..I’m just going to throw it in the bin and then you’ll be sorry’. Like doh? Results in no.15.
- The more bored they get, the less I want to do with them, the less they are capable of doing except whining at me for being bored…and then I spout all the cliches: ‘In my day…’
- Then you book them on a camp or tennis club..and it’s ‘We don’t want to go because we want to stay with you..’ Why???
- The longer you take to cook their breakfast/lunch/supper the less it will be appreciated. And cooking three meals a day stinks. Results in no.15…for me..
- So you have a picnic and where ever you are, whatever you’re doing, you’ll be handed all the rubbish as if you’re one giant dustbin. Even if you’re driving. Or getting ready to pilot a rocket to the moon..silently, the used lolly wrapper/empty drink carton, sandwich foil are passed over to you… Do I have ‘I am really a bin’ written in permanent ink on my forehead? Results in no.15..
- I tell them a certain behaviour will result in a consequence. They never believe I’ll carry it through. But I do every time..and they’re still shocked. Like??
- Because of no.15 the consequence usually means we don’t do something nice that gets us out of the house….which means no.11 kicks in…and I’m bored too.
- Asking something to be done requires the order in triplicate. And then no.15 kicks in, followed by no.16. And then no.18
- The longer the school holidays last, the more I find my brain shrinks (see no.1)
- And then they’ll disappear and play beautifully together..
- Except the more fun they have…. the greater the mess…
- Till it reaches a tipping point of hysterical proportions and you say ‘This will all end in tears’. And it does…
5 weeks down, three more to go….
Laters, Kate x
Ultrasun, Ultra Fab x
There are some things that summer cannot survive without..and a brilliant sun screen must top the list. Ultrasun in my book is the gold medal winner. It doesn’t look much..the packaging is awful, but how many ways can I sing it’s praises?
1. It’s a ‘once a day’ formula so it goes on first thing..and then you don’t need to think about it again.
2. There’s no smell – I’ve tried other ‘once a day’ products and the chemicals have made my eyes water. This doesn’t.
3. You put it on before you put on your swimwear..which means if that bikini bum rides up, there’s no chance of an angry red smile, for you or the kids. (Or the husband if budgie smugglers are his thong thing..)
4. Anyone who has ever put sun screen on children will know..once a day to chase down those slippery suckers is a blessing from the heavens.
5. Ever suffered from the horror of heat rash? I do…but not when I use this.
6. I even use it in winter..sits brilliantly under foundation..even makes the foundation easier to apply…
7. Means I can take a red head to the Mediterranean…Bella has never, ever burnt.
8. You still go brown…Charlie was native coloured by the time he came home. Bella was a golden brown..we were that lovely brown that means you’ve been away..but the bath’s not left with a tidal mark after every wash..
It’s just easy, effortless…safe. It’s not the cheapest…but sometimes, just sometimes it’s worth buying the best.
Laters, Kate
Dream Team x
Young British Designers started with a small group with a real thirst to pursue a brave new vision for design and has kept on growing.
It’s pure British design with it’s inbuilt ability to understand the rules..and then break them with a smile.
They don’t care about age – you could be 70 and a new designer with flair, the youth is in the brand. They acknowledge there’s limited experience, but YBD want to give young designers a chance on a retail stage.
And it gives us the chance to see the emerging talents – even spot them – before their ascension to the land of Fashion Gods and silly money.
Which means there are loads of things to look at – men’s included – it’s not about one voice, one style but a rich smorgasbord of everything brought together, everyone made stronger by the other’s presence.
And they’re have an awesome sale at the moment – including these 2 coats..just in time for the coming colder season…
Laters, Kate x
Special Spetses x
My connection to the island of Spetses goes back two generations when my grandparents were first offered land there to build a holiday home away from the pollution of Athens. They’d travelled to Greece from the highlands of Scotland following the depression – the story goes that my Grandfather, Robert Mackenzie, a Classics Scholar, was offered a job sweeping the floor of the EMI factory. Something went wrong with one of the machines and he fixed it..and then rose quickly through the ranks to become managing Director of EMI in Greece at a very special time: it was the cheapest place in Europe to record and make records and consequently drew talent talent from across the board from the Beatles to Maria Callas. My father was born there, although he was sent back to boarding school in the Lake District at aged five..it used to take him two days of travel by plane with a pit stop in Rome to get home, all in a converted Lancaster Bomber.
In my grandparents time, this house was the inspiration for John Fowles’s book, The Magus – he taught English at the once famous school (now a conference centre) on the island, said to be the Greek equivalent of Eton, he would walk all over the island in the quiet of the winter months in search of solitude and ideas. The house was owned by an eccentric millionaire and was then (before the great fire: another story) hidden from view by layers of huge pine trees. As a child, I went there for tea with my Grandmother to be shown faberge eggs and ancient seals. I don’t remember it, but I do remember the millionaire ended up in jail for forging an ancient land deed..with a biro.
Just down the valley is the bay where my parent’s house is…virtually unchanged. This picture is taken from the balcony of my sister’s parents-in-law’s house….Greece lies deep within the family blood and it’s special to have a proper Greek family that has linked the time and generations together.
My sister’s In-law’s house is next door to Madame Pourri’s on the hill – she’ll be ninety this year and is still going strong with a swim every day…….she was evacuated on the same boat with my grandmother and my father as a small child when the Germans invaded in the Second World War…first to Egypt, then eventually to South Africa.
They spoilt us with a treat normally reserved for Easter…roast lamb..my absolute favourite!
Bella and Charlie are now the third generation to enjoy this special place and it’s unique atmosphere, where even walking on water is possible…
Spetses is famous for it’s pine tress, crystal clear waters and the coloured stones on the beaches: yellow, green, pink..each one a gem.
It’s very much an Athenian resort island with a siren call to all the big yachts of the Mediterranean and a play ground for the super rich….but always over seen by Laskarina Bouboulina…an incredible lady with seven children from Spetses who became an General of the Greek fleet and an Admiral of Russia and led the Greek navy in the battle of independence against the Turks….Greece will always be a land of beauty, mystery and contradictions where anything..absolutely anything is possible…
Leaving, as we arrived on a speed boat – we were all sad to go, but we had another adventure ahead of us..to the island of Lefkada…and we’ll be back….it’s only au revoir..
Laters, Kate x
Oddities..
As a child I loved to collect small ceramic animals..the sort of thing I’d scream in horror at now with their suggestion of forgotten, dusty shelves in a down-trodden garage somewhere far away and remote. Which is one reason I find Debra Broz’s Oddities so fascinating..
A rural girl, Debra found her love of all things small and sweet whilst growing up in central Missouri.
Using restoration skills she combines various parts of vintage and commercially produced animals to create her own breed of beguiling art.
They’re fun, they’re witty…they say don’t take life too seriously..and yet look below the surface and there’s something else going on..
With their pastel colours and cutesy looks they deftly question the line between high bow and low brow..when is a piece the last thing to be sold at a jumble sale? And when is it on a pedestal in a feted Exhibition?
They gently flutter their long lashes and weave their magic, concentrating the power of sentiment…and suggest we are all prey to nostalgia..even when something is rather amiss..
In our modern world, the authentic and the virtual have grown almost indistinguishable just like the smooth, smiling lines of Debra’s creations.
The truth is, it takes verve to be so ‘every day’..but she has grabbed it with both hands and transformed kitsch into poignancy, with a little walk back into reality.
Maybe I need to start collecting again…
Laters, Kate x
Into the Groove x
All around the sign of the moment appears to be the evil eye, an ancient symbol that crosses cultures and religions, always ready to ward off danger.
What I didn’t know is that different colours have different meanings..adds to the appeal..
But instead of following the jewellery sheep, maybe there’s another way to embrace the trend..
(All pictures from pintrest)
Simple, effective…different…especially that last one..
Laters, Kate x
Love it!.. x
A great picture on so many levels, courtesy of Instagram: Drew Barrymore with her 2 daughters Olive and Frankie, posted to raise awareness for the Charity Foster LA which helps foster kids in LA with employment opportunities. Click here for more details.
So..for me? Or my mother??!
Laters, Kate x
A Mermaid’s Tail..
It is said the Aegean Sea is full of mermaids that can sink ships and lure sailors to their doom, including 3000 Oceanids, the mythical daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys and the singing Sirens from the Odyssey.
What is true is that daughter Bella has been enraptured by them for some time, and when her spells (see above and here) didn’t work she resorted (as all modern girls would) to the magic of the internet…
Swiftly followed by the alchemy of then gently twisting her father around her little finger..
In secret cahoots, because they knew I don’t approve of presents without reasons (I’m told it was because she had a good school report..hmmmmmmm) they ordered their bounty (I think from a German website, but this site is the only one I can find that has both the mermaid suit and the shark fin that they sportingly added for Charlie…)
(Except he really wanted to be a mermaid too..)
Mysteriously enchanting, I have to confess, she took to it like a fish to water…particularly evocative was when she dived down and there was a flash of red hair and orange tail, just like the real Little Mermaid brought to life…
Now I can’t wait to see the reaction when she tries out in the local pool here…..!
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 