Category: London
Throw on the Throws..
The stand out item on the Burberry AW14 Collection was the blanket cape thrown with nonchalant ease around the models shoulders. You just know it’s going to be a big look next winter as the perfect armour against even the thought of another onslaught from the Polar Vortex, stylishly layering layers on layers. But I do have a little confession….I thought Christopher Bailey was making a political statement against the treatment of cows in the UK..or maybe in support of vegetarians? Who knows – but I just thought..jeez..this is radical!!
You could hear the penny clang when I read later they were actually Cara’s initials..which, honest to God, is a totally awesome concept….just maybe her’s weren’t the best to send out first!
Laters, Kate x
Moments in Time x
There’s one New Years Resolution I’ve slam dunked..I’ve embraced growing younger gracefully by going back to school.
Each week I’ve been studiously at my desk at Putney School of Art learning properly about Photography…and I’ve loved it.
It’s not that I didn’t like the photos I was taking..I just didn’t really know how I was doing it and whether I could do it better. A bit like our brains or computers, we now have these incredible beasts of cameras that we rarely take out of first gear..
Thinking about short term, long term, quality, light, composition…it’s such a peaceful place away from the clamour of family life and I have thoroughly appreciated the time to think of nothing else other than the moment.
Some of these photos were taken on a field trip we did as a class around the streets of London, others are from my beautiful nieces christening last weekend.
Watching for a photo is like waiting for little pockets of opportunity. Often I think – if only they’d look up. But then the sweet spot happens and it’s like the nectar of the Gods.
Is the process getting something right? Or does it go beyond that? All I know is that to break the rules, you first have to know them..and that learning as an adult is the best drug ever.
Laters, Kate x
No Shift in the Mood x
(Photo: The Telegraph)
There’s been no let up in the UK weather – January was the wettest in 248 years and February hasn’t been much better. A 74.8 ft wave’s been recorded off Penzanze, Cornwall which, if confirmed will be the highest ever off the coast of Britain – a mere five times the height of a double decker bus..
(Photo: Solent news and photo agency)
The British haven’t lost their sense of humour. Yet.
(first photo by John McLellan, second photo by James Dadzitis)
But 25 miles of Somerset are under 3.2 billion cubic feet of water. This is Sam Notaro’s house – against the odds, he’s doing his damnedest to protect it, after all a man’s home is his castle. Literally. The moat came for free..
In London we’re OK – the Houses of Parliament will be under before we are. But that doesn’t mean everything is rosy…The River Thames is under serious stress and our local Commons have turned into swamps (let Molly off the lead and you’re lucky to see her head) and new rivers and springs keep oozing out of the sodden ground.
I can’t let the kids out in the garden either as it’s seriously awash with Molly’s sloppy poos transformed into puddles of filthy fluids that are nigh on impossible to pick up. I fear the only solution is to invent a liquid hydrogen gun and zap the buggers (the poo’s guys..the poo’s…).
Hmmmmmm I can almost smell a money spinner…sort of…
Laters, Kate x
Isa Arfen x
A mixture of new and found, Isa Arfen is the London-based label started in 2011 by Serafina Sama.
Serafina graduated from Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design in 2006 and has since built up an impressive portfolio of experience: Marni, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Louis Vuitton, Acne and Charlotte Olympia. It shows.
The label captures and enhances the subtle shift in the fashion mood – Soft but with feminine confidence..A walking statement of drama without causing offence.
Serafina says: ‘To me, fashion is about desire, beauty and fun. It’s not about dressing up in a costume. Isa Arfen is about a real woman dressing for her real life and really enjoying it.’
Edible..
Charismatic, eclectic, elegant and exuberant…it lights me up like a Lee Broom light.
Laters, Kate x
Dr James Barry x
Last week I was very fortunate to visit The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret just by London Bridge with the wonderful Julie from Vintage Attitude. Hidden away, up a steep spiral staircase and nestled in the dark timbers of the attic of an old church the museum is caught in a sleepy, rather delicious time warp.
It was part of St Thomas’s hospital – a hospital that was described as ancient way back in 1215…
On one side is the herb garret and apothecary. And on the other – the oldest surviving operating theatre in Europe.
What stories these walls could tell.
But what really caught my eye was this picture of James (Miranda) Barry, an amazing woman who overcame the general prohibition on women studying Medicine by disguising herself as a man to become the first female British surgeon. Barry qualified in Medicine in 1812 and went onto train as a surgeon at St. Thomas’s. In January 1813, she qualified as a Regimental Surgeon at the Royal College of Surgeons and over the next fifty years she rose through the ranks to become Inspector General of the Hospitals in the British Army. No mean feat – and she must’ve been good because in Cape Town in 1826 this vegetarian, teetotalling surgeon performed the first documented successful Caesarean Section where both mother and baby survived. Barry even met Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, who noted in her memoirs:
‘He kept me standing in the midst of quite a crowd of soldiers, Commissariat, servants, camp followers etc every one of who behaved like a gentlemen during the scolding I received while (she) behaved like a brute…After he was dead, I was told that (she) was a woman..I should say that (she) was the most hardened creature I ever met.’
Barry spent most of her laters years with her constant companion and manservant John (in the picture with her above) and it was only on her deathbed that she was finally discovered to be a woman. Barry was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London in 1865.
What a truly remarkable human being with an incredible story of which this must only be the very tip of the iceberg..an unsung heroine who surely should at the very least share the same historical podium as Florence Nightingale?…I am desperate to know more and now feel compelled to visit Kensal Green Cemetery to find her grave…I can’t help but wonder which name is on her headstone?…and what it might say?
Laters, Kate x
Natasha Law x
Natasha Law is the down to earth, incredibly talented older sister of Actor Jude Law. With her natural, caught in the moment works she manages to find the simplest of lines to create pictures that are both intimate and vibrant.
What would I give to have one on my walls??
A lot!!..also quite fancy that green leather skirt…
Laters, Kate x
Rain, Rain Go Away..
It’s dismal in London with driving rain, strong winds and the knowledge that we’re no longer in the land of fairy lights, pine cones and endless glitter. So I thought what better time than the New Year to break the diet fall off the wagon get even more depressed give me a facelift to give the Blog a facelift?
I’m liking the new size of pictures..
Means you can now see the clouds reflecting in this one.
And this tree.
This is our new pond on the Common. Has the ducks mighty confused.
The weather means the sky has been turning all sorts of colours.
At least we’ve all been safe at home, snuggled up – next week it’s back to the daily grind and the school run…weather please, please improve otherwise I’ll be investing in a fisherman’s sou’wester. And a boat.
Laters, Kate x
Happy New Year!! xxx
Happy New Year!!!
Laters, Kate x
A walk in the Woods..
Did you have a lovely Christmas? I hope so!
Spot my new baby..yep..a Hipsters for Sisters leopard bag as drooled over here..and I LOVE it! Versatile, accommodating and a true thrill to wear..the belt option is GENIUS…but it’s so easy to wear cross body as well…love, love, LOVE!
One happy bunny!
We spent yesterday taking the Blanket Coat for a walk, enjoying the blue skies (after all our storms) and blowing some cobwebs at Richmond Park..
You’d never guess we were still in London..
We played poo sticks (I lost).
Saw a woodpecker..
And stood under a parrot tree! (Not for too long..)
Till the dusk came down and it was time to head home..
To a roaring fire and left-over Christmas pudding…heaven!
Laters, Kate x
Eyeing London x
We headed to the South Bank on the afternoon of the big storm (the one that brought down a theatre ceiling. Allegedly. It was certainly dramatic) It was only 3.15 pm when I took these but it felt so much later…there was a distinct line between light and dark with a foreboding air.
We were there to meet up with a very dear friend and her two children..they’d come round to ours the previous day but had left a much beloved chetah behind, and as they lived in Devon it was the perfect excuse to see them again.
Y’see, we went through infertility together, holding each others hand..in fact we were a group of three strugglers….Heidi (who we were meeting) eventually had two – twins, a girl and a boy via IVF, I had my two (IVF and otherwise)..and superwoman Karen?..she adopted 4 siblings to keep them together! We will forever remain in awe of Karen.
Christmas will always be a poignant time, now and then..at the carol service I still light a special candle for those walking that horrible path. If you know someone or think you might suspect a problem – be kind to them, especially at this time of year – don’t ask..just give them an extra large glass of something and a cuddle. And if they need to escape..let them.
The heavens never opened on us..we just had the light show,
but I’ve rarely seen skies like it.
There’s also a Christmas Market at the South Bank, full of a different kind of atmosphere.
And if you haven’t sorted your centre piece for the Christmas table? How about a very large, edible gingerbread house!
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 