french

french by fadedluxe featuring plastic earrings

Alexander McQueen jacquard dress
alexandermcqueen.com

Rene Caovilla platform ankle booties
thecorner.com

Kenneth Jay Lane plastic earrings
mytheresa.com

late 18th century French painted daybed-chaise at 1stdibs
1stdibs.com

LIGHTING NEW YORK Crystorama Lighting Etta 16 Light Chandelier in Olde...
lightingnewyork.com

Champagne at the Savoy

Life has been eventful over the last few days, many have passed in a drunken haze with nights fuelled by alcohol and giggles, starting on Saturday night at the newly refurbished Savoy.
The cynical part of me wanted to find fault with the results of a £220 million overhaul, but walking into the atrium I did have that magical moment that is difficult to define.  This place was at once classic, modern, interesting and beautiful, there is a lot to see and I know it will offer a good time.  Just like Marilyn at the Savoy first time around....

The shops in the atrium were inviting and there was a lot that I wanted to photograph, I had every intention of limiting my alcohol intake so that I could capture some of the beauty, plus my shoes are tricky at the best of times...

The dress is by Lungta de Fancy, a new London label, prices are reasonable, and the collection is modern and youthful but wearable. The dress was perfect for the Beaufort bar, which demands an outfit to live up to its opulence.

Unfortunately the road to hideous hangovers is paved with good intentions (and a number of cocktails and bottles of champagne)

And by the end of the evening, everything was looking like this, so I tottered to find a taxi.

home is where the heels are

Since I am tall, and have gone through very large periods,  shoes make me anxious. I have a deep rooted fear of high heels which stems back to an 18th ball, where suffering from laryngitis, I was seated next to a good looking young beau, shortly after our hellos, he  asked me in all seriousness, 'Are you a man in drag'?
Today, I could take this on the chin and laugh with my friends at the faux pas, but as an overweight, awkward 18 year old, with swimmer's shoulders that were larger than any man's, it cut me to the core and shaped my shoe habit from there on.
I adore really high heels on everyone else, and marvel at anyone's ability to totter on anything higher than 3 inches for hours at a time.  But for myself I gravitate to fairly low and ladylike.
My shoe fantasy is fulfilled by Rene Caovilla, I also love the fact that tracking them down is like sniffing out truffles and seemingly there are no Chinese imitations (yet!).

These are my black 'going out' shoes, notice the interlopers at the end, that are actually by Coast, but I like to think, nearly my dream Caovillas!

These are the sparkley Caovilla's that I wear for weddings, racing, christenings and anywhere else where there will be lots of standing around.

And for work.....sensible Chanels.

let them eat cake

This selection of books and magazines is the literary equivalent of patisserie delicacies.  On days when only a pure sugar hit of pastel fancies and rich chocolate will do, it is to this library that I turn.
The exquisite interiors of Carolyn Quartermaine (a strawberry meringue with whipped cream), summer issues of French Vogue (tarte aux cassis), December Spanish Vogue and Rene Caovilla's 'Haute Couture in the Kitchen' (Concerto au chocolat), US Elle Decor (a multi layered millefeuille), vintage Lady Penelope annuals (lunettes framboises). 
The discovery that visual delicacies could satisfy appetite has been a recent one.  In my youth we would visit Raymond Blanc's first Maison Blanc patisserie shop on the pretext that it was essential to our course, since all of the staff had to speak French.  Outside of French soil, we had never experienced anything like it, English bakeries were prehistoric with their fatty doughnuts, lacklustre bread and 'patisserie cream' a euphemism for a substance that is hard to describe; the texture of marshmallow, with a sickily sweetness, it could stick like superglue, stayed fresh for a week and was used to fill any pastry cavity.
La Maison Blanc was a revelation, with its light as a feather meringue and the delicate mix of sweet and sharp that is always just so, as only the French can do.  We would choose a selection that was then carefully boxed and wrapped in pink ribbon.
On returning to our digs, we painted each other's toe nails in an array of pastel colours and ate cakes until we were fit to burst.  This long predated the era of Urban Decay, our nail lacquer stash was scored at Rollers, a fantastic shop that sold a totally random mix of everything that can be imagined, but where nothing cost more than 50p ($1).  Unfortunately around exam time the trips were more regular and accounted for much of the excess bodyweight that I carried long thereafter.

Raymond Blanc stayed close to his roots and now owns one of the most famous restaurant/hotels in Europe, the two Michelin starred; Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons;

I have yet to vist, but it is on my hit list for this year, I still have fond memories of his early attempts to educate the Luddites with some fine cuisine;

should old aquaintance be forgot

Finalising my New Year's resolutions always takes a while. Optimism around the holiday period often results in promising the unachievable, it's always preferable to wait until the back end of January to be able to focus on reality.  And this year, with writing it down, I am more accountable.
1. Start the personal training business that I have spent 3 years preparing for even if it means working for free
2. Continue the healthy eating regime and guard against slipping back into the old habits and the 15 stone (154 pound) former self
3. Limit purchases from multinationals and focus on supporting local independents
4. Learn to cook gourmet minceur
5. Jog daily with the pooch for a minimum of 40 mins (he is carrying some post holiday poundage)
6. Create a centralised database of all my friends names, children's names, addresses, email addresses and numbers
7. Arrange to meet someone that I haven't seen for a while for lunch at least once a week
8. Don't slip back into the habit of letting work rule my life


These are some pics of New Year's Eve, wearing vintage Chantilly lace Christian Lacroix and Rene Caovilla shoes, drinking Cristal and eating salmon caught in Alaska by my hunter gatherer with home baked bread and Beluga Caviar.