Elle Deco

One of my favourite pastimes is flicking through a large pile of English Elle Deco back issues, some of the other European ones are worth looking at too. Some how as I was searching for more info on Swedish textiles I found this blog, I am amazed I have not seen it before. If you like Apartment Therapy you will love this.

Roy Turner Durrant

Roy Turner Durrant, Suffolk-born and East-Anglian based, was in his own highly particular way, an artist of a typically English sort, and very much of his time. Not all serious and talented artists necessarily achieve the wider reputation they might deserve, and Durrant’s has been a sleeping reputation.

I saw this wonderful exhibition last Thursday at the Fine Arts Society just as it was finishing, I had not heard of Durrant, yet his work was as good as many of the other mid 20th century artists I have a penchant for.

There was an article a couple of months ago on nymag about how rude NY gallerinas were, I have to say that with the exception of the Gagosian, the gallerinas in London are always cheerful and polite. Galleries like the Fine Art Society look quite exclusive and a little hostile on the outside, yet they could not be more welcoming once you are inside. You nearly always get a smile, which can be as rare as hens teeth in London.

Top five

YSL is generally considered one of the top five designers of all-time
.1. Dior (extra points for having discovered YSL )
2. Chanel
3. Yves Saint Laurent
4. Armani (created a revolution in both womens and mens, no other designer has ever had as much influence in both categories)
5. ?????Who is number
#5?Lagerfeld? Balenciaga?Yohji or Rei? (it seems difficult to have a discussion about design without them but does the size of their business exclude them from the the top echelon?)Like in sports, I think when we discuss fashion designers we will have to create a line between High Couture (pre-70's) and post-Couture (70's - forward)
Today, I would love to hear your Top 5 All-Time Greatest Designers.
Tomorrow I would love to hear your list of Top 5 All-Time Greatest Modern Designers (post 70's)
Hey look we've all been tagged by Sartorialist, so here is my list, like one commenter I have broken my list into pre 70's and post 70's.
Pre 70's favourite designers (emphasis on favourite not neccessarily the best or most important)
1. Poiret
2. Fortuny
3. Chanel
4. Schiaparelli
5. Balenciaga

Post 70's
1. Rei Kawakubo
2. Galliano
3. Westwood
4. Kenzo
5. Miyake

Windows at Selfridges

More windows from Selfridges I really liked the display especially when the reflection took over.
Our concept is a wacky race for the people of London!
In a light-hearted nod to the British summer season and a celebration of the Burning Man Festival which takes place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, Selfridges presents The Wacky Races. Like magnificent men and their flying machines, the characters of the wacky races will charge along Oxford Street on their ridiculous mechanical contraptions.

Haberdashery London

Wonderful windows from Selfridges
‘Infini-sceno-matic’ - our concept is a wacky race for the people of London!
The ‘rules’ of physics are thrown out the window as a rich montage of characters from all walks and stages of life speed through the streets, skies, underground and even waterways of London. Top-hats, and picnic hampers, cravats, spats and cucumber sandwiches make it always ‘Pimms-O’Clock’ throughout the race. We see our eccentric characters travel on vehicles almost ‘other worldly’ in their use of reclaimed and mismatched Victorian engineering. The scenery is a multi layered montage packed not only with our ‘wacky’ racers but with some more subtle pop-culture references unique to the urban jungle of London. The densely packed scenery of this truly amazing race will be constantly changing on a never ending loop via the amazing ‘Infini-sceno-matic’ technology. Inspired by the ‘moving waterfall’ pictures that grace the walls of Chinese take-a ways across the capital, the infini-scene-o-matics will feature layers of constantly scrolling visual content; showing a cross-section of London featuring our wacky characters on their daily commute... and views from inside the vehicles themselves!

Haberdasherylondon

Street and Studio

On at the Tate Modern
The lure of the street by Geoff Dyer is a brilliant article about not just the exhibition but the genre of street photography itself



Less technically demanding, the best-known example of street-as-studio work must be Ruth Orkin's 1951 shot (not at the Tate, strangely) of an attractive American woman in Florence, running a multi-generational gauntlet of lounging men, who howl their salacious appreciation from street corner, cafe tables and Vespa. It's a witty and stylish photograph - and Orkin has never made any secret of how it was achieved. Together with a young art student she had met, the photographer told the guy on the Vespa what she had in mind and he explained it to his friends who gamely joined in.
This is so true for so many iconic photographs, but this one did suprise me.

Strand said that, although the picture had "enormous social meaning and impact, it grew out of a very clear desire to solve a problem". That problem was how to photograph "people in the streets without their being aware of it". (The problem these days, as Brooklyn-based street photographer Gus Powell recently explained, is that "it's harder and harder to take a picture without somebody in the picture who's also taking a picture".)

So it has been a problem for so many then. I once met a photographer who had tapped up his camera with gaffer tape and hid it in a coat. He figured that one shot in ten would work, but at least people would stop posing. I love the idea that it is impossible to take a photo without another photographer getting in the way, and this is particularly true in Paris where you see people almost fighting to take those so called impromptu photographs.

This weekend

I bought this bag from Kipling, I have needed a bag for ages, as black looks so wrong when it warms up. I originally bought a beautiful leather one similar to this in distressed silver, which was beautiful, but by the time I had my purse and paper in it I could barely heave it over my shoulder, plus it rubbed my clothes, so back it went. I did find a nice one in agnes b but it was not quite right so instead I plumped for this one in Sandstone. It maybe plain but its heaven, and I can find my keys and phone the difference having some pale lining makes is amazing




I finished reading this. I really enjoyed it, brilliantly written, very evocative, and the story was so unexpected, which made a refreshing change.



Then I watched this. I expected little and loved it from start to finish. And no, not just because of Russell Crowe (although it helped) but I loved the music, the clothes, all mixed with some really beautiful cinematography.


If Stephen Hawkins ever wants to see an actual Black Hole, he should have stayed with me this half term as I lost a whole week, seriously one whole week vanished with little or nothing to show for it, I have felt very unproductive. It did not help that I was in Oxford until Wednesday but still...


I did managed a brief trip into London however, all the galleries were either about to open or about to close a show, so I saw very little. I did get a lovely Jean Muir type top in Jigsaw, very forgiving and wonderful to throw on over jeans and float around in.