The view from here

So to town to meet Mother.

Sir John Soane Museum
Mmmmm, nothing a skip and a lick of white paint wouldn't sort out, seriously clutter doesn't even come close, and considering he was an architect there is precious little focus on letting us see the bones of what must be an achingly beautiful building. The location is pretty special too.

Kitty fleeced us both royally in Zara and H&M thank god we didn't get to Top Shop.

Dean Street Townhouse

I appreciate they did my sister a favour squeezing us in but even so sitting next to a door that was constantly banged open with increasing alacrity was irritating, the staff too all seemed to talk, much like my students do at school getting louder and louder and louder. Staff should be seen and not heard, sorry but at that price it's all about ME not them.
The table would have done Winston Churchill proud since you could have planned the invasion of Europe on it and had room to spare for a game of crib. I managed to semaphore most of my instructions to Leyla who sat opposite, but otherwise you are forced to raise your voice to compete with the staff or give up. Maybe they should just put telephones on the table! It reminded me of those heady days of Kensington Place which suffered similarly, but somehow carried it off with great charm.
The menu was esoteric but did tick Kitty's steak and chips box but poor poor Mother, I actually felt sorry for her, she always draws the short straw every time, she hates strong flavours so struggles as much as Kitty to determine what is edible and what is not. My sister said a friend had recommend the Mince and Potato, seriously would the name alone not ring alarm bells? And lo that is what she got, a plate of gruel, mince and a side dish of bland buttered potatoes . In prison it would incite a riot, here my mother with a heavy heart just sucked it up. quite literally. My salad was esoteric and a little too chilled, but I ordered it with chips, £4 chips which should have included a pocket sized leprechaun to feed them to me, instead they came in a metal flower pot, which is a ridiculous affectation, especially since it then steams the life out of them, plus they were frozen chips. Shame on you .

My sister and I watched the table opposite order an afternoon tea. the cakes would have done Katie Price proud such was their synthetic luminosity, Lucy did wonder after we had dissected the colour of the macaroon (which truly was the most hideous pink) within an inch of it's life that we were not just a little spoilt? No we are not, we just have high standards and when places like this say they are selling the dream then that is what we want.
The waiter fared no better constantly harried not once did anticipate anything without us asking, begging, pleading. I gave up and finished with a coffee. Kitty and Leyla did say the ice cream was lovely so that must have been bought in. No, I would not go back, it is a place beyond any form of redemption, they have not an ounce of humility, it is a triumph of hype over substance.

I bought a lovely scarf in COS though !!

Saul Leiter Courtesy of the Howard Greenberg Gallery

I must have seen this book so many times and not once did the penny drop, don't laugh but I thought it was a book about colour theory by Saul Leiter! Seriously how thick am I? In fact it is a monologue of images so beautiful it almost makes me want to jack it all in, I said almost, a curious arrogance lurks beneath my insouciance which makes me believe I too can reach the heady heights of visual perfection seen here.

Of course it's sold out now, but you never know....

Takahiro Kaneyama

It is always difficult to know what to say in the face of personal loss, no matter what the statistics say each and every person is a personal loss to someone and as time creeps ever forward the whole notion that Japan is a country able to deal with a seemingly endless stream of trials thrown at by nature has been soundly disabused. Their Yang can no longer fight the Yin violence of nature.
One of Japan's most iconic images is The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai, it neatly encapsulates visually the battle Japan has with the sea, even the word Tsunami originates from the Japanese language. What Hokusai would have made of the ugly fall out of nuclear power we will never know, the menace is invisible and as deadly as the sea

Japan has always been high on my list of must see, and still is, but these images beautifully illustrate the pain of love and loss.

images are from here

Monochrome Miffy Must Try Harder

That camera is bloody brutal, what possessed me to wear leggings under the skirt on Tuesday? Seriously I look like I have got Elephantitis, not an attractive look. Emin bitched a bucket load about how short Monday's skirt was, sad to say I may have put on a few pounds causing it to ride up. There is a stain on Wednesdays dress, why did it have to be on the lightest stripe? And yesterday's outfit, which I thought oozed lux looks a tad frumpy. Leaving me with Friday...and to be honest I'm not convinced I have the right necklace on.
This somewhat shambolic array of errors is do to time, I am not leaving myself any time to make last minute changes in the morning
.
Memo to self must try harder.

I was roundly put in my place last night by a girl with a clip board, having wanted to smuggle Mater & Pater into the teachers private view of Ida Kar I was forced to retreat tail between my legs having decided I could not possible sit through someone in a lecture theatre droning on about the show, especially since I will be back in two weeks for... a teachers evening. My failure to sit through the talk meant I was unable to elicit the said free tickets and so Mater & Pater kindly rewarded my uselessness with a delicious meal out instead.
A big THANK YOU for that, despite us both being voracious blogger's we talked like there was no tomorrow, which of course there isn't as they will be hot footing over the channel to live as Parisians.

Bon Voyage.

Tomorrow I get to schlep around the Sir John Soane Musuem with Mother and Kitty, what a joyous combination that will be, Kitty loves nothing better than a bit of gilt & chintz!
I have planned a carrot in the guise of a nearby Zara & H&M for her, COS for Mother where she can fashion stalk me to her hearts content.

Cyprus the landscapes

This all seems such a long time ago now, Emin is counting the days until he returns (less than a month) I will have to wait until Christmas. Going at this time of year I noticed a lot of the villager foraging, clearly Fregan's before they even had a name for it. This was taken in the village, down the side of Emin's aunts house, which is in a lovely spot but now abandoned and slowly falling into disrepair. What makes it even sadder is I know there is some lovely furniture inside..

Honey from this region is the best tasting in the world, these very cobbled together hives are full to the brim, no wonder as the blossom trees are everywhere, everything planted in this place has to earn it's keep, so most of the trees are fruiting trees so had I stayed a couple of weeks longer the place would have been a sea of blossom.

I have shown you photographs like this before but I never tire of seeing how the villagers use everything including the oil cans, which are the only splash of colour around this time of year.

About half a kilometer or less from the house you reach this plateau, this is a very typical view looking over to the sea, which I did walk to one day, great going down, bloody agony coming back.

You can, if you peer very closely just make out the back of his house, on the left.

To the right of his house rolling hills of yellow were everywhere, I never knew in the early days that this country could be so green,

Another week has flown by, tonight the private view of Ida Kar @ NPG and an audience with Mater & Pater..yeah

Chain Mail

I continuously covet chain mail necklaces, not really sure why, they are not pretty, in fact they look quite industrial. The price of these is prohibitive and I am toying with making one myself, I have sourced some fine silver strand and to me they look like french knitting you know those little dolls with the hoops on top? I will add it to my to do list!!
This necklace is by Fiona Paxton I found it via the link to Darkroom's website. This shop looks wonderful.

The following two necklaces come via the V&A who have a shop here

Tiziana Redavid

Sarah Cavender

Yohji Disappointment

I have a bit of a confession to make, over the years I have always assumed that I love Yohji Yamamoto's work, it was because I see each season separate from the rest along side other giants from japan such as Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo amongst others. So in essence I have never really focused specifically on his oeuvre in isolation. For the post I went back 10 years, I wanted to go back to 1995 which was when he produced his exquisite kimono inspired gowns, later his focus was more on tailoring and now I see it as a whole narrative it is a very Gothic almost Victorian silhouette. Not overly flattering, you would have to be very tall to carry off much of these outfits, but up close and personal the tailoring is amazing and for this alone he is worthy of his reputation but now I can see the broader picture I can't say I am the fan I thought I was.

Truly, I searched long and hard to fill this post with images, they were all so gloomy and shroud like, with a Dickensian feel running through most of the last 10 years.

That said the details are stunning

apart from the buttons, seriously the buttons were all cheap plastic, how can you pay so much attention to the detail of cut and not think a little more creatively about the buttons?

So the exhibition.

Because it was coming on the back of the superb 30 year retrospective that has just finished at the Barbican I assumed it would further elaborate in detail his thought process. What I wanted was to see more of the clothes and the philosophy behind them.

I am a big fan of text married with the displays, I wear glasses, so constantly peering over them flitting between tiny printed matter and then looking up hurts my eyes, and I know I am not alone in that. I also expected to see the relationship between his clothes and the photography from his catalogues, since he has worked with some amazing photographers over the years and has really upped the ante where catalogues are concerned.

Instead I walk in behind some gormless idiot waving his press pass, he is feted with a press pack whilst I a paying visitor get a broad sheet with tiny writing and numbers which I have to match to the exhibits.

On entry your feet are made to stick to the floor, I thought someone had spilt Coca Cola, so tried to side step it, you have to walk past an attendant who neither smiles or greets you, or even bothers to explain why your feet are suddenly glued to the floor. Inside the room, just the one, you are greeted by a horrible industrial bank of scaffolding, to the right a dark corridor with tiny monitors looping his shows, to the left a retina burning bright light bounces off the shiny white plastic floor (now we know the tacky back was to keep the floor clean...it was failing miserably) the clothes are scattered across room with no explanation, the walls are bare.

Having been impressed by both their Versace retrospective and Vivienne Westwood's nothing quite prepares you for this disaster of curating. Presenting the clothes is itself an art form as both Liberty's and Selfridges windows illustrate to perfection. This was like the slap dash efforts more commonly seen at Harvey Nichols, low on budget, low on ideas and lacking any sensitivity to the paying public. It was an insult to my intelligence,

The quote above comes from the COS catalogue it is well worth a read and makes me very keen to try and get to Antwerp to see this MoMu for myself, someone at the V&A should read it.

I have since discovered the photographs are on show at The Wapping Project Bankside They should be with the clothes at the V&A