Resort 2012

This image of Margherita Missoni is one of many I could post that for me defines style. Yes, she is beautiful. Yes, she has the pick of one of the best wardrobes in town. But you only have to look at images of Paris Hilton to know that there is a lot more to style than any of the aforementioned.

This image from the Telegraph was taken at the Venice Biennale, I can't imagine ever getting there my yacht can still fit into my bath tub so I enjoy it vicariously from my sofa instead.
I think this is such a wonderful dress, I realise you have to be tall to carry it off, but shorter people could snip a couple of inches of the bottom, no?
OK if I was going to the Biennale I would probably chose this.

By Yigal Azrouel, I love the bell shape and the hidden splash of colour underneath.

Diane von Furstenberg

Donna Karen

Both the above designers have the ability to cut beautifully using fluid fabrics and I love DvF's patterns would that I had the money!

The RA Summer Show

Silk tunic from COS over green silk combats by Great Plains with a very OTT necklace from Ghost.

Yes folks it's the annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, a jaunt I normally partake with little sis and what larks we have 1 Pimms and that girl will buy anything. which is how I get to go to the buyers day.

This year mother went and she too succumbed to a Joe Tilson print so no doubt she will tag along next year too. I would have liked an hour on my own but it was not to be and so I was far too easily distracted by the incessant attention seeking behaviour from Leyla who has to be the center of attention to the point that when I went through these photographs her bloody hand was in most of them.

No Photographs allowed!
But because you bloguette's are special I managed to snap a few surreptitiously on my iPhone


The audience is very glam.








The men are as gorgeously dressed as the women here.

It was heaving as per usual with many worn out before getting half way around.

Mt favourite dress of the day, how funky is this one and below I saw two! love the zip contrast.

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Moments of inertia

Which is a euphemism for bone idleness really.

I have spent the week doing so little is constitutes a monumental waste of time.
Yes, I walked the dog, yes, I did some project work with Leyla, yes, I cooked and wiped and cleaned and put loads of washing in the machine and then hung it out to dry and yes, I mowed the grass and pottered in the garden. But I singularly failed to paint the hall ceiling or rehang the shoe cupboard door or dust the living room shelves or a whole litany of mind numbingly boring jobs that facilitate my existence without any sense of enhancement what so ever.

I did however make it to a fabulous production of Much Ado About Nothing, which has divided the critics, but I thought it was brilliant.

I caught a very very touching version of The Cherry orchard at the national, Leyla came and found the first half difficult, a fact that can be measured by the level of fidgeting, it was such a long haul to the interval that most of the snacks had been eaten and she had wrapped herself up like an Egyptian mummy in my scarf. The second half fared better marred only when at the end the brother and sister standing on stage side by side gaze out onto the orchard the weight of loss hanging so heavily in the air I shed a tear only to hear Leyla mutter under her breath "Oh come ON, get on with it" which pretty much killed it!

I also made to the RA Summer Exhibition and survived both Leyla and my Mother, more of which tomorrow.

I did not paint had no desire to until the last day really, worse, I did not go to the gym much so I now can feel the extra pounds hugging my midriff .

Then half way through the week Emin dangled the carrot of a larger house in front of me only to snatch it away the next day after I had located the house and mentally moved in.... that hurt.

Moan, moan, moan.

More cheerful service resumes tomorrow!

Chelsea Flower Show...The Artisan Gardens

When I first went to Chelsea it was all about the gardens, I have scrapbooks full of photographs and plans and leaflets, I was completely mesmerised by monumental scale of it all as well as the theatrical drama .It was also a much richer place in terms of the spectacle and volume of gardens to see. It is all very modest now, with just a sprinkling of gardens and even the pavilion had become quite sparse.
Luckily for me It's all about the people now and as I have found less and less to inspire in the garden I found the audience a richer source of inspiration and delight.
Two gardens this year were just brilliant. This one based on a Welsh seaside cottage was just a slice of heaven, with so much to see including a delightful drift wood fence decorated with shells.
It was inspired by Dylan Thomas's garden at Laugharne where I have been a few times and it's setting is beautiful.

The second garden resonated even more as it came all the way from Korea, and is based on an out house toilet, from the roof to small sculptural details outside it was divine and deserved to win one of the best in show awards.

Chelsea Flower Show..and finally some flowers

Just a few flowers, I took many many more but on my iPhone via the various Polaroid apps, which will come later.

Chelsea Flower Show..Fragments of beauty

Fragments of beauty, if Chelsea brought out one thing it was some lovely layering.

and some lovely coats

Lovely hair

and just a few lovely flowery clash to match.

Creamy richness and

just a little eccentric

and stripes on stripes.

Chelsea Flower Show...It's all about the bags

Cath Kidston reigns supreme

Some of my favourite brown bags

coveted all of these

More about the jacket but also the mix of pattern and colour

Love the dress and blocks of neutrals

Just a lovely mix of neutrals

Best dresses male

How gorgeous is this?

and I love the blues too