If any unknown admirers are wondering what to get me for Valentine’s Day then below are some ideas. They are rather more expensive than red roses but they will last longer!
YSL bag and shoes
A women who doesn’t wear perfume has no future - Coco Chanel
My future is uncertain but I certainly have a past when it comes to perfume. The first perfume I called my own was Diorissimo, given to me by my mother as a birthday present when I was twelve. It is the perfect scent for a young girl; very crisp and fresh with lily of the valley as the predominant note. I adored it and wore it every day, which was a bit extravagant for the local primary school. I then graduated to the classic Chanel No. 5, a fragrance I have worn on and off for most of my life.
On my 19th birthday a friend of mine gave me a bottle of Angel by Thierry Mugler. I wore throughout my early 20s and I think it is the scent most people associate with me. My boyfriend at the time had to have his pillows dry cleaned when we broke up as they were completely permeated with it. But then Angel became very popular and every third girl was wearing it and so it was time for a change for me.
Since then I have tried a few different perfumes but none of them truly suited me. I wore Opium for a while but my mother has worn this for most of her life and so I felt like an imposter. I tried Douce Amere by Serge Lutens but it was too sweet. Another boyfriend bought me a bottle of Amber by Marc Jacobs, but it’s only available as an eau de toilette and has little staying power. I tried Prada Parfum but again it became too popular. I am in danger of becoming the Goldilocks of the perfume world; I want one that’s just right!
A couple of weeks ago I was in town with my sister, both of us in a jubilant mood as she had just bought her wedding dress. (As as aside, she will be the most beautiful girl in Ireland on her wedding day. The dress is stunning, made even more so by her beauty.) We passed the Chanel section in Brown Thomas and stopped at the display for Les Exclusifs, a range of eight perfumes. And there, I fell in love. Unlike Bono, I think I have found what I’m looking for.
It’s called Coromandel. It strikes just the right balance; oriental with amber notes, a hint of something fresher on top, perhaps citrus. I wore it all day and eventually my sister and I made the trek back to Chanel to find out how much it cost. €200, which is rather more than I had anticipated. I think my ever-evolving shopping list now needs to be recalculated with Coromandel taking the top spot. I just have to smell like that every day.
Valentine’s Day is this coming Sunday and, for all my male readers, I have a little tip; there are very very few women who won’t be impressed by a gift of some gorgeous lingerie. I was always delighted when any of my boyfriends picked up on the not very subtle, clanking great hints that I dropped, and I was presented with some frills and lace on Valentine’s Day.
Agent Provocateur is the go to shop for up-market frillies but there are lots of brands available on the internet which are equally stunning. Whilst browsing on Boudiche recently, I came across Fleur of England, a British lingerie brand designed by Fleur Turner. The designs are made in silks, satins and lace and, whilst very feminine and sexy, are also very wearable. Now if they’d only do away with the uninspired names, they’d be perfect!
Crush Collection
Powder Puff Collection
Raspberry Ripple Collection
Je Ne Sais Quoi Collection
Another brand I have recently found on etsy is Hopeless, a vintage inspired collection created by sisters Gabrielle and Dominique Adamidis in Melbourne, Australia. Described as ‘couture lingerie’, the pieces are handmade in jewel-like colours and heavy fabrics. This stuff is far too gorgeous to keep hidden!
P.S. When reading through LibertyLondonGirl’s archives, I laughed when I read this post on the subject of how the word lingerie should be pronounced. Her friend is absolutely right, but, annoyingly, if you pronounce it in the correct way everyone just thinks you’re saying it wrong (ditto Moët et Chandon).
I am very much looking forward to getting home after work today. Not because there’s anything amazing on television (we don’t have a TV in our house) or because I’m looking forward to an early night. Instead I have finally managed to break through my writer’s block.
Don’t get me wrong, I have been writing. I am a great believer in “showing up at the page”, i.e. sitting down to write every day whether you feel like it or not. But the book I have been writing hasn’t been grabbing me. I haven’t felt inspired, felt so enthusiastic that I was running home every night. I have felt, in short, that I was going through the motions, writing that particular story because it was the best I had at the time, and if I’m not writing then I begin to have the “what the hell am I doing with my life and where is this all going” conversations with myself.
Until last week. Suddenly I was seized by an idea. Something that spoke to me. Something that got me excited and had me up until 3 in the morning writing notes. I started sketching out the plot yesterday and I’ll start the proper work next weekend, and I’m excited, jubilant even. This is exactly how it should feel. Of course there will be setbacks, obstacles, fallow periods, but the overall excitement at the beginning of the project will see me through.
It’s almost like falling in love. You can’t see the flaws at the beginning, the future is golden, only good things will happen as a result of this. Then like most love affairs, the rose coloured spectacles come off and you have to be a bit more realistic. You have to see the problems and actively work to fix them if you want it to succeed. But succeed it must!
Anyway off I trot soon, to spend the night in front of my laptop. Such bliss! Wish me luck.
I’m still attempting to conquer the pile of books I was given for Christmas and last week I finished DV by Diana Vreeland. DV is Diana’s autobiography, edited by George Plimpton (Editor in Chief of the Paris Review) and Christopher Hemphill. In it she regales the reader with stories from her impossibly glamorous and privileged life, all told in a gossipy high camp manner which makes you feel as if you are having cocktails with her at the Ritz.
Diana Vreeland was one of the most iconic women in American fashion. She started her career in Harper’s Bazaar as a columnist and subsequently became Editor of Vogue from 1963-1971. The world of high fashion was a world she easily inhabited, being from a rich background and being a couture client from her early twenties. Diana became a renowned arbiter of style, so much so that Jaqueline Kennedy turned to her for advice on matters of style when JFK became President.
The irony of reading another fabulous story of Diana’s, involving jewelled elephants or Spanish Infantas or a personal fitting with Coco Chanel, whilst I was sitting on a cramped and smelly bus, rain hammering on the windows, was not lost on me. This book made me green with envy. To live a life filled with so many advantages, with so much beauty, would be a dream come true. The fact that Diana was hilariously entertaining is the one thing that made reading the book bearable.
These hooks from UK design shop Thelermont Hupton make a great statement. I think a row of them in a hallway would be amazing but the Rock sign one is definitely my favourite. However at £90 each, they sure don’t come cheap!
Lapo Elkann is the New York born Italian heir to the automobile maker Fiat. Lapo was a marketing associate for Fiat and Maserati and in 2003 became Fiat’s Director of Marketing, overseeing the successful reinvention of the Fiat Punto and 500. Elkann launched the Italia Independent lifestyle brand in 2007, featuring products conceived, developed, and produced in Italy.
Lapo is famous in the fashion world for his sense of style. I love that he can look perfectly turned out, wearing a bespoke suit, and yet not look too stiff or formal. His favorite shirt makers are Italia Independent, vintage Charvet, and Turnbull & Asser, and his shoe designer of choice is Marini in Rome for custom-made brogues; a man with high sartorial standards! His ability to use colours in unusual combinations is rare for a man not directly involved in fashion and he is certainly one of the 21st century’s notable dandies.
(The Sartorialist)
Rather belatedly, I got around to watching Lagerfeld Confidential last weekend. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a documentary released in 2007 about Karl Lagerfeld, directed by Rodolphe Marconi. Lagerfeld is head designer and creative director of Chanel as well as being head designer for Fendi, and helming his own fashion house. In addition to all of this Lagerfeld is a photographer and an artist and has collaborated extensively on costume designs for ballet and theatre productions.
The documentary is a look at Lagerfeld’s day to day life and is also interspersed with snatches of interviews on subjects ranging from Lagerfeld’s childhood and his relationship with his mother, to his sexuality and view on relationships.
I suppose I had always had an idea of Mr. Lagerfeld being extremely intimidating, humourless and austere and this may be in no small part to his appearance. Famously never photographed without his sunglasses, always in severely tailored black clothes, dripping in Chrome Hearts silver jewellery, Lagerfeld cuts an imposing figure. ( Truth be told, if there is any person whose style I admire most, it would probably be Monsieur Karl.)
However the man that emerges from the documentary is very different. He has a great sense of humour and irony, which can be seen when he is questioned, rather hesitantly, by the director of the documentary on his sexuality. He also has moments of vulnerability and softness; when he produces his security blanket for a trip on his private jet, I was completely disarmed by his reliance on an item from his childhood. When he enters a room, whether it’s backstage at a Chanel show or a photoshoot with a model, he is hands on and there is no diva attitude, instead he is polite and charming to his underlings.
The most striking thing about Lagerfeld as portrayed in the documentrary is how youthful he seems. He has boundless energy, reading, sketching and photographing daily. He speaks very quickly, communicating complex ideas with ease. He bends down to fix his boot with the grace of a man half his age. His abhorrence for nostalgia and for living in the past contributes greatly to his youthful demeanour. Karl was approximately 74 (there is confusion over his exact birth date) when the documentary was made and in no way is this apparent.
This is a fascinating look at a man whose influence is writ large over 20th century fashion and who still exerts a powerful hold in this century too.
Perry Farrell recently confirmed on his official Facebook page that Jane’s Addiction are set to head back into the studio and record some new music. Hopefully this means a new studio album is in the works. I know I was very disappointed last year when I thought Trent Reznor was producing their new album and it turned out it was only two tracks in advance of the NINJA tour. All JA fans should keep their fingers crossed and we shall see what 2010 brings us!
