H A P P Y L A N D

OUT OF THIS WORLD SOUNDS…you will be transported and astonished and transformed.

Come listen to Magnitude Music & The iPhone App Ensemble at Shoreditch Church, E1 6JN

THIS SATURDAY: Music starts at 8PM   Free Glass of wine incl. with ticket

See the Collection in this You Tube Video:
Sonia Rykiel H&M Knitwear Collection 2010 – Parisian Wonderland

They call her La Reine Tricot, c’est Sonia Rykiel.

Following her successful H&M Lingerie collection end of last year 2009, Sonia Rykiel made her knitwear collection debut today, Saturday 20th February 2010 at H&M. Nothing much will make me rise before 8am, but I dashed out of the house this morning anticipating a queue outside the Regent Street Flagship store.

Barely a moment to Twitter lest I miss the run in as the H&M doors open!

I did manage to take a photo while I was looking for the S and XS sizes.

SUNDAY NEXT DAY: LEAVING DAUNT BOOKS IN SONIA RYKIEL…

What I love most about the collection is how the Knitwear separates such as this Sonia Rykiel Black Jacket and Panelled Skirt can be teamed together for example, to make a “Skirt Suit”. Here I’m wearing the suit with her candy coloured striped tights. The colour combination of the candy stripes were repeated on her dresses (see the billowing knitwear dress featured in the H&M Press) and with a nod to Herve Leger, a body con dress, which I am delighted to say that I bought. It hugs my body so well that I have curves where I didn’t know… who said knitwear couldn’t be seductive and sexy?

I put the Black Skirt Suit together for a relaxed casual important meeting with a friend on Sunday – he was wearing an Adolfo Dominguez suit. I do love to know these things! and I smiled happy that I was wearing my very smart beautifully made Sonia Rykiel suit when we met.

I hope to wear my new black Sonia Rykiel dress, a stunning number with scattered diamante, at one of my concerts or perhaps some other special occasion.

What else am I wearing in this photo?

Red Riding Hat – by Helena Berman; Polo Neck Heattech jumper – by Uniqlo, Skirt Suit – by Sonia Rykiel for H&M; Amethyst Purple Coat – by Uniqlo, Striped Tights – by Sonia Rykiel for H&M; Patent Padded Style Boots – by Marc Jacobs; Blue Gloves – by Sermoneta; Handbag – by Osprey

Lovely weekend. Sonia Rykiel’s H&M was a classic Sonia Rykiel collection. Perhaps she is the heir to Coco Chanel ? C’est Super-Fantastique!

This is Benedict, the man who never wore jeans. A jeans Luddite is my husband. But I managed to make him get into a pair in 2010. I bought a chino cut pair for him just before Christmas from Albam the menswear boutique. Benedict has been wearing them ever since New Year, almost every other weekend which is pretty good going for the man who never wore jeans.

These Albam jeans are particularly good for the non jeans wearer as the stitching is concealed, the dark denim is not distressed or worn, further the chino cut is perfect for a man whose choice of informal trouser is the chino.

Steve Beresford & Tania Chen Duo at The Vortex Jazz Cafe. See links to the right or here

No needles involved. Just a lot of stencils and spray guns.

Super strong impact these images.

Quite fiddly especially if your tattoo is a complicated design. Then you need to layer and layer and think about which colours should be what and which colour goes on first.

They said it was easy once you get the hang of it…

and then you still have to sort out how to use the spray gun!

Shika Suki is my nearest Vintage Boutique, it is in Primrose Hill. Here you will find Fabulous vintage party dresses, vintage jewellery and bags.

I popped in there recently and my eyes couldn’t stay away from the stunning vintage christmas decorations for sale.

These gorgeous little baubles were made sometime between the 1940-60s in America and Eastern Europe.

The angels singing inside the baubles! These are certainly not your average xmas ornaments.

I don’t usually get excited about christmas decorations but these strike just the right note for me…nostalgia…and now they are sitting on my mantelpiece at home.

My friend Steve Beresford playing toy drums. Filmed by Helen Petts.

Steve and I will be playing a Toy Drum & Stylophone duet at 8pm on Saturday 20th December 2009 at The Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston, London.

You imagined it in your mind before it even existed. You read the book.    You saw the film.

Now, face the music. Ointment. You need it. You just didn’t know how much..

Click on the image of the cd cover below to go straight to iTunes.

MAC does a seasonal series of makeup talks here in London. I went to the Creative Makeup presentation at Swarovski studios close to Carnaby Street. So many girls in the audience and we were all given a glass of champagne!

The makeup artist Andrew had studied Fine Art and specialised in makeup as art for his final year project. The above image was inspired by paintings by the Art Deco style portraitist, Tamara Lempicka. The Royal Academy of Art held a retrospective of her work a few years ago and the paintings are distinctive and stylised with strong angles and cool contrasting sculptural planes of colour. Andrew used MAC creme coloured bases and powders mixed in a mixing medium for a bright re interpretation of Tamara de Lempicka’s work.

Below, he described how he had been inspired by traditional Indian coming of age ceremonies when the girls would be thrown with henna powder. He took this literally and threw pigment powders all over the model. The effect was striking and textural but I felt sorry for the poor girl who probably got a whole load of stuff in her eyes and hair. Can you imagine how long it took to wash the whole lot out?!

Here are a few examples of his mood boards and sketches which included photos of experiments and shimmering fabrics, photos of objects, or a print by Gilbert & George. Textures, colours, ideas, you can take your inspiration from anywhere.

The only problem is on a photoshoot, photographers, editors and PRs NEVER say to the makeup artist, “Yeah, do WHATEVER you want”. They instead snap..”Here are Twenty photos from other magazines…NOW SLAVE…GO COPY THEM”…Maybe this evening was just WISHFUL THINKING.

Here is Sonia Bogie the makeup artist who I know who teaches at Glauca Rossi School of Makeup.

How can students training as makeup artists get creative when a teacher like her snapped at her students all day for three months while she was trying to come to terms with her divorce and moaning on about it everyday…THE TRUTH PLEASE ? many makeup artists out there might be largely unfulfilled…so I hear on the grapevine.

At least this evening aspired beyond the reality.