I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...

So I come home for the summer, and have to move out again in the space of two weeks...

Hmmmmm. Not ideal. Basically, our entire house is being rebuilt around us over the course of 5 months for reasons far too dull to go into, and all furniture / books / clothes etc that we don't use on a regular basis has to either be chucked or put into storage! Of course this was the plan, until my roof sprung a second leak, waking me up at 4am during the other morning's thunder storm... So now I am moving out, and into my old maths tutor's house ( - she's also one of my mum's best mates - ) for a while... Of course, this would be fine if my room wasn't Stuffed With Stuff, and we had more than 24 hours to do it.

Thus, all of this is why I might be a little lax on my posting every day rule for a while, but I'll do my best!

Anyway, life chat over with...

And onto some of the promised (for weeks) photos...

This post is dedicated to the finalists garden party, given by the Master of College in his gardens... Think Pimms and reminiscences and commiserations about how screwed we all are with the current economic climate haha. It was great fun actually, and I'm afraid it's a dress you've seen before ;-D - This wasn't a photoshoot in athe usual style, as obviously, T-B was taking photos of the event, not just me and my crazy outfits, but there were quite a few nice photos anyway!

- Oh yes, I'm just so serious... (And the old dude in the background is "The Master". Lovely guy.)

- Me sticking my tongue out in photos may be replacing the ubiquitous twirling ;-D

- How kwl is her dress?!?!

- The amazingly comfy, if slightly out of focus shoes, which cost me £15 quid in M&S and I wear ALL THE TIME! (Either those or the same ones in black which I also have :-D) - Oh, and evidence, that I don't iron my clothes hehe!

- The only full length shot... How serious do I look? ;-D


The outfit, elements of which have all been used before, was: Vintage handmade dress, M&S sandals, GAP shell pink cardigan and Vintage tooled leather bag, with my ToyWatch and BarryM purple nail polish.


So there you have it... Garden partay numero uno. Sorry it's taken me so long to post... I really do love this dress...


I'd had such a rushed morning before this, having overslept into a breakfast meeting, so I had to rush out in jeans and t-shirt and no make-up, knowing full well I had two garden parties later. Of course, I was late to both... And looked rather the ghost having just shoved on the first make up I could find, i.e. my going-out-foundation, and no blusher... (as I'd left it in T-B's kitchen cupboard. Don't ask!)

It seems weird to think that I've been gone from Cam for 2 weeks... It's also amazing how much one changes on starting work and settling back into big-city life. I'm much more routine-ised, and my style's subtly shifted; probably partly due to the environment I'm working in, but also because of how I'm feeling I guess... Up until yesterday, I had no idea what was going to happen when I've finished my internship in October. I was basically still waiting on an official decision from Cambridge's Business School as to whether I had been accepted onto their Management programme for 4th year. If not, I would have to get on applying for more internships and jobs in fashion PR and Marketing which is probably the career direction I'm going in...


And yesterday, the crisp white letter headed Judge Business School, University of Cambridge came in the post... And I've been accepted! So back to the 'Bridge in October. I am really excited, though I was quite ready to get on with "real" life... Scary eh!


Right. As usual this was supposed to be a short post, so I must be off!


Xxxc

Red Legged Exhibition Exhibitionist

So today was the last day of *this* exhibition of Sarah Wilson's work...

I'd been meaning to go all holiday - there are many examples like this where I wait and wait and wait 'til the last minute and almost (or do) miss great stuff.

Basically, this is going to be a two-part post... This is about my clothes today... Because I am impatient and can't wait to put them up... And part 2 - next week - will be about the artist, collection and exhibition itself! 

So. Here goes.

Shocked. Bright legs. Art. Light.

Wearing - Red M&S tights, ubiquitous ToyWatch, ASOS.com horse print shorts, Motel lace back dress (wrong way around) over Tavi / Borders and Frontiers teeshirt and Hush Puppy black sheer-lace-up heeled Oxfords. Oh, and in the first two pics, I'm also covering up with the ever-useful Tibetan shawl and carrying the UBER-CHIC (not) laptop bag!

The exhibition was at New Hall (now Murray Edwards, but we still call it the old name...) College, which is what's called a 'hill college' - i.e. out of town by about 15 minutes or so - FAR in Cambridge terms, AND it's all girls... Eek. I like my 70:30 boys to girls ratio thank you very much! ;-D (More about New Hall's art collection in Part 2!)

It was the first properly sunny day we've had (in Cambridge - I'm excepting my sunny Hampshire Easter Monday here...) in ages. Bliss. Not quite warm enough for uncovered legs, but certainly teeshirt weather!

Sorry for the short-ish post. I've got several hundred more dissertation words to do before bed. Sigh.

Xxxc

Photos, as ever, by Alex Tatton-Brown

Kidnap / Escape, Countryside, Theatre... Oh, and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Yesterday evening, I went out to dinner with my best friend, Will.

In honesty, I have four people in the world who I might genuinely refer to in such a way... To me, the term is one I personally don't attribute to the people I've known the longest, or neccessarily to the people who know Absolutely Everything - friendship is a voyage of discovery after all! To me, a best friend is someone I feel completely myself with and trust to be able to deal with all my crap if I need someone to be there for me, without worrying they won't be there the next time. (And it goes the other way, as the million-and-one conversations on the kitchen floor with room-mate attest.)

Will is basically my adopted-big-brother. His mother does actually describe me as "the daughter I never had", so that's pretty much correct... These two photos pretty much sum us up - one was taken at a May Week (in June) garden party last summer, and the other was at a friend's birthday party about the beginning of my 2nd year.

Anyway... Carrying on with my ramble...

Will, being the dashing gent he is, recognised, over dinner, the distress I've been in, and immediately decided that I could not spend Easter weekend in Cambridge, but that I was going home with him to his parents' house in the Hampshire countryside. Let me just point out, that I know his parents very well, and this is not an irregular hide-out for me...

So, at 4am this morning/yesterday, after racing each other down the motorway, we arrived at his. Since then, it's been pouring down with rain, but it's warm and cosy and quiet... Well, note exactly true, as they have a dog and a puppy! (I'll try to post pictures of them before the weekend is out, as they're JUST ADORABLE.) Not managed to do work yet, but that's partly due to exhaustion. And yet I do feel inspired. It may be grey, but the colours of the landscape around are so comforting. The greens and browns and occassional flashes of red and yellow from hedgerows and gardens make me smile...

I was also the happy recipient of benefits of someone else's misfortune. Will's younger brother, who came home from Oxford today, was ill and unable to attend the performance of Merchant of Venice that was on at the Watermill Theatre tonight with Will and his mother, so I was roped into attending too.

Oh yes. Such a hardship. I hate Shakespeare I do. Oh wait. I love Shakespeare. I lied. Very Badly.

The production was directed by Edward Hall (Sir Peter Hall's son), and had an all-male cast. They are doing Merchant in rep with Midsummer Night's Dream, which Sally (Will's mum) went to on Monday and proclaimed as hugely successful. Well, tonight's performance was equally successful. Though the women really annoyed me - partly from inconsistencies and partly because the guy who played Jessica was Just Weak! Basically, it was really well staged, in a prison, with a great set of leads and some really strong acting and direction. Merch can be incomprehensible at times, but this interpretation was affecting and clear in direction and speech from the word go. Brilliant. I just hated that Portia was played like a Tranny, while Jessica seemed to be supposed to be a girly actual-girl which were portrayals neither consistent with each other, nor with the prison-setting, in the case of Jessica. But that's small fry really, considering it was a throughly engaging production of a play I've never before liked. Even the gory scenes like the eye-removal were done well! And the choosing of the box for Portia's hand in marriage - pick which of the gold, silver and lead boxes have Portia's picture in, get the clue right, or otherwise get a skull or a mirror with mean verse attached - was extremely well done. Especially considering the last Merchant of Venice I saw, my mother and I almost shouted "sack the hatter" at bows... They did have silly ones.

So anyway. In the spirit of this week's outfit posts, I do have a few, though please accept my apologies for the wearing of the same dress I wore last weekend! This time, with different stuff, but essentially, not Massively interesting...

- "slaving" at the computer...
- poseeeeer! that fire is so so toasty! this is the annexe downstairs, that is basically a self-contained flat, where I'm working / sleeping for the weekend.

- this weird lavender thing makes me happy!

- reading Conrad by the fire...

I wasn't massively dressed up for the theatre... It being a provincial one, there's no need to think more than country-smart and warmth. So I'm wearing my Acne Jeans, Topshop dress, mother's old charcoal cardigan, Kate Kuba heels and Tiffany tear drop necklace, bracelet and earring set. Relatively standard in a countryfied, comfy way.

Hmmmmm. This was supposed to be a short post... So I might stop there. And go to bed. Lol.

But before I go... Lazy Oaf have a SALE on til Monday... 20% off at the checkout with the code youareggshellent until Midnight, Easter Monday! Check it out! I'm thinking of getting one of these... Maybe...

Night night!

Xxxc

The Weekend of London Lovliness Series - #1

As I said... This weekend, at the boat race, we did a photoshoot.

Although I said the photos would be in limbo, T-B has come through for me, and since there are a few different aspects that I want to show off, I'm going to break down the shoot-posts into three 5-picture parts... # 1 is the photo shoot itself, # 2 is inspiring images of the surrounding area and # 3 is detail shots.

I'm going to do them interspersed with posts about my former life as a costume wench at the ADC theatre in Cambridge, so bear with me this week! Hopefully there'll be plenty for you to enjoy feasting your eyes on, and I'll try to find interesting things to say about it all ;-D

So...

Step 1) Ignore boat race. Hug instead.

Step 2) Go home and dance in the streets

Step 3) Admire motorbikes.

Step 4) Have fun with reflections

Step 5) Strike a pose. In. Vogue. (Well, almost...)

It was a great day, and thanks to all involved in that. Not only was the exhibit in the morning one of the best museum trips I've ever had, but my friends at the boat race were on top form, and taking T-B to my childhood-home bit of London - Chelsea. 

We moved to a more suburban area when I was school age, but due to friends and family, most of my formative memories are here... It's where I am most comfortable. Our flat was above a quite famous pub on the even more famous King's Road - where Vivienne Westwood had her SEX shop...

In a Susie-Bubble-esque shops-googlemaps-venture, on a smaller, much more personal scale, I created my London Life-Map (1 - Chelsea). Hopefully I'll do some more soon, but here's for starters... 
View Larger Map 

- when you click to a larger map, you need to go up and to the left slightly if you can't see any of the pins or the KR - for some reason it sometimes decentres... -

Going back in the midst of stressy dissertation time was a breath of fresh air.

Anyway... on the day I was wearing Adidas patent basketball shoes - bought in Paris with my mum on a girlie holiday last year, the Topshop tights, the purple leather skirt from Rokit, blue GAP tee, GAP shell pink cardigan, scarf from charity shop in Rochester, Toy Watch, purple leather flower cuff from ARK, Rodchenko and Popova exhibition brooch (detail forthcoming in #3), Dolce and Gabbana red patent clutch bag, Paul Costelloe coat...

Oh, and my AIDS day ribbon that I refuse to take off. I'm Cambridge's student's union executive Sexual Health and HIV Awareness officer, so wearing it is part of my job description as well as being for a cause I really believe in. It's so so important... Have a look at CAMFED - a campaign to educate girls in rural Africa and help them gain economic independence after leaving school in a bid to end their poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS. It's a really amazing cause!

Until next time chicas!

Xxxc

Theatrical musings and Russian 1920s art...

So I used to be a costume wench (designer) for theatre productions... I spent most of first and second year dressing other people for the stage before I buried myself in work and came back into the collegiate fold.

But that doesn't stop me having a bit of a thing for theatrical aspects of clothing and a bit of a crush on costume and set designing artists...

So anyway, yesterday I went home to London again, this time for the Oxford Cambridge boat race - we lost... BOOOOOOO! - and to go to the Tate Modern for the Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism exhibition... 

The boat race was lovely - it was sunny, everyone was happy (until we lost) and all in all, it was great seeing my friends... T-B and I Did do a photo shoot, but that will emerge later in the week as those photos are currently in computer-limbo until he's back from a visit to his girl in Bath. 

So... The exhibition was also AMAZING. I must admit to being a huge fan of a lot of modern art - I spend a lot of my free time at the Tate Modern, and this is no exception. I love their use of line and colour. We were in quite a silly mood and spent quite a lot of the exhibition trying to decide what images they could be behind the abstract-ness...

 

The collage is mainly Rodchenko and his graphic design work, while the paintings are some of Popova's GORGEOUS stuff. I love her use of colour and shade. It's so subtle and expressive!

Both Rodchenko and Popova, under the early years post-Russian Revolution produced first studio easel work FAR ahead of its time and then moved from conventional artistry to posters, textiles, graphics, architecture, furniture and mass media - designing for a worker's club (we played a game of chess on one of the boards Rodchenko designed) and the poster for "Battleship Potemkin" for example... The colours and shapes are so striking and I ended up dreaming about it all last night. A simple but beautiful exhibition which I really felt opened my eyes, both from a more traditional painting POV and a graphic / textile design one.

They also designed clothes and costumes for theatre and Rodchenko designed stage sets, which were amazing...

Aren't these kwl? They're dress and textile designs by Popova... I just love the patterns and the muted but strong colours... They had a scarf in the hammer and sickle design. I didn't get it but now wishing I had. I might nip back in if I'm in London again while the exhibition's on... Naughty eh ;-D

And this is my favourite costume by Rodchenko... I'm a sucker for a)burgundy and b) uniform. Hehe.

In the shop, I fell in love with something else... A book on Russian and Soviet theatre which is not only really interesting about theatre under oppression but also contains some AMAZING photos of sets and costumes...

the Classicising figure in the bottom left is Just To Die For, especially considering it's pre-Revolution and yet looks like it could be put on stage tomorrow!

None of the images in these two collages are from Rodchenko and Popova, but from the book "Russian and Soviet Theatre" byRudnitsky

I wish I had time to snuggle up with this book, but it will have to wait a while... Until then, it is sitting on my shelf, unread, but filled with possibilities. I am really feeling some of the make up techniques and the harsh lines.

Xxxc

Playing the leopard

Ok, so I have a confession to make... I know I said there were no more photoshoots for a while, as T-B has gone home, but we maaaaay have done one the day before he went home that I haven't put up yet... What can I say? I'm sneaky like that ;-D

It was a  lovely warm day last weekend, and I had just got a leopard print top from ebay that I wanted to play with ASAP... I love the playfulness of it! The fact it has leopard faces hidden in the print and the material is so heavy and nubby, it seems lightyears away from anything remotely tacky or difficult to wear. Leopard and other animal prints have really got a resurgence going on at the moment, and while I'm quite far away from the femme fatale / rock chick that usually rocks it, I don't think I did tooooooooo badly ;-D

Prowling leopard, leaping cat

skipping along the riverside into the more 'townie' part of Cam.

See the print?

I am most likely Actually falling over in these pics... No balance.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Spin spin spin spin spin...

How cute is that cat!?!? He looked a bit like our college cat, but when he didn't decide to hang off my arm in a fit of schizophrenic action, we were disabused of any notion of similarity between this lovely and Captain Haddock!

Only in Cambridge... It's a please don't chain bikes to railings sign... Except not in English, but in Latin and Greek. This is the street where several of the college houses for fourth years are (we live in college for 3 years and if we stay for a 4th or more, then we get put in accomodation like these cute little houses... Or in the divinity schools across the (cobbled) street from college, which they're currently renovating for Grad accomodation. It's so pretty, but tumbledown inside...

So... What was I wearing? Vintage leopard print top off ebay, vintage skirt, Jocasi leather belt, vintage tooled leather bag, Jaeger brown court shoes, Vintage porcelain pendant, Toy Watch, very very old tiger eye bracelet...

I should really be in the library now... But I'm rather happy, sitting in my "work room" (i.e. my room mate's bedroom that I've converted into a study pour moi over the holidays while she's away... My own desk is too untidy ;-D) and still in my nightie and big comfy cardie, not quite bothered to do anything. Possibly something to do with having just finished watching the last episode of Swingtown (so so so sad it was cancelled) and now my brain is too lethargic to be productive ;-D Ooops! Holidays are baaaaaaaaaaaad for work ethics!

Right. Off to find food.

Xxxc

Home Sweet Home: gorging on exhibitions.

Well, I've been crap this weekend... I think going backwards and forwards between Cam and London means I've got a bit caught up in stuff other than blogging. So I'll try to be more regular - even though I won't have pretty photographs most of the time.

Anyway, yesterday I managed a day of exhibition binging: the Royal Academy in the morning for the last day of the Byzantium exhibition and the Palladio one, then to the Tate Britain to the Van Dyck in Britain exhibition...

I barely rolled out of bed in time for my slot at the RA, but just in time I ran through the doors to a really rather wonderful collection. In honesty, it took me almost 2 hours to go through, which may well be a new record for me. And considering how little info there was on the labels, it was one hell of a stuffed-to-the-gunnels exhibition! 

I am a BIG church-history buff, and being able to get up close and personal with some of this stuff was amazing... I LOVED the display of icons - especially the huge, 14th century silver gilted ones, and the last room which was filled with icons from the monastery of St Catherine, Sinai. The colours were so inspiring and I just wanted to stay there forever... 

The lighting is really low and mysterious, and right at the beginning the curators have explained that there is so little that we know about Byzantine culture, thus, I suppose, the lack of info on the labels - which was frustrating at times...

My favourite pieces was an icon of St Michael that was enamelled and covered in precious gems. The central figure was almost like a doll, in that it came forth from the icon; in my mind, ready to do battle. Amazing workmanship. It makes me wanna play "dress-the-archangel" with some action men and my sewing machine... (Damn this dissertation!) But HOW KWL is his tunic?!?!

Oh, and the last piece in this huge exhibition was rather special too - it was an illuminated manuscript of the heavenly ladder (The Ladder of Divine Ascent). The picture's a little crappy, but I loved this... The colours were so vibrant and I'm feeling dressing like one of those little black devils for the next fancy dress party I go to. Hehe.

And there was also some pretty darn cute jewellery!

When I was done in there, despite my buggered ankle complaining about the high heels I was tramping around in, I wandered straight on to the Palladio exhibition. Now this one was much lighter and airier, and mostly drawings and models of these wonderful buildings... Now my main interest is religious buildings, so there was plenty for me to get excited about, though I have to admit, I could have done with less information overload! (Exactly the opposite of the Byzantium exhibition lol.)

The photos and drawings were beautiful though, and after the dark mysteriousness of the Byzantium exhibition it was nice to look at airy spaces and little models of churches and monasteries! Love architecture, though there were perhaps too many drawings, as I was quite tired and by this point had been in the RA for about 3.5 hours... Boy was I glad to get out and to the Tate...

Going to the Tate was a massive mission as the train line which takes you there was out... But I did have a great time getting there. I wandered past the Houses of Parliament, wandered around "Jewel Tower" which was part of the medieval palace complex, and skipped through a park which had a wierd and colourful pagoda in. Lots of fun.

The Van Dyk exhibition was EXCELLENT... Just enough info and gorgeous paintings. And I could spend hours in the members room, sipping tea hehe.

The colours in the paintings were so wondrous, I spent HOURS in there, staring at the painting of the fabrics and the wistful looks in peoples' eyes. Yum.

They also had a few paintings 'inspired' by Van Dyck's work, and I particularly loved this portrait of Mrs Sandys by de Lazlo. How graceful is she!?!?

So all in all, a great, but knackering day. And it was mothers' day, and I didn't see my mum at all until the evening when I was passed out on the sofa with a migraine. Ooooops! Sorry mum...

I tried to take a few photos using my crappy little point and click on timer, but I looked a bit of an idiot... If you can see the pics, I was wearing my London-tough-garb - black cheap monday jeans, old massive I Love Firenze cat teeshirt, 101 dalmations silk scarf, porcelain pendant and Harley Mechanics jacket... The pics are of the two most inspiring bits of my-home-patch I passed. Noone ever notices the little pagoda by Lambeth Palace (Westminster) but it's so pretty, and got to love that architecture :-D

Right. I should have been in bed HOURS ago...

Xxxc