Spring Pickings.

My selection of Topshop and asos.com's new arrivals.

Bat For Lashes.

One of my favourite musical acts both to listen to and to watch.

Source: google images

Natasha Khan has such adventurous and imaginative style. Every performance being different and inspiring in some way.

To be born in another era...

 Source:www.magxone.com

Toni Garrn in German Vogue, January 2010. Sixties bliss,  the styling is authentic and lastingly perfect. I would love to get my hands on that hat. Would really love a hair cut like this, I love the length and the fact it swings.
Reminds me I must go to the Brigitte Bardot exposition before it closes! I would have loved to live in this era.

STOPPING TRAFFIC.

Kenzo's 2010-11 fall-winter menswear collection stopped traffic on Saturday when the show spilled out onto Place des Victoires and turned Paris' streets into a catwalk. In fact, the scene took place the street next to my Parisian flat - unhappy am I to say I missed the whole thing.

It would have been a complete shock to have seen the 50s-inspired models and vintage Citroen cars just a stone's throw from my apartment.

Source: http://www.thestate.com/world/story/1124280.html

Garden State.

Who said it was too early for blooms and colour...? Topshop and H&M are awash with florals and Spring prints. Here is my selection of H&M's The Garden Collection.

COCOROSA.

Came across this blog only last night, I love her style. A Dutch fashion predictor living in New York.

Source: http://mypreciousconfessions.blogspot.com

Can be found on: mypreciousconfessions.blogspot.com.

I Love You You You.

What an adorable little ring from catbirdnyc.com.

Perfectly small and delicate it would look lovely clustered with other trinkets or just stand alone.

Gold seems to be the colour to choose at the moment. And with warm summer hues fast approaching, it will perfectly complement bronzed skin.

There are lots of other gorgeous items of jewellery on this website.

Modern day Vionnet.

Rodolfo Paglialunga at Vionnet

 Pastel candy colours and cute shapes, with effortless draping.

A modern interpretation of the wonderful Vionnet designs of the 1920s and 1930s.

 

A warming recipe.

Chickpeas with Chorizo. My friend cooked this for us...A Nigel Slater recipe, link below.

Delicious!

A quick and hearty stew here, that should be on the table in about an hour, for most of which time it can sit unattended, with just the occasional stir to see how it is getting on. You could cook your own chickpeas from scratch if you want, though they do emerge from a can in pretty near perfect condition. I quite often used tined tomatoes here too.

Serves 4
2 -3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
3 chorizo sausages – about 400g
crushed dried chillies
a glass of dry sherry
5 or 6 decent-sized tomatoes
2 x 400g tins chick peas
small bunch parsley

 

Warm the olive oil in a deep, heavy-based pan. I use a cast iron casserole. Peel the onions, roughly chop them and add them to the oil, stirring to coat them, then letting them cook at a moderate heat. Peel the garlic, slice it thinly and stir it into the onions. Leave to cook, partially covered by a lid, until the onions are soft and pale gold.

 

Cut each sausage into about four fat chunks. Mix these in with the softened onions then add a teaspoon or so of crushed, dried chillies. Pour in a glass of dry sherry, vermouth or white wine and bring it to an enthusiastic bubble. Chop the tomatoes roughly, add them and bring them to the boil, then add the chickpeas, drained of their canning liquor and rinsed, then pour in a can of water, then season with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and leave to cook, slowly, half covered with a lid for 45 minutes.

 

I would give it a stir from time to time, and check the liquor levels. What you want to end up with is a rich, brick-red sauce with a spiciness from the chillies and chorizo.

 

Just before serving. Chop the parsley, but only roughly, then stir into the stew. Serve in shallow bowls, making certain everyone gets a fair bit of sausage.

http://www.nigelslater.com/recipes_view.asp?nRecipe_ID=%7B8006C689-5C85-4423-88BF-573AB4CE78A4%7D&nRecipeCat_ID=%7BACCFD0C0-6F59-4487-8C1B-B35A8DACDA8F%7D&sSrc=

La Fin.

I've just finished Petite Anglaise, enfin. It didn't take me long to whip through the pages, as if I was reading a wafer-paged gossip magazine. It was a great read that carefully details Paris life - the highs and lows, the dirt and the beauty, the matt and the gloss. A somewhat disappointing "happy ending" that leaves you wanting to know more. Definitely one to pick up.

Nouveau Casino.

A beat-thudding, smoke and mirrors kind of club, Nouveau Casino is a hive of hip, jeune parisiens. The head-bobbing crowd is littered with shabby beanie hats and there's not a stiletto in sight. This really is a venue for the dedicated drum and bass, dubstep, house and electro lover. It oozes cool from every music-pounding pore except the A/C - definitely somewhere you'd leave your manteau in the vestiaire. 

Sabrina Dehoff.

Being in Paris, I've opened up to jewellery more than I ever have before. I think Paris nurtures a simplistic way of dressing and so my attention has turned to the means by which a simple tee or basic dress can be transformed by a delicate and interesting piece of jewellery.

An new love of mine is this necklace. It is the work of Sabrina Dehoff, a Berlin Jewellery designer, this necklace is sheer ethereal perfection, combining my favourite things, jewels and feathers.

One night in Paris.

From a small, private viewing of an upcoming singer Robert Francis in cosy former-brothel, Le Baron, to Montana for aftershow drinks with the band, to Rue Princesse and later Club Saints-Peres our soiree took an interesting turn last night.

Robert Francis live @ Le Baron

http://www.myspace.com/robertfrancis

An American Girl in Paris - Carrie Bradshaw.

The other night we decided to re-live the finale of Sex and the City - the Paris episodes. What a sartorial treat.

Possibly the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. No wonder, it's Versace couture.

Je ne suis pas la seule Petite Anglaise...

Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson is my new addiction. Carefully selected by my Mum and placed on my bed awaiting me on a return trip home for Christmas; it has proved to be a 'can't-put-down' read that has rendered my 8a.m. train trips to school  (along with an accompanying iPod soundtrack) rather more endurable.

Echoing a start not all that different from mine, this particular petite anglaise fell for France from the second she opened her Tricolore textbook; then set off on her year abroad in her early 20s, ending up in Paris (her dream city) where she chose to settle down.

A combination of gritty irony, hypocrisy and honesty this book is appealing for its rawness. It appeals particularly to me as I can identify with her subtly scathing comments about the neurotic French who have a pharmacy on every street corner, the pushy Parisians who ask to "passer derriere vous" in the metro (too close for comfort for a Brit) and the feeling of the metro-boulot-dodo lifestyle most Parisians come to accept as the norm. As the book suggests, Paris may be the city of love, but she's not perfect.

http://www.petiteanglaise.com/

To Do List:

* Brigitte Bardot exposition at Espace Landowski

* Expressionist/Fauvist exposition at Marmottan - DONE

* Finish my book Petite Anglaise - DONE

The light at the end of my January tunnel.

My fast approaching 21st birthday party, the prospect of seeing friends, Spring dressing, summer holiday-planning, lighter mornings, warmer days/snow melting and the possibility of ballet pumps.

Source: http://neftriplecrunch.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/lighttunnel.jpg

The Big Freeze.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm 

 Eerily beautiful.

Student Bar, Rue Mouffetard

We decided take a gamble and try something/where new the other night and Rue Mouffetard was the lucky ball drawn.

We ended up at Student Bar, Rue Mouffetard a Chez Georges-sized cavern-type bar with a cramped, but welcoming upstairs and a candlelit staircase going down to a chair-lined drinking hole downstairs. The atmosphere was warm and convivial and the drinks, while steep for a 'student bar', were average by Paris standards. Along with the Pub Saint Germain-style snacks that arrive with the drinks we ordered a selection of sweetie-peppered cocktails and enjoyed our time spent there.

Would go back again.

KOLxS2A

Kings of Leon have collaborated with Parisian Surface to Air to create a new range of rock band-inspired clothing, comprising 12 pieces, from jewellery to a vintage-style leather jacket.

It will be sold exclusively in London's The Shop at Bluebird, Chelsea.

Source: vogue.com

Ca sent bon, le livre...

I've always had this (childhood-rooted) addiction to the scent of new books. Leaflets, textbooks, magazines, novels; it just doesn't matter. For me, there's something deliciously exciting about opening a piece of freshly bound literature that makes me instantly content. I think this is where my magazine habit began. The feeling of hearing a new Elle or Vogue thud on my doorstep, or finding it lying bound in plastic packaging on my bed really makes my day. I adore rifling through the images in a new edition like an excitable child with a flicker book.

So when I found the following book in Paris' musee des Arts Decoratifs this Sunday I was doubly delighted. Not only does the book document the history of Vogue, the pinnacle of my magazine addiction, but it's brick-like weight promises hundreds of beautifully scented and decorated pages of fashion gluttony.

My happiness increased even more when I found it on Amazon for £23.43; a mere third of its 70 euro price in the museum shop.

Source: amazon.co.uk

Barbour//Anya Hindmarch

An interesting collaboration set to come from Barbour and English accessories designer who will create four jackets for the iconic British brand this autumn. Maybe that could take the edge off this biting cold.

Source: Google Images

Iconic Anya Hindmarch bag