BLOG BLESS: Easter(n) Eggs for Japan.

An egg is not just for Easter and these beautiful Eastern Eggs (get it?) designed by various artists in collaboration with ad agency TBWA London have a pretty special purpose too (your standard chocolate egg has a pretty special purpose, to be eaten by you in the shortest time humanely possible): "Easter eggs are a symbol for rebirth and the start of a new life. Over the coming months and years, Japan has to rebuild - Not just a country but homes, families and lives."

All proceeds are going to the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. Made by a cool robot from solid wood, at approximately 6cm high and at just £10 I think a bakers dozen perched on a shelf would look pretty good all year round, don't you think?

Eastern Eggs from TBWA\London on Vimeo.

I HEART: Persephone Books For Spring!

On a randomly sunny Saturday morning, T and I went walking around Bloomsbury; a cafe stop here, a museum visit there and, of course, a quick browse around one of the prettiest and welcoming bookshops in London, Persephone Books on Lamb's Conduit Street. Perhaps it was the Vanessa Bell-inspired vases of spring flowers or the neat stacks of those pale grey/blue covers so synonymous with the publishing house but I felt that day signalled the beginning of Spring for me. How apropos then, that Persephone, for us ancient Greeks, represented Spring and harvest and new beginnings! A happy ending, you might think, since the myth has the daughter of Zeus and Demeter abducted by Hades to live with him in the underworld. We like a good twist, the Greeks.

Persephone prints mainly fiction and non-fiction by 20th century women writers, many of whom, and whose work, has been somewhat neglected or forgotten. The collection stands at around 90 titles at the moment and each of them seems as considered and cared for as small works of art. The aforementioned book jackets come in the signature grey/blue with a cream tab for the title and an individual print inside. Matching printed bookmarks, anyone?

Names so evocative like Diana Athill, Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd, Monica Dickens and Winifred Watson, whose Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day reads like a Fred Astaire tap dance. Whether these women - most of whom saw great success at their time - had to put aside their writing careers for their families or whether their names were simply left out of must-read lists by publishers and journalists fixated on a small number of mostly male big names is difficult to tell and anyway beyond the matter. Their work can now be discovered by complete ignoramuses like myself and cherished and bought as gifts for friends and as Miss Pettigrew's friend Delysia Lafosse herself would exclaim, isn't that swell?

ps: I left with half a dozen postcards and Mariana by Monica Dickens.

BLOG BLESS: Here Come The Oldies!

My grandmother has one of the most refined personal styles I've seen yet and the best part? She doesn't even care! I'm not sure if she makes any time in her busy morning schedule; up at 5am to water her gardens and get a good start on the day's to-do list (not that she even makes such list!) - household cleaning, cooking, some needlework before church with a not-to-be-missed break for one of her dubbed South American TV series!

She has a beautiful Singer sewing machine that she brings out now and then, mainly for alterations or to add a lace trimming to a tablecloth, and a stack of priceless-to-eBay-hunters Burda magazines and she makes most of her simple and simply chic shirt dresses herself, often from fabric that her sister in Australia sends to her. In the summer she'll throw one of those on, in a light pattern but never a bright print, with a cardigan she knitted and a pair of flats (always flats), moccasins or slippers. In the winter she'll wear a just-below-the-knee length wool skirt with a sweater, skin-colour pantyhose and lately a grey tweed coat whose rounded sleeves and bell shape scream Balenciaga to me and comfort to her. She'll add a leather purse (for church) or a black nylon bag that once came with a magazine (for her knitting supplies). She has never worn trousers or bright colours in her life, her hair is regularly cut into a boyish short style and she owns not a single piece of make-up. And yet, when I look at her I see a woman with a style that's entirely her own and utterly considered without a single thought having been spared on it. It's natural, it's hers, it corresponds to her beliefs, her ideas of what she should look like and works for her lifestyle. Isn't this what style is, after all?

On the opposite side of the rainbow, smoking a cigarette and sipping a cappuccino is my aunt Noni. A beauty to rival Elizabeth Taylor in her youth, with stunning blue eyes that my sister and I still regret not inheriting (not that we had a say on it but still, the disappointment lingers), a neckline that low-cut dresses were designed to showcase and a chutzpah that has carried her through life when life herself hasn't been kind to her, she's loved dressing up, going out, having fun, dancing, laughing. Having spent a small fortune on elaborate gold crosses, she has a collection of costume jewellery that you cannot help borrowing from and will always be seen in a pair of big, often animal-print sunglasses to make Jacky go, 'O!' In the summer, she'll put a long skirt on and then pull it's elasticated waist to her bust. Ta da! An easy-breezy, Seventies-inspired, eat-your-heart-out-Bianca-Jagger summer dress! Ingenious or what?

Neither of the beauties below is them. I have chosen not to show you a picture of them for two reasons; a) they feel more special to me that way, their image is mine and my sister's to hold and adore and b) they would both KILL me if they ever found out! But I recently saw these two splendid images on The Sartorialist and thought of my grandmother and aunt and contemplated the effect they've both had on me and how I've probably come to dress in a way found in the middle of their two extremes, in the middle of the rainbow. I have my grandmother's tendency for dark colours and simple shapes and my aunt's appreciation for the odd crazy bangle or brooch. In fact, two of my most cherished items are theirs. An oat-coloured shawl grandma knitted and a black woven purse Noni handed down to me.

So, forget the magazines I regularly contribute to and the season's trends we dissect and shop accordingly and look at those around you that have had a lifetime to develop what suits them best, what takes them through life. They aren't a style, that style is theirs. But still, no pictures for my two heroines. Like I said, they'd kill me!

Images by The Sartorialist, Advanced Style: Age and Beauty on Nowness.com.

Francophilia: Sam Sits - Patiently! - For Louis Vuitton!

Earlier this week I went along to a private viewing of Louis Vuitton's latest film project, Double Exposure (a very intriguing name, don't you think?). A series of portraits - styled by Bay Garnett and shot by photographer Tom Craig with the 19th century 'wet plate' photographic process, is accompanied by a very 21st century digital film where the subject - the first being the always-interesting Sam Taylor-Wood - shares some of their dearest, most treasured possessions and the stories behind them.

I wrote in more detail about the project for Grazia Daily so take a look here and scroll down this page for the film itself. A further three subjects will be revealed soon and I can't wait to see who will be next. Frankly, anyone that's already starred in a Louis Vuitton Core Values ad (Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola, Buzz Aldrin, Mikhail Baryshnikov) will do just fine!

Film by Louis Vuitton, images by myself.

AWww11: Too Little And Too Much!

Both of the above is just right for me! In the still-palpable aftermath of Phoebe Philo's arrival at Céline (impressive when you remind yourself that Phoebe revealed her vision for the French label in 2009) and Meadham Kirchhoff's SS11 collection (and their most recent AW11) the discussion in fashion (once the Galliano and Dior musical chairs game has been played to exhaustion and utter mind-numbness! Please, tell me - have you had enough too?) is still about minimalism vs maximalism. What are you? fashion magazines ask, understandably excited that two such distinct...not trends but approaches to dressing and being, have emerged but slightly missing the point that rarely is anyone wholly the former or the latter anymore. I, for example, may verge on the too little camp but would equally like to flirt with the other one if only I tried a little harder. Take the following two designers whose aesthetic and entire identities seem directly antithetical -Louise Gray (you're a maximalist! the mag would say) and J JS Lee (and you're a - yep,minimalist!). To me they share a distinct and utterly believable attitude on who they are, what they like and where they're going.

If your heart didn't rejoice and a smile never formed on your face during Louise Gray's show then I'd advice you to check in to a wellness clinic asap! I loved it all and almost skipped the short trek back to the Grazia offices were I was that day. I had an even bigger smile on my face when I saw the collection up close in the designer's stand a day or so later and found caught myself making a mental shopping list for the fantastic knitwear (sure, I'd wear one of the colourful jumpers with some tailored black trousers - perhaps even from J JS Lee! - but maybe not and that's quite exciting). Louise's wit, and skill, is apparent in the contrasting dresses, where the back looks nothing like the front but both are a fantastic mix of plaids and tweeds and yep - colour!

I first came across J JS Lee last season when I stumbled upon her 'shed' at Topshop's part of the exhibition in Somerset House and although I couldn't make her presentation this time around, I was glad to catch the collection on its rail. Needless to say I fell in love with every single piece and have now developed ridiculously high hopes for the designer and already can't wait to see what she does next season! From the impeccably tailored blazers to the string of pearls on a grey tweed dress...you had me at look-at-the-satchel-attached-to-the-back Jackie!

Images by myself.