Friday, March 11, 2011

Swans


Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly waiting a little nervously backstage to present awards at the Oscars, 1956.


I meant to post this at Oscar time but got sidetracked. I have to say I was not particularly enamoured with any of the red carpet offerings this year.  Next stop, The Cannes Film Festival, it's usually more relaxed, so lets hope we see a bit more self styling.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
XXX

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Windows


Windows, so important to us, vital in all buildings, providing inspiration for all and historically were even liable for tax in Great Britain, the only negative thing about windows is having to clean them!

Ballerinas at the bar, The Grand Opera Paris, Alfred Esienstaedt

Matisse

Matisse

Matisse

The home of Matisse, Villa le Reve, Vence 1946

John Singer-Sergant

 David Hockney

David Hockney

 Window, complete with window seat at a plantation house in Charleston

 Britain

 Early Window with window seat in a castle in Wales

 
Indian windows Marilyn Simler (Marilyn is currently exhibiting some of her work to find out more click here)

Rainy Window in Como, Italy

Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard

Raoul Dufy

Raoul Dufy

 Renee Pearl, Jaques Henri Lartigue

My favourite type of window is the window in some Mediterranean location, on a summer afternoon around siesta time, windows wide open, slatted shutters ajar, with shards of light peeping through, the scents of the flora gently reaching the senses and the sound of lapping waves in the distance.

What is your favourite window?

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Favourite Films, La Bonne Annee

 Film Stills from 'La Bonne Annee' 1973, Directed by Claude Lelouch, seated on the left

Simon (Lino Ventura) is a sophisticated jewel thief, the film opens with his release from jail on New Years Eve after serving a seven year stretch for a robbery carried out in 1966 at the Van Cleef & Arpels store in Cannes.  Simon returns to Paris, to catch up with Francoise (Francoise Fabien) the woman he met and fell in love with whilst plotting the heist and his accomplice Charlot, (Charles Gerard). Seven years is a long time, are Charlot and Francoise still loyal to him?  His mind is cast back to 1966 and the very clever robbery he planned with such precision.





The films opening credits are of the closing scenes of Lelouches earlier great picture 'Un Homme et Une Femme' all the shots of Paris are in black and white and the scenes of Cannes are in colour.  The film is multi faceted, the plotting of the robbery is genius and the unfurling romance and chemistry between Simon and Francoise is a joy to watch.  The film is in French and available with English subtitles.  It's a gem if you love French films and if have not already seen this you are in for a real treat.

Available here and here and on Netflix here

Friday, March 4, 2011

Inspiring Images

I have literally collected thousands of images, some which I have specifically been after and some which I have stumbled across by accident, usually while looking for something else, I have just been going through them and trying to file them into some sort of order.  The following images are just the tip of the iceberg, there is no theme, they are random, I love them and find them inspiring.

Balenciaga Evening Dress 1953

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot

Edie Sedgwick

Audrey Hepburn on the set of Paris When it Sizzles

Venice, Alfred Stieglitz, 1894

20 Rue Jacob, Paris

Hollywood Screewriter Frances Marion Young

Paula Gellibrand Marquise de Casa Maury by Cecil Beaton

Liz Gibbons 1938 by Louise Dahl-Wolfe

Marianne Faithfull

Carly Simon

Joan Baez



Gianni Strino

Lawrence Alma-Tedima

John Singer Sargent

Irving Penn

Norman Parkinson

Wishing you all a Wonderful weekend.
X


Thursday, March 3, 2011

My Big Sisters Wardrobe


Hello again, I am back home in France now, even though I took my laptop with me on our recent trip to Britain I found I had very little time for blogging.  I was rushing around catching up with family and friends, wining and dining and shopping! We drove to Britain, 1000 miles taking the Channel tunnel so no nasty luggage restrictions we filled the car up with goodies including a pot bellied stove for chilly Spring evenings on the terrace we also hit Sainsburys big time and bought masses of Twiglets, Patacks curry pastes, Sharwoods Poppadoms, British sausages, Roses lime juice, Yorkshire tea bags amongst other things none of which are available in France.

I had a lovely return visit back to my home county of North Yorkshire even though we arrived to a cold, snowy Yorkshire and the sun only came out briefly for a few hours during the whole week, it was fabulous to see my nearest and dearest and run into friends that I have not seen for years.

As the weather was so grim any ideas of taking glorious pictures of Yorkshire and her landmarks went out of the window, instead I took some pictures of  vintage things in my big Sisters wardrobe.  Her wardrobe has fascinated me since I was a child, she has an excellent eye for quality and a bargain and looks after things beautifully, everything in her draws and wardrobe are organised and wrapped in dust-jackets, tissue paper and boxes, she even cleans her make up brushes regularly and all her cosmetics are like new and neatly arranged, not like me who tends to ram everything into the wardrobe, squash things in draws and I hardly ever wash make up brushes or organise my make up!

My big Sister is a few years older than me, she left home at seventeen and headed off for a life of adventure in London, throughout my young teenage years she bought me amazing presents from London, from the likes of Biba, Fiorucci and Harvey Nichols, she is really rather annoying whenever I make a new discovery I tell her about it, only to find that she already knows all about it.  These photographs were all a bit rushed as she was flying off the next morning to attend a friends fiftieth birthday party in New York.  We are at present thinking of pooling our talents and cooking something up, I will give you more details at a later date, soon she will be starting her own blog, so I will keep you posted on that too, in the meantime, here are some gorgeous vintage evening bags from her wardrobe...



This was the bag that started my Sisters love for all things vintage a beautiful tapestry evening bag, I think possibly circa 1919 that belonged to our Grandmother, she used this evening bag all her life and also kept things beautifully, obviously, my BS inherited this trait from her.


The quality of workmanship on the bag is beautiful.


My sister was especially thrilled to find this Elizabeth Arden miniature lipstick in one of the pockets, it still lives there.


And here is the original owner, my Grandmother on her Wedding Day, February 16th 1927, I wrote all about my Grandmother here.


  My sister bought the following bags from e bay, eagle eyed for quality at a good price.






Love this, circa 1960's from Beverly Hills




I adore the simplicity of this bag, circa 1950's with the loop to hook elegantly onto the lower arm, in pristine condition.


Another gem from our Grandmother, a sparkly wool vest top, fully lined it's such a classic, I am not sure when it dates from I would guess judging by the label some time in the late fifties.



Due to limited time that's all I have of my Big Sisters wardrobe for now, I will return unless she starts her blog soon and get's in before me!


When we returned home it was great to see this little guy again, we thought about taking him to the land of his forefathers but decided against it, it's a long journey for a small dog who loves his freedom, one of the joys of living in France is dogs are allowed everywhere, in Britain he would have been miserable couped up in the house, whilst we indulged ourselves, instead we sent him to stay with his favourite human, where he has clearly been overindulged, he currently resembles a barrel with four legs, now he is on half rations with a very strict exercise regime, which, after all our over indulgence benefits us too!


As I have not been around much, I am really looking forward to catching up with all of your blogs over the next couple of days.