Celia Birtwell

Her designs are truly lovely.
Colourful, pretty and enchanting.
Just like little works of art.

Channa Horwitz

I recently came across a piece of artwork by the artist Channa Horwitz. After doing some research I became more and more fascinated by her. Aged 79 years, her work spans over five decades featuring beautiful abstract drawings often presented on simple mathematical graph paper. Her work, which for the past 50 years has almost gone unnoticed still looks so timeless. One quote which I found from Horwitz "I always hoped that somebody would find my work, and even if not, I tried to keep it all together and organized so that after I died it could be discovered - or not,"

I have a real love for elderly people, especially my nana. I am so close to her, so in tune with everything that is happening in the world today, from the riots and the wars to the new Maybelline lipstick that has just come out. I think that's why I loved the work of Channa so much, in someways it's sad that it's only now that her work is getting recognized by the world, but then at the same time its brilliant, as it is now that she can produce her own interesting exhibitions, on her terms. Herself, learning along the way "Exhibiting takes up a lot of time, and you produce things for a specific show. I've always had the freedom to explore in any direction I wanted to go, so it's been a very linear progression for me, one step at a time."

Secretly completing her work, with a first husband that discouraged her from making art, Horwitz's modest attitude and fascinating ideas, makes her work even more appealing to me.

Tea-time

Something strange happened the other day, I finally discovered a cup of tea. Being from northern England, its peculiar that I have just never fancied a "cuppa". I usually dose up on strong coffee, however, as my mum took her seat on my sofa, I joined her in the tea drinking and I can say, I finally appreciated the comforting quality it produced. The tea I am now drinking is delicate and uplifting Afternoon Ceylon tea and its delicious! How strange, to reach 3 years before my 3o years I am now enjoying tea in the afternoon. As the weather becomes that little chillier I can happily say, make me a brew. Mmmm.

Mad Men goes Bananas

I am such a fan of the TV show Mad Men to which I am waiting and waiting for the new series to be shown... I think there are talks of 2012? Which feels so far away, but actually isn't!

Anyway, in the meantime, I will be heading to Banana Republic as they have a new little range in from Mad Men's costume designer Janie Bryant. Cigarette pants, lace tops and cute little leopard accessories.

Just call me Betty...

FLORENCE

What The Water Gave Me

A bank holiday track for you, have a listen!

x

CC Vintage Globe OPEN

CC Globe now has a little online shop on eBay: CC Vintage Globe.
Selling hand picked pieces from Hong Kong, Japan and China. Here is the direct link

We will be adding vintage items regularly so please keep having a look. Here are some of my favourite pieces...

Vintage 40s canary yellow tulip dress

Pretty white polka-dot dress

Camel midi length skirt

70s floral blouse

Wedding weekend

Something old

Something new

Something borrowed

Something blue

After careful consideration I decided to go with the something old and went with my vintage Japanese polkadot 50s dress

Happy Wedding Day Mr and Mrs Aimson

Hold that sunshine

x

Lea Stein

While reading the August edition of Homes and Antiques 'The Vintage Issue' I came across the work of Lea Stein. I instantly loved it! Here are some facts on the talented jeweler and artist...

Lea Stein was born in 1931 in Paris and trained as an artist.

She initially worked for Coco Chanel before establishing her own textile design company in Paris.

Textiles soon gave way to buttons.

Her first range of costume jewellery was launched in the late 1960s.

I love her colourful character driven brooches. Eye-catching with a 3D quality to them, I intend to get my hands on at least one of her pieces!

I currently have a little broach from the NW3 range at Hobbs. You can definitely tell where there influences have come from...

Here are some of my favourites of Lea Stein's broach collection:

Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2011

I don't think I can ever say I have loved a collection as much as I am loving the Fall/Winter 2011 collection for Miu Miu. From the sparkly shoe to the over sized clutch, the 1940s inspired collection screams out to me! Although I love clothes, dressing up and putting an outfit together each morning, its rare for me to strictly follow fashion. However, all these pieces I adore. The silhouettes that the over sized shoulders will leave, the pointy contrasting collars, the intricate floral embellishment upon the heavy wool fabric, the just below the knee length dress, finished off with the leopard/tortoiseshell frames and a slight quiff to the tousled hair. Yes, Miu Miu will definitely be inspiring my look for this autumn/winter...

Click here to see the live catwalk show

Click here to see the mesmerizing and eerie short film by Lucrecia Martel,

entitled "Muta" which features this collection

ASOS

Customer service is so important to me and as more and more people start to buy online rather than entering into a crowded shopping centre, you are no longer face to face with a sales assistant requiring advice and help, but with an independent internet shopping search that can be quite time consuming! Although I spend a lot of my time on my computer, I think I have been rather slow on the uptake of buying clothing online. This is ridiculous really, as I sell my own little collection online and rely on sites such as Ebay and Etsy to help me along the way. So when I came to look for an outfit for friends weddings I decided to have a quick look on the internet, wow, groundbreaking news! Originally I was looking for something vintage, after nothing caught my eye I looked on ASOS. Close friends of mine do shop on here, but for some reason, I was just never all that interested. I like to find pieces hidden away, stumble across an old dress that nobody wants anymore, that has been forgotten about until I recognize the pure loveliness of it once again... sentimental old fool am I! Anyway, after looking at dress after dress on model after model, I finally came across a lovely nude silk dress. Perfect, I loved it, paid for, postage chosen (out of a possible four options - one being free which is great if can wait six days), my newbie dress arrived two days later and it was as good in the flesh as in the picture! As the weddings grew closer I started to plan my other items to go with the dress and did a little fashion show one afternoon, to my horror, I came across a small hole forming and the unraveling of thread which if I started to pull at would fall.to.pieces... The next morning I contacted ASOS via their customer service form, I stated the problem with the dress and my time schedule of three days before the wedding, what could they do? I received an email response just over an hour later apologizing for the faulty item and that they had issued an instant replacement be sent out that day, free of charge, to arrive first thing tomorrow morning. 8am this morning my buzzer woke me up and my new, perfect, silk dress has arrived! ASOS also popped in a 10% discount code for my next purchase with them in way of an apology. I don't think I can face looking at more clothing online at the moment, but when I do need something I will be sure to use them again, even if I didn't have the promotional code.

Thanks ASOS. Excellent customer service. Excellent item. I recommend. Tick.

Weekend viewing

This weekend I caught up on some excellent classic movie watching. Plus some shopping time in the city centre where I was pleasantly surprised with what was on offer. A few hours wandering in the sunshine, nipping into shops, ending with a manic run to catch my train home!

The Notebook, I cannot believe I haven't seen this film before! I was hooked from the opening scene, the casting and on screen passion is phenomenal! The film itself looks absolutely lovely too, I just couldn't take my eyes off Rachel McAdams costumes, her style, mannerisms and little finishing touches throughout this movie are really what made it for me. The onscreen chemistry of the two lovers is electric to watch, all surrounded within the hot summer of 1940s America.

****************

The second film I watched was Karate Kid 2, set in Japan. This was my favourite scene, I just loved the styles of both characters, the little messy pinned up hair, 50s full skirt, ankle socks with flats and cute silk blouses with simple dainty round collars. As the two run out onto the street, escaping the evil clutches of the Japanese bullies, the bright neon night lights of 80s Japan are revealed. Jumping in the get away car, the two take flight!

************

Shops that impressed me in the style stakes this weekend included; Cath Kidston, Jaeger Boutique and Jigsaw. The new range from Cath Kidson features some lovely little blouses and knits for autumn/winter. At Jigsaw I am hooked on the Cabbages & Roses collection. With a few little bits left in the sale, their pieces are always interesting shapes, using soft lovely materials.

As I began to think about styles for this winter, I could see some great influences for CC vintage...

Cath Kidston

Jaeger Boutique