The Children's Hour

Last week I went and saw the new play in London starring Keira Knightley, The Children’s Hour. My friends and I got cheap(er) tickets because there was a pole in our line of vision – I was scared it was going to be a huge column blocking half the stage but in reality it was just a small bar – woot.

And it was surprisingly good! I say surprisingly, because artsy plays/ films, much as I love them, can end up trying too hard to be deep and cerebral whilst being very thin on plot and emotion.  I thought Keira Knightley and her main co-star Elizabeth Moss (that one from Mad Men) did an amazing job playing two school teachers caught up in a web of lies spun by a spoilt, troubled schoolgirl under their care.

Okay so time to sound pretentious - I thought the costumes complimented the dry, repressed atmosphere – the colours were muted and drab, almost colourless, they seemed to fit in with what a 1930s schoolteacher would genuinely have worn instead of a costume-designer’s 30s pin-up fantasy.

Of course Keira would look good in a paper bag but I liked the simple clean lines of her costumes and couldn’t help thinking how with a shorter skirt or some skinnies she could easily get away with wearing it in “real life”. I want that scarf so much. 

It actually is quite similar to her day to day look which also seems to centre on simplicity and minimal colour.

Just goes to show, even if you don’t have a face like Keira Knightly, clothes don’t  always have to shout “LOOK AT ME!” to be elegant and the old cliché “less is more” is worth bearing in mind once in a while.

What is your favourite simple article of clothing? 

Whistle While You Work

So this week marks the start of a 2 week interview for an internship with a PR firm in London (eee) I’m excited but nervous, and to be honest I’ve never really had to dress for a work setting before. (Babysitting for the neighbours doesn’t really count... and student life has really only made me increasingly drawn to anything with an elasticated waist.)


The atmosphere when I had my first interview was friendly and casual, so I think going all out Mad Men would be a bit excessive. Anyway, here's some work related inspiration:

Karen Walker Fall 2011

ASOS

Whistles 

Diane Von Furstenberg Fall 2006

I would buy the whole Karen Walker collection if I had the monies. What would you like to wear to work? 

We want to thank all of you for watching us congratulate ourselves tonight. [Warren Beatty]

So it's that time of year again! With all eyes on what the stars chose to wear for the Oscars yesterday (Mila Kunis, personal favourite) I just thought I’d share this bizarre photo from the Oscars exactly twenty years ago:

Madonna rocking the Marilyn Monroe look with Michael Jackson? Yep in 1991 MJ and Madonna went on a date to the Oscars. Why and how are the questions that spring to mind. It's so weird and yet so awesome at the same time - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in their limo.

What did you think of the Oscars? 

Funny Face

After taking the pretty massive decision to change the whole direction of my life last year I’ve had a lot of time to follow fashion blogs for a while now – and it struck me that the ones I really liked were the ones that shared something else as well as clothes – inspiration and influences and the like. So I figure that’s what I'm going to do – a bit of clothes mixed with a bit of whatever takes my fancy.  You can never have enough fashion blogs in the world right?  Well maybe you can, and I'm no expert fashionista, but I might as well just have fun with it and jump onto the blogging bandwagon.

I was wracking my brains with what to start with when a flash of inspiration came to me (well, appeared) whilst flicking through TV channels yesterday. What is it about Audrey Hepburn? How can one person manage to embody style and elegance and impish mischievousness all at once?  Until someone figures it out and bottles it I’ll just have to content myself with coveting all things Audrey related.

 I’d love to say that I’ve had some sort of deep connection with her work from around the same age that I ran around the playground pretending I was Pikachu with my friends, but the reality is THIS is what introduced me to the amazing Audrey when I was a kid – 

Yep, a bag. Not that actual bag, but you get the idea. My Audrey fascination was born.

Since then I’ve seen the famous films like My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany’s but yesterday it was the first time I’d ever been introduced to this:

In Funny Face not only do we get to see Audrey looking amazing in a multitude of costumes like this one -

Just. Wow. 

 but we also get to see her dancing round with Fred Astaire (and a lot of moody Frenchmen). If that wasn't impossibly stylish enough for you , it's set in Paris. 

Which brings me on nicely to this :

Top - Benneton, Jeans -  Topshop, Shoes - New Look 

Top- H&M, Shorts- Vintage (Shortest shorts I have ever owned, Audrey was probably too ladylike for these), Shoes - New Look 

Pearl Necklace - Vintage (Apologies for the rubbish quality - I don't have a proper camera)

This was my clumsy attempt at channelling the oh-so-simple chic vibes that Audrey pulls of so effortlessly in the film Funny Face.

That's how it's meant to be done. 

Okay so I’m definitely no Audrey I grant you. Still, if I squint I can just about pretend I’m sipping a cappuccino in Paris and not tea in my room.