Stripes

'There is no doubt a new dress is a help under all circumstances.' Noel Streatfield quoted in Vogue September 2002

As this blog is called FlowersandStripes and it's Paris in July I felt we should have some Gallic stripes gracing the pages...
Sportmax,maxi, French Connection<

What helps you in all circumstances?

Book Gifting

A small post about the books given and received this Christmas.

Gifted
For Warmth Carol Ann Duffy Another night before Christmas

and her 12 Selected Poems, Tim Burton The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, Wisden Cricketers Almanack 1986 and 1999
For Twin Mrs Dalloway's Party Virginia Woolf
For Brother in law The Flavour Thesauraus
For Pops John Le Carre Our Kind of Traitor
For a dear friend Hatfields Herbal
For Godchild Ted Hughes The Iron Man
For another Godchild ABC in Animals


Received
From Warmth Carol Ann Duffy Mrs Scrooge and 12 her Selected poems, a beautiful diary, A World History of Art (having mentioned once that in hindsight sometimes I think I'dd quite like to have read History of Art at university.)
From Parents Vogue covers

From a dear friend Sarah Broom Tigers at Awhitu.
Persephone Secret Santa Miss Buncle DE Stevenson

What books did you give or receve this Christmas?

Buying Clothes

I love the changes in season. By about April I'm desperate to be in summer clothes and at this time of year I just want to wrap up all cosy and warm...

Having spent alot of August wallowing in memories here we are thinking about the future...

'Buying clothes is a gesture of optimism about the future...' Linda Grant in Vogue November 1996.

This is what I unattainably daydream of wearing this autumn...

Paul Smith

DKNY

This is what I have bought for autumn.

All Saints

Still on the search for the perfect boots.... these maybe....

Episode

Not forgetting some new winter gloves....
What will you be buying/coveting this autumn?

The V&A Museum

So I'm having a bit of a V&A week. On Saturday Twin and I went to see the Grace Kelly exhibition. We did enjoy it. As a great High Society fan I loved seeing some of the clothes from the film.

This dress is in the exhibition .

My favourite line from High Society is when Tracey Lord's sister is sitting chatting to Dexter (Bing Crosby) her ex-husband and she asks if he'll marry again. He replies along the line of he's waiting for her to grow up. And her response is.

'oh for you Dexter I'll hurry.'

And Grace Kelly? Well to quote from when she and Dexter talk about their honeymoon boat True Love - 'oh my she was yar.'

And then this evening having posted about this back in March, and then April, I'm finally going to the Quilting Exhibition and so here's my final quilting quote. I'm looking forward to seeing all the quilts but I think it's the modern ones which interest me most.

'It's not just the words I make that are sewn onto the blanket that are important. It's the thoughts and the words that are spoken as the blanket is sewn.' Tracey Emin Vogue March 2010

@

And then after the exhibition we shall speak thoughts and words over a glass of wine.

A perfect Friday night. What are your plans?

Reading

The oldest Blessing is reading. And is reading well. She's able to say which books she likes and wishes to read again. She read a book to me when we saw her last. I hope it's the first of many. I know that Twin, Nana and I wish her a lifetime of... Enjoyment. Escaping. Thinking. Day Dreaming. Imagining. Learning. And so much more.
'When we first read, we have won our freedom from adults: they no longer control what we learn, what we feel.' J. Jordan Vogue October 1996.

Dearest Blessing - I wish you a library and life time full of books. Check out the chandelier too.

Today Twin sent me a photo of Blessing at the hair dressers reading her first Hello magazine. For isn't that what reading is also all about? Magazines... Blogs....

Friday Evening In Selfridges

About six o'clock is best. It's bustling. It's different to any other time. One can almost smell the scent of 'Friday evening in Selfridges.' Oh to be able to bottle that atmosphere. Friends together, women alone, partners maybe in town for the weekend. The beauty counters are alive with colour, people and anticipation. The nail bars are full and the shades are shades for the weekend. Walking through, or gliding up the escalators, to the clothes high street, high end or both. It doesn't matter here. I would never casually wander into the shops of the concessions that I stroll through here. Wistfully pretending that I may need/want these clothes for every day, for that special occasion. Seeing up close and personal what the dress in Vogue is like in real life. I can lose myself amongst the rows of clothes - to touch, to try on, to daydream. Clothes to be worn tomorrow night, or maybe another time. (It's why internet clothes shopping and me will never be as close as shopping in shops shopping are. That inability to touch.)
So, that's why I love Friday Evening in Selfridges. I've always loved it. When single I looked forward to a Friday evening mooch by myself before meeting friends or going home. I still relish wandering by myself and returning to Warmth, meeting him or friends later. Even if I don't buy tonight I've still had a fabulous time and think about what I may buy another time. Yes, the whole Friday Evening in Selfridges is a 'gesture of optimism' to me.

'Buying clothes is a gesture of optimism about the future...' L. Grant Vogue November 1996