Thursday, May 31, 2007

Quiz Night

Wednesday 30th May 2007

Last night Jacquetta Wheeler and the 212 Society hosted a quiz night on the roof of the Gramercy Park Hotel, to raise money for Darna to aid street children and women in Morocco. A bit like a pub quiz but with a really good prize ( trip to Tangiers) the Goldman Sachs team won, narrowly beating the Valentino team even though they had Hamish Bowles and T magazine's Armand Limnander on it ( well there was a round of sports questions).


Legendary rock photographer Mick Rock and singing sensation Lilly Allen.


Girl of the night Jacquetta, who's doing such an amazing job with this charity, with me.


All American beauty Hilary Rhoda, who for one of her very first modelling jobs in New York, was shot for my first collection's lookbook, Spring 2006.


Zanna Roberts from Marie Claire, wearing my satin Playsuit from my recent Fall collection.


Jack Flanagan and Barney Clay. Uh -oh.


Lyonel Tollemache and Gemma Ward.


Harriet de Jersey.


Nathan Ellis from Syndicate , the tallest man in fashion.


Arden Wohl, lovely in lemon and leopard.
.

The Lady in Green

Saw her again today, near Bryant Park this time. She's everywhere!


Elizabeth Sweetheart looking splendid as always in head-to -toe mix'n'match green.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Tulips and Pansies

Monday 21st May 2007

Village Care of New York, the community-based charity that helps AIDS patients in need of housing and medical services, held their annual "Tulips and Pansies" flower headdress extravaganza on Monday night. The event was chaired by Mickey Boardman from Paper and Kate Shelter, and they got me on board along with a whole host of other designers, to create a flower headdress with the collaboration of floral designer. The night was a hoot; Lady Bunny DJ'd, there was a BBQ buffet, and the diversity of the crowd Paud likened to a casting call for the Poseidon Adventure!


Lady Bunny busts a move.


Designer Erin Featherstone and her beau.


The inimitable Kate Schelter.


Me with Janneke Verhoeven and Liz Hehir from my studio. It's all about blondes.


LA based designer Magda Berliner in one of her beautiful antique lace dresses.


Cindy Greene with her winning Libertine headdress.


The big bag entry.


A bemused Kitty in her new gold dress with Paud.


Mine and Bridget Vizoso's Peony and Sweet William hat.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Sample sale

This Thurday and Friday May 24th and 25th 2007

I'm having a sample sale, please come and shop. Prices will be slashed!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Thursday night in New York

Thursday 17th May 2007

Last night Paud got us tickets to see the hysterical Kiki and Herb at the Knitting Factory where they were recording their dvd. Straight from there we traipsed over to the new Bowery hotel to meet up with Amir Zia ,the Lipman gang and a assorted cast of characters at Benny Medina's party, then rounded off the night meeting up with Kate Elson at the Box. Phew.
Then this morning Susan Cernek the fashion editor of Glam.com interviewed me interestingly enough , about my blog for the New York Times T magazine.


My star intern from Arnhem, Holland, Janneke Verhoeven came over to babysit for Kitty.


Kiki and Herb at the Knitting Factory. Paud was surprised at the number of men in the audience.


Me with Benny Medina, manager and producer of the stars.


Amir with his boss, the King of fashion advertising David Lipman.


Quynh Mai from Lipman, snuggles up to some rapper.


Benny and David get jiggy, whilst the gorgeous Tina Lipman grabs her coat.


Showtime at the Box.


The effervescent Kate Elson, twin of Karen, with Paud and Amir.


Lovely Susan Cernek in my studio.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Kate Moss' Top Shop launch party

Tuesday May 8th 2007

Kate had her US launch of her collection for Top Shop up at Barneys; Kate look gorgeous as usual in a Top Shop barbed-wire print chiffon dress, the Queen's of Noize over from London dj'd and Sir Philip Green beamed like a proud dad.
This was followed by the real knees-up party for the London posse, friends and family on the roof garden of the Gramercy Park Hotel.


Kate.


Me with Naomi, who looked flawless.


Hamish Bowles, who as the Godfather to my niece, I like to think of as family.


Cheers! Winona Ryder.


One half of the Queens of Noize, Tabitha , rocks the room.


Maraide (the other one) props up Barney Clay.


James Gardner, Jen Ramey who takes care of Kate at IMG and me, having a real giggle about something.


Sadie Frost looking amazing in one of Kate's Top Shop dresses.


The genius behind Opening Ceremony, Humberto Leon.


Michael Wincott and Agyness Deyn.


Superstylish Irina Lazareanu.


The bar host with the most, Nur Khan. Oi oi!


Me with Amy Winehouse.


Queen of make-up Pat McGrath, Vogue's Edward Enninful who I've known since he was a teenager at i-D and Lyonal Tollemache one of New York's most eligible bachelors.


Mark Borthwick with his missus Maria Cornejo from Zero.


Theodora Richards, Kyle Hagler and Amir Zia.

Monday, May 7, 2007

India

24th April - 5th May 2007

Very last minute Paud and I decided to take a trip to India for a bit of work, inspiration and much needed vacation all in one. I couldn't get there quick enough. We dropped off Kitty with my parents at Heathrow en route, then headed east towards Mumbai.


Great Fosters, Egham , Surrey. We stopped for lunch at this historic 16th Century English house, steeped in tradition, now a luxury hotel and near the airport.


My mum and dad with Kitty.


Arriving at Mumbai airport we made a bee-line for this!


Any cab ride in India is a total white-knuckle ride. I was a nervous wreck by the time we arrived.


India, well Mumbai in particular, is a beguiling mix of old and new.


Finally we made it.


Me and Paud at the Gateway to India.



Where we first stayed. Class.


But couldn't complian about the view of the Arabian Sea from our bedroom window.


Street style. I quite liked this little dress.


A camera shy Eunuch.


We met Javed ,one of the the embroiderer/ beaders that we work with there, who showed us around his premises and some of their handywork.


Mmm. Just couldn't get enough curry. Although I gave "Prawn Gassi" a miss (actually a South Indian curry).



The downside. Slumbai, as it's sometimes referred to, has some of the largest slums in Asia. (Although this one does have an a/c.)

After a couple of days we flew down south to Kerala. Although this was my second visit to India, I'd never been here before.It was a different world. Kerala's attractions include being the home of Ayurvedic massage, Kathakali dancing, it's lush backwaters and hippy beachlife.
First we headed to Fort Kochi. A wonderful old Portugese, then Dutch fishing town, famous for the Chinese fishing nets they use.


The Chinese nets.


Catch of the day. I was in fishy nibble heaven.


The market. The novelty of a good haggle soon wears off.


Tea for two. Actually it was beer...the only way you can drink in public, it's illegal.


Paud settles in. We stayed at Malabar House, a really cool hotel that was once a rice warehouse.


Cosmopolitan Kochin.


"Ferrari" autorickshaw. No way was I getting in that.



Local Kathakali grafitti.


The dancers in make-up ( always all men. They train for 6 years).


The Kathakali dance in full swing.

Our next stop was a 24 hour tour of the Kerala backwaters on a houseboat from Alleppy to near Kollam.


Bling! At the port we stopped at this jewellery store. All the gold 's sold by weight.


These are the typical charming old houseboats, usually converted rice boats, that cruise the waterways.Ours had one bedroom and bathroom and a staff of three.


Paud on board .


The view ahead of the backwaters, often known as "The Venice of Asia".


A view into life in Kerala.


Passing a temple.


Fishermen returning from sea.

Soon it was back on the road agin, down to our next stop, the beach town of Varkala.


The traffic was terrible.


I really loved all these handpainted trucks, some had Gods names on the front.


Finally a beach. Varkala from the cliffs, where all the small hotels, restaurants and market stalls are. It really was the hippy centre for ayurvedic massage and yoga.
We stayed in what we thought was a romantic circular hut on the cliffs overlooking the bay..until we were bitten alive by mosquitos in our first night, so we fled to the next beach town the following day.


A Brahmin on the beach at Varkala, a holy site.


This is Hawah beach at Kovalam.
Everyone had warned me that Kovalam had turned in to tourist hell, bit as we went so off season we were practically the last people there and it was just idyllic.


I was desperate to buy this sign!


They were having none of it in the shop and instead I somehow ended up with a very dodgy henna tatoo of my own.


Fiishermen on Lighthouse beach.


Outing from a local girls school.


Sunset over the Arabian sea at Kovalam.


By day 8 it was time to return to the chaos of Mumbai


This time we stayed at the majestic Victorian Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba.


The view of the Gateway to India from our room.


The dashing Doorman.


The colourful Mangaldas fabric market. One of the only places we saw women.


We met up with my old friend Ben Pundole's cousin Dadiba Pundole who was really fascinating. He runs the Pundole Gallery in Mumbai, near the Flora Fountain, one of the few contemporary art galleries there.


Baby Krishna.
It was goodbye to India and time to head back to England to pick up Kitty before returning home to New York.


Looking down river back in Burnham - on- Crouch, Essex, my hometown. All looked a bit bleak in comparison.


Outside The Anchor on the Quay.


The local seafood stall.


Whelks!


With my parents and Kitty.