munich

I love it not so much for the beer (nor for the Bavarians, for that matter) but for the city itself. Green parks, hugely impressive buildings and architecture, the shops (someone stop me), the open air swimming pools, the warm, soft pretzels (again, someone stop me) and of course the (very) distant, subtle yet reassuring feeling that somehow I belong to that part of the world.

We wondered around Stachus and Marienplatz where our regular haunts awaited us: they are Manufactum, Ludwig Beck, Dallmayr, the Oxfam bookstore, then first the Kaffee Kreutzkamm at Maxburg and second the Literaturhaus for another coffee and a well-deserved session of people-watching with my father. The Hugendubel, bookstore with a fantastic selection of English books, is just across the road. Perfection. No beer garden this time, we were heading for the idyllic Biergarten am Wienerplatz but got hideously sidetracked by our prolongued stroll 'round the Auer Dult, which is, my friends, the markets of all markets and was most definitely the highlight of my stay.

Now seems like an appropriate time for me to admit to my alarming and increasing attraction to the Bavarian traditional costume - "Trachtenmode" or "Dirndl & Lederhosen" to us German lot. I fear that this is proof, if ever proof was needed, of my indelible and undeniable German roots. The beautiful window display above shows the haute couture choice of Dirndls and Lederhosen as selected by the previously mentioned and superbly avantgarde Munich department store Ludwig Beck (and shows that Dirndls can be very cool indeed as well as just a bit sexy). Further down you will see a charming display found at the Auer Dult, a beautiful little tent tastefully filled with authentic and beautifully crafted traditional costumes. So delightful.

supersize

While we're on the subject of adornments, it was a pleasant coincidence when my dear friend D. came over for afternoon tea yesterday sporting amongst her usual stylish pieces, the above rather fabulous oversized ring with an incredible blood red glass droplet. I say coincidence because I've been meaning to post some XL-rings for some time now, especially since they are another one of my style obsessions. The summer sees all my colourful friends coming out of hybernation. So here are a few of them, the ones that have been worn with pleasure this summer (except the blood-red droplet one, alas!). The yellow anemone is a new arrival, some find it ridiculous, I find it divine. They are all wonderfully reliable in that they instantly upgrade and glamourise the dreariest of outfits.

keeping it simple

Some of you may laugh but it's true, I'm a low-maintenance kind of girl. Don't go to Cartier, don't bother with Harry Winston, just head down to Su Giudeu beach where you'll find the simplest, most beautiful pearls on a string. Here is my absolute favourite piece of the moment (cost me all of 8 Euros). It comes from a lovely English lady who lives in Sardinia near the abovementioned beach, and spends her summers strolling along the water's edge with her rather ingenious sandtrolley laden to the hilt with her own very special tiny creations.

basic needs

Just back from 3 weeks in a tent and now I'm wandering 'round the house thinking what to do with all the space and all these rooms? The biggest revelation of all time, was how ridiculously little we need to exist comfortably and happily. There was less of everything; less clothes, less gadgets, less clutter, less THINGS! And it felt good. Incidentally this revelation seems to slip very fittingly into the current mood - a welcome slap in the face to all that dreadful excess we've been subjecting ourselves to recently and the warm and faintly familiar recognition of what it is that really matters to us. Not only do I feel lost in these rooms, but I also feel odd sleeping in them, behind 25 cm thick concrete walls. My flimsy blue Coleman Lakeside 4 was a joy to get into every evening, with it's pale blue sleeping chambers and white mosquito net - listening to the wind, the sea, the birds and the sound of footsteps on eucalyptus leaves. Of course I heard the odd snore, some night-time chatting and countless zips being openend and closed, but they did not bother me as much as I thought they might. All of us co-existed in simple, quiet harmony, taking time to sit down for breakfast (properly), fetching water, sweeping our little patch, making coffee, chatting with other campers about the beauty of our location and which fish to grill for dinner or which beach to go to that day. I doubt whether I will ever feel the same way again about that luxury all-inclusive holiday that I used to dream of. I'm already planning our next camping trip; the only ingredient I simply cannot do without though, is the sun. So we might have to stick to summertime camping. Preferably back in Sardinia or other parts of Italy where the sea is turquoise and the food is seriously good.

My other immense campsite/beachside pleasure were books - just reading whenever and whatever I liked without snatching the pathetic 4 minutes (at most) in bed before nodding off helplessly. On holiday I manage to actually finish a book - this is unheard of at home, where it takes me a minimum of 3 months.

The above photo showing our plastic cups is courtesy of Mr R, who was very inspired by the recurring colour theme of reds and blues throughout our holiday.

a charming man

Today my thoughts drifted as they so often do, to times gone by; I thought of my friend Martin. A style genius - a uniquely talented and generous person with such a refined, natural sense of proportion, colour, cut, time, anything he put his hands on really... I could go on and on. His influence on me was liberating, he gave me a sense of individuality and through his guidance I learnt to trust my own instinct. I was very privileged to have worked for him. An unbelievably accomplished and respected fashion designer based initially in London and subsequently in Brighton, he has now retreated to the picturesque Sussex countryside where he resides to this day with his beloved, beautiful Cocker Spaniel, Susan. Fashion is no longer his game (much to my eternal dissappointment). Instead his time is now taken up with another passion: vintage teddies, lions, tigers, elephants, donkeys and rabbits (Steiff fans will rejoice in his collection)... his website takes you on a sweet journey visiting various windows through which you can admire all these lovely characters (my own personal favourite is Deirdre the Duck, pictured above). A magical world, I urge you to visit it soon.

youth on the other side

Why is it that I always know with absolute certainty that I would appreciate things (more) in my life 20 or so years after they have occured? My youth for example. I would really, truly, fully appreciate just how fabulous it is to be 22 today. I would make a MUCH better 22 year old NOW! I think I would have a better time now. Not back in blimmin' 1990! All this started with a tremendous slap in the face earlier this week when I realised that the heartmelting singer Paolo Nutini is 22 years old. Young enough to be my son, in fact. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem being in my forties (much) - it's just that I look incredulously at the vast number of young people around me. There's so many of them. I used to be them. There was a time when nobody was younger than me except babies and schoolchildren. Now 'suddenly' (ha!) pretty much 80% of the people surrounding me are younger than me. And they all look so confident, groovy and sussed (did I ever look like that?) with their entire lives ahead of them. I know, I should just wake up and smell the cigar smoke, but I don't want to. I'm kind of teetering on the edge, not quite ready to take the plunge into mature womanhood, grey hair and all (although I am warming to the idea, what with all the style forecasts pointing in that direction anyway...). I still hanker after those years of carelessness where wrinkle creams existed only in ads, not in my bathroom cabinet. What'll it take for me to get over it and just let go? A few more chromotherapy sessions would help. I'm not so much worried about being old(er), I'm more mourning my youth - I enjoy looking at young people but I also feel a teensy bit sorry for myself because whilst I was their age, I felt immortal and very, very empowered. These days I have a ticking noise in my ear, it's not very loud - in fact some days I can hardly hear it at all - but it's definitely there.

I sympathise with all the ladies that are in this age group - a bit like me teetering on the edge or well and truly over the edge but not able to come to terms with it or embrace that new part of womanhood. Most of my friends are so cool about it and just don't give a damn and that's how it should be. But there are a few that are anxious and feel under quite a bit of pressure to look a certain way. Studying the likes of Überfrau Helen Mirren above, it does become blatantly obvious to me that to be happy with the outside, you need to be happy on the inside. And now, in a final attempt to get things into perspective, please repeat after me: "There's no solution to ageing, because it's just not a problem".

The picture above of Helen Mirren is one of my all-time favourites and speaks for itself, I think.

about a voice

For some time now I've been catching a song on the radio and each time I hear it my ears prick up in serious appreciation. I've been asking myself who on earth that voice could belong to so my mind went a wondering: it sounded so Willie-Nelson-like and there was a bit of the Neil Young about it too, so I kind of figured it was some weird, old, American country singer (LOVE those guys, by the way) and something in his pronunciation even indicated that he might not have all of his front teeth. Not an attractive image you'll agree, but even if my mystery singer turned out to be the ageing toothless wonder of my wild imagination I wouldn't care, because the voice got me right where it hurts and where it matters. A voice can do that. This morning whilst driving, I heard the song again and decided that this was the day I would solve the mystery. Found him. He's got all his teeth, he's younger than me (huff and puff), and he's just a bit gorgeous. But all that really doesn't matter a jot because it's the voice and the words that I fell in love with. Ooooh... the beginning of this song is just heartbreaking. Listen and tell me about it.... (a tip: listen without looking first - look only when listening a second time. Trust me, click on the link, close your eyes and just listen). Speaking of Willie Nelson, there's something pretty cool about the picture above, right?

che bella!

I found this gorgeous looking beast sat quietly in a Locarnese backwater. How could you not fall in love with it? Too divine.

diptyque

Wide-eyed and innocent I walked slap-bang into the middle of the London fashion scene that eventful January day in 1990. I had landed myself a plum job, had a rather dashing brand spanking new boyfriend to go with it, and would remain there (with the job) for more or less 7 years (the boyfriend has lasted longer, he's still here). How fantastic that felt, my own office, my own little department, even my own clothing allowance... oh baby, it couldn't get any better than that, surely? They were formative years, I was so young and impressionable and when anyone said "Jump!" I would reply without blinking "How high?". Never anything wrong with my work ethic, I can tell you (thank you, dad). So yes, fashion darling. The 90's, Katharine Hamnett - KH. She was a force of nature. She inspired me so much with her British, rather posh background and her solid as hell environmental beliefs (the first designer of them all to champion and fight for organic cotton and ban the use of PVC in her collections). The lady who in 1984 went to 10 Downing Street to meet Maggie Thatcher wearing one of her infamous t-shirts bearing the slogan "58% DON'T WANT PERSHING" (note the leggings - SUCH a good look - we've come full-circle once again). The woman really is mythical and hugely interesting so I urge you to leaf through her website and find out more about her work today.

By now you'll be asking: "And what does any of this have to do with the picture above or Diptyque?" Everything actually. Katharine was the one who introduced me (and everyone else in the studio, I'm sure) to the wonder that is a Diptyque candle. One of her personal favourites was 'Baies' if my memory serves me well. They were as much part of her style as her John Smedley jumpers and her black shiny skinny trousers. Over the years, my own absolute favourite has become "Tubereuse". Once I had been promoted a few levels and was able to attend the glamour that is Paris fashion week, a stop at the shop on the Boulevard Saint Germain was always on the agenda, no matter what. The excuse tended to be "Well, Katharine needs one so I simply HAVE TO go!". Now of course you can buy the candles and scents in select department stores and other exclusive boutiques, but there's nothing like visiting the charming shop in all it's old Parisian glory. I still love the packaging (the paper bag is simply wonderful and another fine example of how right you can get it when you use the perfect font). These candles really are in a league of their own, you can't just call them a 'scented' or even 'perfumed' candle - whether lit or not, their scent wraps you in a state of bliss while looking drop dead gorgeous just stood on your dresser - I defy any other candle to look and smell this good. I am totally biased of course; as I'm sure you'll know, scent is one of those senses that plays havoc with your memory. Nothing takes you back 20 years with quite such force, emotion and ease as a familiar smell (although Dr Who does a pretty good job too, I'm told). So leave me here, reminiscing and smelling my little treasure which was brought to me by my very kind angel and roving ambassador (merci encore, ma chère).

Editor at large

I have a roving ambassador - an angel travelling to places I cannot reach, my very own VIP. Next stop Paris. She will return with a style treasure that you will LOVE... I simply cannot wait! The above picture is but a mere hint, I bet you can't guess what it is that she will bring to me...

camping it up

Moving within the spirit of the times, respecting the current economic climate, we have discarded the usual frills, pomp and circumstance in favour of a more natural and simple (don't you LOVE those two words?) summer holiday. Yes, we are going to brave the campsite and get down and dirty, right back to basics and finally use those 2 massive (brand) new tents that have never seen the light of the moon let alone a mosquito and go camping. Not for a weekend, not for a week - heck, no! We're totally insane and going it for three...whole...weeks. I'm playing it cool at the moment. So overwhelmed by the mere fact that very soon we'll be back in lovely Sardinia, I won't allow my joy to be overrun by dark thoughts regarding the impossibility of sandfree clothes storage, dirty feet (I have a bit of a thing about those), having to wash dishes by hand and then of course not having en-suite facilities.... Like I said, I will not let myself be overcome by all that negativity.

Instead I choose to open my mind to the possibility that this really could be a pleasurable adventure beyond compare and that with a little bit of organisation and a huge pinch of the 'chill' factor, we can all enjoy an unforgettable, uncomplicated time together. My husband will make me sign a contract in which I swear not to become 'unreasonable' about grains of sand in the tent and that if I utter the words 'I have nothing to wear!' he has perfectly good grounds for divorce. I have promised to take a leaf out of all of my friends' books who have been camping practically every year of their lives, and focus on the essentials of campsite living but make those essentials as beautiful as they can possibly be. So, I just need a few accessories to 'brighten up' our pitch and personalise it by giving it a bit of a style injection. I will start by looking a bit more closely at the Cath Kidston website and I have already noticed with great pleasure, that Swiss retailers take their camping sections very seriously indeed and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I found the bulk of my camping 'style fodder' on my doorstep at either Migros or Coop. And another thing: all that stuff we get fed by women's magazines about 'how to pack the bare essentials' or 'how to make one single garment work a 100 ways' would be fantastic for my camping dilemma IF IT WERE TRUE! It's total nonsense of course and unless you were born around 1941 and therefore frugality is an indelible part of your genetic make-up, you will know that packing the 'bare essentials' means stuffing at least 48 to 54 garments into your suitcase. So in order to make this experience work for me I'm going to:

• plan out my pitch meticulously, logically and stylishly (I will allow husband to help with this)
• buy an inordinate amount of tealights and little glasses that will contain them
• inject a dose of glamour even into campsite life by never looking anything less than effortlessly chic (see pictures above)
• not get hysterical at the sight of dust-covered sons, in fact I will learn to embrace them in their new, natural state (I use the word embrace not in its physical, but spiritual sense)
• last but not least, I absolutely promise that I will chillax
  
  Should be great!
  

Whilst I do realise that this post contains a ridiculous amount of pictures compared to my usual select few, I really wanted to bring TOAST to your attention once again. Their style and their photography lends itself incredibly well to my camping fantasy! Do browse their current catalogue here and especially here...

All of the above photographs are taken from the current S/S 09 TOAST catalogues (DAYWEAR and HOUSE & HOME)

California

There is something about listening to the Beach Boys (oh go on then, Dave Lee Roth!) that just makes me wanna pack a bag and take off on a jet plane headed for California. That's America to me (well, that and New York) but California is slightly addictive once you've experienced its laid-back, hippy ways. I spent three pivotal years there and boy, they were good years. Boy! Boys! Beach Boys! Bleached sandy hair, tanned legs 365 days a year, surfboards, frozen jogurt, marine biology, my first CAR: a gold VW beetle (chosen in favour of a 1968 Mustang - my father and especially Mr R have never forgiven me for this faux pas). And yet some demon inside me told me to leave this sunny paradise and head across the water back to London Town. Totally inexplicable now, but at the time and with the maturity of all my 19 years behind me, it was London or certain death. These days I unashamedly spend hours trying desperately to remember what it felt like to watch the sunset over Del Mar beach or walking into the Pannikin coffee/bookstore and smelling the roasted coffee beans and freshly baked muffins. It would be interesting if I were to endeavour in a spell of time travel and be transported in my current state, to those heady days of 1986 - I would probably keel over and die with emotion. Life in southern California is, in a way, even more remote than it is here in Ticino. You are so (pleasantly) removed from what is real (I don't mean in an artificial L.A./Hollywood kind of way, no sir!) that there really is nothing else but the abovementioned ingredients (Dave Lee Roth, frozen yogurt, surfers, hippies, beetles, pot, marine biology etc). It's its own special little universe where you just live for your immediate surroundings. Sounds shallow to you? It shouldn't. Pure nature all around you, the most fantastic marine life, incredible universities where you can study till you're 90, great music culture, and the knowledge that Mexico lies at your feet. If you get bored just rent a Mustang (not a Beetle) and head north along highway 101. I often ask myself what devil inside me made me leave this place?
A few more haunts: La Jolla and Jake's and finally, for all you academics or parents with kids looking for a superb university, look not further than UCSD.

sisters

Today was a hectic but good day - busy but hugely inspirational. You know, when you're just walking or in my case driving along and your mind (nevermind the car) is speeding at 180 km/h (that's approximately 111.84 mph) productively coming up with one fantastic whopper of an idea after another. I was on fire. Even the radio station kept playing ONLY fantastic songs, and that makes all the difference. Inspiration and optimism in spades just rushing through the brain. Great stuff. I started thinking about my sister, whom I absolutely adore beyond reason, and immediately realised that the next post had to be about her. It was obvious that I would write about her at some stage, but today it all took shape and crystallised into this perfect image and story which I will now try to coherently present before you.

I'm lucky enough to have gone from being an only child (albeit a happy one, I must admit) to becoming, at the age of 12, a sister to a sister. I never dreamt that I would ever have a sibling and when she was born, it was incredible. It was just the timing of her arrival that was not so good for me; I was at the cusp of becoming the worst teenager ever to walk this earth and spent the following 4 years struggling with my very own industrial sized hormonal tornado ripping its way very impressively through my emotions. So I always felt like I wasn't really there for her, and in fact I wasn't. I left home very early and had a patchy (yet very loving) long-distance relationship with my little sister. We are and always have been incredibly close, an unspoken invisible bond that is just there, no matter what. Now that we finally live in the same country again, I feel much more complete and get an incredible sense of fulfilment knowing that if I wanted to, I could see her at a moment's notice. She inspires me and makes me so proud, my sister. A determined young woman with an amazing heart and huge talent which is so brilliantly put to use in her current career.

So, that's the basics sorted now let me find the style thread... Ah, yes, there it is: The Force is strong in this one.
Apart from being blessed with an amazing physique, she truly knows what works on her and what doesn't. Never putting a foot wrong, she has a very personal and unique style which is first and foremost modern, young, subtle but edgy and incredibly pleasing to the eye. I wish Mr Sartorialist would browse 'round Zurich more so he'd get a shot of her. Her chosen colour palette is warm, earthy and never garish, complemented of course without fail by the most cutting edge hairstyle as well as (and this is obviously a family thing that our mother started in 1972) the biggest sunglasses she can get her hands on. All this is delivered effortlessly which makes it even more powerful and beautiful. How much I love looking at her, absorbing her radiance, her warmth and also her style. You couldn't copy it if you tried.

nip me!

I remember last summer, lazing on our local beach by the river Melezza. Heaven on Earth as far as I'm concerned. Here, this location, this little village, these people, you see we are so blessed that it can bring tears to my eyes. So many special components make this place unique and very lovely. In the summer it just beggars belief for me. School's out in say, mid-June, and from then on depending on everyone's holiday schedules, we tend to congregate at our very own village beach. The beach is located beyond the football fields and the tennis courts (so if you have sporty kids you can just send them up for footy training or to the tennis coach while you continue working on your tan) and last summer we spent practically every day down by the river with the locals. It's so funny. In the winter and the autumn months you bump into neighbours and local friends at the post office, the bakery, the deli or the bar but in the summer you're lying half naked next to yes, you guessed it: your neighbour and your local friends. It's great. I love it. Sometimes an exotic fish comes along. Like last summer. A friend of a friend appeared, in a white two-piece looking like some sort of mythical goddess. I had never seen anything like this before. Sure, she was maybe a few years younger than me (5 at most) but she was something to behold. Not a single ounce of fat on her, not a rake either though. Toned perfection. No cellulite, skin the colour of honey and as soft as silk, jet black hair all luscious waves and those curves. And she's got 2 daughters under the age of 6! Oh my God. If I was a guy I would have drooled. Being a girl I just pretended not to notice (so glad Mr R wasn't there). Did I mention her breasts? The most perfect things I've ever come across in my life - insanely lovely. I had to really concentrate in order to continue pretending that I hadn't noticed anything at all (one doesn't want to appear rude, it just won't do), especially when she came over to say hello. I felt even more prune-like than normal. A few weeks later I found out that all this beauty was not of natural origin, but reconstructed and the result of several cosmetic surgery procedures. I felt first and foremost relieved and then reassured of course and a bit smug. I'm one of those weirdos that confidently (for now...!) says: Accept your wrinkles, love them, they are part of you - you can look good with them, glamorous, sexy, whatever! Of course never say never but knowing myself as I do, I'm pretty sure I won't be going down the nip/tuck route. Ever. Amazing though, what a surgeon's knife can do. I have since reclaimed my status as a nature girl and proudly picked up my style thread where I'd bloody well left it. That was after temporarily losing my head by agreeing to have a few no obligation consultations with dishy Dr Christian. Relax, all is where it was and where it should be and I have since found my way again, naturally.

photograph above courtesy of NIP/TUCK (FX) showing Julian McMahon as Christian Troy, Joely Richardson (some impostor actually) as Julia McNamara and Dylan Walsh as Sean McNamara.

the f-word

Since I entered it ceremoniously, this world of the big four-o, I've become more and more aware of a constant feeling of being on the edge - not in a nervy way but in a "teetering on the edge of a very steep precipice" kind of way (think Cathy in Wuthering Heights or the second Mrs de Winter in Rebecca just for that extra, windswept drama effect). Which is a lot more scary and quite a new sensation for me. It doesn't leave me either. Actually it just gets stronger. Things feel decidedly different to me now. Day to day things, they seem much more important, more serious and I have a very definite sense of urgency about me which suggests that I'm watching an imaginary clock ticking away while running at an increasing speed to make things happen. Even my children's comments seem more poignant to me. Probably because I'm referring back to my own childhood when I remember making the conscious and rather stubborn decision to stop counting my parents' ages once either of them had reached 40. When I hit forty I didn't think it would make a blind bit of difference, I laughed at the thought of it: "Bring it on!" I used to shout. I don't shout anymore, now I'm fairly quiet about it. All my determination and nonchalance is nowhere to be found, in its place an overwhelming sense of life and its meaning, and how precious it is and how living for today is paramount and how every second counts. That's what occupies my mind these days. I wonder if all this is normal? Fortunately I am an incorrigible optimist - so while I'm teetering up there on the edge of that precipice, my mantra 'the best is yet to come' is also ringing quite loudly in my ears. Other welcome side effects of being forty (at least for me) are confidence and assertiveness. They make life so much smoother and more enjoyable. Like I said, I wonder whether it's just me...?

true to type

Watching the very talented Mr R working yesterday I couldn't resist snatching this piece of gorgeousness from him (please be sure to click on the picture for a proper, enlarged view). Don't worry I have his consent. There's something about a typeface, about a specific way a word is presented on print that is so beautiful, powerful and to the point. No fuss. No frills. No extras. No sound. Just a word - in most cases put very simply in black on white or vice versa. I suppose it all boils back down to design. And I guess it's graphic design really - but I like to think that it actually goes back further than that. Graphics don't really do it for me, but letters baby, yeah! Typesetting and, more importantly Typography. What genius to beautifully arrange letters to create your very own typeface, Herr Max Miedinger. I do love all those wonderful Harpers Bazaar articles with the iconic serif typeface, but have to admit that it's the sans serifs that I'll go for time and time again. They're just beautiful to me. My favourites from the mood board above are without a doubt the 'Acqua di Parma' logo and the 'Eleven Madison Park'. That's how simple I like it. Whilst doing his reasearch work yesterday, Mr R showed me this website which shows some great examples of a stunning typeface used so effectively on a collection of book covers (albeit rejected ones - I can't imagine why). Mmmm books.... don't get me started on those!

cos

How long am I going to have to wait? With an H&M on practically every corner (yawn, double yawn) is it really too much to ask? It can't be that hard for COS/H&M to realise that there's a market for their sublime products beyond the usual suspects (UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands). Why no Switzerland and, more importantly, no Italy? Where's the problem? I live in hope...and in Switzerland.

make-up anyone?

So I waved and kissed our Easter guests goodbye on Saturday and promptly burst into tears. I don't know about you but I've completely given up on maintaining my composure at farewells, it's such hard work plus it just seems a bit, you know, insincere. What's the point in putting on a brave face when your heart is breaking? And with the guests gone I found myself in the middle of town, by myself and in no great rush to get back to an empty house. Instead I made tracks for our only department store where I like to have a little peek now and again at the relatively new and exciting arrival on the ground floor cosmetics department: the Bobbi Brown counter. As far as make-up's concerned this, I feel, is as good as it gets. Feeling just a little bit washed out and blue I didn't offer much resistance when the chirpy male make-up artist (Abdul "on a whistlestop tour of Europe visiting all the Bobbi Brown counters" and working his magic on the likes of me by giving very good face) invited me to take a seat for a "quick make-over" in the latest spring colours. I made a half-hearted attempt at declining but soon decided that it would be kind of cool for once to be professionally worked on like that. I might even learn something. Yeah, so make-up. Where do YOU stand on that one? I've always been fascinated by it, heavily influenced by my mother and all that advertising. Once I got into my teenage years I experimented constantly and looked incredibly scary most of the time, trying desperately to ascertain my look whilst coming to terms with my own 'colouring'. I've not been blessed with perfect skin and so the 'no make-up' option was not for me (not in a million years) - instead I developed my own little life support team of products, without which I'd never show my face in public. Ever. I know exactly what works and what doesn't on my skintone and because I would give anything not to have to wear make-up in order to look halfway decent, I have, over time, tried to perfect that natural, sunkissed look that suggests hardly any make-up at all. Since we moved to this part of the world it soon became obvious to me that there is none of the high-gloss sophistication that I used to encounter on a daily basis in the UK. Instead you have pretty much 2 very defined camps: the I-would-never-dream-of-wearing-a-scrap-of-make-up lot (bless them for they have the courage of their convictions) and the I-think-the-black-lipliner-look-is-a-winner lot... Ok, I lie: there are those of course who fall in between these 2 extremes choosing to wear make-up and looking just great. But there really is very little emphasis on make-up over here - which is a good thing as natural can never be bad, right? Well, sort of. I suppose it's just one of those things, you either do or you don't. And on Saturday, after my little make-over I was glad that I'm one of those that do. Abdul confidently applied his art to my face and made me look like me but better - it was great. Admittedly I wouldn't necessarily wear eyeshadow or lipgloss during the day, but it made a difference to my mood - I felt refreshed and bright and, thanks to Abdul, I learned how to improve my complexion with the clever use of a brush....

so here's to you, Mrs Robinson

Ooooh I can hardly type for excitement! The temperature today hit 23 degrees and all thoughts of winter and cold are suddenly filed away together with silly worries about doom and gloom - at least till November. Now it's the new season (and for me the best season, or as they so poetically call it 'round my parts, La Bella Stagione - wonderful, eh?). I'm making way for positive optimism and renewed confidence and am so looking forward to new beginnings.

Which brings me swiftly to the point of this little story. New beginnings, change, change, and more change... It's that time again. The big question, the big dilemma. Is it time? Can I still pull it off or is this (ie. the sneaky suspicion I may have reached that dreaded state of mutton-dressed-as-lamb) the perfect bloody excuse to go and chop it off once and for all and shut the hell up about the blimmin' hair? Here I am, wafting around as always with my long tresses like some ageing Rapunzel. Of course I've had long hair all my life so it's as much part of my character as my character but I do get to this stage every 3 years (it's like clockwork) where I just have to go through this process - and this time, you're coming through it with me. Were it not for the sheer terror/cold fear of completely losing my identity, I would have done it years ago. It's always the same: I spend weeks lusting after 'my perfect short hairdos' (see above) and it reaches feverpitch till I walk into the salon and every single time without fail some young whippersnapper of a coiffeuse talks me out of it because she, just like me, has absolutely no backbone. Sounds harsh? Well, if only I had a little of the Annie Lennox about me (that divine bonestructure, such angles, such precision) or the soft voluptuousness of Marilyn. But alas no, I am me! And it takes exactly this process (I can feel it, I'm almost through it) to realise that I do really love this long hair thing and that it just suits me and my style perfectly. I will never forget Mr R's words to me almost 20 years ago (and a few more times since), about how he thought older women looked fantastic with long grey, salt and pepper kind of hair....Well, sir, sticking it out with me may just be starting to pay off because it looks like that's gonna be my look pretty soon. Move over Annie and Marilyn, make room for Anne Bancroft.

If you can't quite remember just how fabulous Mrs Robinson looked, go refresh your memory by visiting this week's post on The Women's Room.

new collection

Karin's new spring/summer 2009 collection is ready - check out her website. Here's an exquisite taster of the new batch. Looks just as good lying on your dresser as it does draped over your summer linen tunic.