What perfect timing - the lovely
Let's Go Find A Rainbeau has challenged me to answer my own
Sartorial Sharing tag, just as I return from the fantastically frivolous and style-drenched affair that was my cousin's wedding!
Flying to Inverness in July always proves difficult to dress for... one never knows what to expect, sunshine or thunderstorms...
Airport Outfit!:-
An amazing little blue peacoat that makes me feel like La Hepburn - the mother found it for £3 whilst charity shopping!
Gap vest [purchased in the sale after I spilled chocolate fondue over the clothes I was wearing at the time...]
Influence high-waisters, the only jeans I own!
New Look sandals with shells around the ankles
My Hepburn travelling case!
The wedding was just wonderful. There were crates of champagne waiting for us on the bus to
the family castle, where the weekend was to unfold - it was just ridiculous, with paintings of Venice hanging on the walls of the marble staircases, maze-like gardens sloping down to the sea, and, of course, the library...
Wedding Day Outfit!:-
Big pink Johnny Loves Rosie corsage.
The trusty peacoat.
The equally trust old school purse-belt, formerly used for tuck shop change.
Beloved vintage dress from Marshmallow Mountain - exquisitely all-purpose!
Delicious denim peeptoe heels from New Look.
Oh, it was divine - with fireworks and bagpipes and reeling and even a fair few kindred [and, therefore, gluttonous] spirits. And, of course, plenty of charming gentlemen! But my favourite quote of the night was my aunt's: "You see the man in the kilt? With those wonderful 'come-to-bed' eyes? He's going to inherit everything. Quick - go for it!!"
And doesn't my cousin look divine...
...Just like the beautiful Billie Holiday [played by Paula Patton in this picture]?
So, on that highly fitting note, on with the
Sparkles and Crumbs Sartorial Sharing!
Mariah Carey's accessories wardrobe...
How would you define your style?
In a word, impish. In a few more words - Laurie Lee's, in fact - "a wispy imp, pretty and perilous as a firework. Compounded equally of curiosity and cheek..." Isn't that a lovely description? I try to dress so that I wouldn't look out of place stumbling upon Princess Hyacinth and Countess Belvane from AA Milne's Once on a Time having a picnic in a bluebell wood clearing with Christian Louboutin and a few mischevious pixies. I like simple clothes, too, when it's necessary, but even then I always see dressing as dressing up. It must always be a costume!
What is your favourite item of clothing EVER? And what is said favourite item of clothing most suited to (e.g. sailing the seven seas as a free-booting buccaneer, a street carnival in Rio, afternoon tea at the Ritz)?
This dress by Heatherette. To be worn whilst dancing under the stars amidst the fireflies on the balcony of a fairy-tale castle, at a ball held in your honour (ideally, with a Prince Edward, too). I couldn't bring myself to wear it for anything less!
Share a fabulous or just plain entertaining style-related story!
Most of mine are, alas, more entertaining than fabulous. I do have a big vintage skirt with a hoop around the hem, which turns any dress or skirt worn over it into a ballgown - I wore it to bring a friend some cake and got stuck in the doors of the bus. Tourists have also asked for photos with me and my Yoda backpack when I wear that, too.
Who are your style icons?
Lauren Bacall in Designing Woman, Tim Walker and Rob Ryan's artwork, Barbra Streisand in Hello Dolly... one day, I am going to walk into the lights of 14th Street just like that!:-
...Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies [who styled this show?!]...
...Marilyn Monroe...
...and all the ladies - from chorus girls to the star - in big, beautiful, magical old musicals:-
Which song should have been written for you?
Perhaps 'Sister Golden Hair Surprise' by America. Apart from the obvious colour reference, the lyrics somehow manage to mix up hopefulness and regret - and for a very exhileratingly light-hearted song, it begins with the line, "I tried to make it Sunday, but I got so damn depressed..."
What is your favourite fairy-tale?
The Nightingale and the Rose, The Little Mermaid or The Little Prince. Enchanted must count as a fairy-tale too, yes?
Favourite word?
Mamihlapinatapei [Yagan for 'a look that is shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither want to start.'), or marzipan. More
here!
Dream trolley dash locations?
Fortnum and Mason's. Mela Mela for vintage dresses. The Via dei Condotti in Roma. Lush. And a very big bookshop.
Dream location for your future Vogue photo shoot?
The camerado has just told me of the castle at Neuschwanstein, in Germany - it was built by Mad King Ludwig who bankrupted his state to build his dream fairy-tale castle, which Walt Disney eventually modelled the Sleeping Beauty castle on. Surrounded by lakes and forests, too. Perfect for princess posing!
If you could hire one fashion designer as your personal tailor, whom would it be?
John Galliano, of course. Look at these inspirations - all from the same 2005 couture collection!
Signature scent?
Well, I use
superworldunknown by B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful - it smells like "running away to the circus... candy floss, sherbert fountains, toffee apples and the seaside." Mmm! But if I could choose anything, it would be 'The Party in Manhattan.' I found it in the Fortnum and Mason's perfumery, the only place it is available outside of Italy, based on the glamorous parties of old-school 1930s Hollywood. It lingered for days... So it should, for £295! *Sigh of longing.*
Which era would you most like to live in?
The Golden Age of Hollywood, as a movie star, with the Rat Pack.
Most recent purchase?
Denim heels from New Look (see above!) - and an amazing clown hoodie! I was in Corfu with my mama and we wandered into a shop full of beautiful dresses. She was amazed that out of every item in the shop, I fell in love with a handmade, furry sweater with a bug-eyed clown painted on the front. It's just so brilliantly bizarre!
A tough one... if you were a food what would you be?
A marzipan strawberry dipped in chocolate.
And, finally - who is the love of your life (so far)?
Funnily enough, the camerado gave me a hint for my birthday gifts - "the two loves of my life." My first thoughts were James Marsden and chocolate. But they turned out to be a Greg Peck movie and an anthology of Rilke poems, so just as accurate really. I have far too many loves, as I have lamented before... hopefully, the big mutual one's on its way!
Some More Style-isms to Aspire to:
"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful."
-Marilyn Monroe
"She dressed for her own pleasure but also to inspire, to astonish, to amuse, and always to entertain and bewitch."
-Rupert Everett on Isabella Blow
"You may not live in a fairy-tale castle, but you can dress like you do."
-Nylon magazine
"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary."
-Cecil Beaton
PS. I have to say, I felt the couture shows for the coming autumn didn't live up to such fancifulness. Valentino and Chanel have put out some particularly pretty creations, but none of them were the fits of fantasy I daydream about...
