Golden Globes - Health Wellbeing

Drew Barrymore in Atelier Versace, probably the best dress of the night. I adore the neutral colour and the detailing, plus the shape is fantastic.

Sandra Bullock in Bottega Veneta. The colour is divine on her, and again I really like the cut of this dress. The sheer fabric on the skirt brings a really current feel to a classically cut piece, and I love the way it catches the light. I also adore how her hair has been styled here.

 

Jennifer Garner, in Atelier Versace. Gorgeous embellishment, and the vertical lines make this design feel as if it could have been taken straight from a 1920's Art Deco illustration.

Anna Kendrick, in Marchesa. Again, I adore the detailing. Marchesa dresses are the stuff of fairy tales.

Diane Kruger, in Christian Lacroix Haute Couture. Such a sensational colour on Diane, who continues a faultless run on the red carpet.

Helen Mirren, in Armani Privé. At an event where there was far too much black on the red carpet for my liking, Helen Mirren's dress was the only one to really grab my attention. The cut is so flattering on her, and the detailing saves it from being too matronly or boring.

Ginnifer Goodwin, in Vionnet. One of the only above-the-knee dresses of the evening and a beautiful cobalt blue.

Emily Blunt, in Dolce and Gabbana. Simple yet so refreshing, a breath of fresh spring colour.

The Bad: 

Marion Cotillard, in Christian Dior, Penelope Cruz in Armani Privé, Kate Hudson in Marchesa Bridal. The ladies of Nine continue to disappoint on the red carpet. I had such high hopes for them, but Marion's dress (and the horrible peek-a-boo petticoat) feels flat and I hate her hair here, Penelope looks like she should be at a funeral and Kate looks as if she's been wrapped in loo roll. Sorry ladies but all of these looks are a big disappointment!

The I'm not sure if it's Ugly yet but I really don't like it at the minute:

Zoe Saldana, in Louis Vuitton, Chloë Sevingy in Valentino. Two of my usual favourites on the red carpet so I'm really torn here. The colour of Zoe's dress is stunning on her, but I can't bring myself to love it because of the semi-shredded hem. Chloë's dress feels a little too much due to the ruffles and I think the colour really washes her out. As much as it pains me, not my favourites at this event by a long way.

So what did you think of the Golden Globes Red Carpet? Which looks were your favourites?

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To Be Adored - Health Wellbeing

To Be Adored (or tba) is a label which has been on my radar for a while now, since I first became aware of their clothing after seeing it in Urban Outfitters last year. Their autumn winter collection fused school-girl chic which sophisticated scallop hem detailing and evoked a strong 60's feel, particularly in their swing coats and cardigans with contrasting buttons. Both on the red carpet and in fashion editorials last season, tba established a strong following...

Although I was sorely tempted to purchase the navy blue dress as worn by Ophelia Lovibond above, my indecision (and the fact that the dress sold out pretty much as soon as it was included in Urban Outfitters' Boutique sale) sadly meant that my wardrobe was minus a tba frock. However, having now seen the Spring/Summer collection, I am once again lusting after their beautiful pieces. Inspired by Mia Farrow and her onscreen performances (specifically in Rosemary's Baby and The Great Gatsby), the collection fuses together two of the season's key trends: nudes and metallics and feels effortlessly modern but simultaneously timeless. Here are some of my favourite pieces:

 

 

I love the combination of the romantic colour palette with the military buttons to give the shirt dress a harder edge, and the maxi dress would be perfect to wear on holiday. I may just have to treat myself this time!

To find out more about the collection and look up stockists, vist ilovetba.co.uk.

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Headband Collection - Health Wellbeing

Before the snow covered the whole of the U.K in a blanket of chaos, I had intended to go shopping this week to spend my birthday money and wages. However, as it has done for much of the last month, the weather completely ruined my plans and for the last three days I've been stuck indoors. Had I managed to get out this week, I would have been on the hunt for hair accessories from Zara's Headband Collection, which launched late last year. Here are some of my favourites:

 

 

 

The full collection can be viewed at zara.com.

I am willing the snow to disappear soon, but with the lowest temperature here being recorded at -22 degrees in the Scottish Highlands last night, I'm not holding out much hope that it will! 

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Coco Before Chanel - Health Wellbeing

The other weekend, I finally got round to watching Anne Fontaine's 'Coco Before Chanel' on DVD. Detailing Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel's rise from humble roots to a revolutionary of twentieth century fashion, the film is beautifully shot, with Christophe Beaucarne's cinematography effortlessly bringing the location and period into vivid life. Catherine Leterrier's costumes also lend the piece a real authenticity; the clothes which Chanel wears as she begins to experiment with fashion feel both classic and contemporary, standing as testament to her influence on modern design and her assertion that 'fashion fades, only style remains the same'. Audrey Tautou brings strength and a luminous beauty to the role of Chanel, and perfectly encapsulates her determination and passion. Although the film centres on her often stormy and ultimately tragic relationships with Étienne Balsan and Arthur Capel, we come to understand that the hardships which she endures only galvanise her further, motivating her to achieve the remarkable successes which marked her lengthy career and enabling her to establish a lasting legacy, both in terms of women's attitudes towards dressing and through her establishment of the iconic fashion house which still bears her name.

Cinematic escapism at its best.

Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?

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Influence - Health Wellbeing

Browsing through my copy of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's 'Influence' this afternoon, it dawned on me just how much they themselves have had on the fashion world, certainly towards the latter half of the last decade. As well as being regular attendees at fashion weeks and galas, the girls have established their own fashion label, 'The Row', and a diffusion line, named 'Elizabeth and James', named after their siblings. As well as making waves in the world of high fashion, Mary Kate and Ashley are frequently cited as style icons; their unique approaches to dressing have inspired many fashion followers to replicate their looks, whether it be through carrying oversized bags, experimental accessorizing or perfecting the effortless, loose waves that have become the twins' signature hairstyle. 

 

 

'Out of all of the amazing, talented, and awe-inspiring people I have been blessed to meet in this world, the connection I share with my sister influences me the most of all'

- Ashley Olsen

I am always changing my mind about whose style I prefer: the bohemian, creative looks which Mary Kate wears so well, or Ashley's sophisticated take on modern classics. Perhaps it is a measure of how influential both of them are that I find it so hard to pin down my favourite, and to exclude one in favour of the other seems horribly biased; after all, by their own admissions, each finds the other to be their biggest influence. 

Some of my personal favourite fashion moments from the Olsen twins:

Mary Kate, Vogue Italia, June 2007

 

At Jenni Kayne, Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, Fall 2007

Mary Kate, Teen Vogue Event, April 2007

Ashley at the re-launch of MANGO's flagship store in NYC, November 2008

At the Chanel Cruise Fashion Show, May 2007

 Mary Kate, New York, April 2009

Ashley, VMan, Summer 2009

At MuchMusic, August 2009

Mary Kate in New York, February 2007

Ashley, Marie Claire, September 2007

 Mary Kate, YOU Magazine, June 2007

Ashley, Nylon, May 2007

At Chanel, Paris Fashion Week, February 2008

I just adore them both! Whose style do you admire the most? Answers on a postcard.

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A frosting filled Christmas! - Health Wellbeing

The lovely cupcake connoisseurs over at LOLA's Kitchen have created a Christmas collection to make your mouth water this festive season. As well as developing a new seasonal ginger sponge, which is available along with all of LOLA's delectable existing flavours, they have been hard at work concocting some adorable cupcakes to make this Christmas even sweeter than usual. Two new cupcake collections, the 'HO HO HO' and 'Snowflake' boxes encapsulate everything that we love about Christmas. The red, green and white iced cupcakes that feature in the HO HO HO box are beautifully decorated with intricate, hand-created images of the season. The Snowflake range is frosted with white and chocolate buttercream icing, lovingly decorated with crushed candy canes, sparkling stars and, amazingly, edible glitter! These fantastic festive creations would make the perfect gift for friends, colleagues and family alike. You can even treat yourself without feeling too guilty, as all of LOLA's cupcakes are also available as 'Tinys', bite-size portions of cake-heaven which are certain to banish those festive stresses. And, for someone like me, who isn't the biggest fan of Christmas pudding, these Christmas crackers would be the perfect way to polish off Christmas dinner.

Be sure to pay a visit to LOLA's Cupcakes to indulge in some cake shaped Christmas cheer, they are available in London at Harrods Food Hall and in Selfridges, Oxford Street, where they have just opened a 'Cupcake Bar', which sounds like my idea of heaven on earth. Alternatively, visit lolas-kitchen.co.uk to order online for delivery to London postcodes or to find out more.

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Fairy Tale Vogue - Health Wellbeing

Devised by Grace Coddington and photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the December issue of US Vogue features a stunning editorial inspired by New York's Metropolitan Opera and their interpretation of Hansel and Gretel. Starring Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Lady Gaga, the editorial showcases designs by Marc Jacobs, Dior and Balenciaga to name but three. I love narrative editorials, and the theatrical aesthetic of this shoot demonstrates perfectly the creative symbiosis which exists between fashion and the arts.

 

The affinity between fashion and the arts is celebrated in the latest issue of US Vogue, entitled The Arts Issue, featuring the stunning Cate Blanchett on the cover. To watch a behind the scenes video of the Hansel and Gretel shoot and to hear Annie and Grace's thoughts on the issue, go here.

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Mother Courage and her Children, The National Theatre - Health Wellbeing

Deborah Warner's stunning new production of Mother Courage and her Children brings to Brecht's tragedy of war a stark contemporary resonance; the cyclical presence of war permeates the minds of the audience just as it does the lives and narratives of the characters from the outset. Before the performance begins in earnest, distorted speeches of twentieth century leaders including Churchill and Bush are played over sounds of artillery fire and battle chaos; surely an explicit demonstration from the get-go that Mother Courage has equal resonance today as it did when Brecht wrote it in 1939.

Brecht's 'Verfremdungseffekt' (or distancing effect) whereby the audience are not to become immersed in the action presented on stage and remain active, critical observers is accomplished in this performance through a number of strategies. The most tangible is the use of signs and captions; locations are non-naturalistic in their representation, and are demonstrated through language, not mimetic replication. An officer's tent is demonstrated by a sign reading 'An Officer's Tent' hoisted above the action, serving to strip away all artifice. Use of signs as indicators of location also serve to make the action feel elongated; although we are told (through Gore Vidal's narration of the scene headings) that Courage and her wagon move across Europe, we consistently see them stuck in the same sparse environment. With the exception of Courage, her children and the wagon, everything else on an aesthetic level is muted and indistinguishable, including the armies fighting each other, further demonstrating the repetitive and dangerously confusing nature of war. The production (and indeed Brecht's original text) is not about a specific war, be it the Thirty Years War, the Second World War or any conflict of the twenty first century, it concerns war and the commoditisation of conflict across epochs.

Throughout the performance, backstage processes are put on stage as a further means through which the artifice of performance can be deconstructed by the audience. Elements of the production process which remain hidden in many contemporary performances are present in Warner's 'Mother Courage'; from a group of stage managers dancing along to one of Duke Special's raucous compositions, to the visible scene transitions, we are actively reminded that we are watching a theatrical construction, not a slice of real life.

However, despite the prevalence of Brecht's distancing techniques in the production, we are nevertheless constantly engaged with the characters. Fiona Shaw's commanding performance in the title role demonstrates the sheer range that is required to play a character as seemingly contradictory and relentless as Courage. She lurches from the effervescent (when bartering with The Cook over the price of a chicken: "It's practically a turkey") to the tragic when she loses each of her adopted children in succession as a result of her failure to separate the role of profiteer from the role of mother. Shaw truly makes the role her own from the moment she arrives on stage serenading the audience perched atop her beloved wagon, and her confident physicality cements Courage's status as earth-mother come shrewd business woman who is rarely intimidated. On the occasions where the language of buying and selling fails her and she loses control of situations (the death of Swiss Cheese), we become all the more empathetic towards her as a result of Shaw's capacity as a performer. To her testament, she does not seem at all overwhelmed by the magnitude and expectation associated with taking on such an iconic part, once famously played by Brecht's second wife, Helen Weigel. Shaw interacts with and feeds off of the audience as much as she does her fellow performers and fills the vast space of the Olivier with an energy which enlivens the entire performance. Clifford Samuel, Harry Melling and Sophie Stone also prove themselves more than capable in their roles as Eilif, Swiss Cheese and Kattrin respectively.

Original musical compositions by Irish singer/songwriter/musician Duke Special (accompanied by his band) bring texture and vibrancy to the performance; the songs he has composed (particularly in their lyrical content) simultaneously evoke a spontaneous, gig-like atmosphere as well as heightening the emotional significance and underlying themes of the piece. The music is infectious and poignantly guides the narrative through to denouement; the final sung line of the piece ('Unless the war goes on in hell...') accompanied by the image of a now lone Mother Courage relentlessly pulling the wagon along behind her into a flood of bright yellow light at the back of the stage demonstrates more than ever the futility of war and poetically brings the tragedy of Courage to a close. Only by losing Eilif, Swiss Cheese and eventually Kattrin does Mother Courage begin to fully count the true cost of war, apart from the price of goods and bargaining.

Although the fact that the audience feels such empathy for Courage, her children and their plight seems contradictory to Brecht's requirement that the spectator remains objective, I would argue that the more we engage with the characters, the more protracted our incomprehension and interrogation of war becomes. By relentlessly throwing tragic event after tragic event at Courage, Brecht in his narrative engages us with her fate, and Fiona Shaw's performance demonstrates a depth of feeling and love for her adopted children which makes her loss of them all the more harrowing. As we become so involved with the fates of Courage, Eilif, Swiss Cheese and Kattrin through both Brecht's dramaturgy and the performances of the actors portraying them, we see the faces of thousands of mothers who have lost sons and daughters as a result of war and thus question how any act of warfare that decimates lives and families in such a way can be called just and carried out in our name, surely accomplishing Brecht's objective of creating an active spectator who sees resonances of the drama they watch in society.

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