Hot colour hits Henley

Finally got around to sorting out all the photos from the many events I’ve been to in the past couple of weeks. One of the most colourful has to be Henley Royal Regatta. Last year I photographed lots of brightly coloured men’s blazers, so I thought that this time I’d give the girls a look in. Curiously, they didn’t seem to be nearly as colourful as the men (pics to follow later), though I did see a few arty outfits:

I loved Sue’s green and pink ensemble (left), which she said was purchased at a small boutique in central France. She’s obviously creative, since she decorated the hat to match, using a scarf that came with the outfit. Looks really quirky and unique, but rather stylish too, don’t you think? Elsewhere, eco-friendly green was also in evidence, as in this simple, but elegant outfit worn by Kirsty (right).










Chain store chic was also present in the form of a Karen Millen dress (and shoes) worn by Emma, right. Vivid colours can work well on a hot summer’s day - and when the sun did eventually come out, it was absolutely sweltering. Another girl I snapped (left) must have been anticipating the good weather – in fact she looked like she’d have been more at home at a Hawaiian beach party than a right royal rowing event on the river.














This year I also spotted quite a few art inspired multi-coloured numbers amongst the dresses – like Ann’s colouful Pleats Please creation by Issey Miyake, right. Katherine (left), whose father rowed for Great Britain, was wearing a geometric print maxi-dress.














Bright colours were certainly in abundance with plenty of reds, mauves, greens and blues. Julie and Audrey (right) definitely added a vibrant splash of colour to my day and I admired this polka dot red retro dress worn by Joan, who’d travelled all the way from New York to attend the regatta.













Although some dresses were duplicated, there were plenty of unique accessories - along with some very curious colour combos.











Jill’s dress and bag matched her green Henley badge (left) – as, inadvertently, did my grey-green floaty floral silk number, which I teamed up with Prada shoes, designer vintage YSL sunglasses from ShopCurious and some curiously clashing nail varnish to complete the look (see below).











Margot cleverly colour co-ordinated her art nouveau abstract patterned dress with matching accessories (above right).









This year I actually managed to see some of the races too - and that’s when a young lady’s foot caught my attention ... perhaps she was inspired by the ancient Greeks, or maybe she’s planning to row in the 2012 Olympics? I’m not really a big fan of tattoos, but this one seems appropriately cool for the occasion.

Are you?

Curiously colourful opera fashions

Our theme for July is ‘multi-colour madness’, so it was a really pleasant surprise to find that the opera I was very kindly invited to at Garsington last Thursday was as curiously colourful as they come. The amazing variety of English summer flowers in the stunning grounds paled into insignificance beside the strikingly vivid colours on the stage. The set was in itself a work of art - rather reminiscent of a cubist painting – and the costumes, designed by Francis O’Connor, were a comically creative masterpiece.




As for the opera, it was simply adorable: witty, funny, thought-provoking, charming and one of the most thoroughly enjoyable I have seen. This was the UK premiere of Mirandolina by Martinu, written in the 1950s and first performed in 1959 in Switzerland. According to Safranek, Martinu described his opera as “a light, uncomplicated thing … gay from start to finish.”






The story is based on a work called La locandiera (the mistress of the inn) by 18th century Italian playwright, Goldoni, who has the somewhat unfavourable reputation of being ‘author of between two and five hundred comedies, all with happy endings and all exactly the same’. It’s a wonderfully compelling tale of the beautiful lady proprietor of an inn, the feisty Mirandolina, who has an unfailing ability to charm and win over men. Using her feminine wiles, she even works her magic on the ultimate misogynist, the Cavaliere of Ripafratta (brilliantly performed by Geoffrey Dolton, whose facial expressions alone are worth a trip to this production to see).


The opera notes read ‘The craft of the playwright depends on fashion as much as that of the couturier: in each case some follow and some lead, but both depend on immediate public approval.” Well, this performance certainly got my vote. As did some of the fabulous dresses in the audience, like the colourful one-shouldered creation worn by Minnie, above left (presumably spelt as in Minnie Mouse? Though she doesn’t look in the least bit mouse-like to me).


It's almost as bright as the hot pink and coral outfit I wore to the opera at Grange Park a couple of weeks back (see right). By the way, if you’re looking for something stylish to make you stand out from the opera crowd, might I suggest this vintage Clements Ribeiro hot pink torn silk apron dress from ShopCurious.




I’m so pleased to hear that the talented design-duo are returning to London Fashion Week this year.

Are you?

Bags (and pots) of gold

Not quite done with gold yet – one more post left (did I detect a snore?) Apologies if you're totally fed up after all the gold you’ve seen on the catwalks this season, but I'm going to be so bold as to suggest that you seriously consider gold’s long term investment potential and point you in the direction of this very comprehensive article from the Telegraph website, listing 10 ways to invest in gold…





By the way, I’ve come up with a curiously clever 11th way of investing in gold – how about these vintage gold handbags from ShopCurious? They’re unique, timeless pieces that may turn out to be collectors’ items and could actually appreciate in value too - plus they look great and are accessories that will work with a multitude of other colours.




The bags are also very reasonably priced, though if you want to invest a little more we’ve also got a luxury gold satin evening bag with diamante trim and exquisite kid lining (left), handmade by top designer Anya Hindmarch in her pre-'it bag' days – and it’s on sale!

There’s no doubt in my mind that the fashion for all things gold is only just beginning to gain momentum. I was even tempted to go searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow the other day, when I saw this magnificent arc of colour (see below) on the South London horizon – probably somewhere in Wimbledon. The rather ugly tower blocks either side add to the dramatic effect, don’t you think?








Anyway, at least this colourful addition to the skyline leads us nicely into our theme for July. If you’re curious to know more, join me in my next blog, where I’ll reveal all.

Will you?

Fool's gold?

Just thought I’d better point out that, in addition to bona fide pure and unadulterated gold, there also exists what is commonly known as ‘fool’s gold’. Take what seems to be a curiously generous proposition - add some disclaimers, plus a wadge of small print - and it's probably not nearly as genuine an offer as you originally anticipated ...





It’s worth taking a look at the gold rush phenomenon, which happened in various parts of the world in the mid-late 19th century. For instance, gold was first discovered in California on 24th January 1848 at Sutter’s Mill on American Fork River, when James W Marshall had the curiosity to examine some quartz rock lying in his mill stream. Shortly thereafter, immigrants were travelling from all over the world to San Francisco to dig for gold – however, as soon as winter 1850, the time for making fortunes was already almost over.




The events of the Californian gold rush prompted San Franciso born David Belasco to write a play, which in turn inspired Puccini to write one of his most dramatic operas, La Fanciulla del West – an abject lesson in the perils of speculation and a tragic tale of innocent lives lost in the pursuit of fool’s gold.







It used to be the streets of London that were considered to be paved with gold, but perhaps now it’s a city somewhere in the Middle East. I recently visited Dubai and, outside the entrance to my hotel (the highly recommended Royal Mirage), were these incredible hand painted gold camels (above) – curiously cool, if a tad over the top. Gold seekers who are into such conspicuous consumption might like to consider this rather unique gold plated baby pram, left.



I also heard that it’s possible to eat gold. I found this fascinating blog about edible gold and ten different ways to eat it – if you’re so inclined you can even feed 24 carat gold caviar to your dog! By the way, I also noticed that Waitrose’s brand spanking new branch in the Dubai Mall has what looks like gold leaf lettering instead of their usual green corporate logo …I suppose it blends in with the surroundings, but personally, I prefer the more authentic approach of the Organic Foods and Cafe, which seems to stand out as being altogether more original – and it’s much more eco-friendly and natural too.




Which leads us on to fool’s gold: it’s probably not a great idea to be taken in by the dazzling glitz of gold - and it’s definitely best to know about the provenance of any piece of jewellery you are buying. All of the stylish gold accessories in Sarah Bond’s Saretta collections, currently available at ShopCurious, are not only ethically sound, but have been hallmarked at the London Assay office.






Of course, these days, even with a relatively small amount of money, you can also invest quite sensibly in gold ETFs or buy gold coins with a value that is recognized the world over. I know what sort of gold I’d prefer to invest in though – I simply love this exquisite gold arm cuff...

Do you?

Golden oldies are the winners

Just back from Ascot and re-visiting our gold theme. I enjoyed a bit of a winning run with the bookies and just about broke even on my bets, but maybe I should have stuck to the gold standard? Depending on the quality of gold (24 carat being the highest quality), even the 'scrap' resale value of gold can be excellent. Gold is definitely something to have in reserve if times get hard – and it’s a currency with worldwide worth. Appropriate then that our group at Polyvore – Are you ShopCurious? – had a GOLD contest this month. Here are the winners and some comments on why we chose them:

The winning composition is, curiously, not entirely gold - there’s a teesny-weensy bit of silver and some black … Well, one has to hedge ones bets. Not much explanation required as this set is so cool, but we particularly like the layout and the clever use of the brooch as a hair accessory.

Marion by LittleWonder*

Little Wonder also submitted a couple of other fabulous sets – one of them featuring the stunning hand painted Timmy Woods Eiffel Tower bag worn by SJP in the Sex and the City film – we're expecting the limited edition bag to be in stock again within the next few days.

Of course, we’re not big on celebrity endorsements, but interesting that Sarah Jessica Parker has named one of her newborn twins Marion. Judging from the photograph of Marion Davies here, film stars with real style and great fashion sense were even more mesmerizing in Hollywood's golden days than they are today.

In second place, the glorious Pin-up Gold set is a vintage inspired throw-back to a glitzy, glamorous era and lifestyle – incomplete without a few unique retro accessories from our online store and the stunningly sparkling addition of the incredible tree of life gold and diamond brooch/pendant by talented London-based jewellery designer, Marcelle Lawson-Smith.

Pinup Gold by tifbeach

In third place this rather bold Bling set, which we love for its creative styling and curiously quirky sense of humour. This also features that much sought after Zac Posen dress, plus a load of ultra-covetable gold coins (hope you have a few under your mattress?), as well as the beautifully bold ethical gold/semi-precious stone cocktail rings by StyleCurious featured designer, Sarah Bond. By the way (as per a few blogs ago), did I spy those Louboutin shoes under a table at Royal Ascot last week?

Bling (for contest) by panda.taco

Finally, here’s one I made earlier – my own study in glittering gold:

Curiously gold by ShopCurious

Curious that gold always reappears in a big way at crucial times in history – I guess because it’s so timeless and has global value, as well as international appeal. Do let us know your views on the merits of gold.

Will you?

Handmade accessories with attitude

Are the best things in life really free? Unfortunately, Luther Vandross is no longer around and Janet Jackson probably doesn’t have to concern herself with such issues. However, I’ve a theory that cost is less important than putting a little bit of an effort into making something rather special: You’re much more likely to be pleasantly surprised with the outcome of a piece you've lovingly created yourself than if there’s no effort involved whatsoever.







And so it is with hats. This year at Royal Ascot, I added a few bits and pieces of haberdashery to a plain orange hat to create something totally quirky and original. Take one orange hat (in this case vintage Jacques le Corre), add an aubergine feather headband from ShopCurious, plus a curiously unique vintage stuffed bird’s head – et voila, a masterpiece of modern millinery design is born ... or at least recylced.







It’s really easy to decorate hats to make them stand out from the crowd. Lucy (left and with Emma, right) chose one of our plain black raffia hats and added some mauve and maroon marabou for a flirty, feathery look. Simple and inexpensive, but very effective.



I loved this Greek-inspired handmade design in blue and gold (right) – it’s such a classic, I hope they don’t want to appropriate it for the new Acropolis Museum. Georgina - also pictured here with her wonderfully eccentric, talented photographer husband, Francis - informed me that her milliner had adapted the decoration on her giant fascinator that morning so that it matched the colour of her outfit. Wearing unique accessories is all about getting the details right.


This retro-psychedelic-meets-space age ensemble (left) certainly showed a curious attention to detail. And another lady, (whose name I think was Jennie?) had a fabulous ‘50s vintage bag with real equine appeal. How lovely it is to see something that’s individually handcrafted and beautifully hand painted – so much more stylish and unusual than your common-or-garden designer ‘it’ bag – and probably a lot cheaper too.



I’m not averse to creating an eclectic mix that includes the odd, carefully chosen, designer accessory (like these vintage Chanel sunglasses), but I think that truly original style involves a little more thought, effort and creativity than buying the most expensive and celebrity endorsed items you can afford.

Do you?

PS Jane, thanks so much for reuniting me with my lost ring via the lady with the horsy handbag xx

Win a stylish summer hat

I was curious to find out more about the new sculpture gracing the lawn at Royal Ascot and discovered that the Queen is wearing a hat after all, albeit an appropriately aristocratic and fashionably discreet little number. The description of the arty addition to the racecourse reads as follows (click on pic to view):










Everyone wants to be photographed standing next to the Queen and, although we can’t offer you that opportunity, ShopCurious is running a curious caption contest, which you might like to enter.

The prize for the winner is a simple but stylish summer hat (see left) in your choice of black or natural raffia – for the person who creates the most curiously amusing caption for the photograph below:







You can respond either as a comment to this blog, or by email to info@ShopCurious.com

Hope you’re feeling suitably inventive.

Are you?