Hats off to the blind eye

I didn't go out looking for fashion faux pas at Royal Ascot the other day, but did you notice any obvious flouting of the new dress code that was to be so strictly enforced?

There were plenty of fashion trends in evidence, like puff ball skirts, as disported by these two fillies (left) - perhaps they were hiding their hats underneath ... I had a good look, but can't spot them anywhere, can you?




Flouncy fabrics were also popular, as seen on the cool young things in the pic above right - love the cute little tiered skirt for the leggy look - obviously the stewards were momentarily distracted...

Elsewhere, curiously quirky accessorizing seemed to be the order of the day (see left).








Joline, a Canadian who has recently taken the British citizenship test, patriotically jazzed up her outfit with a couple of flags - a look which inadvertently attracted the attention of a particularly jolly, though not entirely welcome fellow.





There were some curiously chic ensembles too (from left to right below) a rather natty nature-inspired hat worn by fashion designer, Sangita Khan, love it; a couple of ladies looking cleverly uncoordinated with the help of a gentleman's morning coat and a cigar box bag - and finally, a bit of Italian style boho a go-go from this sultry cell phone and cigar wielding signora with a ffffffffffascinating bandana.


I also saw a few ShopCurious hats on display, dressed up with flowers (below left) and plain and simple (below centre and right).





Now that Royal Ascot's over for another year, I thought it would be nice to offer you these hats at a very special price. They're great for holidays too - you can simply squish them up and stuff them in your suitcase.
Will you?

The fashion of art

Last night I went to the preview of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. The dress code was 'glamorous'. Did it live up to expectations? I snapped Grayson Perry looking curiously quirky in a Little Bo Peep number, Virginia Bates looking amazingly svelte, youthful and curiously chic in vintage c.1922 and the utterly charming Erin O'Connor looking curiously cool in tiered and floaty Ashley Isham.













Meantime, five minutes prior to leaving the house I threw together this outfit consisting of vintage Voyage, a cocktail of ruby red feathers and a telephone handbag that is available at ShopCurious (if you are impressed by celebrity endorsements, apparently something that once appeared in an episode of Sex and the City).













Sir Stuart Rose (who hot-footed it from Buckingham Palace) was certainly very impressed by my vintage Dior hold-up stocking shoes - so much so that he felt compelled to run his hand down my lower leg. I'm sure this was only a matter of professional curiosity, though I can't envisage this trend being that easy to sell to the usual M&S clientele.

Then of course there was the art. Counter to the recession and judging by the rapidly burgeoning number of orange dots, the exhibits seemed to be selling very well indeed. I really like the large naked lady canvases - postcard collages Big Blue and Golden Delicious II by David Mach at £25,000 a pop and Julian Schnabel's simply gorgeous oriental lady who was NFS, though a friend mentioned that he would mortgage his house if she were.

There is some intriguing pottery too, like the gigantic tutti fruiti ceramic pot by Kate Malone (below left) - not quite to my taste, but interesting. There are also the usual exhibits guaranteed to elicit a reaction such as the video of a barbed wire hoola hoop (Barbed Hula by Sigalit Landau) and the zebra sex installation by Matt Collishaw (if installation is an appropriate word to use?) curiously entitled 'In the Old Fashioned Way' - the fully functioning mechanics of which were thankfully switched off for the duration of the preview at least.












The food was as arty and alluring as everything else with this messy mushroom melange (left) vying for attention with the scrambled egg in this painting (right).

My verdict: this is a show that is well worth a visit. I will certainly be going back to spend more time exploring the wonderful array of curiosities on offer. Will you?