Art, medallions and men's summer fashion

My escort for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Preview Party was charming young interior designer, Romanos Brihi, who was seeking works for his clients, and for his own collection.

In addition to possibly being a good investment, I suppose owning a unique piece of art is a way of showing off your taste or wealth, or both - even if you don’t choose it yourself? Art has become so much a part of the luxury lifestyle that the line between art gallery and concept store has become somewhat blurred (see my latest post at The Dabbler): I’m sure it’s all good for the UK economy, but I do think there's too much focus on pure materialism. Should there be such a symbiotic relationship between contemporary art, interior decoration, high-end fashion and designer goods?

Talking of which, I spotted some finely dressed men at the party. Apart from the Olympics, it’s not everyday you see chaps wandering around wearing medals on ribbons around their necks. The Royal Academicians have different coloured ribbons according to their discipline eg red for painting, green for sculpture – and (I think) grey for architecture.

These gentlemen are wearing the red ribbon. I do hope Anthony Eyton (on the right) remembers inviting me to lunch at Brixton Market, the subject of one of his paintings in the show (see below).

Stephen Cox, whose daughter is the first RA poet in residence, models the green ribbon here, rather dramatically set off against a royal blue linen suit.





















His granite and gold leaf masks work exceptionally well with greige, rendering them an instant hit with interior designers the world over.

Elsewhere, other smartly dressed menfolk included cocktail waiters in buttoned-up black, Gareth Pugh in a curiously gothic cutout suit,

Nicky Haslam in a wall-matching grey number... and this jolly fellow in vintage-style pinstripes.

There were sunglasses and hats..I wore recycled vintage cotton lace with a feather bolero - and I borrowed a Bakelite butterfly bag from ShopCurious. Plus, there was one elderly gent who wasn’t wearing anything at all.






















Towards the end of the evening, as paparazzi and punters clamoured to get final photographs on the red carpet, things became a little crazy…

 
You’ll have to visit the show yourself to see the art.

Will you?

Are you high-brow, or low-brow?

There’s more retro upcycling in my special Retro-Progressive post today at The Dabbler. Check out ShopCurious’ updated version of an old feature from a 1940s Time Magazine that’s been magnificently illustrated by The Spine.

Entitled ‘Everyone's Tastes from High-brow to Low-brow’, the chart uses iconic images to represent our preferences in areas such as food, fashion, furniture and entertainment.

Take a look at this amusing snapshot of our style and lifestyle choices. And let me know what you think…

Will you?

Curious icons: the cult of celebrity

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan have suddenly put frivolities like fashion into perspective. This month my intention was to focus upon the links between celebrities, fashion, art - and religion... The 21st century has some curious icons, in particular, the new class of ‘non-ebrities’ - those famous for simply being famous.

A desire to make obscene amounts of money, together with relentless self-promotion, reality TV and the tabloid press have created unlikely stars, like Big Brother’s Jade Goody and I’m a Celebrity’s Jordan and Kerry Katona.


In November last year, a couple of aspiring US reality stars even gate-crashed President Obama’s first state dinner, posting photos of themselves on their Facebook page in a bid to garner publicity. The whole premise of reality TV is that it’s about real people, which means anyone can be a celebrity. But celebrity culture is founded upon narcissism, fed by devout materialism, and often fuelled by extreme ‘recreational’ drug use.










Anna Nicole Smith was similarly attracted by the lure of media attention and a luxury lifestyle – and eventually consumed by its trappings: junk food, sex, booze and drugs. The opera, Anna Nicole, with Eva-Maria Westbroek in the lead role, has recently been running at London’s Royal Opera House, to mixed reviews. I wasn’t wowed by the music, but the show is in equal measure entertaining, clever, funny, thought-provoking and sad.


Anna’s life was a tragi-comic Cinderella of a story. She started out as a waitress, married an 89 year old billionaire when she was 26, and went on to become the bloated laughing stock of reality TV - her sole ambition to ‘party to the end of time, party like primeval slime.’ Even her dog was on Prozac. She died penniless at the age of 39, shortly after the death of her only son.



Despite her childlike charm and celebrity aura, Anna was painfully insecure and easily manipulated by those around her, especially photographers, filmmakers and her lawyer-lover. She became a pumped-up puppet of the press – the living doll of media fantasy, not unlike her own idol, the ‘sacred’ screen star, Marilyn Monroe. (Anna Nicole was deluded enough to think she was the farmed-out child of Marilyn Monroe, even though Monroe died five years before Anna was born).




It’s weird how celebrities have come to be idolized with almost religious fervour. This curious phenomenon has been captured with irreverent humour by Nathalie Queyraud, whose Defiles from Paris fashion icon rosary necklaces are now available at ShopCurious. Icons featured include Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs.








Much like the operatic immortalization of Anna Nicole, these serve to remind us of our false gods. There’s even an icon of John Galliano, except we’ve decided not to offer this for sale. But have you ever considered that dictators like Hitler or Mussolini were actually ‘supreme celebrities’?




Anyway, rather than worshipping celebrities, why don’t we save our prayers for people who need and are worthy of them – like all those affected by the horrific disaster in Japan…

Will you?

Health, happiness and other heavenly gifts

Whatever your views on the ethics and aesthetics of fashion model and celebrity images (as discussed in my post at The Dabbler), I believe that true beauty comes from within. I refuse to be told how I should look and I don’t believe in dieting. However, I do aim to maintain a healthy lifestyle, with good food and plenty of exercise. With this in mind, I decided to do something a little bit crazy – I took a few days out to attend a juice fasting and detox retreat.











It was here that I discovered how the likes of Kate Moss get their flat stomachs: Curiously, by sticking plastic tubes up their bums and flushing out their insides with twice daily enemas. This was the least pleasant part of my visit to picturesque Littleton Mill in Wiltshire.

Jiva Healing runs rejuvenating retreats all over the world, and if you’re somewhat pressed for time, they’ll help you relax, unwind and clean up your eating act in as little as four to five days.














Environmentally aware Melissa Kendall, who runs the courses is a mine of information on all things eco-friendly as far as far as sustainable living is concerned. She’s also brilliant at whipping up fabulously tasty juice shakes from an amazing variety of fresh organic fruits and vegetables in her impressively equipped farmhouse style kitchen.

















Melissa, formerly an investment analyst for socially responsible funds, is totally passionate in her commitment to environmental responsibility, and instinctively takes each of the participants under her wing. What’s more, she not only grows her own wheatgrass, but magnificently exudes the benefits of a healthy lifestyle too… she certainly has style with brains.














The retreat offers a holistic approach to wellbeing that includes healthy eating and nutrition lessons, along with cookery sessions - and some surprisingly creative ways of using natural, commonly available ingredients to make deliciously wholesome meals. These include a uniquely simple recipe for mouthwatering banana ice cream (containing nothing but bananas). Plus, there’s a chance to concoct your own fruit and veg smoothie. Mine was curiously green.





















There’s also guidance on the psychology of eating, ‘the science of happiness’, gentle daily yoga - and therapists on hand to provide relaxing massages and other treatments to help transport your mind as far away from food as possible.







I was heartened that from my window I could see chickens feeding, potentially within reach, on the other side of the mill stream…Though, fortunately, as the juices are supplemented by detoxifying herbs and nutritional powders, I didn’t once feel hungry.








Anyway, I’m feeling rather angelic, having not yet raided the fridge on my return. I might even reward myself with an upcycled Rococo style cherub brooch from ShopCurious for Valentine’s Day.

Will you?

2011, romantic pink heaven?

Happy New Year!

The ShopCurious style icon for 2011 is Dame Barbara Cartland – for the following reasons:

1) In keeping with our current nostalgia for (and desire to mourn) all things past, she died in 2000 at the age of 98. Death style is the new lifestyle, after all...

2) Barbara Cartland was renowned for her curiously unique, eccentric style and usually dressed in coral pink - a hot fashion trend for 2011.

3) She was a trend setter in other ways too, being one of the first to carry pretty little pooches as fashion accessories under her arm.




4) Dame Barbara was a working woman, with her own opinions and income from her many romantic novels.

5) She wrote extensively on the topics of love, marriage, etiquette and family values (more on this in my post at The Dabbler).

6) She was Princess Diana’s step grandmother (and therefore related by marriage to Prince William, the soon-to-be-married future King of England).

Above all, Barbara Cartland had style with brains…

Do you?

Sticks, stones, beasts and bones

This weekend, I thought it would be fun to focus on a curious new trend I spotted: primeval style. So let’s travel back to the distant past - to the dark ages and the very basics of the primordial lifestyle…

You may have noticed that ancient crafts have begun to re-emerge in design, so we’re seeing things like basket weaving, roughly carved wooden furniture, primitive looking skin and stone home accessories, along with age old decorative techniques, such as marquetry.




Unfortuately, the Primal Scream concert at London's Olympia tonight is already sold out. But you can take the opportunity to dine out in proper primeval style instead: Just pop along to Jamie Oliver’s new charcoal grill restaurant, Barbecoa, where the service is certainly bordering on the Neolithic - though the chefs somehow make even the simplest of ingredients taste utterly divine.






If you’re into collecting, you’ll have already noted the current fascination with old techniques and processes. This weekend, Albert Watson is in town for the launch of his vintage photography exhibition at Hamiltons Gallery in Mayfair, selling a selection of his most famous silver gelatin and Polaroid prints.











Watson’s photographs include this shot of Mick Jagger as a leopard, which definitely captures man’s basic animal instinct. And another, of the back of Mike Tyson’s freakishly wide neck. Incidentally, Albert Watson’s father was professional boxer, who told him that the most important thing for a boxer is to have a strong neck.




Moving swiftly on, for The Last Tuesday Society’s winter show, opening today in Hackney, Alice Herrick & Viktor Wynd, will transform the gallery into a Rousseauesque jungle “representing a contemporary Bestiary... regal beasts, enchanted forests, curious creatures and bejewelled nature. The centre of the gallery will be filled with a menagerie of taxidermied animals, from giraffes and polar bears to lion and tiger skeletons.”






For lovers of authentic primitive style, we’ve also got some rather primal curiosities of nature online, at ShopCurious – ranging from stone lizard pendants to genuine frog purses.

And, finally, don't forget to check out the curiously bestial headwear in my latest post at The Dabbler – just in case you feel like unleashing your inner caveman (or woman) this Christmas.

Do you?

On psychogeography and walking in style

With half term week approaching, many of you are probably wondering how to get the kids out of the house and how to encourage them to be a little more active? Over at The Dabbler this week, I step back in time on a psychogeographic journey to the days when children enjoyed walking. And I've come up with a few novel ideas involving books and celebrities that may help to get children stepping out in style.

The latest trends from ShopCurious also indicate that lifestyle walks are an increasingly popular way of exploring fashion, art and design districts to find out what exciting new things are going on. Read today's Curious Trends article and you'll probably want to step out on your own psychogeographic expedition...

Do you?

Royal gardens and sustainable style

The weather hasn’t been great this Summer, but the garden parties have carried on regardless. One of the most unique new events, still in full swing, is a super-duper 12-day festival of music, debate, food and fashion hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House. His Garden Party to Make a Difference aims to promote sustainability and make our natural resources go further. The event is part of the Start initiative to help people across the UK take small steps towards a more sustainable lifestyle.



London’s royal palace gardens are all magnificent, however there’s only one that, in the words of its Director, Professor Stephen Hopper, is “a leader in plant science, conservation and plant-based solutions to global environmental challenges.” The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a World Heritage site, containing the most diverse botanical collections on earth.






I last visited Kew some decades ago on a school trip. With vague memories of the sticky Palm House, a Pagoda and aching legs, I decided a return visit was long overdue. Probably not the best idea to take my elderly father along too, but there’s a useful bus-cum-train service that travels around the whole site, which is 300 acres in total – and you can hop off and explore the many attractions at your leisure.








My favourite sights are still the glass palaces, with their marvellous crystal domes. The iconic Palm House was built in 1844-48 by Richard Turner to Decimus Burton’s designs, and is possibly the world’s most notable surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.



This is surrounded by characterful heraldic figures, sculpted from Portland Stone - replicas of the ones placed in Westminster Abbey for HM The Queen’s coronation.











To me, The Waterlily House is the most breathtakingly beautiful of all. Around 150 years ago, the giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica) was the great curiosity at Kew Gardens. The plants, grown from seed collected in Bolivia, had recently flowered for the first time in England, so a sepecially designed glasshouse was created for them by Richard Turner.





When it opened in 1852, this was the widest single span glasshouse in the world, with a pond large enough to support the lilies' 2 meter wide floating leaves. The original variety of giant waterlily can now be seen in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, where growing conditions are more favourable.







There’s so much to see at Kew Gardens …I could go on writing all day. However, I just wanted to show you a few of my favourite things. Which reminds me, if you like natural bath products made from pure botanical ingredients with health-giving properties, you’ll love the unique gift set of Our Favourite Things by Zarvis at ShopCurious.








This divinely scented, beautifully wrapped organic selection is the perfect life-enhancing gift for anyone, at any time of year. But you'll probably want to add this to your own Christmas present list.

Will you?