Living curiosities at London Fashion Week

It’s not difficult to capture the essence and diversity of London Fashion Week when all around are designers, exhibitors, photographers, students, bloggers and visitors… Some are pictured here in photographs by ShopCurious.

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London's most conspicuously cool landmark?

It’s come a long way since its original conception around 12 years ago, but today The Shard will be officially opened to the public.An extraordinary feat of engineering has taken place to create the mega-monolith - just take a look at the photo gallery of the construction project at Wikipedia (see link above). During the course of the building works, I’ve also taken quite a few photographs from various angles and locations, several of which can be seen here:

Despite what the advertisement hoarding next to the Shard says, there’s no longer any need to travel to America - at least not to see the towering, shimmering glass of colossal high rise buildings.What’s more - the Shard is so conspicuous, it’s difficult to escape from, wherever you are in London...

With penthouses on offer at around £50 million apiece, the residential accomodation on offer is a tad pricey, but if you’re looking for something tall, with a bit of English provenance, how about these curiously collectable twisted wood antique candlesticks from ShopCurious? I’m not sure how well they'd suit a contemporary apartment in The Shard, but if you love old fashioned British style and subtle lighting (as opposed to laser light displays), these may be just what you’re looking for.

 

Are you?

Starry summer style...

Well, at least we can’t say we haven’t had a summer. There was one blisteringly hot day last week in London, which coincided with me being stuck inside the Royal Albert Hall. Not that I’m complaining, as I was there for a George Benson concert.

It was actually quite cool before the audience arrived – but 5000 people or so later and it was quite a different matter. George was on amazing form – with his sultry-smooth voice and dexterous guitar skills. He’s no spring chicken, but his performance was incredibly energetic for any age.

Afterwards, I got to meet some of the band members, including sensational drummer, Oscar Seaton.

It was a great honour to meet George Benson too – in fact I was totally captivated by his beautiful eyes…

When, in my stunned state, I walked out onto Kensington Gore, the Albert Memorial rose up in front of me like an apparition.

 And then Dustin Hoffman appeared out of the blue, looking like he’d just flown in on the red eye. It was curiously surreal to see him, let alone hear him say, “Look, I can’t stand around all night while you fiddle about trying to work out your camera.”

 

Anyway, if you’d like to add some starry summer style to your life, how about one of these copper, quartz and crystal cluster rings from ShopCurious?

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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?

Flying towards Father's Day

As well as the boats in the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, I was also lucky enough to get a grandstand view of the Red Arrows fly past – and a few photographs, though the weather conditions weren’t ideal.

After the planes had flown down The Mall and over Buckingham Palace, they suddenly turned around, travelling in a southerly direction across the river…

They got closer and closer…

And then they whooshed directly overhead.

It was quite a surprise to see the planes coming over so low – a tad scary even. As is the fact that I’ve just realized Father’s Day is little more than a week away…

If, like me, you haven’t even thought about it until now, you may be interested in the selection of vintage 1950s cufflinks at ShopCurious. And, if your dad’s an aviation fanatic, I think these curiously aeronautical cufflinks would make the perfect Father’s Day gift.

Do you?

Diamond Jubilee, Chelsea flowers and tea

I had to capture this photograph of an elderly couple picnicking by the bandstand at the Chelsea Flower Show. For me, the image conveys a sense of love, loyalty, friendship, traditional values and shared memories - the sort of essence of the Diamond Jubilee.

Now cast your mind into the future. How will the scene look in 20, let alone 60 years time? Let ShopCurious know what you think.

Will you?

PS See more photographs of Chelsea’s eclectic vintage British style in today’s post at The Dabbler.

Arty, edgy and in demand...

Does anyone else have a soft spot for old gasometers? These photographs were taken in Hackney. You can read more about Empress Coaches, shown here (and featured in the film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), at Spitalfields Life.






















I didn’t see any coaches, but I did spot this curiously arty ice cream van parked in a street nearby.





















Oh, and apparently, there’s a planning application to build an 18 storey block on this site… eek!


Another potential victim of developers is a little known shrine called Cross Bones, located in the shadow of The Shard. Read more about this in ShopCurious's post at The Dabbler.

And just across the road from the memorial this lovely, though rather neglected, old building (below) sits next to Borough Market. The sign says ‘goods inwards’ – which in a few years time will no doubt have been replaced by ‘luxury goods outwards’.












London is a constantly evolving curiosity. I hope it's changing for the better.

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Collecting memories: music for posterity

The outside of the building was bathed in icy blue light, perhaps in deference to the subject of the evening’s entertainment? I found myself thinking of the film, The Artist, as I sat silently in the auditorium at the Cadogan Hall last night. But this was a very different experience - in fact, it was almost the total opposite of watching a silent movie.












Whilst it is possible to get totally lost in music, classical concerts remain rather two dimensional – there’s just the sound we hear (though I suppose this could be described as a multidimensional realm in itself), and the musicians sitting on the stage, playing their instruments. But this concert, performed by the City of London Sinfonia, in association with the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), also incorporated photography and the spoken word - along with a small display of artefacts from the SPRI Museum, which were hidden away in one corner of the concert hall foyer.

Hugh Bonneville, of Downton Abbey fame, was the narrator in the first piece - Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Scott of the Antarctic. The readings were from Captain Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume One (of which I just happen to own a copy - and from which these images are taken).

















Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No 7, Symphonia Antarctica, was accompanied by photographs of the expedition by Herbert Ponting - historical treasures in their own right.




















And the concert also included the first airing of a new work by Cecilia McDowell: Seventy Degrees Below Zero was specially commissioned as part of the Scott 100 series of events.























Oh, and did you know that Scott and his companions found the first breeding emperor penguin colony? A proud mother with her offspring can be seen left.

Did you also know that it’s Mother’s Day on 18th March? So if you’re looking for something curiously collectable like these books, do check out the selection of unusual gifts at ShopCurious...

Will you?