Style icon: C.Z. Guest

Style icon, gardener and author C.Z. Guest

Read and see more

here, here and here.

Inspiration Monday...Audrey like you've never seen her before.

She is a style icon.

Forever.

And in so many ways.

I adore the art created by artist Sandra Smith based on the iconic Audrey photos.

Found via here.

Aerin Southampton, my dream shop

I like Aerin Lauder. 

I don't know Aerin Lauder, so best to say that I like the image she projects.

Graceful, effortless chic. 

And now she has a concept store, to put all that elegance into one place. And have us drooling over the beautiful colours, the turquoise and coral, beige and cold . Tres Chic!

This is my favorite picture of the store. When I open my own concept shop, this is how it will look like!

(Wait, it does look like the store we had! Oh OK, it'll be even better next time!)

All images via the web at  Habitually Chic, Pilar Rossi, Vogue and Aerin.

Fashion Friday-Eccentricity

Hello dear friends, 

Today je vais profiter de Fashion Friday to entertain us a little. 

 I like fun stuff, I love eccentricity. Whatever makes people stand out from the mass produced crowd.

There is eccentricity that goes with style. 

 Not all royal choices are happy ones to my taste, but this hat worn by the Countess of Wessex is brilliant.

I love eccentricity in men, too.

There are all sorts of eccentricity, there, of course. 

I like dandy alot,

and I also like a fresh and fun look, 

showing that someone has a sense of adventure, of inspiration and what I classify as good taste.

There is stuff I am not so sure about. 

They sit next to the bad taste crater

but I still feel the urge to congratulate their creators, because they dared put their idea into flesh

This is a shoe by Vassili Zoulias. 

Granny blanket meets traditional Greek tsarouhi shoe.

What about this one?

Reminds me of my mom's hair rollers.

Et pour finir, 

following up on this post, 

Charlotte encore!

Whatever you do, have fun!

Fashion Fridays:How to tie a scarf

Is there an element in your wardrobe that defines your style? 

It may be a colour, e.g. all black, 

a style, like long flowery dresses, 

or an accessory, such as oversized glasses. 

For me it used to be rings, stacked one on top of the other. That was the glorious 80s. 

Now it's bracelets, and come Summer or Winter, scarves.

I absolutely love scarves.

via

They add colour and pattern to the simplest of attire. 

A plain t-shirt, a jacket or cardi and black slacks for work,

a white t-shirt and white linen drawstring trousers in the summer,

there is always scope for a scarf or wrap.

A tiny triangle, a square, a long scarf, I like playing around them.

There is a range of materials and prices to choose for. 

Here are some ideas:

Apply to your style

and have fun!

Iris Apfel in Architectural Digest

I am smitten by people who are not scared by their individuality. 

People who are not affraid to express their style and personality. 

Who are affirmative about life.

Let me show you one of them. 

This is colourful, idiosyncratic, richissime Iris Barrel Apfel.

I first saw her in a Town and Country feature,

but what really made me look at Iris Apfel with more interest was her interview with Simon Doonan in Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You



This is one of the books I read and said:
"God, thank you for your very versatile creation!"

Here are some favorite quotes by Ms. Apfel

"Q: What is the most eccentrically glam thing in your closet?
A: Me. It's not that my clothes are so eccentric. It's the way I put them together"

About her husband:
"...And we laugh. You might as well be dead if you cannot have fun"

"Q: Where do you wish to be buried, and in what?
A:I would rather stick around"

Ms. Apfel lives with her husband, Carl, in a Park Avenue apartment that is every inch as colourful, bohemian and stylish as herself.

Layers of one's stuff, books and colour. A lived in space. An interior that speaks to my heart.

 Iris Apfel in her own words:

If her distinctive fashion sense attracted her first clients when she set up her own design firm after the war’s end (“I guess people thought if I could decorate myself I could decorate a room or two,” she comments), it was her eye for unique furnishings and objects, as well as her facility with color and texture, that brought her instant success.

“People write to me: ‘You’ve changed my life!’” She pauses for a minute, bending over to adjust a passementerie-covered throw pillow before affirming, “I’m giving them permission to be individual again.”

Throughout history clothes represented who you were; they are a great vehicle for explaining who you are.

I used to take those beige cardboard tubes that are used for masking tape and draw designs on them with black pens and wear them as bracelets. I have a whole collection of those. You can make all kinds of wonderful stuff. All you need is a little imagination. I don’t know what happens to people’s imaginations. We have it when we’re young, but so many lose it when we grow up.

'I mean, I think whimsy and fancy are so wonderful. Everything is so grey outside. So you might as well have a little fun with what you can.'

Her own style icons:

Millicent Rogers

Rosalind Russell

{ The Iris Apfel Architectural Digest interview here and her appartment here, as told to Mitchell Owens, photographed by Joshua McHugh}.
Another interview at The Telegraph here.

Read:



Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel

Ines de la Fressange-Son style

Ines de la Fressange
Originally uploaded by The Happy Turtle

Perfect skin.
Amazing hair
And clean teeth. A lot of women forget about that.
There's a lot of fun to be had if you are not afraid. It's great to have a beautiful bag.
If you are wearing an army-surplus coat, put it with ballet shoes, not heavy boots.
If you are in diamonds, then play them down with a matelot top. Oh, and never wear fur.
Keep an element of punk in your wardrobe - always. Even Chanel was a bit punk; the way she wore jersey and fake jewellery was a rebellion in her day.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you have never put a foot wrong, you're probably too set in your ways.
Look for alternative ways of expressing what you feel: you may not want to wear a fluorescent dress, but how about a pair of tangerine patent shoes?
Dressing head-to-toe in expensive clothes can be as big a mistake as always wearing cheap ones. At every age it's far more effective to mix things up. I like it best when it's not obvious where my clothes come from.
Be open-minded about new labels. It's great to have tried-and-tested ones, but thanks to my two daughters I'm also a regular at H&M, Gap, Isabel Marant, Aspesi and Vanessa Bruno.

(Propos recueillies from The Times).

Ines Legion d' Honneur

French style icon Ines de la Fressange is to receive the Legion d' Honneur award. The ceremony will take place in Paris on the 18th. There is apparently a certain controvercy as to wether she is "worth it". LOL! There are very few women who epitomise French style, a certain insoucience and Joie de Vivre more than Mme de la Fressange.

On October 2007 I have written a post about Mme de la Fressange with photos of her and her daughters at home. Some time earlier this year I found that she had graciously posted a comment to my post! Now if that is not gallic courteousness, I do not know what is.

I first read it in this post, then checked it on the web. You may want to read this article in The Times and that one, too.


Felicitations, Madame. Avec mon eternelle admiration!

Chez Elizabeth Delacarte

People of style, of true, individual style exude effortless charm. I love individuality that is supported by a personality to match. It thus becomes fearless, self-self-confident, inspiring.





Look at that audacious orange, flirty and sensual like a juicy orange.

And that lovely servante.

I love aubergine. I used to stock a 3 seater sofa in the shop, upholstered in the same color.

I love the colours and the exquisite furniture in the Parisian apartment of galeriste Elizabeth Delacarte. You may read more about her and her trade in the Place de l' Opera, here.

(From Point de Vue)