On set with the BiBi

Is it coincidence that as soon as I met Miss BiBi I got to lay it out for a shoot with Daisy Lowe (who is stunning in real life). I really appreciated Miss BiBi's accessories so much more after I was able to touch all the delicate charms and be able to accessories clothes that Daisy wore with them. I know I went on and on about the doll house last time but I think this time around Miss BiBi's beautiful treasures deserve a post on their own.

A day in the palace

Now that London is back to its bad habit of annoying rain one can only reminisce about sunny days spent with Stone Henge friends at Hampton Court Palace. Posting my food pics just now reminded my of my tea with Tommy today. Notes from Fashion Ambition on Tommy: She lived up to my hype of blog star plus graceful and sweet person. She was very patient with me as I chattered away for a good hour about the three hundred and one project that are chugging in my life at the moment with a smile on her face. And what initially started as a proposal to lure her into one of my projects became a relaxed interview on what she does and why she does it. I have to confess I went all blog-star stalker with Tommy at one point but found the way back to my normal nature after I finished half of my extra large mug of mocha from Le Pain Quotidien.
Anyhoo food and travel is much apart of her blog as is mine, below in my photo diary of the palace.

A Hop and a skip to my Portbello

In the launch issue of Love magazine, Pixie Geldof vocally proclaimed that she hated it when people labeled things as theirs when they weren't, like my Cheerios. Which in sentence would sound like "I have to have my Cheerios". Nodding my head in agreement on the tube when reading that sounds a little silly now that I'm comfortably labeling Portobello market as mine.

But doesn't living a skip away from one of the most famous markets in the world allow me to throw in a 'my' every now and then? Selfish ownership thoughts aside last Saturday in Portobello was a funny one, seeing as a I met 3 diff people at the market for breakfast, coffee, and lunch. I'm amazed I still had room to have dinner after watching Hairspray at the theater but I did and it was great. Having visited the market a handful of times in the last 5 years I am uberly excited to be based here and am privileged to be able to explore this market thoroughly. Below is my first photo diary as a Notting Hill resident.

Note to reader: Yes I am aware that I have been photographing more food than fashion lately. I blame it on being soo excited to meet Tommy from Notes From Naive this weekend. I know I can never capture food like she does, but one can wish, no?

Vintage tin cookie boxes

Vintage stamps

What a sunny day does to Londoners

Sizzling seafood

The Stroll

Spending a day in the sweet London sun wouldn't be the same if I didn't do my usual street stroll of gallery hopping, vintage book buying, and concept store discovering. Last month's Harper's Bazaar had a great review on Cecil Beaton, costume designer, socialite, and renowned fashion and people photographer who is going to have many of his famous portraits hung in the Chris Beatles Gallery. Call me on being way to excited to check if the portraits were there, I lugged Lumz, who is fast becoming my fashion twin to the gallery on Ryder Street to find out (after being locked in the gallery for a good 20 minutes) that Cecil's show would start on the 22nd of April. I believe the right word to use on such lame occasions is .. pooy.

My annoyance was fast diminished when we walked across the street to the White Cube to find Fred Tomaselli's layered colourful works of art on the Mason Yard walls.

Instead of summing up his work myself I clipped this expert from the press pages,

"Tomaselli has always been an avid collector, regularly scouring various newspapers, fashion magazines, field guides, botanical or anatomical illustrations, for an array of images that he cuts out to collage and embed in his paintings. He arranges a variety of eyes, mouths and hands, with their various perspectives and expressions, so that they are ‘all coming together in a drunken chorus’."

Walking to Regent Street we also stumbled into the most romantic vintage bookstore I have come across so far, Henry Sotheran. It was stocked full of vintage Vanity Fair's and Cosmopolitans, each as a lil as two pounds. I bookmarked this space as a fave space to scout out every time I was in the area promising myself that I would only limit myself to two book buys each time. I ended up buying a hefty encyclopedia textbook on Cecil Beaton (with no internet at the apartment in Notting Hill one must entertain oneself). The day closed with a walk about into Beyond the Valley, a cool concept store that sells illustration, t-shirts, one-off graphic jewelry and also doubles up as a gallery and studio space.

Fred Tomaselli

Henry Sotheran's bookshop

beyond the valley