Somerset Passion & Fashion

It seems the notion of six degrees of separation is bringing me and Alice Temperley ever closer. Given her parents have a cider farm in Somerset and my father has recently provided a cider press illustration for a book on a Somerset family it surely means we must soon meet and chink a glass of cider ourselves.

There is much to admire about Alice Temperley, her designs and success but more importantly it is her recent collaboration with John Lewis and her Somerset range that will surely endear her to the masses. Before writing this post I popped into John Lewis to have a good look at the collection. It is true to the aesthetics of Temperley London designs and reflects an idyll of living in the country which works as well for an urban city dweller.

Cape Coat, Black (available in Camel) £299 Somerset by Alice Temperley

Somerset is a county that is often neglected being neither Cornwall or offering the Cotswold's as does Gloucestershire. Although of course Somerset does have Glastonbury! It is an area of the country synonymous with cider and apples. Somerset has no pretensions, it is an easy going sort of place and quietly gets along with its own business of farming and remaining essentially a collection of towns and villages. Unless you count Bath and Bristol there is no major conurbation still in the 21st century.

Hence the romance of the Somerset collection in John Lewis

Green long dress £150 Somerset by Alice Temperley

Yet the fashion for Somerset is not merely restricted to actual fashion garments nor is it merely the romantic conception of Alice Temperley. Somerset is alive and breathing in an amazing family tale of village life and a snapshot of social history in the book The Wrong Side of the Track

It is the opposite of Temperley's Somerset with its almost stately reverence and is a reflection of the village life of the workers, often the hardships of ordinary folk mainly in the 1920s and 1930s. Yet the same romance and magic that Temperley plays upon is captured in this book due to the interweaving of narrative and memoirs, historical investigation and reflection and ultimately the complexities of the family. Trish Jennings pays tribute to her father Fred Jennings as the last male of the family line in this book. It is all there in words in the way the popular BBC series 'Who do you think you are' can only touch upon. One of the most enlightening and amazing facts of the book is that the village of Shapwick suffered no male losses during both World Wars. There is much more to this book than mere pleasant facts as everything about the family is laid bare.

At £12.75 on Amazon 'The Wrong Side of the Track' is a lot cheaper than the Somerset line in John Lewis, but they both go hand in hand. Both are a homage to a county that is held dear to many. The rich jewel of Temperley and her Somerset designs are supplemented by the richness of exploration of Somerset village life in the Jennings book.

Therefore, I suggest you buy a dress from Somerset by Alice Temperley to look the part for the festive season and you have 'The Wrong Side of the Track' ready for January to read and digest the detail of a bygone era .

Give Me Sunshine

It has been the start of the school holidays which usually spells the onset of rain. However this time it has brought sunshine - good old fashioned proper summer holidays sunshine like wot I had as a kid. Will it last, will it heck, we've already been warned of rain and lower temperatures just when the Olympics start. But folks this week was definitely not one for blogging when the sunshine was enticing and demanding we played.

And play we did, the petit garcon and I. On Monday we kicked off with Olympic flame weaving its way through the streets of London. We had a few options for viewing it and I choose Sutton as an easy one as we could go a couple of stops and walk to the high street, rather than cycle or drive to the others which were mainly more early morning starts as well.

It was worth the wait despite it was so quick. I have embraced Olympic fever and the flag is up outside loud and proud for all the non believers to mutter as they pass en route to the bus stop. The joiners will be happy to have their views ratified.

This weekend we will be an island as we live on the London/Surrey border and are cut off due to the cycle race. I am going to have to work out the logistics to go and see it safely on foot or bicycle with the petit garcon.

The week mainly has been about the London 2012 Olympics but I have managed to fit in a book signing with a friend undertaken by Jo Nesbo at the Leadenhall Waterstones branch. If you are a fan of Jo Nesbo and I was to say he is so Harry Hole you'd know what I mean.

 See what I mean!

I leant in as far as I could and still kept it acceptable, before I entered total obsessed fan realm. Although he was still there signing copies of The Phantom when we went passed after a spot of lunch. To the horror of the Waterstones publicity machine, I walked right back in and said 'you're not still signing books! You should have come to lunch with us.' He did agree in a very nice way and of course I left promptly after such boldness, keeping it all breezy and jovial (not stalkerish).

My lovely friend as well as accompanying me to the book signing introduced me to another book James Duigan's Clean and Lean Diet Cook book. Given I am in need of a dietary and fitness kick up the backside and spurred on by Olympic fever and sunshine not to mention wishing I had a body a la Elle Macphearson for the next time I bump into Jo Nesbo (I'll stop now), I got all three of his books. The fact is I know all this stuff and nothing in his books are new, but as a reader I like to read and reference information with ease and for once I have the books that deliver what I want in lieu of being able to afford a personal trainer. People I am motivated so watch this space.

So motivated I took these most healthiest picnic to the beach at West Wittering on Wednesday. For those of you who are in the know Keith Richards lives there or rather has a house there. It is lovely and the beach is the nearest I'm going to get to Keith. I'm halfway through Life as I'm making it last as long as possible. It is the easiest book to read in fits and starts because it is so interesting. I like dragging it out as I don't want the moment to pass. The last book I did that with was Simone de Beauvoir's Prime of Life. I've read it twice and the first time I devoured it and the next time years later I did what I'm doing with Life. A really good autobiography allows you to do this. 

 The beach read option 1

 A packed West Wittering

 More packed views looking back to the Beach Huts

The look I was not sporting at the beach, hence no shots of me. It was a good read too in a voyeuristic way of looking into another life you have not lived but you could if you wanted to.. and maybe get a flat stomach. It does mean no alcohol for 14 days and then not much ever again in your life. After two days of sticking to the foods recommended, although I am not on the clean and lean kick start diet plan yet, I do feel really good and I've not done any exercise other than walk the dog. It is more of a lifestyle choice when it comes to food and drink not a calorie restricted diet, I don't and couldn't do that. There is a 6 day option which is restrictive at 1500 calories a day but it is a quick fix option when you needed it.

The petit garcon with his safe beach band. You write your mobile phone number on it in case you lose your offspring in the crowds. A really good idea but it did make me feel slightly anxious for a moment, the thought of losing him.

It was all very relaxing and as well as getting in some nice reading time I managed to earwig a fair few conversations which is always entertaining. Long may the sunshine.

Fashion & Celebrity Culture book launch

Mrs MDS loves a book launch especially in the hey days of facebook and twitter and pop up shops, a book launch seems dignified and solid. It was especially wonderful to be back in my old college. Nothing much has changed and I was relieved to find I can still get in with charm and no id card! But don't tell anyone.

En route to launch I had a sneaky peek at the Carmen - A Life in Fashion exhibition all the better for no one else being around. It really is well worth a visit and is on until the 14th of January.

I also couldn't resist sitting alone in room, in the is case the visual merchandising teaching area. I just love the classroom and being there. It is somehow detached from the humdrum of work and feels more expansive and creative.

 What's not to love

In which I place myself back in student mode with a better coat - my See by Chloe pea jacket which seems very Sarah Lund these days

 The book of the book launch! Fashion and Celebrity Culture. A wonderful academic but interesting blast through the gamut of celebrity culture. Most importantly a book that toasts cultural studies and is an example of teaching informing research. A must have if you are studying anything to do with Fashion or you have a keen interest in culture and celebrity culture at that. The Daily Mail would do well to serialise it! The enigmatic author is Pamela Church Gibson, who was my course director for my MA in Fashion & Film 

First year MA Fashion and Film student Wei Chan from Shanghai. Wei was impeccably dressed which does not translate as my iPhone pic is so poor but I must interview her for this blog. I was taken a back that she knew me before we met due to a video I made about the course, that in Shanghai she'd watch it and been interested enough to come and study here! I also need to know where she got her shoes from.

The formidable but brilliant Agnes Rocamora who has widely researched fashion blogs so we had a big catch up on how things had changed since the days when they were a mere blip on the blogosphere. I was never late for her lecturers!

Anna the book editor from Berg the publishers

My old chum photographer Lukas Kroulik 

Pamela Church Gibson & Lukas

Yours truly & Pamela - both of us are adopting the non celebrity pose. I'm gushing and Pamela is above these things! The dignified lecturer and the hapless student.

Bedside Book Bonanza

The benefit of getting presents is the additions to one's bedside reading. I'm currently reading Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything which I love. Christmas yielded 3 more to my ever growing pile of which the bottom 3 are old favourites I like to browse a lot. Proust will gather dust for yet another year I'm afraid.

What luck I got Jump - when all is dull and gloomy in January a bit of Jilly will go down a treat!

The Make Do Style Christmas Book List

Whilst Rome and London have been burning (figuratively ref political riots) I have still failed to turn a page on my bedside read of Proust. I've read magazines and newspapers in true Proust avoidance tactics.

I though it best to line up a few old favourites and a couple of new numbers to end 2010 on a reading high and begin 2011 with a book reading habit re-established. The first three are great reads, capturing an essence of the period they were written in.

1. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe



2. The Green Hat by Michael Arlen



3. The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The next two are non fiction, one of which I choose due to a need to discover more about places Dickens uses in his novels. Fashionistable inspired me to discover more about Dickens locations when we took a photo of an American over from Washington outside the Old Curiosity Shop during a project. The lovely American lady also loved the fact you could find places from the pages.



4. Dickens England by David Nicholas Wilkinson


Then there is my continued fascination and interest in the live of Marilyn Monroe. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1954) is one of my all time favourite films. Both Marilyn and Jane Russell show to great effect their comedic timing and utter brilliance as actresses. I really cannot think of any two actresses paired together now that would deliver such wonderful performances. If you haven't seen the film then make a date with it over Christmas.

5. Marilyn Monroe: Fragments edited by Buchthal & Commet

All images from Amazon.com except Street Style photograph by Fashionistable