Green

November is usually the month of the year I like the least. You could go as far as saying I hate it since it brings the worst out of Gothneburg and Sweden's west coast. Grey, rain and wind... most often all at the same time. Doesn't sound too good, does it? 

Well, this year has proven me wrong! We have had an exceptionally good November with temperatures above normal (7-8 degrees today compared to -1 in Mexico City!) and a lot of sun. The good weather have given a feeling of a lot of light. A consequence of the sun and light is that the grass is still very green! Almost nuclear green sometimes. Unusual but I am not complaining. 

The photo below wasn't taken in November but in July and not in Sweden but in France. At home, on holidays. But it's still green, right? And it's nice so...enjoy!

Grès

Last March, I flew quite hastily to France for sad circumstances and I spent a few day in Paris and the champagne region. A few days before that I had read on the Internet about a fashion exhibition about Madame Grès in a sculpture museum. That could sound like a strange idea but when you see the dresses below you realize why this was a genius idea. 

So while I was in Paris, I went there with my mum and my aunt and fell in love with the dresses and Madame Grès' genius... I mean look at that! The dresses below were designed between the 50's and the 70's but could just as well have been shown at fashion week this year. They are so modern...

The orange one is from spring/summer 1977, the black one I don't know. The grey one is a spring/summer 1956 (!!!) collection and the red one on the left is a autumn/winter 1961-62 piece.

Anyone need a wedding dress? Personally there are a couple here above I could think of for my wedding (just need to find a hubby first but that's another question, hehe). 

And speaking of wedding, I just froze when I saw the red dress here below, an autumn/winter 1974-75 model. Turned to mum and told her it reminded me of her own wedding dress. Not a coincidence she told me, my mum designed her dress herself and had it sewn by a seamstress; and she said she was inspired by this very dress. How cool is that? The dress was white though. :)

Fougasse

My breakfast this morning: French fougasse.

 

I was in Stockholm yesterday and today. Slept over at Vera's, we met a bit less than a year ago and quickly became good friends.

On Tuesday she asked what I usually have for breakfast and I answered tea, eggs, bread, müesli... what's in the house basically. :)

Guess how touched and flattered I felt when I came and discovered that Vera's boyfriend Patrik (whom I hadn't had the oportunity to meet yet) had baked some bread, some French bread for me! It was so good: "miam miam" as we say (like yummy in English).

Thank you Vera and Patrik!

Chanel and I

That I love fashion is everything but a mistery for people who know me. But you might not all know when it started. Well, early. Very early. The Chanel ad below came out in 1992, I was 13 then. I didn't know much about Chanel then (my mum was still wearing Guerlain at that time, she changed for No 5 much later) and I didn't understand everything but I was just fascinated... It is so aesthetic! And the music is special, almost hypnotising.

Another Chanel ad I remember well from my childhood is the one for the male perfume Egoïste (which means selfish). Again, very aesthetic, very geometric this time as well. And a staccato rythm that makes it a bit hypnotising too, according to me. What I never realized then and which I discovered in Geraldine's post today is that they are reciting verses from Le Cid from Corneille. I might be because I first studied the book a couple of years later, hehe!

And you? Do you remember these ads or other ones from your childhood?

London

So, as I told you in my previous post, I went to London the other day. I arrived on the Saturday mid-day and departed on the Tuesday again around lunchtime. 2 ½ days and a breakfast as a bonus. I was meeting my mum and my sister and we were staying at my cousin's place. 

The whole stay was about: food, culture, shopping as well as family time and of course a lot of talking! 

Here are a few pics of some of the things we saw and did.

The British Museum

The roof of the British Museum

A typical local pub where we had a Sunday lunch or Sunday roast. I had a Cumberland pie with Chips (French fries) and very green peas.  Yummy!

Big Ben at night

A building with  beautiful architecture and a well-known name on it

Tower Bridge at  dusk 

The Tower of London at dusk

Happiness in a box

A couple of days ago I was in London to spend some time with my mother, my sister and my cousin who lives there. We met a her workplace and just around the corner, there is a Ladurée mini store. I remembered reading on vogue.fr that Ladurée was to launch a special box designed by Matthew Williamson so I ran there and oh joy! There was just a couple left and I got one! Isn't it amazing? 

And look at what's inside? Pure pleasure... pistachio, coconut, apple+cinnamon, rose, salted caramel, heaven!

And I love that when the box is empty (it isn't yet, I still have two or three!) then I can use to put jewels, hairpins or stuff like that.

Happiness in a box, happiness is the box!

Espadrilles

Do you collect things? I have never collected stamps or perfume bottle or anything. Shoes possibly if that is something you can collect. I don't collect them, it's just that I like shoes a lot, buy too many pairs and have a very hard time throwing away old pairs.

But with my espadrilles you could say it's a collection. They come from St Jean de Luz where I lived the first three years of my life and where I also spent all my summer when I was a child. They have a local brand making espadrillos by hand. I bought the first two pairs two years ago. The turquoise and the pink ones. They are so comfortable I love them! I used them all summer on holidays and then at home instead of slippers. So I decided I would buy a new pair every year. So last year I bought the red ones and this year the aqua ones.

Wonder what colour it will be next year...

Fashion critic

 

I know fashion editors have criticised the Dior Spring Summer 2012 show last month - which was the first one not designed by Galliano - saying it was quite boring and lacking this sense of show that Galliano was a master of.

I personally loved the show. I was quintessentially Dior, very elegant, very timeless, very 60’s but very modern. I mean look at these sunglasses!

To me, this collection was going back to the roots, going back to Christian Dior himself. It was like taking a big breath of fresh air, trying to catch up you breathe before taking a big jump. Before they get on a new designer who will incorporate his/her aesthetics, this was a true Christian Dior collection.

 How about you, did you like the collection? And what do you think about the Dior/Galliano thing?