mirrormirror

Emmys 2012: Canary Yellow Dresses

 

So you’re an uber stylish mega lady celebrity attending one of the big celebrity bashes of the year and you decide to wear a colour which is rarely seen on the red carpet but which will really make you stand out in the crowd.

Unfortunately for you, you have forgotten that mirrormirror is clearly the uber stylish mega lady celebrity’s fashion blog of choice (which is astonishing since we rarely discuss fashion) and that back in September 2011 we were discussing Caitlin Moran’s maxim that ‘yellow goes surprisingly well with everything’.

 

So if you thought you were going to stand out in the crowd wearing your canary yellow dress, you clearly had another think coming.

Can you imagine how pissed off these women were yesterday evening?

UPDATE: Oops. Just found another one.

 

Fifty Shades of Decor

 

Come and visit Christian Grey’s penthouse at the Escala in Seattle.

I have yet another terrible confession to make. I have been reading over-hyped spankbuster Fifty Shades of Grey.

 

And yes it is excruciatingly badly written, the sex scenes are repetitive and surprisingly dull, the hero is a borderline psychopath and the heroine is gobsmackingly, or rather, bottomsmackingly irritating. But yes I read it through to the bitter end (and, oh the shame, the two sequels) and yes, I will go and see the movie if they cast Ryan Gosling.  I really hate myself though.

 

 

As an aside, by far the best thing about it are these hysterical reviews on Goodreads featuring the most inspired use of cheesy animated gifs ever. It’s worth reading the books for these alone.

One extremely amusing aspect of the books, for me at least, is that British author E L James set them in Seattle, evidently without having set foot on the American continent, let alone in the Pacific Northwest, and having seemingly done most of her research from a map (held upside down) and real estate websites.

I can see the fabulous Escala condo building, where Christian has his wicked way with lip chewing, ever flushing, Ana from my bedroom window, and for the delectation and delight of the mere handful of my erudite readers who will have read such garbage, I have found some photos of Christian’s penthouse online.

And it is amazing. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

{All photos by Choi Yee Wong from I.C.E Digital Studio}

Inexplicably there are no photos of the ‘red room of pain’ though.

WTF Friday: Wenlock and Mandeville, A Retraction

 

And so the Paralympics have drawn to a close - though you’d never have noticed if you were relying on the shameful lack of coverage by NBC in the US – and Britain can go back to being its normal curmudgeonly self.

But in the meantime I have an apology to make.  Do you remember this recent WTF Friday featuring Olympic and Paralympic Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville? And how scathing I was about their godawful ugliness (an opinion shared here by the Guardian)? And how no one in their right minds would possibly buy them?

Designer Grant Hunter has always defended them against the most scathing criticism by saying that children love them.

 

 

And guess who has pride of place amongst the very special stuffies who get the honour of sleeping with the Minx?

And who did we spent hours chasing after in London? (Though unfortunately we didn’t make it to Regent’s Park to find Sherlock Wenlock).

 

 

The Minx adores him. We have four in total, in various sizes and colours.  The kids we were staying with in London adored him too.

Grant Hunter, Wenlock, Mandeville. I apologise.

Pinteresting

 

Or a small study in the effectiveness of social media.

This past weekend I had the most blissful time at ‘Patisserie Camp’.

I was hoping to blog my pastries this week, but with the Minx now home from school for the NEXT. THIRTEEN. WEEKS (heaven help me), and with us heading off for a mummy and daughter long weekend in Victoria tomorrow, the processing of the over 800 photos I took is taking some time.

She’s off to camp next Monday though, so normal blog service will be resumed then.

In the meantime I leave you with a small but intriguing study in the power of social media and Pinterest in particular. Remember the cake I made a week or two back?

 

 

Well ever since I posted it I’ve been getting a small but gratifying bump in traffic to mirrormirror thanks to a few blog readers posting it on Pinterest (thank you whoever you are). Until this weekend, when it absolutely went through the roof.

I checked back on Pinterest (did you know that if you look at something which has been pinned from your site you can see ‘Also From XYZ.com’ to the left?) and this is what I saw.  Suddenly the cake had been pinned and repinned literally hundreds of times.  It had gone viral.

 

 

I’ve been looking back through all the pins and can’t identify the ‘tipping point’ when it all went crazy. Suffice it to say that I yesterday I had 6x the blog traffic I normally get and the craziness shows no signs of abating.  To put it into perspective that’s about 3x the traffic I got when Salon.com mentioned my Kelly Wearstler Go Fug Your Room back in 2008and that abated after about a day.

I mention this not to show off - I’ve actually been feeling like a bit of a fraud since I found the original idea on Pinterest, in a picture that had been repinned maybe two or three times – but because now I finally understand why big brands and big bloggers court Pinterest so assiduously.

I’m fascinated to see where my little cake ends up, what happens to blog traffic over time and whether any of the hordes of people stopping by turn into regular readers/commenters.

And you can probably expect a lot more images of photogenic cakes in the weeks and months ahead.

Update: Yay! I don’t feel such a fraud any more.  The source of the original idea has been tracked down to I Am Baker. The original pin just said ‘uploaded by user’ so I couldn’t get to the source originally.  So happy to be able to credit the right person.

The Story of a Cloak

 

I didn’t mean to write any more about the Queen’s Jubilee outfits – I’m sure you’re all Jubileed out by now – but we were discussing  the cloak the Queen wore at Monday night’s concert in the comments below and it sent me down a delightful little Internet rabbit hole, from which I emerge with these pictures.

Here is the Queen on Monday night wearing a very elegant black wool cloak over her sparkling gold cocktail dress.

 

 

It reminded me of the famous Annigoni portrait of the Queen as a young woman wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter.

Here is the portrait in question with the stark dark blue of the robes throwing all the attention on her delicate pale skin (goodness that woman has a flawless complexion) and the wistful expression on her face.

 

 

Apparently Annigoni was inspired to paint it this way when he was with the Queen making preparatory sketches for the portrait and she said casually, in French, ‘"You know, when I was a child, I used to spend hours in this room looking out of the windows. I loved watching the people and the cars down there in the Mall. They all seemed so busy. I used to wonder what they were doing and where they were all going, and what they thought about outside the Palace." And as she spoke her face lit up with the exact expression – youthful, almost child-like – which the artist sought.

I then discovered that Cecil Beaton (who had taken her coronation pictures) deliberately tried to recreate the Annigoni magic with this 1968 photographic portrait. He wanted to show the Queen as a person without her jewels, costumes and fancy regalia, and so asked her to wear a simple admiral’s boat cloak, to enormously striking effect.  Recognise the cloak?

 

 

Finally we have a picture from the infamous Annie Leibovitz photo shoot in 2008, where the Queen was apparently in a rather grumpy mood, even if she didn’t in fact storm out as was rumoured at first.

This was the last picture of the day (Leibovitz was only allotted 25 minutes of the Queen’s time – imagine the stress!) and the Queen, after being pictured in various sumptuous evening gowns, pulled on the simple black cloak once again.  The resulting image was then digitally superimposed over a brooding picture of the palace gardens taken the day before. 

Yet again it’s enormously arresting, though was famously called ‘vampiric’ by one critic. There are other spectacular photos of the day with the Queen in full rig, but it is in this one, without her tiara, jewellery or furs, where she looks most fearsomely majestic.

 

 

One simple cloak. And one fascinating story. Which portrait do you like best?

Queen of Diamonds

 

It’s been a long and gruelling Jubilee weekend here on the West Coast, with 5.30 am starts on Sunday and Tuesday, and the consumption of rather too much champagne, Pimms and Prince William’s favourite chocolate fridge cake.

 

Early yesterday morning I was sitting bleary-eyed on the sofa with the Minx and my friend and fellow monarchist Lilian, being lulled gently back to sleep by one of commentator Huw Edwards’ monotonous monologues when the Queen finally appeared looking radiant and very, very sparkly.  Immediately the sofa contingent jerked awake.  What was that utterly stunning brooch the Queen was wearing?

It turns out that, when deciding what to wear for the last day of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the Queen recalled that she is the proud owner of the nine major diamonds cut from the Cullinan diamond, the world’s largest diamond discovered in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century and presented as a birthday gift to Edward VII (at the risk of sounding churlish, why don’t *I* get gifts like that?)

Inexplicably she declined to wear either the Imperial State Crown, which contains the Cullinan II diamond or sit in her carriage waving her sceptre which contains Cullinan I, the Star of Africa, the second largest cut diamond in the world. 

Instead, and obviously as some sort of austerity measure, she made do with wearing the brooch made from the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV diamonds, a mere 94.4 carats and 63.3 carats respectively and conservatively valued at some $120 million.

 

 

Wouldn’t you be just terrified parading round the streets of London wearing that? Fortunately we were spared the sight of her Majesty crawling around the floor of St Paul’s on her hands and knees looking for the brooch she’d just dropped under her seat, which is undoubtedly what would have happened if I were Queen.

It is an utterly amazing brooch though, with an almost contemporary appeal in its stark simplicity - these diamonds don’t need any fussy curlicues or smaller stones to enhance them, unlike many of the Queen’s other diamond pieces.

 

You’d be smiling too if you had that brooch

 

 

And I loved how the Queen’s beautiful outfit of palest mint green was designed to show it and her off to the max – the heavy embroidery, crystal beading and contrasting soft chiffon drapery were exquisite and it was so refreshing to see an eighty six year old looking every one of her eighty six years and yet still be stunningly beautiful. The shoes were of course dreadful, but we can’t have everything.

 

 

For future reference, just in case you find something similar in your back garden, this is what the uncut Cullinan diamond looked like before it was divided into the 9 smaller cut stones. Apparently it was initially tossed out of the window at the mining company where it was found, because no one believed it was possible to have a gem quality stone of this size.

 

 

Buckingham Palace is putting on a display of the Queen’s personal diamond jewellery this summer, including all seven smaller cuts from the Cullinan diamond, and some spectacular tiaras. Full details here. 

Happy and Glorious

 

I am so very sad not to be in London this weekend to take part in the festivities for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, as she celebrates 60 years on the throne.

 

Until recently I’d never seen a colour picture of the Queen’s absolutely exquisite coronation gown, embellished all over with symbols of the four British home nations. Designer Sir Norman Hartnell’s sketch is below. Fan Bing Bing eat your heart out!

 

Few of us Brits can even remember a time when she wasn’t our Head of State - she’s been a fixture in all our lives since we were babies -  and I’m sure no British person can even begin to envisage the country without her.

It’s going to be a huge four-day party in the UK, starting tomorrow; partly because we don’t have an annual equivalent of the Fourth of July or Bastille Day and therefore have to grab any opportunity we can to show our national pride and patriotism, and partly I think because most British people are, deep down, very fond of the old girl.

I find it amusing that someone chosen entirely through an accident of birth, (in many ways hereditary monarchy is one of the fairest and most truly random ways of choosing a head of state) so perfectly embodies many of the qualities that British people like to imagine they possess. 

Neither flamboyant, showy nor remotely glamorous, like us she can seem reserved, diffident and bit shy on first acquaintance, but underneath seems genuinely warm, honest and friendly and is apparently very witty.  We make her do some of the most boring things imaginable but appreciate that she does them stoically, without fuss or grumbling and without seeming to enjoy her enormous wealth and privilege too much.  We like that she prefers to spend her vacations under the rains of Scotland rather than cavorting on the nudist beaches of the Mediterranean (I just boggled my own mind there) and feel that it is entirely right, natural and proper that she clearly prefers dogs and horses to people.

 

 

Funnily enough, in many ways since moving to America I have come to appreciate the monarchy even more than when I lived back in the UK. 

Seems to me that an elected presidency can sometimes be a tricky conundrum for Americans, who have to reconcile their personal feelings for the man (always a man) currently in office with their respect for the office he holds and their belief in the country he represents.

In the UK we have carte blanche to loathe, criticise and disrespect all our politicians equally and without reservation (surely healthy in a democracy) while saving all our patriotism, respect and pride for the little old lady, who with immense good grace and not a whiff of personal scandal, has done everything we’ve asked of her over the last sixty years.  I personally wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Thank you ma’am and have a fun weekend.

It’s going to be all Jubilee here on the blog over the next four days, in between baking for Jubilee parties and getting up at 5.30 am to watch the festivities.

Brits lucky enough to be on the scene please comment and tell us how things are going and what you’re doing; expat Brits and Commonwealth kids, tell us if and how you’re celebrating; I’m fascinated to hear from everyone what the Queen and this weekend means to you (if anything).  Americans, will you be getting up to watch?

Fan Bingbing at Cannes

 

Last week Chinese actress Fan Bingbing won the Internet.

 

 

 

Firstly she gets to be called Fan Bingbing; secondly she gets to put tassels in her hair and look stunningly beautiful,  not utterly ridiculous: and thirdly she got to wear one of the most exquisite dresses I have ever, ever seen.

 

 

Her glorious embroidered dress by Christopher Bu was inspired by a Chinese porcelain vase from the Qing dynasty and tells stories of the Four Beauties of Ancient China. Her hair is worn in the style of a young noblewoman from the Tang dynasty. 

 

 

She and the dress are so freakin’ beautiful that I want to hang her on my wall.

WTF Friday: Tom Cruise for W Magazine

 

I have no words. 

Discuss.

WTF Friday: Ann Romney’s Blouse

 

I don’t want to get into the political whys and wherefores of this, but honestly, would you spend $990 on a blouse that looks like it’s going to bite off your right nipple?

 

{For non-US readers, this is Ann Romney, the wife of presumed Republican Presidential nominee Mitt}

Reed Krakoff Spring 2012

Actually as a bird-phobic the whole ensemble (Ann Romney didn’t wear the trousers though) makes my skin crawl. Just look at the beady eye on that thing.

WTF Monday: Wenlock and Mandeville

 

Only three days late.  One day I’ll get good at this ‘blogging to schedule’ malarkey.

So we touched on this in the comments to a recent post, but I thought it was time we properly dealt with London’s Olympic shame.

When it was announced that London had won the Olympics bid, I was looking forward to my home town showing the rest of the world why it is a capital of style, creativity, incredible design and all round fabulosity.

 

 

And then the mascots – Wenlock and Mandeville -  were unveiled (the logo I can’t bear even to talk about).  They are apparently supposed to be one-eyed drops of steel from the construction of the Olympic stadium, with London taxicab lights stuck on the tops of their heads.  Of course.  As an aside, I can’t find any reference to why Mandeville has apparently peeed his pants.

So, really, aren’t these more scary than attractive?  Is anyone going to buy them/collect them?  Aren’t they just embarrassingly lame? 

I did do a one kid focus group with the Minx and she thought they were ‘cute’, so maybe I’m not the target market here. Though the Minx’s strange taste is already on record. 

What do you think? What do your kids think?  Are these an embarrassment to London? UK peeps, are the mascots much in evidence in the run-up to the Olympics or is everyone just trying to pretend they don’t exist?

Buy Wenlock and Mandeville here if you must.

Mad Men: More On Don Draper’s New Apartment

 

 

 

It went a little crazy round these parts when I wrote my recent analysis of Don Draper’s new apartment, so for the 47% of you who watch Mad Men (and for the remaining 53%, why the heck don’t you?), here are some more great articles I’ve found online about his new digs.

Firstly the LA Times did a great interview with set designer Claudette Didul about how she put the look together, and including a list of shopping resources.

 

 

Secondly, the LA Times also did a piece on the reaction to Don’s new pad online and included a link to THIS.VERY. BLOG.  And they called me ‘astute’.  What a remarkably sensible and insightful paper the LA Times is! 

The divine Tula, shopping guru extraordinaire, wrote two great pieces.  One on how to recreate Don’s apartment in your own home and another on how you can channel your inner Megan.

 

 

And the ever fabulous Tom and Lorenzo are again doing their weekly episode by episode Mad Style round-ups, which focus mainly on the fashions, but also on the interiors and sets.  I swear only people who are more insightful and knowledgeable about the show are the writers and producers themselves.

Happy Easter!

I made a traditional English Easter Simnel cake to eat this weekend but I’m not going to have time to get the recipe up for you until early next week. Still here’s a pretty picture for you, and whatever and however you’re celebrating this weekend (our Easter is rather heathen and chocolate-fuelled it must be admitted) have fun!

Easter Egg-stravaganza

 

It’s spring, when a mother’s fancy lightly turns to how the heck are we going to decorate eggs to put around our Easter tree THIS year.

Here’s a selection of egg decorating options from my 'Celebrations’ Pinterest board.  I haven’t yet consulted the Minx on this weighty matter though.

From Martha Stewart.  I think I’d be making these if I’d got the neon thread in time.

 

 

From Stylizimo. There are loads more egg decorating ideas on this gorgeous blog, but there’s no way the Minx and I could do anything this detailed and beautiful.

 

 

 

From Home Made Simple. Not entirely sure I can convince the Minx of the intrinsic chicness of black eggs.

 

From Crafty Endeavour. Starched embroidery floss eggs formed around mini-balloons. Not sure the Minx (or I) have the patience for these.

 

 

From Better Homes and Gardens.  These could be a contender.  They fit right in with the polka dot trend and all you need is a hole punch, some double-sided tape and some glitter.

 

From Fabulous K. I think these might be my favourites, if I can get the right paints together in time.

And now I’m eggs-hausted.  If you’ll eggs-cuse me.

Mad Men: Don Draper’s New Apartment

 

Zou Bisou Bisou.

I don’t think I’m ever going to get that song out of my head.

I trust we were all watching last night?  The big news of course is that Don Draper, apart from getting himself a sexy little package of a new wife -  who I predict is going to be nothing but trouble – but has also got himself a sexy, new, not-so-little apartment.

Don now lives in the big city, away from Betty and her suburban angst and her suburban furniture (remember her er, lovely ‘fainting couch’?) in an apartment big enough that his kids can come visiting and where his wife can host wild surprise parties.

It’s a clever set.  Instead of filling it with mid-century icons such Saarinen tables and chairs and Arco lamps (unlike Roger’s office with its shipped-in style), it just feels very comfortable and of its time, very sixties, but not ostentatiously so. 

The colour scheme of burnt orange and turquoise is kept to the periphery and the accents  -  the aqua curtains, the seating out on the balcony, the orange kitchen cabinets and the gorgeous throw pillows, but the main body of the set is very brown, very boxy and very wood-panelled, with even the pattern on the curtains seeming quite subdued.

 

A little light relief is offered by the white cupboard doors, the white feature wall and of course the infamous white rug, with the occasional dark red painted door or panel, but in general the main body of the set is kept quite spare and neutral.  Even the art on the walls is quite dull and nondescript.

Which makes sense of course if the marriage-threatening surprise parties you hold are such a riot of sixties pattern and colour.  Weren’t the costumes in these scenes just awesome?

I managed to spot a few Sixties icons dotted about – the Catherine Holm enamel bowls, the Eames lounge chair, the Murano glass and the zebra-striped cushion. Did any other Sixties paraphernalia catch your eye?

And I have to give a shout out to the exquisite chandeliers in the entrance way, and that lovely low-hanging blue lamp.  What did you like most about the set?

These images show how the designers had fun with costumes, party accoutrements and accent pieces to create a mood.  I’m sure we’re going to see that mood darken as the season progresses.

I am certain the Husband had eyes for nothing but that glorious aqua Sixties vacuum cleaner in this scene.

So did you watch? Did you enjoy it? What did you think of the new apartment? Any particular objects you were coveting?  I’m enjoying how the new Mrs Draper is quite literally leading Don by the balls.  I’m sure that’s going to end up well.

Zou Bisou Bisou.

Teeny Trend: Cut Up Union Jacks

 

Today’s Teeny Trend features the newly-unveiled Team GB kit designed by Stella McCartney and a cushion I’ve recently had my eye on. 

I do like the idea of using portions of the Union Jack in designs – it’s still iconic and cool without going full on into Rule Britannia territory.  And thank goodness the Stella McCartney designs, while a bit dull, aren’t hideously embarrassing, unlike the godawful Olympic logo. I still have no clue what they were thinking with that one.

We’ve booked our flights out to London for the Olympics!  We don’t have tickets to any events, but I still wanted to be there to join in the party.  Can. not. wait.

WTF Friday

 

 

New location-based phone app Highlight was apparently the breakout star of SXSW this week.  I personally have no idea what is does because I just can’t get beyond the gruesome, migraine-inducing logo. 

Is causing acute physical pain in your customers a new corporate trend?  It’s not even a good logo – rendered smaller and without the colours - as it probably will have to be for mobile devices etc. -  it’s just not memorable in any way.

But hey, I’m talking about it and so is Business Insider, so maybe they know what they’re doing.  But does this count as good graphic design?

You’re getting this early because I’m off for a weekend in Portland early on Friday morning (not quite sure why as it is POURING with rain here in the Pacific Northwest). Any good shops or restaurants you’ve been to recently that we should try out?

It’s Back! Mad Men Season 5

 

I  can’t tell you how excited I was to see these pics go up on the AMC website.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Don Draper and co are finally going to be back on our screens.  It really has been far, far too long.

 

 

We’ve been invited to a premiere party and I’m thinking of baking a Black Forest Gateau.  I know that was considered to be the height of elegance in 60s Britain, but I’m not sure about the US. Should I be throwing Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup into a hotpot instead?  I believe some sort of cocktail might be in order too.

 

 

I had a pet theory last season that whichever woman on the show is closest to Don’s heart ends up wearing green (watch season 4, it works!), and on that basis I’m glad to see that Don is still very fond of Joanie and Peggy and has major issues with the ex-Mrs Draper.  Speaking of which, where is the soon-to-be-new Mrs Draper?  My other theory is that she’s going to turn out to be a bunny boiler extraordinaire.

 

 

So questions for you. Will you be watching? Are you excited?  Are you having a party?   What retro 60s American food should I make? Am I the only woman in the world who doesn’t want to jump into bed with Don Draper? Which Mad Men woman are you?  I’m Peggy, though my life is currently more season one Betty (without the double-life living husband).

 

Things I Am Loving: Diane Von Furstenberg for Gap Kids

 

Since we were all so rude recently about DvF’s Manhattan apartment, I feel it’s only fair to highlight the rather wonderful clothing collection she’s bringing out for Gap Kids, which hits stores on Thursday 15th (a couple of weeks later in Europe I think).  Lots of beautiful jolly prints, cool sandals and wrap. dresses. for. toddlers.  Who could want for more?

 

As I mentioned, one of my beefs with DvF is that – since I’m not in possession of a waist -  I am one of the few women in the world who is not flattered by her wrap dress.  However, I am in possession of a tall, willowy seven year old blonde who will look FABULOUS in some of these creations.

I’m seriously thinking of getting up early on Thursday to get in line, sad slave to labels that I am.

 

I also very much liked the quote from the video DvF made for the Gap website. Much food for thought for us mamas.

 

Here’s a still from the video, which I don’t seem to be able to embed. The full thing can be found here.

Will you be getting in line for your daughter?  Or maybe even yourself? (I think they go up to age 14).  Or do I really need to get a life?

Separated At Birth: Billy Crystal Oscars 2012

Finally, as Brit, it warmed the cockles of my heart to see Her Majesty take a break from her busy year of Diamond Jubilee festivities to bring her own special magic to the Oscars ceremony.

 (And yes, I do know Billy Crystal isn’t gay, but that would have spoiled the joke. And besides, I still have very fond memories of him as Jody in Soap).

Nuns on the Carpet: Gwyneth Paltrow and Shailene Woodley Oscars 2012

 

A couple more Oscars posts I think and then we’ll get back to talking about knitting.

What was with all the nuns on the Oscars red carpet? Are they doing a remake of the Sound of Music or something?

Gwyneth went all Mother Superior on us – an utterly gorgeous dress though she’s not a good enough actress to make the born again virgin stuff convincing.

While Shailene Woodley turned up as the demure young penitent.

Gloriously, and rather randomly there was even a real nun walking the carpet.  Mother Dolores is a former co-star of Elvis’ who now stars in a documentary about her life as a nun.

 

 

And speaking of the Sound of Music there were huge cheers at our Oscar party when Captain von Trapp FINALLY received his Oscar – a moment spoiled only by his refusal to lead the auditorium in a rousing chorus of ‘Edelweiss’.

Dressing in Adversity: Vicky Beckham, Melissa McCarthy, Anne Sophie Bion Oscars 2012

 

(With honourable mentions to Princess Charlene and Gwen Stefani).

Appalling things obviously happened to the original dresses the following three ladies were going to wear, but adversity couldn’t dampen their determination to attend as they fashioned replacements out of stuff they had lying about round the house.

Fortunately Vicky Beckham is tiny enough to fit into one of David's knee bandages without any need for alterations.

 

Melissa McCarthy did extraordinary things with waxed paper lunch bags, unbleached of course for added eco-friendliness.

 

Anne Sophie Bion resorted to that old friend the bin liner (trashbag if you must) and didn’t even try to disguise it. She’d be terrible on Project Runway.

 

Princess Charlene must have suffered some sort of awful accident as she made yet another attempt to escape her loveless marriage, but she still made it to the ceremony while wearing a neck brace.

 

 

And poor, poor Gwen Stefani clearly had a terrible accident with the ketchup bottle at the Vanity Fair party itself but still soldiered womanfully on.

Separated at Birth: Jane Seymour, Natalie Portman, Mena Suvari Oscars 2012

 

Every year many starlets model themselves on other, more successful, movie stars, hoping that a little of the magic will rub off on them.

 

Mena Suvari covers as many bases as she can by copying both a cartoon character AND a bird.

 

Separated At Birth: Michelle Williams and Angelina Jolie

 

Some of the ladies took their inspiration from further afield.  Both Michelle Williams and Angelina Jolie decided to channel icons of 19th century British literature.

It sort of doesn’t matter what Michelle wears, while she keeps with that gamine cut she will always be Oliver to me.

Angelina, poor girl, tried at every opportunity to divert attention from the wooden stump under her black velvet gown. Seriously, what was she thinking with all that ridiculous posing? Please tell me she was having a laugh.

Separated At Birth: Heidi Klum and Anna Faris Oscars 2012

 

Many ladies of course take their inspiration from birds for their Oscars attire.

Heidi Klum would be all kinds of useful if you were trapped in a coal mine.

 

While Anna Faris had struggled her way through an oil slick to be with us.

 

Unfortunately for Anna, Rose Byrne did oilslick black sequins much better than she did.

Separated at Birth: Jennifer Lopez and Rooney Mara Oscars 2012

 

Yay it’s that time of year again, when we break off from the normal serious business of this blog and have fun at the Oscars.

First up, two ladies who this year took inspiration from the kitchen.

Jennifer Lopez decided to pay homage to the great British baking revival by coming as a cottage loaf, albeit one who needed who needed stronger tit tape.

Whereas Rooney Mara clearly had a team of Michelin-starred waiters fussing over her bosoms for days.

 

Downton Abbey Paper Dolls

 

I know, I know.

Downton Abbey finished last night here in the US, ending on a spectacular high with a Christmas special which almost made up for the sheer ridiculousness of most of the preceding season, and you, as I know from my sobbing Twitter feed, are suffering from terrible withdrawal symptoms already.

Believe me I do understand, having mysteriously managed to watch the entire season last year *taps nose*. 

But fear not, for I bring you solace in your hour of need, in the form of these utterly awesome paper dolls from Vulture.

 

 

Re-enact Matthew and Mary’s ‘will they, won’t they?’ romance, complete with the hovering spectre of dead Mr. Pamuk.

 

 

Marvel as Thomas and O’Brien engage in deeds of ever-increasing evilness for no fully explained reason, just because they can.

 

 

Help the Dowager Countess run the full gamut of emotions from irritation to disdain, all while sabotaging Cousin Isobel at the village flower show.

And don’t forget to send all the plot ideas you come up with to writer and producer Julian Fellowes, since on the basis of this season, he really could do with some help in that direction.

If you’re also missing the fabulous costumes and sets, here’s the post I wrote about Highclere Castle during season one.

Prince William’s Chocolate Biscuit Cake

 

When planning our Royal Wedding-watching midnight feast, I decided to try my hand at  the Chocolate Biscuit Cake which Prince William had requested be served at the wedding.  I vaguely remembered having ‘Chocolate Fridge Cake’ myself as a child and thought that the Minx might like it.

 

 

I can now see where Prince William is coming from. This ‘cake’ is obscenely decadent and utterly scrumptious and also very quick and easy to make (though I imagine that the enormous version served at the wedding itself took a bit more time).

I based my version loosely on the recipe given by the Tea & Sympathy tearoom in New York and several British versions.  The great thing about this cake is that, since it’s a ‘no bake’ cake – it just sets hard in the fridge – you can be very approximate with quantities and it will still turn out successfully.

The trickiest part for peeps not in the UK will be sourcing the correct biscuits (yes, biscuits in this case means ‘cookies’ and not the soft billowy scone-like things you eat for breakfast).  The traditional English biscuit of choice would be McVities Digestives or Rich Teas – hard, plain, crumbly biscuits which are not too sweet and and a tad salty. They provide a nice contrast to the rest of the cake which is so sweet and rich.  I can find McVities biscuits in the British food section at Metropolitan Market in Seattle and all the online British food stores also carry them, so they are available in the US if you look. The nearest American equivalent is the Graham cracker but they’re not quite the same.  You could also experiment with some of the plain French cookies which are quite easily available (LU do good ones) or use a plain packet shortbread. Remember, nothing too rich, too sweet, or too fancy.

Golden syrup may also be a challenge for people outside the US. I discuss it at length here. Honey, maple syrup or corn syrup could be substituted at a pinch though your cake will taste different. Or else replace the cream and golden syrup with 14 fl oz (400 ml) of sweetened condensed milk.

Finally dried sour cherries are an inspired addition by moi, if I say so myself. The sour, chewy sweetness adds a whole new dimension to the soft cream unctuousness of the chocolate and the crunchiness of the biscuits. I would imagine that dried cranberries would have a similar effect, and raisins would do at a pinch.

 

 

Ingredients

Cake

1 sleeve (about 8-10 oz) McVities Rich Tea or Digestive biscuits, Graham crackers, or similar.  I used Digestives.

10oz (300g) good chocolate. I used Green & Blacks, two bars of dark and two bars of milk since I had the Minx in mind. More sophisticated chocolate lovers may prefer to use all dark chocolate.

1/2 cup/200g/4oz butter

10 fl oz/300 ml heavy/double cream

4 fl oz / 100 ml/ 4 tbsp golden syrup (see above)

A couple of large handfuls of dried sour cherries/cranberries/raisins (optional)

Topping

4 oz (100g) good chocolate (see above)

1 tbsp heavy/double cream

 

Method

Line a loaf tin with butter and parchment paper

Crumble the cookies into small roughly almond-sized bits.

Set up a bain marie or a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, break up the chocolate into bits and melt it in the bowl, together with the butter, cream and syrup.

When everything is fully melted together, stir in the crumbled biscuits and dried fruit if using until everything is fully coated with chocolate.  Pour it into the loaf tin and smooth the top with a wooden spoon. Chill in the fridge for around 4 hours.

When the cake is fully chilled, melt the remaining chocolate and 1tbsp of cream or milk together to make a ganache. Turn out the cake and spread the ganache over the top and sides, filling in an gaps, lumps an bumps.

Serve in small pieces. A little truly does go a long way, though the Minx (who ADORED this cake) might not fully agree.

 

Here’s a picture of the cake served at the Royal Wedding at Prince William’s request and made by McVities. They apparently used 35lbs of chocolate and approximately 1,700 Rich Tea biscuits. 

Separated at Birth - Princess Beatrice

 

A reindeer

 

Princess Beatrice of York

I’ve seen this hat compared to a beribboned toilet bowl and Gaga’s lobster, but this separated at birth comes courtesy of the Minx, who really couldn’t believe her eyes.  I love the way that the people in both pictures of Beatrice are having a good old smirk (though Princess Eugenie looked no less ridiculous).

 

 

And seriously, I know Philip Treacy is supposed to be some sort of millinery genius, but honestly most of his many, many hats on the day were awful. Somebody really should have tweaked his meds.

Separated At Birth – Zara Phillips’ Hat

 

                                Zara Phillips’ Hat                                                                                          Satellite Dish

It’s the obvious comparison of course, and in fact this was one of my favourite hats of the day, but this is just in case anyone in the Abbey couldn’t work out why the service was being constantly interrupted by garbled Chinese porn films and messages from outer space.

I also love how the Queen’s next grandson-in-law-to-be looks like such a thug, albeit a very jovial one.

Separated At Birth – Chelsy Davy

 

                       Next royal bride Chelsy Davy                                                        Busty barmaid Bet Lynch

 

Prince Harry’s date and the potential next royal bride Chelsy Davy is a dead ringer for Bet Lynch. That’ll mean beans to any American readers, but suffice it to say that she was the busty ‘tart with a heart’ barmaid in Britain’s long running soap opera Coronation Street.

Random Wedding Thoughts – Victoria Beckham

 

It seems that poor dear not-particularly-especially-in-this-company-Posh Spice is so deranged by pregnancy hormones that she forgot to remove her gown after going to the hair salon to have her pony tail clipped on.

 

Luckily for us, that means we can copy what she wore to the wedding for a mere £14.99 from Amazon. She’s also clearly of the opinion that if she slapped on enough eyeliner, fake tan and ridiculous shoes, we’d forget she was in her third trimester.

Nope, didn’t work for me either.

Hat was one of Philip Treacy’s better efforts on the day. But what’s with the hew-fangled ‘unicorn’ style of hat wearing nowadays? The Minx and I thought it was hilarious.

Royal Wedding Random Thoughts – The Cake

 

I’m super tired and still childishly excited – the family had a ton of fun watching the festivities in bed last night – but I’ll be posting up a few random thoughts throughout the day today. All in all I thought the whole thing was a stunning success, made me proud to be British and more homesick than I can possibly describe.  It’s London I miss, God love that huge, dirty, smelly, GLORIOUS city. 

I’ll get to the dress later on, but first up I wanted to share some pictures of the cake – one of the most stunning examples of the cakemaker’s art I’ve ever seen.

 

 

 

Just look at that exquisite craftsmanship and incredible attention to detail. I have no idea how they could bear to cut into it.

 

“The wedding cake, designed by Fiona Cairns, is made from 17 individual fruit cakes (12 of which form the base) and has eight tiers. The cake has been decorated with cream and white icing using the Joseph Lambeth technique. There are up to 900 individually iced flowers and leaves of 17 different varieties decorated on the cake. A garland design around the middle of the cake matches the architectural garlands decorated around the top of the Picture Gallery in Buckingham Palace, the room in which the cake will be displayed.”

 

And yes, it was a fruit cake which can, contrary to most American opinion it seems, be utterly delicious.

They’re Getting Married in the Morning

 

 

On the night of Charles and Diana’s wedding I had gone with a bunch of teenage friends to see the fireworks in Hyde Park.  It was a warm July night and London was en fete. 

I’d promised my mother faithfully that we’d get the last bus back, but after the fireworks were over and we’d squashed through the gates of the park with thousands of other people, it became obvious that there was no hope of making it home. I remember having to queue for ages outside an old-fashioned red phone box to give her the news that no, I wouldn’t be coming home, and yes, we’d be spending the night out on the street.

We found a space with a pretty good view on the Strand near St Clement Danes (the Oranges and Lemons church) and sat down on the pavement to wait out the night. My overriding memory is of how happy and good- humoured people were – everyone, even the police officers, laughing and joking, cheering every little incident, letting small kids get to the front, sharing food with people (ie. us) who had brought none. 

What we saw was nothing like what you see on telly -  just the procession trotting past us in one direction and back again the other way. There were no screens and the ceremony itself was relayed over speakers. Diana’s dress was crammed into the carriages and we hardly knew what it was like until we saw it later on TV. And yet it was one of the best nights and days of my life.

I so wanted to be in London for this day, but couldn’t make it work.  If you’re there give London a kiss and a hug from me, I’ve been so terribly homesick this week and watching the beginnings of the coverage is making my heart ache.. I’ll be staying up all night watching the coverage in bed with the Minx, wearing pyjamas and my big wedding hat.  The Minx has her favourite princess costume and tiara all picked out. There’s champagne, the fixings for a full English breakfast and and Prince William’s favourite chocolate biscuit cake in the fridge and I’ll be Tweeting up a storm, come and  find me on @mirrormirrorxx

But it won’t be the same. Sniff.

KK Outlet Wedding Plates

 

There’s twenty four days to go until the Royal Wedding, so I’m continuing our round up of rather brilliant souvenirs. In fact you’ve all been sending through such fabulous links I’ll put together a proper round up post in the next day or two.

In the meantime, these plates are extremely special and deserve a post of their own. London-based communications and creative agency/gallery KK Outlet commissioned up and coming designers to create a collection of unofficial commemorative china for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  They’re available online here and they’ll ship all over the world.

 

 

 

Royal Wedding Watch - Afternoon Tea at Harvey Nicks

 

I can’t tell you how much I want this silly but charming Limited Edition Royal Wedding Mug, which has been specially produced for upmarket British department store Harvey Nichols (oh how I miss Harvey Nicks).

 

Tragically, it seems that this mug is only available from Harvey Nicks’ Food Halls directly, on sale for £20, or will be given away as part of an exclusive afternoon tea being served at Harvey Nichols’ cafés and brasseries throughout the month of April.

I’ll be emailing Harvey Nicks to see if it’s going to be made available online, so that people in the US and beyond, including me dammit, can get their sticky mitts on one.  If you’re in the US and think there might be demand for it, can you let me know in the comments below and I’ll send Harvey Nicks a link to this post.

Help the Sun Rise Again

 

Like everyone else I have been watching events in Japan unfold and have been alternately horrified by the extent of the tragedy and destruction and amazed by the resilience, grace and charm of the Japanese people.

Many people throughout the design and crafting community are doing their bit to help the relief effort and here’s little round up of some of the most beautiful products available to purchase, with at least a portion of the profits going to disaster relief.

 

 

Jacob Cass from Just Creative Design is making the above image free for people who want to use it to create artwork and products to the help the relief effort. More details here.

 

 

thispapership is donating 90% of the proceeds on the above print to the American Red Cross

 

 

The Rusted Chain will be donating $10 from the sale of every ‘Blessed’ necklace to www.worldvision.org

 

 

 

Once these limited edition Land of the Rising Kitten block prints have sold out $1,000 will be donated to disaster relief.

 

 

100% of the proceeds from sales of the above tee-shirt will go to help the Salvation Army’s relief efforts in Japan.

 

 

Cassia Beck is donating 50% of the proceeds of her photographic prints.

 

 

All profits from the sale of the above poster to disaster relief.

 

 

All the profits from this limited edition lavender cologne “For Them’ by Parisian perfumer Libertin Louison will be donated to disaster relief. The cologne is dedicated to the town of Minami Sanriku which disappeared after the tsunami. Details here. Buy it here. 

 

These are just a few of the things I’ve come across over the last week or so. Please feel free to add links in the comments if you spot other beautiful products being sold to help the disaster relief or if you’re donating a portion of the profits from your own shop. 

Royal Wedding Watch - Knit Your Own Royal Wedding

 

Are you looking forward to the Royal Wedding?

Even hard-bitten and cynical little me is getting very excited.  What’s not to love - London and dresses and kisses and big hats.  I was even thinking of going back for it until they inconsiderately decided to hold it in April, which meant we couldn’t really combine it with a summer vacation.  Instead I’m going to have to get up at 3 am to watch coverage here on the West Coast.

Or else I may just knit these and replay the Royal Wedding for myself at a more civilised time of the morning.

 

Here’s the happy couple. Personally I’m a little disappointed in Kate’s dress.

 

 

The Queen and Prince Harry will be the other stars of the show and there will no doubt be a lot of royal corgis running round and tripping up the footmen. Though you could’ve worn a rather more spectacular hat, ma’am.

 

 

Here’s that poignant moment when William sees his beautiful bride for the first time – just loving Wills’ and Harry’s hair here. Note you can even knit yourself a mini Archbishop of Canterbury, though I’m not sure why you’d want to.

 

 

And here’s the kiss we’ll all be waiting for – with accompanying Prince Charles, Camilla (boo!) and Prince Philip figures.

The book Knit Your Own Royal Wedding is by Fiona Gable, and if I weren’t suffering from Carmen Banana fatigue I would be seriously tempted to buy it.

 

 

Lots more Royal Wedding coverage coming up. I can’t wait to do ‘Separated At Birth’ on the wedding guests.

Accessories They Should Have Worn – Georgina Chapman

 

 

Georgina Chapman, the designer behind Marchesa and wife of Harvey Weinstein, knows her fashion onions, so I can’t understand why (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT) she wasn’t beating down the doors of mirrormirror to get her hands on one of our Rose Trimmed Shower Caps.

 

Separated At Birth – Anne Hathaway Oscars 2011

 

 

                            Look at ME                                                                                              No, look at ME

 

I suspect this divides almost entirely along country lines. The Americans I was watching with and those on the forums and blogs I read seem to be saying, “Oh, but she’s ADORABLE, and she tried SO hard’.  While all the Brits were going ‘pass the sick bag’.

This is why I will never be American.  Also if the entirely best thing about your act are the costume changes then you' know you’re in trouble.

Separated At Birth – Reese Witherspoon Oscars 2011

 

Reese Witherspoon misreads the invitation that said bring your favourite beer.

 

How to Create an Oscars Dress

 

Take one of these (do sandwich boards exist in the US?)

 

 

Combine with one of these

 

 

Get out your glue gun and stick on lots of these, and these

 

 

And lo and behold, Cate Blanchett will wear it.

 

 

It’s been nearly 24 hours and I’m still trying to work out if I like this dress or not. What do you guys think? At the very least kudos to her for wearing one of the very few interesting dresses on display last night.

Accessories They Should Have Worn – Joan Collins Oscars 2011

 

 

Oh Joanie, how did you miss the opportunity to wear this?

 

Separated at Birth – Gayle King Oscars 2011

 

                                          Gayle King                                                                                                               A head of lettuce

Separated At Birth – Mandy Moore 2011

 

Every year one lucky actress wins the Come As Your Favourite Muppet competition and this year Mandy Moore drew the short straw. 

 

                                  Mandy Moore                                                                                          Grover

Separated At Birth – Melissa Leo Oscars 2011

 

                        Melissa                                                                                                     Elvis

Her speech didn’t offend me, but her peculiar broderie anglaise and tinfoil dress really did.

Separated At Birth – Gwyneth Paltrow Oscars 2011

 

                 Donatella                                                                                                      Gwynnie

Ever so slowly our dear peroxide-addicted Gwynnie is morphing into Donatella Versace. But at least Donatella doesn’t try to sing. (Why, Oscars producers, why?)

 

Separated At Birth – Annette Bening Oscars 2011

 

Annette Bening                                                                                                     A Skeleton

 

She was my pick for Best Actress (though a lot because I can’t BEAR Natalie Portman) and she generally makes good red carpet choices, but there was something rather too anatomical about this rhinestone-encrusted dress. Though a 50 year old who can wear something that draws all eyes straight to her midsection is a brave woman indeed.

Separated At Birth – Anne Hathaway Oscars 2011

 

In a night where the King’s Speech swept the major awards before it, Anne Hathaway paid her own small tribute to things old-fashioned and British.

 

             Anne Hathaway                                                            Royal Mail pillar box

 

She’s uber talented (didn’t know she could sing like that) but goodness that was just too much irritating perkiness, girlish giggling and squeeing for one evening.

Vote Early, Vote Often

 

Portrait Badge of Emmeline Pankhurst c. 1909 From the Museum of London.

 

Feeling bad today as for the first time in my adult life I’m not going to be voting in a UK Election - for some unfathomable reason we just forgot to register. I hope that Mrs Pankhurst, wherever she is, can find it in her heart to forgive me.

It’s made even worse because today is the first election I can remember where it really isn’t clear what the outcome is going to be, and so it is all rather exciting, though in a somewhat depressing way, as none of the candidates are particularly inspiring. Where is a Barack Obama when you need him?

Still we have the Prosecco on ice in the hopes that by tomorrow the rather unpleasant Gordon Brown will no longer be Prime Minister. (Champagne doesn’t seem appropriate given the parlous state of the British economy whoever gets in).

I’m going to be watching the all-night coverage via The Telly, worth hooking up to for any other British expats out there.