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Recent Posts

Saturday 27 December 2014

"EXODUS"...AN EXERCISE IN PATIENCE

On a brief and amusing note....we went and saw Ridley Scott's latest snooze fest:

                                            
EXODUS: Gods and Kings....
Starring:Christian Bale as Moses/Moshe, Ben Kingsley, a mute Sigourney Weaver....and believe it or not Aaron Paul of the amazing : "Breaking Bad"....as Joshua

What he is doing in this film is still bewildering to me....He is forever Jesse Pinkman, however hard he tries to shake off that mantel and even in rags and looking bedraggled you can still hear him say:
"YO YO!Moses!.....BITCHHHH...."


All I can say is this...if you haven't had enough helpings of turkey over Xmas...go and indulge in this prime Turkey and drink some Redbull...cos you are going down for a nap at some point during this film.

...Still picking the feathers out of my mouth.....pitouiiiii

Tuesday 23 December 2014

'Twas the Night Before....Before Xmas....


It is that time of year already...the night before before Xmas..thought I'd get ahead of myself before  the headiness of Xmas takes over.

May there be gifts aplenty, Champagne corks better pop! ....and may that turkey be what you eat and not how you would describe your gift!..Before you sell it on Ebay....

Enjoy the end of this year my friends:



                                        MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVELY PEOPLE!

.....come back and see me after the celebrating has died down to a dull roar...
                                        
                                                    XOXO FROCKANROLLA 

Monday 22 December 2014

Hunt for the Keffiyeh Dress Part 2: Rough Rugs

Ever since I started  posting on Instagram...my passion has grown for the unattainable featured by several "people" I have started following....
Hence part 2 of  the "Hunt the Keffiyeh Dress"...

 Which has taken me to this....
Posted by "roughrugs"....they primarily sell: cushions...and rugs....and this fabulous dress!!!


Let me introduce you to:

The "Leila K. black/white dress: one size only.....sounds good
                                                          100% Linen.....nice......
                                                          149€......I don't care.....
                                                 and.....SOLD OUT!!!!


*COURTESY OF ROUGHRUGS TUMBLR*

This was posted back in June/July 2014....obviously not available either....




So where does that leave me? Still wanting the bleedin' dress...
Any thoughts?

Check out their website:
http://www.roughrugs.com/home/

Monday 15 December 2014

Denmark's Cecilie Copenhagen:A New and Happening Designer


Thanks to my friend Ahmed. A ...I have become an Instagram addict...and that's a sincere thanks. It has opened my horizons and eyes and has led me to this fabulous new Danish designer:

Cecilie Copenhagen....who has this fabulous,eye opener collection of Keffiyeh cotton ...that takes Keffiyeh to a whole new level and not just as a "statement scarf" of the masses.
Don't get me wrong as a proud Palestinian, I wear mine with Panache ...but the use of this eponymous fabric has turned it into a must have collection.

The collection is vast and you have a choice of colours on Cecilie's online store as well as styles : short dress,long/short skirts/shorts/tops etc....






My only problem...and this is a conundrum: they only come in tiny sizes!!!!!!
Size 1: 34-36 EU
Size 2 : 38 EU.....
SERIOUSLY?.....Hmmmmmm???!!! Please don't tell me that Cecilie is a sizist? 
Sizes : 40 42 and yes a 44....are seriously neglected and only happen to be the healthy sizes for the general female population out there.
Haven't we been told by the lovely Meghan Trainor that it is "All about that Bass...no treble"? Huh? No truer words have been spoken.
Still.....


Unless they size super big!!!.... I  shall remain a disappointed  bystander who will not  be able to purchase anything from Cecilie but  will have to content myself  to admire the pieces from afar and suggest to my young, lithe friends out there like lovely Stephanie and Mael B, gorgeous Melanie S in Miami...(and I could go on)...to check this out.



http://www.ceciliecopenhagen.com/studio

Available at retailers in Denmark,Belgium, Germany and at Browns in London: South Audley Street W1


Snifff......



Wednesday 10 December 2014

Boogie Wanders-land: The Andaz, Amsterdam


This is the reception taken from the bar/tearoom/ hotspot in Amsterdam...Have you ever seen such magnificence?

Let me show you some more:


This was taken from the elevator....take a good look at the wallpaper....pure genius.

So before I bombard you with more images,let us take a minute to chat:
I was whisked off by my sister for a "Gals Getaway" to beautiful Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago and we stayed in this former public library: The Andaz on the Prisengracht.
It is in the heart of town and the Prisengracht is it's beating pulse along of course, with the other "grachts"...Heren and Kiesen.

Who would not want a view on the canals when in Amsterdam and a view we got:

...along with some mind boggling decor by Marcel Wanders....I am a HUGE FAN! What he did in this hotel makes the Andaz New York seem faded and worn (and I stayed there a couple of years ago) as well as outranking it in the service and hospitality department tenfold and Lord knows how the Americans pride themselves on that.


Behind that glass door is the shower, the sink is in the room but part of such clever design that you want to wash your hands constantly because it is a marvel and a pleasure.


Funky but fun and refreshing and clean...the whimsy was certainly not lost on me:




This lil piggie is part of a wall panel with many other animals...who would want to go to market when they can stay here ...at The Andaz and be part of this amazing trip.





This wallpaper is in the toilet and will provide you endless hours of reading material as it tells the tale of Amsterdam in sections ...you may never leave,but leave you must or carry your haemorrhoid's in your back pocket.

I truly felt like Alice in Wandersland...enchanted,beguiled and embraced.

The ride up and down the glass elevator was worth every trip:




Seen enough? Come Boogie with me in Wanders-Land...it is worth the trip alone to stay in this hotel, to eat in the gorgeous restaurant and to ride in the elevator and stare at it all in wonder.


I shall leave you with my final image: me grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat.

Monday 8 December 2014

MAMA BROWN AND HER 72 DESIGNERS

Walking into "Mama Brown's Pop Up Store" in the old postal sorting warehouse on London's fashionably eclectic King's Road was like walking into Ali Baba's cave after a psychedelic trip into the past when Hyper Hyper reigned supreme on Kensington High Street back in the 80s.




To our right was an impressive throw back of Punk/Goth/Parakeet ...a surly young man with long black hair, wearing a coat of pink fur so expansive that the whole looked exotic as well as a little scary. I am sure that anyone who knows this person will probably attest to him being:
" A sweet guy, a pussy cat"...
I gave him wide berth and almost bumped into his female counterpart on our left: Mrs Punk Rock circa....then  and not very welcoming either...or maybe it was because it was late on a Wednesday evening and she and her friend were tired of being ogled at.

BUT! This by no means should detract from the experience of Mama Browns...eclectic it well is...Punk caps, colourful furs leading you to jewellery encased in "DO NOT TOUCH" glass cabinets....only to find that you come to a drafty corridor with some clever Calligraphy artwork leading further still into  a surprisingly massive den of art,design and Middle Eastern cuisine!
And that is what threw me...the Middle Eastern theme that I was hardly expecting let alone seeing the mom of someone from my past,sitting with headscarf and glare that she has always sported beside another lady selling her wares ...where have I landed?
My past????
Ahead of me I see a sign for Tania cashmere...Tania Laurie and I went to school together here in London many,many years ago. We were besties then and lost touch until the miracle of Facebook....when does Micheal Aspel jump out and say:
"Reem! This is your Life!!" and hand me that blessed red book!!!




There is jewellery by Tateossian, Neville Hair and Beauty is on hand, funky cartoon pop tshirts with Arabic "Boom" and "Shebang"...not that I can read Arabic but was told so by my faithful companion Omar B.
We met and chatted with a very sweet Canadian, Lebanese handbag designer called Nathalie who told us about all her trials and tribulations. There was also fabulous photography from Noura Al Sakaf...most of which was already sold and understandably so...Stunning.

It is fun and there is lots to see and buy...so get to it before it closes it's doors by the 10th of December, we were told by Nathalie..unless they have extended it by popular demand.





Friday 5 December 2014

The Japanese Diamond System....Hair we go again!

 I have been a slave to my hair since puberty; I would wind a gauze bandage around my blow dried ...long... thick... curly hair and slept with what felt like a furry rod . The next morning and upon the unravelling; my hair was controlled and lush...my neck on the other hand needed a brace BUT! off to school I went not looking like Diana Ross who had been dragged through brambles but a happy teen with lovely hair.

Fast forward many years of bi-weekly blow dries/blow-outs:burnt ears and scalp to all the latest fads to get my hair under submission and control.

Yuko: done....Ramrod straight hair after 5 back and ass debilitating hours with  Manolo my then Spanish hairdresser whose accent was as thick as molasses and kept calling me "Ren"...
"It's Reem"...
"I know..Ren"!!
It cost a fortune and looked like crap when my hair started growing out.

To cut a long....long...agonising story short: I did it all....

And now I simply get it relaxed at Junior Green's in Knightsbridge... With a yearly Brazilian thrown in for good measure before summer... I spend less time at the hairdresser and get out by lunch time for a glass of Pinot as opposed to twilight and a handful of Nurofen.


Now there is a new kid in town :The Japanese Diamond system available at Eleven Hair Salon which uses a new technique for our unruly tresses : ultrasound.

Apparently this only takes an hour while the ultrasound pushes healthy ingredients such as: argan, jojoba and rose oils into the hairs' cortex thereby smoothing the cuticles into a glass like shine. Then you are free to push healthy doses of Prosecco into your system followed by a delightful lunch.

It costs £85 and results last about 2 months....cheap as chips compared to the rest!

Get thee to Eleven Hair: 11 Blenheim Street, London W1 ( 020 7491 2390)...minutes away from Bond street station.




Latest Resort by CHANEL

I walked by the Chanel boutique in Brompton Cross, London with my dear friend Omar the other day....after a nice lunch at Aubaine might I add(BTW the soup the jour is more like the soup du month...delicious as it is).
...and what caught my attention ? Not the Boy bag on everyone's arm,nor any particular item for that matter... just the cacophony of colours,flimsey fabrics and some seriously hideous "baboush" like shoes on the mannequins.

This apparently is the Resort collection..more like last resort... judging by what we saw in the window. It didn't look good,it didn't look chic and it didn't look like Chanel! 

Then I came across this fashion spread from Marie Claire and thanked God for stylists! Because there is cohesion here,not a collection of "expensive rags" as well as some pretty lovely shoes that don't look they come from The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

Have a look for yourselves:






My personal favourite by far is the "keffiyeh" print silk lace jumpsuit worn under the tweed jumpsuit...(lotta jumpsuits at once, I give you that...)
Pray to God you don't have a hangnail as you ease the silk jumpsuit on...at £4,480 there is no going back.

So what did I learn from this? That sometimes window displays just don't convey that intended look?.....or that the said "look" was simply not working as intended and Chanel need to rethink their display.

Moving on....

Sunday 23 November 2014

"Cousin It" Does Xmas....

Ever wonder what Cousin It ...(from the Adams Family) looked like at Xmas?
........
No?.....

Well,in case you did,look no further I have found the answer for you:



And this is by Prada.....I kid you not.



Wednesday 19 November 2014

HIDE & SEEK.....



Have you herd.....The Urban Cowgirl is back in Vogue..if only in little touches here and there...total look is overkill and roadkill,my friends!

I am loving the cheetah print Mary Janes with a twist : front and centre by Bionda Castana..in fact Bionda Castana is the new Manolo (in my eyes...)vibrant and fun and the right side of expensive.

Then again is there a side in expensive to take?






C'est Qui?....CELINE!


Sho' Nuff must be love.....

Not that I am a Yellow kinda gal....but it is a mood lifter, something that will take your greys and your leopard prints to a sunnier clim.

Pump those biceps,cos it does look like a heft to schlep....not that anyone will be complaining when this makes its way under the tree....Gym membership included natch.

Nuff said.



Sunday 16 November 2014

Do You Remember the Time....



















This is a BLAST from my past and a pleasant one,I might add.

I came across this page in VOGUE SPY  and did a double take:
The thick argyle cardi worn on the model above is a Vintage Ralph Lauren...and how do I know this?
I own one,the very same and I can even date it: 1980..the year I went to boarding school and my mother spent a fortune on my designer trousseau...I mean wardrobe!
I have never wanted to rid myself of it and despite the fact that I washed it last year and stupidly put in the dryer...I HAVE A WOOL CYCLE!
It's ok tho' not tip top but ok.

Nice to see that it can still command attention...in Vogue no less.

Now let us move our collective attention to the jeans worn by the very attractive lady on the right: Been there,did that and NEVER NEED TO DO IT AGAIN!!

Seriously! Are transfer jeans back in fashion? Didn't the Gods of Fashion have any ideas and sort of pulled it out of a hat...as a dare????

Urgh...at any age ...what goes around,doesn't need to come around ad nauseum.







Sunday 9 November 2014

Have You Been " Keeping Up With the Kardashians"?


I don't watch the show...I have tried to...but I find it excruciating and cringe worthy. So I content myself with reading the gossip here and there..and get my kicks from "Route Kardashian" when I am bored and it is raining outside.

I don't get Kim and her obsessive need to fit into the "Elite" fashion circle by dressing like David Banner while he is bursting into his alter ego The Hulk...all Kim's expensive clothes are either bursting open with bounteous,bronzed boobs on exquisite display or she is squeezed into turtle necks and tube skirts and looking like a tube of toothpaste....a beautiful one.



Which brings me to this point:
Kim says that "She has never felt sexier than when she became a mom" and Kanye's spouse....

Ahha,okayyyy....sure and why not? She is entitled to it after all and good on her.

So in that case I believe that the sentiment is contagious and has spread towards her step dad.....

Bruce Jenner: is definitely having a Renaissance moment...




He is channelling his inner or rather outer Cindy Crawford and going for gold!
I would suggest a less brassy colour for his long locks and a revitalising mask for his straggly ends.
The nail polish is  all wrong here...he needs to go a deeper darker red....

Glamour is as Glamour does after all.

Friday 31 October 2014

Collage Mood Board


Monday 27 October 2014

Puttin' the Fun back in Fashion


I came across these 2 ad campaigns and they stuck in my mind:

BIG/BOLD and COLOURFUL


More than this...they put the Fun back in Fashion ad campaigns..that of late have been run of the mill: SULTRY,SEXY and POUTY....


I give you : " Fly me to the Moon "..by Moncler


and......

"It's raining men"....by Hunter.



Thursday 23 October 2014

WANG ...Bang ...Thank You Mam!





It is that collaboration time of the year...and it wouldn't be complete without an H&M meets Alexander Wang!
Now Alexander Wang has his hands busy designing his own line as well as the luxury line Balenciaga...but when the opportunity arose to collaborate with H&M...he jumped on the bandwagon.






Needless to say,he joins a long list of designers who have created a capsule collection for them, but apparently his will be different as he will be designing pieces especially for them instead of "reworking catwalk designs."




Very sportswear orientated, this will appeal to many,models included who need that "off duty" apparel.
These photos obviously don't do the collection justice and may cause you temporary blindness due to excessive squinting....so I suggest you visit:
hm.com from 6 November 2014 for the collection...
Or dust off your sleeping bag and get ready to queue.





Sunday 19 October 2014

What The Blazers!....


Max Mara will give you; classic tailormade to measure blazers for your pleasure.
And at what price?...just a tad over what you would have to pay for your gold filigree bra at La Perla...prices start from£880.
They are limited edition and take : "345mns" to make...
That's precise.


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Seriously Smitten with SACAI !!!




I have the pleasure to introduce you to a designer that has made me stand to attention: SACAI.

Sacai designer; Chitose Abe is a former designer at Comme des Garcons,where she worked for 8years before launching her label in 1999. Her collections are made in Japan and her "multi-dimensional designs" are as complex as they are innovative.








Why it has taken me this long to come across her is a mystery to me...but that Selfridges has given her a corner... is an absolute coup.
This is a designer worth her weight in "beautifully constructed and intricate detail" gold. Each piece that I have seen for her Autumn and Winter collection has given me goose bumps ...sensational.
The wool pleated skirts with hidden short trousers: photo 2 ...had me at "Hello there!"....only hiccup for me is that it isn't lined. For a person that cannot wear wool on her skin..this is an unfortunate turn off and especially at that price. 
But! It hasn't deterred not distracted my attention. The items are a little heavy,all the work that has gone into certain items can be felt in the heft when holding up the hanger...but boy! what hanger appeal it has.
It has been a long time since my antenna has come up....I used to feel the same love for Yohji and Miyake...Sacai is up there with them.


Available at Selfridges and online at Netaporter and Farfetch.

Seriously smitten






Friday 10 October 2014

Your Golden Cups Run'eth over....


It was only a matter of time before somebody spun a bra from gossamer wings ...that is 24-carat gold to you and me...
...and that someone is La Perla....
In all things lingerie,they should know their cup size from their bra straps but at £6,5oo a bra (matching briefs coming in at a whopping:£1,300...) someone is going to get their knickers in a twist!

Handwoven in La Perla's Bologna atelier,the bra is a web of filigree gold as fine as it is precious....it is created to your measurements and should :
"...feel as though you are wearing nothing."
Well that would all depend on your cup size,my dear...as light as your boobs are,the lighter the bra will feel. Anything over a DD and you are in for a world of pain and a national debt the size of Nicaragua.

NB: The bra needs gentle care when hand washing...hand washing? Are you serious?! The bra will have to be DHL'd to heaven,dry cleaned by angels and sent back down to earth. 

Tuesday 7 October 2014

CELEBRITIES in FASHION PART 2

No...this isn't a scene from "Downton Abbey"...

But it sure is Damian "pucker lips" Lewis on a break from "Homeland" and back in Old Blighty.



"Et Tu... Aquascutum?"

GIGI HADID: PALESTINIAN/DUTCH NEXT TOP MODEL.... IN THE MAKING.

 If you haven't heard of Gigi Hadid...you haven't been paying attention....and the latest ad campaign from Tom Ford should immediately remedy your oversight.
She is the one with the wild head of hair staring back at you....

Gigi Hadid 's mother is the former Dutch model: Yolanda Foster who is now one of the cast members of The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills ...(the only likeable one) and her then husband Palestinian real estate developer: Mohamed Hadid (who btw..has an impressive head of hair himself....)


 She was discovered at the tender age of "2" by Paul Marciano of "GUESS" and made her debut on "Baby Guess". 
After time out for school,Gigi returned to the Marciano's and was named "Face of Guess 2012"...tawny,long limbed and baby faced,she  carved a path for herself amidst all the other golden beauties and headed for New York...
Yes! I watch the RH of BH....and saw that episode!
*GUESS 2014 WINTER CAMPAIGN*
She made her debut on the New York fashion week 2014 catwalk  for "Desigual" and you can now find her as the face for Tom Ford "Velvet Orchid".....


Can I hear a : "WHOOP WHOOP" for the Palestinian/dutch beauty?

Saturday 4 October 2014

Michelle Williams and Capucine by LOUIS VUITTON

I love Michelle Williams....

I love the softness of her image in the latest Louis Vuitton advertisement campaign photographed by the wonderful Peter Lindberg...
But.... 


I love the bag even more:
"Capucine" 
.....pictured here in "outremer/sky blue" or soft pink.....