TATTOO TREND....

Well I never!

I am not averse to tattoos, I in fact was the first in our immediate circle to get one....or 3 ...little stars on my shoulder...
I felt like a BAD ASS..and that was about 20+ years ago...
Then in '97 on a trip with friends to Maui, we all piled into a tattoo parlour before hoping on our extremely long flight home.
For the want of knowing what to have and wanting to stay small and within my 3 stars...I asked for a Chinese symbol for : Life....I got : Light....then again it may well be : sandwich for all I know.

The tats have not faired well..I actually forget I have them.
As for feeling BAD ASS...my sister has more tats than I and she now wears the Bad Gal crown.

So....if you like the idea but haven't the cojones to go for it...here is a wonderful alternative :
a Sharpie Tat! 

1) Prep the skin with baby powder
2) Draw your design with a Sharpie
3) Set with a blast of Elnett hairspray once it is dry...

Et Voila!

The Humanisation of Victoria Beckham

I haven't been a fan of Victoria's like....ever.
But! I also know when to concede....

I watched the 73 Questions for Vogue with Victoria Beckham and...as you will see....She had me at:

DUH!

I liked her...she really came across as someone "real", away from the frozen,pouty,posy personae she has adopted to hide behind. I believe that she keeps the "real" for home and family and friends...and then dons her outer exterior in front of the camera.

Call it self preservation, call it arrogance? I call it the Humanisation of Victoria Beckham...and in my old age...I get her and am growing to like her.

Growing being the operative word,so lets not get too excited here.

I also find her collaboration with Nails Inc to be "finger licking good"...(see above photo..)
The 2 colours: Judo (orange/red) and Bamboo ( white-ish) are for her "Victoria Victoria Beckham line.
I like!
What are your thoughts....

Psychedelic or Simply Schizophrenic.....

Valentino Garavani's New collection is called and I quote:

Psychedelic Plexi 1973......

Now Valentino sold his company in 2012 to "a company controlled by the Qatari royal family ..." for a shed load of money.

Now I understand this shift in the Valentino Look..... one that baffles me immensely.

Of late nothing appeals to me in Valentino...I am a firm believer that if someone wants the true essence of Mr. Valentino they better hunt down his original lines that would now quite possibly be considered  as" Vintage Valentino" and what a regal ring to that.

Getting back to the "Psychedelic"...it is more Schizophrenic.... or even a tad Psychotic or in laymen's terms quite simply...Horrific....

 I don't get it...I don't want it and after having seeing his Multi Coloured Camouflage collection in Harvey Nichols...I felt a migraine coming on.

Oh Fashion...you can blindside me at times....

The Jewel of Style: La Petite Malle

Ain't it a beauty!

With Nicolas Guesquiere at the helm at Louis Vuitton; we are being quite literally spoilt for choice in the handbag department. And just when you think there are no more variations on the monogram theme...in comes:

                                                                    La Petite Malle...

....and it blows everything out of the competition pool.

It is inspired from Maison LV's trunks and it had me at " the 3 xxx"s....size truly doesn't matter when it comes to this mini "trunk" .

Now bask in it's diminutive glory.

LOUIS VUITTON: ...kiss your wallet goodbye & fly!

Want to hear some terrific news?

Louis Vuitton has opened it's 1st airport store in Europe within London Heathrow terminal 5's roof!!!
Do you know how exciting that is???

...Huh? Do ya?
We fly out of there almost monthly and we are HUGE FANS of LV...next to Chanel and Hermes,naturally.

So we stormed in there like Stormin' Norman during the invasion of Kuwait with the firm intention of hopefully baggin' a bargain!!!

No can do, sisters!!!

There is no price reduction if you are travelling within Europe!!! I was ready to hop on a flight to Bangalore ...but common sense prevailed.

The store is fabulous and glamorous and bling blinging in every corner....but the brakes went down on any shopping from there...

Oh Poop!

More on the Terminal 5 front ,which is undergoing a major face lift....Bottega Venetta has opened its doors there as well as Smythsons and Fortnum and Masons...with their first ever airport store.

And to top that...and this is a shout out to my friend Janet in Houston:

"Jahhhhh-net!! Can you hear meeeeee???!"

...she was inconsolable when her beloved Prunier closed down...well Fortnum's has opened their own bar food area...and it is bigger and better!

As Fredrik Ecklund would say when closing yet another gazillion dollar deal: WEEEEEEEEE !!

                                                       
                                                      (Sorry about fuzzy picture...)

DOUBLE DARE DENIM

What we have here is a predilection of Kim K's: denim on denim but without the ample boobage.

Just like the years that fly by in a blink of an eye, so does fashion come around in circles and before you know it you are faced with a dilemma:

Do I repeat this fashion performance?... I am of course talking about the "sailor pants" be they in denim,linen or cotton I have been twice around the block in these already.

But I guess if you like a style twice already....why not a third?

Fabulous denim "sailor" jeans by GUCCI: £535
Denim shirt also by GUCCI : £490.....
(Side bar: splurge for the pants, I would but the denim shirt? We all have one in our closets be it Levis, Gap or ....whatever and save that £490 for something else...Agreed?)

Barely seen but by no means negligible:
Rope and leather sandals by PIERRE HARDY : £482....
...aren't you happy you didn't buy the denim shirt from GUCCI....

Now That...I like!

I mean what's not to like?

Maxi strapless dress: £380 BOSS
....super dress,excellent price....

Bandana/scarf: MARC by MARC JACOBS
...Pop Art meets Biker chick...amazing! And at £40 a steal!!!

Who has the starring role in this image?

The gorgeous white eyelet dress by ZIMMERMANN....£1,144
If you are interested in the sweater: & DAUGHTER :£250
Ankle boots: GUCCI £655

Looks like we are heading for a fun and fancy free summer...not there yet tho' 

BLING with ZING!....

...it don't mean a ZING, if it ain't got that BLING!!!

OK OK....This is what all the fuss is about:

Here's the science:

Gold, Silver, Ruby and Diamond Skeleton Hand

By: Delfina Delettrez

Here comes the STINGER: £23,200....gotta love that 200 tacked on the end!

Now don't go rushing off like headless chickens,fighting over this...I tore out this page from a Vogue a few years ago and stumbled across it again...and was still transfixed by it. But Delfina is still whipping up a storm with her Rock/Glam gorgeous jewellery.

...and slightly more affordable too.

A Trip to Marigot Bay...this one's for you Janet.

Many moons ago and we are talking; 2006/2007...my dear friend Janet and I decided on a getaway to Saint Lucia. The destination was decided upon the fact that my travel agent at "Carrier" mentioned to me that a new resort had opened called: Discovery at Marigot Bay.

And off we went.

The only reason I am going down this trip to memory lane and I shall not bore you with the details is that I came across it in the travel section of UK Elle magazine and it has been renamed and probably bought out....

                                                 "Capella Marigot Bay"

...and upon seeing the images I was back there with Janet in the pool drinking, Lord knows what mixed with rum and having a great adventure.

It has always remained my "happy place"..you know the "go to place" when you are meditating in yoga and seeing this made me realise how much I would like to return.
Good thing is,it is being completely renovated, as you will see on their website...for we all know that returning to a place we once went to and hold such memories from can never be repeated and often times when we mistakenly do throw caution to the wind and not heed this simple warning...we are always disappointed:

Exhibit A: My sister and I returned to the Bahamas twice in a row...what a HUGE mistake.
Exhibit B: My BF "The Coach" and I returned to Montreal in November after having loved it in Sept the year before...operative word: "September"....

So back to Marigot Bay...it is going to look AMAZING!!!...

The boutique resort is a group of hillside lodges overlooking a lovely marina...each room has a sea facing balcony.
It will still have their Spa...which they claim it be "a whole village spa" now....
Adults only swimming pool....sublime with swim up to bar....Rum-ilicious!
A 2 minute free boat ride to the beach...which is literally across from the pontoon you see above and accessed by a " Boutique Kleenex" box like boat. There was also a restaurant across the way too and little boutiques too.
Fine dining is available as well as a casual waterside cafe.

So look...Christmas is over and the sales are on at British Airways and Virgin Airlines...what are you waiting for to book your next adventure?
"An influx of spending money"...says my bank account....so unglamourous.

Visit : www.capellamarigotbay.com for more info don't just take my word for it.

So Janet: remember The Green Parrot? And our bus breaking down on the way to Soufrieres and all those chickens running in the road...and buying ankle chains and matching toe rings .....Hilarious!! Happy times....

New Year Vestimentary Resolutions 2015

So...How was it for you?...
This is by no means an opening sentence from an episode of "Girls"...(incidentally a program I simply can't get into...must have something to do with being a Carrie wannabe from the "Sex and the City" days...ah,yes..those were the days, my friends.)

So back to my asking; how your New Year celebrations were and more to the point: your resolutions.

So are we going to: lose weight? Go to the gym more? Get back to Pilates...stop yearning for abs we never had ???

Let us start with resolutions we can keep...they won't impact how we feel about our bodies,bingo wings or muffin tops...Damn...now I'm hungry for chicken or a Starbucks muffin... but more about how we should dress them.

I came across this in Vogue and thought that I would share some pointers with you:

Apparently there are more and more online "go to" sites than can help you connect with users who have similar body types and who will help you to source brands that will fit your shared body shapes:
"Fitbay.com "

Then you can get "Virtusize.com" to work out what size you need in which store..and "Metail.com" will give you a visual avatar wearing the chosen pieces in an e-changing room...
Have I lost you? Frankly...I switched off while typing it.

We already know we are not one standard size in each store let alone for different designers from different hemispheres....we can be a medium in one store and an XL in another.
This would have affected me greatly 10 years ago and set me back psychologically to a drooling mess on a changing room floor. Now I embrace the humorous side of it and pump my fist in the air while yelling:
"Bring it on!"

Moving on:

"If you're short,ensure that your waistband sits slightly higher than usual-it works as a visual trick to lengthen legs"....or make you look like Simon Cowell. Seriously? I am short,or "vertically challenged" which is more the lingo du jour...and the last thing I need is to have my waistband sidling up to my boobs...which are and always have been of "dowager" proportions! All you get from that image is a hobbit whose crotch has now been pushed up to her boobs.

"A long pendant necklace elongates the torso-great for apple shapes and pregnant women"....I agree on principle. But them pesky boobs start to play flip the chain from side to side so that the necklace is no longer in pole position but vying for attention.
...yes I have boob issues...

"Designers offer clues to the clothes they create: Roksanda Ilincic designs for the tall and willowy (....NB: no Roksanda)....Miuccia Prada's pieces reflect her own shape and tastes..( note to self: what is her shape again? and does that work for me?)....While Phoebe Philo's gamine body type gives an insight into Celine"....( that's why the bloody shirt wouldn't button up...)..Who is your body match?"....
Indeed....Maybe go with "faceless" designers for piece of mind: Zadig & Voltaire....per se?

"Avoid biker boots and chunky heels if your legs are thin,they will make them appear even skinnier"...chance would be a fine thing. But at least I can indulge in my love affair with Free Lance biker boots and them chunky heels that work as man repellents .
On a roll, ladies and gents!

And one before I leave you:

" Try a range of sizes- flattering your ego and getting the smallest size you can fit into is a fatal mistake..." no truer words have been written yet we are all guilty of having done that...please don't do it any more! Especially with bras!...(thought I'd give you a booby send off.)
There is "getting jiggy with it" and then there is "getting jiggly with it": creating 4 boobs instead of two is unnerving,unsettling and unappealing.

Laters!

"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

'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 

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/

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......

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.

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.

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....

"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.

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?